'Dragon Striker' Creators on Organic Character Representation

Ahead of their Anime Expo panel, where they announced Season 2, the creators of Dragon Striker sat down to discuss the creative choices shaping their series. From the intensity of the show’s action to the organic way they approach their cast, the team shared their perspective on building a modern animated world.

Moving Beyond the “Flag”: Organic Diversity in Animation

Within the animation community, there has been concern regarding a perceived rollback on LGBTQ+ characters across the industry, particularly following the cancellation of The Owl House and the situation where episodes featuring a trans character did not air. When asked about the importance of incorporating queer characters and navigating the process of representation, Charles Lefebvre (Creator/ Director) explained that diversity was a completely natural element of the storytelling process rather than a corporate calculation.

“Diversity is, you know, it’s not even a question. It’s just like that,” Charles explained. “So far, as I understand, [Disney] has to talk about it. We did not. It was so natural for us… it was not a discussion at all.” For Charles, true representation meant focusing on character depth rather than turning individuals into political statements or tokens.

“We just create characters with a backstory. For me, it was really important not to treat them as a symbol or a flag. Sometime that was a little bit kind of frustrating for me. Some characters from the community were treated as symbols. I just wanted to really just have characters, and they’re not perfect, they have a lot of problems—like everyone else. It’s not supposed to be a question. It’s just like, we have characters and they move as well, that’s all.”

Dragon Striker Creative Team: Charles Lefevbe (Creator/Director), Sylvain Dos Santos (Creator/Executive Producer), and Paul McKeown (Head Writer)

Head Writer Paul McKeown emphasized that the team wanted to ensure everyone felt represented, noting how simple it ultimately was to include a trans character and mirror humanity authentically.

“We wanted to make sure everyone was represented,” Paul concluded, noting how uncomplicated the process should be. “We create characters that fully represent humanity. That was just the goal. And we didn’t think about it. It’s like these are the people that we’re looking at. I love all the characters.”