It’s time to call either animal control or your online guild companions.

Similar to how you can’t buy a TV or a computer without someone insisting you should have gotten something else, if you spend enough time as an expat, you’ll eventually run into someone who’s certain you picked the wrong country to move to. Since coming to Japan, I’ve had more than one person tell me, “You should have gone to China instead! The economy has so much more potential for growth than Japan’s does, and the cost of living is so much lower!”

Still, I’m pretty happy having chosen Japan. It is, after all, the country that produces my favorite beer, cars, and cartoons, so I’m pretty sure I made the right choice for myself. Unless, of course, this video is legit and China really is so awesome as to have dragons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTeL8zZjNSA

Posted to YouTube by ApexTV, the video’s narration says it shows “a giant mysterious creature that was caught on tape by a man in China,” before going on to narrow the geographic area to somewhere near the border with Laos. Zoomed in, the flying animal certainly does look like a dragon, although oddly enough the western, winged variety, as opposed to the more snake-like version commonly depicted in Asian folklore.

The narrator also allows that the creature might be a pterodactyl. The long tail doesn’t jibe the traditional image of the flying dinosaur though, and the video spends most of its time discussing the possibility that the animal is a “dray-gon,” which I’m guessing is either a peculiar pronunciation of the word “dragon” or some kind of dragon subspecies that grants a different amount of experience points upon being defeated.

Now, as much as I’d like to believe that there are dragons flying about in our world, after watching the video, I think it’s only responsible to present these alternative explanations of what’s being shown:

1. A CG model that’s been added to the video
2. A CG model that’s been added to the video, but hasn’t had anti-aliasing effects added to it to match the environmental camera focus
3. A CG model that’s been added to the video, but hasn’t had lighting effects applied to it

I think it’s definitely one of those three…although, upon further deliberation, I realize I can’t entirely rule out the possibility that it’s a CG model that hasn’t had anti-aliasing or lighting effects applied yet.

Source, featured image: YouTube/ApexTV
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