Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai - Ep03-05 Review
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Day is one of the first anime shows I watched as a child. The anime got a new Remake in 2020 and a couple of games are being developed to celebrate this new series!
The Adventure of Dai (2020) started last month. The story is set in the Dragon Quest universe. More serious than the games but still full of 90's silliness. The story itself isn't something special, but it's still a very enjoyable take on the classic JRPG tropes, and portrays them semi-realisticaly.
I'm watching this anime as it airs, and will have a series of Reviews for each set of episodes. I already reviewed the Episodes 1 and 2 last week. This article is the review for Episodes 3, 4 and 5.
Background
I was a young child when I first watched Dai. The Arabic Dub aired on a random TV channel I stumbled upon. The Dub was titled: داي الشجاع (Dai the Brave,) and it had one of my favorite Arabic Dub script of all time.
In this series reviews, I'm comparing this Remake with my memory for the Dub I watched for the original series. It's been at least 5 years since I watched an episode of Dai (any version before the remake.) I haven't read the Manga, so I wouldn't know if there are any changes from it.
Spoilers Below
Episode 3: The Hero's Tutor
This episode marks the introduction of Avan and Popp two of the major characters in this series. The monsters on the island become furious, because the Dark Lord has returned. Brass asked Dai to leave the island for his safety, but he refused despite that his friends have lost their reason.
Avan comes at the right moment to save the day and introduces himself as a Hero teacher, he was asked by Princess Leona to teach Dai, and so, Dai spend the next three days learning how to become a hero.
Avan is the classical Hero! He's based on either DQ1 or DQ3's hero and it shows, but he he's own character and doesn't feel like a like a rip-off. He's so good and a powerful person that he immedieatly feels like thew hero of the story in every scene he shows up in.
He realized the talent in Dai from the first glance and gave him the "become a Hero in one week" curriculum. (What a shady title...) The training was tough but Dai did learn most of what Avan had to teach in the first three days.
Popp is the other major character and from what we've seen he seems cowardly and negative. (He's the Usopp of this series.) But he's also a good mage. Looking at Dai train with all his might inspired something in him.
This episode was so good at balancing its elements, there is comedy, conflict and character development all without feeling too fast paced. (This Remake moves at double the speed of the original.)
The episode ends with a cliffhanger in which Dai has to fight Avan to train his most recent technique. Which leads us to:
Episode 4: The Dark Lord Hadlar's Return
This episode continues with Dai's training, until it gets interrupted by Hadlar the previous Dark lord who was defeated by the Hero years ago. Turns out that hero was Avan! Seeking revenge, Hadlar decided to kill Avan and his students.
Avan who defeated Hadlar years ago, couldn't fight at his full potential because he spent a lot of his energy with Dai earlier. Hadlar is stronger than he was years ago, and the biggest problem is that he's now a mere servant to a much stronger Dark Lord!
I loved the part where Hadlar offered half of the world to Avan if he worked with him. Like any Evil Overworld would. Avan replied that he can't give him half of the world becuase he's not the leader of the evil forces anymore. (This must have hurted him as he fighted more furiously after it!)
Episode 5: The Insignia Of Avan
Episode 5 was amazing! It's the most emotional episode so far, though it's also mainly an action episode with a lot of fighting sequences that. The animation is so fluid and there are little to no 3D computer graphics this time.
Avan continues his fight with Hadlar while drained and he used what's left of of his Magic to cast a defensive spell on Dai and his friends. Once Avan realizes he's going to lose he deciedes to make a last stand fight...
I already knew the story but I felt excited to know what will happen at every moment. It also felt that this fight had more action that what I remember of the original anime. (Less blood though. Much less blood.)
Avan shows us how much of a Hero he is by doing a sacrifical attack to save his students. Before that we got to see a highly emotional scene. Hadlar, of course, waits for their emotional talking to finish. Typical overlord move.
I loved the parallels between Avan's fight with Hadlar and Dai's. It feels that Dai attacked the way he did specifically to humilate him.
The Birth of a Hero
These episode mark the end of the prologue. Dai's story only truely starts the next episode as he goes out of the island to save the world.
One thing I really liked was how devasted Popp was by what happened. Of course he would be the one to cry becase Avan was like a father to him. If Dai was the one who broke down in that scene it will be unnatural even if it's the most main-character-like act. He only spent 3 and half days with him...
Finally, I noticed that Dai was referred to as a Dragon Knight in this episode. As someone who watched the Arabic dub of the original, I didn't notice the Dragon Knight thing until later in the story. I thought that only the sign on his head is special, not that he's something "different." (Oh, for "Dragon Knight" the Arabic Dub used the much cooler term قاهر التنّين which can mean both "Dragon Tamer" and "Dragon Defeater.")
What do you think?
Now I'm completely caught up with the series and hopefully I'll watch the next episode soon after they air. If you watched either of The Adventure of Dai's 2020 or original anime, please tell me your thoughts.
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