Hogan Reviews

At long last, after well over a hundred weeks, Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai has finally come to an end. It’s been a … ride, maybe not a wild one, but definitely one! While this finale is fun and exciting with a great and extremely Shonen-y final battle I have to say that its not worth watching the other 90 odd episodes full of the same plot being slowly stretched thin until it snaps several times. Still, now I’ve stuck with it for pretty much the sole reason of writing about it on this blog, let’s write about it on this blog!

Picking up from where we left off then and Dai begins his big climactic fight with Vearn while his allies, which now include a few fighters from the ground floor like Crocodine and Maam’s teacher Brokkena alongside Popp, Maam, Larhart and Hym all fight MystVearn, and Avan duels with KillVearn the reaper in a pocket dimension. Avan wins his duel though so soon arrives back in this realm and seemingly finishes off the KillVearn once and for all. Meanwhile Hym’s spiritual powers and near-unbreakable body is giving MystVearn a run for his money and actually knocks him out cold, but Hyunckel is reluctant to remove his old master’s hood due to the power it might unleash…

Hym takes on MystVearn… who would’ve thought THAT would be a near-end match up?!

At the same time Dai, with his double-Dragon Crest powers, manages to overwhelm and defeat Vearn with little fanfare… which of course leads to the final big reveal, and to be fair to this one, it’s one that has been teased throughout the whole show rather than feel like something pulled out of nowhere: MystVearn was actually a demon called Myst who was inhabiting Vearn’s true youthful body, the Vearn Dai had been facing was some weaker copy with his magic ability but no vitality, so in order to defeat Dai Vearn returns to his original body and regains his full power. A quick episode of Myst being defeated by trying to inhabit Hyunckel only to be destroyed by his now “pure heart” and it’s all about that final showdown…

Like I said in the opening paragraph, it’s a satisfying end to the story and I liked the secret behind MystVearn and the final battle I’ll get to in the spoilers, so it’s a nice reward for those of us who stuck with the show through thick and so very, very thin…

Overall Thoughts:

Dai finishes off old man Vearn?! Surely not!

Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai comes to a satisfying and high-budget close with a great final battle nicely drawn out over several episodes. While I can’t recommend anyone sit through the whole 100 episode experience I can at least say if you choose to do so you’ll at least be satisfied with its finale.

So as with these big showdowns the final fight with Vearn goes through several phases. First Dai loses all confidence as he is soundly beaten by the Demon King and then becomes even more disheartened when everyone else arrives but with the exception of Popp all of them are soon sealed in impenetrable spheres, taking the fight down to two on one. Popp’s bravery even in the face of the whole surface world being wiped out via six strategically placed “Black Core bombs” that Vearn had planted gives Dai a second wind and the two manage to stagger their enemy a bit before Gome, the mascot character and “Golden Slime” that has been following Dai throughout the whole show is revealed by Vearn to be a legendary wish-granting artefact and the reason why so many “miracles” have happened around Dai and his party… so proceeds to crush it.

When you’re facing the main protagonist and he stops you blow with one hand, you know you’re in trouble…

Dai is devastated but manages to meet Gome in some sort of mental realm where it grants a final wish that sees all of Dai’s C-Tier and lower allies on the surface world manage to stop the Black Cores from exploding the save Earth. Popp and the soon freed-from-the-magic-balls allies head back to the surface as Dai activates both his Crests and transforms into a “Dragonoid” much like his father, despite worrying it might turn him into a monster. For a short time he does become cold and brutal, beating Vearn viciously, but manages to regain some form of humanity as the fight TAKES TO SPACE. Above Earth the duel comes to a conclusion as Vearn activates a new power where he is forever changed into a massive monster and begins to win again only for Dai to get one final bit of motivation from remembering a Popp speech from a short while ago and cut him in half, finally achieving victory.

When you’re facing the lead antagonist IN SPACE and he turns into a giant demon you know… you’re part of a Shonen show!

Dai falls back down to Earth and is caught by Popp, allowing everyone to have a good celebration… until KillVearn returns, revealing that the annoying little imp character on KillVearn’s shoulder was actually the REAL KillVearn and the black armour just a puppet he was manipulating, one with a Black Core Bomb inside it. KillVearn is, well, killed but in order to save everyone Dai takes the bomb high into the sky and vanishes in a flash of light. We then flashforward to everyone back at Dermine Island from Episode 1 looking at Dai’s fresh grave / monument, though Lon Berk reveals that Dai’s “Sword of Dai” that is being used as a headstone would crumble and vanish if the soul it was connected too was truly gone, with Popp declaring that there was “no doubt” Dai was still alive and that they’d just have to wait for him to return…

Like I said, a satisfying finale and a great final battle. Given all the characters who were suddenly revealed to be alive in the final third of the series I’m not surprised everyone assumes Dai somehow survived, I have no doubt that if there was a second story arc in the series he’d just drop on by and say hi!