Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken (2020)

A classic relived with mastery.
A nostalgic heroic storyline with exciting and well-built characters. It served as a school for most of the shonen who came after him, managing to capture all the magic and rhythm that the plot of the franchise's games have.

The animation and the soundtrack are cool and made with a lot of love. This is the maximum that Toei Animation can offer. The script is faithful to the manga, with some minor adaptations of humor and violence, but nothing to spoil the show.

If you are a novice, take advantage of the raw material that has shaped generations.

This is the story of Dai a young boy who dreams of becoming a hero. This anime chronicles his adventures, the bonds he makes along the way and the struggles he must overcome in order to become the hero he always dreamed of being.
In this journey he learns about the world around him and he learns more about himself, he grows as an individual and becomes stronger as well. He cares deeply for his friends and those important to him, he is a disciple of a man called Avan who’s also the teacher of some of Dai’s friends.
Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken (2020) is an amazing anime. It adapts a classic manga that has greatly influenced manga after it.
It has great world building and lore, great fantasy mechanics and a great sense of adventure. The characters are memorable, the animation is well animated and the OST is great and impactful.
The characters are fleshed out and are well developed. They go through trials and tribulations that develop them physically, mentally and emotionally.
The story is fantastical, emotional, inspirational and engaging. I recommend it if you like anime with adventure, fantasy, world building and lore.

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As a newbie in Dragon Quest universe, I can undoubtedly say that even if this series run for 100+ weeks, I will stick with it.

Dragon Quest (2020) is your typical shounen action anime, but this reboot is absolutely beautiful. This one is also amazing treat for eyes for its clever and well executed cg.



Story : 7/10

The anime has slow first arc, but interesting one. Dragon Quest's world building isn't very different from average shounen, but since it's source is old, no complain about that. But I can easily guess story will be good in future as early signs are showing.



Art : 9/10

As I mentioned before, I am a new Dragon Quest fan, but from 1st episode, I am really hooked up with the anime. This one has beautiful art and animation to offer. I have seen this high quality CG uses, and beautiful CG uses in very few anime.

I think for ART alone, this show worth a shot.



Characters : 7/10

Characters are OK at the moment (Ep 5), nothing noteworthy. Every character has typically shounen vibe. But I can hope Dai's character development will be something to look forward to. And as story moves forward, more cheerful characters will come.


Sound : 7/10

Well this show doesn't have best opening or ending, but both of them goes pretty well with the anime. Background music is also OK.



Voice acting : 6/10

As much as I am impressed by art and action scenes, I am kinda disappointed with va. But I can forgive it since the show is still very early stage. But I hope overall va improve. Well I am not saying va is bad, they can be improved.



Enjoyment : 9/10

I have many issues with the anime, but one thing is fixed - I am very much enjoying it. Every episode is full with actions. There are a lot of cg uses in fight, but they only improve overall performance. I can easily say that I will wait every week for one new episode. I haven't watched original version of this 2020 version, but I can say it really entertaining me.

This show somehow feels very nostalgic. Every episode feels like fresh teenage breath that only brings good memories.


Rating :

On anime performance : 8/10

On anime potential : 9/10

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This show is both a reboot, a manga adaptation, and a videogame adaptation at the same time, and I don't mean that in a good way.

Dragon Quest Dai no Daibouken (2020) is a reboot of an anime that was cancelled decades ago and was adapted from a long running manga, why's that important? Because since it's been animated before the people working on this project won't bother putting any effort into re-animating the same thing, so it was expected that they were gonna rush the pacing.

I've made a comparison between the two versions, and so far this reboot managed to fit 30 episodes worth of content into 15 episodes, at first it doesn't seem so bad as the first 4 episodes managed to set things up properly, but then it starts to become apparent when you see the big progress Dai (the MC) has made by training off screen, which doesn't feel earned at all.
If that wasn't bad enough, there's a scene where the two protagonists, Dai and Pop, depart on a boat, and suddenly it cuts to them in the middle of a forest running to save a little girl, it's like the director isn't even trying, you can tell there's a lot of content that's been left out between those two scenes.

Now to be fair the story isn't deep or anything, so rushing the pacing might be better than spending more time than needed on each arc, however, there's a limit to how much you can rush a story before it feels amateurish.
Imagine playing an RPG where the dungeons are too short you get from one boss to another in like five minutes, there's no build up or time to grind, but defeating regular enemies gives you too much EXP that it's easy to over-level.
You get to the point where nothing feels earned or satisfying, you're only playing to get things over with, that's the feeling I get from this show.

Speaking of videogames, you're probably wondering if there was actually a Dai no Daibouken game, well don't ask me, I don't play Dragon Quest, but I know the franchise and I know the manga was inspired from it but has an original story, so technically it's not a videogame adaptation, but it does take place in the same universe I guess. Why's that important? Because CGI.

The use of CGI in this anime is weird, it doesn't look cheap but doesn't work well either, because ironically the art style is too 2D (if that makes sense), so the CG effects don't look like they fit, when a fire ball is shot for example it doesn't feel like the characters can touch or interact with it, it looks so odd and out of place.
And doesn't help that there's a fight scene animated in CGI, it looked like they randomly slapped a scene from the videogames.

Speaking of animation, the people in Toei Animation are probably the most talented at faking good animation, most people look at the bright colors and call it "great animation", but what I see when I'm watching this show is still images, lots of them, combined with the CGI I talked about, they use those effects to make it look like things are moving, there are even times when they use the classic method at faking animation used in sword fights, where a still image of the character moves closer to the camera and then it cuts to both characters standing still implying that the slashing already happened, not to mention the many times they close up on a character's face and move only their mouth, so yeah the animation may look good at first but if you pay attention you'll see that it's actually cheaply made most of the time.

The atmosphere of the show screams Toei Animation, to be fair it fits with the Dragon Quest franchise, but it gets annoying when the violence and overall feel of it is toned down compared to the manga and the old adaptation, some scenes don't look as dark because of the bright colors, it might be a personal preference, but it was a problem I couldn't ignore.

The music is nothing special, there aren't many tracks made yet, only a few that keep playing in every episode, there wasn't a single scene that stood out because of the music, the show will probably get better music when it gets to the part where the old adaptation left off, but for now it's just mediocre.
The opening and ending too are, in my opinion, pretty forgettable, even though I listened to them more than once to give them a chance I can't remember them at all.

With the production stuff out of the way let's get into the story and characters.
The story is nothing original, there's a demon lord with an army almost ruling the world, the protagonist who lived his entire life on an island raised by monsters, is visited by princess Leona, he saves her life when she gets attacked, so she sends him a tutor who trains him to become a proper hero and go fight the demon lord army, a pretty generic story that has nothing more to it aside from Dai's tutor Avan having a bunch of other disciples that Dai gets to meet along the way.

The characters on the other hand are probably the strongest point of this series.
The main characters are pretty much the same stereotypes you'd expect from a typical shounen series, Dai is the brave good-natured hero who never gives up, Pop is the coward who grows a pair when things get serious, and Maam is the reliable strong female who, despite not being strong at battles, is very good at supporting the group and making crucial decisions, the three are nothing special individually but they work very well together and have good chemistry.

What I consider the best part of the series though is the antagonists, being a demon lord army that wants to rule the world you'd expect them to be one dimensional villains, and although some of them are, but most of the ones introduced so far are surprisingly more than that, they each have their own unique personalities and actually care about things such as honor and glory, they don't just fight for the sake of being evil, there was even a time when it's shown that some of the soldiers from the Demon Lord army are good people (or good monsters, to be more accurate).
You might say not being one dimensional doesn't necessarily mean they're deep and interesting, which is a fair point to make, but it does make you care about both sides during a fight and that makes them more fun to watch, not to mention some of those antagonists go through some interesting development.

So overall how do I describe this adaptation? Is it bad just because the old version was better? This reminds me of two popular shounen series that got rebooted, Fullmetal Alchemist and Hunter x Hunter, both started off rushed and toned down, but got better as they diverted from their old counterparts, so although those were made by entirely different people, I can say Dragon Quest Dai no Daibouken has a lot of potential and I'm having high expectations from it in the future.
As for right now I can't give the show more than 6/10, which is a decent rating because I did enjoy watching it after all, but nostalgia played a big part of it.
If you want my advice, keep the show under your radar but wait for another 15 episodes or so, it's hard to tell if it's gonna be worth your time right now, or you can watch the old version (if you can find it that is) and then get onto this adaptation, since there aren't many differences aside form the deleted content.

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Hello all,
Before I start my review on this series and before you have an idea about this work, if you start reading the comments. My advice to you is to look carefully at the comments that dont evaluate this work well, and you will see that most of them didnt exceed 12 episodes at most! then you have the choice to complete the criticism or not.
For me, I have followed this work since its begining, and to sum it up for you: it is a creativity and a wonderful masterpiece!
Perhaps you witnessed the adventures of Dai when you were young, but this new series came with wonderful drawing and a great work, whether in directing, in sound, or in animation, a work that is trusted by all standards... either in art and technics, I rate this work with 10.
Now let's see about the story, by the way I haven't read the manga, and let me say that up to Episode 63 the events are strong; and interconnected, you will see that the writer does not lose sight of events that occurred in the past and then returns to them to show you what caused them in the present and their consequences in futur, the fact that the story reminds me of Naruto, the story is well and amazingly woven, and the story itself is not complicated : a hero who wants to defeat The king of evil and the restore peace to the land, the story is clear, and the events are strong and accelerate well, whenever you finish an episode you will want to watch the next episode! I will give the story and the events 10;
And now the question you will ask yourself : should I watch this anime or not? Dear; If you like to enjoy the beauty of graphics and animation; With great sound effects, constantly evolving events and a story that starts from scratch and lives with it to its end, this anime is for you.

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This is a classic remade for a new generation that was banking on audiences being a lot smarter than they actually are. This review contains heavy spoilers so read at your own risk.

Dragon Quest: Dai is a classic 80s manga that was one of the most successful mangas of Weekly Shounen Jump at the time, alongside Dragon Ball, which is saying A LOT because the 80s and 90s of Jump was when the magazine almost went bankrupt and a few outstanding series like Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho, Slam Dunk and, of course, Dai, saved them from that fate to become the titan it is today.

DQ: Dai was an outstanding success not only because it's Dragon Quest, Japan's biggest gaming franchise, but because it is peak shounen. You have your protagonist who never gives up and wins every fight thanks for the power of DETERMINATION and friendship, and his band of friends who naturally include former enemies. More following:

Story: 9
Sure, DQ: Dai's story might seem cliché and boring to folks watching this in the 2020's, but remember: this manga was written in the 80's. Chances are, your favorite shounen series was heavily inspired by this series and Dragon Ball. Dai is your average happy-go-lucky shounen protagonist who soon learns he needs to step up and mature insanely quick to become the world's greatest hero and save the entire planet from Hadlar, the Dark Lord who his master, Avan, once defeated years ago but failed to kill, and his even more busted final JRPG villain Vearn (who is kept in the shadows for the majority of the series).
If this feels familiar to Final Fantasy to you, it's because Dragon Quest is arguably the biggest JRPG series in the world, and the plot of most Final Fantasy series draws heavily from it, even if it quite never took off in the West. Japan sure does love it, though...
Along his journey Dai meets his fellow Avan Disciples, Popp, Maam and Hyunkel, as well as other characters that will support throughout the series such as Beast King Crocodine, Princess Leona and the fighting mouse, Chiu. All of them have their own defined personalities and skills they bring to the table.
The rest is your typical JRPG fare, but again, I must stress, Dragon Quest and, by proxy, Dragon Quest: Dai, laid the groundwork for every modern JRPG series you enjoy today. This story follows all the familiar beats but it executes it so well it's part of the reason those beats are familiar to begin with.

Art: 9
Alright, the elephant in the room: the CG battle scenes.
Present from Episode 1, to ease the viewers into knowing they will be there in every big battle scene, from Dai to the Papnica Council's Killer Machine to Dai vs Hyunkel and the absolute best choreographed scene in the series, Dai vs Baran, the CG battle scenes are an absolute sight to behold, assuming you're not one of those mentally impaired weebs who write off any and every CG as bad because... the internet told you so, I guess.
The CG in this anime looks straight out of an actual Dragon Quest game, but fear not, it's reserved for only the absolute climax of the best arcs in the entire series. There are plenty of arc climaxes that are strictly 2D, so if you see the 3D character models pop up, strap in because you're in for a hell of a fight.
Not to say the strictly 2D scenes are bad, by any means. TOEI Animation has attained a GIGANTIC budget over the years thanks to securing the rights to both One Piece and Dragon Ball, and that coupled with the industry's best scheduling results in stunning climaxes to the many, many arcs you're sure to expect in a battle shounen. This anime already looks pretty good in the week-by-week episodes, but when it's time to face the arc's Big Bad, get ready for a slew of sakuga and satisfying finishing blows. This show's Big Battles never underperform, it's a sight to behold.

Sound: 9
BOKU WA NO BOKU WO AISHINUKU KOTO
This series' music and voice acting is top-notch. The first OP will grow on you over the FIFTY episodes it's used in, and the performances by every single Voice Actor are simply perfect for every character. Atsumi Tanezaki and Toshiyuki Toyonaki as Dai and Popp, respectively, nail every emotional scene they are in. I mention these two in particular because they are the show's core and focus, but Show Hayami as Baran, Tomokazu Seki as Hadlar, the legend Takehito Koyasu (DIO BRANDO if you're not familiar) as Myst-Vearn and Takaya Hashi as the mysterious Dark King Vearn all deliver incredible performances.
The stock sound effects found in every Toei series from Dragon Ball to One Piece to even old-school series like Saint Seiya will barely bother you if you're not trained to hear them, as the sound design during the fights is also perfect for a long-running series like this. It's clear Toei knew what they were doing with this series.

Character: 10
This show executes every single shounen trope to its fullest, probably because it was partially responsible for creating these tropes in the first place.
Dai is your typical shounen protagonist, though him not being obsessed with food and/or screaming at the top of his lungs in every sentence he says like Goku (who, again, was created roughly at the same time as he was) is a breath of fresh air in the genre.
Popp is best described as the original Usopp (One Piece). He starts out as the cowardly friend who will often get on your nerves, but over the course of the series will develop into such a fearless badass that anyone watching will respect him to death at the end.
Maam is the least interesting of the main party, which is fair considering this story was written in the 80s. She is, however, one of the original Badass Women, she will keep her fellow Disciples in check while also acting as a sort of a mother figure to Dai, who never knew his own mother. She can also kick some serious ass in the Big Battles.
Hyunkel is the edgy rival turned friend which inspired countless other shounen rivals such as Vegeta, Kurapika, Sasuke and most recently, Yuno. He is brooding and cool, but also has his own sense of moral, which is appreciated.
Since the last two reocurring party members, Crocodine (a giant crocodile-like monster) and Princess Leona (the group's healer and diplomatic ally) aren't anything amazing, let's move onto the villains.
Dark Lord Hadlar was the Dark Lord who tried to take over the world and nearly succeeded years ago, only to be defeated by the Hero Avan, the main cast's mentor. Naturally, the first thing he does when he comes back is kill Avan to show how much stronger he is. Hadlar is a very strong threat, but he is only SECOND IN COMMAND of the Dark Army, which should put into perspective the stakes of the series. Over the course of the series, Hadlar has an incredible amount of character development, not unlike Popp, and is what I would call the quintesential arch-nemesis, learning from his mistakes and becoming a genuine force to be reckoned with.
Baran is the Dragon Army Commander of the Dark Army and, without spoiling too much, has a very close relationship with the Main Cast. He is also one of those villains who eventually become something more thanks to character development, something that inspired MANY shounens to come.
Finally, the Dark Army Shadow Commander Myst-Vearn, its secret enforcer Kill-Vearn and the Supreme Commander, Dark King Vearn are all intimidating and terrifying in their own ways, partially helped by the amazing performances their Seiyuu give.
Side characters such as the Fighting Mouse Chiu, the Papnica Chief of Guards Baduck and many others who accompany the Party on their way are also very likeable and provide mostly comic relief, but never overstay their welcome.

Enjoyment: 10
I might be biased on this regard, since Battle Shounen is my absolute favorite sub-genre of anime (since I grew up with it), but Dragon Quest: Dai is one of the few ones that matches every beat of a classic shounen story flawlessly.
You must keep in mind that this is an 80s series upgraded to the 2020's standard of animation, and once you do, you should appreciate how much this series did to the genre that no doubt introduced many of us to the world of anime.
The Shounen Formula was birthed with series like Dragon Quest: Dai, Hokuto no Ken and Yu Yu Hakusho, and was perfected with Dragon Ball, whose author Akira Toriyama is indirectly involved with this series (Toriyama did the character design for the Dragon Quest games, which this series tries to replicate).
For true shounen fans, this series is an absolute delight. For younger fans such as me, you'll recognize many beats in the storytelling, but knowing this series help CREATE those beats to begin with, this is an amazing series to see unfold. It's a must-see if you like Battle Shounen.

So, yeah. I really love this series, not just for the cultural impact but also by how well Toei Animation captures it in 21st Century animation style. It's not flawless, obviously, as every long-running series should tell you, but it's a trip down memory lane that is enjoyable all the way through.
I wanted to write a review about this show for SO LONG but I purposely held myself back until I was at least at the final arc to do so, to make sure it kept the same amount of polish throughout, and now I can safely say, it did.
This is PEAK SHOUNEN™️ and nothing will ever change my mind. If you are, like me, Shounen Trash and you are proud of it, this is mandatory watching.

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This anime is amazing. The new 3D graphics are wonderull. Although the old music was great, but the new music is epic too. It is not a music but a symphony.

Although the story itself is objected for guys over 13 years old, but we - the generation who have grwon up in 90s watching it - are curious to complete it. The story is exactly the same as what presented before in the old anime in 46 episodes but with a faster rate until we reached ep. 25 which is about 25% from the whole story. Then they started to complete the story.

I cannot imagine that, someone would watch ep. 9 or 30 especially ep. 30 and would comment negatively on that anime.

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I watched this Anime when I was a Kid and it was my Favorite Anime of all time

The story at the first was boring but then it become more interesting so I give it 8/10 for Story

I really Like how they improve the art of this Anime since it's a old anime but when you watch it you gonna feel like it's a new Anime so for Art 9/10

Outstanding Sound 10/10 I really Love Sound Actors and Effects of this Anime this anime got best voice actors for Shounen Anime

I loved Every Characters in this Anime and we Probably miss this characters in New Anime I give 10/10


I really enjoy this Anime Specially Fights and Sad Moments it make you want to see more episodes so 10/10 for Enjoyment

Overall I give This Anime 9/10 it's one of greatest Classic Anime and this Generation Otaku gonna know how 90's Anime was

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This anime was a hidden gem for me. I grew up in the 90s with Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon. This anime brought those same emotions back. The plot isn't overly deep but it keeps you invested. Dai the protagonist is strong but not absolutely broken like we see a lot lately. In fact, through 37 episodes I've watched so far it's safe to say that you never know if he is going to pull through. Every week I look forward to the next episode and it never feels like a chore to watch. Filler doesn't exist here. Every episode progresses the story in some way.

The art of course is the Toriyama Dragon Ball/Dragon Quest style. It's extremely nostalgic. Yes there is some CGI but it doesn't take away from the art. Also, If you have played the games you will recognize many of the monsters and spells. The animators have done the games justice.

When people ask what anime they should watch, this is always my first thought. There is never a bad episode. I highly recommend this to people who loved 90s anime.

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Dude come on, this series is so fucking slept on. Toei is spazzing with the animation and it has a great shonen plot. For a manga written in the 80s, I think it does a great job subverting shonen tropes even if some of the things feel a tad generic. It's a traditional "hunting the Demon king" type story but has so much more, especially when it comes to antagonists. Dai has some of my favorite shonen antagonists to come out of Jump. Especially Hadlar, his development is nuts and will leave you craving more and more badass scenes with him. I'm too lazy to write a full-fledged review but please please don't sleep on Dai. It is by far one of the most criminally underrated shows airing right now. That 7.12 makes me sick I can't believe it's so low! If Dai had a bigger fanbase I'm sure that rating would be much higher. I'd easily give it an 8/10 and probably a 9 by the time the anime ends because the manga content to come is gonna be so good.

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Dragon Quest Dai is a great anime. It is an adaptation from an old series. It's a shounen at heart and it does it's job well. It's got that classic feeling where you just want to root for the protagonist and see how they're going to win against the next enemy. There's a lot of action and it doesn't use a ton of filler to take up time. It can be predictable at times, but this show is also good at throwing in a twist here and there. If I were a first time anime watcher this would be a wonderful anime to start with. I whole-heartedly recommend it.

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I feel like this anime in terms of art and sound is amazing, But in terms of story and character, it's not the same thing let me explain. Let's start with the character: Dai is like other anime character example: save the world be a great hero blah blah so the originality is not at its best But in term of development this anime only has one character that's developed and it's Popp. In the beginning, Popp was scared but now he's the one that's the one that is showing Dai what the way but for the development, I think that Hyunkel will be great. Now the story I feel that this story is good, not more. It's original with this type of group with several abilities. But it got room to improve and with the adding of Hynckel in this anime I think that it will bring a new freshness to this anime.



Story: 7
Art:9
Sound:9
Characters:8
Enjoyment:8
Overall:7

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