Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. We’re nearing the end of Dai’s Adventure as the final battle is finally upon us and boy do they stretch it out. But before getting into the review here’s another fun fact about Dragon Quest. This is a big one, it inspired the hardware for the 3DS. If you own a 3DS then you’ll be familiar with Streetpass. It was a popular function that would allow you to share your information with other people whenever your 3DS would pass each other in the streets. Games such as Resident Evil: Revelations and Fire Emblem: Awakening used this function. Dragon Quest IX inspired this feature by introducing Tag mode. Tag mode would allow players to share items and treasure maps with each other whenever they would pass each other on the streets. It was a big deal in Japan as players would arrange meetups and share lots of treasure maps and items at once with each other. When Iwata saw this, he decided to implement this function in other games coming to the 3DS. I don’t know if it worked out as well as Iwata had hoped, but the fact that this function inspired Nintendo to such a degree is impressive. Alright, let the adventure continue.
Episodes 65-68
At the start of episode 65 Hyunckel drinks the dark aura of Mystvearn. His plan was to overpower the aura with his own light aura, but that plan failed. Hyunckel underestimated Mystvearn’s dark aura and his body has been taken over with the last of his light aura slowly vanishing. Mystvearn tells Hyunckel to kill Crocodine to destroy the last of his light aura (good~, let the darkness flow through you) where at first it seems like Hyunckel is going to do it but nope, his light aura prevails. With his light aura prevailing, Hyunckel has become much stronger, so much stronger that he can rip a restless armour monster with his bare hands (not impressive, they were only level 11 in the third game. Although in future appearances they would be around level 40 or higher).
Everyone finally shows up just in time to fight in episode 66 with Dai and the other disciples finally showing up too so that they can perform, Kaglimmer (sink or swim time for Popp).
So in episode 67 Popp fails us. . .again (at this point I’m used to it) and starts to beat himself up despite encouragement from everyone else. Zaboera tries to kill him with a sneak attack but Merle sacrifices her life to protect him. As she slowly dies she confesses to everyone that she’s in love with Popp, but he says he loves Maam (READ THE FUCKING ROOM MAN!). In a not so shocking twist this whole event causes Popp’s necklace to shine and it finally gets revealed that Popp this whole time wasn’t a mage but instead a sage.
At the start of episode 68 Popp saves Merle’s life (she’s too good for him). They finally perform Kaglimmer and make it up to Vearn’s palace where they run into Hadlar and his royal guards (dude, we do not have time for you). He doesn’t have much time left and he wants one final battle with Dai (he’s choosing to go out on a Viking’s death. I can respect that).
Episodes 69-72
Episode 69 (yeah, go ahead and make your dirty joke) focuses on Maam and Albinass. Maam doesn’t want to fight but Albinass isn’t listening. Instead, she intends to beat all of them and then go to Vearn to save Hadlar’s life. Maam tries to get her to see that she’s in love with Hadlar but she doesn’t want to hear that (less talk more punching). Maam finally gets serious and manages to defeat Albinass just as Hyunckel got done defeating Hym. He then plays the role of big brother and tells Maam to go and respond to Popp’s feelings for her (noooooo~) and find her own happiness.
In the first half of episode 70 we see Popp fight against Sigma where against all odds (and my best wishes) he actually manages to win with no outside help and clean as a whistle (cleaner than a newborn baby’s butt. Cleaner than a fresh pair of newly bought underwear. Cleaner than a man’s internet history after it’s been wiped clean). In the second half Popp and Maam talk about their relationship and feelings for one another where Popp confesses once again but Maam can’t give an answer as her fight with Albinass has shown her how she doesn’t fully understand what love is and says that she’ll give him an answer once the battle over (assuming you all survive). The others reunite and watch from afar as Dai and Hadlar have their final battle.
Episodes 71-72 give us the fight between Dai and Hadlar. You would expect this to be an intense fight that’s on the level of say Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen. After all this has been a fight that’s been building up for quite some time. Two rivals who have been through so much to get to where they are today. One of them not having long to live and wanting to go out on his back fighting against the one who has been his biggest obstacle in an honorable fight. Sadly, we don’t get that here as we spend most of the two episodes seeing them power-up and mostly cut to everyone else watching from afar. Even the final clash between them is a letdown as it’s over quickly with Dai getting the win. Dai and the others don’t get a chance to celebrate as Killvearn appears and traps them and Hadlar in a hellfire blast to kill them both (is there no honor among evil).
Episodes 73-76
In episode 73 Popp jumps in to save Dai and Hadlar from being burnt to death but the three are now trapped and if Popp lets up his ice spell then they’re dead (and rare too). Hadlar sacrifices himself to allow Dai to escape but Popp couldn’t make it out in time (don’t play with my emotions, we know he’s going to live so get it over with). In the mother of all surprises Hadlar and Popp get saved by the last person you would expect to see, Avan (you’re alive! I have so many questions but welcome back). Hadlar uses the last of his strength to kill Killvearn (hopefully this time it sticks but I doubt it) and he dies in the hands of Avan praising his students (and thus we say goodbye to one of the best and well-written anime villains out there in my opinion).
So in episode 74 we get an explanation as to how Avan is alive. It turns out he never died in the first place. He used what’s known as the Amulet of Carl that he got from Flora when he set out to fight Hadlar all those years ago. The amulet shielded him when he casts Megante barely surviving and has been traveling in secret since then. Before he can explain why he didn’t tell the others sooner, Killvearn gets back up to fight him (oh come on~! How many times do we have to kill this guy? (Yin-Yang): Once would suffice). He tells the others to go on ahead while he stays behind to fight. He manages to scare Killvearn away after almost killing him and catches up to the others where Hyunckel can sense something is off about him.
At the start of episode 75 Hyunckel calls Avan weak saying that his powers are beneath him and the others and Avan confirms this. Hyunckel refuses to continue travelling with the others if Avan is leading the way and stays behind causing discord among the group. The others go on ahead with Popp obviously mad, but Maam reveals that he’s doing it on purpose (yeah cause he’s a man unlike someone else I know). Avan reveals that as soon as they reach the entrance to the palace they’ll be attacked by a hundred demons. Hyunckel sacrificed himself to fight the demons while everyone continued (because he is the big brother of the group and wants to protect everyone he cares about). Once they enter the palace, Avan reveals that his purpose for coming along with them is to serve as their guide because the palace is like one big crazy labyrinth. However, Avan has been training deep within the Cave of Trials studying and mastering the ultimate purifying techniques and then learning new ways to amplify them (even the simplest of purifying spells are stronger with him using them). He manages to open up the door to Vearn’s palace and the group heads in ready to fight.
Nothing much happens in episode 76. Avan and Leona go on ahead and disarm any traps they come by while Dai, Popp, and Maam sit down and eat. Meanwhile, back on the ground, the humans manage to defeat Vearn’s monsters (I forgot that was still going on) and Mystvearn abandons Zaboera (how does it feel to be on the other end?). Zaboera however had a backup plan for this. He kills the monsters and fuses them together to create a superior being with him in complete control of the body.
Woah, I did not see that coming at the end. Let’s stop here for now but stay tuned because the action continues next week. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.