Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s the last part before the grand finale and we’ve got battles going on everywhere. So let’s get right into the action after this fun fact about Dragon Quest. Americans got a free copy of the first game. It’s no secret that Dragon Quest never really took off in the West as it did in Japan. Due to lukewarm reviews, nobody really picked it up which left Nintendo and Square Enix with an overstock of cartridges. In order to distribute the cartridges, Nintendo would give a free copy to everyone who was a subscriber to Nintendo Power at the time of the game’s release in the West. Ironically, the American version was said to have better graphics than the original version. And start the review.
Episodes 77-80
The battle against Zaboera continues in episode 77 (lucky sevens) where Nova tries to sacrifice himself and use his life energy to defeat Zaboera (this is a huge shift in character. To think this guy started off as being one of the most hated characters in the series and now he’s considered one of the most liked and selfless characters). However, Lon stops him as he refuses to let someone as noble as Nova sacrifice himself. Lon unleashes his ultimate weapons, two dual swords that he’s spent 200 years creating. With these swords he manages to defeat Zaboera’s superior being while damaging his arms in the process (nooo~, that’s his bread and butter). Zaboera barely survives and tries to get away but Crocodine catches him (hopefully he kills the little bastard).
So in episode 78 there’s only two things of note. First up is Crocodine delivering the killing blow to Zaboera in glorious fashion (and the fact that he died by the hands of Crocodine, the one he tried to manipulate the most, puts a smile on my face). The second thing of note in this episode is the return of Hym. Through sheer fighting spirit (and a little bit of bullshit), Hym inherited Hadlar’s power and will to become a living creature of his own (it’s both ironic and symbolic that this would happen to Hym. Hadlar was nothing more than a pawn to Vearn so to see him evolve and become an incredible strong piece is just like a game of chess). He grows Hadlar’s hair (damn, this guy grows hair faster than I do facial hair), destroys the rest of the demons, and then turns his attention to Hyunckel to fight him one last time as it’s the only way he can make the deaths of his comrades mean something.
Episode 79 is dedicated to the fight between Hyunckel and Hym where once again the fight is underwhelming (they spend more time talking than they do hitting each other). In the end Hyunckel manages to get the win by punching Hym so hard that he cracks his body (holy shit that’s orichalcum too. How are your bones not broken?). Hym tells Hyunckel to finish him, but he refuses saying that he has a duty to live in honor of his fallen comrades. Their tender moment gets interrupted with the arrival of the other chess pieces being led by the king piece, Maximum. These are the true defenders of Vearn’s palace and they’ve come to clean up this situation.
Well episode 80 is full of surprises. Despite being injured and tired, Hyunckel takes on the orichalcum chess pieces and defeats them all one by one (he’s literally punching through orichalcum soldiers. That is new badass territory right there). Hyunckel says these pieces are weaker than Hym and the others who had a will of their own (they served a king that they could get behind and were proud to serve). Maximum tries to use Hyunckel’s compassion to his advantage by trying to destroy Hym and the plan almost works, but he gets saved by a returning Larhart (what is with all these people coming back from the dead?). Larhart easily defeats the remaining chess pieces and even kills Maximum in spectacular fashion.
Episodes 81-84
At the start of episode 81 we find out that Larhart was revived thanks to the dragon blood that flowed within Baran’s veins. He takes back his armor and spear and goes to help out Dai and the others where he passes out and it’s hinted that he dies (Dai, use your dragon blood). Speaking of Dai, we see him and the others are staring down Mystvearn who is ready to unleash his full power on them. Avan offers to fight him by himself, but Killvearn pulls him to an alternate dimension for their final battle. No tricks, no traps, Killvearn is going to straight-up fight Avan and take pleasure in killing him.
In episodes 82-83 we see Popp and Maam stay behind to take on Mystvearn while Dai and Leona head on to face Vearn. There’s really not that much that happens. Aside from Larhart showing up to aid Popp and Maam this fight doesn’t have much happening. We do check in on Avan and Killvearn’s fight a little (and honestly that fight is the one I’m the most interested in). Back with Dai and Leona, they continue up to Vearn’s throne room where Leona gets pulled into a wall by tentacles (woah, didn’t know Dragon Quest had tentacle play in it).
Continuing where we left off, episode 84 sees Dai chase after the tentacles to save Leona. We see that she’s been captured by the reactor of Vearn’s castle which is part machine part monster (the best of both worlds). This machine has been feeding on Vearn’s magic power to keep the palace running but thanks to Leona casting Kaglimmer it lost the ability to draw on his magic power and now it’s hungry. The reactor plans to eat Leona to absorb her magic power but Dai tries to save her only to get stopped by Goroa the keeper of the palace. Using gravity magic he stops Dai, but he manages to power out of it by unleashing the power of two dragon crests (one that he has from birth the other a gift from his dad). With the combined powers of the crests he’s able to defeat Goroa (thanks for giving him the motivation to unlock a new power. You just screwed over Vearn) and save Leona. However, Goroa gets back up and fuses with the reactor in order to get revenge on Dai. Vearn tells him to stop but he’s not listening. Dai unleashes his version of the Kamehameha and manages to destroy Goroa and the reactor (which means we are going to fall).
Episodes 85-88
So despite destroying the core of the palace it still floats, but on the plus side Dai finally reaches Vearn and they have a fight. At first Dai is nervous and overthinking, but Leona speaks for the fans and just tells him to punch him (exactly! Just hit the bastard and if he gets back up hit him some more). In a pretty good moment Dai manages to overpower Vearn by blocking one of his attacks and his confidence is slowly building (he can win this).
In episodes 86-87 we just get a bunch of fighting. There’s really not that much to comment on. We bounce around between the different fights where the good guys gain the upper hand surprisingly with Popp and Maam’s ragtag team pushing Mystvearn into a corner, but Dai gets the biggest surprise. He has two dragon crests now (thanks dad) and with those two crests he manages to overpower Vearn and beats him (https://youtu.be/qxqm6htwcwk).
More fighting in episode 88. As Dai and Leona bask in his victory (it’s not over), Maam and Popp get the tables turned on them as Mystvearn reveals his face (damn dude, you ain’t bad looking) which was a big no-no from Vearn, but he did it anyway (he’s entering his rebellious phase). Mystvearn is now way stronger than Vearn and turns the tables on the group easily as nothing seems to be hurting him. Their only option is Medora which means it’s up to Popp (and they’re gonna die). Larhart and Hym coordinate their attacks to buy Popp time but even that’s not enough to slow Mystvearn down. Larhart and Hym get taken out and Maam’s master steps up to give Popp the time he needs.
And stop. Yeah, I know this part felt quick but you’ve got to leave the audience in suspense before the finale. Tune in next week to see how it all ends. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.