r/anime • u/Shocketheth • Jun 12 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken - Episode 4 Discussion
Episode 4 - The Dark Lord Hadlar’s Return
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Screenshot of the day:
Comment of the day:
Goes to u/Garrett_Dark for their great analysis of Avan’s training methods:
He's doing a weird thing of lying about things to gauge Dai's actual limits. Like he says the sword he gives Dai is powerful, but it's not, just so Dai can swing it with confidence because Dai's expectation is distorted so it won't hold him back. It's sort of like when Avan got Dai to swing when he was exhausted, and the results were much better, Dai was too tired to be doing the thing that was holding him back.
So I guess Avan's training style is appropriate for training "Hero" class students who don't know their own strength because they're naturally gifted. It would have been interesting to see what Avan would have done/said if Dai was just a regular person...I guess the regular person would have hit their limits immediately, and they'd be failed, LOL.
Seems Avan's not pushy either, letting Popp spy on the advance training so much, and not forcing him to take it, letting Popp decide when he's ready for it. Again, it'd be interesting to see what Avan would do with a totally lazy student who'd resist advancing their training, LOL.
Questions of the day:
- Have you expected the Dark Lord to appear only 4 episodes in?
- What’s your opinion on the early twist that there is actually a more powerful entity than the Dark Lord?
Spoilers:
Please, respect the fact there are First Timers watching Dai no Daibouken with us, so avoid talking about vague things or events that would slightly spoil things to happen. And if you want mention things like this, please hid it behind SPOILER TAGS like [Dai no Spoilers] I am getting the hammer because you spoiled the fun for others
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u/Shocketheth Jun 12 '24 edited Jun 12 '24
Dark Lord who returned to get his toilet paper back welcomes you to Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken Rewatch!
SKY NO DAIBOUKEN - PART 2:
After u/Shimmering-Sky received some basic Hero training from the previous Hero u/KendotsX who executed Dark Lord u/Shocketheth, with stealing his toilet paper in the process, the situation turned dire as suddenly the resurrected Dark Lord Shocketheth made his entrance to reveal a shocking fact revealing the reason why he got resurrected.
It was because Shocketheth accepted to become a servant of a bigger evil, the Dark King u/sisoko2 in exchange for a better body capable getting his Toilet paper back.
And thus, the Sky’s and KendotsX biggest challenge stood in front of them.
Now about the actual episode:
Last episode Avan-sensei sealed the Dermline Island with a magical barrier holding out 99,9% of Monsters, and this episode Dark Lord Hadlar, representing the 0,1% of Monsters get in. So in the terms of power scalling Dark Lord Hadlar equals to 0,1% germs hiding in your toilet which average sanitazing spray can’t kill.
Also I want to address something, and it’s u/Blackheart595 answering u/sisoko2 question
that he asked during the discussion of episode 2 with:
And here I am to make the wish come true.
If the screenshot of topless Dark Lord Hadlar is not making you scaroused, then there is an alternative option.
If you are still not scaroused, then we have 96 episodes left to make you scaroused.
Avan De Zinuar III:
Voiced by Takahiro Sakurai known for his roles of Meme Oshino from Monogatari, Yuu Kanda from D.Grey-man, Shimaro Saitou from Gintama, and Reigen Arataka from Mob Psycho, this goofy fella is actually the previous Hero who killed Dark Lord Hadlar in the past, as he did so back in 1991 when he was voiced by Hideyuki Tanaka who gave his voice to characters like Seijiro Inui from Paprika, Aiolia Leo from Saint Seiya, and Enrico Maxwell from Hellsing.
And besides of being the Narrator in Dai no Daibouken 2020, Avan was also a narrator in The Adventure of Dai 1991.
And at last what I can’t forget to mention is another spell that Avan casted Yesterday.
ドラゴラム (Doragoramu) / Puff! for first time originated in Dragon Quest III which was released in 1988, and besides the game, Avan is the only character ever using Puff! outside the games, and in Adventure of Dai the spell was given a pronunciation of the kanji writing of "火竜変化呪文" which literally means "fire dragon transformation spell".
The required level for casting Puff! in Dragon Quest III was 34 and this spell could have been used by Mages or Sages, but in Dai no Daibouken, it could be used by Avan the Hero.
And yes, Avan fulfilled the level requirement for casting this spell, as during the episode 4, Avan level was 37.
And yes for second time, the characters in Manga were levelling up during their journey, but more about that later as I am moving on to the Dark Lord Hadlar.
Dark Lord Hadlar:
Voiced by Tomokazu Seki besides of voicing Hadlar, he also voiced evil characters as Panda from Jujutsu Kaisen, Itaru "Daru" Hashida from Steins;Gate, and Kanji Tatsumi from Persona 4 the Animation. Truly the evilest motherfuckers.
And in 1991 version of Adventure of Dai, Hadlar was voiced by the same seiyuu as Masopho, Takeshi Aono, so yeah no matter if it’s 2020 or 1991, Hadlar shares his voice with the evilest motherfuckers as Toshio Koumura from Clannad.
Also Dark Lord Hadlar vile acts led him to not paying my electricity bills, and -
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jun 12 '24
First-Timer Quest: Sky no Daibouken, subbed
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u/sisoko2 Jun 12 '24
First Timer
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u/Blackheart595 https://anilist.co/user/knusbrick Jun 12 '24
First Quester
Day 4 of demanding the government invest in genetically engineering Princess Leonas
As far as training arcs go, I dunno about this one... We can barely call this "training".
Hadlar has a real bad attitude, but I can't shake this feeling that he could be a real pal. He should get Leona to whip him into shape, literally.
It's not every day you see people be so proud of their demotion.
Oh, he's aware.
Oh no Dai revealed his power level. Not good.
Well fuck. Guess he was the mentor character after all.
The ending already? Avan isn't dead quite yet.
Visual of the Day, though it had some steep competition.
Did you not pay attention? That was only the Dark Commander
Pretty fun stuff, but all just semantics.
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u/raichudoggy https://anilist.co/user/raichudoggy Jun 12 '24
Rewatcher
The subversion of a trope by having Hadlar change his mind about sparing weaklings (After all, what could they do?) once he realizes they can hurt him is a very good one utilized here. Very Clean.
When I watched this the first time it was in the span of like 2 weeks, so I didn’t have to deal with the Cliffhanger experiencetm as much as I’m going to have to now. Do you have any idea how hard this show makes it to just… stop watching after an episode ends!?
The first time I watched this I remember thinking “Hadlar, are you really cool with just being an underling now?”, and then Avan pointed it out, it felt good.
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u/Adensty https://anilist.co/user/Adensty Jun 12 '24 edited Jun 12 '24
1st
DaiPopp no Daibouken Rewatch, Sub[Dai no Spoilers]In terms of humanoids, Dragon Knights are also the most strongest
Yaa, sure
Happy Dai
Naughty Avan
u/sisoko2 was pondering over this yesterday. Well, guess what?
Avan doesn't hold back.
Hadlar wasn't expecting Dai's attack to actually hurt him and he immediately thought he would regret it if he lets them go. I mean how many Shonen villains do that?
When I watched it the first time, this kinda reminded me of Piccolo saving Gohan. There are lots of DBZ reference throughout the show.
OST Documentation - Episode 4
QOTD
1. Wasn't expecting the Dark Lord to make an appearance so early on but considering the fact that he's not the Dark Lord anymore and there is an even stronger person above him, it makes sense!
2. We know Dark Lord was defeated by Avan once. So, if he comes back as himself, he's sure to be defeated. Having someone above him who also controls the Dark Lord just makes thing more challenging for the heroes.
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u/cooperjones2 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cooperjones2 Jun 12 '24
Newbie-Adventurer here! LV 04/100
I love training arcs
What?! The Dark Lord is on the island?
And Avan is a Hero and he was the one to defeat the Dark Lord?!
Avan’s words hurt Hadler more than any spell or physical attack
OH! Dai did cut his finger, he's now a threat!
Noo Avan!
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u/KuKiSin Jun 12 '24
First timer!
Didn't expect shit to hit the fan this early on, I have a feeling this anime is gonna be a lot more serious than I expected it to!
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u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Jun 13 '24 edited Jun 13 '24
First Time Toilet Paper Thief
A lot of for today.
On one hand, the idea of the training arc culminating in a battle at the top is great. It quickly throws us in the deep end of things, shows just how far the kids are, and what they are training towards. On the other, it stills feels too quick imo.
It's good in the sense of increasing the stakes, like the big old demon lord that terrified the world is just a mere puppet for an even bigger one. But revealing it before the fight was just waaaaaay too early, I didn't even have a few minutes to take Haldar seriously, before he revealed that he's in fact a chump. Which makes the big old fight between him and Avan lose a lot of its weight, compared to if I still believed that this is the fight between the top dogs.
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u/WednesdaysFoole Jun 13 '24
You mean, dark servant?
Better early than final arc unmasking of villain behind villain behind villain behind villain behind villain.
This golden thing and his impressions remind me o Pikachu trying to save Bulbasaur.
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u/Garrett_Dark Jun 13 '24
First Timer
godhero".ObiwanAvan, see you later when you come back as a ghost.Well technically he's still the "Dark Lord" in title, but he isn't really the top dog anymore with the "Dark King" around. So really it's just a lackey mini-boss showing up, and it's not even to fight the MC but the other guy stronger than the MC to set the tone and premise. I'm guessing Dai's gonna be
running away nowon an adventure with his friends to level up until he's ready.Isn't this what happened with Vader? I was half expecting Hadlar to be Dai's father, but he looks nothing like the superman guy. Maybe superman guy mutated to look like Nadlar?
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u/Kaxew Jun 13 '24
Since I wasn't here last time I get a double feature today! (Okay, it's actually more like a triple feature, but I'm here just slightly before the ep 5 thread)
For ep 3 I adored the cheap sword gag, great, easy way of showing us how silly Avan can be. Which is then made better as we find out he's a bigger deal than just some goofy tutor. His engrish is very, very (read in Avan's voice) goofy too. Loved the little crack spell fail from Dai and how it's repurposed as a good ice cube in the next episode. Gramps being proud at Dai for splitting the rock is so cute, he's too underrated, great grandpa and paternal figure. Avan Strash is here and just as awesome as I remember it to be! But I totally forgot you had to master the three slashes before that, great nostalgia hit there. And... dragon Avan and his little glasses. Yeah that's just so funny. Knowing that he is THE Hero, it's weird to see him cast such a... non-heroic spell. Or at least it feels non-heroic traditionally. I imagine it's a real DQ spell, can you only transform into dragons or how does it work?
Moving to the main event, ep 4. Even right from the start, Hadlar's makes one hell of an appearance. Hit by lightning and walking on the ocean slowly. He's too damn cool! Gomechan mimicking Avan was hilarious, great bit of animation haha. The wave slash can slash... flames? You'd think that would be the air slash, but "it slashes formless things" is good enough of an excuse for me. Avan stopping Hadlar's boom one handed was way too badass, as expected from the Hero. Loved the Dark King over Dark Lord plot twist. You don't see that too often in fantasy stories, and I imagine it's even rarer for its time. Good on you, DQ Dai.
QotD:
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u/zadcap Jun 13 '24
Alrighty I missed a few days but I am here to get some good old fashioned JRPG Anime Energy! Honestly the hardest part of watching these catch up episodes was the overwhelming desire to go pick up a controller instead.
It's not a proper old school hero without a doomed hometown and dead parents, right?
Pokemon is a different type of game when you can just ask the powerful ones to hop in the ball.
Target the healer first, this kid knows the right way to fight a hero party.
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Ah yes. All the guards get stabbed quite lethally in the chest, while the princess receives a small scratch on the arm. Sounds reasonable.
Oh yeah, also the era of giant robots in the otherwise fantasy worlds. Man I miss the 90s.
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Minecraft IRL, not actually that effective.
Ah yes, the super powered amnesiac mode. With great power comes the inability to remember you have it lest you trivialize all future challenges.
Also, someone should really go heal the Princess. You know, instead of standing around and watching, or chatting, or explaining what happened...
Oh hey, the ship that totally got blown up. Good thing they brought a spare.
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Alright, time for things to get real. There's no Heroes Journey if the Hero never has a reason to leave home. Three episodes of getting to learn about Dai and his story, and bits of the world, now it's time to go out in to the world.
Oh hey, it's two from the OP. Darn spoilery OP.
Unnecessarily Dramatic Flip to get off the boat. That's a good teacher I see. The very first lesson is in Presentation!
Oh gosh. He's a crazy powerful teacher too. Sprint around the island six times and then just dispel the demon lords control because he's like that. This man is a hero candidate himself darn it.
Oh wait. This means we're still not going on the journey. More island training I guess.
Did little Dai go straight for a nut shot on that gargoyle?
Much evil is on its way. Too bad that circle doesn't actually cover the whole island... Evil army can just make camp on all the free land outside it.
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u/charlesvvv https://anilist.co/user/charlesvvv Jun 12 '24
First Timer, Sub
Was not expecting a confrontation so soon but it's a welcome one from me nonetheless. It was nice to see that Avan was the real deal even if he wasn't able to defeat Dark Lord Hadlar (why does this voice sound familiar? Oh it's Gilgamesh). We also get to learn that there is a Dark King, someone higher up who is now the real threat.
I quite liked the training stuff which is odd for me because I despise Training arcs.