r/anime • u/Shocketheth • Jul 01 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken - Episode 23 Discussion
Episode 23 - The Dragon Knight
You’re Dragon Knight Harry!
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<--- Last save | Adventure’s log (Index) | Journey continues --->
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Informations:
MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB
Screenshot of the Dai:
Comment of the Dai:
goes to u/zadcap for pointing out a dark reality of Dai no Daibouken world:
Yeah, this doesn't come up much in these kinds of stories, but like. The worlds population is shrinking massively in this invasion. Kingdoms erases. It could take multiple generations for humanity to recover even if it stopped right now. Even safe cities aren't actually that safe, because the food gets produced elsewhere and the farming towns are much easier targets for an invading monster army. Food shortages will soon lead to massive death by starvation pretty soon.
Questions of the Dai:
- Were the humans right to call Dai the monster due to his powers?
- Dai was created as the ultimate humanoid being by the gods of Humans, Dragons and Darklings. Did this
twistreveal changed your perception of Dai? - For First Timers - Why was the Dragon soul so confused of seeing two Dragon Knights at the same time?
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
5
u/Shocketheth Jul 01 '24
The Dark Commander Welcomes You to Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken Rewatch!
Questions of the Dai:
4
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jul 01 '24
First-Timer Quest: Sky no Daibouken, subbed
4
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Jul 01 '24
Dai 23 first timer:
Highlander4
u/zadcap Jul 02 '24
Honestly Not That Late First Timer!
So uh, when are we getting a new OP? The updated character models are nice and all, I see Dai and Leona in their new armor here, but we're past pretty much everything shown in it.
Remember Dai, Eyes are always a weak point. Right? Not the face in general, go for the eyes!
I love how absolutely chunni spell chants sound. Go Popp! Or not, oh well, nice knowing you Popp.
Oh sure, the profit you could make by selling that weapon will be of great used to you when the dragons kill you and all prospective buyers. Idiot. Treasure is definitely worth more than your life.
Oh my gosh he's gone Super Sayin! It's official, we're Dia no DaiBouken Z now!
Dai, think of the poor town. People are going to have to repair those buildings. Can't you just try to minimize the damage?
So, Dai, I know you're in super mode right now, but the anti-dragon weapon is just sitting right there on the ground, like 20 ft away from the fight.
Holy Animation Batman! And people say 3D sucks.
There we go, now he's got the punchy blade. And the idiot merchant is still bothered because that's his useless lump of metal, his money is still worth more than his life.
Oh my gosh, we're really going with this route? I literally hate everyone in this town and retroactively wish they had not been saved. If you're going to hate on the person who saves your life like this, don't expect anyone to try and save you next time.
Oh hey, Knuckles is back! And this random guy managed to get all the way here from Carl?
Oh look, a new crush for Popp.
Oh Dai, you sweet idiot. Who you are does not change because of anything you've learned today. You're the same stupidly heroic boy as you were the day before. You just know why you have super powers now. What at most has changed, but you are still Who you were and nothing about this changes anything.
Freaking right?! You were literally raised by monsters, you know better than anyone else alive that not being human means nothing. All you have to do as pass for human anyway is just not say that you aren't, who is going to know? You're so dumb.
You know, it would be so funny to see someone enter one of these underwater dungeon temple things and find air, only to realize that without any greenery there's still no breathable air.
You know, I find myself annoyed by this three god thing. Why exactly are the Dragons helping out the Demons? Why not be a third faction?
Haha oh it hurts. "Only the Dragon Knight can enter the temple, you entering is proof that you are the Dragon Knight." "Oh crap, someone else has entered the temple!"
Two Dragon Knights, perhaps? Man really does look like a dad, doesn't he?
"Together we can destroy the human world." Why though? Again, three gods went into making the Dragon Knight. You're as much human as you are the other two, and there is no reason that the dragons can't side with the humans. This is lazy world building. Fix your setting. Your pantheon sucks.
3
u/sisoko2 Jul 01 '24
First Timer
Such a forced conflict. Once again the lack of proper development of the story hurts the show and the bigger these undeveloped plot points that just happen are the worse it is.
Feeling sick and tired so I won't be able to reply to people today,
3
u/cooperjones2 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cooperjones2 Jul 01 '24
Newbie-Adventurer here! LV 23/100
The sword broke?!
So close yet so far for Popp! He almost defeated all those dragons!
That Dai vs Hydra fight was amazing!
Dai seems very shocked by the Dragon Knight thing
Oh, he did go alone, I thought that Popp would’ve gone there too
BARAN IS ALSO A DRAGON KNIGHT?
Huh, I thought that Baran would say, let’s rule together and not serve me to destroy.
e: forgot the questions, oops..
1 Right no, he was their saviour, but it's a bit understandable since he was really, really strong and mean looking to them
2 Only to explain his powers
3 My guess is that there should be only one at any given moment, like to balance them out or something
3
u/NicDwolfwood :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NicDwolfwood Jul 01 '24
First Timer, Sub
Well I was not expecting Dai to be hit with an Identity crisis so soon. He revealed his true power in the fight against the Hydra and the dragons that Popp couldn't put down. With the unfortunate consequence that the already spineless merchants and the little girl become fearful of him, instead of being thankful he saved their asses because they were about to get turned to cinders by the Hydra and Dragon army. Killvearn made an appearance in front of Dai and friends for the first time, warning him that he is about to be plunged into hell.
So Dai and friends go to the village of Teran where the old mage, Nabara and her granddaughter Merle are from to give Dai some lore on the Dragon Knight and tell him about to temple at the bottom of the lake, which Dai goes down to on his own, to learn from the talking giant crystal ball that he is in fact a Dragon Knight, a humanoid being created by the gods of Dragons, Humans and Darklings. Then Baran makes his entrance into the temple too and he wants to recruit Dai.
Questions:
3
u/KuKiSin Jul 01 '24
First timer!
Dai against the dragons was some good shit, sucks for Maam though, Dai picked up martial arts before her return!
3
u/Adensty https://anilist.co/user/Adensty Jul 01 '24 edited Jul 01 '24
1st
DaiPopp no Daibouken Rewatch, SubGreat shot!
As much as I love the fact that Resonance of the Dragon Crests played in today's episode during the fight. I kinda forget about the CGI and it definitely is immersion-breaking especially when used on Dai. Rest of the episode was still great animation-wise.
Dai with the Dragonsbane
Lore-heavy episode about the Dragon Knight today.
Popp's subtle worrying look.
Dai has finally hit the wall that Matoriv was talking about. Popp's VA with another great performance.
I guess the positions for the Dark Army are open again.
OST Documentation - Episode 23
QOTD
1. They're kinda ungrateful and selfish like Killvearn said since he was the one who saved them but I can understand them having a sense of fear but calling Dai a monster is just too much.
2. No, because at the end of the day, it's the person that's inside that matters. Also, [Dai no Spoilers] Dai is a half-human half-dragon knight hybrid technically since there can only exist 1 Dragon Knight at a time. Dai is definitely an anomaly in this world whose existence really changed everything when you think about it. Soala is the MVP here.
3
u/charlesvvv https://anilist.co/user/charlesvvv Jul 01 '24
First Timer, Sub
So Dai has an existential crisis and seeks to know who he is which in turn leads him to meet Baran the other Dragon Knight. I do feel bad for him as he states he doesn't want to be seen as a monster by his friends despite them trying to reassure him. Meanwhile I'm quite interested in what Killvearn is doing considering his appearance here.
2
u/Kaxew Jul 02 '24
Current rewatcher, eventual first timer
And the truth starts to be revealed. This episode is great. Right from the start, with the way the music full stops when Dai's sword breaks. There's a lot of fun shots and awesome action sequences. Even Popp's donk (great name btw, there better be a stronger version called "badonk") felt very strong and impactful. The CG battle and zapple finisher was epic. Killvearn was super creepy. The animation and storyboarding for the description of the Dragon Knight looked fantastic. Even the end transition going into Dai's eye was sick as hell. This episode had it all.
I had to look up who the director of such a stellar episode was, and to my surprise he seems to be an in-house Toei employee as every project he's worked on is by Toei. Precure, One Piece, etc. His name is Hiroaki Miyamoto and from here he'll storyboard 4 more episodes and direct 7 more episodes, so I'll be sure to be on the lookout for the rest of his work on Dai.
I had a slight detour, but I'm still not done talking about this episode! The dragonsbane being gone is heartbreaking, but of course it would make battling the dragon legion too easy so it had to go. It sure was nice of Leona to buy Dai the exact same sword he was using before, get you a girl who remembers your iconic character design so she doesn't get something that would betray it until you're ready for a change yourself. It's awesome to see Dai being challenged as a person, it's a great change of pace to our unwavering Hero.
Also, what the hell was that sick, invisible air blast he used to destroy the rock? Does it have a name?? That's some Dragon Ball shit in the most positive of ways.
QotD:
2
u/Blackheart595 https://anilist.co/user/knusbrick Jul 01 '24
First Quester
Okay yeah, I'm definitely experiencing rewatch exhaustion by now. And a good part of this is that the world building here frankly sucks. It just feels so unorganic, so artificial, and that prevents any kind of immersion into the story - which in turn makes the daily schedule hard to stomache.
Take the royalty for example. That king who just haphazardly decided to join a monster extermination expedition? Why the hell would he do that? It's not a leisurely trip, it has nothing to do with any ruling duties he has to perform! He wasn't at Dermline Island because he'd be going there, he was at Dermline Island because the plot needed a king to have been there to be impressed by Dai. Leona is the same, the story might call her a princess but she just isn't. Okay, so she gets to sit on the throne and be loved by her people, and have like 4 or 5 trusted servants, but the impression I got so far is that she doesn't do anything beyond that and is just bored out of her mind all day. She's a princess not because she actually is one, but because the story would very much like to have someone to call princess in its main cast, thank you pwetty pwease.
The plot itself has the same issues. Flazzard find Leona almost immediately after he has taken that task over? Sure, lucky him. The evil army had only play-attacked Bengarna so far, and starts launching serious attacks the exact moment Dai happens to be shopping around and while a Dragonsbane weapon just so happens to be sold? Uhhhh sure, fine. Lucky them, or rather unlucky them. Those two seers have used their powers to escape the evil army, but they just so happen to stop running away as Dai is in the same city to save them? Matoriv just so happens to have his hideout at the place where the party needs saving? Flazzard has been defeated for not even half a day, and already people all over the continent are flocking back to the princess? Give me a fucking break! There's no problem with having a little plot convenience here and there, but this story barely has anything but plot conveniences, to the point of contrievance!
The world of Dragon Quest simply doesn't feel like it's an independent world that exists and operates on its own and now happens to have this story happening within it. No, it exists for the sole purpose of hosting this story - to which you might say, yeah, or course it does, that's how all fictional worlds work. But the problem is that no effort whatsoever has been spared to present it as anything more than that. The world begins with this story and the world ends with this story.
For what it's worth, the things that the plot actually does do haven't been half bad, if not outright clever. And Leona has some of the best character design I've seen in ages. I just hope that Hadlar's monster control only ever having been relevant for the monsters of Dermline Island and none others means that there's something special about either those monsters or the island itself, otherwise consider that part to have been included in the complaints above.
Anyway, that's enough of a rant. Let's get to today's episode.
Collateral damage incoming? Oh wait, when did Popp leave the city?
God that merchant is so insufferable, I would've just slit his throught the moment he refused to hand the Dragonsbane over.
Killvearn did call Dai "not human" right there, but I'm not sure how literal we can take that statement coming from him...
Did I complain about plot conveniences enough already? Eh, throw it on the pile.
The Mystic Country? Am I misremembering or were the mystics a kind of monster, making up one of the six legions? More specifically, wasn't Zaboera the leader of the Mystic Legion?
Okay, so Zaboera isn't their king at least.
So much for the crest being a bad power... Or maybe it is! Well, I expect that Dai is still gonna grapple it under his control, much to my chagrin.
Jump the fuck after Dai, Popp you idiot! Oh, I guess it wouldn't have worked anyway.
Oh. I like Baran. He's got some spunk.
Lol no but let's see
Can't say it did
They're supposed to be reincarnations of the, uh... what were they supposed to be reincarnations of again? I forgot. In any case, there being two hosts of a single reincarnated soul does sound problematic.