Animisery – A Blog About Living Miserably with Anime (Among Other Things)

I’m not a big battle shonen anime fan. It’s not for a lack of trying as I try one after the other to manifest some sort of hook into me. it’s never really been a genre that resonated with me in a meaningful way because there are just a plethora of tropes that just cause me to groan, roll my eyes, shrug my shoulders, and then add the show to my drop list on my MyAnimeList. There are a few random outliers for example including Jujutsu Kaisen and the time in my youth when I was obsessed with Bleach but battle shonen just can’t catch a break with my jaded apathy. It’s such an oddity though that I can’t help but binge through Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai even though it starts off blazing tropes and hackneyed plot points at an alarming speed.

I might factor om that I’ve recently become Dragon Quest obsessive after my surgery when I was grasping for some meaty game to sink my teeth and thumbs into and Dragon Quest XI was content to appear in my Steam Library. I’ve been plowing through the game in massive waves of seven to eight hour sessions and I’ve surprisingly not burned myself out as I sink deeper and deeper into the tale of the Luminary Hero and his band that seek out the Dark Lord to defeat him. It’s not revolutionary story telling but a story told before that’s being told well is better than a new story told poorly or something accordingly. I’m still a freaking weeb and I need my anime fix so hey! I like the game so I should like the anime by extension, right? Well yeah.

Finally getting to what the title alluded to, Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai (the 2020 version I should clarify) is a shonen story told many times before with tropes on parade like it’s pride month. The plot is that Dai is an underestimated main character with a secret ability that he doesn’t quite comprehend with a mysterious origin and his ambition is to be a hero. It’s not going to leave you awestruck in premise and probably not even in execution. The Adventures of Dai is almost a hybrid of regular animation mixed with CG as the computer graphics blatantly come to the forefront of the show whenever intense combat occurs and by god does it occur. Dai is always fighting some kind of villain every other episode like he’s contractually obligated (he is a shonen protag, I suppose) and the animation doesn’t even attempt to hide what will soon be conspiring. It’s like if MAPPA threw up their arms in resignation during their Attack on Titan tenure. It doesn’t even try to trick us with careful blending of techniques. I remain shocked myself however that I didn’t mind.

The Adventures of Dai managed to hook me in early with some of its fighting sequences where Dai nimbly uses his size and speed to traverse across his opponents to overwhelm them with little effort. On top of that, Dai has at his disposal magic that he freely interlaces with his sword skills in combat which means that Dai has a lineup of interesting moves at his disposal when we get to certain combat encounters during his story. To top that off, Dai has his shonen schmuck signature move of a transformation that he undergoes when he’s super serious for real this time that means he’s going to whip out the power of god and anime against his opponents. Like I said, it’s almost painfully by the numbers. Dai gets a veritable cornucopia of supporting cast that bring no resoundingly new traits to the table like a cowardly mage, a spunky warrior priest with a magic gun, and a princess that Dai pines after whose defining character attribute is that she believes in Dai. Yawn. Dai’s consistent villain (at least to episode 18 where I am at currently) is a grimacing dark lord who is constantly displeased by Dai’s progress and sends his minions to do combat with him time after time only to fail. He does all this from a secret bastion of evil where they meet at a large table and grimace angrily at each other that Dai is doing so well and then break off to be evil. No one has any semblance of nuance to who they are. I cannot begin to even try to give you a compelling reason for why these characters are who they are and yet…

I’m still watching it?

It’s not just the branding of Dragon Quest (although I know for certain that doesn’t hurt) but that Dai is just a really fun and simple watch! It isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel of battle shonen content but rather to delightfully embrace the hackneyed stories and traditions of the genre to it’s fullest. The anime is a remake of a 1991 show that was adapted from a Weekly Shonen Jump manga and it shows its origins so unrepentantly. The character Dai masters techniques with unfailing ease and vows to never give up or run away when he’s in fight against an enemy. He throws himself at his foes with such self determined grit and resilience and it’s just quintessential battle shonen in execution. His supporting cast all lean on him with such vigor and he’s there for it! It’s unflinchingly old school and it succeeds at being entertainment that keeps me glued to my screen. I mentioned Jujutsu Kaisen earlier as one of my battle shonen exemptions and that’s because JJK departs (or attempts to at least) from so many tropes that exhaust me and render me tired with the genre. The Adventures of Dai, however, is its very polar opposite leaning so hard into the storytelling that I’m shocked with how much I love it. JJK is my hipster joint coffee anime where I’m getting a flavorful brew prepped with locally roasted beans served in a mixed coffee beverage crafted with regional honey. Dai is just Folgers. It’s coming out of my coffee maker at 9am and it’s reliable and strong and doesn’t want to impress me. It is what I expect it to be and nothing more.

Somehow I’m in love though! Toei Animation hasn’t poured so much money into the show that the brilliant execution is making me overlook the tropes I find so tiresome; Toei is just presenting them full force. I’m having so much fun with this product though that I’m astounded with how much I want to watch Dai. I pulled myself away from my episode because I just had such a huge self reflective moment on myself as Dai fought his next opponent. I blast this kind of show and never give it a proper chance far more often than not yet I’m drowning myself in this ocean of shonen and not fully grasping why. Does The Adventure of Dai overcome the hurdles of my interest because it’s just so on the nose? Am I just an freaking prude who didn’t know what he really liked until he just got a huge plate of it served to him hot and fresh? I’m not even sure!

I love reading shonen manga for sure but the anime adaptations have never quite held my interest as I typed previously. It’s such a small wonder that The Adventure of Dai has kept me so invested to ignore the 100 of episodes that lie before me. I know that the prospect of a video game adaptation for an anime might dissuade you from giving it a chance but I plead for you to try it. If it can hook a shonen cynic like me then what might it be able to do for you?

Also if anyone wants to get me one of those Dragon Quest Slime controllers for the Switch for me then I’ll be your best friend forever, I promise

Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai is available on Crunchyroll and Hulu!

Thank you for checking out my blog and reading to the end! Getting to share my love of anime is so much fun and I appreciate you! Reminder to go check out my podcast the Anime Brothers Podcast wherever you get your shows!