Dragon Quest: Dai episode 5: Avan's Megante sacrifice

Episode five of Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, the 2020 anime series, is another great one. Avan sacrifices himself against the Dark Lord Hadlar, Dai reveals a mysterious power, and the first arc of the manga comes to a close. I've had fun with this show every week, and this episode kept that going.

In the previous episode, Hadlar fired a Sizzle blast to try to kill Avan's students, Dai and Popp. Avan blocked the shot in a very Piccolo-like move and survived it. That episode also revealed that Avan is the original legendary hero who fought the Dark Lord many years ago.

I've said it many times: the Dragon Ball Super: Broly animation team is working on this show, and it's like a JRPG come to life. I love Dragon Quest more than Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball is my passion. Dragon Quest has been my number one franchise since I was a little kid. I love all the games.

Avan's heroic speech telegraphs his sacrifice

Avan gives a heroic speech telling his students they have to give him their word that they'll beat the Dark King. He is planning to sacrifice himself, and if you've seen enough of these stories, you can tell. I don't just mean shonen anime or manga. It goes for anime in general, American comics, and games too.

Whenever a character tells his students or subordinates that he needs them to beat the final boss, that's telegraphing to the audience that "this dude is history." Because of all the games I've played in my life, not just Dragon Quest but games altogether, I know what they're doing. I'm sure most of you have played a few games and recognize the trope. It's done here, but it worked if you ask me.

A defensive steel statue spell makes its debut

This episode also debuts a spell that turns you into a rock solid steel statue. You don't suffer any damage, but you also can't attack. It's a defensive spell meant to keep you alive.

When I played the Dragon Quest games, I never used this spell. Being frozen in place never appealed to me. There's probably somebody out there who has found a use for it, but in my opinion there's been no need for it in the games. For the story here, though, it makes sense. Avan casts it to stop Popp and Dai from interfering in his sacrifice.

Avan versus Hadlar turns into a street fight

The Avan versus Hadlar fight starts as a physical battle, with the two going toe to toe. Hadlar throws lefts and rights like it's a street fight, while Avan is there with his sword, getting beaten up. It goes back and forth.

Because Avan can't beat Hadlar with his new power, he unleashes a spell Dragon Quest fans should know well, going all the way back to Dragon Quest 2: Megante. In Dragon Warrior 2 on the Nintendo, the original translation called it Kamikaze. You can figure out what happens next.

The way the show presented it was different from Vegeta's Final Explosion. Avan puts his fingers, crackling with lightning bolts, against Hadlar's temples, which is cool. He holds Hadlar there, uses up all his HP rather than his MP, and blows himself up, taking Hadlar with him.

Why Kamikaze made Dragon Warrior 2 so brutal

Old school fans will know this one. The original NES Dragon Warrior 2 is one of the hardest games ever, an extremely difficult JRPG. One reason is an enemy you fight close to the end of the game. I believe it's a golden baboon. I'm not sure whether the remakes have this issue or whether it's less dangerous there, but in the original NES version, these enemies can cast Kamikaze and wipe out your entire party in one turn.

You could be grinding and grinding and then run into them. It doesn't always happen, but there's a chance that on the first turn they cast that spell and wipe you out, and you cannot block it. Players of that game have complained about this throughout the years, and rightfully so. This is why I think Dragon Warrior 2 is the most difficult one, because the programming was imperfect at the time. Luckily, in later games that kind of thing is more rare, but that game is ruthless.

Hadlar survives, and Avan's sacrifice follows a familiar pattern

As expected, because we've seen this before, Avan is dead but Hadlar survived. Dragon Ball fans will recognize the pattern: Vegeta against Majin Buu, Chiaotzu, and Master Roshi using the Mafuba on King Piccolo. Other shows do it too. I'm using Dragon Ball because most of you know it. The Dai manga came out around the same time, not way before, but it's still something we've seen.

It works to give us "cheap heat for the heel," because now Dai and Popp have to get revenge for Avan's sacrifice, which was for nothing. It's usually for nothing. Even when Goku sacrificed himself against Cell, Cell came back as Super Perfect Cell. Goku helped save the Earth from the explosion, but the Earth was still in trouble. I guess you can call it a subversion of expectations, where you think it's over but it's not.

Dai's mysterious blue energy and the beam struggle

Dai and Popp are protected by that steel statue spell, so for now they won't take any damage. But Hadlar has many tricks up his sleeve and is fine with them being immobile. Then that mysterious blue energy starts shooting out of Dai's body as he powers up, and Hadlar freaks out.

Dai busts out some magic, and the two have a beam struggle, with Hadlar firing Sizzle and Dai blocking it with his energy. This is awesome. Speaking of Cell, it reminded me of a smaller version of Gohan and Cell's last energy blast. It wasn't as epic or as big, but the angles kept changing from behind Cell to behind Gohan, the way they did in that fight. I love it.

Hadlar then decides to forget the magic and goes in to punch Dai. Dai uppercuts him in the stomach first and then in the jaw. Dai may be stronger than Avan.

The dragon symbol on Dai's forehead

Hadlar finally recognizes the symbol on Dai's forehead as the dragon symbol. I know where this is going, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone following week to week who hasn't read the manga. All I'll say is that if you've played Dragon Quest 8, the PS2 game that later came to 3DS, and you've reached the post game, you have an idea where this is going.

Dai and the Dark Lord then have an epic, fun battle that goes back and forth. Hadlar is freaking out because Dai is doing so well. Dai hits him with the Avan Strash and sends him flying off the island. It doesn't kill him, but Hadlar says he'll remember Dai's name and retreats.

Five episodes cover the manga's entire first arc

What I find fascinating is that these first five episodes captured the entire first arc of the manga. The manga's arcs are short. It's been a long time and I don't remember the details, but if I remember correctly, the first arc ends when Avan dies and all of this happens.

The series is moving fast. At the time, people were telling me it would run two years. My guess then was more like a year, or a year and a half at most, unless more filler showed up, which hadn't happened yet. They were ripping through the story.

Hadlar fears Dai, and an army of monsters waits

The episode ends with Dai accepting his mission as the hero who will eventually defeat the Dark King. Then we cut to Hadlar talking to the Dark King. He says Dai is more dangerous than Avan, that he is a Dragon Knight, and that Dai injured him more, with his wounds taking longer to heal. That's proof Hadlar fears Dai, because Dai as the new hero is a problem.

The last shot was beautiful. Hadlar walks out to a whole army of monsters from the games, and I had a big smile on my face seeing familiar faces from earlier Dragon Quest games and the Dai manga. I believe some of these monsters weren't introduced until after the manga had run, so it looks like the show may incorporate later monsters. I could be wrong on that and need to double check, so don't quote me on it.

I love this episode. That's five episodes down and they're all good. The animation is great, the story continues to be great, and Dai is now taking his stand as a hero seeking companions, facing off against the Dark Lord and eventually the Dark King. Thumbs up to another great episode, because "they have not let me down yet."