With Crocodine defeated and Romos safe, our heroes Dai, Popp and Maam are in high spirits. (Especially Popp’s.) Their confidence is soaring (again, especially Popp’s), and their bravery against any threats knows no bounds (except for Popp, who hid behind Maam when an ordinary monster attacked their ship). Naturally though, this doesn’t last long — on their way to Papnica, they learn that it has been attacked by the Undead Legion army, and once they arrive, they see the place is essentially no more. If that wasn’t bad enough, it seems that remnants of the Undead Legion still persist.
Here, the three get some timely assistance from someone they learn is also a disciple of Avan. Looks like they now have a fourth member on their team!…But looks, as you all know, can be deceiving sometimes!
This volume of Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai introduces us to Hyunckel, who is your not so ordinary disciple of Avan and also the current commander of the Undead Legion. Just like Dai he also was raised by monsters, but his path was never going to be like Dai’s — there’s a difference between being raised by the Dark Army in wartime and being raised by former members of the army in peacetime. This difference leads to Hyunckel, who believes Avan’s responsible for the death of the one who raised him, being driven by revenge instead of being driven by justice. This makes Dai feel conflicted, which is why despite what’s happening in front of him, he’s unable to truly use his power against Hyunckel. But with Maam being captured by him, Dai doesn’t have any choice — he has to find a way to defeat Hyunckel with the help of Popp. Unfortunately, with Hyunckel donning his special armor, they’ll have their work cut out for them.
All of this is presented simply, but the charm and presentation continues to stick out for this series. With excellent planning and terrific artistic decisions, the drama that comes from a former disciple of Avan going against Dad and his team, when we know Avan doesn’t just make anyone his disciple, is still incredible to read. For me, despite having seen the anime and thus knowing what’s happening, the story is still compelling from start to finish. Even a few things that I can tell was cut for the anime to streamline things work in spots in the manga (see Popp and Maam’s argument as Dai’s swordplay compared to Hyunckel is considered “child’s play”).
So yes, volume 3 is another engaging read. It’s still very much shounen to its core, so whether the constant “deaths” in this series or unexpected saves out of nowhere without explanation could be a detriment to your enjoyment if you don’t like the genre. But right now, momentum and anticipation continues to be The Adventure of Dai‘s calling card, and I’m sure here for it.