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Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Manga Gets Prequel Manga (Updated)
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The live-streamed Dragon Quest Day special "Latest Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibōken Info: Dai Send-Off Special" revealed on Wednesday that Riku Sanjō and Kôji Inada's Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai (Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibōken) is getting a new manga series in Shueisha's V Jump magazine. Sanjō is credited with the original work, and Yūsaku Shibata (Zipman!!, Yoakemono) is drawing the manga. The manga's story will center on the adventures of the character Avan before he meets Dai and his companions.
Shibata ended his Zipman!! manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on April 6. Viz Media and Shuiesha's MANGA Plus service both published the manga digitally in English.
Additionally, the original Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai manga is getting a new edition that will ship over a period of 10 months, beginning with the first three volumes on October 2. Two to three volumes of the new 25-volume edition will ship every month. The volumes will feature new cover art by Inada, and they will include the color pages that debuted during the manga's serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump.
The manga is inspiring a new anime that will premiere on the TV Tokyo station and its affiliates in October. Toei Animation is producing the anime, which will be hybrid CG and 2D animation.
Kazuya Karasawa (Dragon Ball Super episode director, Dragon Ball Super: Broly storyboards) is serving as series director at Toei Animation. Katsuhiko Chiba (Rune Soldier, Baby Steps, Tiger Mask W) is supervising the series' scripts. Emiko Miyamoto (Maho Girls Precure!) is designing the characters. Ayaka Fujii (Studio Pablo) is the art director. Yuki Hayashi is composing the music. Aya Mori is in charge of color design. Dragon Quest series director Yuji Horii is credited for supervising the original manga.
In the story, after the defeat of the demon lord Hadlar, all of the monsters were unleashed from his evil will and moved to the island of Delmurin to live in peace. Dai is the only human living on the island. Having been raised by the kindly monster Brass, Dai's dream is to grow up to be a hero. He gets to become one when Hadlar is resurrected and the previous hero, Avan, comes to train Dai to help in the battle. But Hadlar, announcing that he now works for an even more powerful demon lord, comes to kill Avan. To save his students, Avan uses a Self-Sacrifice spell to attack, but is unable to defeat Hadlar. When it seems that Dai and Avan's other student Pop are doomed, a mark appears on Dai's forehead and he suddenly gains super powers and is able to fend off Hadlar. The two students then go off on a journey to avenge Avan and bring peace back to the world.
The manga is also inspiring video game adaptations. The Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibōken Tamashii no Kizuna smartphone game will launch in 2021. Square Enix will release the Infinity Strash Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibōken (The Adventure of Dai) action role-playing game for consoles in 2021. The Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibōken Xross Blade ("Xross" is pronounced "cross") arcade card game is slated to debut in or after fall 2020.
The original 37-volume manga ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1989 to 1996. The manga previously inspired a 46-episode anime series that aired in 1991 and 1992, and three short anime films that opened in July 1991, March 1992, and July 1992.
The most recent anime in the Dragon Quest franchise is the Dragon Quest Your Story CG anime film, which opened in Japan last August. May 27 marked the 34th anniversary of the first role-playing game in the franchise.
Update on August 29, 2020: The November 2020 issue of V Jump will publish the manga's prologue chapter on September 19. Source: V Jump's Twitter account
Sources: Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibōken Saishin Jōhō Dai Hōshutsu Special! livestream, Comic Natalie
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