Dai, The Tiny Hero

Dai, The Tiny Hero
Series	Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai (2020)
Episode no.	1 (Watch on Crunchyroll)
Airdate	3 October 2020
Japanese	小さな勇者、ダイ
Transliterated	Chiisana Yusha, Dai
Story arc	Birth Arc
Opening Theme	Ikiru o Suru
Ending Theme	Mother
Adapted from	Chapters: 183 (partial), 99 (partial), 6 (1 panel), 1, 2, 3 (6 pages)
Episode chronology
Next →	Dai and Princess Leona
List of episodes

"Dai, the Tiny Hero" (小さな勇者、ダイ, "Chiisana Yusha, Dai", translated as "The Tiny Hero, Dai") is the first episode of the 2020 2D and CG animated TV series, Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai. It first aired on 3 October 2020.

Summary

The episode begins with a series of flashbacks of the Hero killing the Dark Lord Hadlar and being observed by mysterious people, then a man grieving over a dead woman and an infant Dai being found by Brass at the bay of Dermline Island.

In the present time, Dai is the only human on Dermline Island. The old wizard monster Brass adopted him, when he was just a little baby. Dai trains magic with Brass, but the boy has no talent for it. Brass wants that Dai turns into a mage to help the hero.

Dai remembers the story of the hero who long ago fought against a Dark Lord who was making the people suffer. The hero and his partners defeated the Lord, and then, all the monster were released from the evil spell and were left to live in peace on Dermline Island, a place isolated from all humans.

One day, when Dai was sat on rock near the sea, he saw the Fake Heroes, a group of thieves that act like real heroes, sailing to Dermline Island. The little boy greeted the thieves, thinking they are real heroes. Zurbon, the only woman of the group asked to Dai if he could show them the island, because they wanted to protect it. After Dai gathers all the monsters but Brass and Gome, Dai's best friend and very rare slime. Zurbon asks him if there is a pretty slime on the island, referring to Gomechan. After Dai goes after Gomechan, Brass arrives and discovers the real identity of the Fake Heroes.

When Dai comes back with Gomechan, Derolin, the leader of thieves, is attacking the innocent monsters from Dermline Island, with the help of the other members. Dai is defeated by Derolin's Boom, and Gome is kidnapped. Enraged, Dai decided to rescue Gome, and so Brass gives him a sword and bunch of Magic Cylinders tubes that can carry monsters inside, including two Golden Cylinders that the Dark Lord gave him a long time ago. Dai catches Brass and some monsters, and departs on a Chimaera to the royal boat.

The Fake Heroes, after lying to the king saying they were attacked by the monsters, offered him Gomechan in exchange for Gold.

Dai infiltrates the ship and releases all the monster making a fuss. Herohero is defeated and Masopho and Zurbon fight the rest of the monsters. Derolin and Dai fights until Dai falls, Brass, while facing Masopho, orders Dai to use the golden cylinder, releasing slimes and a green dragon that defeats Masopho and knocks down Derolin. When the impostor is about to be burned Zurbon arrives with Gomechan as hostages. When Dai's about to surrender, the slimes merge into a king slime and slam onto Zurbon. Dai manages to capture Derolin inside a magic tube. After seeing that fight, the King of Romos realizes that Derolin is not a hero, but Dai is. So the king, apologizes and gives The little boy the Crown of Champions. The story concludes with Brass saying that he hid the Crown of Champions since Dai's destiny is to be a mage but Dai refused and begs him to let him to become a Hero until then Gomechan has found the Crown of Champions. The king takes his ship to Papnica while the Fake Heroes try to return on board. Three months later, Varon, Temjin and Leona arrive at Dermline island.

Characters

• The Hero
• Hadlar
• Left Shadow
• Right Shadow
• Piroro (Shadow)
• Shadow behind curtains
• Alkeed King
• The man crying
• The dead woman
• Dai
• Brass
• Gomechan
• Derolin
• Zurbon
• Masopho
• Herohero (unnamed)
• King of Romos

Battles & Events

• Avan vs. Hadlar
• Fake Heroes vs. Brass & Dermline Monsters
• Dai vs. Derolin (started and concluded)
• Herohero vs. Golem
• Masopho vs. Brass

Magic/Abilities/Items used

Magic used

• Doruora (Baran, unnamed)
• Woosh (Zurbon, Brass)
• Boom (Derolin)
• Crack (Masopho)
• Frizz (Derolin, Brass, Dai fail)

Abilities used

• Swordless stance (Avan, unnamed)
• Avan Strash (Avan, unnamed)

Items used

• Magic Cylinder
• Gold Cylinder
• Crown of Champions

Monsters Seen

• Jinkster (shadow, unnamed)
• Lump shaman (Brass)
• Healslime (unnamed)
• Golem (unnamed)
• Funghoul (unnamed)
• Jackanape (unnamed)
• Vampire cat (unnamed)
• Killerpillar (unnamed)
• Mischievous mole (unnamed)
• Imp (unnamed)
• Stark raven (unnamed)
• Lips (unnamed)
• Toady (unnamed)
• Foo dog (unnamed)
• Gigantes (unnamed)
• Orc (unnamed)
• Shell slime (unnamed)
• Merman
• King squid (unnamed)
• Dracky (unnamed)
• Chimaera (unnamed)
• Pogoin' penguin (unnamed)
• Hulagan (unnamed)
• Slime
• Muddy hand (unnamed)
• Goodybag (unnamed)
• Scorpion (unnamed)
• Bunicorn (unnamed)
• Platypunk (unnamed)
• Mud mannequin (unnamed)
• Ghost (unnamed)
• Firebird (unnamed)
• Great sabrecat (unnamed)
• Ram raider (unnamed)
• Cumaulus (unnamed)
• Rumble bee (unnamed)
• Ham shamwitch (unnamed)
• Ursa minor (unnamed)
• Green dragon
• King slime

Manga & Anime Differences

The anime is more fast paced.

• It cold opens with the battle that killed Hadlar, long before the manga showed it.
• Added scenes of Vearn and close followers observing the battle.
• Showed Soara's death earlier than the manga did.
• Added Brass finding Dai's cradle.
• Removed Gomechan mimicking a crown when Dai muses about becoming a hero.
• The Fake Heroes arrives at the island on a small boat.
• The Fake Heroes are not scared by Merman.
• The reaction of Derolin after being discovered is shown.
• Removed the undead bullmustiff, ratscal, sabrecat, beakon, badboon, batterfly, antnibbler, maulusc, and crabid families from the island's monsters, while Great sabrecat, firebird, stark raven, mischievous mole, imp, lips, foo dog, pogoin' penguin, hulagan, platypunk, and ham shamwitch were added.
• Dai is not wounded by the Fake Heroes' spells and does not wear bandages on his right arm during the cylinders explanation, giving no explanation as to why he still wears a right armlet when going to rescue Gomechan.
• Masopho now uses the Crack spell.
• Dai captures Brass multiple times instead of being shown capturing other monsters.
• Dai is not shown departing on a chimaera but is seen arriving on one.
• The Fake Heroes give Gomechan to the king of Romos on a ship instead of going back to Romos, the king now being cruising around the world and going to Papnica. Consequently, Dai boards the ship instead of going to Romos on a chimaera.
• The Fake Heroes don't receive gold and a feast is not organized
• Zurbon doesn't go to the clothing shop and is therefore not kidnapped by Dai, stripped and tickled by an antnibbler, and not interrogated into revealing Masopho and Hero hero's weaknesses. She does not seduce the warden slimes to escape.
• Instead of giving one cylinder filled with Dragon Quest IV monsters to Brass, the Dark Lord gave him two Gold Cylinders with a king slime and a green dragon. Gold Cylinders did not exist but the one with special monsters was sparkly in the manga.
• Brass now also gives a sword to Dai, instead of him picking up one during the battle at Romos.
• Dai only has a few Cylinders that he wears on a belt given by Brass instead of two full bandoliers. Only releasing one Golem, one great sabrecat and one jackanape.
• Brass comes with Dai and Masopho faces him instead of being drained by mud mannequins.
• Hero hero is defeated by a golem without using his weakness of goodybag against him.
• Derolin doesn't defeat the monsters alone with Frizz.
• Zurbon uses Gomechan as a hostage instead of her warden slimes, the king slime is now from the Archfiend's tube instead of the warden slimes combining.
• Gomechan is released without a monster cutting the cage
• Brass is present at Dai's coronation, and Dai doesn't faint after his victory.
• Added the scene with the Fake Heroes going back.
• Removed the scene with Dai running to tell Brass about the warship, interrupting his meal.

Eyecatch

• Gush/Gulp
• Frizz; Fire-type spell

Trivia

• The scene of Brass finding Dai is a combination of things from the manga: chapter 6 showed a panel of Brass picking up the cradle from a small boat while chapter 196 showed that it had a nameplate with only the first letter "D" still readable.
• Monsters from entries after Dragon Quest IV to VI are shown on the island while in the manga only those from the original trilogy inhabited the surface. Some from even later entries are displayed.
• Demon Lord Hadlar was changed to Dark Lord Hadlar in the Crunchyroll/Hulu English subbed version localization provided by Square Enix.

Errors

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Credits

In order

Cast

• Dai: Atsumi TANEZAKI
• Gomechan: Ai FURIHATA
• Brass: Kenichi OGATA
• Deroline: Hiro SHIMONO
• Zulbon: Yōko HIKASA
• Heroh heroh: Yasuhiro MAMIYA
• Masopho: Hiroshi IWASAKI
• Leona: Saori HAYAMI
• Temjin: Hiroshi NAKA
• Romos King: Ikkyuu JUKU
• Avan: Takahiro SAKURAI
• Vearn: Takaya HASHI
• Hadlar: Tomokazu SEKI
• Baran: Sho HAYAMI
• Monsters
  • Misaki IKEDA
  • Kōsuke ECHIGOYA
  • Tarō KIUCHI
  • Yoshihito SASAKI
  • Yusuke SUDA
  • Koichi SOMA
  • Genta NAKAMURA
  • Takehiro HASU

In collaboration with Toei Movie Studios

Crew

• Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai (Shueisha, Weekly Shonen Jump)
  • Story: Riku Sanjo
  • Art: Koji Inada
  • Supervisor: Yuji Horii
• Planning
  • Yu Miyake
  • Atsushi SUZUKI
  • Marumo Rei (TV Tokyo)
  • Akio IYOKU
• Executive Producer
  • Ryutaro Ichimura
  • Hiroyuki Sakurada
• Producer
  • Keisuke NAITO
  • Hatsuo NARA
  • Tetsuto MOTOYASU
• Planning Manager
  • Takafumi Ogura
  • Norio Yamakawa (TV Tokyo)
  • Katsura Naito
• Assistant Producer
  • Masahisa Nishiyama
  • Hideyoshi Nakamura (TV Tokyo)
• Series Composition: Katsuhiko CHIBA
• Music: Yuki HAYASHI
• Opening Theme: "Ikiru wo suru"
  • Song: Macaroni Enpitsu
  • Lyrics: Hattori
  • Composition: Hattori
  • Arrangement: Macaroni Enpitsu
  • Toy's Factory
• Production Manager
  • Yuki OHTA
  • Kiyofumi HORIKOSHI
• Art Design: Ayaka FUJII
• Colour Design: Aya MORI
• CG Director: Tomohiko TAKAHASHI
• Monster Design: Shuntarou Mura
• Prop Design: Hidemitsu MASUI
• Character Design: Emiko MIYAMOTO
• Series Director: Kazuya KARASAWA
• Animation Production: Toei Animation
• Production: TV Tokyo, The Adventure of Dai Production Unit
• Script: Katsuhiko CHIBA
• Key frame
  • Hideki NAGASHIMA
  • Atsuko KAWAMURA
  • Takahiro FUJII
  • Miki KOMURO
  • Atsushi Nikaido
  • Isamu TAKARA
  • Hiroyuki KAWANO
  • Kumi NAKAJOU
  • Ken OOTSUKA
  • Naotoshi SHIDA
  • Yūichi KARASAWA
  • Tomohiro KAMITANI
  • Kotani Hitomi
  • Ami Wataru
  • Naohiro SHINTANI
  • Kozue YAMASHITA
  • Taku Hoshino
  • Kee FUJIIKE
  • Rūko TERATANI
  • Shimizu Atsuya
• Opening director: Emiko MIYAMOTO
• Opening keyframe: Naotoshi SHIDA
• Opening photography
  • Takayuki Ogino
  • Liu Hanying
  • Yoshitaka MATSUURA
  • Mio NAKAYAMA
  • Shiori Kaneko
  • Masaaki KAMADA
• Ending director: Emiko MIYAMOTO
• Ending keyframe: Tomoya NISHIGUCHI
• In between frame
  • Toei Animation Philippines
    • Hisashi MAWATARI
    • Liu Shikou
    • Hirota Nobuyuki
    • Takaki Hieda
    • Hiroto Saito
  • Studio Kagura
    • Hanao Iida
    • Chika Tomaru
    • Shin Kashiwakuma
    • Mutsumi Fujii
• In-between Check: Yuuko MORIMOTO
• Colour Check: Aya MORI
• Digital Paint
  • Toei Animation Philippines
  • Studio Kagura
• Backgrounds: Studio Pablo
  • Mari FUJINO
  • Kenji FUKUDA
  • Seina YAGUCHI
  • Yoshiki MATSUMURA
  • Takafumi MIZUNO
  • Mizuki Saito
  • Ayumi Horikawa
  • Kumi Dobashi
  • Rina Sasaki
  • Kana Takeshita
  • Hachidou Daichi
  • Megumi SAITOU
  • Akio SHIMADA
  • Osamu IMAI
  • Takayuki SUZUKI
  • Kentaro AKIYAMA
• Art Setting: Ayaka FUJII
• CG Producer
  • Yūji YOKOO
  • Taichiro Miwa
• CG Asset
  • Katsuto Tomiyasu
  • Yutaka Yamaki
  • Lee GinMin
  • Jun Nomura
  • Noriko Murata
  • Seiichi Kuroda
  • Junya Nakatani
  • Takashi Ino
  • Satoshi Nakajima
  • Norie Hirosawa
• CG Animation
  • Masayuki KOIZUMI
  • Keisuke Kunisada
  • Takashi Adachi
  • Guo Chogi
• CG Effect
  • Atsushi Nishimura
  • Yasuyuki SUZUKI
  • Kohei Kida
  • Tatsuya Takeuchi
  • Ryoichi MATSUMOTO
• Director of Photography: Shinichi IGARASHI
• Photography: Studio Twinkle
  • Masayuki IWATA
  • Shintaro Sakai
  • Hiroshiro Iwamoto
  • Shiga Jie
  • Ryota Okawara
  • Misato KATAYAMA
  • Megumi Hamada
  • Akane SHIMIZU
• Editing: Eiichi NISHIMURA
• Recording: Mitsuharu ITO
• Recording Assistant: Takashi SHIBATA
• Sound Effects: Yoko SAKURAI (Swara Pro)
• Music Selection: Yasuno SATO
• Director Assistant
  • Yui Komatsu
  • Yuna Hirosue
• Production Advancement: Hisaya Nanami
• Art Manager: Maoki SAWADA
• Finishing Manager: Ido Hiroyoshi
• CG Manager: Shou UENO
• Recording: Moe Sebe
• Casting: Moriyoshi MATSUYAMA
• Assistant Producer
  • Seira Miyamori
  • Momoko Takayanagi (TV Tokyo)
• Ending: "mother"
  • Song: Macaroni Enpitsu
  • Lyrics: Hattori
  • Composition: Hattori
  • Arrangement: Macaroni Enpitsu
  • Toy's Factory
• Sound Production: Tavac
• Recording Studio: Studio Jumo
• Online Editing
  • Toei Digital Lab
  • Masashi Koyama
• Music Collaboration
  • Toei Animation Music Publishing
  • TV Tokyo Music
• Promotion Programming: Mayuko Oe (TV Tokyo)
• Promotion
  • Minoru YOSHIDA
  • Shiho TSUYUKI
  • Yusuke MOTOYOSHI
• Collaboration
  • V Jump Saikyo Jump Editorial Department
  • Yasuhiko Saito
  • Kim Sung-kyu
• Art: Ayaka FUJII
• Chief Animation Director: Emiko MIYAMOTO
• Animation Director: Atsuko KAWAMURA
• Episode Director: Kazuya KARASAWA
• Production: TV Tokyo, The Adventure of Dai Production Unit
• ©SANJO RIKU, INADA KOJI/ SHUEISHA, The Adventure of Dai Project
• ©SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.

External links

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Navigation

Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Story Arcs

Birth Arc
Chapters	1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15
1991 Episodes	1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9
2020 Episodes	1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6
Films	The Adventure of Dai • The Adventure of Dai - Avan's Disciples (partial)

Halo Arc
Chapters	232 · 233 · 234 · 235 · 236 · 237 · 238 · 239 · 240 · 241 · 242 · 243 · 244 · 245 · 246 · 247 · 248 · 249 · 250 · 251 · 252 · 253 · 254 · 255 · 256 · 257 · 258 · 259 · 260 · 261 · 262 · 263 · 264 · 265 · 266 · 267 · 268 · 269 · 270 · 271 · 272 · 273 · 274 · 275 · 276 · 277 · 278 · 279 · 280 · 281

Blood Fight Arc
Chapters	282 · 283 · 284 · 285 · 286 · 287 · 288 · 289 · 290 · 291 · 292 · 293 · 294 · 295 · 296 · 297 · 298 · 299 · 300 · 301 · 302 · 303 · 304 · 305 · 306 · 307 · 308 · 309 · 310 · 311 · 312 · 313 · 314 · 315 · 316 · 317 · 318 · 319 · 320 · 321 · 322 · 323 · 324 · 325 · 326 · 327 · 328 · 329 · 330 · 331 · 332

Flash of Light Arc
Chapters	333 · 334 · 335 · 336 · 337 · 338 · 339 · 340 · 341 · 342 · 343 · 344 · 345 · 346 · 347 · 348