Thread by @Herms98

Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai ep.38: almost as if they’re making up for lost time, this episode moves the plot forward a ton. It’s the first time in awhile I’ve felt the pacing’s a bit too fast, but I do like Popp reuniting with his family. 3.25/5 #DragonQuest #ep38

The kanji say 世界会議/sekai kaigi/“world summit” (or world conference/convention/etc), while the furigana indicates it should be read as the English word “summit”, which is what characters say throughout, and the CR subs use “world summit”. Anyway, it’s a big meeting.

世界会議 is also used for the reverie (levely) in One Piece, with furigana likewise used to indicate the unusual reading.

This episode seems to have a lot more manga/anime changes than normal. Mostly it’s little stuff that’s cut for time, such as when Chiu is annoyed nobody is thanking him, the manga has an extra joke where he thinks Zangief is thanking him, but he’s talking to the guards instead

Then the tournament guys ask if Brokeena will accept them as pupils, but he claims he can’t because he has a bad case of “Itchy Kneecap Syndrome”. They silently wonder why an itchy kneecap would make him cough.

In the manga this line is fleshed out a bit more: Myst explains that Hadlar will lose his immortality because dark aura will no longer be able to revive him (this is why Hadlar is still alive after dying a few times, as explained earlier in the manga and anime ep.20)

Another use of the Japanese expression 鬼に金棒/Oni ni kanebou, oni being the metal club-wielding ogres of Japanese legend. Popp used this same phrase in ep.23, although the CR subs were less literal back then.

The phrase is generally used to describe an advantageous position becoming even better. In this instance, Maam’s reacting to the phrase’s literal meaning (ie, she doesn’t like Crocodine effectively calling her an ogre and/or club).

A relatively big scene left out here, which might have been moved to next episode: the arrival of the king of Bengarna, with his troops and tanks. He’s a big jerk who’s confident his forces can handle the Dark Army on their own.

More small parts left out: Chiu reacts to Popp being a little too close to Maam for his liking. Popp thinks his dad will kill him for running off: “My dad’s not as reasonable as yours!” Dai thinks Baran might actually be a bit worse in that regard…

In the manga, Popp reunites with his mom by rushing in to catch her when she suddenly falls, while in the anime he just runs up to her.

And here he is: Popp’s dad Junk, who’s been in the opening credits this entire time! In the manga he starts off by grabbing Popp by the crotch.

Actually, I guess they show the crotch grab in the anime too, but they really focus on it in the manga (these are the details people want, right?)

Junk can’t believe Popp’s been of much use to Dai and co. In the manga he says Popp has never had any gots, and Chiu happily says he’s spot-on. “A parent always knows!” Popp tells Chiu to zip it.

A more major change: in the manga they look through Junk’s weapon shop, where Dai spots some swords that seem better than the rest (but not good enough to withstand his power). This is when Junk mentions Lon Beruk.

In the anime though, Junk mentions Lon Beruk right away, and the good-not-great swords are at Lon Beruk’s house, where Dai tries one out in front of Lon (who therefore sees Dai’s crest power firsthand right from the get-go).

Backing up a bit, in the manga Lon isn’t at home at first, and comes in from the woods looking real mean. The anime just goes straight to everyone in his house, so it’s a much less impactful first appearance for Lon.

More small stuff. Lon can tell at a glance that Dai isn’t a pure human. Later he says how Junk used to be Bengarna Palace’s best blacksmith, but quit after hitting a bossy minister (Popp has never heard about this before).

Going back to Dermline for the crown is a very RPG-y touch, like circling back to Pallet Town before moving on to the Pokémon League (OK, I admit it: I’ve played about a zillion times more Pokémon games than Dragon Quest).

Next Week: the Dai is cast!

Also: the second volume of the Avan prequel manga came out. This one introduces Matoriv in a rather interesting way. One of these days I’ll have to talk about this series more in-depth; so far it’s doing this whole “prequel” thing right, which is always tricky.