Characters / Dragon Quest The Adventure Of Dai Main Party

Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Main Character Index
The Main Party | Allies | The Dark Army | Others

The Main Party

In General

• Character Development: During their journey, the members of the party share a lot of experiences that change them, and by the end of the story they're different people than what they are in their introduction.
  • Dai becomes more mature and less naive, while learning to become a proper hero able to lead the others. Also, he learns to reconcile both his Dragon Knight and human sides.
  • Popp gets more development than anyone else. He starts out as a coward with very low self-esteem but, realizing his behaviour endangers his friends, slowly becomes braver. His self-esteem issues take longer to improve, and they hold up his full potential for a long while. By the end of the story, Popp is a brave and strong-willed hero, arguably even more so than Dai. Not only that, he's the one who has the Rousing Speech in the party's Darkest Hour when it seems as though Vearn has won, rather than Dai, and is one of the main reasons the world is saved in the end.
  • Maam becomes a strong warrior and loses her initial arrogance, becoming compassionate, but unwavering.
  • Leona starts the story as a Royal Brat, but her interactions with Dai makes her to become more mature and considerate to others. Also, through her battles, she becomes a leader capable of inspiring loyalty and hope in the hearts of her subjects, staunchly believing in the ideal of justice and righteousness.
  • Hyunckel, aside from changing factions, gains a stronger sense of honor and becomes more empathetic toward others, learning to understand their feelings. He also proves to become the embodiment of combative spirit.
  • Crocodine is initially a brute of a fighter, albeit with a strong, albeit misguided sense of honor, who despises humans and looks down on everyone who appears weaker than him. After joining the heroes, Crocodine becomes very protective toward his weaker companions, to the point he sacrifices himself for the main heroes multiple times, and even grows a soft spot for the much weaker Chiu.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Each member of the party has a main color that distinguish them from each other.
  • Dai mostly wears blue clothes, as the main hero of the story.
  • Popp always wears a green suit.
  • Although she initially wear an orange suit, since saving the kingdom of Romos, Maam's main color is pink.
  • Hyunckel is mostly associated with white and purple.
  • Crocodine's main color is pink, from his scales, mixed with gray, from his armor.
  • Leona's main colors are white and gold. The 2020 animated adaptation gives her more shades of pink.
  • Gome, a golden metal slime, is, of course, golden/yellow.
• Five-Man Band: The members of the party complete the classic set of interactions in a team:
  • Dai is The Hero, as the main protagonist of the story. He's also literally the hero "class".
  • Hyunckel is The Lancer. While he's not the deuteragonist (that role goes to Popp), his serious personality covers more the character archetype.
  • Popp is The Smart Guy. Although importance-wise he can be the lancer, he's a mage and not a physical fighter, while his fights are the most strategy-focused ones.
  • Crocodine is The Big Guy. He's the largest member of the party and the strongest when it comes to physical strength.
  • Maam and Leona are The Heart. They're the most emotional members of the party and (especially Maam) are the morality center of the party (until Maam learns martial arts and changes class).
  • Gome is the Team Pet. He doesn't have any particular skills but follows the party everywhere, and sometimes play some minor support role.
• Heroic Sacrifice: This series is full of them.
  • A half-dead Crocodine tries holding Hyunckel off while Popp escapes with Dai, while also encouraging Hyunckel to accept his own humanity.
  • Hyunckel tosses Dai, Popp and Maam out of the volcano Flazzard had trapped them all in. He's saved by a restored Crocodine in just the nick of time.
  • Popp uses Megante to attempt to kill Baran and, although he fails to land the hit, his sacrifice brings back Dai's memories. Even in death he manages to fire a spell that lets Dai score a decisive blow on his father, and so Baran helps the heroes revive Popp as a display of respect.
  • Dai gets blown up while taking the last Black Core into orbit, knocking Popp out of the way as he does so. This doesn't kill the boy, but sends him into parts unknown.
• The Power of Friendship: Their bond is their main driving force and they fight at their best when they're doing it for each other. More specifically, Dai initially tends to activate his crest when his friends are in danger while protecting his friends is the reason Popp begins his development and gains more courage. Baran himself tries to stop this power by deleting Dai's memories, but ends up reinforcing it as everyone fights him to protect Dai.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: While their main color remain the same, except for Maam, similar to how a JRPG character changes equipment, Dai, Popp, Maam and Leona change many outfits over the course of the story to demonstrate visually their development and that they've become stronger. Maam completely changes her outfit after she changes class while Hyunckel replaces his armor after his first one is broken with one more fitting for an heroic character. The only exception is Crocodine who, aside from getting a stronger axe, keeps the same armor until the end of the series.
• Time to Unlock More True Potential: When the party encounter a new enemy that is too strong for them, they escape and train before facing him again, similar to video games grinding. Usually the training involves finding a strategy to counter the enemy's, learning a new attack/spell or straight-up getting stronger. It happens when Popp and Dai practice an electric spell to fight Hyunckel, when Matoriv trains Popp for the first time and when every party member departs to train on their own before fighting the Orichalcum Royal Guards.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Maam and Leona are the two girls of the party and their personalities are very different. While both are the more compassionate members of the party, Mamm is more boyish and a fighter while Leona is elegant and feminine and is a healer.
• Took a Level in Badass: Justified, since it's a manga based off a JRPG. Over the course of the story, the heroes level up and become stronger by learning new skills or getting more powerful equipment.
  • A particular case is Maam, who invokes this trope on herself after realizing she's fallen behind. She changes classes to become a martial artist and becomes a very competent fighter.
  • Popp also stands out from the rest of the party, and has arguably the biggest increase in badassery in the entire cast when compared to how he is at the start of the story. As a matter of fact, at the end of the story, albeit Dai is still the most powerful warrior overall, Popp ends up far outclassing him when it comes to magic spells, specially long-ranged ones... even when Dai uses the Dragon Crest. To the point that Vearn considers Popp to be just as dangerous to his plans as Dai himself.
• True Companions: The party members share many adventures, battle together, and are as close as family. There are many instances where everyone is willing to sacrifice him/herself for the sake of a party companion.

Disciples of Avan

Dai

Voiced by: Toshiko Fujita (Japanese/1991 series), Atsumi Tanezaki (Japanese/2020 series), Marina Huerta (Latin American Spanish/1991 series), Claudia Motta (Latin American Spanish/2020 series), Ana Cremades (European Spanish/1991 series), Sabrina Pitre (English/2020 series)

Class: Hero

^{Click here to see his hero outfit}

The hero of the story. A boy raised by the now peaceful monsters on a remote island, brought into the greater battle against the Dark Army after Avan's sacrifice against the previous Dark Lord, Hadlar fails. He has a crest on his forehead which marks him as the Dragon Knight, who's destined to fight evil and bring peace to the world.

Dai is a nice and sweet person thanks to his uprising but can be a fierce warrior in combat. He's not very good with spells so he prefers fighting with a sword. When he gets angry, Dai activates the crest on his forehead which makes him much stronger.

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• Adoptive Name Change: Brass, his adoptive grandfather, named him "Dai" after spotting him washed ashore as a baby, but his actual name is Dino. Even after learning of his heritage and birth name, he insists on being called "Dai" while his biological father, Baran, keeps calling him Dino. Eventually Baran accepts him and calls him Dai.
• Anime Hair: While at the beginning his hair are short, over the series it becomes longer and spikier, resembling Goku's hairstyle or, fittingly, the Hero from the Dragon Quest series. It also showcases his lively personality and aggressiveness in combat.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Downplayed. Dai is 12 years old, making him the youngest and shortest member of the party. He's also the most immature and the other party members often acts like older brothers and sisters towards him.
• Badass Adorable: Dai is a cute, friendly and energetic kid who can take on monsters, armored warriors and giants. His cute appearance makes Hadlar and Crocodine underestimate him at first, before finding out his true strength.
• Badass in Distress: After his duel against Hadlar, who has just become an hyper-demon, Dai ends up stuck in an iceberg without any strength left and needs to be rescued by his friends.
• The Beastmaster: Zig-Zagged. In the two chapter introductiory arc, Dai uses the monsters on Dermlin Island to aid him in combat against the Fake Heroes Party. Following Avan's training, Dai becomes strong enough to fight on his own.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Dai is a nice and friendly boy, but becomes a very dangerous fighter when angered, especially when he uses his Dragon Crest.
• Birthmark of Destiny: Dai's crest on his forehead it's the Dragon Crest, which marks him as the Dragon Knight, a legendary hero that lives once per generation and is destined to save the world. For this reason, Dai is entitled as "the Hero". In truth, Dai is not the "actual" Dragon Knight but his son, while the original one, Baran, became evil and joined the Dark Army.
• Blow You Away:
  • The first spell Dai uses after activating the dragon crest for the first time is a wind spell, which Brass comments being numerous times stronger than the spells he usually does, that creates a huge tornado around Baron's mecha.
  • One of the spells he manages to learn without needing his Dragon Crest to activate first is the base-level wind spell, which he learns and uses Just in Time to put a brake on the boat he, Popp, Maam, and Baduck are riding on before it slams into a rocky terrain. He only uses it once more, this time to confine Flazzard's flunkies and prevent them from touching the Rock Bombs while Popp and Maam destroy said flunkies.
• Blue Is Heroic: Dai's main clothing color is blue, further accentuated by the Dragon Crest's glow, signifying his role as the hero of the story.
• Book Dumb: Having been raised in a monster island, Dai has very little knowledge of the outside world, such as when he makes all the fireworks of Papnika kingdom blow up because he doesn't know that fire lighten up fire powder, or when he has trouble reading Avan's book.
• Bring It: During his final fight with Baran, Dai outright tells him to stop holding and fight him full-power like he did the others. Baran, in his anger combined with his Dragonoid form, obliges.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: With some training from Avan, Dai manages to cut a boulder in half once he's exhausted enough to do a simple cut with no overthinking it, despite it being more than twice his size. As the primary sword-user of the party, he's also physically the second-strongest even as a kid compared to Crocodine, and that's before his Dragon Crest and his later overall power growth is taken into account.
• Charged Attack: Lon Beruk makes Dai a orichalcum sword that when sheathed, it concentrates its energy, such as a raiden spell, inside the sword and makes the attack stronger the longer it charges.
• Determinator: Dai never gives up, even when the situation is desperate and, if knocked up, he will get up and fight again. This is more evident in the party's first confrontation against Vearn: despite the Dark Lord beating everyone with complete ease and showing to be much more powerful than every adversary faced before, Dai still gets up and keep fighting while his friends are about to give up.
• Diagonal Cut: While mastering the Air Slash, Dai perceives Flazzard's core among the storm of floating pebbles and cuts it with a single slash. Flazzard initially laughs it off and believes he missed, until Dai sheathes the sword, revealing he did indeed cut his core.
• Distressed Dude: After his duel with Hadlar, which ended up in a draw, Dai remains without forces stuck into an iceberg and needs to be rescued by his friends.
• Dork Knight: Dai grew up on an island inhabited by monsters and is still very young, therefore he isn't very good when it comes with human interactions. Many characters, especially Leona, find this trait endearing.
• Dragon Knight: Although Dai is literally known as the Dragon Knight, he's an aversion because his Dragon Knight power, aside of a dragon-shaped crest when it's used, consist of a huge amount of physical and magical power with no evident relation to dragons. Dai's father, however, can become a Dragonoid, which has draconic features.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Since Dai's sword is incredibly strong and, combined with Dai's draconic aura it would instantly kill most foes, at the beginning Dai cannot communicate properly with the sword and the latter refuses to be unsheathed in most situations, forcing Dai to find alternative ways to win.
• Dub Name Change: The French, Spanish and Portuguese dubs of the 1991 anime change his name to "Fly" while the Italian dub changes his name to "Tom".
• Elemental Weapon: Dai can channel his elemental spells, specifically fire and lightning spells, into his sword, making his weapon much stronger than before. The sword made by Lon Beruk can also charge every spell loaded in it to unleash a slash powerful enough to cut down a mountain-sized colossus or even use Gigabreak.
• Empathic Weapon: As explained by Lon Beruk while he's forging it, Dai's sword has a life and a mind of its own, even though it doesn't speak. Dai's sword remains sheathed on its own will and unlocks the sheath only when it believes it's the right moment. It also saves Dai after his duel with Hadlar by locking themselves inside an iceberg.
• Expy: While he resembles the Hero from Dragon Quest III, his backstory and personality are closer to Son Goku, being a physically strong child who grew up with an adoptive grandfather.
• Facial Markings: Whenever Dai activates his Dragon Knight powers, the Dragon Crest appears on his forehead. Many characters recognize Dai thanks to it. However, after learning to better control his powers, Dai moves the Dragon Crest on his right hand.
• Flaming Sword: When fighting Hyunckel a second time, Dai notices he can't use spells because Hyunckel's armor neutralizes spells, but at the same it is too hard to be taken down with physical attacks. After being knocked semi-unconscious, Dai realizes that the only way to hurt Hyunckel is to combine magic and sword and engulf his swords in flames, becoming able to break Hyunckel's armor.
• Flight: Just like Popp, Dai is able to fly with a spell or whenever he activates his dragon crest.
• The Force Is Strong with This One: Dai learns to detect other people's presence in order to execute the Air Slash, and by extension, the true Avan Strash.
• Friend to All Living Things: Having been raised by monsters, Dai doesn't have any kind of prejudice and is friendly with every creature he meets, unless they are hostile. This extends even to living objects such as the god tear. The first thing Dai asks upon seeing it is if it could be his friend.
• Fun Size: He's one head shorter than his human companions, who are about roughly similar to each other in height. This is most definitely Played for Laughs when he purchases a full-body armor — it looks presentable to standard-sized people but nearly buries him in armor when he dons it. Even in-universe, Leona bursts in hearty laughter as her initial reaction at the sight of him in full armor.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Dai's mother was a regular human, while is father is Baran, the legendary Dragon Knight, who is an human-dragon-darkling hybrid. Because he's not a pure Dragon Knight, Dai can't turn into a Dragonoid but has the ability to move his dragon crest and concentrate his power into his fist. After Baran dies and he gives Dai his own spirit, Dai becomes a full Dragon Knight and can become a Dragonoid.
• Happily Adopted: His adoptive grandfather Brass raised him as well as any family could have. Dai, who has always known he's been adopted, never stops loving him, even after meeting his real father, Baran. Zaboera exploits this connection by kidnapping Brass and forcing him to fight Dai alongside Crocodine.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Dai, the hero of the story, can use other kinds of weapons, but his main one is a sword. Over the course of the series, Dai changes various swords, especially since most are too weak to handle his full power.
• Heroic Willpower: When Baran attempts to wipe out Dai's memories again, Dai is able to not only resist, but move Dragon Crest on his fist, allowing him to break through Baran's Draconic Aura.
• Honor Before Reason: Despite the Dark Flame Tower and Dark Ice Spires that weaken the strength and nullifies the magic except Flazzard's, Dai insists on not running and fighting Flazzard to save Leona, against the other's warning. Maam is forced to knock Dai out so they can escape.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Initially, Dai activates his dragon crest whenever he or his friends are in danger but without controlling it. When Popp asks him if he could activate it against Hyunckel, Dai replies he has no idea of how to do it.
• Humble Hero: Even when the whole world starts relying on him, Dai never gets conceited and remains humble and childish. He also has no problems with Nova calling himself "the true hero".
• Hybrid Power: Zigzagged. Dai is half-human and half-Dragon Knight, but his hybrid status prevents him from turning into a Dragonoid. However, his human nature allows him to move his crest into his fist, where he can concentrate his power to make powerful punches and slashes.
• I Will Find You: Gome explains to Dai, after its physical form is destroyed by Vearn, that it will eventually revive without any of its memories. Dai hopes he can fix that by finding Gome and once again asking for its friendship.
• An Ice Person: When Dai first meets Avan, he tries to teach the boy some simple magic, including Crack, the basic ice spell. Much to his frustration, Dai is only able to create a tiny icicle. However, when Hadlar attacks Dermline island, Dai's Dragon Crest activates and he is able to cast the powerful Kacrack spell to counteract the Dark Lord's Kafrizz.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: Dai's sword is forged to be the world's greatest sword and, when using it for the first time, Dai cuts in half a mountain sized golem from the inside.
• Implied Love Interest: Dai has a clear crush on Leona, and the latter appears to reciprocate his feelings. While the two share many tender moments together, the story never focuses on it too much and, by the end, it's never shown if Dai and Leona end up together.
• Incompletely Trained: Dai learned the Earth and Wave Slashes from Avan, managing to perform an unfinished version of the Avan Strash but, as Hyunckel points out, Dai failed to learn the third step, Air Slash, which keeps him from using a complete version of the Avan Strash. This is entirely due to Avan's Heroic Sacrifice cutting their training short. Dai masters the Avan Strash once he learns the Air Slash to defeat Flazzard.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: The main reason Dai wants to become a hero is because he believes that heroes are cool. He also doesn't mind being a mage but, aside from being unable to cast spells, he considers heroes cooler.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: "Purity" is his trademark as a disciple of Avan. Dai is the most humble and nicest of the party and is never negatively influenced by the bad things that occur during the story.
• Inept Mage: Despite Brass' efforts to teach magic to Dai, the boy is absolutely terrible at it and can barely cast a minor spell; for this reason he prefers fighting with the sword. At the beginning of the story, Dai can only cast spells when he activates his Dragon Crest, but once the power-up fades he becomes inept again. Dai learns his first spell after his first encounter with Crocodine, and over the course of the story he gradually learns more spells, while keeping the sword as a main mean of combat.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: While Vearn is the main threat and the heroes aim to defeat him, Dai has a stronger and more personal grudge towards Hadlar because he's the main cause of Avan's death. The sentiment is reciprocated because Hadlar wants to beat Dai so he can get the satisfaction to kill at least Avan's successor.
• Kid Hero: Dai is the youngest of the main cast, and is about 12 years old when he leaves his home island to begin his adventure, during which he becomes the hero of the story.
• Jumped at the Call: Dai always wanted to become a hero, even if Brass initially wants him to be a mage instead. When Avan offers to train him into a hero so he can defeat the Dark Lord, Dai accepts without hesitation.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: After Dai manages to harm him through his Draconic Aura, Baran resorts to resonating their Dragon Crests and give him amnesia so he can later attempt another capture and raise him from the ground to a loyal servant to Vearn. Dai regains his memories after Popp sacrifices himself in an attempt to take out Baran with the same spell Avan used to kill Hadlar, which revives Dai's shock when he lost his master.
• Last of His Kind: Dai is the son of Baran, the Dragon Knight, a legendary hero that exists in every generation to prevent any conflict between the three main races: humans, demons and dragons. When a Dragon Knight dies a replacement would be born somewhere. However, with Baran's death, who passes his own power to Dai, and the Mother Dragon who can't birth Dragon Knights anymore, unless Dai chooses to have children, he'll be the last Dragon Knight.
• Legacy of the Chosen: Dai is a Dragon Knight, a legendary hero who's born every generation, more specifically, Dai is the son of Baran, the current Dragon Knight, and has inherited his powers. Since the Mother Dragon can't give birth to more Dragon Knights, unless he has children, Dai would be the last one of the legacy.
• Level Drain: In-universe. After Baran cancel Dai's memories, the kid loses any combat ability he learned and, in the character sheets, he's treated as if he went back to level 1. However, Dai regains all of his experience once his memories return.
• Look What I Can Do Now!: After learning his own way to throw a fire spell, Dai gleefully shows it to Popp and Maam like an excited child, showing that he's still an immature warrior.
• Magic Knight: In-universe, "heroes" can use both weapons and magic. Dai uses both at the same time, sometimes combining the spells into his sword. However, he's not as good with spells as Popp and not as skilled as Hyunckel with the sword. Dai combines the two abilities by channeling spells into his sword.
• Magically Inept Fighter: The Hero class lets Dai fight with weapons and magic, but at the beginning of the series, despite Brass' attempts to make him a mage, Dai is unable to cast a simple spell and when Avan asks him to cast a simple ice spell, Dai just makes a small cube of ice while Popp freezes a small wave. Initially, Dai can cast powerful spells only when he activates his Dragon Crest and enters a state he cannot control, but eventually learns to cast some spells on his own, though he's not as good as Popp.
• Magnetic Hero: Dai is not charismatic, but his pureness and ability to see the good in anyone make many characters interested in him and join his cause, such as Crocodine and Hyunckel, who defect the Dark Army to join him, and Lon Beruk, who fights against Vearn after years of inactivity. Crocodine defines Dai as "the sun" who brings light to those who live in the darkness.
• Meaningful Name: Dai's, original name, Dino, was given by his biological parents. Baran says it means "powerful dragon", which is very fitting for a Dragon Knight.
• Missing Mom: Soala, his mother, died before the main story begins and Dai has no memory of her.
• Moses in the Bulrushes: Dai is the son of Baran but was sent away in the sea right before Baran destroyed an entire kingdom out of sheer rage. He washed ashore in Monster Island, where he was found and adopted by Brass.
• Nature Versus Nurture: The theme of Nature vs Nurture becomes the central thesis of his character after Baran shows up. That arc centers around Dai's struggle between his monster side, both from being a Dragon Knight and raised by monsters, and his human side. The story clearly leans on both sides being important, drawn home when Dai develops his most powerful attack by combining the most powerful technique he received from his father (nature) with the most powerful technique he learned from his master (nurture).
• Never Learned to Read: Downplayed. Dai is not completely illiterate, but he struggles with pretty much any text above elementary school level, so he has to ask his friends to read things for him from time to time.
• Nice Guy: Dai is by far the nicest member of the party, he's friendly to everybody and everything and his niceness is even recognized as the source of his strength. His ability to see the good in anyone is what makes him such a Magnetic Hero.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Invoked. Lon Beruk makes Dai a special sword, called appropriately Dai's sword, specifically for him. It's a living weapon forged in the presence of Dai, which recognizes him as its only rightful owner.
• Parent-Child Team: Dai teams up with Baran, his father, the first time he invades Vearn's palace. Together they easily defeat Fenbren and then fight Hadlar, who gives them a hard time because he's got a black core that would detonate if he's defeated.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Dai is the smallest of the main characters but also the most powerful when he activates the Dragon Crest. His small size makes many enemies underestimate him at first.
• Playing with Fire: The first spell Dai learns to use properly without the need of the Dragon Crest is Frizz, a basic fire attack. However, at first Dai has to cast it and then literally slap the flame toward the target.
• Power Glows: When Dai activates his Dragon Crest, he becomes immensely stronger and his body gets visibly covered by energy.
• Power Incontinence: Initially, Dai has no control over his Super Mode and his crest would activate unconsciously, as Dai doesn't even remember to have activated a crest on his forehead. After he learns to activate it on his own will, Dai has still little control of his strength and most swords break after he uses them.
• Raised by Wolves: Dai grew up in Monster Island. Luckily for him, the Dark King was already dead by the time he ended up there, so the monsters weren't evil and he grew up as a nice boy.
• Say My Name: After witnessing Popp's sacrifice, Dai screams his name, which is also the proof that his memories have returned.
• Shock and Awe: The Hero class is the only one that can cast lightning spells. Dai learns Zapple to defeat Hyunckel, but he needs Popp to summon a storm first in order to do so. Eventually, Dai learns to cast it on his own and without relying on the Dragon Crest, and then he learns Kazap. He can also channel his lightning in his sword for the Zap Strash technique.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Flazzard is a being made of spirit that possesses multiple stones to have a body, the only way to defeat him is to cut his core. After a lot of struggle, Dai beats him cutting the core with a single slash, right after he mastered the Air Slash.
• Skilled, but Naive: Dai is a very strong warrior, even without the Dragon Crest, and Avan’s training gives him a lot of sword-skills. However, he’s also a young idealistic boy who lived in an island full of monsters and has a lot of troubles when he has to interact with strangers.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Dai has several outfits, none of which include sleeves, as they could hinder his swords technique. The exposed arms also give Dai a tougher appearance to balance being a short 12 years old boy.
• Super Mode: When the Dragon Crest appears on his forehead (and later on, on his fist), it allows Dai to access to his powers as a Dragon Knight, which boosts his strength, both physical and magic, to an unbelievable degree, and lets him to use spells and sword techniques he would be otherwise incapable of. With it, Dai becomes strong enough to curb-stomp enemies that are otherwise out of his league. During his final confrontation against Vearn, Dai turns into a Dragonoid thanks to Baran's spirit.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Downplayed. Before Dai learns to control his crest, whenever he activates it he goes into trance and becomes much more aggressive with his enemies, but remains good. The reason Dai doesn't want to become a dragonoid against Vearn is because he fears he would go out of control and attack his own friends as well, and he transforms only when he's alone with Vearn.
• Superpowerful Genetics: Dai is the son of Baran, a Dragon Knight, and inherited the Dragon Crest, which amplifies his physical strength and magical power when activated. However, Baran explains that, due to being only half Dragon Knight, Dai cannot become a dragonoid. At the same time, his human half gives Dai some new powers, like the ability to move his dragon crest in the back of his hand and concentrating all the power in his fist.
• To Be a Master: Dai's dream is to become a hero and protect Dermlin Island, despite his adoptive grandpa wanting him to become a mage instead. When Avan offers Dai to train him to become a hero, he accepts it without a second thought.
• Token Human: In the first chapter, Dai presents himself as the only human of Dermlin Island, the island of monsters.
• Training from Hell: Downplayed. To complete Dai's training in the shortest amount of time, Avan says he's giving him a hard but quick route which, while not deadly, leaves the boy exhausted after a single day of non-stop training.
• The Worf Effect: Dai's first fight against Baran is a complete loss for the boy: his Avan Strash makes Baran barely flinch while the latter's Gigabreak destroys Dai in a single swing. The fight shows how powerful a well-trained Dragon Knight is.
• "X" Marks the Hero: Dai has a X-shaped scar on his cheek, marking him as the hero of the story as well as a fighter.
• Your Eyes Can Deceive You: During the final confrontation with Flazzard, Dai has trouble finding his core among the pebbles that make up his body. Hyunckel forces him to close his eyes by throwing his own blood at them and Dai is able to senses everyone’s auras, including Flazzard’s.
• You're Not My Father: After Baran reveals that he's Dai's father, Dai is quick to renounce him out of disgust of his desire to destroy humanity and remarks this statement after recovering his memories and seeing Popp die to take out Baran. However, after Baran joins his cause and fights with him, Dai acknowledges him as his father.

Popp

Voiced by: Keiichi Nanba (Japanese/1991 series), Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Japanese/2020 series), José Antonio Macías (Latin American Spanish/1991 series), René García (Latin American Spanish/1991 series/eps. 4-14), Hector Mena (Latin American Spanish/2020 series), David Arnaiz (European Spanish/1991 series), Cole Howard (English/2020 series)

Class: Mage/Grand Sorcerer

^{Click here to see his mage outfit}

A mage and a disciple of Avan. While Popp appears a bit arrogant, he's actually extremely coward and insecure in the inside but, driven by the desire to help his friends, Popp slowly overcomes his weakness and grows into a more courageous and competent mage.

Popp is the smartest member of the party and, under the guide of Matoriv, he learns that a mage has to constantly remain calm and analyze the situation to find a solution.

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• A Friend in Need: After seeing his father die, badly losing to Vearn and witnessing his immense power all in a short timespan, Dai is traumatized and leaves to spend some time alone and decide whether to keep fighting or give up. While everyone looks for him, Popp is the only one who realizes where he went and gives Dai a supportive speech, which prompts him to fight Vearn against the odds.
• Accidental Pervert:
  • In his first encounter with Maam, he tries to size himself up to Maam by poking her chest after she criticizes him, unaware that Maam is a girl until after the fact, earning himself a slap for the first time in the series.
  • When Popp asks Marin for holy water to recover his magical power, she's climbing a ladder while he's desperately is pulling her by the skirt, and ends up accidentally pulling the skirt down and revealing her panties. Marin gives him the holy water, but also slaps him.
• Anime Hair: While not as spiky as Dai's, Popp's hair has large and cartoony hairstyle, fitting for the deuteragonist.
• The Apprentice: Popp is introduced as Avan's mage apprentice, albeith a lazy one (and with doubts about his own talent) who gets motivated into training after seeing Dai. Later, Popp becomes Matoriv's pupil and learns a lot of new and stronger spells.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Popp learns Medroa because it's the only spell able to break through orichalcum, since it destroys everything in its path, to have a chance against Hadlar's Royal Guards.
• The Atoner: When Dai goes missing in the ice, Popp wants to join the research team at every cost despite having just come out of a hard fight because he wants to remedy of his mistakes, believing it wouldn't have happened without him.
• Attack Reflector: After killing Sigma, Popp takes Shahal's mirror and hides it under his tunic. He uses it to bounce Vearn's Kaiser Phoenix back to him.
• Attack the Mouth: Popp kills Galdandy's dragon by shoving a hand in his mouth and firing a Sizzle spell, which destroys its head from the inside.
• Audience Surrogate: The way Popp behaves at the beginning of the series, desiring to be a hero but scared of every monster he encounters, is the same as a normal person sent into the Dragon Quest world.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Popp's main strength is his wit, which he uses in battle to find a counter-strategy to the enemy's attacks. Notably, he manages to determine the weaknesses in Vearn's attacks by observing them a few times. He can also copy his enemies spells after seeing them in action, such as Flazzard's Kafrizz.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Many of his spells are incredibly powerful, but they come with so many drawbacks that requires Popp to create the right conditions:
  • Donk is a powerful gravity spell that crushes his enemies to death but drains a lot his magic power and leaves him unable to use many spells.
  • Popp's ultimate spell, Medroa, creates a beam of light that immediately annihilates everything it touches, but it's also slow to prepare, consumes a ton of magic power and can be reflected back to him. Popp learns to find the best chance to use it without risk, but it means he has to prepare a great strategy beforehand.
• Badass Cape: As a proof for having passed his training, Matoriv handles Popp his own cape, which gives him a more wizardy appearance. He later sacrifices it against Baran, but gets a new one for the final battle with Vearn.
• Back from the Dead: Popp dies using Megante against Baran. After Dai defeats Baran, the latter is impressed by his son and his allies' resolve and resurrects Popp using his blood to show his respect for them.
• Batman Gambit: A staple of Popp's fights is to use his wit to win against stronger opponents.
  • While fighting Crocodine, Popp cannot hurt him and knows Dai can't fight at full strength because he might hurt Brass, who's being mind-controlled. Therefore he attacks Crocodine with his staff and breaks it, Crocodine laughs at Popp and stomps him to the ground, then Popp uses the pieces of the broken staff to make a magic circle that frees Brass from mind-control, allowing Dai to go all out.
  • When Galdandy is about to crush him with his serpentine dragon, Popp pretends to be dead. Galdandy, disappointed by Popp's apparent fragility, orders his dragon to eat him, which allows Popp to puts a hand in its mouth and kill him with a Sizzle from the inside.
  • To counter Vearn's Tenchi Matou, Popp tricks Vearn into using Tenchi Matou, which consists of three moves at once. The first one is used to counter Popp's spell and the second one to break his staff, then Vearn confidently hits Popp with Kaiser Phoenix. This was all planned by Popp, who hid under his suit the Mirror of Shahal, which counters back every magic spell.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Popp is often goofy and clumsy, leading to many opponents underestimating him before he shows his combat skills. Ironically, Popp himself tends to underestimate his own abilities for the same reasons.
• Beyond the Impossible: Thanks to Gome keeping him between the world of the dead and the living, Popp hits Baran with a spell, and thus giving Dai the chance to strike him down, while technically being a dead body. Baran himself is unable to explain how he could have done it.
• Black Mage: Popp is of the mage class which, in the Dragon Quest world, specializes in offensive spells but doesn't know any healing ones. Until he becomes a Grand Sorcerer, which can cast healing spells as well.
• Blatant Lies: When Dai asks Popp if he likes Maam, Popp denies it nervously waving his arms and blushing, making it clear he actually does. Aware of how he's obviously lying, Popp then admits it.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: When Merle reveals that Baran is coming to retrieve Dai with his strongest subordinates, Popp pretends to be a coward again to run away, while he actually plans to fight them alone. Leona, Crocodine and Merle are disappointed by his behavior, only finding out his true intentions much later.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: While Dai does Avan's super-hard training course, Avan explains that Popp is taking a much easier and longer one but is actually really talented and could take in the hard training too. Popp didn't choose the hard training becuse he doesn't think he's able to do it but seeing Dai's improvements drives him into training in secret.
• Butt-Monkey: Popp is the main source of comic-relief of the series, always at his expenses because of his goofiness. When a scene needs a character to fall on his face, he will be that character. Even after he becomes strong and brave, Popp remains the most common butt of the joke but it doesn't detract any from his badassery or Character Development.
• Came Back Strong: Popp sacrifices his life against Baran, who is so impressed by his courage that he uses his own blood to bring him back to life. After that, Popp says to feel much better and to have a better control on his magic.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Popp falls in love with Maam, but is too insecure to say it to her face. Even when they are alone and Maam is about to leave, Popp can't bring himself to confess his feelings and just wishes her good luck, containing his tears of regret.
• Cast from Lifespan: Popp learns to use Flazzard's Five Fingers Flare but Matoriv discourages him from using it because it shortens the user's lifespan and Flazzard could use it as much as he wanted because he didn't care about his life if he could get the glory he wanted.
• The Cavalry: While Dai and Maam go to fight Crocodine, Popp is too afraid and remains behind. Because Crocodine is fighting alongside Brass, who's under Vearn's influence, Dai can't fight at his fullest and gets defeated alongside Maam but, when Crocodine appears to have won, Popp arrives. Popp's intervention frees Brass from Vearn's influence and allows Dai to win the fight.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Popp is a bit of a pervert, just like a typical teenage boy, but would never make a girl uncomfortable. He "accidentally" gropes Maam and risks his life to help her with about the same frequency.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Unlike the other main heroes, who starts out flawed and weak but behaves like an ideal hero, Popp initially is a weak mage, a huge coward and, besides his smug facade, he has very low self-esteem. As he progresses, Popp overcomes his flaws and develops into a true hero and the best mage of the world.
• Coming of Age Story: His massive Character Development mainly consists in him maturing into a true hero, shedding away his teenage flaws: his cowardice and his low self-esteem. The development is very slow and happens over the entire course of the story, with crucial moments that put Popp and his flaws to the test. His cowardice is thrown away first when he decides to save Maam and Dai rather than save his skin and then when he decides to fight the Dragon Raiders on his own; his self-esteem issues hit their peak when he fails to activate Avan’s mark unlike the other disciple, which makes Popp doubt his own worth, even when it’s necessary to reach Vearn’s palace. The latter is solved through his allies making him realizes that he’s better than what he believes.
• Contagious Heroism: Deconstructed. Popp begins the story as a coward who would run from every monster but, spending time with Dai and the rest of the party, he slowly gains courage and learns from them how to act heroically. This also means Popp constantly compares himself to the other heroes and believes to not be good enough, which amplifies his self-esteem issues, especially once he remains the only disciple of Avan who hasn’t activated his mark.
• Cowardly Lion: After he overcomes his cowardice, Popp stops running away from danger but still panicks and whines when he's required to do something dangerous. It just means he can get it out of his system fast enough that it no longer presents an inconvenience for him and his friends who, in turn, learn to accept it as a harmless pre-battle ritual as they recognize, more than Popp himself, how brave he can actually be. Over time, Popp stops being afraid at all, and acts like an actual, brave hero.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Although Popp is the main source of comic relief of the party and normally acts like a fearful teen, when he gets serious in combat he proves to be a dangerous fighter thanks to his spells and his wit.
• Cruel to Be Kind: With Baran coming with his three Dragon Riders, Popp pretends to be afraid and flees to make the others disgusted with him, so they wouldn't stop him from fighting the Dragon Riders on his own.
• Cry into Chest: Downplayed. After Popp blames himself for having abandoned Dai, Crocodine consoles him by saying there was nothing more he could do, then Popp let his emotions go and cries into Crocodine's lap.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique:
  • During the fight against Baran, Popp uses Megante to kill him, just like Avan did with Hadlar. The spells uses the caster's life-force to detonate himself and Popp uses it as a desperate attempt to kill Baran.
  • Medroa is a very dangerous spell to cast because it requires to cast an ice spell with one hand and a fire one with the other hand and said spells must be perfectly balanced, otherwise the mage would kill himself. Matoriv teaches Popp this spell because it's the only one that can destroy orichalcum.
• Deadpan Snarker: Popp has his moments of dry wit and makes many snarks comments, usually when he's dealing with the less mature Dai.
  Popp (After seeing the failure of Chiu's boulder busting "Rattus Fastus Fist") A boulder doesn't hit back after all...
• Determinator: Starting out as a coward, Popp grows into a brave hero who keeps on fighting even when the enemy is clearly stronger than him, like against Crocodine or the Dragon Riders. Popp's resolve even drives him to force his dead body to use a spell while his soul is going towards the other world.
• Deuteragonist: Popp gets about as much focus as Dai and is present from the beginning of the journey to the very end. Notably, he and Dai remain the last two standing in the final battle against Vearn.
• Dirty Coward: At the beginning of the series, despite being one of the heroes, Popp is a huge coward who would abandon his friends to save his own skin. Maam calls him out for his unheroic behaviour and, over the course of the series, Popp slowly gains confidence, to the point he even ends up becoming too fearless and goes to face enemies too strong for him. He also learns from this mistake, becoming the second best fighter of the party besides Dai. In the latter part of the series Popp often deprecates himself for of how much of a coward he used to be.
• Doomed New Clothes: Popp's Papnica outfit consists of lightweight cloth armour that is resilient enough to keep from burning when he uses Medroa. However, it gets the least amount of screentime since it gets burnt up by Vearn's powerful fire magic. Likewise his fancy new Winged Staff is broken almost immediately fighting Fenbren of the Orichalcum Royal Guard. Popp ends up spending the final acts of the story wearing his familiar wayfarer's clothes that he received at Romos.
• Everyone Can See It: Popp's crush for Maam is obvious by the way he acts around her, even the prepubescent Dai notices it quickly and, when he asks Popp, he blushes and tries to deny it. Hadlar relizes Popp likes Maam when he desperately asks to kill him and spare her, which leads to Hadlar attempting to impale Maam right in front of him.
• Flight: Popp can fly by casting a variation of the Zoom spell, he doesn't use it too often as it consumes a lot of mana.
• Future Me Scares Me: While Crocodine and the Furfang Legion attack Romos, Popp gets scared and refuses to fight, staying behind while Dai and Maam go to save the king. At the inn, Masopho tells Popp that he used to be a mage in training like him but became a crook instead because he was too scared to fight. This small speech and the fear of becoming up like Masopho kickstarts Popp's Character Development into a true hero.
• Gravity Master: Popp knows the spell Donk, which crushes the enemies to the ground with a strong gravitational force. It's powerful enough to kill multiple dragons but it costs a lot of his magic power.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Downplayed. Popp is jealous of Hyunckel, who is everything he wants to be: a strong fighter and has Maam's interest. This envy makes Popp acts less nice and more sarcastic towards Hyunckel compared to the rest of the team, even if Hyunckel doesn't have any malice against Popp, and exacerbates his low self-esteem.
• Hereditary Hairstyle: Popp and his father have the same, distinct hairstyle, indicating that they are related.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the fight against Baran, Popp desperately attempts to take him out using Megante, just like Avan used against Hadler. It doesn't kill Baran but it brings Dai's memory back.Thankfully, Baran brings him back to life after being defeated.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Even after overcoming his cowardice Popp maintains his inferiority complex and keeps viewing himself as the weakest and most disposable member of the party. It causes problems as he constantly pulls dangerous suicidal stunts. Popp also never lets himself forget how much of a Dirty Coward he's been at the beginning of the story, even long after his friends have fully forgiven him for it, and develops a strong guilt complex whenever he makes a mistake. His self-esteem issues reach a peak when he remains the only disicple of Avan to not have found his talent and starts to think he's worthless.
• Hesitant Sacrifice: Naturally, when he's about to perform Megante on Baran, Popp is very afraid and takes some time to properly say goodbye to Dai, while also being unable to contain his tears. His hesitation prevents him from killing Baran, who explains that Popp loosened his grip at the last second.
• Hidden Depths: Popp is the most psychologically complex character of the series, showing various layers of characterization. Initially, Popp is Avan's disciple but Avan says he's too lazy to follow his hard training, while in truth Popp simply doesn't believe he's worthy or able to complete it but, after seeing how fast Dai improves, Popp secretely trains on his own, just driven by envy. Often Popp acts smug but it's just a way to cope with his insecurities and acts cowardly whenever there's a dangerous situation. At the same time, in the moments of need, Popp shows his brave side and true potential, which he's not even aware of.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Downplayed. Popp is fifteen years old and has some pervy moments, especially with Maam, but it's far from his defining trait and shows it very rarely.
• I Hate Past Me: After a lot of Character Development, Popp grows to hate how much of a coward he was at the beginning of the series, especially the times he abbandoned his friends.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Popp wants to be a true hero but constantly doubts himself and fears to not be as good as the others, which he always compares himself to. This issue reaches its peak he doesn’t find his talent to activate Avan’s mark while the other disciples of Avan do it immediately, and believes that he isn't a worthy disciple of Avan.
• An Ice Person: Popp knows a few ice spells, although he doesn't use them a lot in combat, and is consistently better than Dai in this field. Early in the series, he casts a Crackle spell to freeze a wave off the coast of Dermline island, but Avan is able to shatter it easily since Popp lacked focus and discpline. His being less used to casting ice spells than fire ones makes it harder for him to learn Medroa, which requires a perfect balance between them.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Before using Megante, Popp sees that Dai is looking at him with a blank state because he doesn't remember him, and then Popp tells him that he'll be pissed if he still has that face after he dided, all with a face full of tears and mucus. The expression sells what Popp is going through moments before he sacrifices himself.
• Insecure Love Interest: Popp falls in love with Maam shortly after meeting her but, consistent with his self-esteem issues, thinks he's unworthy of her, especially when he compares himself to Hyunckel, who appears perfect in every way for Maam. When he's alone with Maam before she leaves for training, Popp can't bring himself to confesses his feelings and simply wishes her good luck.
• It's All My Fault:
  • When Dai is lost into the sea, Popp blames himself for it because he followed Mystvearn and Killvearn in the first place, leading to the fight between Hadlar and Dai.
  • Popp already feels terrible when he notices that all of Avan's disciples find their talent and make the insignia glow immediately, sometimes without even realizing it, while he fails to do it, and he feels the responsibility to activate Avan's spell all upon himself. It gets even worse when he can't make the insignia glow in time to activate the ultimate spell and he confesses his doubts to everyone.
• Jerkass to One: Downplayed. While he's never mean nor malicious to him, Popp tends to be more bitter towards Hyunckel because he envies him. When Hyunckel helps him or tries to comfort him, Popp openly admits he's the last person he wishes to be saved from, because it makes him feel even more inferior compared to Hyunckel.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After Dai is lost in the sea, Popp remains alone with Kill-Vearn, who engages a combat with him. Knowing he's almost out of mana and Kill-Vearn is a formidable opponent, Popp uses the few energies left he has to escape. He's upset to have abandoned Dai but Crocodine comfort him and tells him that it was the smartest choice.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Junk, Popp's father, is a blacksmith, with the physical strength and knowledge about weaponry required for such a job, whereas Popp is a physically-weak wizard whose specialty is on spell-casting instead of fighting with brute physical strength or weaponry.
• Look What I Can Do Now!: When Popp learns a new and powerful spell, he tends to gloat and show it off.
• Lovable Coward: After his fight with Crocodine, popp gains enough confidence to not leave his friends with a dangerous enemy but still gets scared rather easily despite being a strong mage on his own. He slowlty sheds his coward traits until he becomes a proper hero like he always wanted.
• Love Triangle: With Maam and Hyunckel. Popp likes Maam but she doesn't notice his feelings and initially is attracted towards Hyunckel, which exacerbates Popp's inferiority complex. However, as the story goes on, Maam starts to appreciate Popp more and more, though she doesn't decide until the very end of the story.
• Magic Staff: Popp's weapon is a magic staff which lets him cast stronger spells. Over the course of the story, he changes his weapon multiple times for a stronger one. During his fight against Crocodine, Popp intentionally breaks it so that he can use the orb pieces to make a magic circle and protect Brass from Vearn's influence. His Winged Staff breaks after hitting Fenbren, who is made of orichalcum.
• Moment of Weakness: After Dai destroys Vearn's fortress, Mystvearn and Killvearn leave the battlefield but Popp gets so mad at the idea of losing the only chance to capture them that he chases after them, despite knowing they're stronger than him. When Popp catches back to them, Killvearn reveals that he's been lured into a trap. Without Dai's intervention, Popp would've been killed. He feels terribly guilty when Dai gets lost at sea afterwards.
• Necessary Drawback: Medroa is an incredibly strong spell that disintegrates everything in its path, including the near-indestructible Orichalcum. To avoid making it a one-hit kill for everything, the spell requires some time to charge and can be relfected by a Bounce spell or reflective items.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Unlike most examples of the trope, this is a positive one. While being held by Killvearn's trap, Popp fails to escape and follow Dai because he felt pity for Hadlar. When the latter asks him why, Popp explains that, despite Hadlar being a demon, he has a lot more in common with humans than it seems.
• Oblivious to Love: While, ironically, Maam doesn't realize Popp's obvious feelings for her, he fails to notice the reason for Merle's interest and worry for him. He learns them only when Merle outright confesses them.
• One-Hit Kill: Popp's ultimate spell, Medroa, destroys everything in its path, even orichalcum. It means that, unless he bounces the spells back or dodges it, whoever gets hit gets pulverized instantly.
• Playing Possum: While fighting the Dragon Riders, Popp gets captured by Galdandy's dragon, which slowly crushes him with his serpentine body to give Popp a slow and painful death. Popp pretends to be killed instantly and, in response, Galdandy orders his dragon to eat him and Popp takes the chance to kill it.
• Playing with Fire: Popp is an offensive mage and, in his wide variety of known spells, there are many fire ones. He also copies Flazzard's Five-Finger Flares attack.
• Platonic Declaration of Love: When Dai leaves everyone because he’s not sure to fight Vearn again, Popp gives him a Rousing Speech where he tells Dai that he will follow him whatever he chooses not because he’s the Hero or the Dragon Knight, but because he’s Dai, his best friend.
• Power Copying: During the fight against Zamza, Popp mimics Flazzard's Five-Finger Flares spell, albeit with only three Kafrizz's instead of five, just by having watched it. Matoriv later tells him to never use it again because it shortens the user's lifespan.
• Prestige Class: Popp is of the mage vocation and,in the final arc, he achieves the Grand Sorcerer vocation, which grants him stronger spells as well as healing ones.
• Red Mage: Popp is a Mage, so he knows multiple spells except healing ones, making him a strong but frail fighter with multiple kind of attacks. By the final arc, he becomes a Grand Sorcerer, a class that knows healing spells alongside offensive ones.
• The Runaway: When the party meets Popp's parents, they tell that Popp ran away from home after meeting Avan to become his disciple. Although his father is initially mad at Popp, in the end they're both happy to see how much he grew up.
• Rousing Speech: Out of all the party, Popp is the one to have this honor. When the party is facing its Darkest Hour in the final battle, and all hope seems lost as the entire surface world is about to be destroyed by the Black Cores, Popp is the one who takes one last stand despite the odds stacked against them, even though Dai has completely given up the fight at this point. He tells Vearn that death comes for everyone, and while humans have shorter and insignificant lives compared to Underworld monsters, it's exactly because of that fact humanity fights so hard to have their lives burn bright to the end **like a bright flash of light**, no matter if they have 50 years or even 5 minutes left to live. And that's the very same reason he won't give up and will fight to the very end, even if it might not make a difference. This very speech is what reminds Dai that whenever he was scared and felt like throwing in the towel, Popp was always the one to inspire him to keep going no matter what, and said speech gives Dai the strength to challenge Vearn one last time. This is also what actually leads to the world being saved, as not only here, but once more during Dai's fight in the stratosphere with Vearn is Dai reminded of Popp's inspiring words, and it rouses him to not give in to the pain and despair of the battle, but to finally land the final blow against his foe and free the world from his tyranny. Not bad for a teen who started the story as a coward who wanted to run from everything painful.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the Furfang army invades Romos capital, Dai and Maam quickly react and prepare to save the king while Popp is too scared and tells them that he never wanted to fight monsters, thus remains in the inn. Maam calls Popp out for his cowardice and asks him how could one of Avan's disciple behave this way. Not long after, Popp changes his mind and joins Dai and Maam to fight Crocodine.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Subverted. While Popp's Megante doesn't kill Baran because he lost the grip at the last second, his sacrifice brings back Dai's memories. It leads to Dai fighting and defeating Baran.
• Signature Headgear: Despite the outfit changes over the course of the series, Popp always keep his yellow headband. The only time he removes it is when he gives it to an amnesiac Dai to hide the crest on his forehead, which also shows how much Popp cares for his friend.
• Signature Move: After he learns it, Medroa becomes Popp's signature spell, justified because only he and Matoriv know it. It's an extremely difficult, but powerful spell that combine a fire and an ice one, both cast at perfect equilibrium. Popp then creates a magical bow which shoots an attack that destroys everything in its path, including orichalcum. Its only weakness is that it can be reflected back with a Bounce spell.
• Squishy Wizard: Out of all of Dai's team, Popp packs the most power but is the most vulnerable to a hit, and all the courage he develops and his Heroic Willpower can only do so much to compensate. By contrast, Dai and Crocodine aren't human and can tank hits, Hyunckel with his armor has the highest defense of the team and Leona and Maam can heal. Mitigated when he becomes a Sage and learns healing spells, increasing his durability in a fight.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Popp strongly resembles both of his parents, having his father's hair and his mother's face.
• Surpassed the Teacher: By the end of the story, Popp becomes the strongest mage of the world, and surpasses both Avan and Matoriv.
• Taking You with Me: Seeing how strong Baran is in his Dragonoid form, who's knocked out the entire party in a few seconds, Popp attempts to kill him using Megante even if he knows that casting it would kill him as well. Unfortunately, Popp fails to kill Baran but his sacrifice brings back Dai's memories and, after the fight, Baran brings him back to life.
• Team Dad: If the name isn't a giveaway. When he's not a coward, Popp acts as the voice of reason and caution for his more reckless and Hot-Blooded team members. He also shows his protective side towards Maam, Dai and Merle.
• Thanks for the Mammary: When he first encounters Maam, Popp mistakes her for a boy and points a finger toward her chest, realizing it's much softer than he expected and she slaps him. When he meets Maam after she's gone training, Popp pokes her breast to replicate their first encounter and confirm that she's not an impostor when she gives the same reaction of the first time.
• Training from Hell: In contrast to Avan's lax training, Matoriv puts Popp into extreme, if not deadly, situations to push him into learning new spells as quick as possible, such as tying him to the bottom of a lake to make him learn the Zoom spell the fastest way possible.
• Trying Not to Cry:
  • Before Maam leaves to train, Popp has a last moment alone with her, the perfect chance to confess his feelings, but he cannot find the courage to express them and, while suppressing his tears, Popp wishes Maam good luck.
  • Popp tries to contain his tears when he's about to use ''Megante'' to take down Baran, but naturally he's too scared and ends up crying before performing th sacrifice.
• Warp Whistle: The first spell Popp learns from Matoriv is Zoom, which allows him to fly instantly with whoever is close to him to places he's already been, as a nod to the Dragon Quest games. Popp can also use a variation of Zoom to fly.
• Weather Manipulation: Popp summons some clouds to help Dai cast Zapple against Hyunckel.
• What You Are in the Dark: Popp makes his biggest choices and most of his bravest actions, like going on his own to fight the Dragon Riders, when he's alone or when nobody is noticing him, while in public, for most of the series, he acts like an easily-scared mage.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: Popp's strongest spell, Medroa, is a combination of a very powerful fire spell (Kafrizz) and an equally powerful ice spell (Kacrack). The result is an arrow-shaped spell that destroys everything in its path, even orichalcum, and can only be stopped by a bounce spell or another Medroa.

Maam

Voiced by: Mina Tominaga (Japanese/1991 series), Mikako Komatsu (Japanese/2020 series), María Fernanda Morales (Latin American Spanish/1991 series), Azul Valadez (Latin American Spanish/2020 series), Mercedes Hoyos (European Spanish/1991 series), Diana Kaarina (English/2020 series)

Class: Warrior Priest/Martial Artist

^{Click here to see her priest outfit}

^{Click here to see her martial artist outfit}

Daughter of two heroes that aided Avan in his quest to defeat Hadlar, Maam became a disciple of Avan some years before the beginning of the story and joins Dai and Popp in their quest in following their master's mission. Maam is a caring girl devoted to Avan and the most sensitive member of the party. She often acts as the heart of the team, seeing the good in everyone, including some of the most irredeemable villains, which sometimes leads to them changing for the better. Despite her sensitivity, Maam remains an headstrong woman who doesn't let anyone step on her.

In combat, Maam fights using a Magic Bullet Gun given by Avan at the end of his training, which shoots bullets literally loaded with spells, and can also use some minor healing spells. This makes her more suited for support rather than direct combat but, after breaking the Magic Bullet Gun, Maam changes vocations and becomes a martial artist. With her new class, Maam combines her healing spells with hand-to-hand combat.

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• Action Girl: While Maam is initially a competent fighter, she falls short compared to the other team members and temporarily leaves the party to train. After she comes back as a martial artist, Maam becomes one the strongest front-line fighters of the party.
• Adaptational Modesty: Since the manga is a Shōnen while the 2020 animated adaptation is aimed at a younger audience, Maam's martial artist outfit has black leggings rather than having her legs naked like in the manga.
• All-Loving Hero: Maam sees the good in everyone as much as Dai. She sees Crocodine's loss of honor in a fight and calls him out on it, she's the first person to feel compassion for Hyunckel, feels pity for Flazzard and offers him a chance to redeem himself, which he refuses, and delivers them a lot of affection. In fact, she's the soul of charity.
• Anime Chinese Girl: Her appearance as a fighter consists of a stereotypical Chinese fighting outfit, just like the martial artist vocation in the games.
• Anti-Regeneration: Her Refractor Fist turns the opponent's healing ability against itself by ramping it up to the point it destroys the body rather than regenerating it, similar to a cancer. When hit by Maam's attack, Zamza notices that his arm doesn't regenerate and falls apart instead.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Maam is in trouble against Albinass because she's far too quick for her and can't land a hit. However, thinking about the Queen piece of chess, Maam deduces that Albinass is vulnerable when she attacks.
• Badass Adorable: Maam is very strong physically and able to take down terrifying monsters, but remains an adorable girl.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Both Maam and her martial arts master, Brookeena, find his style's ultimate attack, the Refractor Fist, extremely disturbing, and only appropriate to be used for the noblest of causes. It combines a physical blow with a burst of healing magic that dangerously overstimulates the body's natural regenerative abilities, leading the victim's body to be damaged by their own healing ability. Brookena says Maam is the most suited for the Refractor Fist style exactly because she's a good person and would understand better the danger of this fighting technique.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: After losing her Magic Bullet Gun and realizing she's too weak, Maam changes her vocation and becomes a martial artist. With Brokeena's training, Maam becomes a master at hand-to-hand combat, and can even use her healing spells to make her hits more deadly.
• Batman Gambit: In her fight against Albinass, Maam can't land a hit on her because she's too quick but, before Albinass finishes her, Maam breaks her own orichalchum chestplate and the shards cut Albinass because she's dashing toward them. Thus, Albinass slows down and becomes an easy target.
• Bound and Gagged: During the second fight with Crocodine, one of Zaboera's flying eyes grabs Maam with its tentacles to prevent her from helping Dai.
• Can't Catch Up: Defied. Initially, Maam is one of the most reliable fighters of the party but, as time goes on, Maam notices the others have become much stronger than her, especially with the loss of her Magic Bullet Gun. Maam decides to go and train so that she can become a better fighter and, when she meets her old team mates, they are impressed by her newly acquired skills.
• Carry a Big Stick: While she prefers the Magic Bullet Gun, Maam also carries a polearm weapon known as the Hammer Spear for melee combat. She stops using it after becoming a martial artist.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Even before beginning her training, Maam has superhuman strength; when she returns after becoming a martial artist, Maam is strong enough to tear living armors with bare-handed attacks and smash boulders with kicks.
• Class Change Level Reset: Downplayed. Like in the Dragon Quest games, when Maam changed vocation from Warrior Priest to Martial Artist she didn't lose any Warrior Priest level but her new vocational levels start from 1, meaning she had a lot of training to do to catch back up to the other party members.
• Combat Medic: Maam's first vocation is a warrior priest, which means she can heal her allies and fight on her own.
• Cute Bruiser: Outside of battle, Maam is a cute, gentle and caring girl. Further emphasized when she becomes a martial artist, in her first appearance since her vocation change, Maam tears her way through the tournament and goes toe-to-toe with Zamza in his Superior Being form, who previously gave Dai trouble.
• Damsel out of Distress: After being captured by Hyunckel, Maam escapes on her own with some help from Gome, and finds a Soul Shell with Bartos' last words for Hyunckel.
• Demonic Possession: Maam briefly gets possessed by Mystvearn after he gives Vearn his young body. However, it's just a ploy of Mystvearn to take Hyunckel's body, his true aim.
• Designated Girl Fight: Maam is the only female combatant who goes to Vearn's palace and fights Albinass, the only female orichalcum soldier.
• Disappeared Dad: Maam's father died some time before the start of the main story and only her mother appears.
• Dub Name Change: In the 1991 anime adaptation, in some dubs her name was changed to "Sam".
• Establishing Character Moment: Maam is introduced saving Dai, Popp and a little girl from an Ursa minor, getting angry at Popp for accidentally poking her boob and then the little girl jumps on Maam's lap. These quick scenes showcase her strength, her courage and her maternal and hotheaded personality.
• Extremity Extremist: While Maam uses both kicks and punches in combat, the Refraction Fist can be used only through the fists. Zamza takes note of this and stops Maam by covering her punches with mucus.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Maam's orichalcum armor made by Lon Beruk covers mainly her left side, making her outfit completely asymmetric.
• Foreshadowing: Maam has a surprising amount of physical strength despite being The Gunslinger and not a melee fighter, notable when she slams Popp into a wall and craters it like he just got punched by Dai. It makes her realize that she's a perfect fit for the martial artist vocation.
• The Gunslinger: Maam's weapon is the Magic Bullet Gun which, as the name implies, uses bullets loaded with spells, especially fire and healing spells. This weapon is extremely important for Maam because it was a gift from Avan, but she breaks it after shooting a bullet loaded with a spell too strong. After losing her gun, Maam changes class and becomes a martial artist.
• Hair Colors: Maam's hair is pink to go with her pink palette.
• Harmful Healing: Maam's Refractor Fist is a powerful attack that combines martial arts and healing spells. It overloads the opponent's healing ability to the point it becomes destructive; however, it means that it works only on organic living beings while living statues like Orichalcum Soldiers are immune to it.
• Healing Shiv: Maam's Magic Bullet Gun can be loaded with healing bullets to shoot at her allies.
• Hero-Worshipper: Maam has a strong admiration for her mentor, Avan, and proudly flaunt her status as his disciple. Learning of his sacrifice leaves Maam's devastated and, when she overcomes the pain, she decides to follow Dai and Popp in their quest to honor Avan.
• Heroic BSoD: Popp doesn't want Maam to learn of Avan's death because he fears it would devastate her. Predictably, when she accidentally hears it from Dai and Popp, she goes in her room and spends the night mourning in her bed. The next morning, she's recovered from the trauma and joins her fellow Avan's disciples in their quest.
• How Dare You Die on Me!: When they meet again, Popp doesn't want Maam to learn that he died out of fear that she gets mad at him. Unfortunately for Popp, Dai accidentally reveals it and Maam aggressively scolds Popp, in a way that shows how much she cares for him.
• It Was a Gift: Maam is attached to the Magic Bullet Gun because it was given by Avan after she finished her training. It costs her a lot to sacrifice it to save Leona.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: Being initially a warrior priest and then becoming a martial artist, Maam can use healing spells and fight hand-to-hand. She also combines the two to make her attacks more devastating, especially the Refractor Fist, which overload the target's healing ability until it becomes destructive.
• Leg Focus: Maam's martial artist outfit and armor don't include pants of any sort, which Popp appreciates. While it gives her more leg mobility, the legs are pronounced in many panels.
• Like Father, Like Son: Maam has taken from both her parents: her physical strength, as Matoriv remarks, is reminiscent of her father, Loka, who was a warrior, while Maam has access to some healing spell like her mother, Leila, who used to be a priest. Maam's first class is the warrior priest, a mixture between her parents' classes.
• Logical Weakness: The Refraction Fist enhances the target's healing ability until it becomes detrimental and degenerate their body; this means it's completely ineffective to inorganic beings like the Orichalcum Royal Guards.
• Love Triangle: With Popp and Hyunckel. Initially, Popp likes Maam who doesn't know and is interested in Hyunckel instead. As the story goes on, Maam grows to appreciate Popp more and more, though she doesn't decide until the very end of the story, where she learns of his feelings for her.
• Mage Marksman: Maam is a warrior priest who fights with a magical gun that shoots bullets loaded with spells, either elemental attacks for offense or healing spells to support her team. She becomes a martial artist after breaking her weapon.
• Magic Knight: As a warrior priest, Maam can cast some spells, mostly healing ones, and engage in melee combat with her hammer spear. Downplayed because she mainly fights with her Magic Bullet Gun. With the vocation change, she becomes a Kung-Fu Wizard.
• Magic Skirt: Maam's second outfit that she wears after the events at Romos has a very short skirt. Since the 2020 series is aimed at a younger audience, it never flips up even when she is being held upside-down by Flazzard.
• Master of None: Defied. Maam is a warrior priest, meaning she can both fight and support the party with healing spells. However, she's not as good in combat as the other party members and, when Leona joins, Maam realizes she knows much better healing spells. To remain useful for the party, Maam goes to train and become a Martial Artist.
• Meaningful Name: Her name is Maam and she's the Team Mom of the party, as the most mature and caring member, until Hyunckel and Crocodine join.
• Meditating Under a Waterfall: Maam's martial artist design is inspired by Chinese fighters and, as a nod to its inspiration, before the final battle Maam trains under a waterfall.
• Morality Pet: Maam's pity and compassion drive both Crocodine and Hyunckel into becoming a better person. Maam's calling Crocodine out for fighting dirty makes him repent for his lack of honor. Maam is the first one to see some good in Hyunckel because he was a disciple of Avan, and he would later feel guilty for having hurt her, and she also tells him to never use The Power of Hate again, even if against a villain, and use the power of justice instead.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Even after her training, Maam still has the body of an average girl but easily overpowers enemies much larger than her and tears apart suits of steel armour with her bare hands.
• Oblivious to Love: Popp has an obvious crush on Maam and acts strange around her, yet Maam doesn't realize it until the final arc.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: Whenever Popp acts perverted or make a pervy comment towards Maam (even if accidentally) she would get angry and punish him.
• Pink Is Feminine: Downplayed. Maam's main color is pink, having pink hair and wearing pink clothes, and, for a while, she's the only female member of the party. However, she's a tomboy, which is even more evident when compared to Leona, the other female party-member. Even her orichalcum armor is pink.
• Playing with Fire: Although she isn't shown casting fire spells, Maam's most common offensive attacks are bullet loaded with these kinds of spells. In her debut, she uses one to take down an Ursa minor.
• Put on a Bus: Worried that she might not be useful anymore to the party, Maam temporarily leaves it to train and become a martial artist. Many chapters later, Dai and Popp meet her at a tournament and she rejoins the party.
• Samus Is a Girl: Maam debuts by saving Dai, Popp and a little girl and the two boys initially assumes she's a boy. Popp quickly realizes his mistake when he pokes a boob instead of a male chest.
• Signature Move:
  • Maam's iconic and most powerful attack once she becomes a martial artist is the Refractor Fist, a punch combined with a powerful healing spell that hurts the enemy by overhealing him. Justified because Brookena taught it only to Maam.
  • Her other most noteworthy martial arts technique is the Tiger Shatter Fist, which focuses all of her strength into a devasting and powerful punch. Since the Refractor Fist doesn't work on inorganic beings, she uses Tiger Shatter Fist to destroy Albinass once and for all.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Her martial artist outfit is sleeveless to give more mobility for her attacks.
• Something Only They Would Say: Because he got tricked by Zaboera disguised as Maam, when he meets her after a long time, Popp wants to be sure she's the actual Maam and pokes her boob like he accidentally did the first time they met. Maam's reaction is the same, she punches him, proving to Popp that she's the actual Maam.
• Supernatural Martial Arts: Justified because Maam already knew some spells when she becomes a martial artist and combines them with her new hand-to-hand attacks. The Refractor Fist is a special punch combined with a healing spell that overheals the target until the healing becomes destructive.
• Team Mom: As exemplified by her name, Maam is like a mother towards her teammates, always caring and worried about their safety, especially with the less mature Dai and Popp.
• Tomboy: Maam's first outfit and her personality is very masculine, especially when compared to Leona. When the boys first meet her, Popp mistakes Maam for a boy, much to her anger, and sometimes he makes a snickering comment that she resembles more a man.
• Tsundere: Maam is extremely nice to everyone except for Popp; she's sometimes verbally and violently aggressive towards him, but deep down cares for him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When the Romos kingdom is attacked by the Furfang Legion, Popp says that he's too scared to fight the monsters and decides to remain in the inn. Maam calls him out for his cowardice, going as far as to punch him, and says that a disciple of Avan should act heroic. This speech makes Popp questions his decision, starting his Character Development.
• Wrecked Weapon: To free Leona from Flazzard's ice, Maam shoots a magical bullet loaded with a dragon crest-charged spell. It breaks the ice but the spell is too powerful for the Magic Bullet Gun, which falls into pieces. The loss of her weapon forces Maam to become a martial artist.

Leona

Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese/1991 series), Saori Hayami (Japanese/2020 series), Rebeca Patiño (Latin American Spanish/1991 series), Jessica Angeles (Latin American Spanish/2020 series), Ana Fernández (European Spanish/1991 series), Kelly Sheridan (English/2020 series)

Class: Sage

^{Click here to see her royal dress}

^{Click here to see her wayfarer dress}

^{Click here to see her royal dress since the world summit}

The young princess of Papnica, a land of mages. She comes to Dai's island to undergo a ritual to complete her training as a sage, but is saved by him, foiling a failed assassination attempt. She returns as a valued ally as well as a potential love interest to Dai.

Leona is a kind, beloved and competent ruler despite her young age and, while she's not a fighter, she can support the party with her healing spells or using her authority to boost humanity's morale during the war with the Dark Army.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Leona's hair is golden blonde but the animated adaptation of 2020 gives her a more strawberry-blonde color. It also changes her main clothing color with pink instead of white.
• Bling of War: Leona's dresses are very fancy and elegant and more appropriate for an idle princess than a combatant. Justified, since she's more a leader than a fighter.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: As shown in the party after she's rescued, Leona gets drunk very easily.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Leona became the official ruler of Papnica when she was just a young teen, after the death of her father.
• Cool Crown: In her first appearance, Leona wears a tiara that indicates her princess status. Her next outfits, however, don't have any kind of crown.
• Cruel to Be Kind: To keep the amnesiac Dai away from Baran, Leona and the others lock him in the deepest, most impenetrable part of Teran's dungeons. This action pains Leona a lot, but she understands it's necessary for Dai.
• Damsel in Distress: As a princess in a Fantasy story, there have been moments where Leona is in danger and has to be saved. Justified since her status of Princess of Papnica make her a valuable piece in the war between humans and the Dark Army:
  • In her debut, Leona gets poisoned by a giant scorpion summoned by Baron, who plans to kill her and steal her status, and Dai has to call Brass to heal her.
  • After the Undead Legion forces Leona and her servants to retreat, Flazzard finds her and freezes her in an ice block that slowly kills her to bait Dai and the party.
  • In the last arc, she's bound by the Tentacle Rope from the core of the Vearn Palace because the core, freshly deprived of Vearn's magic as its primary power source, seeks a new source and Leona happens to be nearby at the time.
• Don't Call Me "Sir": Leona insists on being called by name and not be referred to as "princess" to those she considers her equal. After Dai calls her princess too many times, Leona playfully threatens to never talk to him again if he calls her "princesss" one more time.
• The Face: As a very charismatic leader, Leona serves as the main representative of the Party when they interact with important figures such as other rulers, and becomes the leader of the kingdom alliance until queen Flora's return.
• Fille Fatale: Leona is a young girl and, when she first meets Dai, she tries to use her charms to get what she wants. She loses this trait in the next encounters, having matured as a person.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Leona is a princess who deeply cares for her people and her golden hair is not only a visual clue to her royal status, but shows that she has a good heart as well.
• Healing Hands: Leona is the healer of the party and can cast a lot of healing spells and a revival one. They're all cast through her hands and she needs to be close to the target to apply the spell.
• The High Queen: Leona is extremely wise and fair, remains calm even during a difficult time such as the war against the Dark Army and is the one who organizes the summit between the remaining kingdoms. After Leona is saved from Flazzard's ice, Hyunckel confesses to her that he's the former commander of the Undead Legion and direct responsible for her kingdom's destruction, and asks her to pass judgment on him, being even willing to accept being executed. On the spot, Leona accurately assesses his motives and sentences him to keep on fighting for justice as a disciple of Avan for as long as his life lasts, and to never seek out death or to blame himself excessively. Even Matoriv, who previously chewed out the royal family, is properly impressed at her character and wisdom noting she would be an able leader and that her country would certainly recover.
• An Ice Person: A weak ice-type spell is one of the few offensive spells Leona knows.
• I Will Wait for You: Some time after Dai has gone missing following his sacrifice to take down the real Kill-Vearn, his legendary sword comes back. Leona takes it as a sign that Dai is still alive somewhere and that she'll eagerly wait for his return.
• Implied Love Interest: Dai has a crush on Leona and it's heavily implied she reciprocates; however, the story never focuses too much on their romance and by the end of the manga they don't become an official couple because Dai goes missing.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: Leona's long hair give her more of a traditionally feminine princess look.
• Meaningful Name: Her name means "female lion" in Spanish, which signifies her royal upbringing.
• Modest Royalty: Leona's dresses aren't opulent but are complex and elegant enough, especially when compared to the other characters' outfits, to communicates her royal status. Justified because she participates in battles as well, and an overly complex dress would be a hindrance.
• Now or Never Kiss: Downplayed, because the angle doesn't make it clear, but is heavily implied that Leona kisses an amnesiac Dai before leaving him to face up Baran, because she doesn't know if she would survive the fight or if Dai would ever get his memory back. Thankfully, she survives and Dai regains his memory.
• Playing with Fire: Among the only offensive spells Leona knows is a weak fire one.
• Plucky Girl: Leona is very positive and upbeat when she's not doing her princess duties, which helps her raise the morales of the party and those around her.
• Politically-Active Princess: Leona is an excellent diplomat and, when the situation against the Dark Army gets dire, she realizes that the human kingdoms must form an alliance to win the war and organizes a summit with the remaining kings.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Leona is a very feminine princess, especially when compared to the tomboyish Maam, and some of her outfits are mainly pink.
• Princesses Rule: While Leona is the monarch of Papnica, she's not referred to as queen but as "princess", while the others are known as kings. Or queen, in Flora's case.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Rather than have Hyunckel executed for his crimes when he was a captain working for Demon Lord Vearn, she instead gives him a chance at redeeming himself as a disciple of Avan.
• Rite of Passage: Leona comes to the island of monsters, where she meets Dai, to make a ritual that would complete her training as Sage. While the rite itself is actually a ploy by Papnica's bishop and sage to lure her into a trap and usurp her, after they're defeated, Leona does the ritual.
• Royal Brat: In her introduction, Leona is still immature and the first thing she tells Dai is that he's shorter than she expected. In her next appearance, Leona has matured a lot, but is still playful when out of duty.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Leona is the princess of the Papnica kingdom and never remains idle or leave the responsibility to others. Once she's freed, Leona organizes a summit to unite the forces of the remaining human kingdoms against the demon army, and fights on the front line during the last assault.
• Shipper on Deck: Leona supports Popp in his pursue for Maam's affections, and actively encourages him to fight for her, although, as Dai quickly realizes, she does it in large part for her own amusement.
• The Social Expert: Justified. As a royal, Leona is much more used to interacting with people than the other party members, especially with other rulers.
• Teens Love Shopping: When she joins the party, the first thing Leona suggests is to buy new equipment in a mall-like shop, where she tries many outfits in front of Dai.
• Tsundere: At the very beginning, Leona is nice to her people but mischevious towards Dai. After he saves her, she becomes much more honest with her feelings towards him.
• Universally Beloved Leader: Everyone in the Papnica Kingdom loves her and has complete trust in her. Her closest followers are often worried about her life, but would never disobey or doubt her orders.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: In the final battle, Leona hides Gome in her chest, which unintentionally allows her to make a wish and move the spheres where everyone is trapped to attack Vearn. Shortly after, Vearn finds Gome and rips him out of Leona's dress.
• White Magician Girl: Leona is nice and caring but doesn't know many offensive spells, having many healing spells instead, more powerful than Maam's, and even a weak resurrection spell. These traits make her the healer and support of the party, both in and outside of combat. During the battle with Baran, she proves to be vital by restoring her allies multiple times, who otherwise would've been killed by Baran.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: While Leona is just as mischievous and playful as a young teen girl is expected to be, she's very serious while doing her monarch duties and many comment that she's very wise for a young girl. Her wisdom makes her an excellent diplomat and ruler, as shown when she holds a summit with the remaining human kings, who are much older than her.

Hyunckel

Voiced by: Hideyuki Hori (Japanese/1991 series), Yūki Kaji (Japanese/2020 series), Israel Magaña (Latin American Spanish/1991 series), David Allende (Latin American Spanish/2020 series), Antonio Villar (European Spanish/1991 series), Vincent Tong (English, 2020 series)

Class: Dark Swordsman/Warrior

^{Click here to see his Dark Armour Blade}

^{Click here to see his Dark Armour Spear}

Former leader of the Undead Legion, a legion of soldiers who have transcended death. Hyunckel lost his parents when he was just a baby, but was taken in by Bartos, a former general of Hadlar's army. Initially, Hyunckel holds a grudge against Avan, whom he believes killed his foster father and became his pupil under the pretense of killing him, but failed. He was then taken in by Mystvearn who brought him up to be a general in the Dark Army. In truth, his adopted father's murderer was in fact Hadlar, and, after learning this fact, he leaves the army to join Dai.

Unlike the other party members, Hyunckel is very quiet and serious, fully devoted to make up for his past actions. Hyunckel is a very strong swordsman and, later, lance fighter and, while he can't cast any spells, makes up for it by using his own Aura. He uses two sets of armor, first the Dark Armour Blade, which grants him immunity to spells, then he replaces it with the Dark Armour Spear. Both sets of armor were made by the Darkling blacksmith Lon Beruk.

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• Always Someone Better: Hyunckel is what Popp aims to be: a strong warrior that is the object of Maam's affection. While there's no malice towards Popp, whenever Hyunckel is in the spotlight, he makes Popp jealous and hits his low self-esteem.
• Animate Dead: Hyunckel obtains the title of leader of the Undead Legion thanks to his ability to manipulate the corpses with his Dark Puppetry Aura Hand technique, taught by Mystvearn.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Hyunckel's signature attack, Bloody Scryde, is a piercing attack that rips through any armor like it was made of butter. The only way to avoid getting hurt from it is to dodge it.
• The Atoner: After realizing how mistaken his hatred for Avan is, Hyunckel wishes to die to make amend for his past, but Crocodine convinces him that it's better to leave the past behind and make good actions from now on. To reinforce it, Leona orders Hyunckel to make amends for his actions as leader of the Undead Legion by fighting with Dai's party and he spends the rest of the series as a hero with the intent to fullfill that request.
• Attack Its Weak Point: The Dark Armour Blade grants Hyunckel immunity to any spell and is very resistant, but Dai notices that it leaves a small spot open in the helmet whenever Hyunckel removes the sword from the face. During their second fight, Dai cast a thunder spell to Hyunckel's face, but it doesn't work because, while it bypasses the armor's immunity, Hyunckel is simply strong enough to resist it.
• Badass Cape: When he's not wearing his armor, Hyunckel wears a white cape that makes him look like a mysterious, wandering warrior.
• The Bait: After the first confrontation with Vearn, he’s captured alongside Crocodine to be publicy executed and lure the heroes’ forces and destroy them with a surprise assault.
• Big Damn Heroes: Hyunckel tends to part ways from the party, usually to train himself, and return just in time to save someone:
  • When Hadlar throws Maam to impale her on the ice tower, Hyunckel arrives and destroys the tower just in time, much to Popp's chagrin. Then Hyunckel fights Hadlar while Popp and Maam run to Dai.
  • Attacks Galdandy right when he's about to behead Popp.
• Black Knight: When he's a leader of the Undead Legion, Hyunckel is of the Dark Knight class and is a stoic and vengeful warrior clad in a dark and scary-looking armor.
• Cast from Hit Points: While he can't cast spells, Hyunckel can use his own life energy to cast a devastating attack: Grand Cross. He can use it by making a cross-shaped object, but using it leaves him exhausted instead of killing him outright. Hyunckel remains vulnerable after using it should any enemy manage to survive it, so he saves it as a last resort.
• Casting a Shadow: As the commander of the Undead Legion, Hyunckel frequently battled with the use of Dark Aura in the form of the Dark Puppetry Aura Hand and Bloody Scryde techniques. However, after Hyunckel changes side and is firmly on the side of good, his powers over darkness weaken, something that Mystvearn points out to him.
• Chick Magnet: Hyunckel is a good-looking young man and during the story, Maam and Amy develops some feelings for him, although later Maam moves onto Popp.
• Cool Sword: At the beginning of the story, Hyunckel wields the Dark Armour Blade, a magic sword made by the world's best blacksmith, which has the ability to become an armor immune to magic.
• Defeat Means Friendship: After losing to Dai, Hyunckel realizes that his hatred towards Avan was wrong and Crocodine convinces him to join the Party so he could amends for his past actions.
• Determinator: In a fight, Hyunckel doesn't surrender until he's left without an ounce of stregnth. In his fight with Hadlar, Hyunckel uses Grand Cross, converting his full store of fighting spirit into offensive power as a last stand, and nearly drains himself to death. This leaves him in a very precarious position, ripe for the killing by an Evil Gloating Hadlar pointing out he doesn't even have the energy left to move, but the very last dregs of his fighting spirit manages to will his sword into Hadlar's heart, dealing him a lethal wound. Hadlar acknowledges his Determinator credentials with his dying breath. In the last arc, despite being outnumbered and with a single health point left, Hyunckel doesn't hesitate to fight multiple pawn soldiers and wins.
• Dented Iron: Hyunckel always recovers from attacks that could kill any normal warrior but, by the end of the manga, his bones have accumulated so much damage that not even the strongest magic spells can restore them anymore, so he has to leave the battlefield for good.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Hyunckel gets visibly angry when both Crocodine and Maam pity and cry over his attempts to ignore his humanity in favor of dishonorable vengeance. It does dig into him enough to lay the seeds for his Heel–Face Turn, however.
• Driven to Villainy: Hyunckel hates Avan because he thinks he's killed Bartos, his father, which prevented him from truly following his teaching as hatred grew into his heart. After failing to kill Avan and being accidentally sent into a river, Mystvearn picked and groomed as the leader of the Undead Legion, but Maam notices that Hyunckel has a good heart corrupted by hatred. Thanks to Dai and Maam, Hyunckel sees the error of his ways and becomes a good person.
• Dub Name Change: In the 1991 anime adaptation, his name was changed in some dubs to "Henky".
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even when he's part of the Dark Army, Hyunckel hates the idea of using violence against women. When Zaboera suggests him to use a spell to turn a captured Maam into Hyunckel's sex slave, Hyunckel almost kills him on the spot.
• Evil All Along: Downplayed, since it happens in a couple of chapters. Before revealing himself as the leader of the Undead Legion, Hyunckel pretends to be on the heroes' side.
• Evil Counterpart: Before his Heel–Face Turn, Hyunckel shares a background similar to Dai's, they've both been raised by monsters and trained by Avan, but he ended up joining the Dark Army because his foster father was seemingly killed by Avan. Dai himself acnowledges that he could have ended up just like him if he lived the same experience.
• Evil Wears Black: Hyunckel's black outfit he wears in his introduction is a visual clue that he's actually one of the leaders of the Dark Army. When he joins Dai's party, Hyunckel's new standard outfit becomes purple.
• Good Costume Switch: Justified. Initially, as a General for the Dark Army, Hyunckel wears an intimidating set of armor that hides his face when he's not using the sword and keeps it even after joining Dai's party. However Hyunckel destroys his armor while fighting Larhart who, as a sign of respect, gives Hyunckel his own armor, which is more traditionally heroic looking, and keeps it until Hyunckel meets Larhart again and gives him the armor back.
• Happily Adopted: Hyunckel was taken in by Bartos, a skeleton and one of the commanders of Hadlar's army, but was a good father to Hyunckel. For the first part of the story, his main motivation is to avenge his father's death, which he achieves by killing Hadlar (although he later comes back).
• Honor Before Reason: Hyunckel is an honorable fighter nearly as much as Crocodine. He insists on taking out Baran's subordinates in a fair fight and uses a spear even though he's much more effective with a sword.
• Ignored Epiphany: During his second fight with Dai and Popp, Maam gives Hyunckel a soul shell with his father's last message, where he reveals that he wasn't killed by Avan but by Hadlar. In response, however, Hyunckel throws away the soul shell and keeps fighting, dismissing what he heard as lies. He realizes to have misdirected his hatred only after being defeated.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Hyunckel admits to Larhart that he was holding back against him to save his full strength for Baran. The moment he hears about Baran's Dark and Troubled Past, he stops holding back and is able to better match Larhart, much to his bafflement.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Hyunckel's most common way to attack is to penetrate his enemies with his Bloody Scryde.
• Incompletely Trained: While he's initially a much better swordsman than Dai, Hyunckel was also trained by Avan but didn't complete the training course too because he attempted to kill him and Avan accidentally pushed him in a river to defend himself. He masters the Air Strash while fighting Mist-Vearn because it's the only attack that can hurt him.
• Instant Armor: Hyunckel's weapon is the Dark Armour Blade, a special sword that becomes a set of armor that instantly covers his body whenever is used by calling out the incantation "Amdo". His second weapon, the Dark Armour Spear, works the same.
• It Was a Gift: After fighting with him and hearing his story, Hyunckel gains a big amount of respect for Larhart and gladly accepts his Dark Armour Spear to replace his broken weapon. Even when Lon Beruk offers Hyunckel to make him a new sword, he refuses the offer and keeps the lance, despite not being used to fighting with it yet, because he wants to honor Larhart.
• It's Personal: After learning that it was Hadlar who killed his father, Hyunckel becomes determined to fight him. His wish is granted not long after, when he fights Hadlar during the war against Flazzard. Hyunckel also has a personal interest to fight Mystvearn because he deceived him for years and led him down the wrong path.
• I've Come Too Far: Despite hearing his father's last words through the Soul Shell and learning about the truth of his death, Hyunckel ignores them and refuses to go back after years of hatred towards Avan and his disciples. It's only after he's defeated and he's spared thanks to Maam that he accepts the truth and changes his ways.
• Killing Intent: When Hyunckel was trained by Avan, the latter could tell something was off with him because he felt Hyunckel's desire to kill, but Avan didn't realize he's the one Hyunckel wanted to kill until he attacks him.
• Last Chance Hit Point: During the fight against the remaining chess pieces at Vearn's fortress, the King measures Hyunckel's remaining life at a mere 21 and sends the pawns to kill him, but Hyunckel survives with a single HP and no amount of Cherry Tapping is able to finish him off.
• Love Triangle: With Maam and Popp. At first, Maam seems to lean more towards Hyunckel at the beginning, but he keeps some distance out of shame of his evil past, while Popp envies him for looking good in the eyes of Maam. However, as the story goes on, Maam starts to appreciate Popp more and more, though she doesn't decide until the very end of the story.
• Made of Iron: Even without his armor, Hyunckel's durability is superhuman, even moreso than Crocodine, who's a monstrous crocodile, and withstands very powerful attacks. Hyunckel's seemingly Heroic Sacrifice after his defeat even has him completely engulfed in molten magma, and he still gets pulled out with only moderate injuries afterwards. During his fights, Hyunckel takes a lot of attacks but still manage to come out on top most of the time.
• Master Swordsman: Hyunckel is an exceptional warrior; Lon Beruk mentions that Hyunckel would be his equal with a sword and that he's hobbling himself with a spear, a weapon he's not used to fighting with and has to learn from scracth how to use it.
• Misplaced Retribution: Hyunckel hates Avan and wants to kill him because he believes he killed his father. However, since Hadlar killed Avan first, Hyunckel moves his grudge onto Avan's disciples: Dai, Popp and Maam.
• Moses in the Bulrushes: Hyunckel was found as a baby in a village destroyed in an demon invasion sent by Hadlar, back when he was the Demon King. Bartos, an undead knight, found him and adopted him.
• No-Sell: Hyunckel's armor is immune to magic, therefore it nullifies any magical attack, unless it’s aimed at his weak spot. It's also very resistant and, during their first fight, Dai and Popp aren't able to make a scratch on Hyunckel.
• Noble Demon: When he's a member of the Dark Army, Hyunckel would heal enemies that he respects, like Crocodine, and prefers to not hit a woman.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Even when they're enemies, Dai can't bring himself to hate Hyunckel because they've both been raised by monsters and realize he would've probably become like him if someone had killed Brass.
• Not So Stoic: Hyunckel rarely shows any emotions, but he breaks down into Manly Tears from time to time at key moments of his Character Development. The most famous examples when he accepts the truth about his adoptive father's death, and when Leona "condemns him" to keep on living and spend the rest of his days as an Avan student to atone for his past.
• Oblivious to Love: Hyunckel is often cold and distant, in a non-malicious way, and doesn't realize that Maam has feelings for him until Popp points it out to him, and he also doesn't notice Amy's obvious crush on him. By Hyunckel's own admission, he states that he's not suited to make anyone else happy.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Normally, Hyunckel wouldn't hit a girl; the fact he slaps Maam shows how much her words really got to him.
• People Puppets: Aside from corpses, Hyunckel's Dark Puppetry Aura Hand technique works on people as well and he uses it on Dai and Popp to immobilize them so he can finish them off. He later uses the same technique on Mystvearn, but the latter notices his lack of Dark Aura made the technique weaker.
• Perpetual Frowner: In contrast to the other, more cheerful and expressive heroes, Hyunckel is the most mature of the group and is constantly in a serious mood because he feels guilty of the things he did in the Dark Army.
• The Power of Hate: Defied. Hyunckel's Dark Aura is fueled by his evil intentions and desire of revenge, but Mystvearn points out it has become weaker and been replaced with Light Aura since he became a good person, which prevents him from using Dark Puppetry Aura Hand. Hyunckel tries to remedy by using his hatred for Mystvearn but Maam convinces him to use the power of justice instead.
• Purple Is Powerful: Hyunckel's standard outfit since he joins the heroes is purple, which indicates his more serious attitude as well that he's one of the most powerful combatants of the party. His Dark Puppetry Aura Hand and Bloody Scryde techniques glow with a purple energy, as well.
• Purple Is the New Black: When he's a leader of the Undead Legion, Hyunckel's standard outfit is mostly black, but replaces it with a purple one that visibily demonstrates his Heel–Face Turn and keeping his more serious and moody personality.
• Redemption Equals Death: Subverted and Discussed, After losing to Dai, Hyunckel recognizes his mistakes and saves the Party by throwing them away while he sinks into the lava, but is saved by Crocodine at the last minute. Then Hyunckel mourns that, by being saved, he lost the chance to amends for his actions but Crocodine replies that he can be redeemed by making good actions from now on.
• Reforged Blade: Hyunckel breaks his Dark Armour Blade during his fight with Dai but, after he's rescued by Crocodine, it comes back inexpicably repaired. Lon Beruk reveals it teleported to him and he repaired it, then it went back to Hyunckel. It breaks permanently during the fight against Larhart and Baran.
• The Resenter: Despite ranking under him, Hyunckel often disrespects and Stealth Insults Hadler, angered at the fact that his father died in spite of Hadler's supposed strength. He's not wrong that Hadler was at fault, but underestimated how directly involved he was, since it was Hadlar himself who killed him.
• Revenge: Hyunckel's initial motivation is to avenge his father by killing Avan and his disciples. Once he learns that Bartos was actually killed by Hadlar, Hyunckel moves his vengeance to him and kills him the first time they meet afterwards.
• Shoulders of Doom: The Dark Armour Blade sports large and pointy shoulders that make the armor even more menacing, this is especially fitting when Hyunckel is part of the Dark Army. The Dark Armour Spear has large shoulders as well, but they're rounder and less scary, visually communicating that Hyunckel joined the Hero's party.
• Signature Move:
  • Hyunckel's most iconic attack is the Bloody Scryde, a strong piercing attack able to penetrate even orichalcum.
  • He's also the most proficient user of Grand Cross, which he tends to save as a last resort (e.g. when he has lost his weapon) because it Cast from Hit Points.
• Spikes of Villainy: Hyunckel's first armor has a lot of spikes, giving him a scary look befitting for a commander of the Dark Army.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: In a rare heroic version, Hyunckel has a personal revenge with Mystvearn as a way to atone for his actions, since he's the one who lead him down the evil path. When the heroes are fighting the Shadow Legion at the world summit, Hyunckel leaves his friends behind to fight Myst-Vearn on his own, and it nearly costs him his life.
• Token Human: Before changing sides, Hyunckel is the only human in the Dark Army, which is composed of monsters and darklings. Justified since he was raised by Bartos.
• Whip Sword: While still part of his helmet, the Dark Armour Blade has the shape of a whip, which Hyunckel can use to attack. Whenever it's removed, it becomes an actual sword.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Hyunckel has white hair, which makes him look like a good person before revealing himself as one of Vearn's commanders. This is averted once Hyunckel becomes a good person.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Hyunckel claims he would never hurt a woman, which makes him noticeably more honorable than the other commanders of the Dark Army before he changes side.
• Wrecked Weapon: Hyunckel's Dark Armour Blade is first broken by Dai but comes back repaired, but then it breaks permanently in Hyunckel's fight with Larhart. The sword remains, but Dai breaks it when he uses his full power to defeat Baran. This forces Hyunckel to change weapons and he adopts the Dark Armour Spear he received from Larhart.

Monsters

Crocodine

Crocodine

Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (Japanese/1991 Series), Tomoaki Maeno (Japanese/2020 Series), Carlos Magaña (Latin American Spanish/1991 series), Ricardo Brust (Latin American Spanish/2020 series), Ángel Corpa (European Spanish/1991 series), Jason Simpson (English/2020 series)

Class: Beast King

Race: Mandrake Major

"I looked down on humans. I thought they were puny, pathetic creatures, but fighting Dai and his friends made me realize that humans are strong and compassionate creatures! They can work together and can share in joy and sadness! They're not like us monsters, who are alone in our strength!"

Former leader of the Furfang Legion, a tribe of complete abominations, wielding unfathomable power. After having been defeated by Dai and Pop's teamwork, he is inspired by Pop's courage and joins the party.

Even when he's part of the Dark Army, Crocodine is a strong and honorable warrior and would willingly give his life away to save his party companions. Although he's the only monster of the group, something which makes him more introverted toward other people, Dai and the rest of the party treat him like one of their own.

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• 24-Hour Armor: Crocodine is never seen without his armor, not even when he's celebrating or sleeping.
• Always a Bigger Fish: In the Magic Forest, Dai and Popp are having trouble dealing with a manticore until a fierce roar from afar scares the manticore away and, shortly after, Crocodine arrives.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Crocodine is an humanoid crocodile with pink scales, making his monster race even more distinct from a normal crocodile.
• Back from the Dead: After being defeated by Dai, Crocodine tumbles off the castles and dies; however, the Dark Army retrieves his corpse and revive him.
• Badass Cape: Crocodine wears a small cape that denotes his position as one of the Generals of the Dark Army and as a strong fighter after he joins the main party.
• The Bait: After the first confrontation with Vearn, he’s captured alongside Hyunckel to be publicy executed and lure the heroes’ forces for a final war.
• The Beastmaster: At the beginning of the story, Crocodine is the leader of the Furfang Legion and his roar alone is enough to scare a beast. He also has a lot of beast-like monsters under his command, some of whom remain with him after he defects from the Dark Army. However, he tends to fight on his own while his monsters either aid him with travel (like the Garuda he uses to fly) or are treated more like subordinate troops than allies in combat.
• Big Damn Heroes: Since joining the heroes, Crocodine often saves the party by arriving at the most convenient moment.
  • When Hyunckel uses Bloody Scryde towards Dai and Popp, Crocodine arrives and gets in the way, taking the attack in their place, and then gives them the chance to escape.
  • Right when Hyunckel is about to be submerged by lava, Crocodine rescues him at the last minute.
  • Crocodine joins the party in their first fight against Baran, raising the morale for what was, until that point, a complete stomp in Baran's favor.
  • Saves Popp when he's chased by Killvearn and gives him an opening to escape for good.
• The Big Guy: Crocodine is the largest and most physical-based fighter of the party.
• Blood Knight: Crocodine likes to fight a worthy opponent and, since he doesn't consider humans worth fighting for, Hadlar finds him in his base. When Dai kills him, Crocodine is glad to have been defeated by a worthy opponent.
• Blow You Away: Crocodine can't use magic but his axe is equipped with wind spells. He first uses it to send Dai against a tree.
• Boisterous Bruiser: After joining Dai's party, Crocodine becomes much more jovial and friendly, like a big brother for his teammates. However, he remains closed towards other humans, fearing they wouldn't like him because he's a monster, but eventually opens up to everyone.
• Breath Weapon: Crocodine can fire Heat Breath out of his mouth, either to paralyze his opponent or to thaw out ice.
• Bring It: During his second fight with Baran, Crocodine dares him to use his Gigabreak against him, claiming he'd be able to withstand it. He does, albeit heavily injured but is quickly healed by Leona, and is able to tank it a second time. This however is a ploy to get Baran to use up his Mana to weaken him and make him easier for the others to fight.
• Can't Catch Up: When he joins the party, near the start of the series, Crocodine is the strongest fighter; however, the rest of the team obtain many more power-ups than him. By the final arc, Crocodine is still a solid fighter but completely outclassed by Avan's disciples. Going with the video-games tropes used in the series, Crocodine is like an In-Universe version of Crutch Character.
• Clothing Damage: Aside of whenever he gets seriously injured, whenever he uses his ultimate attack and muscles up his arm, Crocodine breaks the right shoulder of his armor.
• Disney Villain Death: After being defeated by Dai, Crocodine topples out of Romos castle where he falls a considerable distance onto solid stone and dies. However, the members of the Dark Army brings his body to the base where he's resurrected.
• Defeat Means Friendship: After being defeated by Dai, Crocodine realizes how great humans can be and leaves the Dark Army to join his party.
• Determinator: While on the receiving end of a brutal Curb-Stomp Battle by Baran, Crocodine insists on fighting despite having only one good arm and being partially blinded, all for the sake of protecting his teammates.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Crocodine is the first Mandrake Major that appears in the entire Dragon Quest franchise, debuting before the race's game introduction (Dragon Quest V). Being at the time a brand new race (and not designed by Akira Toriyama), Crocodine is very different from the humanoid dragons that appear in later games.
• Enhanced Punch: Crocodine's strongest attack, Beast King Anguish Blast, has him powering up his arm and then throwing an very strong beam from his fist. After some training, Crocodine can shoot two beams with both arms at the same tame, each rotating in a different direction.
• Establishing Character Moment: Hadlar finds Crocodine resting in his cave, where he says that he doesn't consider humans worth fighting, showing his view on humanity. In his next scene, Crocodine scares a manticore, from a distance, with his roar alone, establishing that he's the commander of the Furfang Legion.
• Eye Scream: At the end of their first battle, Dai permanently scars Crocodine's left eye. It impresses Crocodine and damages his honor, making him leave the fight to swear revenge on Dai. Baran then almost break his other eye, meaning he almost blinds Crocodine.
• Fantastic Racism: Initially, Crocodine looks down on humans and consider them not even worth the trouble to fight but changes mentality after seeing the strength of Dai and his friends. While facing Hyunckel, Crocodine tells him that, even if they might be weaker, humans can be great as well.
• Foil: Crocodine and Chiu are the main monsters on the heroes side and contrast each other in multiple fields, making them stand out more. Crocodine is very large and a strong physical fighter, whereas Chiu is small and lacks raw strength. The two characters are also paralleled when Crocodine, the former General of the Furfang Legion, guide Chiu into developing leading skills until he gains a small army of monsters on his own.
• Gentle Giant: After leaving the Dark Army, Crocodine proves to be nice and friendly in spite of his large size.
• Graceful Loser: After Dai defeats him, Crocodine says to be glad to have lost in a fair fight rather than winning with an unfair advantage.
• Growing Muscles Sequence: Downplayed. Before using the Beast King Anguish Blast, Crocodine's right arm becomes much more muscular, breaking the armor's shoulder in the process.
• Honor Before Reason: Crocodine is, by far, the most honorable of the Six Generals. During his second confrontation with Dai, he uses a mind-controlled Brass to get an edge over Dai, who cannot fight at his fullest in fear of hurting his adoptive father, but it's clear Crocodine regrets using it. At the end of the fight, Crocodine foregoes it to have an equal clash with Dai and gracefully accepts defeat.
• Humans Are Special: Initially Crocodine dismisses the humans as weak and not worth fighting but, after seeing Dai's and Popp's resolve, he changes mindset and tells Hyunckel that, even if they aren't as strong as the monsters, humans have many special qualities the other races don't.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: As one of the Six Generals, until his change of heart, Crocodine is incredibly strong and, when facing Dai and Popp for the first time, he demonstrate his strength by slicing a stone wall in two.
• Intergenerational Friendship: While the party members are from young teen to young adults, Crocodine is the only fully-grown adult but is still a full party-member and forms a close friendship with all of them. Being the oldest, he often acts like an older brother when he gives moral support to his party members.
• Lizard Folk: Crocodine is an anthropomorphic pink crocodile and, initially, the leader of the Furfang Legion, which comprises of beast-like monsters.
• Mad Eye: When Crocodine leads his army on Romos' capital, Maam notices that his eye has gone crazy by his desire of revenge.
• Made of Iron: Crocodine describes his steel body as his defining trait and, while he sometimes needs a bit of healing magic to get back on his feet, he's incredibly durable. He survives many attacks that have seemingly killed him, including Baran's Gigabreak straight to his chest.
• Manly Tears: Crocodine is large and manly but, whenever he cries, he remains badass. When he takes Hyunckel's attack to save Dai, Crocodine makes a speech about humans' strength and Hyunckel notices that he's crying.
• Mighty Roar: As the leader of the Furfang legion, Crocodine has a dep roar that scares monsters far away from him.
• Monster Knight: He's an anthropomoprhic crocodile knight dressed in full armor that wields an axe and values honor, like a chivalric knight.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: Crocodine is the most visibly muscular dark general and party member and is the more physically-oriented fighter in both groups. He’s also unnaturally strong, able to break stone with ease.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Crocodine is a large, crocodile-like monster and starts off as one of the Six Generals of the Dark Army and a dangerous enemy for Dai and his friends. Averted after becoming a good guy, where he's much friendlier and nicer.
• Nice Guy: After his Heel–Face Turn, Crocodines shows his friendliest side and develops many odd friendships.
• No-Sell: When Popp sends a Frizz spell against him and Crocodine simply dispels it by blowing it away.
• Noble Demon: When he's a leader of the Dark Army, Crocodine puts a strong emphasis on fighting fairly. In his second fight with Dai, it becomes a sore point for him that he resorted to foregoes his honor and use a dirty trick.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: By the end of the series, while remaining a powerful fighter, Crocodine is severely outclassed by the rest of the party. Crocodine himself admits the disciples of Avan are much stronger than him when they go in Vearn's Palace while he remains behind to fight the Dark Army.
• Revenge: After Dai scarred his eye and hurt his pride, Crocodine retreats swearing revenge. Shortly after, he engages an all-out assalt on Romos' capital, driven by the obsession to get back on Dai, to the point he gives up his honor to gain an unfair advantage over the boys. Eventually, Crocodine realizes this is not making him feel better and has a final, fair clash with Dai, where he gracefully accepts defeat.
• Scars Are Forever: In their first fight, Dai scars Crocodine's face, leaving him with one eye. Unlike the other wounds he receives, this scar doesn't go away after he's healed.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Dai permanently scars Crocodine's eye, the latter retreats, claiming that his honor has been tainted. When he returns, Crocodine is obsessed by his revenge over Dai.
• Shoulders of Doom: Crocodine sports very large shoulder pads on his armor, making him appear even larger and emphasizing his nature as brutish physical-fighter. Whenever he uses his ultimate attack, Crocodine breaks one of his shoulder armor to pump-up his arm.
• Signature Move:
  • As the general of the Dark Army's Furfang Legion, Crocodine's most noteworthy attack was his "Beast King Anguish Blast", which concentrates his fighting spirit in one of his arms and fires it off as a spiraling blast of energy. However, when he changes sides and join's Dai's party, he changes the name of the attack to the "Beast King Redemption Blast".
  • Later in the story, Crocodine decides to undergo some serious training since the party would be fighting even more powerful villains. He gains the ability to use "Beast King Indomitable Blast", where he performs a "Beast King Redemption Blast" with one arm and then uses his other arm to send a second blast in the opposite direction.
• Super-Strength: He's even more supernaturally strong than what is expected from a hulking Lizard Man to be — he can break stone with a light tap of his fist and push entire tidal currents off-course.
• Super-Toughness: While he can dish out a respectable amount of damage, his phenomenal durability is the greatest asset he brings to the party, letting him shield his friends, wear out his enemies, and generally just keep fighting where nobody else would or could. While confronting Baran, Crocodine chooses to repeatedly face-tank his Gigabreak (with Leona healing him every time) so that he'll be too exhausted to use it again at full power against Dai.
• Token Heroic Orc: Downplayed. Crocodine is far from the only noble or kind-hearted monster, but he's one of the very few who can completely ignore Vearn's evil influence and stay noble and kind-hearted enough to be a full-time hero and defender of the world, and is the only non-human member of the party. Being the only monster of the party, after they saved Leona, Crocodine doesn't join the party because he fears to make humans unconfortable; luckily for him, some soldiers approach him with a barrel of beer and cheer together.
• Tornado Move: After training between two whirpools, Crocodine learns a spinning variation of the Beast King Anguish Blast. He can also shoot two at the same time, one with each arm, that spin in the opposite direction, creating a force strong enough to break orichalcum, like Sigma's arm.
• Unwanted Rescue: Zig-Zagged. After saving Hyunckel, the latter is bitter and believes it would've been better for him to die so he would've amended for his crimes. In response, Crocodine says that it's much better to remedy by making good actions.
• The Worf Effect: Crocodine is physically the strongest party member; therefore, he tends to be overpowered by new enemies to show how much they are strong and that usually there's the need of some outside-of-the-box thinking. Having Super-Toughness also helps - if he can survive even the most brutal, one-sided beatdown, then that's what he'll get on a regular basis.

Gome

Gome

Voiced by: Yumi Touma (Japanese/1991 series), Mariko Koda (Japanese/1991 movie), Ai Furihata (Japanese/2020 series), Michelle Molineux (English/2020 series)

A golden Slime with the ability to fly, Gome has been Dai's friend for some time by the time of the series' start. It appears to have no fighting capacity at all, but there may be something unusual about it beyond its one-of-a-kind appearance and, while following the Party, shows a variety of useful abilities.

Gome is usually very cheerful and friendly towards everyone, and is extremely supportive of Dai.

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• Benevolent Genie: Unknown to everyone, Gome included, it’s actually a divine gift that grants wishes to everyone and became alive after granting Dai’s first wish to become his friend. Unintentionally, Gome helps the heroes multiple times in their quest without everyone being aware of it until Vearn explains it.
• Cute Slime Mook: In true Dragon Quest fashion, Gome is an adorable slime and a friendly companion of the party. Or at least, it looks like a slime, while it's actually the Tear of God, a magical artifact brought to life by Dai's wish.
• Death of Personality: After its physical form is destroyed by Vearn, Gome explains to Dai that it will eventually revive without any of its memories. Dai hopes he can fix that by finding Gome and once again asking for its friendship.
• Deus ex Machina: Gome unknowingly uses its power of miracles to save its friends from certain death throughout the series, even motivating Popp into struggling against the pull of the afterlife when he sacrifices himself with Megante. Towards the end, this weakens Gome until it shrinks in size and is helplessly crushed by Vearn while asleep. The final request it grants to Dai is connecting everyone in the planet, so they're all aware of the Black Core bombs and can help to stop them.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: Gome is a golden metal Slime, an extremely rare type of monster. In the first chapter, the Fake Hero Team plans to catch it to sell it at a high price. Its golden color is actually a hint that it's a divine gift.
• Hope Bringer: At the end, Gome is revealed to be a relic made by the Gods that represents hope and helps mankind by granting their wishes. When he finds it out, Vearn immediately kills him to symbolically destroy humankind's hope.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Its speech is basically variations of "pii", but every character can understand its intended messages just fine. It only speaks properly in the afterlife when Popp is briefly killed and when Gome has his final conversation with Dai after being crushed by Vearn.
• Kill the Cutie: Gome is an adorable slime but, during the final battle, Vearn realizes it's actually the Tear of God and kills it because it would be too powerful.
• Living MacGuffin: In the pilot chapters, Gome is kidnapped by the fake heroes party because it’s an extremely rare monster, to bring it to the king as a gift. The main plot of the pilot is Dai going to Romos to rescue its best friend Gome.
• Love Imbues Life: Downplayed. While love wasn't necessary to give it life, Gome was originally just a magic object, the Tear of God, that grants wishes to anyone, and was brought to life with Dai's wish to become his friend.
• Metal Slime: In-Universe. As the manga is based off the Dragon Quest games, Gome is a unique monster worth a lot of money, which make it the target of the Fake Hero Team.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Gome helps multiple times by using abilities never seen or foreshadowed before, such as restoring Dai's strength in his fight against Crocodine, hurting a being made of orichalcum or talking to Popp before he goes to the afterlife. This is justified because he's actually the Tear of God and grants any wishes but nobody, including Gome itself, is aware of it; therefore, everyone accidentally makes wishes to him.
• No Biological Sex: Slimes don't have a sex, thus Gome is refereed to with gender-neutral pronouns.
• Only Friend: While Dai is friends with all the monsters at Dermlin Island, Gome is by far the closest one and the only one Dai calls "friend", before he meets Popp.
• Shrinking Violet: Dai describes Gome as very shy and, when he calls all the monsters of Dermlin Island to meet the (fake) Hero’s party, Gome is the only one to not answer the call.
• Story-Breaker Power: Gome's true power is to grant human wishes, meaning it could make anything come true. The only reasons nobody abuses of this power is because no one, Gome included, knows about the Tear of God, and thus they only make some unintentional wishes. Vearn reveals Gome's true identity and kills it because it could be too dangerous to him.
• Team Pet: Gome is the only non-fighter of the Party and follows it through the entire story, often giving it some kind of support (especially emotional one to Dai).
• Tender Tears: Gome is very emotional and remains cute even when it cries. It tend to cry the most whenever something sad happens to its teammates, especially when Dai loses his memory and doesn't recognize it anymore.
• Walking Spoiler: The reveal that Gome is actually the Tear of God and its ability to grant wishes brings the character and its actions under a completely different light.

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