Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai

A new episode releasing is one of my favorite parts of the week. I grew up reading the manga from my older brother's collection and I was absolutely enthralled, nineties manga just hit different. It combined the best aspects of JRPGs with a cute and expressive drawing style and it was plotted perfectly. The story zipped along so smoothly that it was over before I knew it and it made me yearn for more.

Since, unfortunately, the story was never extended beyond the 36 manga run, the next best thing was to see these characters and storylines I love so much brought to life on the small screen (after the initial disappointment of the first adaptation being cut short), and boy does this series deliver. It was actually a blessing in disguise that the first iteration of the show failed, because modern animation has come so incredibly far and is now able to do justice to even the most complex fight scenes and set pieces. The animation style is so faithful to the manga that it sometimes feels like you are literally transported into the pages while it unfolds. And I'm glad a new generation of kids gets to (re-)discover this incredible series.