We find Dai and Popp rescuing a young girl from vicious creatures, but unfortunately for the trio, they got lost in a forest. But, luckily, a young lady named Maam, who was from the same village as the girl came to help the trio.

Popp and Maam immediately got off on the wrong foot. Even though she invited the boys to come to stay in the village for the night. Popp turned down the offer and took Dai deep into the forest. Later, we learned that Maam was not only a disciple of Avan, but her parents were part of Avan’s party. Her mother was a priest, and her father was a warrior.

During the battle with Crocodine, the trio has to learn to work together, or the village perishes.

The second volume collects sixteen ‘tales’ and a spell compendium, this also collects the first battle with the Dark Army, and the Furfang Legion commander Crocodine.

This volume also serves well on the character building, especially for Popp’s case, he isn’t much of a well-liked character at the beginning due to his pride getting in the way of things, and can be too much of a coward at times. but he was there when his friends needed him the most. He became an important part of the story during the final battle with Crocodine, who abandoned his pride and accepted the help from Zaborea.

Another thing that I enjoyed about this volume was the introduction of Maam, she wasn’t written to be a “damsel in distress”, insecure about her looks, or trying to impress the guys. Like Popp, she looked up to their master, and thanks to this volume, we got to learn more about her background since most of the story was set up in her village.

Dragon Quest: Adventure of Dai Volume Two was another strong continuation of the story. While there was plenty of action to go around, the volume offers plenty of character building and world establishment. If you enjoyed the first volume and the anime, you’re in for a fun ride!

Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Volume Two sees Dai and Popp continuing on their journey.

Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Volume Two
Written by: Riku Sanjo
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: May 10, 2022

Volume Two opens with Dai and Popp rescuing a young girl from creatures while all three of them are lost in a forest. They are saved by a young woman named Maam, who comes from the same village as the young girl. Unfortunately, Popp and Maam don’t hit it off when they meet. Even though Maam offers to take them to her village to stay the night, Popp refuses to take her up on the offer and drags Dai off with him. Never mind that the two of them have been lost in that forest for three days, Popp’s pride gets in the way of using his common sense.

At the same time, Hadlar approaches Crocodine, a beast king, about taking down Dai. When Crocodine takes on Dai and Popp in the forest, Popp runs off in fright and leaves Dai to take care of Crocodine. Maam, who has come into the forest, finds Popp being chased by a Lenticore and saves him. She drags Popp back to where Dai is and uses her weapon to heal Dai so he can finish fighting Crocodine. While Crocodine is injured and flees, he makes it clear he intends to come after Dai again and kill him.

It comes out that Maam was also an apprentice of Avan, and that her weapon is a magical one that she received from him when she graduated from his training program. Even though it turns out Maam is a fellow apprentice, she and Popp spend most of the volume as antagonists… although as Popp gets to spend more time around Maam, he seems to develop feelings for her. Popp and Dai try to hide the fact that Avan died from Maam, but she overhears when Dai tells the village elder.

The second half of the volume sees Crocodine teaming up with the mystic bishop, Zaborea, when he goes after Dai. However, we see that Crocodine is swallowing his pride because as part of the agreement, he’s provided an item that gives him an underhanded way of defeating Dai. When Dai and Popp head to Romos to see the king, Maam accompanies them. She’s going because she thinks the two boys are going to avenge Avan’s death, but she doesn’t let on that she overheard Dai telling the village elder about Avan. When they reach Romos, they have to spend a night at an inn… and discover that the group of phony heroes that were introduced in Volume One are also there, still posing as heroes.

Dai isn’t happy about running into them, but he has bigger things to contend with when Crocodine arrives and takes the king hostage. An element that gets focused on in this half is Popp and his tendency to want to run away or not join in a fight due to trying to protect himself. When Dai goes to rescue the king alone, he refuses to go help, even when Maam tries to insist. It turns out that, in the end, Popp does help out… but he receives the prodding he needs from an unexpected source. During this climactic battle in this volume, Popp ends up being almost as important of a character as Dai. Popp goes through some needed character development here, and hopefully his character will continue to develop in future volumes.

And during the final battle, we also see Crocodine wrestle with the fact that he abandoned his pride and accepted the help from Zaborea. It was interesting to see what it was that Zaborea provided him, and what effect this has on Dai and his ability to fight. But Dai is able to overcome this, thanks to help from his friends. But right at the end of the battle, when Crocodine realizes he’s losing, he actually shows regret for deserting his pride and ultimately doing something that he usually would have never even contemplated. His final action catches the characters off-guard, but I think that for the character he was portrayed as, Crocodine’s final action makes a lot of sense for him to do.

After reading Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Volume Two, I thought that Maam made a nice addition to the cast. Not only is she a major female character, she’s also not simply a “damsel in distress.” While she may not have done much in the final battle in this volume, Maam proved early on in this volume that she has agency and that she’s competent with her magical weapon. We also get to learn a little bit about her background, thanks to the fact that some of the volume is set in Maam’s hometown.

When all is said and done, I thought that this volume of Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai was a strong continuation for the story. This volume only had to introduce one new character, so a lot more of it could be dedicated to keeping the action and the story moving forward. While there was action and story progression in the first volume, a lot of time still had to be spent on establishing the characters and the world that they inhabit. Volume Two was able to jump right into the story.

If you read and enjoyed Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Volume One, I think you’ll appreciate how the story and the characters develop in Volume Two.