Dragon Quest: Your Story

Summary

Dragon Quest: Your Story (Japanese: ドラゴンクエスト ユア・ストーリー, Hepburn: Doragon Kuesuto Yua Sutōrī) is a 2019 Japanese 3D CG anime film based on the Dragon Quest series of video games, adapting the storyline of the 1992 video game Dragon Quest V. It was released in Japan by Toho on August 2, 2019 with an international release on Netflix on February 13, 2020.

Dragon Quest: Your Story
Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanjiドラゴンクエスト ユア・ストーリー
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnDoragon Kuesuto Yua Sutōrī
Directed byTakashi Yamazaki
Ryuichi Yagi
Makoto Hanafusa
Screenplay byTakashi Yamazaki
Based onDragon Quest V
by Square Enix
Produced byShūji Abe
Edited byRyuichi Yagi
Music byKoichi Sugiyama
Production
companies
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • August 2, 2019 (2019-08-02)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box office¥1.42 billion ($13 million)[1]

Plot edit

The film begins with Luca's birth, followed by him and his father Pankraz leaving Gotha to travel the world to avenge the boy's mother Mada who was kidnapped by monsters. On his childhood travels, Luca meets Bianca while acquiring both a Golden Orb and a sabrecat cub he names Purrcy. While visiting Coburg castle, Luca witnesses prince Harry's abduction by the monsters serving Bishop Ladja and accompanies his father to rescue the prince. But Pankraz is killed by Ladja, using his final moments to reveal to Luca that his mother is still alive.

The boys are then enslaved by Ladja's monsters before they eventually escape as teenagers after ten years of working on a giant temple with help from Dr. Agon. Harry returns to Coburg and parts ways with Luca, promising to repay him for Pankraz's rescue attempt. After reuniting with a fully-grown Purrcy and his father's retainer Sancho while joined by a slime he named Gootrude, Luca learns that Pankraz assumed him to be the Legendary Hero destined to stop Ladja. Luca also learns that Ladja had abducted Mada as her Zenithian lineage is needed for a ritual to open a portal to the Demon World.

The Zenithian Sword which Luca needs is located in the town of Mostroferrato in the possession of the wealthy nobleman Rodrigo Briscoletti. But the town is terrorized by Bjørn the Behemoose, who stole the sword, with Briscoletti offering the hand of his daughter Nera to whoever defeats Bjørn. Luca manages to defeat the monster with Bianca's help and spares Bjørn when he submits. Though Luca finds himself not to be the Legendary Hero, he is betrothed to Nera until an encounter with a witch (Nera in disguise) convinces him to confess his feelings for Bianca.

Luca decides to break his engagement with Nera and marries Bianca, with the couple eventually having a son named Alus. Shortly after, they are attacked by monsters, with Ladja abducting Bianca while turning Luca to stone. Ladja takes Bianca to his temple, revealing her to be a Zenithian before turning her to stone when she refuses to help him convince Mada to teach her the spell to unseal the portal. Luca is revived eight years later by his son Alus, revealed to be the true Legendary Hero that Pankraz searched for. The group seek out the Zenith Dragon, revealed to be Dr. Agon, who needs his Golden Orb to bring them to Ladja's temple. Luca learns the remains of the Golden Orb he possessed was a fake. In order to find the real Golden Orb, Agon sends him to the fairies, who send him back in time to retrieve the real Golden Orb from his childhood-self and switch it with a forgery.

The final battle soon commences with Luca joined by Bjørn and Harry's army as he finally avenges his father, only for a dying Ladja to acquire the spell needed to open the portal. Though Alus seals the portal, reality is suddenly distorted by who is supposed to be Grandmaster Nimzo. The being explains himself to be a computer virus installed in place of the real Nimzo by a hacker, revealing to Luca that he is playing a virtual simulation of Dragon Quest V while proceeding to delete everything. The virus then proceeds to send Luca back to reality, only for Luca's restored real-world memories and the passion for Dragon Quest allowing him to resist. Gootrude then reveals himself to be the game's anti-virus program and gives Luca the means of destroying the virus and restoring the game (in the form of the sword belonging to Dragon Quest character Erdrick).

The game ends when Luca's party arrive at Gotha, with Luca intending to keep this version of the game in his heart. Though when watching the fireworks from Gotha, Bianca hits him playfully, and Luca notes that he actually felt the pain.

Cast edit

Character Japanese voice actor English dubbing actor
Luca Gotha (The Hero) Takeru Satoh[2] Yuri Lowenthal, Julian Lerner (young)
Bianca Whitaker (Bianca) Kasumi Arimura[2] Xanthe Huynh
Alus Gotha (The Hero's Son) Hudson Loverro
Nera Briscoletti (Nera) Haru[2] Stephanie Sheh
Prince Harry (Henry) Kentaro Sakaguchi[2] Zeno Robinson, Elijah Rayman (young)
Pankraz Gotha (Papasu) Takayuki Yamada[2] Parker Simmons
Sancho Kendo Kobayashi[2] Shaun Conde
Dr. Agon (Pusan)/Zenith Dragon Ken Yasuda Neil Kaplan
Rodrigo Briscoletti (Ludman) Suzuki Matsuo[2] Frank Todaro
Gootrude (Surarin) Kōichi Yamadera[2] Steve Blum
Mada (Martha) Chikako Kaku[2] Cissy Jones
Bjørn the Behemoose Arata Furuta[2] Jacob Craner
Bishop Ladja (Gema) Kōtarō Yoshida[2] Jason Marnocha
Kon the Knight (Jami) Steve Blum
Slon the Rook (Gonze) Trevor Devall
Grandmaster Nimzo (Mildrath) Arata Iura[2] Paul Guyet

Production edit

On February 13, 2019, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii appeared on the Nippon TV show News Zero and announced that a 3D CG anime film based on the franchise would be released on August 2.[3][4] Titled Dragon Quest: Your Story, it adapts the 1992 video game Dragon Quest V.[3]

Written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, it is also directed by Ryuichi Yagi and Makoto Hanafusa.[4][5] Some of the staff, including Yamazaki and Yagi, previously worked together on the 2014 3D CG anime film Stand by Me Doraemon.[4] Horii supervised the film and it uses Koichi Sugiyama's original music from the games, performed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.[3]

For the film, the dialogue was recorded first and the characters' mouths and expressions were created to match it which is extremely unusual for an anime.[6] Describing the animation, Yamazaki said that it was done at his studio by different animators who created "different forms" of Akira Toriyama's original designs from the video games.[7] The actors recorded their dialogue twice, once two years prior and then with the finished animation.[6]

The first trailer was released on April 4. At the same time, 13 cast members were announced, including Takeru Satoh as the protagonist Ruka and Kasumi Arimura as Bianca.[5] Several additional cast members were announced on May 14.[8] A second trailer and the film's poster were released on June 19.[9]

Lawsuit edit

In December 2019, Dragon Quest V novelist Saori Kumi filed a lawsuit against the producers of the film, claiming that the characters names she came up with in the novel were being used in the film without permission.[10]

Release edit

 
Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills hosted the world premiere of the film.

A premiere of the film was shown at Toho Cinemas in Tokyo on July 16, 2019.[6] It was later released in cinemas nationwide on August 2, 2019.[9]

The film premiered internationally on Netflix on February 13, 2020.[11][12][13]

Reception edit

Following the release of the first trailer, some Japanese fans negatively criticized the decision to hire famous live-action actors to voice the characters instead of professional voice actors.[14] Much of the negative criticism was also directed at the character designs, which did not use Akira Toriyama's signature art style of the series.[14]

Dragon Quest: Your Story grossed ¥1.42 billion ($13 million) during its theatrical run in Japan. It was one of the top 25 highest-grossing Japanese films of 2019.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "2019". Eiren. Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "映画『ドラゴンクエスト ユア・ストーリー』公式サイト|コメント" (in Japanese). Dragon Quest: Your Story Official Website. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "ドラゴンクエスト:山崎貴監督が3DCGで映画化 「V」が原作 タイトルは「ドラゴンクエスト ユア・ストーリー」". Mantan (in Japanese). February 13, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "「ドラクエV」3DCGアニメ映画化!総監督の山崎貴「ヘンリー、カッコいいですよ」" (in Japanese). Natalie. February 14, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "アニメ映画『ドラクエ』豪華キャスト13人公開 主人公に佐藤健、ビアンカに有村架純、フローラに波瑠" (in Japanese). Oricon. April 4, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c "映画「ドラクエ」新カット8枚到着、佐藤健「"花嫁論争"が繰り広げられる予感」" (in Japanese). Natalie. May 27, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  7. ^ "Lupin III: The First's Director on Bringing an Anime Icon to 3D". io9. October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
  8. ^ "アニメ映画『ドラクエ』 サンチョ役にケンコバ、スラりん役に山寺宏一ら決定" (in Japanese). Oricon. May 14, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  9. ^ a b "映画「ドラクエ」新たな予告映像でゲマやブオーンとバトル、石化シーンも" (in Japanese). Natalie. June 19, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  10. ^ Sherman, Jennifer (December 19, 2019). "Dragon Quest V Novelist Sues Dragon Quest Your Story Film's Production". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  11. ^ Mateo, Alex (January 16, 2020). "Netflix Adds Dragon Quest Your Story CG Anime Film on February 13". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  12. ^ Romano, Sal (January 16, 2020). "Dragon Quest: Your Story coming to Netflix on February 13". Gematsu. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  13. ^ McWhertor, Michael (January 17, 2020). "The Dragon Quest animated movie comes to Netflix in February". Polygon. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  14. ^ a b Ashcroft, Brian (April 8, 2019). "Why Some Japanese Dragon Quest Fans Don't Seem Thrilled With The CG Anime Movie". Kotaku. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

External links edit

  • Official website
  • Dragon Quest: Your Story at IMDb