Todd Blankenshipさんのイラストまとめ

(Great minds think alike)

The King Merman (Merking) is a Dragon Quest monster from DQIII onward, but this female variant seems to be Sanjo’s own creation. Otogiri’s disguised form also resembles Queen Marina (Seren) from DQXI.

Indeed, strength alone isn’t enough. Avan remembers how his power-based Earth Slash was useless against Gangadia. He’ll need to find something else if he wants to triumph…but what’s next? Thus ends volume 2!

((Kigiro insults the mummy’s bad water aim by calling him a デクの棒/deku no bō, literally a wooden doll but metaphorically a useless blockhead, hence Deku’s nickname in My Hero Academia))

Alright, it took awhile, but I really do love this chapter. It’s impressive the amount of subtle nods to the original series it weaves into an exciting climax for the first arc. The series as a whole is clearly structured so that each complete volume is a complete story chunk.

@GainesUriel His triumphant return

The rings in the sky might be a reference to the background in Jaco’s selfie with his girlfriend from the end of the Jaco manga. But really…why would the U6 tournament judge hang out with the anthem singer? It’s a nice callback but a little contrived.

But enough about the TV show. The real news is Viz’s English release of the Dai manga, with translations by @ochimusha108. Volume 1 (of 25) covers the same material as anime episodes 1-5. Here’s a detailed review by Mimas on the Dragon’s Den forum: https://t.co/LRwxpRWP1a

The anime makes it much clearer that Kill-Vearn’s trap creates a giant Nine of Diamonds pattern on the ground. The manga never shows a clear view of the whole thing, so I didn’t even pick up on that detail until watching this episode. But maybe I’m just thick.

Also, Bulma is the “second-born daughter” of Capsule Corporation (after her big sister Tights, of course). And still voiced by Aya Hisakawa, following the untimely passing of Hiromi Tsuru