The 35th anniversary of the Dragon Quest franchise has people excited. Since its debut on the Famicom, the RPG series has delighted gamers in Japan and America both with its interesting combat and fantastic worlds. Dragon Quest's popularity has led to the series being relentlessly parodied in Japan, and the 35th anniversary is the best time to give English-speaking fans the chance to enjoy the funniest one ever created.
The Hero Yoshihiko series started on TV Tokyo in 2011, with its first entry, The Hero Yoshihiko and the Demon King's Castle. This was followed up with another season in 2012 called The Hero Yoshihiko and the Key of the Evil Spirit and the final season, The Hero Yoshihiko and the Seven Chosen Ones, released in 2016. The series is an officially sanctioned parody of the Dragon Quest series. In fact, the series is heavily inspired by Dragon Quest V, with the titular Yoshihiko looking quite similar to the hero from that game.
The series starts in a small village that has been ravaged by a plague. Yoshihiko and his sister are forced to care for each other, as their father, Hero Teruhiko, left to find a magical herb that can cure the plague, but he never returned. The village, desperate for a hero, holds a test to see who can pull a magical sword from a stone and become the next hero. When Yoshihiko pulls the Beckoning Sword from the rock, he is told that he must travel to the Demon King's castle and find a cure for the horrible plague.
However, after this standard fantasy intro, things go totally off the rails, and the true joy of The Hero Yoshihiko starts. Yoshihiko is instantly accosted by hordes of paper-Mache monsters, a bandit who can't finish stories, a magician who sucks with magic and a lazy Buddhist deity who looks on from above. The series delights in poking fun at videogame tropes, frequently referencing health and magic meters as well as the weirdness of turn-based combat and the fact that NPCs have limited or useless dialogue options.
As the show progresses, the fourth wall gets utterly destroyed and the series pokes fun at other games and anime. This includes a pitch-perfect One Piece parody and a spoof of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The situations get increasingly ludicrous as witty dialogue and increasingly dense running jokes arrive at a frantic pace, so there is never a dull moment.
And this is all wrapped up in a low-budget aesthetic that is packed full of energy, charm and most importantly, love. You can tell that everyone who worked on this show adores Dragon Quest and roleplaying games in general, and that joy is utterly infectious. The low-budget elements are used flawlessly, staying funny and clever without ever making the show hard to watch or visually annoying. The Hero Yoshihiko is the show that all parody should aspire to be -- it's a delight to watch even if you don't know anything about the source material.
There is a good chance that you're already familiar with one part of The Hero Yoshihiko, as one scene has gone viral several times. The scene is one of the many battle parodies and features Yoshihiko and his party facing off against a thief with a poison-coated blade. Alas, after several minutes of bragging, the thief licks his own knife in an attempt to look tough and instantly drops dead, allowing the party to pass. This joke is perfectly timed, and it will resonate with anyone familiar with fantasy battles, be they video games or tabletop ones.
However, despite this viral fame, the show has never been released in America. However, the release of Dragon Quest XII: Flames of Fate is the perfect opportunity to release the series in the west, allowing fans to enjoy Yoshihiko's weird and wacky adventures. The show is available on Netflix in Japan, and its surreal nature would actually fit in well with Netflix's American comedy output, making it seem like a no-brainer for any of the companies involved.