Ask John: How Many Episodes Were There to Dragon Warrior?

Question:
I remember back in the early 90’s watching the Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) anime series on TV and that it was released by Saban. I only remember them showing 13 episodes. Were there any more episodes released beyond those 13 I saw? Has Saban ever released it on home video?

Answer:
While Dragon Warrior lasted only 13 episodes in the US, the Japanese version of the Akira Toriyama Dragon Quest series ran for 43 episodes, beginning in 1990. A second Dragon Quest TV series, titled Dragon Quest: Dai’s Big Adventure, began in 1991. This second series also had 3 movies. A fourth, stand-alone movie titled Dragon Quest: Emblem of Roto, based on the long-running Emblem of Roto Dragon Quest manga story, premiered in Japan in the late 1990s. Since then, there has been no new Dragon Quest anime, but the series may see a revival soon, as Enix is preparing to release the very highly anticipated Dragon Quest 7 video game in Japan for the Playstation. (Dragon Quest easily rivals Final Fantasy’s popularity in Japan, although the series is relatively unknown in the US.) Dragon Warrior was never officially released on home-video in the US, so the only way to find it nowadays is to find a fan that recorded it from TV that’s willing to make copies for you. I haven’t heard of any plans for the series to get any sort of re-release in the US in the foreseeable future, but there’s always a possibility.