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The story
A thread lamenting the declining popularity of Alena, the heroine of Dragon Quest IV, has appeared on 5ch. She was once one of the series’ most popular characters thanks to her visual appeal, but opinions have reportedly grown divided ever since she was given a voice in the smartphone version, Dragon Quest Heroes, and other related titles. The thread drew a wide range of reactions, from “getting a voice was the curse” to nostalgia for her original Akira Toriyama design, to outright questioning of the voice casting itself.
What people said
She really was super popular
Just mute the audio and she's still cute today
The tough, buff early-design Alena is great, right?
Early Toriyama-era Alena is charming
Those thick thighs 😍
As long as she doesn't talk she's cute, so it's fine
This is exactly what I'm talking about
The more Toriyama energy, the better
I saw more love for Meena and Maya
Nah, that's just not true
Seriously don't want HD-2D, just give us a proper remake
They've done 1, 2, 3, and 7, so isn't it about time?
8 already got its remake on 3DS a while back, and 9 would just be awkward to pull off
Is it really his ONLY one though?
Seriously, this girl…
If they follow that pattern, wouldn't a IV remake get voices too?
Sounds like we might get to hear "Killer Earrings, take this!" all over again — can't wait 😭
Actually, in DQM3, the most recent DQ4-related title, Alena kept the exact same voice actress
The ones people actually talk about are mostly the male characters as meme fodder
I mean, do the other games really have that many popular characters either?
1 and 3 barely have real characters, and 2 has characters but nothing special
Strip away the meme factor and 5, 6, 7 don't have genuinely popular characters either
XI is probably the only one with actually popular characters
In VIII, Jessica's popular because she's hot — that's about it
The characters from 1, 2, and 3 never ended up joining the roster after all
Exactly
I want them to make Heroes III
Wait, not just the Famicom version — isn't that true of all of them?
Background and key points of this discussion
Alena is the heroine who debuted in Dragon Quest IV, released in 1990, and she has long been one of the most popular characters in the series. She originally belonged to an era before characters had voice acting, but opinions among fans became divided once she was given a voice actress in the smartphone version, Dragon Quest Heroes, and related titles. The thread’s disagreement pitted those who go so far as to call the addition of a voice a “curse” against defenders who argue she’s still charming as long as you mute the sound — which could be read as two sides of the same deep attachment to the character. The thread also raised the point that “Dragon Quest IV doesn’t really have any popular characters besides Alena,” touching on the broader issue of uneven character popularity across the series — though it’s worth noting this is simply an accumulation of individual opinions, not something based on official popularity poll data.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyou G) thread “[Sad News] Dragon Quest IV’s Alena is cute as hell but unpopular”.
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