DanMachi: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

In a mythical world where God's live among men, adventurers choose a God to follow and join their Familia. Then they explore this huge, multi-levelled dungeon and kill the monsters inside to gain crystals (in exchange for money) and to help build their skills. Bell Cranel is the sole member of the Goddess Hestia's Familia and he's an adventurer of modest skill. He does have a lot of courage, heart and potential though and learns fast. He meets a woman of immense beauty and strength and vows to become stronger so he could be considered worthy of a woman like her.

There's a lot to like about this show. It has humour, action, a good plot, interesting characters and great animation. I only scored it a 7 because it's a bit 'young' for my taste (I'd have liked a darker, more serious tone) and at one season, it does seem a little pointless. I'd like to see a 2nd season to flesh things out more. Worth a watch.

I should have known by the title that something was going to be off on this anime. I was looking for a Rise of the Shield Hero type of anime and this one came up as recommended on IMDB. It has all of the usual traits I like: Dungeons, monsters, levelling style characters, action, adventure check, check, check across the board. The title tells me it's going to be a bit of a comedy, but I can live with that.

So what is it about this anime that has me giving it a 7/10 instead of the 8/10 that I wish I could be giving it? The plot is decent enough, storytelling is ok, animation is great. It's the main characters stupidity combined with the 'moral of this story' type of episodes that the creator has decided to make this show. For example, the main character a new dungeon adventurer teams up with a shady fox girl that is supposed to support him as he runs dungeons for loot and fame. From the very start she comes across shady with secret sneers and shady smiles telling us that she is out to steal and rip off the main character.

Unbeknownst to our protagonist his "supporter" is lifting money from him every run because he is to dumb to understand a 50/50 split on loot OR because he just implicitly trusts her when she says she split the loot 50/50. In reality she is getting 70 and he 30. Their relationship culminâtes when she pushes him into running a much harder dungeon than normal where she drops monster lures all around him then steals his magic weapon and money straight to his face before leaving him TO DIE surrounded in high level monsters. If this happened to anyone they would be pissed! Well he manages to escape the monsters thanks to another adventurer. The thief manages to get surrounded by monsters herself and is about to die when our protagonist shows up, kills the monsters and saves her life. This is the part that got me upset: he treated her "why did you run away?". He didn't even understand what or why she did what she did to him. She starts crying and tells him how she has been stealing from him before trying to have him killed. He just shrugs it off like it was nothing of note and still wants to be her partner even after learning what she did to him! This kind of moral high road story is ridiculous. Anyone wronged in such a way would want Justice, their money and goods back and certainly wouldn't want to work with or be friends with them again. Our hero doesn't want any of that and it bothered me a lot!

That's why this could have been a better show if they "got real" with reality and didn't take the high morals to such a ridiculous place. If this show was a little more serious and a bit darker it could have been a hit like Shield Hero.

I absolutely loved this show, I can not tell you how bummed I am that I have to wait patiently for another season, I am definitely chomping at the bit! I will mention I did get annoyed by Hestia quite often though. Other than that it is a fun adventure!

Despite the title, the anime is quite serious. Like several modern anime series, this one is also plagued by some tropes. As of July 2022, the main character is a generic anime protagonist. I don't dislike that but I'd prefer if future titles would add something unique to their protagonists. For instance, they could have gotten a voice actor with a unique voice for Bell whiles still keeping his kindness and naivety. That would have made him stand out in comparison with the cliché shy protagonists in numerous anime shows. I have nothing against Bell because he works well for the plot. However, after watching countless anime, Bell is just a shade of the several generic protagonists I've seen. As a result, he's forgettable.

The side characters, in contrast to the main protagonist, are rather complex. I enjoyed their moments. My only problem is some of the female characters. They don't all have to fall in love with the main protagonist. If you've watched lots of anime like I have, this forced harem gets too old and cliché. Look at Avatar the Last Air bender or Attack on Titan. The females in those shows are simply human. Not all of them exist just to fall in love with the main character.

The strongest point this series offers is its plot. In the first season, it felt like your typical plot where the low ranked protagonist climbs up the ladder and becomes powerful. From there the show becomes complex. It explores its world setting and introduces engaging arcs that are perfect to binge watch. The show isn't perfect or top tier. However, its plot makes a good argument.

When I initially started watching this, I was expecting just a dumb fun ecchi harem series, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually good. After episode one, the fan service almost vanishes and the writing vastly improves (though there are a few minor plot contrivances). The characters are all interesting with their own motivations, and the main character isn't ridiculously overpowered (I mean he is powerful in the end, but it makes sense, it isn't just because he is the protagonist, and he actually does go through an arc).

I'm not saying that this show is amazing, but it is pretty well-written with fun characters and a fun story. The animation/sound design/voice acting is way better than I was expecting to a point where it is actually pretty good. For the most part the fight choreography is well done.

There are so many points where I thought this show was going to fall into annoying and predictable cliches, and for the most part this show avoids them all.

I would definitely recommend this show, but be warned, episode one has a lot of annoying fan service and clunky exposition.