Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka

Danmachi is a textbook example of an anime that is truly a guilty pleasure in its own right. It doesn't have the most impressive writing, there are tons of clichés and fanservice, and the pacing is sometimes questionable but even so it never ever fails to be entertaining, which is something I can't say for most anime.

Danmachi follows a popular trend in recent years of having a setting that takes place entirely within an MMORPG game world. The difference this time however is that... it actually doesn't. Instead, the story takes place in the characters' real world, but their real world functions like a game. ... Adventurers gain experience points, earn loot, level up, gain skills and magic etcetera, but it all still takes place in their own actual reality. There is a magical dungeon which adventurers go to in search for treasure in order to make a living for themselves. They have to fight the local monsters found inside the dungeon in order to get the loot to drop, and in the process they level up, gain experience and become stronger. Pretty simple. It's a quite fresh take on what is otherwise a somewhat overused concept in recent years.

The story begins when a young rookie adventurer named Bell Cranel one day gets his life saved by a female swordmaster within the dungeon. Her name is Ais Wallenstein, a quiet, airheaded yet very powerful woman whom Bell instantly falls in love with. He sets a goal for himself to become stronger so that he one day might be worthy to stand beside Ais as an equal. Upon doing this, he gains a unique ability which makes him gain experience points at an unbelievable rate as long as he stays true to those feelings of affection.

Bell is an extremely shy and innocent boy, but also a very passionate one. What I like about him is that he actually feels like a real human being. He's not a typical self-insert imbalanced protagonist like Kirito (even if they do have the same voice actor), nor is he a generic shounen lead relying on nakama power. Rather he comes across as a very kind-hearted person who truly cares for those he's close to, and will do anything to help them in any way he can. He's someone you can genuinely relate to and cheer for during his struggles, and given the nature of Danmachi's dungeon crawling oriented storyline, that's a pretty important factor.

The female lead on the other hand would be the poster girl of the 2015 anime fanart community, namely the illustrious goddess Hestia; perhaps the only character ever who somehow ended up more famous than the series which she actually comes from. There are numerous reasons for her insane popularity outbreak. For one, she's an oppai loli, which is an incredibly rare sight in anime regardless of series, but she's also an incredibly energetic, fun and loveable genki girl who keeps breathing life into the show and makes it interesting for the viewer. She's madly in love with Bell, but she doesn't try to hide it any way whatsoever. She keeps dropping hints everywhere that she just wants him to push her down already, but of course Bell doesn't pick up on this very well… because you know, protagonists in anime don't do that for whatever reason. Lastly of course there's the unmistakable outfit and boob string she wears which took the internet by storm so hard it became an actual fashion trend in real life Japan, but I'm sure you know all about that by now. Anyway, as a goddess Hestia is the leader of a "Familia" which operates more or less like a Guild in your typical RPG, where Bell is the only other member, and thus they spend their lives together in a rundown church, barely scraping by with what little money they can earn. Watching the pair of them living their unorthodox lives together never fails to make me smile.

Then there's half a dozen other girls as well, either side characters or main characters introduced later on in the story who also conveniently enough end up falling in love with Bell (shocking, I know) so Danmachi is definitely a harem in the end even if MAL might not have it tagged as one. That being said it doesn't really focus on the harem elements all that much; it's mostly a secondary factor. The main attention is pretty much always on the adventuring aspect itself.

The plot progression of Danmachi is fairly straightforward. It basically follows Bell's struggles as well as how his relationships progress with the other adventurers he ends up encountering during them. You can probably imagine what a shounen adventure anime about RPG dungeon crawling is like, and that image is probably dead on as far as Danmachi is concerned. What I really like about it though is how it manages to present the dungeon as an environment. It actually feels threatening and ominous the deeper you get inside it. Have you ever ended up in a zone that is way too difficult for your character's current level when playing an RPG, and you can't manage to find a way to get back out alive? I mean in the kind of game where you only have one life, or at least you really can't afford to die? That's kind of the same feeling as Danmachi manages to give off to the viewer. As a result, the harder fights in the story feel awfully tense and relatable to any somewhat experienced gamer watching it.

Adaptation-wise, Danmachi is honestly pretty rushed as it spans a whole 5 light novel volumes in just 13 episodes. Yet despite that I never really felt like it was too much of a problem. Somehow, someway even from an anime-only standpoint the plot feels perfectly coherent and understandable. In fact as far as enjoyment value goes I'd even say I liked the anime *more* than the novels, because a) the fight scenes come across better animated, and b) Hestia's character is *way* more likeable in the anime. Yes, there is a lot of content from the novels that is skipped, but it feels like it didn't hurt the overall story very much to leave it out either, so it works out anyway. The only thing the anime occasionally lacks is some proper explanations of certain skills' and items' functionalities, but other than that I don't have a whole lot to complain about.

All-in-all, Danmachi is far from a masterpiece, yet given the premise I think it delivers a lot more than most people probably expected coming into it. The story has most definitely been done before, but Danmachi adds its own twist to it and more importantly it does it *well*. It goes to show that with proper execution, a time-tested concept is still perfectly viable, and as a result it provides an anime that always leaves you with a smile on your face. Call it generic or shallow or whatever, but that doesn't change the fact that it's easily one of the most entertaining anime of the year thus far. And really, when it all comes down to it... that's essentially all that matters.

I decided to write a review for "Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka" due to some of the hate I saw it receiving and wanted to provide my perspective. This is my first review so don't expect it to be well polished.

Story: The story isn't this rpg's strong point. Truthfully, this rpg doesn't have a single strong point. It's a combination of different things that make this rpg enjoyable to watch. The story isn't really explained in detail. We are really just given an explanation of gods and goddesses and the aspects of the anime develop more and more with each ... episode. The best thing I find about the story is that it's not really there. This allows me to enjoy each episode separately and be surprised by the things they introduce. It's the same reason why Gintama is enjoyable if you have seen that anime. Many people compare this anime to SAO but I find it more bearable to watch because things aren't as serious until certain points.

Character: The main character, Bell, is simply setup to become a hero. It's like in an rpg game where the main character is meant to have the best stats and skills as they level up. People say the main character just becomes overpowered after a few episodes but I feel that he is reasonably average. He is always shadowed by the sword princess, who he wishes to surpass. He isn't the strongest person around. I hated Kirito in SAO because he was ridiculously overpowered. It didn't really explain why he was overpower either. The other main character, Goddess Hestia, is a great component of the show. With her addition, I feel that this show is a parody of the usual harem. Several times Hestia will point out the amount of times she finds Bell with a different female. In addition, none of the other female characters display the amount of affection that Hestia shows except Lili. Other characters are introduced but never really expanded on.i. I feel that this anime could improve a lot if they added more character expansion, especially with Freya who seems like the main antagonist.

Art: The art is simple but I feel they use the money they save to add in a decent amount of action and quality animation. I was surprised at how well animated the fight in episode 8 was. However, I really wish the Dungeon and it's enemies had more variety. In the later episodes, it seems like they are trying to remedy this. The dungeon definitely holds a lot of promise. The characters could also use more design. They show a lot of expensive equipment available in shops around the city but you don't see even the best fighters with anything flashy equipped. We all know that the strong people are suppose to have cool armor.

Overall: A feel like this anime is so enjoyable because of how average it is. I never have any high expectations. Every episode I watch is good and I know that the following episode will be good and so forth. I hate anime where you wait a week for a new episode and that episode is nothing but talking and a complete let down. That never happens with this show. Every week is worth the wait. This anime didn't start off boiling hot and simmered down. Instead, it started out cold and is slowly warming up, just like an RPG. Because it's a mix of comedy, action, and harem , every episode has the possibility of being either full of jokes, action, or character/relationship development.

When you see a title this long and silly, then you may also be asking yourself if you should watch the show. “Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon?” That’s the translated title for this series which really sparks a bit of curiosity. Just judging on the surface, you can tell the story has relations to dungeons and girls. What you may not expect would be the presence of goddesses that really spices up the excitement.

For the purpose of this review, the series will be referred by its shortened title “DanMachi”. Adapted from the light novel of the same ... name, DanMachi is essentially a fantasy adventure show. The setting takes place in a fictional world known as ‘Orario’. While this name isn’t anything special to remember by, its features crafts many possibilities because of the existence of Dungeon. This is a basically a location that contains all sorts of supernatural creatures ranging from minotaurs, dragons, goblins, etc. Why do people visit this place? The answer is simply for the rewards. Although the series isn’t based on a MMORPG game, it has similar themes in that monsters drops valuable loot. At the center of the story is a young man named Bell Cranel. DanMachi chronicles his adventure as he picks up girls in dungeons in this world of bizarreness.

The series is pretty straightforward. No less than 5 minutes into the first episode and we can see that Bell gets himself in a bit of trouble involving dungeons. Perhaps trouble would be an understatement because Bell’s life does get put into jeopardy when he gets trapped by a minotaur. Luckily, a young girl by the name of Aiz coms to his recuse. This encounter not only saves Bell but he also falls in love with her. Ironic really. The girl picks up the guy in this case. However, this isn’t what it all seems. As the series progresses on, Bell gets involved in acquaintance and relationships with many other girls. Perhaps the most prominent of them is a goddess named Hestia. She is part of a group known as Hestia Familia where he and Hestia are the only two members. Bell is shown to work very hard every day to get by. As a character of only 14 years of age, he takes a lot of responsibility and display insurable amounts of courage as the story progresses. Alongside is Hestia who supports and unknown to Bell also is in love with him. So in essence, Bell already has a girl picked up but he just doesn’t realize it. In Hestia’s case, she throws a lot of hints towards Bell that he fails to recognize. Although they don’t act entirely like lovers, they are very close. And this is where the fun comes in. DanMachi crafts relationships in this series with a comedy formula. It never tries to act too serious despite some of the dangers that exists in this show.

Girls. A main emphasis in this show is how Bell meets them during his adventure. From the elegant swordswoman Aiz to mischievous traveler Liliruca Arde, the series continuously shows Bell’s development. A strong point about his character is how he can influence others with his kindness. It also gets some of them curious such as the case of Aiz. She often wonders about how Bell can get so strong in such a short of time. Over the course of the show, Bell develops a relationship with Aiz through their training sessions. There’s also harem tropes that becomes more and more evident as Bell builds connections with them. While it’s not fully shown whether Aiz likes Bell or not, there’s definitely a certain curiosity that she has for the young man. As generic as this seems, I actually find the series to be genuinely entertaining. This is because Bell isn’t overpowered nor is he a weakling. More like a balance of both, it gets the viewers curious about how much he will improve. Characters such as Bete Loga and Freya are also surprised at his improvement despite their initial outlook of Bell.

In terms of story, the show follows a rather straightforward set of mechanics. There is no central antagonist introduced in this season nor are there any game tropes that indicates some sort of setting that relates to MMORPG survival. It’s simple with established mechanics such as the Familia, groups in the story with specialized skills including item crafting and monster hunting. So in essence, the series almost has a slice of life-like tone at times. What it sets differently apart from some adventure is mostly the relationship building. To be quite honest, there’s perhaps far too much of it. Bell and Hestia’s relationship makes up the core of the show. While some episodes doesn’t exclusively focus on this, it still ultimately communicates the message to the audience that the pair is inseparable. Unfortunately, Bell treats Hestia more like a close friend than a girlfriend. And this becomes a source of annoyance for Hestia. It can also be a source of annoyance for the viewers as it shows how dense he can be. Romance is subtle as we don’t really see much development except on casual levels. Despite this, the show often transits between relationships and fantasy adventure. What I do find disappointing is that the focus is too much on our two main characters. Even as a prominent character in the show, we don’t learn much about Aiz from this adaptation. There’s little we see from her background but only her personality on the surface. Similarly, her guild mates are often trying to impress her (both guys and girls included). It’s paltry in the end in terms of characterization. On the other hand, it’s nice to see that Bell can make friends outside of his Familia such as Welf, a blacksmith who made his armor and a member of the Herme Familia. In this way, it shows how Bell interacts with other characters that are not so close to him while allowing the audience to see his other characteristics.

Based on the light novel, I am on most parts satisfied with the adaptation. While it’s not frame by frame faithful to the source, it captures the most important parts. These include the magical contents such as the various items that are shown. Skills and abilities that Bell learns are also introduced such as the Fire Bolt. In the background, there’s a considerable amount of world building. In fact, the world fiction of the show is one of the features that is very noticeable. The supernatural creatures that exists in their world are crafted to make them look real. While it isn’t unique compared to most fantasy adventure stories, DanMachi attracts appeal to any fan who wants to see how their world functions. From dampy dungeons to enchanting forests, this show exhibits an attractive appeal to fantasy. It even has a good amount of explanation for how stats and skillsets work including limitations to adventurers’ levels. The comedy can sometimes feel a bit of a hit or miss but on most parts flows well with the story. It can also mislead viewers sometimes as some episodes that are seemingly indulged by humor turns serious with the buildup and execution. For such a goofy title, that’s saying something.

J.C. Staff is behind the wheels to operate this show. What you see from the preview is what you get. The artwork retains a fantasy atmosphere with its elegant world. There’s careful texture that decorates the world of Orario with what it has to offer. The dungeons is still the most prominent feature as the show creates its features to look legitimately menacing. At the same time, it also display a good fixture of concrete detail. These ranges from the various monsters to the magical elements that are displayed throughout the show such as Bell’s abilities. Fans who wants to be serviced will feel pleased at times because the show does show a bit of skin. These include Aiz’s partially broken armor, Hestia’s outfit, or even the inevitable bath scenes. It’s also noticeable that character designs for the series puts a lot of emphasis into the female characters. All the gods and goddesses are designed to look beautiful or seductive. In the case of Freya, she also display a bit of yandereness with her expressions. However, the character expressions is a bit silly for its own good at times. This is mostly coming from Bell especially in the first half of the show that makes him react more like a kid than an adventurer. His puppy crush on Aiz brings this out the most. On the other hand, who can forget about Hestia’s jealousy when she sees Bell hanging out with a girl?

Surprisingly enough, DanMachi’s soundtrack matches very well with its consistency. If there’s any first impressions, soundtrack should be one to name especially for its battle oriented OST. The extensive fighting in some episodes as well as the thriller-like feeling of dungeon conquests flows quite well with the intense soundtrack. It brings a heavy feeling and even bit of realism of what being part of an adventurer is like in the dungeons just by the sheer music too. The OP and ED theme songs are more lighthearted. And in general, most of the humorous and slice of life scenes has a more relaxing feeling. Finally, there’s the voice mannerisms. Hestia is a big of mixed bag. Her voice sometimes sounds like a spoiled brat while other times shows a very caring friend. Aiz’s soft voice makes her one of the more calm characters; a bit of contrast to Bell’s personality. And then there are many other characters with a wide dynamic range of voice expressions. The ones that stands out the most are the goddesses such as Freya while others…well, not so much. Bell would fit into that category as his voice matches mostly as a teenager.

So what does DanMachi really try to appeal? If it’s a fantasy and adventure story, then that’s a success with its fantastic world fiction and mechanics. When it comes to characterization though, that’s more of its Achilles’ Heel. It does make up for it with concrete relationships especially in the case of Bell and Hestia. Other times, the show tries to capitalize on Bell’s adventure by presenting us his improvements. Now I do have to say that the comedy feels a bit repetitive while other times, the story’s consistency feels blend. As a 1 cour show, expect certain elements of the original source to be omitted or changed. Still, DanMachi is a story that shows how fantasy can be fun. It may not feel original but it has a lot of reasons to make us think of its title.

All right Lion Tamers. We look at another anime. This time, I found one I actually like.

It's called "Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka", what a mouthful! Translation is 'Dzun-ge would be wrong I'll seek a meeting to sound day', I swear that's the Google Translation.

There is a short name some use "DanMachi", don't ask me I have no idea. Google Translation is 'Dan-Machi'.

A lot of the time; most of us get caught up in the story, or the music, or the dialog, or the artwork, or the characters.

But then there is the forest, hiding in all those trees. And ... DanMachi is one of these shows, that shows us that sometimes the forest is more important than the trees.

***

I'll discuss the Anime's specifics in a moment, but I want to have a word about the meanings of things. Sometimes Anime has a meaning that shines far above the actual artwork. DanMachi is one of those rare shining lights.

For once, we have a show that stands up and shouts to the highest mountaintops.

That our faith in our fellow Man, is more important than the impending threats, the suffering that is a consequence of standing up for our friends, and loved ones. That courage in the face of enemies, in the defense of our true friends and loved ones, speaks louder than any fear.

And the fact that no one else sees it, isn't the same as if it never happened at all. Things that are important in our life, are not, unless we are willing to suffer to protect them. Things that are important, has nothing to do with the property we own, or the school we go to, or the stores we frequent.

The valuable things are those items we carry with us for our entire lives, that enrichen it, and make the days we live in the future, seem richer for knowing those things.

All of that leads us to DanMachi, and a little fellow that would not surrender his belief for temporary freedom from fear and pain. And because he stood up and fought to protect what he held dear, his faith in the strength of the friendship and love of his fellows; his fellows responded in kind.

In other words, those things many would find a weakness in his character, was exactly the forces martial'd, to bring about the friendships he gained. These friendships and loved ones were a direct consequence of his behavior. All of these people that centered upon him, as a compass point; were not there to form a harem, or a club. They are friends and neighbors, their behavior paid for, by his offering his spirit of neighborhood to his fellows.

First.

The spirit of neighborhood, and fellowship are not weakness; they are an enormous strength. When we forget that, we give a heave-ho to our own lives within the context of our own way of life, without safety, without friends, without community. But most of all, our neighborhoods become embattled contests for survival, and the grace of a civilized culture is the victim.

Bell has two character traits that are all to rare in the description of a male hero: charity, and mercy. He gave of himself, in the name of his friends, and they became his neighbors. What is a neighbor, but a person who stands with you, when your sense of community is threatened?

What does it mean to be Human? Does it mean we are all born Human? I don't believe that. Being Human is to decide to operate by set of principles that define what it is to be Human. Being a Human Being has nothing to do with biology, or procreation, or how we look. It is defined by how we believe we should behave among our fellow Humans.

The fact that many try to gain our faith in themselves, as if all Men deserve to be trusted as if we were all Human, is a deceit of the highest order, a con-game. Especially when non-Human Homo-Sapiens walk among us trying to get the results of these values from us, without trading in kind. These are liars, cheats and thieves.

Is it any wonder that the motto of the U.S. Air Force Academy is "I shall not lie, cheat or steal; or tolerate anyone who does."? Those who do, don't stay at the Academy long.

The little female character, Miss Arde, is a case in point. She had been beaten, kicked, dropped into terror, mistreated in so many ways; that she had lost her faith in her fellow Man. But just as in real life, it only took one true faithful spirit to teach her that not everyone had to live as she had. She realized what she was doing wasn't living; she had sold her soul to pay for existence.

And because of it, she mistrusted Bell's motives, even to betraying him because he was an easy mark. True Humans usually are. Until Miss Arde realized that it was the very things she thought of as weaknesses, that were the very causes for Bell's decisions to defend her when she least expected it.

Weakness? Lost promises? Can't relate to people of the same stripe? I don't think so. Bell is a symbol of all that is good in Man, and needs to be nurtured for its own sake.

***

Now I can talk about the basic production of DanMachi.

This anime has a wonderful story, that covers an enormous amount of back-story and premise in 13-episodes. I would have appreciated more episodes, to give more depth of history, but this Anime was adequate in this regard, for what was offered.

The artwork was very good, even having some parallax artwork in moments where Bell or some other characters are walking down a street, or images of large panoramas are described. This is 'J.C. Staff' at its finest.

The music was, for once, something I could sink my teeth into. Catchy tunes, with fine melodies. Singing that is worthy of the name. Harmonies that work together with the voices, to make something that is pleasant to hear. While I would have preferred to have music that also had import to the show itself, after all, we are dealing with an alternate universe, with Gods who walk among the ordinary gentry. And the basic soundtrack was also appropriate to the moments in the story.

The characters were interesting, each one a three-dimensional personality. Even the girls were varied, and while they tended to be way to cute for real life; still all bounced off each other (no pun intended) as people would in a real town, with real neighborhoods. There is nothing unusual about a girl finding herself interested in a boy who has a history of treating other people with dignity and respect. And this happened quite a few times. Rare? Never. Many girls become women who marry such boys, who grow up to be good men.

The only thing that began to not jive very well is that even though the beginnings of the tale centers on a little God named Hestia, who pairs herself with her one and only Adventurer, in an old deserted non-Greek-God Worship Church; as they developed in their community, and became somewhat richer, they stayed in the rent-free squatters life-style. Never to be improved upon, as they could afford more and better. Everything in their lives were old, hand-me-down and discarded by every one. Including the building itself.

One has to wonder about that. And then there's the debt to be paid, by Hestia, for the knife Hephaistios created for Bell. But these items are for another season. If there ever is another one. This show is one of those that deserves another season. After all, we still don't have a motivation for the actions of Freya. This is not a weakness, it just needs some more episodes, to place Freya on center stage. Something that was never done, in the interests of developing the rest of the plot. This is not an error. It is an author's license.

With all of the above, I finish this review of a short, flawed, but otherwise excellent offering. Slickly written, with comedy, pathos, heartfelt emotions; and a soaring set of principles that is all too rare.

I give DanMachi a solid 9!

Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon? Pfft, it's the best way to pick up girls!

More commonly referred to as DanMachi, "Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka?" is a fantasy, action, adventure, romance and, to some extent, comedy anime. The tags aren't inaccurate, as these themes are visible throughout all twelve episodes. After watching each episode weekly as they were released, I've come to that conclusion that DanMachi is deserving of around a 7/10.

Story: 6

DanMachi's main story line is decent. With plot twists every few episodes, it's safe to say that the main story is pretty exciting ... and definitely drags you into continuing the series. There are some brilliant moments of tension and the story changes its side character focus every so often, which keeps things fresh. At the start of the anime, the story shows a lot of promise, with an amazing RPG-style fantasy world being shown. However, this is exactly where it falls flat. I found myself asking questions about the world as the anime went on... "Why is there a massive dungeon tower in the middle of the world (that's extremely reminiscent of the one in Sword Art Online?" "What other towns and cities are there?" "Why did the Gods choose to live with humans?" "Who says what the Gods can and can't do?" "Why do people get exp. like in a video game?" "Why did people start going into the dungeon in the first place?" "What do the magic rocks that monsters drop even do?" "Who put the monsters in the dungeon?". I could go on for ages. Point is, they presented a wonderful and interesting world and explained nothing about it. To me, this detracted from the story greatly as I was unable to immerse myself into the world due to the fact I was constantly saying: "B-b-but that doesn't make sense! Why?". I can only hope that this is elaborated more upon in season two.

Art: 10

DanMachi's artwork and animation is stellar. The character designs are all incredibly lovable and unique, especially the Goddess, Hestia. The weapons, armor and monsters are all terrifying and very well designed. If you were looking for flaws in the animation, you would not find any, with action and fight scenes that are so very clear and fun to watch. The style of the world is just simply awesome, my favorite part being the backstreet alleyway in the city. However, the only drawback with the overall art is that it bears shocking resemblance to Sword Art Online. I understand that it's from the same studio, but it's as if they didn't even try making it different.

Sound: 7

The soundtrack is good, the battle songs and tavern music definitely add to the feel of the world and help you become more immersed. The opening is catchy but kind of weird and doesn't really fit the anime if you ask me. The ending is the same really. It seems somewhat out of place at times, especially when there's an intense cliffhanger and then it suddenly plays all cheery and upbeat. Kind of ruins the cliffhanger-y mood.

Characters: 8

One good aspect of this anime is the array of vibrant and lovable characters it presents. With each character being unique and incredibly well designed, it's somewhat hard to find many faults with the characters. Hestia in particular being just so damn cute and hilarious. However, the main issue I have with the characters is with the protagonist. Bell is a pretty normal kid in terms of personality. However, that's all he is- he's an average kid trying to win over a girl. There's nothing unique or entertaining really about his personality and DanMachi relies on side characters for its comedy relief and bizarre traits. Some side characters even have dark and intruiging back stories, with development being shown in some!

Enjoyment: 7

Despite huge drawbacks with the story, DanMachi's animation and lovable characters make it a pretty enjoyable watch.

Overall: 7

As mentioned slightly earlier on in the review, DanMachi bears striking resemblance with the older, more popular Sword Art Online. In fact, even so to the point where some characters' faces look identical and the main character has the same voice actor. In short, if you disliked Sword Art Online, it's pretty likely you'll dislike this too. However, the vice-versa rule applies here too! If you enjoyed SAO, then you'll enjoy DanMachi. Althoguh, that's not to say it's a carbon copy. It does have its unique aspects and is a must watch for any adventure/RPG anime lovers out there.

With an absurdly long title such as "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?" your first inclination is to think that the show is trying too hard to pander from just the title alone. With Romance, Fantasy, Action, and Comedy spliced in with an element of Harem, your anticipation going into this will probably sink into apathy. But fret not, my dear friends, this anime, shortly titled DanMachi, actually has much more to offer than your prototypical otaku bait anime. If you think a story is essential in anime, that fits this description.

I mean the classic stereotype of a protagonist ... relatable to your average Japanese teenager when I say otaku bait: A sexy loli girl with a sexy petite body who sticks with the protagonist and a plot that owes itself to another shonen show's popularity. In which case, the shonen show DanMachi wants to emulate is Sword Art Online. In DanMachi, a boy named Bell-kun craves to become a great adventurer to prove himself to be a strong warrior in the eyes of so many people by leveling up his attributes to accomplish this feat. Does that sound familiar? Thought so. However, DanMachi is set in an actual fantasy world, not an MMO. So it is a fantasy interpretation of Sword Art in some fashion.

For those who might be discouraged by this comparison I mentioned, I assure you that DanMachi isn't just another clone for Sword Art Online. For one thing, the plot itself is not of the same magnitude as Sword Art Online. DanMachi's story is somewhat barebones and can easily be summed up in a sentence or two: "Boy wants to be an adventurer to overcome difficulties in life. With the help of his sexy Goddess sidekick, he will be able to achieve this goal." That's pretty all there is to it. By the time I was halfway through it, I had hoped that there was more to it than just this fundamental premise.

That's the only big gripe DanMachi has going for that keeps it from being great. Still, with all that is said and done, there are many admirable qualities to the show that can add to an outstanding experience. The first one to mention is the characters Bell-kun and Hestia. Individually and together, they add a lot of great hilarious and impactful moments to their dialogue and actions. It becomes evident from the excellent chemistry they both create whenever they are together on-screen, whether they are fighting various monsters together or happily having a lovey-dovey date together, at least from Hestia's perspective. Bell-kun himself may seem like a weakling of an adventurer with a soft, calm voice, but he proves himself worthy of rivaling some of the better shonen protagonists you typically see. It also helps that he has a very likable personality that puts him in a comfortable position for us to root for him in his journey.

Then we have the one and only goddess herself, Hestia-chan. What can you say about the bootylicious, big-chested, and genki archetypical loli that hasn't been said already? I will tell you one thing that can be added to those three categories: Awesome. Why should this title be mentioned in the same breath as her name, you may ask? Most of it has to do with how her personality ranges in hilarious and adorable ways that make her very expressive. These expressions make you feel an attachment to her when she acts serious, humorous, or flirty with Bell-kun. Not to mention that her voice actress, Inori Minase, gives it her all in creating a wonderful character with her remarkably expressive voice. It also provides a delicate balance between her wild and joyful nature and Bell-kun's quiet and gentle personality, making their camaraderie even more exciting and hilarious to watch.

Besides our two main leads, the rest of the characters are, unfortunately, not up to par with these two. The only supporting role that I can remember liking was Lili, only because she at least had something that made her distinctive from the rest of the cast. That something being that overly large backpack of hers that doubles her small size, go figure. The rest of the supporting cast can be encapsulated into one word: boring. It all comes down to how the writers put minimal effort into making the supporting cast at least somewhat enjoyable so that it doesn't seem like the only thing carrying the show is our two main leads. They come down to making semi-funny jokes and getting involved in fight scenes with Bell-kun or Hestia, which are very well done to DanMachi's credit.

Here is where another of DanMachi's strong points starts to bloom. You'd be right if you thought shonen action shows fighting has gotten tedious in recent years. However, DanMachi manages to set the bar up pretty high with the amount of great tenacity and flair it gives to the action sequences with the monsters and other characters. What helps is how great the animation flows through these sequences with excellent fluid movements with the characters and how they use their weapons in combat. There are the occasional "cutting corners" in animation, but not to the point where it becomes jarring. Even outside of the action, the animation leaves a strong impression with how well detailed it shows off its medium-sized budget.

Not only does the animation work wonders, but the art design also leaves a solid impression in DanMachi. Not just with the character design but also in creating the world itself. The world is your general fantasy world with a few new things added that you may or may not have seen before. The backgrounds have a subtle elegance to their artistic influence, from the massive scope of the mountains to the urban-style design of the city that our main characters live in. Character designs are pretty colorful and eloquent in how beautiful they look, especially Hestia. Even if you have no taste in petite girls, Hestia will undoubtedly raise a few eyebrows and maybe a few other things.

DanMachi was indeed a surprise for me to experience this Spring. Where it lacks from a story and mostly character standpoint, it succeeds in providing a fun action/hybrid anime with its stellar art and animation department and a great duo from Hestia and Bell-kun with their fantastic chemistry. It managed to tickle my action and ecchi bone enough for me to say that it was a worthwhile adventure to take part in. As far as experiences go, this is one where the journey itself is the fun part, while the end of it makes you want to yearn for more. For me, at least, I want more Hestia-chan in the future. Please?

Grade: B

Story: 8
A boy who want to become a great hero. The story is about fighting monsters and gaining experiences. A little bit of harem is involved.

Art: 10
I like the creative look of the characters. I do not have much knowledge to judge it so I gave it ten.

Enjoyment: 8
It's fun. That's it. I can't explain much. If you like girls, watch this. If you want to see a boy that gain fast fighting skill and make other people interest in, watch this.

Overall: 8
Yes, a good to watch anime. You will not feel boring I'm sure because the main character has a girl as his goal. ... He didn't initially has her so you will be excited when he is meeting with her.

Sorry for grammar.

Also known as DanMachi, Dungeon is an anime about .. girls.

Yes because when I finished this anime I realized how many of the characters were girls .. and how many fell in love for him.

AND I MEAN IT . I think Kirito was just overcome by Bell. I can say for sure that any girl in a 1 KM radius would fall in love for Kirito. But Bell just goes beyond that with his 100 KM radius.

He gets everything that he wants. A loli, a hot chick, a hot elf and even a fucking god with nice tits. Jeez man this guy ... is awesome !

Now seriously .. this anime gets stupid because of this. He does nothing whatsoever but still every girl in the town falls in love for him because .. reasons.

At a first glance, this anime looked a lot like SAO. The worlds are similiar, the characters are similiar .. but later on this anime actually develops a nice story that I admit, wasn´t expecting for.

With the first 3 eps of this show, I was thinking about a crappy Harem action rommance. In the end, there was actually an Harem but the action turned out to be good, as well as the main story.

Think about an MMORPG(massive multiplayer online role playing game) (world of warcraft for instance,). You see that feeling of developing your own character, getting him stronger with new items, upgrading his stats, learning new abilities .. DanMachi has the same feeling for me. I felt like if I was playing a game where Bell was my character, my avatar.

The world of DanMachi reminds me a game and that is really nice ! I loved that aspect. As the action moves on you actualy get attatched to the character so much that when he develops himslef it feels like you are the guy behind him controlling the character.

The adventure, the goal of being the best player in that game, that's our dream when we play something .. and you will share that same dream with Bell .. that's why I believe that if you like games, this anime will be really entertaining for you.


The art and sound both are fine. Personally I liked some of the tracks used in some intense situations but besides that not really stood out.

About the characters .. well you have Bell who is the most typical hero out there and the rest are just some girls that like him. Yah that's it. Some of them get some brief development but I really never cared about them. They are not interesting nor original.


But the characters are not the biggest problem. So far no second season has been announced and that's worrying me. If we don´t get a second season then this rate will be much lower. The anime doesn´t end ! It needs a second season to end the story.

In short. This anime doesn´t have that quality in terms of character develop. It doesn´t even have good characters in the first place .. only boobs. But .. no matter what the others say about how crappy the characters are, I still found that the world where they live in is really interesting .. it really reminds me a game and I love games so :D ..

If you like games or simply an anime with some action and boobs then I reccomend it. If you are just looking for a nice action / romance anime then .. turn away this is not your place. I really believe that there are anime much better than this one out there.

Finally in the fantasy world the main character isn`t finished moron.
Finally he isn`t perverted, he isn`t teleported from parallel world.
Finally the story isn`t borning.
Finally something good.


The whole is set in a fantasy world with elves, Greek gods who have descended on themselves to surrender the divine powers, cute girls and monsters.


I hate to rave about shallowness of main. Bell Cranel is opposite of almost everyone mains in this type of anime and I love it. He is charming, handsome young man or boy, who cares? He looks childishly and often behaves like that.He wants to be a hero - childishly but nobly and cute.
Ironically our ... hero is save to her by Ais Wallenstein in which he falls in love. He wants to catch up with her to can using to be close with her. She is so cuuuute,blonde, shy introvert which is "Sword Princess". Because of his love, his goddess Hestia is jealous and a love triangle is created.
Hestia behave like Bell`s little sister and he treats her like that. Her tits are veryyy huge when she is a shrimp herself. She also live with him. She is very lovely and you can see that she loves Bell.
The main thread is their relationship. Because of this two important for him girls, Bell develops very quickly and he becomes stronger.


I love this anime! I recommend!

Honest and short review from me so I believe that I am the only one who evaluates this anime..... let start with my love of all shows which are connected with magic/medieval (or MMORPG variant) and this show was similar to Sao what for me means cool!
Story 5/10 nothing special<Sao story line

Art 9/10 art is great 9 boobs from 9<> same something like sao

Sound 8/10 I like when sound is matched and remains atmospheric

Character 8/10 main hero is like a Kirito from sao but more trolling than seriousness and Hestia is very pretty, seeing their she hypnotize me, and last character who I liked too ... is Wallenstein, Ais she reminds me somehow Asuna from sao but she is more like Kirito by character.

Enjoyment 9/10 I watch the whole season in two days= I LOVE IT

Overall 8/10 this show for me is very good but not great or masterpiece becouse story is poor quality and thats all... so if you liked Sword art online and wanna see something very similar (in character) then this show is for you!!!

I'm probably going a little overboard with my scoring but come on its a video game made into a anime. It's like the manifestation of the games I used to play and the only thing that bothers me is there is just one dungeon and respawning... but it makes sense cause its pretty much like most rpgs. The only thing I can say is I'm sick of getting sucked into short lived anime and there god dang for soarr better be MOARRR!!!!!

Ah, role playing games. The common theatric in a role playing game is you, the player, controlling a little avatar of yourself as you explore the world and level up your skills, making yourself the best adventurer out there. So, to encapsulate that idea, we have Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka, or "Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon?" in the Spring 2015 season to tell us this. Let's start our journey!

Story (7.48/10): Danmachi as the shorthanded way of calling this show is, takes place in a fantasy realm, a world where Gods ... and Goddesses (of actual mythos names for gods that exist within our world) have come down to earth to be amongst their children, sealing off their divine powers in the process. Here, the people are given blessings by their gods and goddess, given power to do magics and "level up" like general RPG style manner and become a member in their familia, going down in a dungeon in order to fight monsters, loot them, and sell them so they can buy more stuff and become stronger, simple RPG mechanics. Here, we follow the story of Bell Cranel, a beginner adventurer that becomes one just so he can meet girls (hence the title of the show). Here, he is chased by a deadly minotaur, and is heroically saved by a blond beauty known as Aiz Wallenstein. And from there, our story begins.

The structure of Danmachi is very reminiscent to a standard RPG, where our main character, Bell, starts off at a very base level and slowly makes his ascent up to become stronger and stronger, gaining new equipment, skills, and abilities along the way. The show really puts emphasis on the growth of the main character as you go by episode to episode, which is nice to see, as you can observe the progress of our main character grind, quest, party build, and improve as the series goes along. For the most part, the series focuses mainly on Bell and his party, with a group of episodes devoted to each of the three members, with of course, most of the development devoted to Bell.

In addition, the show does boast some harem-like aspects that depending on your view of harem, can influence how you enjoy this show. Cause in a show like this, characters are slowly fed into importance, giving the viewer more and more important and non-important characters to view and know. And when you have a show that involves a weak little boy trying his love luck in a deadly dungeon, he's going to be meeting some lady friends along the way that will undeniable fall for him because he's nice.

Like good fantasy anime, Danmachi puts slight emphasis on world building, detailing the different parts of the world of Danmachi and explaining the kinds of places and the set of rules that the series follows as you go along. World building is essential to any good fantasy anime on account of the fact that every anime of this category follows different rules, rules that need to be explained to the viewer, or risk being considered garbage on account of poor explanation to the kind of place we're viewing.

But there are a couple things that I feel lacking with the show. For one thing, there are several points the feel completely forgotten or are virtually unexplained. Not everything in Danmachi is properly detailed completely, which leaves some gray areas in unexplained plot. The biggest example of this is with the show's alluded villain who does cause some ruckus for our MC to solve, taking about 3-5 episodes of runtime, but her motives and her actions just don't seem very clear. In addition, in comparison to the source material, there're some missing parallels and some decently important scenes that just never made it to the animated version.

Above all, I felt as though the show's ending was really kind of a smack to the face, dousing the viewer with a pretty hefty character trait that vies for something of a second season in order to explain that, or something of that sort. The reason for that is because the show doesn't really...end. It says "fin" at the end of the show and it feels like an ending, but there's so many plot points that just simply aren't resolved. Bell doesn't get the girl (well, he kinda does, but it's not official, so I'm not calling it.), the motives for all of the characters are far from clear, and the show just kinda drops this huge thing at the end, and...that does not sit well with me.

Overview:
+ RPG-style story that works
+ World building
- Plot holes/lack of character motive explanation
- Rushed
- Pretty frustrating ending

Characters (7.64/10): The characters for Danmachi are varied, to say the least. Like an RPG game, the anime showcases many races from what you would see from any given fantasy world, including normal humans, animal-like humans, elves, dwarves, etc.

Bell Cranel is our main protagonist in this series, aka the character who thanks to sheer luck, is also a bit of a harem king in some strange aspect. As a thief/rouge type of character, Bell is a knife wielder with light armor with an oddly high speed/dexterity stat. At the start of the series, Bell is a bit of a crybaby/wimp, being unable to pull himself up to the level of being a proper adventurer on account of his Level 1 status, and his chronic fear of minotaurs. As I have mentioned before, the series goes along with Bell's growth as he stacks up numerous accomplishments to make himself be recognized as a proper adventurer (if not a little but OP all things considering). As a result, Bell is a nicely developed character, as he's not too too rushed and he develops over time at a nice pace. The only issue...is also his chronic fear of the females. In Harem King terms, Bell rather than being perverted, is the nervous kind, leading him to be reluctant to even try to get close to the girl he's fallen for, leading to some frustrating (yet hilarious) running away scenes to the point that not only do characters notice this behavior, but Bell himself does too. (It's...kind of annoying.)

And then we have Hestia, the featured goddess of the Danmachi series. Now, unlike her real world counterpart, Hestia is not a modest woman of the hearth who swears herself to perpetual virginity, but rather a poor goddess wearing a tattered dress who's loli sized with large breasts that thirsts for Bell's love. (Quite an opposite, ain't it?) For the most part, that's really all there is to her character. She's very clingy (territorial even) when it comes to the only person in her familia (Bell), and acts very childish and throws tantrums every time Bell is in her eyes "unfaithful" or something like that. While she is actually a pretty fun character, giving off a sense of comedic feel for the show, she doesn't really actually have much development in her personality, leaving her to be stagnant in that regard. Her character revolves around Bell's existence, so she has no real development parts herself. She really just serves as a mascot for the series above all. Hell, if you type in "boob ribbon" on google, you'll get pics of Hestia's dress because of how scarily iconic that blue thing under her chest is now.

And then to round out the trio of character mentions, we have Aiz Wallenstein, the girl that Bell wants to shoot for to test his luck in the love game. In terms of character, Aiz is that cool, silent girl with the oddly adorable blank face who's slightly airheaded. Likewise with Hestia's case, she doesn't appear all that often, which really saddens me a bit because while her character revolved around Bell to some extent, she still had enough room to be more interesting and overall be a better character, not that she's not already a decent character already, but it's nice to have a little bit of development.

Side characters in Danmachi are twofold, the characters that hang around Bell, and those that are outside of our MC's circle that come to know who he is and the kind of fast progression he has in the series. For the two characters Lili and Welf that belong to Bell's party, each one of them develop a small story for each of them, gaining the character development for the series aside from Bell. They share a lot of focus from the show, which in turn, makes them into better characters that get backstories and character development. As for the other group, the characters that belong there are for the most part, cast members that bring more life into the world of Danmachi, featuring people that see Bell from time to time on occasion, other gods like Hephaestus, Hermes, and Loki, other girls like Syr and Eina, and Freya...

Admittedly, the biggest issue I have with the characters is mostly with Freya. As the character who seems to be the premier villain for the show, Freya really doesn't do anything. Because there're some missing details in the show, a lot of what Freya does canonically, doesn't actually get shown and further makes her a little less involved with the show period. She doesn't really have much of a purpose and that really bugs me because I feel like she actually does more than what she is shown to do here in the anime. (Admittedly, J.C. has a history of cutting corners.)

Overview:
+ Good character development
+ Good main cast
+ Lots of races (This is a personal positive)
- "Villain" character didn't really seem to do all that much

Art and Sound (7.44/10): In terms of art, the style that J.C. staff went for is a very standard looking style in this day and age. There's nothing really standout about it aside from the fact that it looks decent nice, so generally, I would say that the show's appearance really isn't all that noteworthy.

On the other hand though, the action scenes that the show showcases a lot are very fluid and nice. It is rather smooth and the nice addition of blood spraying everywhere when a monster or character gets hit is nice, as it shows the battle progress that has been going on.

And since this is a harem show, there's bound to be some ecchi, so here's the obligatory ecchi paragraph that I do with a show that has a great deal of fanservice. For the most part, the fanservice isn't all that obvious. However, because Hestia exists, we have some...ahem, interesting physics that go around this series. And because of Hestia's design, expect quite a few scenes like that from time to time.

In terms of sound, the Danmachi's OP and ED are good tracks, with a whimsical OP and a cheerful ED. Would I say they're memorable? Yes, I would agree that to an extent, they can be considered memorable. Are they masterpieces? Not really, but they're pretty fun songs nonetheless. In terms of music in the anime itself, there really isn't anything that's worth mentioning cause there isn't anything that I can actually recall hearing specifically.

Overview:
+ Decent animation
+ Good battle scenes
+ Memorable OP and ED

Personal Enjoyment (8.32/10): As a fan of RPGs and harems in general, Danmachi was a show that I knew for a fact suited my tastes in anime. Sure enough, I was right. Overall, my thoughts on Danmachi aren't really all that significant for it. It wasn't a show that had any thought provoking themes, it had flaws but not any grave ones that hampered the show a staggering amount, and it was overall, fun to watch.

Did I like this anime?

Yes I did. It really showcased the RPG element that it was based off of with Bell getting new gear and weapons, leveling up to get stronger, and getting to tougher areas, which really made the show very appealing to me. The characters were also quite fun seeing as how I'm a fan of MC's that are strong but not TOO strong (still kinda OP at the end though...), and how the overall feel of the show really gripped me into the story at times.

What didn't I like about this anime?

My biggest issue with this series is mainly with the personalities and screen time that a good chunk of the characters get. Hestia herself while great because of her obsessiveness over Bell, did get irritating at times, Aiz was great but didn't get featured as much as I would've liked, and Freya was just kind of...not there for 90% of the series. Plus those set of lines thrown in by Hermes at the end REALLY pisses me off. You don't end a series by putting in a crap ton of information that can allude to a season two, and then end it with a giant "fin" at the end, that's just not right J.C.!

Would I recommend this anime?

If you're a fan of RPG fantasy games like I am or you're looking for something fun to watch, I'd say Danmachi fits the bill pretty well. It's not a perfect series on account on some of its glaring issues and use of fanserive, but it's a fun show, but far from a masterpiece. A good show for a marathon on an afternoon of relaxation.

Overall Score: 7.50/10

Alright so now that the old post had been removed, I feel that it's my fault and i should've updated this anime review but this time I will be so critic.

*Spoiler-free* (Includes general overview of the story)
Story: 8
Why 8 ? That would be because of the expandable content of the story and I really love how the anime is adapted to a video game enviroment where gamers will remember how amazing it was to play and farm for hours in dungeons and meeting new people, then I realize that most of us quit after being hacked/scammed. Now furthermore, I realized this story isn't very ... stable when it comes to how it moves on and progresses. Like it starts off with a blow then it settles for a while then it skyrockets then lands smoothly. The ending impressed me cause it had hints for a second season which is very very ANTICIPATED by me and I would really love it.

Art: 8

Well, there's nothing so so unique about the art of the anime. To be honest, it's an anime catered around males due to the art funneled towards sex appeals of women. But what I didn't like is that the anime could have contained more effects in battle like the ones we see in video games, however battles are intense.

Sound: 8

The opening started with an amazing beat that reminds me of something however when it started the thing just went wrong !! Besides the opening and ending, the anime could have used dubstep in some situations , don't get the wrong idea the anime added music and tones that provides a mood.

Character: 9

One of the main protagonists, Hestia, is loved by everyone for her being tooo KAWAIII and lovely. Sometimes it makes you feel, Why don't girls like her exist ? Well the other protagonist, Bell Cranel, is rather the dreamer and is very unique but isn't like every other anime protagonist (Too Overpowered) and is balanced yet he must have something in him or else he wouldn't be chosen as the protagonist.

Enjoyment: 9

I loved loved loved and I repeat I loved the anime so much. I wake up on midnight my timing to watch the latest episode. Why you'd ask ? The anime had everything. An amazing blend of Comedy,Romance,and Superpowers. More over, it's very fun to watch because the jokes are too original and has some sort of men humour and also some jokes only women would
understand.

Overall: 8

If you were to criticize an anime too much, you'd never be able to enjoy any ... Just go with the flow, it's an anime you won't regret having a look. Thank to "DanMachi" I want to watch Sword Art Online just to see similar content to this.

Looking at the top 4 written reviews for this anime shows scores of between 3-5 which I feel is a very unfair rating for this series.

I went into the anime thinking this would be full of ecchi and fanservice but honestly ended up enjoying this series far more than I thought I would. Whilst there is some fanservice, it really isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The story itself is simple and treads a fairly familiar path of a young adventurer who starts of weak but has hidden potential quite apart from a kind and moral heart. The beauty of the story ... however lies in how relatable the characters are and the chemistry of the leads. With simple stories, it is not just about the premise but the execution that counts - to that end, the main characters are just a lot of fun.

In general I don't really care about art and sound unless they are exceptionally good or bad. In this case, they serve the series well in making us care for the characters and enjoy watching them develop and grow.

Whilst this anime is not lifechanging nor particularly thought provoking, it does it's job of holding your attention and providing entertainment throughout the series with no real flaws or particular disappointments. Perhaps the only downside is the short single cour ending leaving a feeling of lack of completion. I sincerely hope that there is a second season because this feels like a 2 cour anime at least to allow an opportunity for some resolution of plot points.

In summary, don't let the poor written reviews or your pre/misconceptions about the title and style of anime put you off.

If you watch it, the vast majority of you will enjoy it's light hearted style and have a fun time watching it. I know that I certainly didnt feel that I wasted my time watching this series and can recommend this anime if you are looking for a charming series to fill your time with!

This review is for the ENTIRE season!!!!

INTRO: The story takes place in a world called Orario. In this world a popular spot to travel and gain high status is by entering and conquering levels within a dungeon. This dungeon contains an assortment of monsters where adventurers, which are the people that embark in these quests into the dungeon, go to defeat these creatures to gain access to their droppings, which in this case are shards. These shards are used to craft magical items and weapons, and can also be exchanged for currency. Some of the residents of Orario join Familias, which are clans ruled by ... a diety. The adventurers are ranked by a letter level system, which allows them to gain experience, therefore becoming stronger and gaining new abilities.

Sort of sounds like a RPG, but in this case, it’s their real life.

PLOT: The story revolves around a young boy of the name, Bell Cranel. Unlike the rest of the citizens of Orario, this boy comes with a unique set of skills that are later unlocked as the plot progresses. He is the only member of the Familia Hestia, as a result, he has to work harder when questing in the dungeon. After an incident in the dungeon, a world known adventurer of the name, Aiz Wallenstein, has to come save Bell. After being saved by Aiz, he falls in love with her and vows to become as strong or stronger than her, so that he may be the one to save his loved ones.

The plot mainly revolves around the aspects of maturity, strength, integrity, and passion. With Bell never wanting to give up and setting aside his failures and embarrassments, he makes new friends that join him along his adventure to have him seek the glory he so much deserves. Conquering dungeons and defeating monsters stronger than him, Bell creates a name for himself, as a result bringing fame and new enemies.

ANIMATION & SOUND: The animation for DanMachi is superb. It is vibrant, colorful, friendly, and down right awesome. The music never lacks either! Every single scenario, whether goofy and fun, serious and passionate or a battle amongst adventurers and dungeon monsters, the original soundtrack and fluidity of the animation make it come to life.

CHARACTERS: DanMachi comes with a set of generic and unique characters and personalities.
I may find it difficult not to like Bell, but he sometimes can get on your nerves. I blame the naïve tendency the author chose for him, aside from that he is marvelous main character. It might have taken some time to show his true potential, but believe me when I say that it is worth the wait! There is also Hestia, a loli Goddess with the body of a grown woman! While being a sight for sore eyes, Hestia is an energetic and amazingly kind and supporting Goddess to her Familia. She takes up the role of supporter within a few episodes and it makes her relatable to real life situtaions, but despite being mature and dependable, she is also a jealous and somewhat lazy Goddess. Her love for Bell makes it a fun and friendly venture through this series. Welf Crozzo is a straight-forward and honest person. Lili has a double personality where one shows off despising herself and the other is cheerful and positive. Aiz is caring and supportive. So a unique cast in certain, but generic in aspects of, “we have seen this before”.
Don’t worry, it hardly disturbs the progression of the plot and character development. This might be me, nitpicking.

CONS: I have very few problems with this anime in general, but with this being a review, I must not be biased and address the issues I had when watching it. I felt some of the battle scenes could have a dragged an extra episode. Towards the end where Bell and company are fighting against the level 5 dungeon monster that appeared on the 18th floor, it seemed too rushed and the montage of still-framed battle scenes took away from the emotional rush I had felt during Bell’s battle against the altered minotaur and the level 5 monstrosity. I also didn’t like Bell’s childish approach to the females’ affection towards him. I wish he had more of a confident personality and took advantage of openings, because at this moment, sure he is in love with Aiz, but I felt that there could have been a change in affection and he would have gained new feelings for other female characters, due to the lack of interaction between he and Aiz.

OVERALL: I will give this anime an 8/10. This anime gave me a lot of excitement. It had me wishing the week we go by because it would always leave you in a nice cliffhanger. The character development and plot worked smoothly with each other and backed themselves up, never leading us to a dead end. It never dragged and keep it’s momentum at an all time high. It ended how it started, amazing.

Check out my channel for the same review, but with added scenes and music from the anime. :]
www.youtube.com/projektbaka

Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon? is the most misleading title in anime I've ever seen, and it sure was, because, with that tile, it seemed that it would be some harem/fan service show were our main character saves girls, they fall for him ans throw their boobs at his face because why not.

Well, I was 50% right at the harem/fan service part, although it is pretty different from the general harem as it was more of "I like him because of what he does and his noble intentions" and that's all, no lusty feelings (except for the "villain" of ... the series), but absolutely wrong about the main character, Bell, saving girls. In fact, the first thing we see is an amazing swordswoman kicking the ass of a minotaur in order to save Bell.

The series is set in a world where gods and goddesses descent from heavens to join humans, giving up their divine powers and establishing "familias", guilds in which adventurers join and receive the blessing of the god or goddess of that familia. Bell is part of the Hestia familia, which is one of the poorest of all, as he is the only member of that guild and the " headquarters" is just an old, tiny church.

The characters were the best part of the series. Bell is far more interesting than other characters, as his motivations are more human and feel natural. Besides, his powers actually have some kind of explanation, ome that goes along with the setting. And his relationship with Hestia is amazing! And yes, she's the boobilicious character that has appeared everywhere, but, to my surprise, that disn't define her character. The fan service was not a main part of the story, and that let Hestia and other girls feel like interesting characters with stories behind them, being two examples Liliruca and Ryu.

The animation was impressively good, being solid throughout the series. The battle in the middle part of the series one of the best of the year.

This is series I'd like to call the middle point between Log Horizon and SAO, as it has the characters and development of the first and the well done animation that define the second. This is a series I'd recommend to anyone looking for well done characters and relationships, and amazingly animated battles.

Don't miss it, and I hope that it gets a second season!

I just had to add a review because of how much hate this show has gotten.

First a brief non-spoiler synopsis. Gods (from several mythologies) basically have given up their powers and come to live among mortals. Each god can form a "familia" (read: gang/guild). The world is presented as a town with a multi-floor dungeon attached. Character and enemy abilities are presented as if this were a video game, however the world is NOT set in a video game. The story follows a boy who joins (and is the only member of) the familia of the goddess Hestia. The ... goddess is in love with him, although he kind of just ignores that fact. The story is about the boy getting a remarkable skill *exp plus/Super growth* after he gets saved from a near-death encounter with an OOP monster in the dungeon. From then you watch him grow and try to make it through the dungeon while being sabotaged by *parties you will learn about*.

I will keep this short. It's an enjoyable show. The characters are fun to watch. The world is interesting (although not fully explored) and you keep wanting to learn more about it. The main is pretty standard (gentleman, earnest, shy with his feelings, wants to get stronger), and that doesn't bother me. Several of the battle scenes are drawn very well. The comedy is light hearted and sometimes slightly perverted. There are obvious fan service shots, but not nearly as heavy as an ecchi show might be. Plus the main is pure/innocent so the show never gets lewd.

All in all it's just fun! Do you like to see a new world get explored? A main character grow and meet interesting characters along the way? Well animated action? If so, just watch this show! Ignore all the haters.

Given I'm a huge gamer so that might influence how much I enjoyed the show.

My "Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka" review.

My ratings:

Story: My Verdict, a poor 3.

Art: My Verdict, a Good 7

Sound: My Verdict, a mediocre 5.

... Character: My Verdict, a poor 3.

Enjoyment: My Verdict, a decent 4.

Overall: My Verdict, a Good 7.

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka (DanMachi) or in English " Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?" .......Really, this was kind of title that authors Yasuda, Suzuhito and Oomori, Fujino came up with? Wtf are these Jap morons thinking of coming up with such title, that conflicts the anime/novel's plot? Ok, so did the MC guy picked up any girls in the dungeon??????Ans....NOOOOOO! In fact it wasn't him who picked up them girls, rather it's the other way around, we saw Hestia making him her first Familia member, we saw Liliruca who tricked her way to the MC guy's heart, Ryu Lion wasn't even part of the MC guy's harem, the MC guy's moment with Aiz Wallenstein, for the most part occurred outside of the dungeon and so on and so forth, so the story category of this anime.......(up) was so poor in almost everything that for the most part it relies a lot from the MC guy's relationship with his sponsor, Hestia. Ar (up)t, well considering that Hestia in her petite size is one cute loli whore, Aiz is pretty much the quintessential hot tough girl and Lion is one damned hot elf that very hot and it's all good, never mind the limited fanservice. Sound (up) I just don't have much to say about the VA's and the anime's ost, so a mediocre it is.

On the character category(up)...ok since its all about the MC guy, Bell Cranel , the thing about him was that he very much a typical adventurer who has some potential to be great, but the annoying part about him was how stupid is he when it comes to romance, also the way he was portrayed was that he was made to have a suppose relationship with Aiz, but the role of Hestia was a purposely assigned character to simply kept the MC guy in her grasp, which adds to my annoyance. As to Aiz Wallenstein, I just can't figure out as to why her character prevents her from competing for the MC guy's affection, it was such as waste that she wasn't in the last episode that would have added to the anime's action genre, also it was quite odd that her character was suppose to be with the MC guy, but instead the MC guy was made to have a loli romance and I'm referring to Hestia and Lili whom is the only one competing for the MC guy's affection. Let's not forget the other female character's like, Eina Tulle, Syr Flover and Ryu Lion who were suppose to be the MC guy's harem members but were not, pretty much they're more of an ambiguity than anything else, so pretty much the character category is as poor as poor. But, the enjoyment factor (up) was pretty decent despite of mu annoyance with the MC guy, so in an overall sense(Up) it was still all good to be watched, thought it can use a little more fanservice in it like some Hestia panty shots, but that's just me. PEACE!

If you look at the top most helpful reviews of this anime, you'll mostly see 2s, 3s or 4s. I honestly don't get the amount of hate for this anime. It doesn't claim to be something very unique or groundbreaking, nor does it attempt to be. So rating it low just because you wanted it to be something it is not, when it never claimed to to be that, is absurd.

It's a fantasy action adventure comedy with fanservice, and it does its job well in that department. Sure, it has a cliché good guy main character, and most characters are clichés as well, but that ... doesn't necessarily make it a bad anime.

The story is decent and the pacing of the series is good. The animation is good and the music is okay. The sense of being in a fantasy MMORPG world is its main unique selling point for me. The journey of the main character and how he discovers himself while making allies and friends along the way is what I like about the anime.

If you're looking for a serious thought provoking anime, you're looking in the wrong place. It's a fun adventure of a guy who's in love and wants to become stronger to protect people/women set in a fantasy/MMORPG setting.

Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon?

This anime is action packed and full of laughs. There is a really nice story line to the anime and the proper motivation to give the viewer all the motivation needed to back the main character.

I like to compare this story to Sword Art Online only in the sense that the character must fight dungeon monsters and party up to take down larger bosses. In fact, I love how much more realistic this anime is in comparison, because this dungeon world is real life to them.

Story - 8/10 Plenty of motivation to continue watching, though ... the characters main goal is not concrete.
Graphics - 9/10 Very cool, modern artwork pushing the characters to perform human-like movements.
Personas - 9/10 Most characters had a unique background to them and their own reasons for fighting/existing.
Sexiness - 100%
Voice Acting - 9/10 Good tone and fluctuation in the Japanese voices to really implant that emotion into the characters.
Soundtrack - 8/10 Proper placement of battle/emotional/town music.

Overall - 9/10
Recommended: Absolutely!