Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Also known as DanMachi for short.
The anime at first was torn to shreds by nearly every person online calling it Sword Art Online Giant Titty Edition. But I will hands down say that this anime had better pacing and story progression than Log Horizon who people swear by for some reason but bash on this Anime??? Anyways I'm going to get first to the heat of the debate, a lot of people bash that this anime copied the floor level idea and RPG idea from Sword Art Online. Those people though fail to realize that Floor Levels weren't an idea created from Sword Art Online, but in fact this idea has existed long before SAO's existence. Almost every Dungeon Crawler RPG has floor levels, I mean just look at Diablo, it's pretty much fighting on different floors with increasing leveled enemies per different dungeon/floor. The truth of the matter is that people keep comparing DanMachi to SAO when in reality the anime shows have totally different premise.
Looking at the broad picture Sword Art Online is an anime based on being trapped in a MMO similar to Guild Wars 2 or WOW with different sections devoted to different tasks like Villages, Dungeons, Main Quests, etcetera. On the other hand, DanMachi is an Anime based on the what if the world of a game like Guild Wars 2 was real and not a game. So in that perspective DanMachi is closer to the source of material than Sword Art Online. DanMachi is the real answer to what would life be inside a game rather than pretend to be trapped in one. With that said I love both of these anime shows, but I think it's an unfair comparison of the two seeing that they are looking at the same thing but in totally different perspectives.
Now let's actually talk about what the anime is about, the story takes place in Orario a fictional world which contains monsters in all sorts of forms. In the story certain individuals take on the role as Adventurers who visit the dungeon to defeat monsters and take their shards. The shards can be used to craft magic items and are also used as the world's currency. Adventurers join groups called Famiria and each Famiria is serves a resident deity. Now I understand this is a lot to take in, but basically an Adventurer joins a Famiria to make adventuring easier and there deity can help tell them how they have improved after training at the dungeons. It's important because you need to know when you can move up a floor so that you as an Adventurer don't get killed. Also in a Famiria you can meet others to help make leveling up easier, and also get your back if you get rushed by to many enemies.
This particular story follows Bell Cranel, a solo adventurer under the goddess Hestia; Hestia is Bell's deity. Bell is at the start the only member of the Hestia Famiria, but he works extremely hard each day to improve his abilities. During the beginning of the story while Bell is still fairly new as an Adventurer a high level monster escapes a higher floor and Bell is nearly killed but he gets saved by Aiz Wallenstein. After this he pretty much fell in love with her but throughout the story he is mocked on how he was saved by a girl, and he wants to prove to himself and everyone that he can surpass Aiz, and not be saved by her all the time.
Of course first off I'd love to tip my hat off at the story because the progression and overall pacing is just so good. To add on the plot never got too deep but from where Bell started to where he wanted to get through you see a wimpy kid grow into a true Adventurer which honestly felt nostalgic to me. The show in general felt like an actual hero adventure, almost as if I was reading a book about a fairy tale hero.
The Art and Animation was splendid, nothing to ground breaking but nothing fell flat and everything popped. The most notable thing I can say about the Art is that the world felt like a world I'd want to be in. The fight scenes were so good as well, well animated and drew me in with suspense wondering what would happen next and once again felt like a true story about an adventurer.
The characters were just awesome and though they didn't explain the background of every character the main cast of characters did get a back story which were also amazing. You saw what the other characters went through so you knew where they were coming from rather than just being plain ol' support characters. The best part is that this anime pretty much set some amazing ground work because its story, characters, and world. The one that I want a little more story of is Hestia who despite being a major character didn't get much story. I'd also like to know how and where the deities come from.
The music was perfectly suitable for this anime, the opening theme really helped describe the anime, adventures, struggle, and above all friendship which everyone knows is the perfect combination of a heroic anime. The ending song feels just so adorable, with a Chibi Hestia running followed by all the other characters but all I can really say is that it's amazing. The anime in general screams Adventure, Friendship, Struggles, and Happiness! Although there are some kinda dark moments in this anime it was still the right balance for something like this.
But before we get into the review I do want to mention one of the major gripes of the anime which is it's slight harem roots that it shows. It doesn't get to the extent of girls falling all over him but there are some ecchi scenes that pop in here and there, and it isn't as overly exaggerated as some people make it out be, I'd say Nisekoi put the girls in more awkward situations than this Anime does by a long shot and Nisekoi is amazing!
Now onward to the review!
Story - 9 | Astonishing!
DanMachi's story was superb and much better than what I was expecting. I will admit that I came in with extremely low expectations. I had heard the worst from a few reviewers online, so I was honestly expecting total garbage with overly done ecchi scenes like Sakura-Kiss status. So once I started I got hooked, I didn't see an anime this good coming until the summer or later, and honestly I'm glad it came when it did. Spring brought new anime shows that just weren't that good honestly, not terrible but many didn't give me incentive to continue watching. This anime's story was amazing, it felt like I was on adventure the whole way through! However, the only thing I can say bad about the story is a small gripe that screams season 2. We learned a lot about the characters, the particular location of this world, and of course how this world all works and functions. But the one thing that is missing is exploration, they never really travel that far from where the anime starts, and no it isn't bad but I just wish this anime could've been 24 eps with more adventures ahead but this is more of a desire than gripe one could say.
Characters - 10 | Unforgettable!
Before you lose your mind, a 10 doesn't mean perfect because there is no such thing as perfect. That aside this anime has unforgettable characters especially the main character in the Hestia Famiria. What I mean by unforgettable is that the background story, personality, and how the character was introduced were all a good mix. None of the main characters ever blended into the background or felt like there were there for only support. The story didn't only center around Bell despite him being the main character which allowed the characters to have existence outside of Bell's sight so that you saw the struggles that not even some of the other characters in the anime saw. You kind of knew more about the characters than any other character which felt quite nice. When something would happen that would affect a character you knew it before anyone else and were wondering how things would play out. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and I hope a Season 2 can only help grow those characters and explain other things that the show didn't get enough time to explain.
Art/Animation - 9 | Astonishing!
First above all I want to say that everything in the anime felt perfectly fit for each other, the background and characters felt as one in the same world and everything felt colorful and popped out well. The animations were extremely good but not silky smooth like some other anime shows are starting to do now but this anime wasn't a slouch either. The best way to say it is that it's an anime that feels perfect and right together in Art and Animation, I think what makes the Art and Animation feel like something higher than a 7 or 8 is how good they complement each other. I just wish the animations could be a bit more silky smooth like we are starting to see lately on some shows cause this anime could've jumped to a 10 depending on how much of the anime was buttery smooth. But the anime as it is now is still beyond average, but something about this anime makes me want to demand more so I could just be picky.
Music/Sound - 8 | Amazing!
The voice actors and music do its good on the anime, everything felt like a beautifully wrapped package of nice voice acting with an amazing OST to back it up. The fight scenes had music perfect for the moment that kept me at the edge of my seat, and the moments that admired the scenery were partnered with nice background music. But above all the Opening and Ending songs were good, they felt silly and wacky but showed a side of the world that not many shows like this would ever show. You saw an Adventurer also enjoying his daily life with the people he cared about and the music helped emphasize that alongside with Action, Struggle, and Friendship!
Enjoyment - 10 | Unforgettable!
What can I say about this Anime that I haven't already said, the characters are amazing and have their own back stories that actually hold up and this gives the characters recognition from just a typical support character and helps amplify towards how you feel about that character. The Art and Animation complement each other and help bring the world to life by making not only the world pop but the characters too and making them not seem transparent and feel more real. The OST helped bring the most intense moments to life with heart pumping songs and assisted in catering the most real moments with soothing music to help empathize with the current scene. But of course above all the story had a point A to point B, which took me on an adventure of a life time with amazing characters in an amazing world and all I can truly say is that A and B are not the only letters in the alphabet so I hope a Second Season can take me on more explorations beyond just the world we got to see and help expand the characters even more!
Final Rating: 9 | Astonishing [Exact Rating - 9.2]
A perfect anime doesn't exist but this is close enough to that for me, the story, characters, ost, and art was just up to par with everything I consider amazing and honestly this anime is what I'd personally consider the best way to start Summer's amazing line up of 2015 anime shows. If you want an anime that will take you on an adventure in a world where a zero becomes a hero and you want watch him slay cool enemies alongside probably some of the best supporting characters in a long time than this anime is definitely up your alley. While this anime isn't a Sword Art Online clone the few similarities are the story progression and the sense of adventure both of the anime shows carry. I think the one benefit is subtracting the love interest from SAO that this anime doesn't take as seriously, yes the character acknowledges a girl but the story never becomes about the romance between characters which while I don't mind, SAO kind of centered the anime around the relationship between Kirito and Asuna while in this anime is stays more faithful the point A to B and the adventure and struggles between that. Summing up the anime, I'd say it's best to ignore all reviews and come in with a clean mind and judge for yourself what the anime is but don't be surprised when you find yourself giggling, laughing, and going over the edge of your seat on the action scenes.
(I apologize if there are any typos)
