Is it wrong to pickup girls in a dungeon? Never found the answer, not eager to keep searching.
STORY - 4/10
(Evaluation for the quality of the story of this series is made void of other factors, like the artistic value, sound and characters)
We can all agree that a story is what makes an Anime worth considering or not. When it comes to this series, honestly, the story is so mediocre, that you'd confuse it as an adaptation of a children's storybook. It was a combination of simpleton thinking and unnecessary over-complication. What I mean by this is that this anime on one hand is so simple that you'll say it's cliche every 5 minutes or so, but on the other hand, is so complicated that you can hardly understand what is going in a particular scene.
That's why I'd say this Anime is an adaptation of a 5 year old's imagination. It's a cliche story of a boy who is a loser working hard to become a hero to impress girls and in the end succeeds in doing so. Somewhere along the way, I asked myself, "am I watching an Anime written by a Sword Art Online fan?"
The pacing was obviously rushed to the point that the climax didn't develop more than 2 episodes and the ending got everyone saying; "That's it??" The lack of exposition and proper development of the settings in the Anime made it hard to follow the plot. I swear I asked myself "What is Hestia doing? Why are there weird symbols and stuff?" almost every episode.
The story is overall quite disappointing but I guess it doesn't completely ruin the enjoyment of the Anime. (I'll explain more below) If you are the type to watch Anime based on the quality of the story, don't bother with this series. If you're going to watch this series, expect many plot holes (like the explanation of how the universe in this anime actually worked), a rushed climax resolution, and a disappointing ending.
ART - 8/10
(Evaluation for the artistic value of this series is made void of other factors, like the quality of the story, sound and characters)
The art was very good in a sense that the setting felt realistic enough for you to experience and indulge the events as they are happening. I actually almost forgot that the story was bad because the Animation was good.
The Victorian-esque setting worked and anybody would be convinced that the story would've taken place in Victorian times. It suited the premise of the story and it helped compliment the adventure. The art was enough to make you react to it (like the realistic depiction of blood made me uncomfortable since I suffer from Hemophobia) and is quite memorable. The character's designs were perfectly suited to the target audience (younger audiences) where the colours and curves of the characters are exaggerated to give a youthful and sexually attractive feeling. This also made the characters look suitable in accord to their traits and personalities, and they were unique enough to make you able to distinguish their behaviors just by their looks. The animation panels were fluid and consistent enough for anyone to overlook any minor changes or fluctuations. The backgrounds however, were nice, but not special. It wasn't breath-taking enough to make me pause the video and say, "wow" thus I couldn't really rate the art higher than 8 for this reason alone.
In a sentence, I would say the art is good enough to make you keep watching even if you hated other aspects of the anime (story, characters, etc.)
SOUND - 6/10
Firstly, let's talk about the opening theme. Any fan of ecchi would expect the theme to be joyful youthful and sound a little bit enticing (if that's the best word to describe it), and well, that's more or less what you get from this series. The theme isn't bad enough to deserve being skipped every episode, but it's not special enough to earn a spot in your Itunes playlist. In fact, give yourself a week and you'll probably forget what the theme was like.
Secondly, the OST. It is not special, not enjoyable, but not trash. There were some tracks that aided in the development of the story, and didn't overpower the plot, but some scenes lack the track to make it feel emotional and strong. In other words, the background music won't make your heart beat faster when the scene is supposed to make you feel excited, but isn't trash enough for you to consider muting the video.
Thirdly, the voice acting. (BEAR IN MIND, I WATCHED THE SUBBED VERSION, THEREFORE MY THOUGHTS WILL BE BASED ON THE JAPANESE VOICE ACTORS). I had no problem with the voice acting. In fact, I guess it was to a certain extent good enough for you to believe that the voice actor was actually the Anime character. The voice actor for the main character even made it believable that he is somewhat innocent and just wanted to be a hero. All in all, I must say, the voice acting was fair enough to merit the sounds of this Anime a score of 6.
CHARACTER - 4/10
This is another aspect where I had quite a problem with the series.
The main character was probably the only one I must say deserves to be glossed over. After all, he's a young boy entering adolescence, obviously he'll be quite impulsive, unstable and to a certain degree quite the pervert.
The other characters however, where your typical set of girls. Ms Perfect, Ms Pervert, Ms Powerful, etc. The characters are so cliche that you wouldn't even bother remembering their names. Their development wasn't good either. It was rushed and quite illogical. For a perfect heroine who has everything she wants suddenly feel pity for a boy who's being picked on for starting from the bottom, it felt like a stretch to me. I didn't see the coincidence in the bar (this is where their relationship started to develop) to be believable and realistic. It sounded like the producer wanted to force the main protagonists to get along for no apparent reason. The backstory and exposition behind the characters were too rushed to the point that the character's motives isn't something you figure out from the events, but rather it is something directly told to you. They are definitely not special and memorable, so you wouldn't even remember their names. Not even the main hero, in fact.
ENJOYMENT - 5/10
Okay, let's be fair. Good story and perfect character development isn't everybody's cup of tea. Some may prefer blatant fan service and simple humour. I took that into consideration. Throughout the series, you will not run out of fan service, and if that rocks your boat, hey, great! The girls in this anime will keep you entertained!
But in a holistic evaluation, not even the fan service was enough to compensate for all the shortcomings of the series. The story will definitely annoy you at some point and the characters will fade away from your memory faster than you know it, and this will make it quite difficult to enjoy the series to the max.
That being said, this doesn't mean this Anime is completely unwatchable. To a certain extent, the adventure was exciting enough for you to keep rooting for the cute little hero. Even if you may get bored along the way, isn't that what the fan service is for though? You will somehow get through this Anime without gouging your eyeballs and cursing the kami, that's for sure.
VERDICT = MEDIOCRE
OVERALL RATING = 5.4/10
