Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls...

Summary: >

The center of the economy in the land of Orario is the dungeon filled with monsters. These creatures drop valuable crystals that can be turned into coin for adventurers skillful enough to collect them and live. Normally adventurers pool their resources to tackle more difficult levels, in groups called famillia - headed by a deity. Bell is the sole member of a famillia, with a goddess who's not well known. While he may be low level now, Bell may achieve feats never before seen.

Thoughts: >

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? The short answer is yes. Especially if she's a healer. And especially if she's a human priest. Trust me. As an anime title, do we need a whole sentence for a title? I guess that's why the Japanese call it Danmachi.

Danmachi is basically an RPG anime, including characters levels with stat points, collecting drop items, etc. This anime takes the perspective of those characters, which is quirky because many RPG aspects make no sense, yet no one questions it. Monsters yield crystals and items, then those can be sold but they don't seem to have any useful value, nor are they rare. Why even bother with a dungeon which seems to keep the monsters contained in an otherwise peaceful world? The character perspective gives life to an otherwise dull and tired genre. There wasn't anything else I liked aside from an elf girl who was pretty cool (and trust me, I'm all about the elf girls). Two episodes in, I already wondered if I'd be able to stick with this show. I hated it that much. After 6 episodes I didn't mind it so much, but it still felt it a waste of time to watch.

The pacing is terrible, as almost nothing is accomplished through the course of the show. It takes two episodes for Bell to receive a magical uber dagger. Three episodes to get betrayed by a companion. Two episodes spent training. It goes on and on. The whole show could have happened in 4 episodes instead of 13. Danmachi poorly pads the time it has, with most of it following Bell dating girls (seriously, he goes on like 7 dates in this anime) and not accomplishing anything.

The characters are very weak, especially the protagonist; although his goddess has the hilarious nickname of loli-big-boobs. Bell is a generic harem anime male, and the girls are a tired collection of tropes. At the center of the story is Bell's crush on a warrior girl who saved him. I'm not sure which is worse, how dull these two are individually, or trying to force a ham fisted romance between them.

It may seem harsh to rate this lower than Sword Art Online, when they seem like kind of the same thing. That anime at least had a story. What's the story here? I'm not even sure. Generic anime guy is secretly "the chosen one", attains abilities and weapons no one else has, accomplishes feats never done before, while girls all shamelessly throw themselves at him. Meanwhile some ominous evil woman has sinister intentions towards him. It plays out like a 3rd graders book report on "Every Fantasy RPG Anime: the TV series".

There isn't anything in this anime to recommend it for. I'd have no problem upgrading the rating if the "story" improves later, or perhaps if this anime even gets one at all. It's unlikely, and guaranteed the romance wont go anywhere, and will conclude with all the girls still chasing him. Waste of time.

Screen Caps: >