I tend to call the first season of Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon – AKA Danmachi – a pleasant surprise. Go in expecting harem schlock, but actually get a solid adventure with lovable characters and great worldbuilding. The good news is that those same elements are still around, and generally speaking this season of Danmachi is quite similar to its predecessor. But at the same time there are changes, with some fairly core aspects of the series being tweaked and fiddled with. I also think it's fair to say that some of the new topics and plot threads around the periphery are a little heavier tonally, and the production stumbles in a few places. On their own these factors would be easy to dismiss but together they add up, with the result being a season that may have bitten off a little more than it can comfortably chew.

Kicking things off basically right where the events of season one ended, Bell and Hestia immediately find themselves at odds with the much larger, more powerful Apollo familia. Bell’s feats have garnered the attention of many gods including Apollo, who has become hyper-fixated on getting the upstart hero to join him, by any means necessary. After forcing a “war game” (essentially a mock battle between two familias) revolving around the siege of a castle to decide things, Bell and the Hestia familia, now bolstered by new members Lili, Welf, and Mikoto, are forced into a lopsided fight to prevent what is essentially a kidnapping attempt from a god.

Shortly after the war game wraps up, a new crisis rears its head. It comes to light that one of the members of the Ishtar familia, Haruhime, is one of Mikoto’s childhood friends, and she’s being kept as a slave in Orario’s red light district. As Bell and Mikoto look into her situation a little more, they discover that the Ishtar familia plans to use her as a sacrifice to create an item that will allow their members to immediately level up. Obviously needing to do the heroic thing and save a friend in danger, a plan is formed to go and rescue Haruhime.

These two arcs take up the vast majority of Danmachi II’s runtime, and after everything is said and done I can’t help but feel a little let down by them. Granted there are some quality moments, like Lili’s confrontation with her old familia, the resolution of the war game, and Ishtar’s fall from grace. This season also manages to shift the tone somewhat, going from a traditional adventure story to something that embraces more mature themes so that Bell’s journey has a little bit more “oomph” to it. But there are also issues, like the fact that both antagonists honestly just suck. Apollo and Ishtar are very similar, as they’re vain narcissists who allow their familias to be managed by unrepentant psychopaths. Awful gods creating awful familias could work, but the gods don’t come across as intimidating whatsoever; their actions are more creepy than threatening, with Apollo in particular making my skin crawl.

Watching the conclusions to these situations and seeing the good guys win is cathartic, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are quite a few really uncomfortable moments that occur as the story progresses. It also needs to be stated that Danmachi II represents a major shift away from the dungeon as a setting and catalyst for action, which it was in season one. This might not turn everyone off, as the dungeon is somewhat cliché. However, I really enjoyed Bell’s exploration of the dungeon, and his trials against monsters like the minotaur or the goliath back then felt like the stakes were much higher. The monsters were trying to kill Bell and those fights felt incredibly close, but against other adventurers Bell tends to either lose horrifically or win decisively, with little inbetween.

Unfortunately, these issues spillover a bit and also impact our protagonist in other ways. While Bell already knew what the mindset of a hero should be at the start his journey, he wasn’t yet able to live up to that ideal – however, he was consciously molding himself to eventually fit that definition. This is abundantly clear when comparing Bell’s attitude and mental state at start of season one against the end, as he is more confident, more assertive, and has direction, as well as some goals that aren’t totally vague. In some ways he feels like a new character altogether. But to be frank, I don’t see that same growth or development at all when making that comparison for this season. Bell overcomes ridiculous odds and two gods, yet nothing really changes whatsoever other than his level going from two to three. In a story about a character’s quest to becoming a hero, the fact that major events like these feel insignificant is, like the other issues previously mentioned, quite disappointing.

It's a shame too, because its very clear that Danmachi II is trying to set up more character driven moments with the shift to man vs man (man vs god?) conflicts. Bell is no longer just fighting against creatures with no intelligence or moral compass, he’s butting heads with people whose worldviews are diametrically opposed to his. Even though I enjoy the content that revolves around the dungeon, the fact of the matter is that if Bell were to spend all of his time in there it would become harder for him to grow as a character; the minotaur and golem from season one are great adversaries, but they would eventually just be “Big Bad Monsters #1 and #2” in a long list of close, hard-fought battles. Giving Bell other humans to face gives him different, less tangible obstacles to overcome, ones that he can’t simply punch, kick, or stab. So, I still think that from a character development perspective the writing misses the mark, but I can appreciate the attempt, and think the potential is clearly there.

Interestingly, the character who I think has the most well-crafted journey is probably Aisha. She’s one of the members of the Ishtar familia, and for most of the Haruhime arc she serves as an antagonist. At the start she wipes the floor with Bell, and after that she serves as a roadblock of sorts, preventing him from accomplishing his mission. She’s an irreverent mix of crass, aggressive, and horny, and for a while it doesn’t seem like there is more to her character. But as things progress, we see how close she is with Haruhime and what she’s done, and is still doing, to try and help her. Aisha is no saint but she’s also not exactly an awful person, even if the concept of being “polite” is something she hasn’t heard of before. Truthfully it seems like she just finds herself in a horrendous situation with no way out until Bell arrives, which is why the atmosphere of their last bout is different. It’s clear to both that the Ishtar familia has lost, and they aren’t fighting to see who is going to get Haruhime – they’re fighting so Aisha can make sure Bell can provide the protection she couldn’t. Yeah, an antagonist who is " secretly alright beneath a jagged exterior and just in a tight spot” is a tired trope. But Danmachi II executes effectively, and turns what could have been a very forgettable character into a memorable one.

Production-wise, this season is largely unchanged. For everything that isn’t a fight, you’re going to see clean character designs and background art, okay animation, and decent directing. The biggest change does come with the high impact fights, however, which do not get the same attention they previously received. They're choppier, with less interesting framing than before, and even though the choreography is much simpler the animation still struggles to keep up at times. And while the OST and voice acting may still be fantastic, the reduced attention to action in general is felt in the effects audio as well. There are multiple times when in one-on-one combat the slashing of a sword or dagger is audible, but the noise doesn’t really sync properly with the animation, or the mixing is off and an effect is way too loud. While high quality fights aren't really what Danmachi is about, the first season did a good job of making them interesting, and even though they weren’t mind blowing I was still on the edge of my seat. Now they're barely adequate, and that honestly might be a little too nice.

If I am being too nice though, it’s probably because I still like the series. I know a lot of what I said was pretty negative, but that’s because a sequel inevitably is going to get compared against what came before (and I really enjoyed season one). Even if this was something of a step backwards, it’s a step backwards to being average, not bad or unwatchable. I also have a good amount of respect for recognizing that the formula needed to be shaken up and then doing it, even if the final product stumbled as a result. Here’s my opinion summed up succinctly: Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeron II is not God’s gift to anime. But, it’s not exactly a painful watch – and it’s a necessary evil in order to watch season three.