Danmachi.... Danmachi is officially. 100%. a proper great show now with this latest entry!

Danmachi is no longer the regular, fun but ultimately simple show that it used to be. FOR REAL, the growth in writing & execution is insane in these latest seasons, compared to the earlier ones. Danmachi has played the long game & succeeded spectacularly, and it has paid heaps for those of us who stuck around! <3

S3 was a definite turning point for me, it had good ass writing with an good take on the topic it was trying to address. How Bell & others reacted to the conflict of S3 was super interesting and well-executed, instead of just going the simple route of basic isekai/fantasy shows of the MC beating the bad guys! The world's (the Dungeon's) lore was expanded and I started to actually be immersed in the world of Danmachi with its lore.

S4 took that to the next fucking level! An actual Age of Exploration arc began! The Dungeon & its lore became the central focus of the show! Some of what makes me love Made in Abyss came to Danmachi, but in its own way, and told beautifully in tandem with core character's personal development arcs; amazing! You sympathize with the characters and their turmoil & new reveals about their past reveal more lore about the Dungeon. You begin to see the Dungeon as a character in itself; it doesn't help that the characters & the lore itself treats it as a living entity. You start to wonder what the hell does the Dungeon desire, its motivations and will, if something like that even exists. Its just so very fascinating!

Danmachi isn't something crazy great like Mushoku Tensei or anything right now, but what it is, is a show that stands strong on its own with lots of originality (seriously, the mythologies of Gods mixed with the classic DnD medieval fantasy is genius) and a large endearing cast (the Dungeon itself too, honestly lol) and most importantly it spends tons of time developing them. The direction & pacing is amazing and I was surprised how it managed to end in such a well-paced manner even though it had me questioning how the hell it was gonna wrap everything up in the final episode, but it DID!

From a technical pov, the animation is actually lit but I feel like its been good since the beginning, theres some bad CG but honestly for just one monster really. The sound design is pretty sweet imo, its not overwhelming and doesn't interfere with whats happening on the screen, yet still elevates it for a goosebumps inducing experience in moments of hype!

If you're a fantasy-head, lore-fanatic or just love a good ass adventure, you need to get into Danmachi stat! Like I said, its a long game, but the pay-off from S3 on-wards is worth every second spent imo! And its not like the first two seasons are bad, nu-uh, they're still fun and will keep you hype and laughing; something like an appetizer before the main course, if you will.

And did I mention how banger the music is, S4 cour 1 OP & cour 2 ED are absolute bangers! <3