Remember DanMachi? That show that everyone loved because of the boob strings? Well it's back, this time without (much) Hestia and Bell, slotting them out for over-popular kuudere Ais and a new character, Lefiya. The story follows the same timeline as the original show, just from Ais' point of view rather than Bell's, hence the show's status as a "spin-off" of the core series. The question that everyone is looking for the answer to: is a lack of Hestia and yuri undertones enough to save such a intellectually bankrupt and boring concept? Well, it's definitely not, but it's thankfully somehow more palatable than its parent.
For all intents and purposes, Lefiya is equally the main character of the series with Ais herself. Most of the plot of the show centers on Lefiya's (seemingly sexual) interest in Ais and becoming stronger in order to support both her and her familia, which take the place of all of the original DanMachi's cringe-inducing Hestia fanservice moments. This the largest (and I'd really argue ONLY) reason why this spin-off is better than the original, as our slotted-out cast is simply more compelling. The Loki familia in general is more interesting than Hestia's, as it actually has members and relationships, even if those relationships are incredibly canned and trite. Lefiya, despite having the same drive as Bell ("I love Ais"), is more interesting simply because of the fact that she doesn't wholly break the rules like he does, and is a "support-based class" rather than a dagger-touting everyman. The actual plot is the same sort of "the monsters were smart and had a plan all along" bullshit, but has more actual information than the original telling of the story, so it's far more interesting to follow and I could totally see someone who is really bought in to this world really enjoying it. To the rest of us, it's a pretty stereotypical anime plot.
Aesthetically this series is pretty much identical to the original. Good, but not great, and carried by character design like every other harem fantasy series. We do get some good animation when Ais is fighting, but also a lot of straight re-used animation from the original when Bell's and Ais' points-of-view cross. Music is incredibly forgettable to downright bad, as is most of the VA. Fans of DanMachi are really only here for one thing though, so if you were worried about the girls not looking cute, fret not. With that in mind, I guess Sword Oratoria fulfills it's aesthetic expectations.
For the life of me, I just can't get why they didn't just move forward with the original story. It's not like Hestia and Bell weren't a popular duo, because they were despite Hestia being one of the worst harem characters in recent memory. Going back to do a spin-off an entire year after your successful series seems to be either an admission of money-grabbing, requiring minimal actual writing, or just a lack of confidence in the actual material that comes later, which is also very likely given the objective quality of DanMachi as an IP. Fans of DanMachi are going to have plenty to like here, but it's really only a minor patch to an otherwise forgettable soft-isekai crank-out.
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