Is it Wrong to Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon, or shortened to DanMachi, which I'll be using to refer to it, is yet another entry in the long list of 'game world' shows that have popped up in the time after Sword Art Online really popularized the genre. DanMachi certainly doesn't do much to separate itself from the pack, but it does have a charm to it that makes it extremely enjoyable. Perhaps its the relief that it's not a isekai that makes it so easy to watch, or maybe it's the simple wholesomeness of Bell and his dream of chasing after Aiz. In any case, DanMachi just seems to exude charm.

God, intros are hard to write, anyway, on to the technical side of DanMachi. Nothing in DanMachi is going to blow you away visually, there are some nice effects and CGI uses, but nothing awe-inspiring. The character designs are interesting and cute, but definitely don't land in my top-tier design ranks. If DanMachi excels anywhere, its in its color palette. The bright color design really plays into the show's cute lightheartedness, which gives it a comfortable feel visually. Audially, DanMachi is really generic too. I can't name a single song or sound effect that I really loved, but I can't say that I hated it either, which kind of encapsulates my entire thoughts on DanMachi. I did get really annoyed at the Goliath's roar sound like the 20th time it played, but that's a somewhat strange complaint.

Favorite Character: Aiz Wallenstein

It's kind of strange, Aiz being my favorite character. Usually, I'm not the biggest fan of the kuudere trope, but for some reason, it worked for Aiz. Maybe it was more because of Bell's relationship and fascination with her than Aiz herself, but I'm thinking that's not the case. I think I just liked her growth as she interacted with Bell. You could see her emotionless front fade with every encounter she had with Bell and, to be honest, it was kind of cute. She probably also benefited from me just not liking Hestia or Lilli very much, since they were just the jealous harem tropes, honestly. Shout out to Ryu and Syr though, they were pretty great characters too.

So what holds DanMachi back? Well, I think just followed the generic route way too hard. There was like three total episodes of actual dungeon crawling and RPG-like character progression. Approximately three episodes where it actually played to its strength and followed a somewhat unique line of thought. In fact, I'm sort of waiting for an anime to follow that kind of path period. Other shows, like Sword Art Online didn't really focus on its RPG side, No Game No Life isn't really that kind of show, maybe Log Horizon is a little different, but I haven't seen that yet. Oddly enough, the one show that I can think of that focused the most on its progression in the game is Konosuba, which definitely wouldn't be the first thing that springs to mind for a lot of people.

I mentioned already that I didn't really like Hestia that much and that may have been the only strong feeling that I really felt about this show. DanMachi is just so average that it didn't even elicit any real joy or disappointment. I definitely enjoyed watching it and laughed on occasion, but I can see myself forgetting that I watched it in a few months, honestly. I'll tune into season two whenever it's supposed to air, but I just can't help but feel as if DanMachi missed quite a few opportunities to really make a name for itself in the vast sea of isekai game world shows out there.