Anime Review | Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon?

Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon?

In my opinion, there is never a wrong time to pick up girls, however that’s just me. Let’s hear the words of wisdom from the man himself, the grandfather of our main protagonist that says,

An adventurer needs to pick up girls in a dungeon. You save a weak female adventurer from a hideous monster, she’s grateful and the two of you get to know each other *hint hint. That’s the best part of being an adventurer.

Oh my! Such valiant words have never been spoken from a real deity! That would be the ideal beginning for this anime, yet it turns out that the scenario is quite the opposite for our hero.

In this world of untold magic and adventures, the gods descended to the world of their children seeking excitement long ago. They decided to leave most of their divine powers in heaven to enjoy a life of hardship and inconvenience. The only power they retained was the ability to offer humanity their blessings. This grants humanity the power to fight on par with monsters and use magic. Each child given this power is known as familia to the gods, their servants.

The anime is presented to us from the view and perspective of the main protagonist, Bell Cranel, the only familia of the Goddess, Hestia. Bell decided to become an adventurer thanks of the teachings of his grandfather to save young females. However, being such an inexperienced fighter he’d have met an early end, if not for the intervention of the sword princess, Ais Wallenstein, a female adventurer and member of the Loki Familia who saved him from a Minotaur. He soon found himself head over heels for her and decided to become just as, if not, stronger than her to stand by her side. Though his initial reason for becoming an adventurer was not of pure intentions, his experience with Ais seemed to have forgone that dream in order to catch up to her and to become an actual hero.

The plot takes place in the fictional city of Orario, somewhere in the middle ages. This can be seen by the clothing, towns and overall interaction the characters have with the environment. From dungeons with monsters like dragons and minotaurs, to no apparent signs of technology. The art style has a rather fluid and familiar approach to it, as well as minimal use of well integrated CGI. Similar styles can be found in konosuba, Sword Art Online and The world god only knows.

Some key takeaways from this anime, especially for our greek mythology fans, are the introduction and roles of some of the greek Gods and Goddesses. Some notables figures that stand out are Hermes, Freya, a female Loki (Yes, I know right! A female flat chested loki) and Hephaestus. Having some of the Greek pantheon as heads of their respective famila and showcasing their notable traits, such as Hephaestus being the god of the forge creating weapons, brings a charismatic taste to this anime that doesn’t makes it seem too generic.

While each God and Goddess are in-charge of or look over the children in their familia. This doesn’t devoid the fact that they might want more intimate desire from them, especially for our Bell. In almost every episode Histia tries to conquer our hero’s innocence while warding away any female with ‘sizeable’ threats. This all comes to naught unfortunately as he’s too dimwitted to pick up on the clues and thinks she is being too friendly.

Editor note: What a F**king moron… -_-

The voice acting and audio quality is crystal clear so each character’s vibrant actor can easily be referenced. The voice of the main protagonist in this anime is none other than, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka who also voiced Kirito from Sword Art Online. We also have Shizuka Ishigami voicing the Goddess Hestia, who is also known as Ikuno from DARLING in the FRANXX. Joining them is also Saori Oonishi, voicing the main love interest for our hero. How voice work can be found in other anime such as Active Raid.

Upon further observing the credits, it is with great thanks that the studio that released this anime was none other than … J.C.Staff Co., Ltd. 

They have published several well-known anime series, such as Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, A Certain Magical Index, Date A Live and Toradora! Inai Keiji of Imagine was in charge of the music for the anime. The anime uses Hey World and RIGHT LIGHT RISE as the opening and ending themes. Relatable anime music we can enjoy that were composed by Inai would have been the OST for Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? as well as Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. He also composed the music for the Gran Turismo (Game) series.

Final Verdict

Overall, this anime feels like a more serious Konosuba or a relaxed of Sword Art online. It falls in the category of RPG anime and has a decent blend of comedy, action, slight harem and isn’t afraid to be a bit borderline ecchi. It uses a peculiar level system for each character, as they need to max out their stats first before proceeding to the next level.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this anime, as it gave me the feeling of watching similar anime without a linear storyline that appears to be predictable and boring. It was first published as a visual novel that got the green light for a manga adaptation and finally an anime series with two seasons completed and another announced to be released in 2020. There isn’t anything I would take away or recommend due it having such a well balanced recipe for its progression. I do however recommend you take the time and watch this series and enjoy the adventure that awaits.

Is is wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon anime episodes can be found on Crunchyroll.