DanMachi, you’re making this hard.
Overall, this season has been incredibly disjointed…the latest episode (10) is a perfect example of that. It’s like half the animation team is working on one fight, while the interns get the other (and debatably more important one!) In the same episode!
Episodes 9-10 conclude the Ishtar arc. We get Mikoto having her save-the-heroine fight, which was…not very well done. The post-effects on her gravity spell were the best part of the sequence, and even they seemed out of place. Bell gets 2 fights – the first against our resident toad was also incredibly sloppy. Sure, I get the level up, but come on. THEN he gets a second fight against a weaker opponent…that has EXCELLENT animation. What?? Aisha is the only decently developed member of Ishtar…her animation, character design, background and emotional motivations. Everyone else seems like plot fodder (even Ishtar herself).
Also, Toad attempted seduction was painful. I knew it was over when she said a word about Freya.
The overall implications for these events just don’t match the quality of the episodes. These are huge, world (of Orario) altering events. Also, Hermes is out here, doing Hermes things, trying to get Bell to be a hero. What was a bit more surprising is how obsessed Freya is…yikes. It’s curious, though, why she doesn’t just wipe the floor with Hestia and take Bell like Apollo was trying to do. Guess she wants him to come over on his own accord. She also knows about his divine immunity, thanks to Ishtar.
I just haven’t really enjoyed this season as much as I hoped. Comparing it with the other disappointing sequel of the year OPM, DanMachi is even more head scratching. While OPM’s droop was due to animation quality and inability to sustain top-tier writing, DanMachi’s fundamental problem is simple: they abandoned their key world setting they spent a season building, the Dungeon. DanMachi isn’t supposed to be a serious show, but this season is trying for way too much social commentary (and, while not doing a bad job at it, it’s really not why we’re here). There have been splashes of greatness, probably 2-3 episodes (particularly, the Hestia Homebuilding episode was great, as were moments during run from Apollo). I guess we’ll see how this wraps up, but this has been kind of a lost season so far – much to my disappointment. Sword Oratoria 2, please?
