Watching episode 11 had me so anxious for the finale. This isn’t like last season, where by the time the final two episodes came along, all hope was lost. No – this was anxiety born of seeing far too many “almost” good endings. Well fear not, gentle reader – DanMachi capped off an absolutely superlative season… and stuck the landing! Let’s go!
“Ultra Soul” and “Argonaut” are all about two MOMENTOUS fights: Ais vs Bell and Bell vs Minotaur. What a time to be alive.
These fights have familiar settings, and DanMachi gets back to its roots with a little nostalgia sprinkled in. What is the saying, though? “You never step into the same river twice, for neither you nor the river will be the same?” Despite the familiarity, there was no contempt – these fights may have been the same places but the combatants were vastly different.
I honestly expected the Ais fight just to be the skirmish on the bridge with Bell running away again – like he always does (okay, the one time in the bath was a little justified). But man – when he did the same lock-in move with Wiene as he did Hestia – that was the nostalgic feels right there. Facing the girl he’s always run from and fighting ready to die? That’s manly, 1000% Zeus approved.
The fight was top notch animation too – where did that quality come from all of a sudden? I checked and the same companies did S2 and S3…the sales must have been through the roof or something, since there have been three very well animated fights this season.
Whew, Ais is still a beast – at least Bell managed to almost get her to use her magic (which is just downright overpowered).
Then Wiene steps out with a power move. My goodness – I expected her to say something like “You’ll have to kill me, don’t hurt Bell, etc. etc.” Nope. Straight up rips off her claws and wings. Everyone watching be like: 
That was strong. You often times see a weaker opponent win in anime – haven’t seen a victory like that before though. DanMachi is the last show I’d expect to show me something innovative plot-wise, but here we are. Ais is like – yeahhhhh I’m done, I didn’t sign up to kill the loli. Have this potion.
And then there’s Hermes – this guy. The only good part of season 2 was seeing Ishtar make him cry (if you know what I mean). Hermes: here’s a plan that involves some monsters dying to make Bell popular again. Freya: here’s a plan that involves MAKING A MINOTAUR THAT HELD OFF HALF OF LOKI FAMILY TRY AND KILL BELL. Sheesh Hermes, you’re not even close to the same league of crazy.
Finally, you know it’s a good DanMachi season when Bell fights a minotaur – this one, season one, and the spinoff. But now the minotaur has become less of a monster and more a rival. I kind of thought Ais was the rival, but I guess she can now shift into the love interest – perfect!
And Bell vs Minotaur: Round Two was a good fight. Well directed, good physics, well animated too – I was shocked. There were aerials, going through buildings, a bit of Mob Psycho black and white – what the heck DanMachi? That looked really good. Pity half of “whose-who” in Orario watched Bell get beat (there were a surprising number of deities in that audience), but it was a great fight. Interesting with the motivations between the two fights: Bell vs Ais was about protecting Wiene, so Bell really didn’t care as long as his goal was achieved. Bell vs Minotaur was for himself – and that loss hurt so much more. A small difference, but I like seeing the two sides of Bell the Hero and Bell the Adventurer come out in different ways.
Well that’s a wrap! Thanks for sticking with me – this season was a billion times better than the last. There’s an OVA announced, which I’m sure will be service filled. I feel as though a lot of material was covered these past two seasons, so it might be a bit of a wait for the next one. Until then, this Danmachi fan is signing off, quite satisfied – oh yeah, there’ll be a series review coming up shortly too.
And. Most importantly. The Bell Ais ship has been successfully righted!! Ais is right – Bell really doesn’t play fair at all.
