DanMachi S4 19/20 – Colosseum/Astrea Family

I can hear what you’re thinking – “Amun, didn’t you say this season of DanMachi wasn’t going to be good?  Why are you coming back and writing about it now, three-quarters of the way through?!”  So hear me out.  I was right about the first half of the season, especially the bits with fighting the twin floor boss – but I forgot something that DanMachi does every season (even the atrocity of season two): randomly, in the middle, there will be two insanely good episodes.  Now, what makes a good vs bad season of DanMachi is how the following episodes are.  Which will this one be?  Only time will tell, but let’s take a look at where DanMachi is currently.

Let’s start with the lead up to episodes 19 and 20.  Things that were bad: the extended fight with the CG floor boss.  Not that the fight itself was bad, but the CG wasn’t great.  Also, given the power difference between the party and the opponent – they should have been completely wiped.  The plot armor was too strong and just was unbelievable.  Now…that’s really my only complaint! 

I was worried that the flashbacks to the Astrea Familia would be cringy and overdone – but they were handled beautifully as a prelude to each episode.  That way, you get to know the characters by the time the grand finale comes along (that is, episode 20).  Fantastic composition and direction there – absolute hats off (perhaps someone can tell me if that’s from LNs or if that was an anime choice?)  Some other points – The return of the Xenos is predictable, but not awful.  Bell and Ryu’s journey (prior to episode 19) was fine – the desperation to survive and the growth that results were handled well, but it wasn’t anything particularly special.  

Now, one of the things I really liked was Welf’s super-weapon – that was baller.  Pulling a win condition out of thin air, while the rest of the team buys him time?  I definitely did not expect that – it highlights how special he is as well, being able to create magic weapons.  As one of the more overlooked members of the original Hestia trio, it’s great to see him shine (especially in front of his senpai Tsubaki).    I’m also a huge fan of how it’s clear that Welf isn’t quite strong enough to wield the weapon he’s made – having clear weaknesses and downsides removes the stigma of overpowerdness.

Now we arrive at the first episode of our shining pair: “Colosseum”.  Let’s talk about the setting – an experimental playground for the dungeon?  That’s EXTREMELY interesting – combined with the existence of Juggernaut, we’re starting to really flesh out the dungeon as a “system”.  We’ve seen hints and notes, but this season has especially explored the “PvE” aspect of DanMachi.  I’d say this is really where the show shines – familia vs familia is fine in limited quantities, but it’s the Dungeon that’s the real centerpiece.

Secondly – and the scene that makes this episode special – is the great escape.  The lead-up – sure, pretty standard stuff.  Sneaky disguise, something goes wrong, have to fight your way out – okay, nothing unexpected here.  Everyone knows Ryu is going to do something self-sacrificial – and it’s a nice move!  Destroying the bridge to secure Bell’s escape coupled with safely flying him out – fantastic plan and execution (nice job with the teaching on the map beforehand too, good thinking).  I won’t lie, I was pretty sure Ryu was done there, going to have a valiant death, having accomplished her sacrifice.  Honestly, that would have led to a decently interesting storyline with Bell and trauma – in fact, it would have been pretty similar to Ryu’s experience herself.  EXCEPT.  MR. CAN’T-LEAVE-GIRLS-IN-TROUBLE WITH THE WRAPAROUND.  AND THEN THE TACTICAL NUKE!!!!!   I don’t fully understand what happened, except that a Bell started ringing and that means IT’S ON (I’m assuming it’s something to do with Bell’s name and that Hestia is the goddess of hearth?).  Doesn’t matter, our hero detonated the arena so hard that the floor shattered.  LET’S GOOOOOO!!!!

This brings us to episode 20, “Astrea Family”, which is ABSOLUTELY a top 5 episode from the series.  The destruction of the Astrea Familia is a major event in the world of DanMachi, and I was very concerned that when we finally saw it, it would be a letdown.  Those fears increased early in the season with the awkward CG of the Juggernaut: I just couldn’t see it being handled well.  Good news – I was completely wrong. A lot of Juggernaut’s kills earlier were campy and honestly, a little comical.  The defeat of the Astrea Familia?  Those…those were good deaths.  I knew what was coming, I was mentally prepared, but that hit hard.  The little details with each death (the sakura leaves, the bombs)…all the characterization built up by the episode preludes came to fruition perfectly.  And honestly, those characters were handled just right – you saw the relationships, you felt the bonds, but DanMachi didn’t spend excessive screentime building them up.  The flashbacks were perfect to make you feel exactly what Ryu felt, as she felt it.  This critical event was handled perfectly – absolutely top marks!

The back half of the episode is definitely declining action, but by no means a letdown.  I think we’ve had Ryu’s rampage kind of beat into us at this point (VERY interesting about her unwillingness to kill a deity – that probably has larger implications than have been explored yet), but Bell’s rebuttal brought back all the good that we’d forgotten (Ryu has been crazy helpful to the Hestia familia, looking back on it).  And he’s right – from what we’ve seen of her on-screen, she has always been the “Deus Ex Machina” or, well, a hero when it really counts.  I think seeing the other side of the coin is critical to Ryu understanding she isn’t black and white: she might be a bit of a murderer, but she also can save.  Now that’s character development from someone who spends most of the show not wearing pants!

Finally…and you know we have to talk about it, so here it is: calling Bell by his first name.  Obviously, it was the application of Ryu’s training, but that was fantastic – embarrassed Ryu is best.  The bathing scene also seemed to reference the Pieta by Michelangelo – does that make Ryu Mary?  Also, Bell isn’t dead, so that’s a good thing I guess.

Whew – that was a bit to get out there.  Where does that leave us?  As we enter the final part of the season, I feel…pretty decent about the direction the show’s going.  One thing that I think is very unlikely is the full defeat of the Juggernaut.  I just can’t really see it happening, given the current strength of everyone.  If Bell does manage it – okay, I guess that’s fine, but it’ll be a bit unbelievable.  If the focus remains on the interpersonal relationships here, that’d be way better.  Still, this season has definitely turned out better than I hoped (floor boss battle aside), so I’m really quite pleased.  Not sure if we’ll do another combo post, or if I’ll write about each episodes but we’ll see – if they’re all as good as these two, you’ll see me here every week!