DanMachi is sliding down a muddy hill. That’s both a summary of what happened this episode and the state of this season’s quality in general.
The ending of Ishtar from last episode (episode 10) was what I consider the bare minimum for an acceptable episode.
Episode 11 was a downgrade. We had new, useless characters and a plot setup that could be seen 100 billion miles away (to borrow Dr. Stone’s phrasing). I’m not even going to mention the undoing of everything that made Haruhime’s plot-line interesting (which, to be fair, I was a little curious about when she passed out on Bell) – that completely negates a point I made a couple posts ago.
The only redeeming aspect of this episode is working through some issues with deity-human relationships (which you could argue has been the overall theme of the season). I do think it’s a bit ironic that Bell, who is pretty obviously at least a little demi-human, is conflicted here. Glad that Hephaestus and Takemikazuchi gave some sound advice. Also, the subtle nod to Ais’s parents got just thrown out there. Sails up for the Bell-Ais ship?
And at least Ais gets some screen time again. Pity the quality of the fight was abysmal – granted, there have been other poor fight showings in the past (season 1), but they were buoyed by much better plotlines.
Since this is the penultimate episode, I really want the finale just to be Bell, Hestia, and Ais camping out and eating some fish with some jealousy jokes. Maybe have Ais be third wheeling – that sounds pretty funny. But….I guarantee it’ll be worse than that.
This season has been pretty much a disaster. It’s looking like 3 arcs in 12 episodes, poor animation (especially fights), botching of a main character (Haruhime)….just overall a poor showing. Maybe the finale can salvage it, but it breaks my heart we waited years for this.
