top of page
Follow us
By Kevin K-MO Mohammed
November 6th, 2015
From one of the most interesting titles that a person can think of, this series has definitely caught my attention. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka or DanMachi for short) has recently taken my heart. This action rom-com story is written by the talented Fujino Omori and illustrated by Suzuhito Yasuda (Durarara!!, Yozakura Quartet, Shin Megami Tensai: Devil Survivor, Kamisama Kazoku.) It is currently being published in the West by Yen Press since December of 2014.
Story: Oratio, a large city whose largest feature is the huge dungeon that looms over it. Adventures travel from around the world to claim the treasure within the dungeon. The only problem... the monsters inside this endlessly respawning dungeon. To give humans a fair chance, and partially for their own entertainment, the various gods have decided to decend from Tenkai (heaven) to give what they call "blessings" to select humans. These blessings would give beings developed growth and "status" in exchange for pledging ones allegience to the god of which bestows their blessing.
Bell Cranel is a brand new adventure and the only member of the Hestia Familgia. When Bell was young, his grandfather would often tell him stories about mighty
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Review- Volume One
heroes and how they would save princesses and maidens. Bell's dream is to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather's folktale heroes and one day become an adventurer that is so strong and powerful enough to be able to pick up girls in a dungeon, however everything changes when he is saved by the Sword Princess, Aiz Wallenstien. After being saved he realized how he hasfallen in love with someone so famous and powerful. To be able to be with Aiz, Bell decides that he must become stronger so that he can stand along side her. However Bell's goddess, Hestia, has a different idea in mind.
Review: This was actually the first light novel I have ever purchased and I loved the hell out of it. The context and background of this series is relative to that of Sword Art Online or Log Horizon by being a part of the video game sort of aspect. The reason for this is that the term "status" is which is relative to the concept of experience and leveling up in video games as well as such terms as "Attack", "Defense", "Speed", even "Magic" and "Ability." Not only that, but also idea of how to boost certain stats. For example, Speed is increased by running, Defense is increased by taking hits, and Attack is increased by dealing damage.
What make this an even further plus is the amount of heavy mythology that has been thrown into the mix. With the various gods from different religions, this series has the potential to play heavily into mythology whereas it can be considered a part of this worlds politics. Even when dealing with them as Familigas each one has their own set of rules and laws by which the members are governed.
Like I mentioned before, the novel takes a video game-esque type of world, but unlike those of its genre, Danmachi brings something fresh to the table. Bell Cranel, our ever lovable protagonist has come to a very different kind of challenge: he wants to become stronger. When looking at series in the same ballpark as DanMachi, most of the protagonist are veterans in combat or strategy, while Bell finds himself to be lacking of both. Bell finds himself weak and lacking in the qualities that other heroes have and desires to be like them.
One of the main focuses of DanMachi is growth, mostly focused on the growth of Bell as he tries to catch up with the girl of his dreams, Aiz Wallenstien. The importance of this dream becomes more than possible with his ability of Realis Phase. What Realis Phase is is basically the fact that Bell's growth is dependant upon how consistant his desire is as well as how strong of a desire he possesses within. With this ability, Bell has been noted to grow faster than the average adventurer in Oratio. Even at the end of each novel they show Bell's stats and information on his abilities and items which helps the reader graps just how much growth Bell has gone through. From the perspective of the reader, who is seeing Bell's growth from his own point of view, the viewer is able to feel more of Bell emotions and a deeper connection to the character.
Now even though Aiz seems to be Bell's love interest from how much she has impacted Bell, this is all we see of the Bell-Aiz relationship for the most part in this volume since it more focus on Bell's relationship with his goddess and the true heroine of the volume, Hestia.
This helps the reader also get more of an idea as to the relationship between a god and a member of their familgia. Hestia shows that she will go beyond the limit to help Bell become stronger, knowing that it will make him happy even if it means him getting closer to Aiz, much to Hestia's dismay. An example of this is when Hestia pleads on her knees for three days (or as the Japanese would call it, a dogeza) to Hephastos, the Goddess of Blacksmithing, to create a weapon for Bell to help him get stronger.
Of course one thing that intrigued me the most was the antagonist of this volume, Freya, the Goddess of Beauty. Freya, is not like most antagonist that you would find in this type of story, you see. To start off with, in the world of Oratio, when gods or goddesses decended upon to world of mortal beings, they made the agreement to heavily limit their powers to the point of being able to give blessings. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. As Hephastos mentioned when making Bell's weapon, she still has her skill in Blacksmithing but it is not nearly as powerful as it would have been back in Tenkai. Even though she is considered the Goddess of Beauty, since her beauty is more of a passive ability which is a part of her appearance, even in Oratio she is able to use her femine wiles to achieve her goals. But that is not what makes her so interesting. What she desires most is Bell himself. There is even a full on monolouge description of how greatly she desires Bell. To take an excerpt from the specific scene:
'"...I want to play with him.
Freya laughed to herself like a little kid.
She wanted to play a joke on the one she loved , just as if she were an immature child.
But she couldn't stop. Her love at first sight was driving her forward like a twinge of pain deep in her chest every moment she couldn't be with him.
She wanted to see him scared, see him cry, but above all she wanted to see his courage..."
The depth that this is described even shows her antagonistic characteristic as she tries to test Bell for her own sadistic pleasure, as well as how she even sees Bell almost as if an addiction. The dark desire of lust within her heart and the actions that she takes upon these desires only helps aid in her being a brillant and extremely original antagonist.
s are very expressive towards the characters and helps give a visual aid for viewers while reading the story. One thing can be seen as a plus or a minus for this story (depending on your point of view) is how the story changes from Bell's first-person perspective to a third-person point of view or another character's first person. In my opinion, I find it as a plus towards the build of the stories and the characters incorporated within it. All in all this series has turned into one that I look forward to with each release. The few art and illustrations brilliantly emphasize the characters and what is to be portrayed, truly capturing the emotions of the characters.
Featured Posts
Recent Posts
Search By Tags
bottom of page