Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2

DanMachi is back for its 2nd split-cour session of Season 4 that continues to reel in the love-hate relationship of the audience, being followers but not converters towards novelist Fujino Omori's dungeon harem series. That, with the 2nd half, raised the stakes even further into the balancing game act of hope and despair with death flags placed all over wherever Bell Cranel and Co. will go in the deep troughs of the Dungeon's Deep Floors. For the 2nd half of Season 4, titled the Deep Chapter: Calamity Arc, the prophecy of despair continues with the adaptation of one single volume: the lone Volume 14 of theLN, featuring Bell Cranel and the Astraea Familia's Ryuu Lion on the objective to get home after being trapped and separated from the Hestia Familia in the hopes of subjugating Ryuu's nemesis Familia: the anti-Orario faction Evilus-led Rudra Familia. Both the Astraea and Rudra families have always been at loggerheads with one another, until the latter familia devised a plan to eradicate the entire former familia in the Dungeon, that failed and saw the accidental summoning of the Juggernaut that started a killing spree, leaving only Jura and Ryuu as the only survivors from their perspective familias. For context, the dragon-like Juggernaut spawns as a part of the dungeon's defense mechanism every time the Dungeon suffers from excessive damage, wherever necessary (except the upper floors because of Ouranos's influence). While it has tremendous strength and speed with razor-sharp claws and armor that can reflect magic, it also has poor defenses to physical attacks, and its strength varies depending on which floor it emerges, with deeper floors producing stronger monsters. Rather than having a magic stone like most monsters, it is designed to disintegrate after a certain period of time. And this is where both Jura and Ryuu's revenge story continues with the Dungeon's utter devastation of utilizing the Juggernaut for total destruction upon enemies, fuelled by anger and hatred to kill one another until the last man/woman standing. As usual, Bell and the Hestia Familia are there to understand why Ryuu the Gale Wind was branded as a murderer, and though they've come far in Part 1, the despair that awaits both Bell and Ryuu, trapped down the rabbit hole towards the infamous 37th Floor that's nicknamed the White Palace, nothing awaits them of the tragedy even just for mere survival of the fittest, with strong monsters and little to no hope of ever getting out alive. Sure, they can try their best, but the numerous death flags chase after each and everyone involved in this endeavour, which if you've known DanMachi's standard by now, will be increasingly brutal with high stakes of life and death. As such, Part 2 sees both Bell and Ryuu bonded together, fighting through adversity to force their way through against strong monsters while looking for a way out in the White Palace, the part of the Dungeon that's only a hearsay, because most typical adventurers would just simply die with even the most prepared of ammunitions and resources that they have. And even for a Level 4 standard, it's basically overkill for both the compassionate Hero and the Gale Wind elf to be easily overwhelmed by even against monsters with insta-kill abilities. Both of them hold the weight of their own world, the sins and expectations to reach back towards the surface in one piece, so the objective of getting it out alive is as desperate as it is heartfelt to see the both of them grow alongside one another with the ever-so-lucid dream that they could make it out to tell the story. Also, though the Rabbit's Foot himself lives up to the standard of the series of "picking up girls" in the Dungeon, out of all of them, Ryuu has got to be the closest thus far as she is a woman of few words, only speaking when she needs to and guiding the Juggernaut Hero himself along to the tunes of her combat. I'd even go as far as to sail the Bell x Ryuu ship, because it's so heartfelt of their treacherous journey, and to come this far, if there was ever a suitable partner for Bell, forget Ais Wallenstein, forget the big boobs Goddess Hestia herself, Ryuu checks his boxes of the never-giving-up spirit and camaraderie. J.C.Staff's production still holds up the same as Part 1, though I did see a bit more complaints that there were more static shots, and even at this point, I'm not surprised for the par of the course that this will happen intermittently. All that's worth for in the franchise are heart-wrenching, gut-punching moments that matter, and DanMachi has never failed to deliver its best that is constantly improving over time. Saori Hayami and sajou no hana swapped places with Part 2's OST, and though I've also come to expect that the OPs in the franchise get more generic with age, the EDs however, get better and more profound with symbolism. Whereas Saori Hayami's OP trains the audience to prepare for disaster, sajou no hana's ED, is quite frankly, the best out of the entire franchise, symbolizing hope for the future amidst crushing defeat and the adversaries of death. I especially love the lead-in towards the soothing chorus, along with the accompanying visuals that make for a killer combo, showing that even at death's throes, there is a glimmer of hope shining upon everyone. If you've been with the DanMachi franchise for long, the build-up since Spring 2015 that's almost 8 years now and the series's 10th year running, it's a series that like many contemplaries, has its up and downs. But if competing with the modern juggernauts like the Shonen market, DanMachi is fantasy anime at its finest, continuing to push boundaries and shooting for the skies with novelist Fujino Omori's brillance at concocting a series that progresses, looks back and paints a rather big world together, even down to the most minute of details. If you like it, you will ABSOLUTELY love the ending from the season's 2nd part, and vice versa if the series is bad or mid for you, there's no obligation if you've been here for the franchise either since Day One or came in from recommendations over the years. But if you ask me, DanMachi taken now as a whole, is described in words of one: stellar, marvellous, and most certainly, outstanding entertainment at its peak. Come one, come forth for Season 5 if they decide to have it in the future. I'm ready for more.

If you like fantasy, action, comedy, harem, and every other good stuff mixed in one masterpiece you get Danmachi. As a fan of Danmachi, I was extremely excited for the fourth season because it adapted one of the most interesting volumes from the Light novels, and I must say that it did not disappoint. What made this season particularly special was the fact that the best girl of the series, Ryu, was finally given the spotlight she deserved. It was refreshing to see her take center stage and become the main character of the season. Saori Hayami flawlessly portrayed Ryu's complex and nuanced character. The trackrecord of JC staff on Danmachi is not that good, we got a banger season 1 and then they cut out half of the story in the following seasons. This is not the case this season, we finally get a really good adaptation this series deserves. This season of Danmachi showcased the full glory of the dungeon and introduced many new and interesting monsters. The fight scenes were incredibly well-animated and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout each episode. Danmachi is not just a typical fantasy harem anime. It has depth and substance, and this season showcased that beautifully. Every episode felt like it flew by, and I was always left craving more. I'd like to thank all the people who worked on this season for giving us this masterpiece and thank you very much Fujino Ōmori for writing this series. I was happy to see Syr make an appearance at the end of the season. I really hope we get to see a new season adapted because the next part of the story is going to be just as insane. Danmachi is always a 10/10 anime.

This danmachi arc is fucking insane. They slapped a golden egg in the center of this anime, bro. in everyway. rarely do I rewatch something as I have with this and still have it stir up so much! It’s just really really good. Much needed, we see change and character development of both Bell and Ryuu at PEAK. The “juggernaut” main villain (bonkers ass scorpion/spider entity born out of the worlds most tragic freakshow, size of 2 semi trucks and bringer of screams with amany lopped off heads) is still dripping evil ass swag to the max. Which thank god, thank goddd they introduced a creatureand predator such as this one and kept it around a bit. All things considered, the constant state of fear our MC’s go thru in this season was actually torturously perfect, and what I loved most was how everything mainly focused on just them. No other characters running around screaming and crying. Just silent terror and fear for bell and ryuu, rememberance and flashbacks as well that helped finally define who the fuck ryuu even was this whole time. - And finally, what made it complete was the other freaky creature elements, alongside the juggernaut and impending death from either starvation/blood loss/poisoning/exhaustion at any given moment. List does go on haha oh and the heavy themes, actually, shockingly made themselves a symbol for how it feels to be trapped by guilt and shame in both a real and physical sense, I loved that when I realized it. A true thriller - it makes you uncomfortable - but only in a positive weird way since it wasn’t too twisted, but I mean, things felt physically heavy the entire ride. Everything became soooo gripping, boy. To me, there was never a dull moment, it completely whisked me away and I enjoyed it more than I could have imagined given the series isn’t my favorite leading up to this. But I was happy for having stuck out this anime.. I was able to feast my eyes on this arc!! It cured a long-running anime burn out for me when I first saw it and that’s at least a testament to something special about it. If the new season ends up anywhere close to being like this one, I will bow my head and forever be a danmachi fan, for all my friggin life. …literally everybody and their dog was made fucking hopeful after this arc, totally mopped ALL 100 floors with it, and I guess that makes it hard to top buut. I cry don’t let us down…. ٩◔̯◔۶

I must say, seeing Ryuu's backstory makes you realize how much she's changed. Ryuu was just as idealistic as Bell when she first became part of Astrea familiar and was a pure-hearted young girl about justice. However, her experiences with the war against Evilus during Orario's dark age which led to the deaths of many innocent people plus the death of Ardee made Ryuu question what justice really was. Coupled with her witnessing the death of her comrades by Juggernaut just broke Ryuu mentally and jaded that pure heart to abandon justice for the dark path of revenge only to find an empty feeling andbe ready to accept death until Syr gave her a second chance to live. Reading it in novels is one thing, but seeing it play in illustration from the games and anime form is another. Ryuu easily has one of the best character arcs in the entire series.