Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru no Darou ka 05-06
Through the fire and through the flames.
Oh DanMachi, what am I going to do with you? It seems like every time you take a step forward, you end up collapsing under your own weight. That isn’t to say you aren’t making progress, there’s just a better way to go about it. All you need is a push, but there’s no one there. They’ve all abandoned you to go buy blue ribbons. It’s not me (it certainly isn’t me); it’s you. Or maybe it’s them. But it’s definitely not me.
The date with Hestia was unnecessary. The only development that came out of it is that Demeter was given a brief introduction, but seeing as how she hasn’t shown up again, her inclusion is also extraneous for the time being. In fact, the best thing that came out of the whole scene was seeing Hestia in that dress. At least I think it’s a dress…that is a dress, right? There are some interesting things to note, an entire bathhouse devoted to gods and goddesses (I swear there’s got to be something about it that’s interesting), for one, and that the proportion of gods to goddesses is heavily skewed against the gods, so they must be rarer for some reason, but unless Hestia’s hesitance toward coming back to the tower and having dinner is foreshadowing a later event, there really wasn’t any point other than fanservice. Which is fine and all if it didn’t take up a decent chunk of time (which it did) or that was the point of the series (which it’s not), and it didn’t happen in the middle of important developments (which it did). Don’t make me wait any longer to see Lili than I already have to.
I just wanted to put another picture of Lili.
Luckily, the remainder fared better. Most of the RPG elements are wooden and tacked on, but the introduction to magic courtesy of Freya’s grimoire was one of the better meshes. In comparison to the status system which hasn’t been explained at all, “I learned magic from reading a magic book” is indeed an improvement. Completely in accordance with Bell’s character, he goes magic crazy until he wears himself out, which lead to my favorite observation that had nothing really to do with any of that. You have to walk back through every floor of the dungeon when you return. Just think about that for a second. Sheesh. It still felt slightly odd previously spending all this time devoted to building up Lili and then mostly shoving her to the side in favor of several (mostly interconnected) smaller stories, but I’d attribute the feeling to how nonchalant the whole thing was. After Freya’s cliffhanger and Lili’s situation, it appeared like there might be another big conflict coming, but none happened (right away), so there was a consistent atmosphere of indifference looming for quite a while.
Dat blush
As predictable as it was, I still kinda enjoyed the (pseudo-)ending to Lili’s conflict. Don’t burn me to the stake yet, I said “kinda!” Or maybe I just like seeing Lili. Yeah, that’s probably it; forget I said any of that. Where’s my pitchfork? I’m joining the angry mob. There are quite a few issues someone could have with the conclusion. It was too forced. It dragged on too long. Bell is a knucklehead. Kanu is some weird half bear human creature thing and can’t be taken seriously. The other adventurer in his party had an afro. That was orange. I found it hard to watch from the adventurers beating Lili. Physical abuse doesn’t sit well with me to begin with (and it shouldn’t for anyone), but seeing her literally get kicked while she’s already down makes it entirely uncomfortable, and not in the good way something like WataMote can achieve. The adventurers had to be brutal to maintain Lili’s “I hate all adventurers because they are cruel” mentality to the end, but everything after she was tripped was just excessive. There’s a fine line, and it was crossed.
Let’s focus a bit on the end here. Why did Bell save Lili? “Because you’re a girl.” Ughhhhhh. I really don’t think DanMachi is trying to be chauvinistic (even though harem series generally are implicitly inherent), but this is at least the second time Bell has associated being weak with gender by stating he’s protecting them (and therefore that they need protection) because they are that gender, when he already believes himself to be inadequate as a male. There’s plenty of evidence against the argument that it is: Bell was rescued by Aiz, all other males except Miach have been portrayed rather unflattering, the strongest characters thus far are female, etc., so instead of being sexist, it feels like Bell is just using the second lowest common denominator as the excuse (because the first would be “because you’re a person in danger).” At least Lili still called him out on it. Maybe if Bell gives us another reason why he’d save Lili then we’d know for sure. Just to ease any confusion. Wait, here we go. “Because you’re you.” UGHHHHHH. Yep, Bell’s just a big (or small, get it? Get it? Cuz he’s…nevermind) cornball.
The market was all out of blue ribbons. Also, me meditating on my posts.
Bonus Dungeons
Looks like we’ll finally get to clear the fog surrounding Aiz soon, which can only mean one thing: more Aiz reactions. There better be more Aiz reactions. And that Bell is probably going to wimp out again. Okay, that was two things, but who’s counting? Don’t answer that. Even after the long time coming meeting of Aiz and Bell, there’s still plenty of loose ends to tie up. The aftermath of Lili and her Familia hasn’t been taken care of, Freya’s undoubtedly going to have some evil lovey dovey scheme, and there’s still the unknown third member of Bell’s party yet to be introduced, but for now, I’m just happy if I get more Aiz reactions. Or Lili time. Or Ryu. I’m not picky.
About Kyon
I am a fear of life, I am afraid of life, and I am a fantasm of life, always a flame, always aflame, and always the same.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 54 comments
My tags are the greatest.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Nicely done!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
It is sorely lacking the most important ribbon tag: Hadaka Ribbon. 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Man, you are such a lost cause. 😉
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
There is a plethora of Bell x Hestia (with ribbons) *questionable* material out there for metafap. What do you expect? 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
LOL. You got me there.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 54 comments
L-LEWD!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Trust me, from this one, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Hadaka Ribbon goes well with Hadaka Apr0n.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
The proportion of gods to goddesses is heavily skewed against the gods.@Kyon: The novels explain that there are a lot of gods too. The writing however favours depicting goddesses more to appeal to its male fanbase. You do get to hear more about other gods like Dionysus and Hermes in Sword Oratoria, a spinoff novel series that Dungeon’s author is currently writing.(4th volume just came out.)
Also, the Divine Bathhouse is more of a goddess-only hangout. The few male gods that go there mostly come for peeping at naked goddesses.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 54 comments
I can understand that. As far as I can remember, there were only two gods given any time, Miach and Gansesha. I went back to the party scene, and there were quite a few males in the background I completely forgot all about, so I should probably say “-given less importance in the story so far,” because none of them have really been or “proportion of time,” since Miach hasn’t even been properly introduced; it was like, “oh, hi Miach,” and then he’s just there in a couple scenes.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Hestia and Aiz go bathing:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=5530376&postcount=926
Meanwhile, Bell x Hestia ero-doujinshi pairings are sprouting like mushrooms everywhere.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Internet rule #34 has taken over.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Perhaps it’s something to be laid at the feet of JC Staff, but again, they drag out the resolution to a pinch situation far too long. Like before with the knife, this time we know that Bell’s going to save Lili. It’s gonna happen. And everyone’s just waiting around for that to happen. So it doesn’t matter how much self-loathing Lily piles on herself, nobody’s paying attention, because we’re all just waiting for Bell to show up, because he’s going to. And if you go back to that and rewatch it and time it, it’s probably only something like 2 minutes. But it just kills the show.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 54 comments
That made the abuse even harder for me to watch, because it felt like it just kept going on and on, and you were waiting for Bell to come in and chase them away or do pretty much anything. I guess with how they have to retread all their steps to exit the dungeon, there could be an excuse for Bell taking so long if Lili was X many floors higher, but that doesn’t make it any better to watch.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Yeah, I’m basically finding this show entertaining, but inconsistent. Sometimes it’s really good, sometimes it’s really mediocre.
The soundtrack is like that too. When it’s hot – it’s amazing. But there really aren’t enough tracks and variety, and the composer seems to be recycling content. Not on the level of Akame ga Kill, by any stretch.
POWUH: iLurker with 19 comments
The actual reason why Bell saved Lili was told in the talk between Hestia and Eina, where we are told that he saved Lili because she reminds him of his former self. But obviously it was too embarrassing for him to tell this Lili, so he just went with “because you are a girl”.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 54 comments
That’s the point. He’s incapable of actually being honest about it, so he just comes up with really poor excuses. They didn’t have to be bad though, because I (and I’m sure you and anyone else) can instantly think of quite a few things he could have said instead that would have been better/less cringeworthy.
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
No, no, it’s definitely you.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 54 comments
You take that back!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Given that Bell is the male lead of the show, that White Knight type response he gave Lili as why he saved her was cheesy but within expectation. Plus, thus far, he’s portrayed as someone who wouldn’t hold a grudge so all negative outcomes in spite of what she did never stood a chance at being possible.
More focus on Aiz is needed to make her more relevant than someone who saves Bell just in time or just another acquaintance. Aside from being a rescuer, to me, she has little to no presence and otherwise is serving nothing more than the purpose of acting as eye candy.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Well, on the kawaii level this show is, indeed, reaching me. But the other bits are behind in the race. Sigh, it looks like a loosey-goosey romcom…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Hestia insufficiently LOLi enough? 🙁
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Also, Hestia should Ring her Bell.