Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III Episode 12

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III Episode 12

Argonaut | Hero’s Return

DanMachi III episode 12 was by far the best episode of the entire DanMachi season. Sure, there’s probably some recency bias in that statement, but I do believe it to be true. This episode was a very strong end to what I would consider a pretty good season overall.

I think my only real complaint about this episode is that Hermes turning “evil” for a single episode didn’t really make all that much sense. I guess it fits into Hermes’ lore in that he’s mischievous. But was it really necessary for him to betray Bell and the Xenos at the very end like that?

It’s suddenly revealed that he hates the Xenos because they’re monsters. But at the same time, he doesn’t hate them enough to kill them. He just needs a few to sacrifice themselves to make Bell look like a hero and then he lets the rest go.

Bell protecting Eina from Gros from the anime series DanMachi III
Bell protecting Eina from Gros

Hermes’ intervention was like a reverse Deus ex machina. Rather than a god suddenly appearing to save the day, a god suddenly appeared to add in some last-minute conflict. However, I can’t complain about it too much because the conflict it gave us resulted in some of the best fights of the season.

Although it was overshadowed by the Asterius fight later in the episode, Bell’s fight against Gros was good too. I know, I had just been complaining about the lack of on-screen fights as recently as last week. What I liked about the Gros fight was how it showed Gros’ character development.

Normally, you’d think that Lyd would be the one to sacrifice himself and bet on Bell to come through for the other Xenos. But instead, it was Gros — who was originally the leader of the anti-human faction.

Fate of the Xenos

Something you may not have noticed is that by the end of the episode, not much had actually changed since the start of the season. Some adventurers and gods now know about the Xenos, but that’s it. The Xenos still aren’t accepted by the wider population, and most people don’t realize they’re any different from standard monsters.

The Xenos are even back living within the dungeon. And all of their wounds have been healed — including Asterius’ missing arm. So while there were some Xenos who died throughout the season, the majority of them are in the same state they were when the season began.

Also, let’s not forget that they have Fels with them. With Fels on their side, there’s basically nothing they have to worry about. He’s immortal and able to use the most powerful healing magic in existence. Theoretically, he could just revive all of their dead comrades unless too much time has passed since their deaths.

Asterius from the anime series DanMachi III
Asterius

Earlier in the season, I questioned how the existence and acceptance of the Xenos would change the series. If the Xenos are accepted by the adventurers and people of Orario, then that would put all monsters within the dungeon in a grey area. Should they really be killed considering they have the capability to become sentient?

The Xenos themselves told Bell not to hold back when fighting non-Xenos monsters. But I think that advice was mainly meant in the context of if Bell was being attacked. I don’t think the Xenos would really approve of adventurers continuing to kill monsters for sport as they do now.

But in the end, none of that matters because the Xenos aren’t accepted by adventurers and the general population. Once again, nothing really changed over the course of this season.

Bell Versus Asterius

Bell’s fight against Asterius was clearly the best-animated part of the entire season and probably the entire series. However, it wasn’t only a great fight because of the animation quality. There are some other aspects that went into making this fight as good as it was.

First is the history between these two. Ever since Asterius’ introduction, it’s been pretty clear that he and Bell had a history. After all, the series opens with Bell being attacked by a minotaur in the dungeon. I don’t remember if Asterius is that original minotaur, but at the very least we saw a flashback of the two of them fighting at some point in the past.

Why does that matter? Because it has to do with the origin of the Xenos. The Xenos aren’t inherently different from other monsters within the dungeon. The only difference is that something caused them to “awaken” from their dream-like state. Asterius remembering his fight against Bell is proof of this.

Bell vs. Asterius from the anime series DanMachi III
Bell vs. Asterius

It also seems like this fight is important to Asterius because he wants to somehow prove to himself that he has control over his body now. He wasn’t the one really fighting in his previous battle against Bell. That was his monster instincts controlling him. This time he wants to fight Bell as a Xenos.

The second thing that I think made this fight so good was that it really put Asterius’ strength on full display. This has to do with the animation to an extent, but also the art and the way scenes were laid out. Everything about this fight showed how much physically stronger Asterius is than Bell.

In most fights against large monsters, I don’t think this is effectively conveyed. Asterius is just a giant mass of muscle and I love how that was clear to see.

Conclusion

What do you think of DanMachi III episode 12? Was it really the best episode of the series? Or am I forgetting a better one? Do you think the ending with the Xenos going back to hiding within the dungeon was a good conclusion? And what do you think of the fight against Asterius? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Season 4 Part 2 Episode 1 is available now. (I didn’t do episode reviews for Part 1.)

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