Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III Episode 1

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III Episode 1

Wiene Dragon’s Daughter

The first episode of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (or DanMachi) III is here, and it’s not quite what I expected. Maybe I’m misremembering the end of DanMachi II, but I thought that it set up for this season to not take place within Orario — the city where the dungeon is located.

I’d have to go back and rewatch the final episode of that season, but I thought it ended with someone (maybe Ais) being taken out of the city and Bell planning to go after them.

Anyway, my point is that when it turned out that the events at the beginning of this episode took place on floor 18 of the dungeon, I was surprised. However, I was a bit relieved at the same time.

I think the parts of the series that take place within the dungeon are the best. So I’d rather we stick around Orario and continue exploring the dungeon rather than traveling elsewhere. After all, Orario is the only place in the world where a dungeon exists, so the rest of the world is probably pretty average.

Wiene the vouivre from the anime series DanMachi III
Wiene the vouivre

With all that said, I guess I should move on to the important feature of this episode: Wiene the vouivre. As we saw, Wiene is a monster with the ability to speak who Bell found on the 18th floor of the dungeon. But, what exactly is she? What is a vouivre?

A vouivre is basically a wyvern if you’re more familiar with that term. And if that still doesn’t make sense, a wyvern is essentially a bipedal dragon. So, this is why the title of the episode is “Wiene Dragon’s Daughter.”

Sentient Monsters

As we learn, Wiene isn’t the only monster with the ability to speak. There have been rumors going around in adventurer circles about hearing voices within the dungeon when nobody else is around. And, there have even been reported attacks on adventurers by a monster wearing armor.

Keep in mind that in this world, monsters don’t normally wear armor or speak. They’re not depicted like monsters in many other fantasy series that have their own form of society. They’re really more like wild animals than anything else.

And, as I’ll discuss in a bit more detail later on, it’s heavily implied that there’s more going on with these sentient monsters than what we see on the surface. These monsters weren’t always sentient. Something changed that caused them to suddenly become this way.

A wanted poster for the "armored monster" from the anime series DanMachi III
A wanted poster for the “armored monster”

Within this first episode itself, we learn of two different sentient monsters. The first is Wiene the vouivre, and the second is the aforementioned armored monster that looks like a lizardman of some sort.

Considering monsters aren’t normally sentient creatures, my guess is that “lizardman” won’t be the exact term used for the armored monster’s species. He’s probably going to be referred to as a basilisk or something like that — something more monstrous and less relatable than a lizardman.

Additionally, thanks to the ED we see that this armored monster is also going to join Bell’s side just as Wiene has. And further, so are two other monsters. These additional monsters look like a harpy and a gargoyle, but we’ll just have to wait for their true species names to be revealed later on.

I’m interested to see if all four of these monsters end up becoming official members of the Hestia Familia or not. Wiene probably will, but I get the feeling the others will simply be allies, not members.

Wiene’s Nightmare

For most of the episode, I wasn’t all that interested in Wiene as a character. From my perspective, she was just another cute, loli, monster girl included in the series as a form of fan service. You know, to please the same people who were obsessed with loli Zero Two in Darling in the FranXX.

However, towards the end of the episode, my opinion on Wiene changed. Once she began telling Bell about what she remembered of her life before meeting him, her character became a lot more interesting.

According to Wiene, she wasn’t always as we see her now. Before Bell found her being chased by the group of adventurers, her life was a living nightmare. She had a vague awareness of attacking and slaughtering adventurers, but it was as if she was trapped within her own body and unable to control it.

Wiene's nightmare from the anime series DanMachi III
Wiene’s nightmare

We don’t yet know what caused Wiene to break out of her “nightmare,” but we can assume that the other sentient monsters probably experienced something similar. They had a vague awareness of being monsters but weren’t really in control of their actions until something changed.

But what does this mean? From my perspective, the implication here is that the monsters really are just like humans, elves, beastmen, or any of the other sentient species. However, for some reason, their minds have been partially sealed off and they’ve been reduced to wild animals.

And once Bell learns of this, he’s obviously going to be against killing any (humanoid) monsters. Instead, he’ll want to figure out how to free the monsters from their nightmare.

Also, we’ll probably get some flashback to the minotaur that attempted to kill Bell at the beginning of the first season. We might get some different perspective on what occurred back then. Perhaps we’ll even see that event through the eyes of the minotaur.

Conclusion

Going into this first episode of DanMachi III, I wasn’t really expecting much. DanMachi has been a pretty good series so far, but I wouldn’t say that it’s one of the top-tier fantasy anime. However, after completing this episode, I am looking forward to the rest of the season.

What do you think of DanMachi III episode 1? Do you like Wiene’s character? Do you think the other sentient monsters are going to become members of the Hestia Familia? And what do you think caused these monsters to break free from their nightmares? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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