Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 Episode 4

Memories of the Fateful Day

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 Episode 4 starts off with a flashback scene of the Astraea Familia. Well, it’s not quite a flashback. It’s a dream Ryuu is having as she rests in the deep floors of the Dungeon.

What makes a dream different than a flashback, though? In a flashback, we’d see the past events as they actually occurred. In Ryuu’s dream, that’s not exactly what we’re seeing. We’re seeing Ryuu’s reaction to finding herself in the past.

She knows what’s going to happen to her allies. But, because this is a dream, she’s unable to stop them from entering the Dungeon. Now, you might be wondering why it matters that this was a dream rather than a flashback. And my answer for you is that it probably doesn’t.

However, there is one possible way for the flashback vs. dream thing to matter. If it was a flashback, we could expect to see a block of flashback content. By a block, I mean an entire episode or a few episodes in a row that are entirely flashback content.

Since we’ve only seen the Astraea Familia in Ryuu’s dreams, this seems less likely to occur. Instead, I think we’re going to keep getting pieces of the past through Ryuu’s dreams. And my guess is that those pieces of the past are going to match up with what we see in the present.

For example, in Ryuu’s dream in this episode, we see her allies decide to head to the 27th floor despite the danger. And later in the episode, we see Bell’s party make the same decision. The circumstances are a bit different. But, the choice and the implied risk are the same.

Descending to Floor 27

During their descent, Bell’s party comes across Bors. He was one of the leaders of the group that went into the dungeon after Ryuu. And he’s the only one of his men who survived the encounter with the Juggernaut.

According to Bors, he’s the only survivor, period — not just of his men. He claims to have witnessed Bell die at the hands of the Juggernaut. Though, he admits that he didn’t actually see Bell’s corpse after the attack. Still, it’s understandable why Bors would assume Bell died. He saw Bell lose an arm and take a bone-cracking hit to the neck.

But, what matters to Bell’s party is that it’s not 100% guaranteed that Bell is dead. There’s still a chance he’s alive and severely injured in the deep floors of the Dungeon. So, they make the choice to continue on down.

Something that caught my attention was Aisha saying their only option was to go down. At first, I didn’t agree with her assessment of the situation. She was right in saying they couldn’t ascend until the Dungeon repaired itself. But, that doesn’t mean they need to descend. They could stay put.

However, after thinking about it a bit more, I agree with Aisha’s call. And it’s not because they might be able to save Bell if they continue down. It’s because continuing down into the Dungeon might actually be their best way to survive.

Think of it this way. The party isn’t in the best condition. They’re injured, tired, and having to fight off a bunch of monsters. If they stay put, there’s no guarantee they’ll live long enough to escape. But, if they go deeper, they could make it to a safe area. That’s their key to survival in this situation.

Welf “Ignis” Crozzo

Let’s talk about Welf for a bit. He’s a pretty cool guy, right? And at the end of Episode 4, he got to show off how cool he is by making a declaration. If his allies can protect him, he can forge new magic swords within the Dungeon.

Normally, you wouldn’t even attempt to forge blades within the dungeon. Well, unless you were in a safe area. But, you wouldn’t try to do it in the middle of one of the deep floors as Welf is about to. So, why is he doing this?

Part of it is that he recognizes how dangerous the situation they’re all in is. Their chances of making it to a safe area are slim without additional magic swords. So, in that sense, it’s worth taking a risk now to protect themselves later. After all, things will only get more dangerous the deeper they go.

But, I think there’s another reason, as well: the adamantite ore he found. As he said, this is an ore typically found deeper in the Dungeon than they currently are. That should mean he can make some pretty powerful magic swords out of it.

And, I want to keep your attention on the adamantite ore for a moment. It’s pretty strange that Welf found it on the 26th(?) floor considering it’s usually on the 27th. And it’s even more strange that the party was being attacked by monsters usually found on the 27th floor, too.

What’s going on here? If it was only the monsters, I could brush it off. They could be fleeing to the upper floors to escape the Juggernaut. But, that doesn’t explain why the adamantite ore was there. Could it be that the party is already on the 27th floor and doesn’t know?

Conclusion

What do you think of DanMachi IV Part 2 Episode 4? Which of the Astraea Familia members has your favorite character design? Was Aisha correct when she decided the party should continue down the Dungeon? And why do you think Bell’s party is coming across items and monsters from the 27th floor? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 5 is available now.