Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 Episode 9

Astraea vs. Rudra

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 Episode 9 finally gave us what we’ve all been wanting. At last, we got to see the final moments of the Astraea Familia. And for that fact alone, this was a very good episode.

Of course, we already knew how the Astraea Familia members died. The Juggernaut killed them (and most of the Rudra Familia) after the Rudra Familia lured them into a trap. But, it was cool to get more context surrounding the event.

Something we need to remember is that the plan was never to summon the Juggernaut. The Rudra Familia didn’t know the Juggernaut existed before this. And even the gods weren’t aware of the Juggernaut’s existence. The Rudra Familia’s original plan was just to kill the Astraea Familia with a large explosion.

After the explosion fails to kill the Astraea Familia, we got a cool scene of Alise confronting Jura. The Astraea Familia is the Familia of justice. And since the Rudra Familia is associated with Evilus, they’re effectively the opposite. I don’t know much about Rudra. But, this series paints him as a villainous god.

Anyway, when Astraea confronts Jura, he takes a step back out of fear and this is what sealed everyone’s fate. As we know, the dungeon summons the Juggernaut when it sustains too much damage. Basically, the Juggernaut’s role is to kill who- or whatever is damaging the dungeon.

According to what we saw, the damage from the explosions wasn’t enough to trigger it. But, when Jura stepped back, he stepped on and broke a stick. That little action is what pushed the damage to the dungeon over the edge. If that hadn’t happened, the Astraea Familia might still exist.

Lay Down Your Lives

After the initial Juggernaut attack, only 4 members of the Astraea Familia remained. These were Ryuu, Alise, Lyra, and Kaguya. All 4 had severe injuries. But, none of these injuries were necessarily fatal. The problem was that with those injuries, escaping the Juggernaut would be impossible.

Ryuu had some internal injuries, likely broken bones, and was in shock. Alise had a large stab wound through the side of her abdomen. Lyra was blind thanks to the deflection of a magic attack. And Kaguya lost her right arm.

In terms of severity, Alise’s injury seems to be the worst. Obviously, Kaguya was losing a lot of blood from her arm. But, it would be easier to stop that bleeding than Alise’s bleeding from her abdomen. Ryuu and Lyra had relatively minor injuries, all things considered. And I’d say Lyra’s were the least severe.

But, Alise knew that only 1 of them would be able to make it out alive. So, she chose Ryuu to be that person and asked Lyra and Kaguya to lay down their lives. Neither complained about sacrificing themself. Though, Kaguya did question why Alise wasn’t the one who should survive.

What I liked most about this scene was how Lyra and Kaguya understood the situation. As soon as Alise told them to die fighting, they didn’t try to come up with excuses. Lyra’s only injury is that she’s blind. She could very well have survived.

But, Lyra lies and says that now that she’s blind, she won’t be of much use anymore. This was her way of cutting off any argument from Ryuu about who should be the one to survive. Once Alise decided Ryuu was going to survive, there was no changing the minds of her, Lyra, and Kaguya.

The End of Justice

I was wondering what happened to the goddess Astraea. We now know that Ryuu asked her to leave Orario, and she did. Ryuu asked this because she didn’t want Astraea to be around to witness the things Ryuu was about to do.

As Astraea was leaving, though, she told Ryuu to give up on justice. This is a pretty interesting statement coming from the goddess of justice. And Ryuu took it to mean that Astraea was excommunicating her from the Familia. I also thought this is what Astraea meant at first. But, I’m no longer so sure.

I’m thinking that Astraea was trying to tell Ryuu to go down the path of vengeance. That might seem strange coming from Astraea. But, we need to consider who Ryuu is getting revenge on. She’s getting revenge on Evilus, a terrorist organization. The terrorist organization responsible for wiping out the Astraea Familia, in fact.

It could be that even Astraea realized that there are times when justice fails. There are times when vengeance is the best way to solve a problem. And if Ryuu’s vengeance can eradicate Evilus from Orario, then she should give up on justice.

I also feel like this is reinforced by what Bell says to Ryuu later in the episode. He says that the Ryuu he knows is the embodiment of justice. And he says that the way she’s always saving him, his friends, and others couldn’t be anything but justice.

Astraea probably believed that Ryuu would eventually become an agent of justice again. And Alise believed the same thing. That’s why she chose Ryuu to be the one to survive. She believed in Ryuu’s sense of justice. Even if Ryuu goes through hard times, she’s going to end up on the path of justice.

Conclusion

What do you think of DanMachi IV Part 2 Episode 9? Did you like seeing how the Astraea Familia met its end? Did this episode make you want an Astraea Familia spin-off anime? And, what do you think Astraea meant when she told Ryuu to give up on justice? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 10 is available now.