Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV

Season Overview

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV (Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka IV: Shin Shou – Meikyuu-hen / ダンジョンに出会いを求めるのは間違っているだろうかⅣ 新章 迷宮篇) is a really long title. It’s also the fourth season of the DanMachi series. So, I’ll be calling it DanMachi IV.

This season of the series is a bit different from the previous 3 seasons because it doesn’t cover an entire arc. Season 1 was the introduction to the series. Season 2 was the Ishtar Familia arc. And Season 3 was the Xenos arc. This season begins the Labyrinth arc but doesn’t finish it.

In a way, the fact that the season doesn’t conclude the arc it begins is annoying. But, I’m willing to look past that because I think this is the best season so far. And part of why it’s a good season might actually be because it’s not a self-contained arc.

So, what’s this arc about? Calling it the Labyrinth arc isn’t very descriptive. After all, the entire series revolves around the Labyrinth, right? Well, that’s the title that the series itself gives the arc. The subtitle of this season is Shin Shou – Meikyuu-hen (新章 迷宮篇), which translates to “New Chapter – Labyrinth.”

You may have guessed this already, but most of this arc takes place within the Labyrinth. And, it takes place on deeper floors of the Labyrinth than we’ve previously been to. But, that’s not all. The arc also introduces monsters far more powerful than those we’ve seen before.

You could say that the goal of this season was to show how dangerous the Labyrinth really is. We’ve seen adventurers get injured and even die in the Labyrinth before. However, DanMachi IV takes turns this up a notch.

Marie is the New Wiene

Do you remember Wiene from DanMachi III? She was the blue Wyvern Xenos Bell befriended and protected in the Labyrinth. Well, DanMachi IV has a new and improved version of Wiene, Marie. Marie is a Mermaid Xenos Bell meets deeper in the Labyrinth.

The neat thing about Marie is that she’s better than Wiene in every way, but fulfills the same role. She’s the season’s (now seemingly obligatory) Xenos girl. Marie is cuter and less annoying than Wiene, which already makes her better. But, I also like how her character was used within the arc more, as well.

One of the big problems I had with Wiene was that she was an escort mission character. Throughout Season 3, Bell had to escort, protect, and save Wiene. That doesn’t make her a very interesting character. She was also a major focus of the arc, despite being boring.

Marie isn’t a helpless Xenos like Wiene. That’s not to say she’s a combatant — she’s not. But she’s always in need of saving. Instead, it’s actually Marie who saves Bell on multiple occasions in this season. And by setting up Marie’s abilities early on, the season was able to dodge an instance of Deus ex machina at the end.

You see, when Marie’s introduced, we learn that Mermaid blood has healing properties. She has Bell drink some of her blood, and it heals his wounds after a battle. With that established, it doesn’t feel out of place when she does it again at a crucial moment later on.

And, another nice thing about Marie is that she’s not a major focus of the arc. She’s a recurring side character who doesn’t overstay her welcome. Marie didn’t get enough screen time to become annoying, which is key.

The New Arc the Series Needed

So far, the Labyrinth Arc is the most brutal arc of the DanMachi series. And that’s saying something, considering the Xenos arc was about slavery and genocide. Those topics may be darker. But, this season is all about revenge — two sides trying to get revenge on each other.

Something brought up in a previous season was that Ryuu Lion’s familia got wiped out. She was a member of the Astraea Familia, which had a rivalry with the Rudra Familia. This rivalry resulted in the Rudra Familia laying a trap for the Astraea Familia in the dungeon.

The Rudra Familia intended to cause a cave-in to trap and kill members of the Astraea Familia. However, because of the damage done to the Labyrinth, a terrifying monster spawned. This monster killed every member of the Astraea Familia other than Ryuu, who escaped. It also killed many members of the Rudra Familia.

After that catastrophe, Ryuu made it her mission to get revenge on the Rudra Familia members. And, to her credit, she did exactly that. She single-handedly slaughtered them all over the years. Well, all except for one, Jura.

So, DanMachi IV focuses on the battle between Ryuu and Jura. They both want to kill each other, and their revenge takes them deep within the Labyrinth. And their thirst for revenge results in the deaths of many other adventurers. Neither cares about the number of innocents injured or killed as long as they come out on top.

To me, this is exactly the kind of arc DanMachi needed right now. It shifted the focus of the series back to the Labyrinth. It takes place deep within the Labyrinth. And it’s not a simple good vs. evil plot like we had with the Xenos arc.

Conclusion

In the end, I gave DanMachi IV a 7/10. That makes it tied with Season 1 as the highest-rated season of the series. It’s definitely better than Seasons 2 & 3. And I’m looking forward to seeing how the Labyrinth arc continues in the next season, whenever we get that.

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My review of Season 4 Part 2 is available now.