Reinforcements Arrive

Two sets of reinforcements arrive to help Bell’s party in DanMachi IV Part 2 Episode 7. First, the Xenos appeared. Among their ranks were Wiene, Lyd, and Gros — and others who aren’t important enough for me to look up the names of.

If the Xenos were the only reinforcements, that would have been enough. They’re strong and there are quite a few of them. But, the issue with the Xenos is that they’re monsters. Not everyone in Bell’s party knows the Xenos exist. So, to them, it’s unclear what these armed monsters are doing.

We know the Hestia Familia members of Bell’s party are aware of the Xenos. However, those outside the Hestia Familia don’t. That includes Aisha (I believe), Cassandra, Daphne, Chigusa, Ouka, and Bors. I don’t remember why these adventurers can’t be told about the Xenos. But, they can’t, for some reason.

The second set of reinforcements is Tsubaki’s party. Anya, Chloe, and Runoa are all level 4, which is the same as Aisha. And we know Aisha is strong, so having them there is great for Bell’s party. Tsubaki’s level wasn’t mentioned, so I’m assuming she’s not the same level.

Based on what we saw of her in action, and the fact she’s the party leader, I’ll assume she’s level 5. Also, she’s the captain of the Hephaestus Familia. I’d expect a Familia captain to be a higher level. So, again, even if these were the only reinforcements, they’d probably be enough.

But, as with the Xenos, there’s a reason why they weren’t the only reinforcements. They’re coming into this situation blind. The Xenos, however, have a vast information network. It’s only thanks to the Xenos (Marie) that the party has any idea Bell and Ryuu are in the deep floors.

Grinding Levels in the Deep Floors

Meanwhile, in the deep floors, Bell and Ryuu are fighting for their lives. But, things aren’t looking as bad as they were only an episode ago. Thanks to Ryuu’s instruction, Bell is quickly learning to fight more efficiently. He’s not wasting as much energy with his movements.

In a lot of ways, the fighting we saw Bell doing in this episode was more like a training arc. He’s going to come out of this battle with a better understanding of how to fight strong monsters. And it looks like he’s going to put that knowledge to the test next week.

With all this training in mind, it wouldn’t surprise me if Bell levels up in the deep floors. We know he has a special ability that allows him to level up faster than normal. I don’t remember what the multiplier is, so let’s say he levels up twice as fast.

Something else I don’t remember is who knows about his leveling ability. Hestia does, obviously. But, I don’t remember if any of the other Hestia Familia members do. If he levels up in the deep floors, Ryuu could be the first non-god to learn of his secret.

And even if the other Hestia Familia members know about it, Ryuu could be the first outsider. This would be interesting because of the relationship Bell and Ryuu are developing. As Bell said in one of the previous episodes, it’s like Ryuu is Bell’s master and Bell is Ryuu’s apprentice.

Assuming this relationship persists, it would make sense for her to know his secret. That could make training him easier. Also, if she was training him, she’d likely start to notice that he gains experience faster than others. In fact, she’s already starting to notice that here.

Escape Through the Colosseum

At the end of the episode, we see Bell and Ryuu make their way to the standard route. That means Ryuu now knows where they are and they can begin moving up the dungeon floors. But, there’s something called the Colosseum in their way.

So, what is the Colosseum? I don’t know.

But, we have some context clues to go on, so let me lay out a theory for you. The first clue is that we know the adventurers who got stuck on this floor turned away from the Colosseum. So, whatever it is, we can assume they couldn’t get passed/through.

Initially, Ryuu was wondering what could have caused them to turn back from this path. But, since she’s familiar with the Colosseum, we have to assume she now knows. So, the next question is, does she think she and Bell can make it through?

If the answer is yes (which I assume it will be), then we’ll see them take on the Colosseum. If the answer is no, then they’ll have to come up with another plan to escape the deep floors. Considering we just got a little training episode for Bell, I’m going to guess they can do it.

So, let’s go back to the original question. What is the Colosseum? This may be a bold assumption, but I don’t think it’s an actual Colosseum. It could be. And Bell and Ryuu might have to fight through rounds of battles to make it through.

However, I’m thinking that the Colosseum is only a name given to this section of the floor by adventurers. With that in mind, it’s likely somewhere with a lot of strong monsters. It might be a monster nest. At the very least, it’s going to involve a lot of fighting.

Conclusion

What do you think of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 Episode 7? Would you rather have the Xenos or Tsubaki’s party come to your rescue? Do you think Ryuu is going to learn Bell’s secret? And what do you think the Colosseum is? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 8 is available now.

More Information on Welf’s Sword

DanMachi IV Part 2 Episode 6 gave us some additional information about Welf’s sword. In my review of Episode 5, I had to make some assumptions because we didn’t know much about it. Some of those assumptions now appear to be wrong.

But, let’s start off with what still seems to be true. First, there’s the fact that Welf’s sword is an indestructible magic sword. He’s used it a lot and Bors even commented on its durability. Second, Welf was divinely inspired to make this sword. He couldn’t have made it otherwise.

So, how do we know that second assumption is true? Aisha says that there has never been another sword like the one Welf crafted. If there were others, it wouldn’t be that special. And since Welf mentioned divine inspiration when forging the sword, that seems to be the key.

Now, there were 2 big assumptions I made that turned out to be wrong. The first one has to do with what Aisha said in Episode 6: That there are no other swords like this one. I assumed other indestructible magic swords existed, but were rare and expensive. Apparently, that’s not the case.

This is a bit strange considering Welf views himself as having a long way to go as a blacksmith. I wouldn’t say he has that far to go if he’s already forging one-of-a-kind blades. In a lot of ways, that would make him the #2 blacksmith after Hephaestus.

The other thing it looks like I got wrong was how the magic sword worked. Initially, Welf said he didn’t have enough magic to use the sword alone and asked Cassandra for help. But, in this episode, we see him use it multiple times in succession on his own.

Tsubaki’s Rescue Party

Something I liked about Episode 6 is that we’re now following 3 parties in the dungeon. There’s Bell and Ryuu on Floor 36, the rest of Bell’s party on Floor 27, and Tsubaki’s party also on Floor 27.

It looks like it won’t be long before Tsubaki’s party catches up with the rest of Bell’s party. And when this happens, they may relieve some of the injured. Haruhime and Mikoto, for example, aren’t able to fight. So, it could be that Tsubaki’s party replaces them and whoever takes them to safety. Or, Tsubaki’s party could take them to safety.

What Tsubaki’s party does when they catch up to the other adventurers doesn’t matter for now. What I want to go over now are the members of her party. The party includes Tsubaki Collbrande, Anya Flomer, Chloe Lolo, and Runoa Faust.

Tsubaki isn’t only the leader of this particular party. She’s also the leader of the Hephaestus Familia. That makes her Welf’s former superior. We can assume (and see) that she’s pretty strong. She also knows her way around the dungeon. So like Welf, she’s more than just a blacksmith.

Next, we have Chloe and Anya, the cat-girls. Chloe is the one who wears a hood and Anya is the one with the spear. As with Tsubaki, we can see that they’re both skilled at fighting. But, I don’t believe they have adventurer backgrounds. That doesn’t mean they have no experience in the dungeon, though.

Finally, there’s Runoa, who I’m most interested in. I like the character designs of all four of these girls. But, Runoa is the cutest. Also, she specifically states that she has no experience in the dungeon. And yet, we see that she’s very strong and fights with her fists.

Ryuu Lion’s Sacrifice

In recent reviews, I’ve been discussing the opening scenes of the Astraea Familia. And something that I somehow blanked on in last week’s review is that this is the Astraea Familia. Astraea is the goddess of justice — that’s why they were having their justice debate.

However, even with that in mind, I’m still not entirely sure what it had to do with the events of that episode. Rather, it had more to do with the events of this episode. In particular, it set up the opening scene of this episode featuring Ryuu and Kaguya.

This week, Kaguya was saying that Ryuu’s sense of justice is too idealized. Ryuu believes there can be justice for everyone. Meanwhile, Kaguya believes that justice can only come at the expense of others. As Ryuu puts it, Kaguya believes in sacrificing the few for the good of the many.

Their discussion ends with Kaguya telling Ryuu that a time will come when everyone has to make a choice. I’m going to assume that Kaguya’s time came during the fight against the Juggernaut. I’m kind of expecting it to be revealed that Kaguya sacrificed herself to save Ryuu.

So, does this opening scene have to do with the rest of the episode? Yes, as you’re probably aware. Ryuu says the conversation in this flashback is relevant to her current situation. She believes that her time to make a choice is coming up. And her choice is that she’s going to sacrifice herself to ensure Bell survives.

Back in my review of Episode 2, I said I wasn’t sure if Ryuu would die in this arc. Now, I’m confident she’ll survive. Why? Because Bell’s going to prove that she was right to believe there could be justice for everyone.

Conclusion

What do you think of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 Episode 6? Do you still think we’ll see more indestructible magic swords in the series? Who’s your favorite member of Tsubaki’s party? And do you expect Ryuu to survive the arc? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 7 is available now.

Daily Life in the Astraea Familia

DanMachi IV Part 2 Episode IV starts with another flashback to the Astraea Familia. This one isn’t one of Ryuu’s dreams like last week, though. It’s a normal flashback. And it’s not a very interesting flashback. You could skip this section of the episode and not miss anything.

But, since it’s here, I’m going to talk about it. This week, Alise asks her Familia members to define “justice.” And, as she expected, everyone had a different definition. Suddenly, everyone in the Astraea Familia became an unbearably condescending philosopher.

They start arguing about whose definition of justice is the right one. But, before things get too out of hand, Alise shuts them all down by saying that it actually doesn’t matter. She only asked the question so she could make a point. The only justice the Astraea Familia needs to concern itself with is false justice.

So, what was the point of this flashback? In Episode 4, the dream Ryuu had of the Astraea family connected to what was happening in the present. Does the same thing apply here? And if so, how? There wasn’t much talk of justice after this opening scene.

I don’t know the answer to these questions. It doesn’t seem like this talk of justice has anything to do with Bell’s party. You could argue that it connects to Bell and Ryuu stripping dead adventurers of their gear. However, even that doesn’t seem to fit. What they did is a bit morally grey. But, it has nothing to do with justice.

Instead, my guess is this discussion of justice is going to connect to something in the future. For example, it could have to do with Ryuu’s quest for revenge. She might realize that getting revenge isn’t justice. Or, it’s not true justice.

Floor 37

It’s possible that we could infer what floor Bell and Ryuu were on before. But, I’m pretty sure Episode 5 is the first time we’re explicitly told. They’re on Floor 37, which is the first of the deep floors. That’s much farther down than I thought they were.

For context, Bell’s allies are on Floor 26, which is the deepest they’ve been before. We knew Bell and Ryuu were in the deep floors. But, I assumed the deep floors started at Floor 27 since that’s where Bell’s party is trying to get to.

Bell’s party chose to descend in an attempt to reach a safe zone. And, Bell and Ryuu could do the same within the deep floors. If they make it to Floor 39, they can wait there for rescue to come. But, it’s unlikely that they’d be able to make it through 2 deep floors in their current condition.

With that in mind, Bell and Ryuu opt to head up to the lower floors, which start at Floor 36. Even if they make it to Floor 36, though, that doesn’t mean they’re safe. That’s not a safe zone and it’s still a long way from Bell’s party.

However, they’ll at least be out of the deep floors. And that’s good for 2 reasons. First, it means they probably won’t have to worry about monsters from the deep floors. I say probably because it seems like monsters haven’t been respecting boundaries lately.

But, what could be more important is that the Juggernaut is on the 37th Floor with them. So, by escaping to the 36th Floor, they may be able to lose the Juggernaut. We know it can traverse the floors, so that won’t stop it. But, they may be able to escape undetected.

The Indestructible Magic Blade

At the end of Episode 5, Welf forges an indestructible magic sword. I didn’t even know that was possible. I assumed all magic swords broke after a certain number of uses. But, it turns out you can forge a magic sword that doesn’t break.

How exactly Welf accomplishes this feat is a bit ambiguous. He’s using adamantite, which is a rare material found in the lower floors. So, is that the source of his magic sword’s indestructibility? It doesn’t seem like that’s the case. At first, he wasn’t intending to make an indestructible sword.

He wanted to make a high-quality magic sword with his high-quality material. What made it turn out indestructible is none other than the power of friendship. Once he remember he was making this sword for his friends, he got some divine inspiration. That appears to be what made the sword indestructible.

Surely, Welf isn’t the first person to make an indestructible magic sword. Apparently, he’s the first person to forge a blade in (a non-safe zone floor of) the dungeon. But, there’s no way that nobody else has used divine power to forge a sword before now.

So, does this mean we’re going to start seeing indestructible magic swords popping up all over? They’re obviously rare. But, now that they’ve been introduced into the series, we may see them more often. Or, this sword could be what makes Welf unique. I don’t know which is going to be the case.

What I do know is that Welf doesn’t have enough magic to use the sword multiple times. From my understanding, normal magic swords break once they run out of magic. But, what makes this sword different is that it uses the magic of its wielder.

Conclusion

What do you think of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 Episode 5? Do you like the Astraea Familia flashback scenes? Will Bell and Ryuu make it to Floor 36, or will they have to go down to Floor 39? And, do you expect to see more indestructible magic swords? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 6 is available now.

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.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 5 is available now.

Mikoto the Mermaid

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 Episode 3 didn’t turn out at all as I expected it to. And, there were some parts that I didn’t like. But, overall, I felt that it was a very good episode.

Let’s start today’s review with my biggest complaint. Then, we can move into all the things I liked about the episode.

Apparently, Mikoto can breathe underwater or something. She was down there for a very long time. And yet, she came out just fine. I mean, she has injuries from the fight and she used up all her mana. But, being underwater for like 20 minutes doesn’t seem to have had any negative effects.

And this also connects to one of my predictions that failed. I thought Marie (the mermaid) would come to Mikoto’s rescue.

Now, the fact that Marie didn’t save Mikoto isn’t a problem. I thought it would happen. But, it’s not bad that it didn’t. Still, it does seem like Marie needs to show up again and help at some point in this season. So far, she’s not as important as Wiene was in Season 3.

Something else I didn’t like much was Mikoto’s ability to use her gravity magic again. I figured that would be her once-per-major-battle trump card. I guess it’s her twice-per-major-battle trump card instead. However, it’s a cool spell and I loved how Ouka used it.

Ouka used Mikoto’s gravity to enhance the power of his own attack by dropping onto the floor boss. This was enough to allow him to cut off one of Amphisbaena’s heads. Specifically, he cut off the head that negates magic. This allowed Haruhime and Aisha to defeat the other head.

Is Haruhime the Coolest Party Member?

Who do you think the coolest member of Bell’s party is? For me, it’s between Haruhime and Aisha. And Haruhime might have a slight advantage here. Aisha is awesome. But, Haruhime brings something more unique to the party with her level boost.

I guess it should come as no surprise that I like Haruhime. After all, Tamamo-no-Mae is one of my favorite Fate characters. And these two characters are pretty much the same. They’re both fox-girl shrine maidens who fulfill support roles for their parties. Though, Haruhime physically resembles Suzuka Gozen, another Fate fox-girl, more.

Now, why didn’t Haruhime use her level boosting on Aisha from the start? That would have made the fight against Amphisbaena much easier, right? Well, she couldn’t use her level boosting earlier in the fight. Amphisbaena’s red head has the ability to nullify magic. So, it could nullify her level boost.

Haruhime can’t use her level boost that frequently. She can use it more now than she could in the past. But, it’s still a costly ability. There’s no point in wasting that mana if Amphisbaena’s going to remove the level boost from her allies.

Now, I do want to mention Haruhime’s character — how she acts. Most of the time, I’m not too much of a fan of her. She’s a bit too timid. But, I like when she gets serious during fights, as we saw in this episode. To me, the coolest part was Haruhime rising within the flames to rejoin the fight.

Also, I like the relationship between Haruhime and Aisha. As I already mentioned, Aisha is also one of my favorite members of Bell’s party. But, she’s cool for different reasons than Haruhime. And that’s why I like them as a pair. They complement each other.

Daphne Is as Bad as Cassandra

In my review of Season 4 Part 2 Episode 1, I had some things to say about Cassandra. In short, she’s a waste of a party member because all she does is worry about her visions coming true. She barely helped the party during the boss fight.

From what I’ve seen others say, hating Cassandra is a pretty popular opinion. But, what might not be as popular is my dislike of Daphne. She’s not bad in the same way Cassandra is. But, she’s just as bad in my view.

As Cassandra says in this episode, Daphne has never believed her about her visions. And from what I understand, these two have been friends for a very long time. That’s kind of a red flag for me. How, after all this time, does Daphne still not trust or believe Cassandra?

Either Cassandra’s visions have never turned out to be right, or Daphne ignores them when they do. My guess is the latter. Otherwise, I wouldn’t think Cassandra would be as worried about her latest vision as she is. And maybe if Daphne believed Cassandra, Cassandra wouldn’t be quite as useless as she is.

Cassandra isn’t very confident when she tells others about her visions. A large part of why that is appears to be Daphne’s dismissal of them. But, if Cassandra could be more confident, people might be more inclined to believe her. And her visions could help the entire party.

Also, let’s not pretend like Daphne’s line about believing in Cassandra absolves her. If she actually believed in Cassandra, that would include believing in her visions. It’s not fair to separate Cassandra from her visions and act like they’re unrelated. The visions are part of who Cassandra is. In a lot of ways, they define her.

Conclusion

What do you think of DanMachi IV Part 2 Episode 3? Did you expect Marie to save Mikoto? Which of Bell’s party members is your favorite? And, who do you dislike more, Cassandra or Daphne? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 4 is available now.