There is a significant value when you have a protagonist and his fellow comrades struggle in a setting where in some series in the same genre would achieve the impossible- making them essentially a flawless OP character. Bell, Welf and Lily all have a special value about them. They are not invincible, they all have human limitations, and that quality provides significant value to their characters.

Bell and his team have started exploring the Middle Floor, known for its vast level difference from the upper floors. They were already struggling to begin with when Take’s children, who have been wounded and forced to retreat decided to do a Pass Parade, basically using Bell’s team as a decoy. This resulted leading another threat which was supposed to be their responsibility to eliminate or at least help clean up what was already started on Bell’s end. Having already been stuck in a fight against a horde of Al-mi’raj, having another threat was the last thing they needed. They made a desperate attempt to retreat, but the horde of monsters out numbered them. Bell does his best to serve as their last line of defense, but Lily still gets pounced on (had it not been for her enormous backpack, she would have been a goner), and Welf gets bitten in the arm by the second Hellhound. To make matters worse, they quickly find themselves completely surrounded, and the next thing they know dungeon caves in and they fall two more floors down. Now along with a broken leg due to a fallen debris, Welf can only rely on his Black Magic to help them out. Knowing he was slowing them down, he suggested them to leave him behind, but Bell absolutely refused to do so. Lily provides an alternative, but risk option where instead of trying to get out again, proceed further to the 18th Floor, where there is supposed to be a Safe Zone for Adventurers.

DanMachi Ep 10 Img 0031This is how you create a nerve-wracking atmosphere. When you have a protagonist who is invincible and you know will still manages to accomplish the impossible, you don’t always get to experience not knowing what will happen to them. Bell in ways does manage to do some of the impossible, but do take notice, the key moment when he needed to accomplish the impossible the most was when Lily’s smelly monster repel ran out, and a horde of high level monsters appears. Bell wants them to get out alive, so his Special Ability, Argonaut takes affect when he takes uses the monster’s weapon and uses it against them. However much to my relief, it came with a heavy price. Bell ultimately reached his limit since he is the only fighter who has mobility. Using magic, and stuck in an never ending fight bound to drain one at some point or another, so it is finally taking a toll on him.

DanMachi Ep 10 Img 0021But alas at the end of the day, Bell isn’t supposed to get out of the dungeon on his own. His party’s role is to get to the Safe Zone alive. Hestia has organized a quest to put together a Search and Rescue party with all the high level Adventurers she can recruit. Take’s children who had abandoned Bell and his party will be participating in the rescue effort, along with the god Hermes and his child Asfi, along with Ryu who have been specially invited (by Hermes) to join them. Gosh I cannot wait to see Adventurer Ryu in action! I wonder if she was formerly part of Hermes’ Familia since they clearly have some sort acquaintanceship.
And of course, don’t forget Hestia, she too will be tagging along and leading the party. Initially Hermes was hoping to sneak in on his own, but Hestia uses the same excuse as him for her reason. Gods are not allowed in the Dungeon, and I do have a couple ideas why. Anyhow, while we know Freya is once more, up to no again, we also need to keep our eyes on Hermes. I don’t think he has dark motives like Freya, but I get the sense he wants to recruit Bell into his Familia after Asfi gather intel on him.

Lastly, one of crucial events which had happened today was in fact the revelation of a lot of Earthquakes happening as of the late. Rather than simply an earthquake, I get the feeling something very bad is going on deep within the Dungeon and whatever is in there could potentially be looking for a way out.

And one last thing: one small detail I couldn’t help but notice. One of the Take’s children, specifically the wounded girl who was being carried on the shoulder, it was strange to see a cut to her soundlessly say something, which makes me partially wonder if she had something to do with creating the mess in the first place. I won’t hold my breath for it (as she could have been mouthing ‘sorry’), but I will be keeping an eye on her just in case.

While the episode was for most part had a grim air to it, there was a priceless moment of humor where Lily and Welf were making jokes how the Al-mi’raj remind them of Bell and would identify them with his name. It was great to see because it showed us how Welf and Lily have developed a friendship.

DanMachi Ep 10 Img 0004

Eva

Blogging Anime since Summer 2009, & Founder of AngryAnimeBitches Anime Blog ...I may or may not be addicted to writing

This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. The Traveler (@IWHBYT)

    This was another perfect episode as far as my expectations. I think that I’m happiest to see further developments between Welf and Hephaestus at last, since he’s finally appeared and the opening implied a little something. It definitely is great that he’s getting along with Lili, even when they’re face-to-face with the enemy.
    I’m thankful that people are enjoying this show as much as they are otherwise I’d be really annoyed by all the comments about how Bell is OP. If anything it was awesome to see how his blood begins boiling when facing a Minotaur, but downright scary to see him use his Argonaut skill when the Floor Boss might still show up.
    I, too, am ecstatic to see the Legend of Ryu next week and curious to see what Take’s little one was muttering about :3
    As for Gods not entering the Dungeon, I’m actually really worried about what may happen if a monster gets even a drop of the blood of one! What were you thinking, or would you prefer to save your thoughts for now?

    1. Eva

      What would happen if a monster gets a drop of the God’s blood, now that is one of the things I did not take into consideration and definitely raises the concern. A monster getting a drop of Godly blood, what a mess this could turn out to be. One of the the ideas that I have are the Dungeon could be imprisoning Fallen Gods or simply something so dangerous that it can even threaten the Heavens, the probably Gods struggled to imprison it into the Dungeon in the first place. The Gods don’t like to talk about it, so there is definitely a history they don’t want the Humans to know about.

      1. Wanderer

        What interest me about the Dungeon is that the Tower, where the gods live and which seems to stretch (figuratively, at least, if not literally) up to Heaven is directly on top of it. So above the ground we have the tower reaching up to Heaven: below the ground, then, wouldn’t the Dungeon stretch down to hell? It just seems like if you have an endless Tower of (supposed) goodness going up on one side, and an endless Dungeon of evil going down on the other, that you’re dealing with a balancing of opposing forces.

  2. zztop

    Freya really does gets nucking futs in a later volume (Vol 7, I think). [spoiler]When the goddess of another Familia begins aggressively courting Bell, Freya declares war on that Familia because the other goddess dared to touch “her property”. [/spoiler]
    I’ve also heard Dungeon’s author is also writing a spinoff series focusing on Aiz and her Familia’s adventures. Illustrated by Haimura Kiyotaka of the Index series, Aiz’s adventures are somewhat more epic than Bell’s (one adventure involved them investigating a cult feeding monster crystals to adventurers under the pretense they would become more powerful).

    1. Eva

      Not once have I ever doubted the range of Freya’s insanity. She was psychotic to begin with.
      Ooooh I would love to read a spin-off series on Aiz! Whenever it comes out I hope YenOn will license it as well! I love both the novel and anime series! I am actually holding off from reading Volume 2 further to wait for at least Vol 4 to come out before resume reading it. It’s what I did with Spice & Wolf since I couldn’t stand only reading 1 volume and be stuck waiting months for the next one. XD

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