Finally, that god awful monster is gone! Seriously, its evolution was absolutely disgusting to look at, especially with the way its mouth extended, it’s just ew, gross! And man, did I hate that shit-eating smirk on its face with the way it was collecting the Magic Stones like picking food from a bloody buffet. And if that wasn’t enough, that blue cloth we saw it pull off a dead adventurer last week turned out to be a freaking Undine Cloth, which helped negated a lot of the fire damage when Welf had used his magic sword on it. However I found it a bit perplexing that the Undine Cloth, which as we know is meant to better protect the user against water-based attacks, was able to protect Moss Huge from the fire used from Welf’s magic sword. I suppose the only way to interpret this is that an Undine Cloth most likely has fire resistant properties as well. Unfortunately as soon as it was brought it, it was forgotten altogether, so it sort of felt like that particular detail was simply brought up for the niche sake of ‘this is why Welf’s sword magic wasn’t as effective as it should/could have been’.
That said, I was genuinely terrified when Moss Huge got a good chomp on Aisha’s shoulder. I had actually feared she might lose an arm from that, yet she managed to get it off of her! But yikes, if it weren’t for the Level Boost, there’s a good chance that Aisha probably could have been killed right then and there. And it was probably thanks to the buff that she was even able to fend it off for as long as she did with only one arm, heck– even after the buff expired!
But seeing how Aisha fared with the Level Boost also gave us an a sense of perspective of just how much stronger Bell has become. The moment he was back in the game, Bell didn’t have a buff applied to him and he was able to take down Moss Huge with ease. It seems to indicate that he certainly, must have leveled up after the fight against the Iguazu, after-all it would be weird to assume that he didn’t, hahaha!
And ultimately, this was precisely what led to Moss Huge’s demise. Though highly intelligent, it gravely underestimated Bell’s ability to survive after being cast down to the lower floors of the Great Falls. Had he tried to killed him, or at least get a parasite onto him after he had dragged him into the river, perhaps this could have turned out a lot differently. That said, it’s unclear whether the Mermaid Blood would have been enough to heal him of the parasite if he had been infected by it. For all we know now, that defeating the monster is at least enough to purge the parasite from those who have been infected by it altogether.
Though I have to admit, in comparison to past fights we have seen, there is a part of me that felt this one was a bit anticlimactic in its presentation. I’m not sure if it was because Bell just made it look so damn easy (though the parts we did see him fight Moss Huge were solid enough to enjoy), or the fact we actually didn’t see as much of the fight as one might have expected. There wasn’t a sense of urgency you would expect following his fire-bolt attack, especially given the grave situation his team was in prior to his arrival. Perhaps it would have felt more exciting if Bell didn’t just walk to where he had just blasted Moss Huge, though I suppose that did highlight how confident he felt in that moment. After fighting against the lightning speed Iguazu, Moss Huge’ parasite attack couldn’t land because Bell now had the ability to see and react fast enough to slice them before they could hit him. And now that he finally had the change to fight Moss Huge properly (as it had previously retreated fast enough before Bell could truly fight it the previous two instances), he came to realize that even after Moss Huge had devoured all of those Magic Stones, it still doesn’t compare to Asterius’ strength, who had soundly defeated him.
However Mikoto did make a rather interesting observation she came to terms with after experiencing Haruhime’s Level Boost. She mentioned that her senses struggled to fully process the sudden strength that her body had when the Level Boost was applied onto her, and wondered if Bell perhaps had experienced a similar struggle of imbalance due to how quickly he levels up thanks to his talent. This further explains why Bell looked a bit confused, but also almost at peace of mind after he had defeated the swarm of Iguazu.
What was really cool though was to see Bell instill magic into the Hestia Knife! Welf mentioned earlier, has the ability to conduct magic, and it was really need to see it take form as an extended dagger. The new spell Vesta Argo was truly a nice name to use, especially given the kind of opponent they were going up against!
That said, it was a bit of a shame we didn’t get to see the team work together to take Moss Huge down once Bell had cleaned up the swarm, but it was nice to see Daphne actually bring that up as she felt guilty of not doing more to support him in the battle. Then again, it was just as Aisha said: It would be better just to keep this one on one, because it’ll just create a much bigger problem if someone else gets lodged by those parasite seeds, which is frankly a fair point to make in this particular situation. So I can accept why it played out the way it did.
The most emotional part of the episode though was when Dormul and the others rose up to fight with the intention of being the last line of defense so that Hestia’s Familia can all escape and let people know about Moss Huge. It was an incredibly brave and a bittersweet sense of solitary and resolve to help another. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again, these are the kinds of moments I enjoy seeing the most in this series. It’s just nicer to experience than just plain ol’ rivalries, hostilities and corruption amongst the Familias. It is the humane sense of helping another when they need it most, even if it means giving up their own life is what that makes me appreciate these side characters even more. And for icing on the cake, Lili’s character development of wanting to pay forward the kindness she received from Bell to leave no man behind. She knows all too well the horrors of what it’s like to be left for dead, so even though these Adventurers were willing to give up their lives, Lili knew in her heart that she could not accept that, and made the official call that they will not give up, and will continue to fight. And we saw on their faces the relief of knowing the chance of surviving was still on the table.
Overall though there is a part of me that wished we had gotten a bit more from the fight (or maybe that’s just me being greedy), it was still a great watch. Watching Haruhime perform the spell “Uchide no Kozuchi” was a treat to watch as I truly love DanMachi’s incantations. They are always so beautiful and it always leaves me thinking, “I wish I could write up spell to be as poetic as that”, in an inspiring way if I may add. It was also satisfying to see the other adventurers in awe seeing Haruhime’s magic in action. Her Level Boost was now able to be applied up to five individuals, which consisted Aisha, Welf, Mikoto, Ouka and Daphene as their main damage dealers. However as soon as she finished it, as one would expect, it took quite a hefty toll on her and she was unable to continue participating in the battle.
Looking forward to seeing everyone the hell out of the dungeon and into recovery, though it won’t be long before they are cast into yet another mess to deal with.
09.01.2022 Update: As much as I would like to continue my coverage for this series, this week I came to terms that I’m really burned out and I need to take some time off or at least reduce the workload. I’ve haven’t had a chance to have a break in a long time, so at the very least, I would like to be able to take the rest of the month off. I’m not sure if I’ll do a catch up or maybe a round-up entry covering of this half of the season, but I’ll see how I feel at that point.
At the moment, the only special exception being made is Delicious Party Precure because I’m already 25 episodes in, and it’s a lighter/easier show for me to write about while on break.
Status: On-Hold
09.01.2022 Update: Due to burnout, DanMachi is on-hold until further notice.
Full explanation on the post.
Notice: Ep 6 entry will be released as a double-post next week with Ep 7!