DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

danmachi-wallpaper-700x393 DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

Only this Much?

  • Episodes : 13
  • Genre : Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
  • Airing Date : April 2015 – June 2015
  • Producers : J.C.Staff, Genco, Movic


DanMachi Preview / Plot (No Spoilers)

Good morning, it’s time to get up and go to the dungeon and earn some cash for your goddess. You are a new adventure and you must be careful, or else you might get in over your head and bite the big one. What’s the dungeon you ask? Well, it’s this place where monsters spawn and adventures, like you, kill them and earn money. You have been chosen by me, Hestia, so don’t worry. You will be fine.

Now that I got your attention, DanMachi is an anime where the Bell Cranel was chosen by the goddess Hestia. Once a person is chosen, they can become Adventures and travel in a dungeon to kill monsters and earn money. On one of Bell’s trips into the dungeon, he is cornered by a minotaur and almost killed. Luckily he is saved by a blond haired beauty just before the minotaur could attack.

Now that he’s been shamed in front of a female adventure, what will Bell do? Will he go back into the dungeon to face his fears or will he cower in a corner like a little kid?

danmachi-wallpaper-700x393 DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

Who does DanMachi cater to?

DanMachi is an interesting anime that takes place in a game environment. In this sense, it is like Log Horizon, .hack//, Sword Art Online, Hunter x Hunter and Slayers.

Log Horizon, .hack// and Sword Art Online all take place in the same type of environment, however unlike the anime I just mentioned, the characters in DanMachi do not know that they are part of a gaming world.

In both Hunter x Hunter and DanMachi, the characters go out on an adventure to hunter monsters and gain money. Each have to pass a test, in DanMachi this test is as simple as finding a goddess to grant you her favor.

What's so appealing about this piece of work.

The one thing that I find appealing about DanMachi is that they use the Greek Pantheon as part of the local culture. Even the dungeon that the adventures traverse through is like the Labyrinth, Minotaur and all. The Minotaur takes a swing at Bell in the first episode, almost foreshadowing what the anime will contain.
Another thing that appeals to me, is that the system of hunter/gathers have been modified to where the hunters are out hunting beats while they have supporters to gather up the gems that these beasts drop. When the day is over, they can turn these gems into a exchange and receive money for their hard day of work.

TV Anime 'Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka' PV 2

DanMachi Main Characters List

Bell Cranel

danmachi-wallpaper-700x393 DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

Voice Actor : Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

Bell is a young man with white hair and red eyes. When he was younger, he wanted to become an adventure after hearing stories of grandeur. His dreams would come true, but for each dream to become reality an older one must be put aside. The death of his grandfather led him to leave his village and make the way to Orario and become and adventure.

When he arrived in Orario, his search for a goddess began. Unfortunately, all of the goddesses guilds wanted someone who might actually survive a trip to the dungeon. He was running out of hope and goddesses. Luckily he came across Hestia, the goddess of hearth. She accepted his application to become an Adventure and Bell became her first servant.

Hestia

danmachi-wallpaper-700x393 DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

Voice Actor :Inori Minase

Hestia is the virgin Greek Goddess of the hearth, architecture and the right to ordering of domesticity, the family and the state… At least that what she use to be a few thousand years ago and in our universe. In DanMachi, she is a girl who is almost a teenage, causing trouble and making everyone stare at her big boobs.

Hestia is energetic and kindhearted. When the gods left the heavens, Hestia stayed with her friend, Hephaestus, but left on her own to start her own guild. Unfortunately, no one wanted to join a goddess who’s guild didn’t have any member. Luckily for her, and Bell, they found each other. After agreeing to become her familia Bell found out that Hestia’s new house was in the ruins of an old church.

After she accepted Bell to her familia, Hestia started to gain feelings for Bell and has grown close. She tries to keep him safe, even if it means that she has to lie to him every once and a while.

Liliruca "Lili" Arde

danmachi-wallpaper-700x393 DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

Voice Actor :Maaya Uchida

Lili is an adventure who joins up with Bell to act as his supporter. However, Lili isn’t everything that she seems to be. Lili originally joined the Soma Familia to become an adventure; however she didn’t have the power it took to be one. She eventually became a supporter. A supporter is someone who follows the fighter and collects any weapons, gems or other dropped items from the monsters.

Supporters are viewed as leaches and thus treated so. This causes Lili to mistrust adventures. Some of the adventures of the Soma familia bully Lili and cause her to steal and backstab adventures from other familia. She is in a dark place when Bell meets her, luckily for her, bell doesn’t turn his back on her.


Contains Spoilers

DanMachi Review

DanMachi is a sci-fi fantasy action adventure that follows the life of Bell Cranel as he traverses through the Dungeon. It shows his growth as both an adventure and a kid. Eventually, will Bell be a warrior of legend, we have to see and hope.

When first viewing DanMachi, I was imminently reminded of .hack// and can’t help but to like it. Bell is almost like a level 1 fighter and jumps in over his head and saved by a level 20 warrior. Yeah, a little bit of Dungeons and Dragons in this review, since watching DanMachi is just like playing a good game of DnD. It brings you into its world of dungeons, gods, monsters and heroes. Because, that’s what Bell is, he is a hero or soon will be.

DanMachi shows Bell as he starts out as an adventure and the first close call that he comes across. Down on the fifth level of the dungeon, he comes across a minotaur that almost kills him. He is saved by a female adventure and he is able to escape alive. Bell is soon smitten by the warrior that saved him, he doesn’t know anything about her but he loves her. He vows to get stronger and not be in that situation again. Thus starts “Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?”

1. Dungeon

danmachi-wallpaper-700x393 DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

The Dungeon is an area of Orario where monsters spawn. It is a multi-level tower, where each level brings on tougher and tougher monsters. It is not elaborated as to how the dungeon was formed or who formed it, but adventures make a living off of the monsters that are inside of the Dungeon.

2. Gods

danmachi-wallpaper-700x393 DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

A long time ago, the gods were banned from their realm and forced to live with humans in the town of Orario. The gods themselves are from the Greek Pantheon. To make a living, they offer their powers to adventures who will dare the dungeons, and the adventurers that the gods give powers to soon become their Familia.

3. Familia

danmachi-wallpaper-700x393 DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

Familia are adventures who have made a contract with a god. Familia are not limited to fighters or supporters. Other Familia are blacksmiths, brewers and other occupations that are connected with each god. The contract with a god gives the adventure extra power that they wouldn’t be able to achieve on their own.


If I had to meet you in a dungeon, would you go out with me? This anime has a long, long name and is better known as either Dungeon or DanMachi. I like the setting of DanMachi, the part that allows me to escape into the realm of DnD and play my druid as if I was him. Anime that bring common concepts like games and adventure are an imminent hit with me. They bring the world of King Arthur to a new generation, even though the new generation hasn’t heard of the once and future king.

If you haven’t seen DanMachi yet please do so, It is an interesting anime that anyone should watch.

Update: Series Conclusion

Last week showed us the last episode for DanMachi and the final battle of Bell Cranel for the season. Without getting into details about the last episode and what happened during it, I am going to wrap up the season.
I am calling it the ending of a season without knowing if there will be a second season down the line, I can say that it was a little disappointing. I felt like there should be something more than Bell starting out as one of the weakest people, then becoming what he ended up being. If there is another season, then that will give more opportunities for the main character to develop and not be a flat, two dimensional character.
Looking at the anime as a whole, I would say that it is a solid 7 out of 10. The art was good, the animation was good, the story was decent and the suspension was acceptable. It’s a good anime, but it needed something more to become a great anime.

danmachi-wallpaper-700x393 DanMachi Review & Characters – Only this Much?

Writer

Author: Zack Ringler

My name is Zack Ringler, just like it is written on all of my articles. I come from America, Indiana to be precise. I work for the Board of Education in Utsunomiya Japan. Heard of it? Didn’t think so. I am a teacher, writer and game designer with my first game “Moonshine Run” going on Kickstarter later this year. You can learn more about me on my facebook by looking up my name or just adding /zringler to the end of the facebook URL. Hope you like what you read, later.

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