Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru no Darou ka III (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?), or “DanMachi” as we will refer to it, is the third installment in the series following the adventurer, Bell Cranel. This season, we have Bell and the Hestia Familia thrown into something crazy when one day, Bell saves a little monster girl from some guys on the 19th Floor of the dungeon. Never mind her human-looking facial features, this snake-tailed, blue-skinned girl can talk! Covering her nakedness in his cloak, Bell sneaks the little vouivre (“veev-re”) back to town and names her Wiene (“Vee-ne”).

The main deal with DanMachi III is that it attempts to flip everything we’ve known about the monsters in the Dungeon. Monsters with sentience exist and have existed for a very long time and are under the protection of the god Ouranos, the head of the Guild! Despite this, their existence is a closely guarded secret.

Bell Cranel is called upon specifically to carry out the secret mission to introduce the vouivre, Wiene, to her kin. The biggest takeaway from the introduction of talking monsters to the DanMachi universe is that monsters slain by adventurers in the Dungeon undergo a cycle of death and rebirth, which if repeated enough times, leads to an accumulation of desires and memories that solidify when they gain sentience. This leads them to become a race known as “Xenos”.

The explanation as to why Xenos are sentient could have done with a lot more explanation. Ouranos claims that the existence of the Xenos is perhaps the “will of the Dungeon”, but the cycle of death and rebirth experienced by monsters is still a bit of a mystery, which is rather disappointing. We also know next to nothing about Ikelos, and the so-called “Evilus” group to which much reference was made in DanMachi III.

One of the best things about DanMachi III is the handful of important fights that happen this season. The most exciting battle is the rematch between Bell Cranel and the minotaur he took down by himself at the very end of season 1. Back then, Bell was a mere Level 1 adventurer who took it upon himself to fight the minotaur despite there being more powerful and experienced adventurers present.

Bell was determined to become a hero and this fight earned Bell the nickname “Argonaut”, after the story of the bravest band of heroes in Greek mythology – Jason and his crew – who set sail on a ship called the Argo to find the Golden Fleece. Interestingly, the reincarnated minotaur now bears the name Asterius, the same name as two of Jason’s crewmates on the Argo as well as the minotaur Asterius in Greek myth, who was kept in the centre of the Labyrinth built by Daedalus for King Minos of Crete in Knossos.

Bell Cranel crosses blades with Ais Wallenstein due to a difference in opinion in the most epic fight this season. After the attack of the Xenos on Orario, the monsters are hiding in various parts of town. Ouranos aims to get the Xenos safely back into the Dungeon, but with the streets of Orario teeming with adventurers, a heavy diversion is needed.

When Bell and Haruhime find Wiene, the reunion is cut short by the appearance of the Loki Familia’s ace-in-the-hole, Ais Wallenstein, who believes that all monsters should be dealt with. Ais raises her sword against the vouivre, saying that her wing and claws bring fear and pain to human beings, leading Wiene to ripping them off in a brave showing of her intent to live peacefully with humans.

The Ikelos Familia is led by Dix Paradix, a descendent of Daedalus. All Daedalus’s descendants carry a blood curse which forces them to continue his project to build the artificial Dungeon, Knossos; however, Dix’s cruelty towards Xenos made it possible for him to overcome this programming and follow his own will. He is killed in the labyrinth by a minotaur after being bested in battle by a team made up of Bell; the Lizardman Lyd, leader of the Xenos; as well as the former human mage, Fels.

Bell’s role in this season as the protagonist of the story is his protection and guidance of the vouivre Wiene. Bell becomes a beacon of hope for the Xenos, who believe that they will one day be able to inhabit the surface among humans. He asks Ais Wallenstein what she would do if she came across a monster that had “a reason to live, and emotions like humans do”, to which she replies that all monsters should be indiscriminately dealt with because of the pain they cause to human beings.

Introduced in the first episode of DanMachi III, Wiene is a vouivre, a dragon-type monster from lore known to have venomous breath and an extremely aggressive temperament. She becomes attached to Bell after he saves her from the cruel adventurers of the Ikelos Familia. She loses control of herself once when Dix removes the gem on her forehead, which causes Wiene to revert to her most monstrous form, one more closely resembling artistic depictions of vouivres. She is killed by Orario’s adventurers; however, a last-ditch effort by the formely-human mage, Fels, leads to Wiene’s revival.

DanMachi III’s character roster and overall storyline was not as strong as that of season 2’s arc with the Ishtar Familia and the Level Booster, but it has its strengths in building up the series’ lore and presenting Bell and other adventurer characters with an interesting internal conflict.