Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III Episode 1 – Dungeons and Wyverns

Oh man, the new season is here, the new season is here!!! Happy anime everyone!

Because I’m am an absolute genius, I have once again chosen to review three different animes all airing on Friday! The good news is that I once noticed a lot of my favourite seasonal shows seem to air on Fridays. Like too many for it to be a coincidence. I have a feeling that a lot of very popular shows get the TGIF slot so that’s probably why. Still, it’s a good omen for things to come.

As I write this I’m still not sure when our IIWTTTPUGIAD reviews will go up but I’m aiming for Sundays. In any case, I just spent a good half hour updating my AniiList with all the new shows I plan to watch and now I’m over-excited like a toddler on Christmas eve. It really doesn’t take much. How are you Crow???

I feel like I’m too old to admit this, but yeah, there’s a Christmas Eve/morning vibe going on. I enjoyed the Summer 2020 season, but there’s no denying it had fewer entries. So the Fall season feels positively rich!

Since I am doing double reviews this season, I’ll try to keep them a bit more brief. I have tried and failed to emulate Karandi for years now. Since last time I reviewed this show, it was with her, I’m really going to try once again in her honour!

The first thing I learned from K is that most people who read episode reviews have watched it. There is no need for a recap. But if you haven’t watched it, you should! I’m gonna spoil stuff! I usually spoil stuff. Crow makes stuff better so we even each other out. 

Wait. I thought I got to spoil stuff! Maybe we could compromise and both spoil stuff with wild abandon? For full disclosure, I’ll be in not bold type for this review.

Let me just throw this out there. Is it just me or did Danmachi (should I always call it IIWTTTPUGIAD as a little inside just for us??)…  really am too excited. Let me get back on the subject. Is it just me or did  Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Get a nice animation boost this season?

I know that I have always thought the show to be pretty but right from the first scenes it looked prettier. It’s possible that I am misremembering or that my good mood is making everything just a touch lovelier than it is but I could swear there were more details and texture than before. 

If I compare screen shots to previous seasons, the difference isn’t obvious. And maybe I’m suffering from the exuberance of seeing these characters again, because I got really attached to them! But even if individual frames aren’t much different, the motion is more natural and the camera angles are a bit more bold. Facial expressions, too, got a real boost, especially Hestia and Lili. It felt warmer and more comfortable, if I can use such imprecise terms.

Storywise, it seems to be back to basics. That means Dungeons and Dragons! Well… wyverns.

I’m honestly psyched about this. I love the dungeon adventure aspect of IIWTTTPUGIAD, complete with levelling mechanics! In fact, I missed this part of the story quite a bit last season. The Gods are fun as characters and I’m always very happy to see Hermes! But ultimately, I like them as supporting characters and obstacles. I want to see a story about a young adventurer getting stronger and have vicarious RPG fun!

Do you like the Dungeon aspect Crow?

Love it. I still get chills when I think about Bell’s fight against the minotaur, or about him struggling to keep his little team alive when things got really rough really fast. It was fun seeing Hestia read Bell’s level (and also hilarious how Loki trying to read Ais’ level). Even power ups like Bell’s Argonaut were just fun to watch. 

That’s a long way to say I agree — the political intrigue was well done, but I prefer the dungeon adventures.

Now I did mention …and Dragons. Or rather and Wyverns. The new character this season is a small monster girl that Bell saves and who gets very attached to him (this is still very much the IIWTTTPUGIAD we all know and love). Eventually, they name her Weine but her species is called Vouivre. Which is French for Wyvern, so I’m assuming that’s what she is. The title of the episode also mentions that she’s a Daughter of Dragon…

I really want her to grow wings at some point. They need a flying girl! Don’t you agree? I don’t remember, is there anything special about Dragon lore in IIWTTTPUGIAD?

I don’t recall them ever talking about dragons. If I cheat and look at Wikis, I see mention of dragons in the light novels, but I don’t recall anything.

And yes. A flying girl along the lines of Skadi Dragenfelt would be a great addition.

Aside from that, we got a standard ladies’ bathing scene complete with obligatory breast envy joke. I have to admit, this may be where the art was at its most beautiful!

What don’t you hear me doing? Disagreeing! As someone with an artistic soul, I have to admit that I appreciated the ascetics of that scene. Great lighting and camera angles.

It’s only when the ED hit that I realized that we didn’t get an OP this week. I guess we’ll see it next week. I’m looking forward to it. The ED was just OK. Although I may be a bit harsh with it because the ED of season II was one of my favourites. I really loved it and let it play out till the end every single time!

The series has often had enjoyable music. About the only complaint I had about this episode is too little Eina Tulle. But we got a good setup with Bell, Wiene, and the Hestia Familia. We saw hints of intrigue with Hermes, and we got a glimpse of someone who may or may not be a major villain. All in all, the first episode covered a lot of ground!

All in all, I think this was a great first episode. I’m curious, mildly aroused and ready for more. They even gave us a dash of Hermes at the end just to keep us on our toes. It’s a strong opener!

Now, if they could only fit in some more Eina…