Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III Episode 6 – A Man Named Modaka

I’m almost afraid to ask how it’s going Crow. I’m over here in an entirely different country and these elections are wearing me down. And I’m not even that politically engaged a person.

Fact is, this particular election is very emotional and important for a lot of people. With good reason, I might add. And no matter which side of the political divide anyone stands on, or even if they sit right on it, I got to imagine that the past few days have been simply nerve-wracking.

I think we all need a good ‘ol distraction. And you know what’s a great distraction? Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III. I even wrote out the entire name!

Nevertheless, I’m still going to ask. How are you Crow?

I feel like you got all fancy writing the name out like that! It’s like a formal event or something. And here I am, wearing a tee shirt! I feel so underdressed…

How’s it going? I could write a 100,000 words on that one… I’ll just say that we’re close to throwing off a darkness the likes of which the US has never seen — on our own shores, at least. Yeah, we’ve seen it before. And yes, we beat it before, but it took the united free peoples of the world and untold hardship and death. So, in a sense, if it plays out the way it looks, this victory is at least less expensive.

For some of us. Some of our brothers and sisters did indeed pay the ultimate price…

It might seem hyperbolic, but honestly, that’s how I see it.

Ahem. Back to IIWTTTPUGIAD! I’m in plain type, and there will be spoilers!

And thanks for asking, by the way!

My pleasure. And thanks for sharing.

So this week’s IIWTTTPUGIAD?III picked up right where we left off. After hearing that the 18th floor of the labyrinth had been overtaken by monsters, a contingent of adventurers, mostly made up of the Ganesha familia, go in to assess the situation and retake control. Bell sneaks in among them.

Although we didn’t get to spend that much time with them, I got the feeling that these adventurers were really only one small step above the poachers. Of course, from their perspective, these are just monsters, And well, they are. What did you think of the scout force?

Interesting you should say that. Last week or the week before, Ouranos suggested that Gensha Familia’s antics with the arena were supposed to acclimate people to monsters, but I didn’t get that sense. You’re right — it seemed more like a raiding party than anything else. Because if I remember right, once the monsters go into the arena, they don’t come out alive.

In the early scenes, Bell quickly manages to find Lyd again and the two have a moment. Now I figure Crow is not a huge reader of BL manga. Mostly because he never talks about it on his blog. But that doesn’t mean anything. I’m sorry if I jumped to the wrong assumptions.

In any case, that altercation between Bell and Lyd… Well you know, Bell just wanted to be with him and help no matter the personal consequences but Lyd had to push him away for his own good… It was just such a classic BL moment that I had to giggle. I must have seen that exact scene at least 100 times.

Your guess is spot on. I have nothing against it, but it always had so many extraneous… I won’t make the joke. Let’s just say I prefer yuri and leave it at that.

But that moment with Bell and Lyd worked for me as a Bro Moment. Bell really wanted to help his friend but couldn’t figure out how. And Lyd just wanted Bell to stay safe and at a distance.

But now I can’t unsee your perspective on that scene!

Soon after we hear about Evilus again. We actually heard of them last episode and I made a note of it but didn’t follow through. That name, Evilus, it’s very on the nose, isn’t it? So I was really curious about whether it actually referred to an existing myth. However, all the info I could find just led straight back to Danmachi so I’m thinking it’s a creation of the series.

Too bad. I think it’s safe to assume they were… evil…

Yep. Very on the nose.

If you remember Aisha and Ryuu also snuck in after Bell. I thought it would bring on all kinds of shenanigans, but it turns out they sort of quietly disappeared after the first act. Is it just me or does Ryuu’s adventuring outfit consist of bloomers? Nothing against it, mind you. I just wanted to mention it and have someone confirm. Cause I sort of rewinded the scene three times to try to make sure.

See, this is one of the scenes where my mind wandered. Bloomers are indeed part of her outfit. The only thing I can figure is that her legs are so attractive that only someone in Evilus would dare strike her. Could explain her extreme hatred for Evilus. Well, that and what Evilus did to her familia.

That’s a long way of saying — can confirm. I’ve got the screen caps in case we need proof later.

So yeah, soon enough the monsters just sort of leave the adventurers cause they find the trail of their missing friends and Bell also strikes out on his own and finds Fels. Then they find an eyeball. And then they find everyone else.

To be fair, Ryuu gave Bell the eye. Well, the eye key — I don’t think she looked at him strangely or anything. But it was an extremely fortunate coincidence!

By everyone else, I mean Dix & co on one side and the Xenos on the other. All converging on a cave-like structure within the labyrinth. And as you can imagine, tensions are high. There are plenty of wounded monsters in cages but Weine is nowhere to be seen. And the Ikelos familia are numerous, well-armed and ready for battle.

I was happy to see that Lyd, at least, recognized it was a trap. It seems like for Xenos, they’re even sooner from the cave than we humans. They get all fired up and just charge right in. No rear guard; no scouts; they didn’t even form a line. Sigh.

In the meantime, the rest of the Hestia family are loitering outside the dungeon, hoping for some news. It was a tiny little scene and Hestia had a little throwaway line in it. But it was my favourite line of the episode, and honestly one of the more powerful moments in the show for me. As they all stood there wondering what was happening, Hestia just slightly snidely told Welf “it’s difficult to just wait, isn’t it, it’s always like this for me”.

This, more than anything else, embodied what gods are in IIWTTTPUGIAD for me. For all their greatness and influence, they are ultimately helpless. Not only are they dependent on followers but they also can’t really do anything by themselves.

That’s actually drastically different from their namesake deities. They interfered nonstop in the matters of man with little to no regard for the mortals in question and even less limitation. For giggles, you know! To me, the DanMachi gods aren’t thoughtless denizens of unlimited power. They aren’t even parent figures. They’re the barely adult older sibling that gets stuck raising a ton of little brothers and sisters after their parents had an awful accident and is completely overwhelmed by the situation.

And maybe that’s just me, but I really like that interpretation.

That’s beautiful! That was probably my favorite scene, too. The little interchange towards the end where Hestia and Lili were was really cool. They’re rivals, but when it came to Bell’s safety, they work together well.

Anyway, let’s get back to the episode. We learn through Hermes and later through Dix that the Ikelos familia is causing all this trouble for a very unexpected reason. Well sort of expected. They want money. That’s pretty basic. They have in fact been poaching monsters for some time and selling the talking ones for a good price. Still, it doesn’t seem like the most efficient way to make money in a universe where you can literally grind treasure.

Anyways, the more surprising part is what the money’s for. Not power or influence or womenz. It’s for renovations. Or extensions rather. It seems that Dix is a descendant of Daedalus and is compelled (cursed?) to continue his work. Namely completing that structure within the dungeon that everyone is calling a man-made labyrinth but is actually called Knossos.

Now I knew about Knossos! This time I will not come up empty-handed. Knossos is an ancient city in Crete (or rather was) that has been argued to be the first city in what we understand to be Europe. In Greek mythology, it was the seat of King Minos (the dude with the kid Minautor. Ancient Greeks were kinky). So king Minos wanted some type of way to keep his minotaur kid from, like eating his subjects and decided a huge maze was the way to go. Cause kids need exercise and stuff. And he had his architect Daedalus make sure it gets done. But then Minos threw him also in the labyrinth along with his kid, Icarus. Minos is not looking great in this story. I wonder if he’ll make an appearance in DanMachi?

Sorry did I bore you all? Fine, I’ll stop

I wasn’t bored! That was a really succinct summary of the myth! You’re ahead of me on Knossos. I had to look it up. Inhabited since around 7000 BCE — very cool stuff!

I personally have never found drama to be one of IIWTTTPUGIAD’s strengths. As such, I can’t really call this my favourite episode. However, it erred more on the side of action and was hardly maudlin. How can I explain it? I’m looking forward to next week’s episode, more than I liked this one I think. How about you Crow?

I was almost nine minutes into the episode before I realized I hadn’t taken any notes. This episode felt like a very bare-bones plot connector. Instead of dramatizing or putting a spin on how it played out, they just laid out the developments. Like we talked about, the scene with Hestia Familia was my favorite, and it was just a few minutes of them talking and thinking.

Yep, I’m looking forward to the next episode. It’s only episode 6, so I doubt Bell will stomp Dix yet. But if Bell at least lands a few good hits, that’ll be progress.