Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well if you saw the title of today’s anime then you know we’re talking about DanMachi. Over the last few years DanMachi has become a fan favorite. Despite leaving some information from the novels out of the anime, the series has gained a following. So much so that everyone always looks gets excited whenever a new season gets announced and sure enough one has been announced for this summer. So let’s take a look at the third to remind ourselves what we missed This is DanMachi S3.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “over and over” by Yuka Iguchi. Just from the opening alone you can tell this season was going to be much different than the previous seasons. The tone of the song is sober and sadder than the previous openings which usually inspired a sense of excitement and adventure. This opening tells us that things are getting serious and things will never be the same when it is all said and done. Overall, this may just be my favorite opening from the series so far.
For the ending we have “Evergreen” by sajou no hana. This is quite the emotional song and I do like how the ending shows everyone in the anime up until this point. This is my second favorite ending from the series. With it’s emotional tone and fantastic singing it’s not to get punched right in the feels.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts with Bell coming across a monster girl called a vouivre who can talk. A bunch of adventurers were chasing after her, but Bell hides her and takes her out of the dungeon. Naturally, everyone is shocked by this (they were raised to hate monsters and now one that talks is in front of them) but Bell manages to win them over and they accept her into their familia. They name her Wiene and try to find a lead on who she is and where she came from but come up empty-handed (scene here: https://youtu.be/L_0ZViRUyOU). We get a bunch of cute moments with Wiene and Bell (she’s like the Grogu to his Mandalorian) where everyone slowly starts to warm up to her. However, there’s still that doubt in the back of their minds to fully accept her because she’s a monster (scene here: https://youtu.be/uZk95fYXCns). Near the end of the episode we see that the Hermes familia has actually been investigating Wiene as well (we’re about to be caught up in something big).
In episode 2 Bell and the others still have no lead on Wiene, so Bell, Welf, and Lili along with Ryu and Aisha journey down the floors to search for clues (scene here: https://youtu.be/Uen1lMWS_xM). Not wanting to get Ryu and Aisha involved in their troubles, they keep Wiene a secret and Bell goes off to search for clues with Welf. Bell and Welf come across another talking monster named Rei who wants to know if humans and monsters can coexist with each other. After the dungeon, Bell gets approached by the god Ikelos (well that’s an obscure god of Greek mythology. He’s the personification of nightmares as well as the son of Nyx). The Ikelos familia has a history of being involved with smuggling and sure enough, Ikelos knows about Wiene. Later on, Lili thinks they should cut ties with Wiene as having her is just too dangerous (funny, we said the same thing about you when Bell hung out with you). Wiene overhears them talking and runs away into the city. After saving a child, she exposes herself to the townsfolk who attack her, but she gets saved by Ryu who takes her back to the ruins of the chapel where Bell and Hestia used to live.
Episode 3 opens up with the guild being overrun with complaints about Wiene (where the anime leaves out a significant detail from the light novel. In the novel we actually saw a few gods in the building spreading false rumors in order to spur the crowd on. Why? To be entertained. To a god, nothing is worse than being bored. That’s the reason why they came down to the surface in the first place, to entertain themselves). Eina gets called by the guild’s master, Royman, a despicable elf who looks down on Eina a lot and believes she’s using her looks to get into the laps of adventurers (he’s the kind of guy who could use a good kick in the ass). In the light novel, we find out that he’s interested in Bell and wants to know how he’s leveling up so quickly. He placed Eina on the case where not even she knows and even withheld information on Bell’s growth in order to protect him. Getting back to the anime, Royman hands Eina a letter to give to Bell for a mission at the request of the guild. Unlike quests, missions can’t be turned down which means Bell has to do this (or else). In the letter we see that the guild knows about Wiene and how she’s in Bell’s custody (they have eyes and ears everywhere). Bell must now bring her to the 20th floor of the dungeon where who knows what’ll happen. In a rather heartbreaking scene, Bell gives Eina the cold shoulder and takes his leave because he doesn’t want to get her involved in his problems (she’s been good to him, he doesn’t want to see her get hurt. In the novel, she knows Bell is hiding something from her and was sad to see Bell not trust her enough to tell her what’s going on). Bell tells the others of the mission and they all agree to go in the dungeon with him. After Hestia gets done seeing them off, she goes to meet a mysterious hooded figure named Fels who left a message for her in the letter. The hooded figure takes her to the god Ouranos the overseer of the guild (also known as Uranus, he’s the personification of the sky/Heaven in Greek mythology. He’s also the son/husband of Gaea. Yeah, good luck wrapping your head around that). He’s the one who gave Bell the mission to bring Wiene to the 20th floor. Going back to Bell and the others they managed to reach the 20th floor and the area they were to go with Wiene. They discovered an unexplored area where they get attacked by monsters and Bell straight up punches a lizardman to protect Wiene and Haruhime (the Crocodile Hunter is smiling from Heaven). The lizardman reveals that he can talk and says his name is Lyd. He along with the other monsters there can talk and were just testing Bell and the others to see if they were good people (you could have just asked). We see Rei is also part of this group of monsters that call themselves Xenos and they invite Bell and the others to their village. Bell and the others receive a warm welcome and even Wiene gets accepted into their ranks. Back with Hestia, Ouranos tells her about Xenos who are monsters with human intelligence that the guild has been protecting and watching over. Ouranos desires to create a bridge between humans and monsters where both sides can co-exist with each other (no problem. Let us explore the dungeon safely and we’ll be all good. Scene here: https://youtu.be/zBg6RBkE2EU).
Episode 4 opens up on a party the monsters host for Bell and the others (scene here: https://youtu.be/ZtpV2EkEvzk, let’s do the Monster Mash). While they party, they get a visit from Fels who reveals that he’s a walking skeleton (do you think he knows Brook from One Piece?). In the past Fels was a sage and in his pursuit of acknowledge he became obsessed with eternal life. He soon formulated a spell that give him eternal life and this is the result of said spell. Since then he (or she) has been serving Ouranos and acting as a liaison between him and Xenos. They talk for a bit where we learn that Xenos’s wish is to go to the surface and see the world (where it’s hinted that in the past they might have been human once. Or rather their desires from previously dying might have manifested in them. It’s hard to explain. Scene here: https://youtu.be/QEpE4r2TTHQ). Just like Bell and the others they too get attacked by monsters who don’t have intelligence like them and they eat their stones to grow stronger (that’s a page from Soul Eater) and tell Bell not to hesitate to kill them. After the party, Xenos takes their leave and Bell hands Wiene to them promising to meet her again someday (scene here: https://youtu.be/LXbcAznhu3I. Somewhere, someplace. Where a warm hand waits for mine). As Wiene and the others are moving to a new location, they fall into a trap set by Ikelos Familia being led by Dix a level 4 adventurer.
Episodes 5-8
Not much to say in episode 5. We start with the members of Xenos getting defeated by the Ikelos Familia (hell, some of them actually try to rape a spiderwoman. I see bestiality still exists in this world). Wiene is the only survivor and gets captured by them (scene here: https://youtu.be/EPdxffZDY5Y). Upon hearing this news, Garos, a member of Xenos who has never trusted humans in the first place splits from the group creating a splinter faction and going on the attack. Garos and his faction attack the 18th floor claiming it as their own and not going any further (we claim this floor, in the name of monsters). Ouranos quickly closes the dungeon off to everyone and creates a suppression force to reclaim the 18th floor which includes members of the Ganesha Familia and Bell.
In episode 6 Bell and the Ganesha Familia fight against Xenos. Bell comes across Lyd where he finds out Wiene and other monsters have been captured and offers to help but Lyd says no. He knows that if Bell sides with the monsters he’ll be considered an outcast by the rest of the adventurers and he’ll have no place in Orario ever again (and that’ll make a lot of women unhappy). Lyd runs off but Bell refuses to leave things as they are. He receives a bag with some mechanical eyeball inside from Ryu who’s assisting the Hermes Familia in this battle and runs off. He reaches the edge of the level where he finds Fels. The mechanical eye in Bell’s bag begins to glow and unlocks a secret passageway into Knossos the man-made dungeon (more on that soon). Bell and Fels enter the dungeon as do Xenos in an area just like Dix planned. The Ikelos Familia surround Xenos just as Bell and Fels arrive (and then we take a trip down exposition avenue). It turns out Dix is a descendent of the human, Daedalus. Daedalus was the man who designed and build Orario around Babylon. He was considered a genius by the gods and received great praise from them. However, things started going bad when he became obsessed with the dungeon (can you blame him, it defies all human logic). Daedalus went crazy and soon disappeared on everyone. He soon created Knossos as a way to explore and surpass the dungeon but old age caught up to him and he passed away. Before his death he passed on his legacy to his descendants wanting them to continue his work (the last wish of a crazy man. Who are we to deny?). Dix is a descendant of Daedalus and has been continuing the work of his ancestors to reach the bottom of the dungeon, but even after a thousand years all they’ve done is reach the middle floors (you guys are slower than a game developer creating a patch for their game). Dix needed funds to continue his work, so he partnered up with this evil organization called Evilus. In exchange for funds, Dix would capture Xenos members and sell them to Evilus (and God only knows what they want to do with the monsters). Xenos hears enough and goes on the attack, but Dix hits them with a curse which sends them all into a blind rage and they attack each other. In order to return them to normal, Bell must defeat Dix who is a level 5 adventurer.
Lots of fighting in episode 7. Bell takes on Dix where at first Dix dominates, but Bell fights back where his words of wanting to protect the monsters reaches Lyd and he helps Bell fight against Dix. Together the two defeat Dix, but he hasn’t given up just yet. During his fight against Bell, Dix removed Wiene’s stone from her head which has turned her into an uncontrollable monster (scene here: https://youtu.be/DcpFS47BoTQ). She manages to make it to the surface where the Loki familia somehow arrived onto the scene knowing she would be there and attack her. Bell now finds himself at a crossroads. He can either destroy Wiene to protect the city or he can protect Wiene making him be seen as an outcast in front of the city and Aiz. Bell does the right thing and protects Wiene in front of the whole city (scene here: https://youtu.be/HRhNBz0b2yI, and just like this he has committed public suicide while also earning my respect).
At the start of episode 8 we see Dix meet his end at the hands of a black minotaur named Asterius, said to be the strongest member of Xenos (and it’s hinted that this is the minotaur that Bell defeated in the first season. Reincarnated and I’m sure looking for a rematch). Back with Bell, he catches a break by claiming Wiene as his hunt where the Loki Familia buys it. Wiene runs away into the city with Bell chasing after her while the Loki Familia takes on the members of Xenos. The Loki Familia tries to catch them alive, so none of them die (geez, a lot of lucky breaks this episode. Scene here: https://youtu.be/QDuu5t4F4Ns). However, this all changes when Asterius arrives. He manages to hold his own against three of the Loki Familia’s top adventurers, and even holds his own against Aiz (man, new respect for minotaurs). This forces the top brass of the Loki Familia to step in where thanks to a smokescreen from the Hermes Familia, Asterius and the rest of Xenos escape (scene here: https://youtu.be/a_36uioJ8Z8). The rest of the episode focuses on Bell and Wiene where the Ikelos Familia lead her into a magic trap and set it off. Bell and Wiene fall down into a pit where Wiene unfortunately dies, but Fels revives her (scene here: https://youtu.be/Urh_F3dmHHo, phoenix down can suck it).
Episodes 9-12
Episode 9 starts with Ieklos exiled from Orario (knowing him, I’m sure he saw it coming). This extinguishes a lot of the uproar from the monsters appearing in the city but we still have one major problem to deal with. Xenos was unable to return to the Dungeon and are now being hunted down by adventurers with the Loki Familia leading the hunt. Many adventurers are also pointing the blame at Bell for this (oh please, they’ve wanted to hate him since day one. This incident just gave them an excuse to make it public) and he loses his street cred. We see Bell get some comforting words from Syr (haven’t seen her in a while) and even see some of the gods torn on what to do about Xenos as some believe they shouldn’t be allowed to exist either. Bell and the others receive a message from Fels asking for their help in an operation to get Xenos back in the Dungeon and they put it to a vote on what they’re going to do and they all decide to help Xenos with all of them planning to do this from the beginning no matter what (they are going to lose a lot of street cred for this, but who cares). After preparing for a few days, the time has come at last for the operation to begin. The main goal is to get Xenos to Knossos where they’ll escape into the Dungeon and that’ll be the end of it. The problem is the Loki Familia who have blocked all entrances to Knossos, so the plan is to use Bell as a distraction while they get to the Dungeon.
The operation begins in episode 10. We start with Eina with her emotions running wild. You see in the after credits of episode 8, Eina confronted Bell about the monster attack where he says that everything that happened was his fault. Eina, knowing Bell, knows he’s lying to her face and smacks him wanting to know what’s going on, but he doesn’t say a word. Since then, Bell hasn’t seen her and Eina feels bad about what she did and wants to talk to him (it’s a big sister little brother quarrel). No longer able to stand it, she ditches work and goes out to confront Bell only to run into Hermes who tells her where to find Bell (scene here: https://youtu.be/uTPJwdln7_o, she’s got a point at 1:38). Speaking of Bell, we see him wandering the city getting everyone’s attention while everyone else gets into position. We see Aiz watch him giving us easily the funniest moment in the season (and possibly the series) as she sees multiple girls approach Bell and act friendly with him (scene here: https://youtu.be/OHdeWLojoOA. Showing off your harem in front of the girl you like. Interesting strategy). The operation finally begins where Lili pulls a fast one over the Loki Familia and Bell manages to lose Aiz and other adventurers thanks to the help of Ryu and others. Just when everything seems to be going well, they have a slip up when Wiene gets separated from the group and comes across members of the Loki Familia to end the episode.
At the start of episode 11, Wiene manages to escape the Loki Familia and saves a child from a crumbling bridge shortly after (Bell is rubbing off on her). Wiene soon gets cornered by Tiona who saw what happened and can’t bring herself to kill Wiene, so she lets her escape. Bell and Haruhime find Wiene but they run into Bete and Haruhime sacrifices herself to allow Bell and Wiene to escape (shame, I really wanted to see him and Bell go at it). Aisha shows up to fight Bete (in a fight that takes place completely off camera) and Bell runs into the last person he wanted to run into, Aiz. Bell and Aiz fight against one another (well this bridge has been burnt). Bell tries to reason with Aiz, but she won’t listen so Bell uses his firebolt to escape with Wiene. Bell and Wiene soon find themselves in the same place where Bell fought that giant gorilla monster from season 1 (the same place he earned his first man points). As with Hestia, he sends Wiene down the secret passageway for her own safety while Bell stays behind to fight Aiz. As Bell and Aiz fight (where he actually manages to score a hit surprising Aiz. She knew Bell had grown stronger but for him to be able to land a hit on her just shows how strong he got in such a small amount of time), Wiene continues to walk down the passageway where she can’t accept this and returns to save Bell (why, he seemed to be holding his own. I mean, if the battle continued longer Aiz would kill him, but I don’t think she has the guts to do it). Aiz and Wiene face each other where Aiz begs Wiene to stop talking as she herself doesn’t want to see Wiene as nothing more than a monster (she doesn’t want to question her resolve). In an amazing scene that had me flinching in my seat we see Wiene, this frail little girl rip off her claws and wings in front of Aiz to show her resolve to save Bell and not be seen as monster. Even going as far as saying that if she ever goes on another rampage she’ll gladly disappear and accept death. Blown away by Wiene’s resolve, Aiz can no longer see her as a monster and lets them go (scene here: https://youtu.be/HxP-UdJi-P0). Bell and Wiene reunite with Lili, Haruhime, and a few other stragglers from Xenos who got lost as well where they head down a secret passageway to reach the door back into the dungeon. While that’s going on, Lyd, Fels, and the rest of Xenos get approached by Hermes who has a favor to ask.
In the final episode we start with finding out that Asterius is in fact the minotaur Bell defeated in the first season (giving us easily the most epic battle in this anime). Ever since he’s been reincarnated he keeps having this dream about his fight with Bell except he doesn’t know it’s Bell and now he seeks to face Bell one more time. Back with Hermes and Xenos, he asks some of them to die at the hands of Bell in order to redeem himself in the eyes of the people and repay his kindness. A few monsters agree to do it and attack some of the people waiting for Bell to come and fight them (pre-destiny. Bell will defeat the monsters and thus become the hero that the gods have been searching for). Just when Bell arrives and it seems like he’s falling directly into Hermes’s plan, he pulls a swerve and instead doesn’t fight (cut! Cut! Cut!) which forces the monsters to back off as well (go back to the Dungeon). Just when Asfi is about to make the monsters go berserk with some needles, Asterius arrives and tackles Bell through some buildings (damn, it sounded like someone getting sniped in Call of Duty. Scene here: https://youtu.be/wY5f3cYigm0). This soon leads to the rematch we’ve all been waiting for, Bell vs Asterius (and this time. . .there’s a bigger area). While Bell and Asterius fight, Hestia and the others get the other monsters to safety. The fight between Bell and Asterius is good, but a little underwhelming when compared to their first bout (I will give credit and say that the animation is really top notch here). In the end, Bell loses but he put up a valiant effort in front of everyone to earn their support and nobody actually saw Asterius beat Bell so he saves face (scene here: https://youtu.be/5Gmho6RVHJ0). Asterius disappears back into the Dungeon saying that next time he and Bell will settle their score next time (one and one now. Next time it’s the tiebreaker). In the end Xenos returned to the Dungeon safely, the Loki Familia receives credit for eradicating the monsters, and Bell’s reputation has been repaired bringing everything back to normal (or as close to normal as you get around here). As for Bell, he meets up with Aiz and asks her to train him again which she agrees to do (she likes him).
Final Thoughts
This season was certainly different from the other seasons. This season takes on a more serious tone which at first I wasn’t sure if this was going to play out well, but as the season progressed my doubts were quickly pushed aside. The story of Bell’s journey to become a hero has progressed him down a path where he’s becoming his own kind of hero instead of the hero he read about in books which I like. He was prepared to turn the whole city against him just to protect Xenos without hesitation. He could have easily gone with the crowd and turned on Xenos right then and there, but he chooses to follow what he believes is right even if it means putting himself in danger and possibly making the person he admires the most turn on him. The stuff with Xenos was intriguing and interesting. I like how the monsters have their own personality, intelligence, as well as memories of their past lives. I also like how they don’t condemn Bell and the others for fighting other monsters as they understand the meaning of one’s survival. The stuff with Wiene was good and cute. I liked how she developed a bond with Bell and Haruhime and what she was willing to sacrifice in order to save Bell and stay by his side. I also like how we get to explore more of the secrets of Orario, the Dungeon, and the history of some of its people. It really does flesh out the city more and make this place feel more alive.
Sadly, just like the previous season, where this series falls short at is leaving out a lot of information from the light novels. The fights this time around are better than the previous season but still feels underwhelming when compared to the fights from the first season. The animation and music are still good. I especially liked the animation in the final fight between Bell and Asterius. Speaking of that, was it right for Bell to lose? In my opinion, yes. We saw how Asterius held his own against the Loki Familia which puts him on their level and Bell isn’t there just yet. Even though he managed to get a hit in on Aiz he still has a long way to go before he can say he’s on their level. While this season may not have many jokes and comedic moments as the previous seasons, the more serious tone and story just keeps your interest and makes you want to know what happens next.
Final Score
The final score for DanMachi S3 is a 6.5/10. A good improvement over the last season. Again, I really do wish they wouldn’t leave so much out from the light novel. I’m sure the most likely excuse is not having enough time to fit everything in, but they should at least try harder on this part in order to take this anime to the next level. Definitely check out the light novel when get a chance to see what the anime left out. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.