Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Today we’re talking about DanMachi. Much like Date A Live, DanMachi is a series that keeps popping up here and honestly gets better with each season. What started as a typical adventure harem fantasy became a series that gained a following. It was getting serious and got you invested in the growth of the characters and their journeys into the dungeon. Bell wasn’t your typical protagonist with an OP ability. He didn’t win all his powers, he would struggle, learn, and grow to get stronger in order to achieve his dreams. Yes, he’s not all that deep but just because a character isn’t deep doesn’t mean they’re boring or poorly written. As long as they have a good personality and someone you enjoy seeing and growing then there’s no problem with that character. In 2022, the fourth season came out, and unlike the previous seasons which were only 12 episodes, this was going to be a two-course anime with 24 episodes, making this the biggest season to date. Let’s explore the dungeon with our harem, this is DanMachi S4.
Opening and Ending Theme
The first opening is “Tentou” by sajou no hana. Did care much for this song. Which is a shame because the beginning of the song was really good. I enjoyed it, it sets the tone for the adventure Bell and the others are about to go on.
The ending is “Guide” by Saori Hayami. This is a song I usually skipped over, but for the times I listened to it, I really did like it. Saori always sounds good and the melody is beautiful.
Episodes 1-4
The season starts with us finding out that Bell has become a level 4 adventurer. His battle against the minotaur from last season and the frustration he felt after losing allowed him to level up. He then goes to see Eina where he receives an official request from the guild which is to break their previous floor record, find a number of items, and report back with their findings. For this expedition, Bell’s familia seek help from the members of Takemikazuchi and Micah’s familia that include Daphne and Cassandra (former members of the Apollo family) who are happy to help. Even Aisha forces her way into the expedition team. Lili takes on the role of becoming the team’s strategist (surprised they didn’t do this sooner. She’s got the talent for it) and Haruhime starts to learn new magic. Bell gathers intel on the already discovered floors to brush up on knowledge where Eina notices how much he’s grown and goes from just admiring Bell to having feelings for him (scene here: https://youtu.be/vsCh0BgSNF4?si=a1sZ5kQLeooyGD4v, she no longer sees him as a little brother and now sees him as a man). On the day of the expedition, everyone sets out with new weapons and armor (and yet somehow Aisha is wearing less clothes than normal. Scene here: https://youtu.be/A1TQDWpw2S8?si=uvfcP-uoYwoSl4K6).
So the first half of episode 2 sees the group set up camp all while the ladies praise Bell for how reliable and strong he has become (which is true he has improved greatly). The second half of the episode is where we get the action as the group journey downs into the mid-floors and the first level they come to is Water City (oh no, not a water level. Those levels suck! Why do you think we don’t see them in videogames anymore?). There are some good moments here courtesy of Mikoto. She saves Haruhime from a fish monster (scene here: https://youtu.be/z5TgwSwHR4w?si=TCylgZHBt-li_lo4) and then when she’s about to get attacked by another fish monster later on, she counters it with a somersault kick which allows Bell to come in a deliver a killing blow (scene here: https://youtu.be/yfasE6sMn9Q?si=NBRJR1gILLHVZHCZ, not gonna lie, that was badass). As they journey a little deeper they come across an injured adventurer who gets attacked by this living moss creature. We get a short but well-animated fight scene between Bell and the monster who is able to read all of Bell’s moves, but despite this not once does Bell panic or charge recklessly at the creature (once again showing how much he’s grown since his fight with the minotaur). The moss creature shoots pallets from his body with one of them hitting Chigusa and green vines start growing from her arm (scene here: https://youtu.be/mB9ggKgHzmw?si=WyDJgB6TtEfTOgfi, oh man, that’s some Poison Ivy shit right there).
Episode 3 picks up where episode 2 left off with Chigusa and the adventurer’s life in danger. The group now has two options. One, return to the surface and look for a stronger healer. Or two, find the moss monster known as Moss Huge and kill it. They choose the latter as the injured adventurer says that the Moss Huge will target them because it wants their magic stones. It’s been going around targeting adventurers and eating their stones (to it, you guys are a walking buffet). They head out to find the Moss Huge who laid a trap for them with other adventurers (damn this thing is like a rookie Predator). While the attackers in the party try to rescue the other adventurers, the supports/healers get attacked by the Moss Huge. Luckily, Bell turns around in time to protect them and the fight begins where the Moss Huge uses its vines to drag Bell into the water and he gets carried away by the current (scene here: https://youtu.be/KFIH-IBTXDg?si=DkjXtCJCCarQNFZt, you cheeky S.O.B). Bell survives but he’s separated from the others who do a temporary retreat. As for Bell, he fights off some other monsters and meets a mermaid (the One Piece kind and not the folklore ones. Scene here: https://youtu.be/1a7-DHFgu-Q?si=Qj2zhXAnHz8HR_Jt).
Episode 4 is a good episode. We find out that the mermaid is Marie who is familiar with Xenos but can’t travel with them due to her limitations as a mermaid. She heals Bell and he convinces her to help him reunite with his friends so that he can defeat the Moss Huge. Using her voice to mesmerize a monster, she’s able to find Bell’s friends who are in trouble. It turns out the Moss Huge did a pass parade to the party and now they’re being hunted down by crabs (he wants them to exhaust all their powers and then pick them off. Yeah, this monster is way too smart to be left alive. We gotta take it down). Bell and Marie have their own problems as they’re being chased by a monster known as an aqua serpent (which wasn’t in the novel, but it’s not a bad add-in). In order to save Marie, Bell pulls her out of the water and carries her up the waterfall for safety (scene here: https://youtu.be/ksJC91r8Bog?si=kAeIOLtgZv49bLnd).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 goes by fairly quickly. It starts with Haruhime unleashing her new level-up magic which grants a power-up to five people instead of one (that’s pretty helpful. Scene here: https://youtu.be/W5gJ8Bg1amo?si=570EnUTOCumFsBzE). With this level up they manage to turn the tide for the moment, but then the Moss Huge shows up where it’s been collecting monster crystals (cheeky bastard). He eats the crystals to get even stronger and then attacks Aisha where he bites her so now she’s infected. They try and use a fire sword on it, but it came prepared and is wearing a Udine cloth which gives him fire resistance (you hate this thing but you’ve got to respect its intelligence). More monsters show up and just when all hope seems lost Bell arrives and cleans house (heroes always arrive late). He turns his attention to the Moss Huge where it’s clear as day he’s stronger now and has this air of confidence around him (he knows he can win and is going to win). After combining his firebolt spell with his knife, he manages to defeat the Moss Huge and this in turn cures everyone who was infected (scene here: https://youtu.be/r_8HkNUbxW0?si=qaBd21yYZMSsApn2).
We start episode 6 with Bell and the others on level 18 which is a safe zone (are you sure about that? One monster proved it was smart enough to hide and attack) and Lili wants to talk with Bell alone. Back on the surface, the gods are meeting to give new nicknames to their children. Welf receives the nickname Ignis and they give Bell a new nickname as well (after multiple silly ones), Rabbit’s Foot. Back in the dungeon, Lili tries to get her alone time with Bell but everyone keeps interfering until nightfall where she drags him away. The next morning, there’s been a murder in the safe zone and the killer is Ryu which Bell can’t believe (dude, she killed an entire guild to avenge her friends. That girl is very proficient when it comes to murder).
The manhunt for Ryu begins in episode 7 as adventurers journey to the lower floors to catch her. Bell and the others join in the hunt as they believe Ryu was set up. We see Cassandra is a little wary about helping because of a vision she saw where they all got killed at the hands of Ryu. Cassandra doesn’t tell anyone about the vision (why, even if they don’t believe it’s best to let them know), so she does her best to look out for signs to prevent the disaster she saw in her vision.
In episode 8 Bell and other adventurers journey down to the 27th floor. Bell’s party stays on the lower level floor for their own safety (it’s always a good and bad thing when characters are fully aware of how weak they are). Surprisingly Bell is able to hold his own on the floor. After this, not much happens. Bell does run into Ryu who just got done killing another adventurer who we find out is working for Evilus a radical group of familias led by evil gods and the ones responsible for destroying Ryu’s familia. Ryu tells Bell not to get involved and flees with Bell following after her. He does run into Marie again but their reunion is short-lived.
Episodes 9-11
At the start of episode 9 Bell stands between Ryu and an adventurer named Jura. We find out that Ryu wasn’t the one who killed the adventurer on the upper levels. It was all a set up to get Ryu killed. With the jig up, Jura reveals his true colors as a monster tamer and seeks a giant snake on Bell and Ryu. The others run into members of Evilus who just happen to be monster tamers and get attacked by a giant snake as well. Both sides manage to defeat their snake (scenes here: https://youtu.be/aVhqPbt9Mkk?si=RrlKomthNygNTdrr and https://youtu.be/1hH9l-z58nI?si=Z0vIf95iYoxAXk10. I actually like the others’ battle better. Cut off its head like butter). When Bell and Ryu corner Jura he reveals that he was a distraction while the rest enacted their plan. They set off a bunch of explosions causing a lot of damage on the floor which is something you do not want to do. You see the dungeon is like a sentient creature. Each floor is a part of its body and when you damage the body its defensive system kicks in and tries to eliminate the threat. In this case, the dungeon believes the adventurers are a threat and thus will eliminate them in any way possible. Their solution, summoning a dangerous monster to deal with them called The Juggernaut (you know how everyone exploited the cows in the Witcher game, so the developers created a demon cow god to stop them? Get ready to see the dungeon’s demon cow).
In the last two episodes of the first half, The Juggernaut begins wreaking havoc by killing every adventurer on the floor (scene here: https://youtu.be/ZkT6AoX_Usw?si=EX1oIKk4YQyNS3pb). Bell tries to fight it himself but has no luck. Not only does the beast reflect magic, but it manages to slice off Bell’s arm and leaves him on the door of death (oh shit they are fucked. Side note, this thing has a great design and I love its abilities. This is like what developers would send to players in MMORPGs who violate the rules of their game). Luckily, Marie is able to revive Bell and even reattaches his arm (okay, Marie is the best healer). Bell returns to fight against The Juggernaut where in a pretty bold move he uses his firebolt attack which gets reflected off the beast and Bell absorbs it into his knife. He then uses that powered knife to attack and severely damage The Juggernaut, but it’s not enough to take it down. Jura takes advantage of its weakened state and tries to control it only to cut chopped in half for his efforts (thank you. We can finally stop hearing him talk. Guy was annoying). Sadly, his monster is still around and manages to eat Ryu and Bell before falling down a pit. Oh but if you can believe it things get worse (much worse). Just when you think things couldn’t get worse the floor boss of the 27th floor arrives on the 25th floor and attacks the rest of Bell’s party. Returning to Bell and Ryu, they managed to survive the fall and escape the monster, but are now stuck deep within the lower levels which are way out of their league. Bell is injured and Ryu is unconscious (scene here: https://youtu.be/-9w9F5YB_Yc?si=5LY3GfrIr5toM0e1, you are seriously fucked).
And that was part 1 of DanMachi S4. Tune in next week when we review the second half. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.