Anime: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? by Fujino Omori (Season 1)

This was the anime that opened new doors, relatively speaking. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? by Omori Fujino was not how I thought it was going to be at all. I really really like it, which honestly surprised me. When this had first come out, it became popular instantly and due to that, it turned me off. It's been five years since the first season released and I watched it for the first time! 

It opened the doors for other world/role playing game related anime and manga and for light novels! Sure there have been light novels published in the past but light novels weren't as popular here in the West until this series had come out. And now you see them nearly everywhere! I know I've seen light novels littered throughout the shelves at my local Barnes & Nobles. 

Also the fact that similar RPG manga and anime have become popular since then as well, along with manga and anime with ridiculously long titles: My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy; Problem Children are Coming from Another World, Aren't They?; No Matter How I Look at It, It is You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular! etcetera. So many of these kind of titles are out there now that it has become very ridiculous! But alas, they are out there, and I will eventually review them, watching and reading for myself, to give my insight on these matters. And don't get me started on all the reincarnation and reborn titles! Sorry, sorry, went off on a bit of a tangent there.

We're gonna keep on rolling! This anime is centered around Bell Cranel, a young boy who wants to be an adventurer, and eventually a hero. In this world he lives in, gods and goddesses have come down from Heaven to live amongst everybody in the lower world. They give a blessing, Falna, to certain people that gives them the power to defeat monsters in the dungeons. Usually you ask the god or goddess to join their Familia, family, really it's basically a guild, and they give you Falna. 

Our main guy, Bell, he wanted to become an adventurer but every Familia kept rejecting him, until he met Hestia, obviously based off the Greek goddess of the hearth. He becomes the first to join her Familia and adventure ensues!

(SPOILER WARNING! START)

The show starts off with Bell being chased by a Minotaur on Floor 5, soon to be saved by Ais Wallenstein, a really famously strong adventurer. Bell falls in love with her at first sight, and leaves the dungeon, covered head to toe in Minotaur's blood mind you, to go talk to Eina Tulle, his advisor at the Guild. The Guild is an organization that manages the Familias withing the town of Orario, which is where our story takes place. 

So Bell runs through the town, screaming his lungs out, towards Eina, who helps him clean up and tells him about Ais Wallenstein and the fact that she is called the Sword Princess of the Loki Familia. Bell is in love with her, and despite how I originally thought he was going to be, Bell's personality is surprisingly timid and naive. He doesn't confess to her, he wants to become stronger than her so that he can protect her next time because he was taught by his grandfather that men protect women, how to pick up girls, and all that stuff. 

Bell works towards that goal, overcoming obstacles and meeting new characters along the way. He starts off going into the dungeon solo but then acquires a supporter and soon after acquires another person for his party, a blacksmith. There's also interference from another goddess, Freya, throwing obstacles his way to push him to get stronger, without his knowledge of her being the catalyst. He grows as a character, not staying stagnant, and by the end of the season be levels up to level two in only one month, beating the Sword Princess's record of six months. 

As Bell grows, he gets acquainted with Ais personally, even to the point where she offers to train him in fighting. He learns new techniques and strategies, also learning the fact that Ais is just a natural at fighting so the only way that she was able to teach was to fight him, she couldn't explain things very well, despite being the one to offer her services. 

Bell does acquire his own harem in this, despite being ignorant to the girls' advance, only having his sights on Ais. Hestia, his goddess, the Familia he's apart of, is in love with Bell, along with various other characters as well, ranging from a slight crush to full on in love. As of right now, the end of season one, the girls who are interested in Bell are Hestia, his goddess; Liliruca, his supporter; Syr, a tavern wench; Eina, his advisor, and possibly various others if you squint.  

(SPOILER WARNING! END)

This exceeded my expectations. I thought this was going to be one of those harem anime that was overly ecchi, like Girls' Bravo, except it wasn't. I thought the main character was gonna just be a sleazy, perverted boy, who just hit on all the girls he would encounter throughout the dungeon, trying to get a girlfriend. Thankfully it didn't turn out to be the case, and to those of you who are thinking, "that kind of anime would never be green lit," I'm sorry to say but back in the day, it would've. 

This series surprised me in more ways than one. First of all, it exceeded my expectations, due to the fact I didn't have any to begin with. I went into this without knowing a single thing about the anime except it was RPG based. Second, I didn't now they were going to include gods and goddesses, and it wasn't limited to just one pantheon! You get to see Greek, Japanese, and Norse in just this one season alone! I'm so excited to see what other pantheons they included in season two!

The harem aspect of the anime wasn't really heavy, meaning they didn't lay it on thick. The only ones who are all over Bell are Hestia and Lili, but those relationships have progressively been established and structured as the series continued, Hestia and Bell have been established even before the series started. The other girls who have crushes on him are still budding relationships and maybe they'll have more screen time with in the second season.

I do recommend this first season to people who like RPGs and maybe are interested in gods and goddesses. That part won me over and the way the RPG aspect was set up is really interesting. This series was surprisingly good and you will definitely be seeing me watch season two and the spin-offs that are available. 

Have you watched this yet? How about the light novel? I'm really interested in reading the light novel and I hope that it's as enjoyable as the anime is. Please comment down below and tell me your thoughts! See you all next week!

COVID-19 is still taking over our lives. It is still April as I am typing this. In my state, you can't enter anywhere without a mask on! State mandate and all that. These times are still going strong, but I would like to think the human race is stronger? To be completely honest, I don't even know what I'm talking about. I just want to be able to go out to the library or Barnes & Nobles to read and relax, to get out of my house because things are starting to get really stressful. Classes online are very difficult, especially when the class isn't meant to be taught online. I'm kind of scared of failing my one class, but I need it to be able to graduate school. This blog is the one thing keeping me grounded and I really appreciate you all reading this. Thank you for reading what I'm putting out, it makes me happy to know that there is an audience here. Thank you for reading this far! Hope you all are still safe!