What They Say:
Hestia Knife | The Blade of a God
Based off of a light novel of the same name written by Fujino Omori and illustrated by Suzuhito Yasuda, Is It Wrong to Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? is set in the world of Orario, where adventurers band together and look for treasures in an underground labyrinth known as Dungeon. However, for Bell Cranel, fame and riches are secondary to what he wants to find the most: girls. He soon finds out though, that anything can happen in Dungeon, and winds up being the damsel in distress instead!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Hestia mania has taken over another week, with more women trying to make the magic of her ribbon/string work and more news sources taking notice of the craze for especially hilarious results. In the meantime, the canon Hestia has found herself separated from Bell after he decided that she would only be in danger if she was around. Bell should really have more faith in his goddess, because in fact she holds the key to his victory, which he’d realize if he wasn’t in such a rush to get her out of the situation.
It’s not as if Bell’s actions are completely unfounded, though, as the episode opens with flashbacks to Bell’s past illustrating what he’s been through, what he’s lost, and why he would prioritize removing his one current loved one from potential danger above all else. Bell isn’t the greatest character and he generally exists as the latest product from a familiar mold, but he’s not a bad character or a bad person either, and along with being generally likable he gets a little more development in moments like this.
Naturally things only really start going right once Hestia finds her way back to the battlefield despite Bell’s misguided efforts, and the incredible new weapon she bestows upon him (aptly named the Hestia Knife) lives up to every bit of its hype. At this point the animation advances to a level not yet seen in this series outside of enhancing the quality of fanservice, and it’s a beautiful battle all around. As a minor tradeoff we get a few crowd shots of barely-textured CG models, but that’s a very insignificant gripe compared to what we get on the positive side.
It seems for a moment that Hestia could be out of commission, but this series seems to know who’s paying its bills well enough that it doesn’t last for long. Although we do see that situations like this can drain Hestia to such an extent that Bell will likely still want to avoid having her too involved even if she’s nothing but helpful, she’s back pretty soon thereafter, as peppy as ever, and making sure Bell knows she loves him just as another cute girl did moments before. That’s just how it goes for healthy young Yoshitsugu Matsuoka leads these days. There’s some foreshadowing of more serious plot points coming up, but this is very much a series best enjoyed in the moment, and it’s been doing a plenty good job at being that show.
In Summary:
Hestia continues to be the best part of this series, and only about half because of the fascinating and hilarious pop culture impact she’s had. Although she doesn’t take over the episode quite as much this time, she still plays an extremely essential role in moving each plot point along. There’s nothing too unpredictable here, but we do get probably the finest fight animation we’ve seen yet.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, 27” 1080p HDTV.
