So I watched this anime back in the day on a friend’s recommendation. And it still is one of the better fantasy anime out there in my opinion. Like, I really wish that this anime gets a season 4 sometime because the second season was awesome. This anime also has one of the most iconic anime fights of all time. Yes, we are talking about DanMachi this week and we’ve all watched the Bell vs. Minotaur fight 100 times at this point.
So welcome back to another edition of our weekly anime recommendation series. This week we are taking a look at DanMachi. It is an awesome fantasy anime with a pretty nice plot and world-building. It gets even better as the story goes on. With that said, let’s get into more details.
Introduction
DanMachi is based on the ongoing LN of the same name, the LN is written by Yasuda Suzuhito and illustrated by Omori Fujino. The LN started its serialization all the way back in January 2013. The anime has 3 seasons of 13,12 and 12 episodes each and all of them are animated by JC Staff. Season 1 came out in spring 2015, season 2 in summer 2019, and season 3 in fall 2020.
DanMachi is a really good example of a fantasy anime using some cliche plot stuff and setup very effectively by introducing its own twists. This anime has really good plot execution. Sometimes the cliches and cringe do spoil it a bit but that part is negligible. So let’s get into more details.
Plot
DanMachi has a rather typical fantasy setting. There is this town of Orario where the gods live with their favored humans. Granting the humans strength to explore the Dungeon further. The Dungeon is a huge underground maze with progressively stronger monsters on each level. The protagonist Bell aims to grow stronger to win his love, Aiz Wallenstein, and to help his god, Hestia as much as possible.
Pretty typical fantasy setting but what makes DanMachi good for me are the plot twists and the awesome pacing of everything. As I always say, you can make a very cliche setting work out really well with good execution. That is what DanMachi does. The world-building also gets better in the latter half of the story as more and more is revealed about the world and the Dungeon.
Characters
DanMachi has aย lotย of characters. Most of them are pretty standard template characters but the main characters really do get that love. Especially in Bell’s case man, his character development between seasons 1 and 2 is insane. He completely changes from how he was in the beginning by the end of season 2. Despite feeling like the usual good guy protagonist, he really grows into something more than that.
Animations and Soundtracks
Well, DanMachi is pretty average in this regard. The animations aren’t mind-blowing or anything, they are just average. The fight direction though is reallyย good. I can’t praise the fight direction enough. The soundtracks don’t stand out that much either, I do like both of the opening themes though. But that is about all I can think of. Average animations with some really good direction.
Why should you check out DanMachi?
Quick pointers on why you should check out this anime:
- Decent plot
- Good characters
- Awesome pacing
- Great fight direction
Conclusion
That is all for now. Let me know what you think down in the comments. I decided to check out DanMachi again because I was looking for some fantasy anime after A Genius Prince’s Guide ended this week. I ended up resisting DanMachi but, I have no regrets. I still love this series. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!
