Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV

Episode 21

It's no secret that Ryu is tough – her entire image has been built around that idea almost since she entered the story. But I don't think I fully understood that until this episode, when she casually remarks that the bones in her leg are misaligned, but she can walk on them anyway. When I broke my arm in late November, the bones were misaligned, and it was the most pain I've ever been in, counting other broken bones and major surgeries. If Ryu is walking around on that, she's more than just tough, and maybe that's something that her Familia saw in her. She stumbles, but she keeps getting back up, no matter how much pain she's in.

At this point in the story, she's close to staying down, though. It makes sense: not only has she been under a tremendous amount of stress, thrown injured into the Deep Levels with an inexperienced adventurer by her side (strong, yes, but that can only make up for experience so much), but she's also in the midst of reliving the single worst day of her life. Between physical and emotional pain, as well as the terror of once again losing someone she cares about, Ryu is more than at her limit. Bell, who's a bit more emotionally intelligent than your average fourteen-year-old, does seem to be aware of that, and from the moment he agrees to snuggle with her less than fully clothed, we can see him shift his approach to their escape. He still sees Ryu as his superior in the sense that she's the more experienced adventurer, but he also recognizes that she's about tapped out, and he visibly musters his strength to go into protector mode. He's not doing it because he doubts her; he's doing it because he's committed to getting them home, and that means taking the lead.

If Bell and Ryu are your preferred ship, this is a good episode for it, because the sails are full and the vessel's underway. But I think we can also interpret Ryu's emotions as being about her finally finding the strength to trust someone again, and to venture into the dungeon with a person she cares about. After the deaths of Alise and the others, Ryu has taken care to hold herself apart as much as she can, with only Syr appearing to break through. But now she's come to find that Bell has slipped in through the cracks, and instead of fearing or resenting that, she's able to find comfort in it. Is she in love with him? Maybe, but the more important takeaway is that she loves him at all, because that's something she hasn't allowed herself for quite some time. Much like the pins holding my wrist together, Bell's kindness and care is reattaching Ryu's heart to her soul, and that's one of, if not the, most important pieces of character development of the season.

So yes, the Juggernaut has revealed a new and terrible ability to consume monsters and then use their powers. Yes, Bell and Ryu are on their last legs and the rescue party hasn't shown up yet. But Ryu has regained something that she tried her hardest to keep out, and as Bell says, that's what her Familia wanted for her. They didn't die so she could survive, they died so she could live, and that means cracking the shell of her pain. In the words of Leonard Cohen, “There is a crack in everything/That's how the light gets in.”

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Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV is currently streaming on HIDIVE.