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

Episode 5

It is a week of wonderful visuals in DanMachi, although I should clarify that that means both “beautiful” and “good lord, make it stop.” The former belongs to both Bell and Haruhime, with an emphasis on the latter. Her new, powered up level boost is now preceded by the magic she learned from Aisha's grimoire, and what it does is allow her to boost five people at a time. Visually, we see this as new tails of light unfurling behind her, using imagery of both East Asian fox myths, where more tails equal more power, and religious iconography that has rays of light beaming from behind the godlike figure as a measure of their divinity. It certainly speaks to Haruhime's family background and the relative rarity of Renarts in Orario, but it also lends her an air of the Other, someone beyond the norms of regular understanding in their powers. There's also a parallel with Bell's Argo Vesta attack, because when he activates it, he, too, becomes wrapped in light, albeit on a smaller (but brighter) scale.

This is, regretfully, balanced out by the sheer horror of the Moss Huge's transformation. His new branch-like appendages are mildly uncomfortable (mostly because they look painful when they sprout out of his shoulders and back), but what his consumption of magic stones does to his mouth is truly upsetting. I'm not sure if his tongue grows a second toothy mouth of its own or if he can now shoot the inside of his mouth out of his body like some sort of horrible version of how a starfish feeds, but it is one of the grossest things I've seen in this series. On the bright side, it does demonstrate how very scary these monsters can become, and again I have to wonder what truly separates them from Xenos in terms of evolution, because the Moss Huge's eyes do look sad at points. Is he just fighting to survive, unsure of why humans want to kill him? Or is he actually evil and just following his instincts? That feels like a question original series author Fujino Ōmori might delve into at some point, particularly since it feels like it could relate to Bell's rivalry with all minotaurs.

The episode itself is largely an extended fight scene, and fortunately it is more than up to the task. The action itself is well-done, but the emotions of the characters is what really sells it, particularly Lilly's struggle to figure out what to do in Bell's absence. When Dormul and his party stand up and offer themselves as shields so that Hestia Familia can escape, Lilly is forced to think about what sort of leader she wants to be. Daphne, we see in a flashback, already warned her about the tough choices she'd have to make in the lower levels of the Dungeon, but it's one thing to be told about them and another entirely to suddenly be face-to-face with one. Lilly's ultimate decision, not to just leave the others to their fates as monster food, is one that reminds us of how much growing she's done, something it's easy to forget when Bell's growth is so flashy. The Lilly we met back in season one might have taken the easy way out and barely felt bad about it, but Lilly in season four is someone who has learned not to be afraid to get attached to others and to think things through. No one in Hestia Familia would leave someone behind to die. They're a family in a very real sense, with Hestia keeping the home fires burning, and there's no way that they'll deny someone the chance to return. Lilly knows that by holding out for Bell to come back she could be dooming them all, but the difference between Lilly then and now is that she has hope and trust in her familia members, and it's certainly interesting to note that both she and Bell have a tolling bell sound as part of their skills as a link between them – the ringing of Argonaut matches the sound of the bell that marks midnight for Cinderella, and that's a link that we should perhaps keep in mind.

And so the Moss Huge falls, as we knew he'd have to. The heroes defeating the monster is part of the epic format, and Bell is above all a hero – something plenty of people are counting on, in fact, whether Bell knows it or not.

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