Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Season 2 Episode 3 Review: Gathering

DanMachi is off to an amazing second season! The third episode turned out to be deeply explanatory and gave us plenty of information about our beloved characters, Gods, and Familias.

Plot

This episode, which was very straightforward, followed the events of the previous ones: When Lily is captured by Soma Familia, Hestia and her friends are try to take her back. Meanwhile, Bell keeps practising with Ais all day long and Apollo still tries to figure out ways to establish victory. One of the most interesting events which stood out to me, is Freya’s intervention with the God’s council. While Hestia seemed eminently doomed after the lottery results and the game was lost, Freya started to mess with everyone’s minds, challenge Apollo’s power, and pulling the strings of those around her. Up until this point, I am convinced that her part in literally everything is even bigger than we think.

When it comes to Lily, things are a bit different since she always seems to be the victim. This time though, she maintains her desires and is true to her feelings. Soma understood her and, after she passed his test, she was free to go. Yet, a lot of information about all this was left out and we don’t know anything that really justifies Soma’s, Zanis’, and Lily’s behavior. Everything just happened too quickly, even though there was so much potential for a good story, it was too rushed.

Episode Highlights

The guard: My personal highlight of this episode is by far the chilled guard. This guy was so cool when he gave Lili the cell keys, like there would be no consequences for his action.

Zanis: Zanis is crazy as heck and surely fits more in the Apollo Familia. His arrogance and his cheap threats towards Lily were quite intense and made me curious about his behavior from now on.

Familia Growth: I am pretty delighted to see Hestia’s Family becoming bigger. Plus, I am impressed by the kindness that most of the Gods show. Maybe they see Hestia as a little cute potato too, so they can’t bear to leave her helpless.

Themes & Trivia

Manipulation through addictions: While Lili is captured by the Soma familia, we witnessed a flashback. This journey in her memories showed us that her God creates an extraordinary addictive wine, which whoever drinks becomes enchanted and can no longer leave his side.

So, this potion is used to keep the people he wants under control. Although, this phenomenon is a problem in the real world too. Many people are manipulated by addictive drugs or alcohol, in order to stay calm, obedient and not react to everyday injustices. It’s a very filthy mind game and it needs to stop…

Comments

This was an amusing episode, though I can’t get over the fact that many things were skipped in order to get to the War Game. I don’t appreciate a rushed series and I hope the production team will slow things down a little bit. The Familia growth happened way too quickly and Lili’s redemption alongside with Soma’s realization were nowhere to be found. We don’t know why Soma is so uninterested in his Familia or why he lets Zanis take advantage of everything. I wish to learn more about their past, since they seem to be extremely interesting characters. In conclusion, it was an episode full of action and a little poor in depth. Many questions have been answered, but many more have arisen!

‘Your true nature is showing…’

The War Game is arriving and my hopes are high. Yet, I wish for more details and information about the characters’ backstories. What did you think about this episode? Are you hyped for the big battle? Let us know your thoughts!