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Summary
Danmachi struggles with balancing harem tropes and single love interest, leaving characters feeling unfulfilled. Ais Wallenstein's underdevelopment as Bell's endgame love interest dampens the romantic narrative. The series' fear of committing to one love interest leads to a bloated roster of unexplored emotional arcs.
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Harem or Romance?
An Author's Dilemma
When Everyone Loves Bell, No One Does
Trying to Please Everyone Almost Never Works
The Silent Center
Ais Wallenstein is a Mystery
A Page From Dragon Ball?
The Power Scaling of Romance
Fear of Closing the Door
There's something inherently frustrating about the way Danmachi handles romance. Bell Cranel, the pure and innocent hero, is orbiting an ever-expanding roster of love interests, but the story seems to trip over itself every time it gets close to genuine romantic progression.
It's as if the series wants to explore relationships but keeps chickening out, afraid of committing fully to one path. The result? A juggling act between harem tropes and the "single love interest endgame" that pleases neither camp, especially when the main character's strength progression is smooth as butter.
Harem or Romance?
An Author's Dilemma
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The problem stems from the tonal dissonance between Bell's romantic journey and the broader narrative. On one hand, the story aggressively hints that Ais Wallenstein is Bell's endgame.
The author himself has confirmed that Bell x Ais is the "destination," promising more development once Bell reaches a specific milestone in strength. But then why keep sprinkling breadcrumbs of emotional attachment for other characters like Ryuu, Hestia, and even Freya?
Tell him I will never again ride a chariot that won't do as it's told.
The answer seems simple: harem fanservice. Yet Danmachi struggles with the most glaring pitfall of harem writing -- raising emotional stakes for characters whose love will ultimately go unrequited. Ryuu Lion, in particular, gets some of the most emotionally charged moments with Bell in Season 4.
The dungeon arc frames their connection as deep, raw, and transformative. It feels real. So when you realize Ryuu will inevitably take a backseat to Ais, you're left asking, "What was the point?"
When Everyone Loves Bell, No One Does
Trying to Please Everyone Almost Never Works
The author introduces love interests, gives them compelling backstories and motivations, and builds chemistry with Bell, but then pulls back right as things get interesting. Each love interest, from Hestia's childlike infatuation to Freya's obsessive desire, could provide a rich narrative payoff -- if the story actually pursued their arcs to a meaningful conclusion.
In the end, guilt is just the question of whether you're capable of forgiving yourself or not. If you've really changed, then prove it with your actions.
Instead, Bell dances on the edges of emotional maturity, perpetually bashful and clueless. While this preserves his "innocent hero" archetype, it stunts the narrative's growth. This indecision leaves the female characters feeling hollow. Characters like Eina and Haruhime, who have rich platonic potential, are reduced to additional players in the harem game.
At a certain point, it becomes clear that Danmachi isn't willing to do the work of differentiating who's a friend, who's a love interest, and who's just window dressing.
The Silent Center
Ais Wallenstein is a Mystery
For a character positioned as Bell's ultimate love interest, Ais Wallenstein is shockingly underdeveloped within the main story. Her feelings for Bell are implied rather than explored, leaving her relationship with him feeling sterile compared to his moments with other characters.
The Sword Oratoria spinoff tries to give Ais some depth, but it's optional content for fans. The main story's neglect of Ais makes it difficult to fully root for the pairing, especially when other relationships feel far more dynamic. Bell's admiration for Ais drives his growth as an adventurer, but it rarely feels reciprocal. Ais remains an enigmatic, emotionless presence -- cool, distant, and passive. If she's truly Bell's endgame, the story needs to invest in her development, giving her an arc where she actively chooses Bell, not just as a hero but as a person.
A Page From Dragon Ball?
The Power Scaling of Romance
In Danmachi, the handling of love interests feels eerily similar to the infamous Dragon Ball Z power scaling issue. Just as DBZ had to keep inventing stronger enemies to make Goku relevant, Danmachi feels compelled to introduce new love interests or deepen existing ones to maintain narrative momentum. It's a cycle that quickly spirals out of control: each new girl needs their own emotional arc, backstory, and moments with Bell. But as the list of contenders grows longer, the series runs out of room to flesh out any of them meaningfully.
Characters like Ryuu Lion and Haruhime showcase this dilemma perfectly. Ryuu's emotional connection with Bell during the dungeon arc in Season 4 could have been a defining romantic moment -- her stoic facade melting into something raw and human. Instead, it feels more like an emotional crescendo destined to fade into the background because the narrative can't afford to let her overshadow Ais. Similarly, Haruhime's romantic attachment begins with rich emotional stakes but is quickly sidelined once her arc resolves, like an afterthought to the grander story. This constant need for "more" -- more stakes, more characters, more romantic threads -- dilutes the impact of each love interest. Just as DBZ's villains eventually lost their narrative weight in favor of spectacle, Bell's harem starts to feel like a bloated roster of "almosts" that ultimately go nowhere. The result is that no character, not even Ais, gets the spotlight they deserve.
Fear of Closing the Door
In the end, Danmachi's problem with love interests boils down to fear. The story is afraid to close the door on its harem dynamics because it thrives on fan investment in possibilities. Yet this refusal to commit makes every love interest feel shortchanged.
Whether it's the lingering "what ifs" of Bell and Ryuu's relationship or the unspoken tension with Hestia, these threads dangle without resolution, leaving fans with a romantic narrative that feels incomplete. If Bell x Ais truly is the future, Danmachi needs to stop dancing around the issue and fully commit.
Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?
TV-MA
Comedy
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Action
Anime
Romance
Based on a light novel series by Fujino Omori, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? is an action-fantasy anime that follows Bell, an initially weak adventurer who is the only member of the Hestia Familia. Looking to become stronger and protect those who matter the most to him, Bell regularly descends the dungeon, a seemingly neverending pit filled with monsters.
Release Date April 4, 2015
Cast Daisuke Namikawa , Ken Narita , Hitomi Nabatame , Jun'ichi Yanagita , Tetsu Inada , Haruka Tomatsu , Kanehira Yamamoto , Kazuyuki Okitsu , Nobuhiko Okamoto , Yoshitsugu Matsuoka , Risa Taneda , Yuka Keicho , Ai Kakuma , Ayaka Suwa , Inori Minase , Makoto Furukawa , Asuka Nishi , Chinami Hashimoto , You Taichi , Taketora , Sayaka Senbongi , Ayaka Nanase , Eizo Tsuda , Ayumi Mano , Hiroki Maeda
Character(s) Dix Perdix (voice) , Zanis Lustra (voice) , Tsubaki Collbrande (voice) , Rudra (voice) , Gros (voice) , Eina Tulle (voice) , Villager (voice) , Kashima Ouka (voice) , Bete Loga (voice) , Bell Cranel (voice) , Riveria Ljos Alf (voice) , Mia Grand (voice) , Airmid Teasanare (voice) , Lyra (voice) , Hestia (voice) , Miach (voice) , Anya Fromel (voice) , Misha Flott (voice) , Shakti Varma (voice) , Canoe Belway (voice) , Gojouno Kaguya (voice) , Sharei (voice) , Caam (voice) , Cassandra Ilion (voice) , Adventurer (voice)
Studio J.C.Staff
Japanese Title Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka
YouTube Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyrpphwHNaw
Based On Light Novel
Creator Fujino Ōmori
Writers Hideki Shirane , Miya Asakawa
Number of Episodes 70+
Network AT-X , Tokyo MX , Sun TV , KBS Kyoto , BS11 , ABEMA
Directors Yusuke Onoda , Hideki Tachibana , Mitsuo Hashimoto , Yoshihiro Mori , Risako Yoshida
MyAnimeList Score 8.01 (Season 5)
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