This anime takes place in a world far away from ours that has many similarities with an RPG world, there are adventurers and a dungeon with different levels and monsters. For those of you who immediately draw a connection with the anime Sword Art Online, Log Horizon or the .hack series there is one thing you need to know. As opposed to those before mentioned anime this story doesn’t take place in a game. The world that is portrayed is real and the characters are born and raised there.
The story is pretty easy to explain. Bell Cranel, the main character, wants to become stronger. He dreams of one day becoming a hero. On top of that he wants to get closer to a female adventurer who saved him in the dungeon. I have to be honest, the anime does have one big similarity to Sword Art Online that you can’t ignore and then I’m not even speaking of the RPG elements. Almost every woman Bell meets seems to immediately fall for him, the same seems to be the case with Kirito. As opposed to Kirito from Sword Art Online, Bell has almost no self-esteem and isn’t very impressed with himself. This insecurity Bell has makes it easier to create a connection with him as a viewer. The story doesn’t ever get complicated and runs pretty smoothly. Every now and then there are some hints that there’s more going on than seems to be the case at first glance. This bit of mystery they put in the story creates most of the tension in this anime.
The characters themselves are unfortunately pretty typical and stay pretty consistent throughout the story, they never seem to change very much. Bell Cranel isn’t one of the brightest adventurers and is also a little too mild-mannered and naïve. These characteristics cause him to get into trouble pretty easily. He also seems to have no idea how he should act around the ladies. This uncomfortable attitude around women combined with the fact that almost no woman seems to be able to resist him provides the anime with most of its humor. The supporting characters each get a little backstory but they aren’t elaborated on very deeply.
As a whole “Is It Wrong To Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon” isn’t perfect. The biggest problem, in my opinion, were the characters themselves. They were a bit flat, a little more depth to them wouldn’t have been a bad thing. Something I could appreciate was the healthy mix of humor and tension. The humor didn’t feel misplaced in this anime. As a whole it made it easier to sometimes watch an episode of this anime. People who are considering watching the anime have to realize that it currently has an open ending. At the moment it isn’t known whether there will be a second season.
Studios: J.C.Staff
Started airing: 4th of April 2015
Number of episodes: 13
Rating: 63/100
