Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? - or DanMachi for short - is one of those shows that got unfair criticism for its similarity to other divisive shows like SAO. However, as time has passed, it's only found more love thanks to its cast of characters, its action, and newfound drama within its bizarre world.
DanMachi began as a light novel by Fujino Omori and received its first animation in 2015 from J.C. Staff and director Yoshiki Yamakawa. After a surprisingly long hiatus, it came back in 2019 with a stellar second season and a shocking third season in 2020, continuing on strong. After a mercifully shorter hiatus than the wait between seasons 1 and 2, DanMachi IV is coming later this month not a moment too soon. With the Hestia Familia bigger than it's ever been, Bell Cranel will lead them into a new adventure, though how it will top the events of season three is a mystery. In the meantime, here's the story up to now.
A Wannabe Hero
In a world where gods walk among men, Bel Cranel comes to the city of Orario to become an adventurer. In Orario, adventurers join "Familias" led by gods from countless pantheons who bestow powers to those loyal to them. These adventurers descend the Tower of Babel to hunt monsters in order to make money and become famous.
Bell is the sole member of a Familia led by the goddess Hestia, a poor goddess who is something of a laughingstock. Bell is no more successful, feeling embarrassed for having been saved by his idol, Ais Wallenstein, a first-class adventurer. However, once he starts adventuring more, he realizes that he's leveling up quicker than others. As Hestia finds, his special power is essentially an XP boost.
Despite not being an MMO literally, adventurers level up like in a video game. It's an odd trope, but one that makes the power scaling in DanMachi pretty easy to understand. Bell begins to gain some more renown and while it isn't much, it catches the attention of Ais.
Determined to support Bell, Hestia makes a plea to goddess Hephaestus to make a dagger that will get stronger with him. Meanwhile, a powerful monster escapes and wreaks havoc, chasing Bell through the city. Hestia manages to get the knife to him, and he slays the beast
The Talk of the Town
With some newfound renown, Bell continues on strong, but realizes he may need a supporter to help him with carrying loot and supplies, and thus hires Liliruca Arde. They got along well enough, but Lili secretly harbors a deep hatred of adventurers and guides them to their doom for her own profit. However, in meeting Bell, she starts to question her views.
After betraying him and then getting caught in some trouble, she's surprised when Bell still saves her. She calls him stupid and tells him she's a terrible person, but he simply tells her "I wanted to save you because you're you." They make amends and Lili officially joins the Hestia Familia.
Having gained more experience, Bell is surprised to get training in fighting by Ais herself, a most unexpected honor. The training comes in handy when a Minotaur begins roaming the depths of the tower where it shouldn't be. Not wanting to be saved again, Bell fights it alone and after a hard-fought battle, finally kills it.
Little Rookie
Bell gains the accolade "Little Rookie" after reaching his current level faster than anyone has before. He decides to replace his armor and thus meets a former member of Hephaestus Familia, Welf Crozzo, a smith who left his Familia believing their full skills as a smith wasn't fully recognized. Bell and Welf get along quickly, and they decide to join forces.
Alongside Lili and Welf, Bell ventures down to the 18th floor, where another group of adventurers races past them with monsters on their tails. The monsters end up wearing down the Hestia Familia, leaving them in dire straits, with Bell having to drag his companions to safety.
They arrive - just barely - at the safe zone that is the 18th floor, the "Under Resort," and all seems well. The heroes heal and meet with other allies who have rested there during their raid. All of a sudden, a mischievous bunch kidnaps Hestia, forcing Bell and his allies to rescue her.
As if matters couldn't get worse, a floor boss appears on the 18th floor, forcing the Hestia Familia, the Loki Familia, and everyone else to band together to kill it. Bell is injured, but with some familiar encouragement by Hermes that reminds him of his grandfather, he rises and cuts down the floor boss, aided by his friends.
War Games and Other Inconveniences
At the beginning of Season 2, everything seems to go wrong. At a banquet dinner with every god and goddess, Bell catches Apollo's eye, and the lustful god challenges Hestia to a War Game. If Apollo Familia wins, he gets to take Bell for himself. Not taking no for an answer, they have no choice but to fight.
But to make matters worse, the Soma Familia wants to get Lili, a former member, back and takes advantage of the feud with Apollo to take her away. Before Bell can focus on winning the War Game, he and his friends have to join together to save her, helping her get closure with her past god.
With only a handful of allies, Hestia Familia goes up against Apollo and against all odds manages to win. As the victor, Hestia takes Apollo's entire mansion as a prize, a devastating blow to the god.
The Ishtar Familia
After the drama with Apollo, Bell's increased notoriety keeps getting him into trouble when he contends with the Ishtar Familia, who runs the Pleasure Quarter. Bell meets Haruhime, a fox person with a power that is useful to the Ishtar Familia. Among this coterie of empowered, combat-ready sex workers, Haruhime is a prisoner that Bell wants to free.
With some unexpected help from the goddess Freya, Ishtar is defeated, Haruhime is saved, and she joins the Hestia Familia. Some of Ishtar's warriors even join Bell, like Aisha, who was always protective of Haruhime.
Wiene, the Vouivre
Season 3 kicks off in the depths of a dungeon, with Bell encountering a monster that can speak, who he names Wiene. There's resistance among the party to taking her in, but Bell is insistent that they take her home. The whole discovery is the beginning of a huge game-changer in the world of Orario: monsters with intelligence that can speak, called Xenos
With the existence of the Xenos revealed, our heroes, who hunt monsters for a living, have to reconcile this massive new information that changes their worldview. The god Ouranos asks Bell and his friends to help the Xenos with the hope that they can one day coexist with people on the surface.
However, Dix Perdix of the Ikelos family places a curse on the Xenos that makes them lose control. Bell manages to defeat Dix, but not before Wiene's beastly form unleashes. On the surface, Bell defends Wiene from being hunted by other adventurers, namely the Loki Familia and Ais.
After a perilous chase through Orario, Wiene is struck fatally but saved thanks to a supremely powerful spell by the mage Fels. Still, the damage is done: Bell is ostracized for having defended a monster and several Xenos are trapped on the surface after helping with the battle.
The Hero's Return
The Hestia Familia band together to help the Xenos descend underground to safety, though it means fighting fellow adventurers. Amidst the fight, Hermes reveals his true intentions to help Bell and asks the Xenos to sacrifice themselves, so Bell can regain his honor.
Not wanting to let Hermes get his way, the goddess Freya gives Bell another opponent to fight so that he doesn't have to kill any of the Xenos. The Minotaur that Bell fought in season 1 returns with only one arm and a desire for a rematch. They cross blades and fight through the city, wearing each other down to the last, while the Xenos safely escape.
In the end, The Minotaur defeats Bell but promises they will fight again to settle things. Despite losing, the hard-fought battle regains Bell's honor thanks to the ever-mysterious Freya and the Xenos are safe though still forced underground. Unfortunately, Wiene descends underground with her people, but she promises to see the Hestia Familia again.