Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou Ka

Before I get started, let's get a little introduction out of the way, shall we?

Hello, nice to meet you! I'm Madi, otherwise known as SunsetPatches on various parts of the internet, and I'm here to talk about anime. Even if you're not familiar with the intricacies of anime, hopefully I can lead you an a little introductory tour through this blog (and if you are, bear with me!). Enjoy!

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Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou Ka

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

Yep.
It's pretty much what it sounds like.

Even by anime standards, Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon (Danmachi for short among the fans) has a pretty inventive title, and it's a relatively good indicator of what to expect from Danmachi - yes, it's a fantasy anime, but at it's core, Danmachi is a harem anime.

To the unintiated, the mention of 'harem' anything evokes saris and female oppression in far-off ancient times, and (saris excluded) that isn't too far away from what actually manifests in the genre. Strictly, harem anime is any storyline where a character is surrounded by multiple other chraracters - but it's generally accepted in common vernacular that the relationships in harem anime are romantic, and mostly tend to be a male protagonist with multiple female characters as targets of their affections. 

Harem anime's pretty popular - there seems to be a harem element to a lot of the newer release anime (including Danmachi, which was released this summer), even if it's only a small amount of the overall plot, and I must admit I struggle to understand completely why (although, they are exceedingly popular in pornographic anime for obvious reasons). 'Reverse' harem anime, a female character surrounded by males, also exists, but far less widely - it also tends to be less popular, and can tend to use 'reverse' as a gimmick or plot point instead of actually being good, which in my opinion tends to happen less in normal harem anime. Let's be fair - there's a reason I watch Danmachi through all the fanservice and harem stuff, and it's because it's a genuinely good and entertaining series.

Anyway, back to the anime at hand:
In Danmachi, meet Bell Cranel. Since his grandfather was killed, he's been fixated with becoming a strong aventurer, and travels to Dungeon, joining the 'familia' of young goddess Hestia. (in the land known as 'Dungeon', gods and godesses come down from the heavens to live among humans, mostly for entertainment purposes but also because they love their 'children'). As it turns out, Bell's drive to protect and win over girls (specifically Aiz by the second episode, but his philosophy is bound by chivalry to all girls) ends up winning him quite a harem, and the eye of even Freya herself, the goddess of love, as he strives to become an even better adventurer to catch up to, and be worthy of, ultimate sexy badass Aiz Wallenstein.

Notwithstanding the broader genre of 'harem' anime in itself possibly being problematic, there are also a few elements of the show that bug me. The outfits are one of them. Note:

Aiz Wallenstein (Bell's main romantic interest other than Hestia)

Freya


not to mention Hestia herself, and also most of the other goddesses in the series, that jump on the defying-physics bandwagon too.

It would be easy enough to explain this away - it's a fantasy anime, so perhaps the laws of physics are different when it comes to clothing (lycra must be easy to produce in this universe, anyway!). It's telling to me, though, that the only two more moderately dressed members of Bell's 'harem' are those that are more to the periphery of the group with far less attention paid to them by the show - Syr and Eina (and Liliruca, initially, although she's revealed to wear a similarly physics-defying outfit under all her rags at the conclusion of her character arc in episode six). Even though both Syr and Eina are given romantic sideplots, they're given far less time and weight in the overall plot than the romantic plots containing Freya, Hestia, or Aiz. All three of these women are far more fleshed out than Eina or Syr are (Syr is characterised as borderline frumpy, as sweet as she is), and even though Liliruca is markedly less alluring, that's more of an informed trait than one actually demonstrated to the audience - this is anime, after all, so no-one's really ugly, and those ears are pretty irresistable.

How could you say no to those ears?!

Another thing that's pretty common, both in harem anime and across the anime as a whole, is fanservice.

Was that really entirely necessary?

As anime goes (particularly shounen, which means 'boy' and refers to anime created specifically for men and boys), Danmachi isn't really all that bad in terms of fanservice, although that gif up there is a choice example. Fanservice, broadly, refers to any element of a work (film, TV, or otherwise) that panders to its fans, like intertextual references and breaking the fourth wall for comic effect. Specific to anime, though, it tends to refer to shots like the above - revealing outfits, panty shots, etcetera. To me it's more distracting than anything, but as an eighteen year old girl I'm not exactly the intended target of it (although I've noticed that anime aimed at women such as Free! seem to be criticised in the community for their fanservice much more heavily than anime aimed at men).

Obviously, for some audiences, it works, or they wouldn't keep doing it, but the question to me is why it works. Because, like I said before, I'm not the target of the fanservice, I watch shows like Danmachi because I find the plot and art style engaging, and to be honest it mystifies me that someone could and would watch it just for the service alone - trying to appreciate and engage in a work would be interrupted by the service, surely...?

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cited:
What Distinguishes Harem Anime?

gifs used:
Fanservice boobs, header gif, Aiz, Freya, Liliruca, and Hestia.

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