The Fall 2024 Anime Preview Guide

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

Young adventurer Bell Cranel and his friend Ryuu Lion have survived their traumatic ordeal deep in the Dungeon's 37th floor. Now back in the city of Orario, home to gods and mortals alike, life returns to normal… meaning relentless romcom hijinks and jealous goddesses aplenty for poor, clueless Bell to contend with.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? V is based on the Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? light novel series by Fujino Ōmori with illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda. The anime series is streaming on HIDIVE on Thursdays.

It's time for another thrilling episode of Everybody Loves Bell! I don't know what it is about 14-year-old Bell Cranel that makes almost every single woman in his immediate (and not-so-immediate) vicinity appear to take leave of their senses. Where most guys are content with scented deodorant or musky aftershave, Bell seems to naturally exude the Concentrated Essence Of Man Sex from his pores. He is the grandson of Zeus, after all.

Last season was full of incredibly intense drama, with Bell and Ryu eventually bonding together (while naked!) Ryu, naturally, now feels incredibly self-aware around Bell as it's painfully clear she caught feelings during their prolonged, shared, near-death experience. After season 4 explored her character so deeply, Ryu's become my favorite DanMachi heroine, and it's gratifying to see that with the funny and tender scenes they share in this episode, the consequences of Bell's and Ryu's actions are prominently acknowledged, tying directly into the next main storyline.

That storyline seems to focus on the Freya familia. Now, I'm an anime-only DanMachi fan, so all I know about Freya is from the dark hints littered throughout the preceding seasons. She's a powerful (and extremely sensuous) love goddess with designs on Bell. Waitress Syr has some kind of close link with Freya, and when Syr formally asks Bell on a date (first asking for the reserved Ryu's permission, but was she ever going to refuse it?), to say she throws the cat amongst the pigeons would be an understatement.

For one, it's hilarious that Hestia has employed Lili to monitor the myriad girls orbiting Bell, reporting to her if they get too close. Intriguingly, Hestia has never met Syr in person despite her people-facing profession. Poor Bell's Harem Protagonist EX skill never stops getting him in trouble, especially as there's now a gaggle of Freya Familia out for his blood for some reason. It's no wonder they're all so entranced by their goddess – the rather, uh… intense ending sequence makes sure to fully advertise Freya's prodigious wares. Is it just me, or is it getting a little hot in here?