English Dub Review: Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? “Arrow Of The Orion”

Overview:

Set within the fantastical territory of Orario, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? centers around a premise where all-powerful Gods who decide to come to Earth and slum it with humans. They also create maddening Dungeons that are full of monsters for burgeoning adventurers to take on and gain levels, just like in video games. These Earthbound Gods each head various Familias that are comprised of interesting party members. This series centers around Bell Cranel, a young teenage adventurer who joins a Goddess named Hestia’s Familia. As much as the series has fun indulging in action, it also heavily prescribes to the “harem anime” formula. All of the women in this show—mortal and Goddess alike—throw themselves at Bell, Hestia included.

The popular Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?/DanMachi anime series started back in 2015. Over the past few years the series has gained a strong and dedicated following that has resulted in a DanMachi also turning out a number of side-stories and spin-off projects, whether through anime, manga, or even video games. However, Arrow of the Orion is reason to celebrate because it’s the anime’s first film. Arrow of the Orion takes place between the events of the anime series’ first and second seasons and the series’ first film doesn’t try to add too much to the show’s formula. Instead it introduces a new powerful threat and when the Goddess Artemis visits Orario in search of the right adventurer to help her vanquish this enemy, she surprisingly turns to Bell Cranel for aid. As a result, Bell and the Hestia Familia find themselves on one of the most difficult and surprising adventures of their lives.

 

Our Take:

There have been more and more anime films like Arrow of the Orion that follow a certain template and crop up to leave viewers uncertain if the film is one of many pieces of a series’ convoluted history and timeline, or if it’s some one-shot vehicle that’s accessible for all audiences. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Arrow of the Orion quickly proves that it’s the latter. The film provides a nice little primer and introduction on the show’s universe for those that have never seen the series, but it’s incredibly brief. That being said, this isn’t that complex of a series and the film doesn’t try to complicate things or heap on too much of its lore at once. There are enough context clues to pick up what’s going on and what the stakes are. Even if you have no pre-existing knowledge of this series, it’s still entirely possible to enjoy this film and not feel lost.

At its core there’s something inherently captivating about the idea of Gods who try to act like humans and ground themselves to the standards of mortals when they’re built to exceed them. Other series and works of fiction like American Gods, Good Omens, Preacher, The Wicked + The Divine, and even The Good Place have explored the idea of Gods walking amongst humanity and their attempts to co-exist. It’s a wild concept that’s become more normalized and easy to swallow, which makes something like Arrow of the Orion feel even more palatable. That being said, the series still takes this idea to interesting and exciting places that those other series do not, while it also immerses itself in a video game veneer that surprisingly helps give the show focus.

Arrow of the Orion innocently begins with a simple Sword in the Stone-esque purity challenge which fascinates Bell and his team and leads to some rather humorous efforts from everyone that aren’t indifferent from that bit in The Avengers when everyone tries to lift Thor’s hammer. This sequence works even better if you know all of these characters. The big difference here between Arrow of the Orion and The Avengers is that Bell succeeds in pulling out the titular Arrow of Orion incredibly quickly. The film then wastes no time as it moves on with this development and Bell’s significance to this quest.

This important relic is brought to everyone’s attention by Artemis, who enters the film with quite the wonderful introduction. She makes for a very enjoyable new addition to the party. Artemis—like everyone else—is crazy about Bell, but she’s even more enamored with him due to how the Arrow of Orion reacts to his pure soul. Artemis’ makes a strong first impression here, but so do Welf, Ryu, and Ganesha. Every supporting character gets a few proper moments to shine. Ganesha’s call to arms isn’t just particularly satisfying, but he also comes with a pack of dragons for everyone. This leads to many scenes in flight atop these gentle beasts, all of which are really beautiful and calming. These flight sequences then seamlessly turn into thrilling action set pieces that encompass both land and air. The film really knows how to link its scenes together effectively and properly balance the extreme sensibilities of comedy, romance, and action that this series constantly juggles.

As is to be expected in any harem anime, Arrow of the Orion gets a lot of mileage out of the love triangle escapades between Bell, Hestia, and Artemis. It’s all entertaining, but it kicks in incredibly early in the film to the point that it wars thin by the end. That being said, it’s not as if this isn’t a constant aspect of the series, too. Strangely, the rivalry that develops between Artemis and Hestia evolves into quite the sweet love-hate relationship between them. There is genuine affection that’s present between them, in spite of the constant jealousy that’s also in the mix. It’s a surprisingly deep dynamic, even if the characters do fall back on being stereotypes of the genre a lot of the time. Hestia and Artemis’ scenes together lead to some of the most elegant and heartfelt moments in the film.

The Arrow of Orion feels powerful when Bell wields it against his enemies, which is very important in order for this story to connect. When characters can wield insane magic, it’s fundamental that this new item stands out. If it felt like a superfluous weapon none of this would matter, but the film properly establishes its magnitude. As powerful as Bell’s arrow is, the film culminates in Artemis crafting an even more exceptional arrow out of the lights of heaven itself that makes use of her absolute purity. This helps build to a giant, dangerous finale that delivers some great moments and briefly makes Arrow of the Orion feel like Neon Genesis Evangelion for a few fleeting moments.

Also much like in Evangelion, Bell develops Shinji-like reservations over why he was chosen to be the one to wield such a weapon and why he’s responsible for the outcome of all of this. However, his angst causes him to fight in a glorious bout of rage instead of cower in indecision. The final moments where he basically goes “Ultra Instinct” so he can anticipate and surpass all of the giant monster’s attacks and take him out is some of the best that the show has ever looked.

Arrow of the Orion looks really gorgeous and it takes advantage of setting scenes during sunsets as often as possible, but it doesn’t look that different than the typical quality that’s brought to the table in the series. Some scenes may be busier, but aesthetically this isn’t much of an upgrade, yet it’s far from disappointing, too. It does look nice, but it just doesn’t experience the drastic shift that some series do when they turn out a feature film.

Additionally, the designs of the monsters here is mostly impressive and there are fun enemies like the Gohma-esque spider and scorpion creatures, but some also air on the lazier side, which is more noticeable when CG is sometimes used on these beasts to distracting results. The back-end of the film features designs that at least get a little grosser and illicit more of a body horror vibe, which helps the danger sink in.

Towards the point of the film’s climax there’s a lengthy mystical waltz sequence between Bell and Artemis that viewers will either absolutely love or just roll their eyes at. It’s very sweet, but it at least manages to justify itself in the cryptic promise/prophecy that Bell and Artemis’ love is linked to last for 10,000 and that even through death they’ll be able to reincarnate and find each other again. As the end of the film seems to imply that Artemis, a God, has managed to die (and will perhaps be reincarnated), this sad cliffhanger is meant to be bittersweet in the sense that a happy ending does await these two kindred spirits, albeit thousands of years in the future. It’s some kind of hope for these characters to hold on to during desperate times.

The moving sacrifice where Artemis pays the ultimate price to save Bell is as powerful as it should be. Bell’s anguish over the moment is heartbreaking and what’s even worse is that the gang is still caught up in the middle of a giant battle so he needs to move on to the next target and can’t take time to grieve.

This mix of raw emotions and spectacular action and magic culminate in a satisfying final battle, even if it does conveniently wrap up in a “love conquers all” kind of way that so many anime films tend to do. This decision is likely going to discourage many viewers, but it’s surprising to see a film like this take such a risk. This heavy loss also acts as the important catharsis that’s necessary to push Bell to go out to become even stronger (not that he’s ever had trouble in that department). This loss, as well as the motivation that he’s gained will be driving forces as Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? heads into its second season.

As entertaining as Arrow of the Orion is, it does feel largely inconsequential and like filler until the final act of the film, which almost goes out of its way to heap on the game-changing revelations. Anime films of this nature can be problematic because they can feel expendable or because they have to work so hard to properly fit themselves into the timeline of a series that inherently forces them to be irrelevant or tell stories that are restricted in their scope, and in many ways their stakes as well. This is the feeling that’s evident for most of Arrow of the Orion’s run, but the ending guarantees seismic changes in a way that doesn’t just justify the film, but will hopefully make it more of a necessary component to the series’ larger story. I wouldn’t hold out for Artemis to make a sudden appearance in the anime, but she may show up again at some point as the series begins to approach its conclusion.

Arrow of the Orion isn’t the best content that the Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? series has put out, but it’s still a very satisfying, fun adventure that’s the perfect bridge between the show’s first two seasons. Arrow of the Orion may sometimes feel too light for its own good or that it skews a little too hard towards comedy, but it’s still a fun return to this world and a reminder of why these characters are so engaging. Arrow of the Orion is the perfect piece of bonus material to help Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? level up as it heads into a new season.