English Dub Review: Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? III “(Ikelos Familia) The King of Calamity”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Bell Cranel and his Familia were stunned to find out about an entire colony of talking monsters called the Xenos, but now everyone else is starting to learn about them as well. Members of Hermes’ clan ambush Lady Wiene and a few other monsters and take them captive. One of them, a spider lady, manages to wound three of their attackers trying to ravage her, which leads to an uproar on the surface.

The evildoers spread a tale of being attacked by a group of monsters wearing armor and everyone is eager to seek justice. A clan is put in charge of the mission to go after the monsters, however, Uranus recruits Bell to go undercover and find out what’s really going on on the 18th floor. He readily accepts, even though his Familia is still on the surface, meaning he’ll have nobody to help him on his quest.

Our Take:

The plot of this season of Is It Wrong is in full swing now, and it’s all about the intelligent Xenos monsters and the prejudice that everyone shows them. Meanwhile, Bell and the Hestia Familia are some of the sole members of the show trying to right things and let everyone live in peace. This episode doesn’t really contain much in the way of action or forward movement, but it does function as a puzzle piece to connect the dots for what’s going to happen next, as Uranus and Hermes work towards their own ends.

Bell, on the other hand, has no idea what to do as the episode begins. It’s interesting for him, being an adventurer who has always had the task of taking out monsters, to suddenly come to the knowledge that they’re capable of thought, cunning, and even human speech.

Despite being told last week that he should go on mindlessly killing them without worrying too much, Bell struggles with how to rightly think about it now that he knows the truth. He isn’t able to come to much of a conclusion yet, but it seems like the series is positioning this as something he’ll have to come to terms with someway or another in the future before the final episode rolls around.

Wiene may not have as many philosophical questions swimming around her mind, but she’s just as worried as Bell — and probably more so now that she’s been taken captive. It was only a matter of time before someone took advantage of the Xenos’ unique abilities and despite how hard they (especially the spider lady) fought, it’s no use for Hermes and his cronies.

There may be an Ace up the sleeve, so to speak, thanks to Uranus and his decision to enlist Bell’s help with investigating what’s the root cause behind the outbreak in violence on the 18th floor. Bell may not have any of his friends by his side, but if anyone can go to Wiene’s aide, it’s probably going to be him. I just hope he hurries, because it’s no fun being a monster in captivity. The King of Calamity isn’t that exciting or interesting to watch, but it feels like a necessary evil to get to the finish line. Now that people have been riled up over the appearance of armored monsters attacking randomly (or so they’ve been told), the stakes are higher than ever for the Hestia Familia, the Xenos, and poor little Wiene.