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PLOT:  Bell Cranel is a rookie adventurer and the sole member of his dirt-poor guild founded by the petite goddess Hestia. Adventurers come from far and wide looking to strike it big in the massive labyrinth known as Dungeon, located beneath the city of Orario. Bell is more interested in picking up girls than Dungeon-crawling, but his reality check comes sooner than expected. Saved from a brush with death by the beautiful, renowned adventurer Aiz Wallenstein, Bell falls head-over-heels and sets his sights on winning her heart, but she’s not the only woman he’s caught the attention of, for better of worse. {Taken from ANN}

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Hoo boy.  Where do I even start with this?  There are parts I liked–  the dungeon crawling, the fantasy town and various characters Bell sees at the bar really sets up the world we are just getting into quite well.  This show reeks of everything we had from Sword Art Online and Log’s Horizon with all the fantasy elements mixed in to the action and comedy.  I like this is a lot more because it’s tried and true of leveling up.  Sword Art Online shifted its focus and what made the first half of season 1 so engaging [the health bars, earning equipment, etc.] to a more tightened narrative between a couple escaping the game and saving others.

With Dan Machi, monsters quickly dissolve from death to Bell receiving item drops literally from his battles proves that this series isn’t kidding around when its building up a hero character though a line of RPG gimmicks and if this weren’t enough we’ve actually got a very neat system for leveling up.  Hestia lies a paper on Bell’s back and the stats gradually appear.  I really like how enthusiastic Bell is about earning rewards in strength and what not–  Matsuoka Yoshitsugu does a fine job getting this across!  What is with this actor voicing video game related characters?  Nonetheless he makes Bell quite a like-able lead.

Now as for fantasy game anime series go Sword Art Online encased these elements of fantasy storytelling through a world designed around reality, Log Horizon used these tricks to its advantage by showcasing the entire show as a simple run-of the mill popular MMO.  With Dan Machi, we’ve got something different–  I can’t quite put my finger on it but somehow I feel that we won’t be seeing any sort of reality or indications that there are one.  Perhaps its because Bell is so immersed at wanting to become stronger and win the hearts of women or rather one in particular–  Ais Wallenstein.  I see a lot of harem sides to this show already that screams light novel material.

Most of the dialogue here is decent at best but its downfall is Bete Loga.  Bragging and pulling the all too convenient scenario for the main character [Bell] to be dragged in is just too forced.  Is is leaps and abounds ahead of Bell in terms of skill and for the creators to shove the “possibility of romance” in our faces develops this side of the anime quite poorly right from the get-go.  Although, with this defeated attitude after leaving the bar I’m sure that Bell will be an intriguing person to see mature as this show progresses let’s just hope its not for convenience sake.

A decent start for J.C. Staff’s romcom of the season.

The opening song “Hey World” shows up at the end of this and its not bad just generic.  I will be covering a more in-depth look at this series’ opening and ending once the animations are included hopefully next episode.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 5/10

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