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

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Bell and Hestia, from the first Blu-ray release cover
It doesn't matter if I look lame. I don't care if they drag me through the mud. Even if it's the last thing I do... I'll save her. I'll be her hero!
—Bell Cranel, season II, episode 9

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (ダンジョンに出会いを求めるのは間違っているだろうか, Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka, literally "Is It Wrong to Try to Meet Someone New in a Dungeon?"), also known as DanMachi (ダンまち), is a light novel series that started in 2013, being adapted into an anime series starting in 2015. As of early 2024, the anime consists of four TV series, three OAVs (one after each of the first three TV series), and the 2019 movie Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Arrow of the Orion, set after the first series - all of which have been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America. The novels have been licensed by Yen Press in North America.

Once upon a time, the gods descended to the "Lower World" where the mortals live, in search of entertainment. They agreed to give up their godly powers in exchange for living with mortals. The one power that they keep is the ability to gift mortals with the ability to become adventurers, able to descend into the local Dungeon to slay monsters. The people who accept this gift become part of the "Familia" of that god or goddess.

The main story is about Bell Cranel, an idealistic -- one might say naive -- young man who is (at the beginning of the story) the only member of the Hestia Familia. He has just begun to adventure in the Dungeon below the city of Orario... and at the beginning is saved from peril by the swordswoman Ais Wallenstein. This leaves him with a desire to catch up to her level of ability. In his journey to become a hero, he meets and befriends many people: Eina Tulle, his advisor in the Guild of adventurers; Syr Flover and Ryū Lion, waitresses at a local inn, one of whom is much more than she seems; Liliruca ("Lili") Arde, the Supporter who carries his supplies and provides ranged attacks; Welf Crozzo, the smith/adventurer who can make magic swords; Mikoto Yamato, the swordswoman (and ninja) from the Far East; and others who help him in his self-imposed task - and who he helps in their own self-imposed tasks.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria is a side-story in the same universe with many of the same characters (and a few of the same scenes repeated). As of early 2024, there is only one season animated of this story (again, licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America). Ais Wallenstein is the protagonist of this story of the adventurers of the Loki Familia... and she has somebody to catch up to, as well.

Is It Wrong to Try to Point Out Tropes on a Work Page?
  • A-Cup Angst:
    • Hestia decisively wins a battle of insults against Loki in the second episode of the main series by calling her flat-chested.
    • In Sword Oratoria, it's made quite clear that Tiona Hiryute and Loki suffer from having flat chests, to the point of doing breast-expansion exercises during a Familia meeting.
  • Absolute Cleavage: Freya's "at home" outfit is cut so low that her entire navel is visible. It's also sleeveless and strapless. Since the gods aren't allowed to use their powers when they're in the Lower World, one has to wonder how the outfit stays on.
  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Early in the first season, after Hephaistios refuses to do Hestia a favor, Hestia kowtows to Hephaistios... in front of the other gods.
  • Ascended Extra: Lefiya Viridis - background character with two lines in the entire first season of the original series, deuteragonist of the first season of Sword Oratoria.
  • Amazon Admirer: Ais Wallenstein is not only one of the most powerful adventurers in Orario, she's the most powerful swordswoman in the setting. The running theme in the main storyline is how Bell Cranel is improving himself in order to become worthy of dating her.
  • Badass Damsel: Ais is the "cross between Action Girl and Proper Lady" type - she's innocent in many ways, while still being one of the most powerful fighters in Orario.
  • Bare Your Midriff:
    • Lili (as shown here standing beside Hestia), who has more important things to spend money on than a top that's in good condition.
    • Loki's everyday outfit, as shown here.
  • Beach Episode: The OAV for season 2.
  • Berserk Button: Don't compare your beauty to that of Freya in the presence of her Familia's leader Otarl - especially if you aren't particularly attractive. You won't live to regret it.
  • Big Breasts, Big Deal:
    • Hestia, possessor of the second-largest set in the entire series, is in the "When you've got it, you should flaunt it!" camp. Her in-universe nickname is "Loli Big-Boobs".
    • Tione Hiryute, sister to Tiona, is well-endowed, and on at least once occasion gives her sister Marshmallow Hell in order to get her to stop talking.
    • Tsubaki Collbrande, half-dwarf head of the Hephaestus Familia, thinks hers just get in the way. When Loki comments on them in Sword Oratoria, Tsubaki says she'd be willing to trade with Loki if it was possible.
  • Blade of Fearsome Size:
    • Minotaurs already carry and use large weapons, but the one that was chosen to fight Bell was given - and trained to use - an even larger greatsword.
    • Inverted by Bell, who usually uses knives instead of a sword.
    • One ties the main story and Sword Oratoria together. Ais picks up a huge sword that is an ultra-rare item dropped by the floor boss she defeated to become Level 6. The sword is destroyed in combat when Bell fights his first floor boss.
  • Blood Knight: Otarl, the highest-ranked adventurer in Orario and the leader of the Freya Familia. When he encounters Ais in the Dungeon in an episode of Sword Oratoria, he practically orders her to fight him - when asked why, he replies that he doesn't need a reason.
  • Book Ends: The second story arc of Bell's story, which starts in episode 4 with Bell looking to hire a Supporter to help him in the Dungeon, and ends at the end of episode 6 with Bell looking to hire a Supporter to help him in the Dungeon.
  • Breakable Weapons: Any magic sword or magic knife. Once one of these runs out of charges, the blade shatters.
  • Butt Monkey: Asti, the human leader of the Hermes Familia. Hermes puts her through all sorts of embarrassing predicaments... including having her dress up for a formal ball - the poor woman flusters easily.
  • Can't Argue with Elves: Averted in episode 12 of the first season, when Bell makes his point with an Ironic Echo.
  • Cassandra Truth: Nobody believes Cassandra of the Apollon Familia. They should have.
  • Category Traitor: Ryū is called a traitor to elves because she used magic swords - the weapons that destroyed the elf homeland - during the war game between the Apollon Familia and Hestia Familia. Her reply is that loyalty to friends is more important than an old grievance.
  • Crossover Cosmology: The Greek, Hindu, Norse, Shinto, Babylonian, and Celtic pantheons all have gods appearing in the series.
  • Cute Monster Girl: There are a few in the third season of the main story, most notably Wiene (who in-universe is called "cute") and Rei. The fact that they even exist is what drives the season's plot.
  • Divine Assistance: The "give heroes gifts" subtype of the trope. The gods aren't allowed to use their godly powers in the Lower World, but Hephaistios is still able to craft magical blades even with her powers sealed... and does so at Hestia's request (which included a Pose of Supplication) so that Hestia can assist Bell in his dungeon delving. The Hestia Knife is a living blade that works only for members of the Hestia Familia; for everyone else, it's essentially a dull piece of metal.
  • Divine Parentage: It isn't believed to be possible, but two characters may have it. It's outright stated that Bell's grandfather is Zeus (not that it helps, and so far everyone's said he's adopted... but consider who we're talking about here), and Ais's mother appears to be an angelic-rank being (which is more of a hindrance than a help).
  • Dragon Rider: Our heroes, during The Movie. The dragons were provided by the Ganesha Familia, and are used solely for fast transportation.
  • Dungeon Bypass: Used to avoid an ambush set by the Apollon Familia during the war game with the Hestia Familia.
  • Dungeon Shop: A town full of them (and inns, and taverns) on Level 18 of the Dungeon, where it's safe enough to settle.
  • Eye Awaken: Bad enough that there had been a murder in episode 4 of Sword Oratoria, and that somebody wants the episode's MacGuffin badly enough to kill for it - but when our heroines discover the MacGuffin is alive and its eyes open, things go From Bad to Worse.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: From what we've seen of it and the people from it, "The Far East" is Sengoku-era Japan in everything but name.
  • Fictional Document: A fairy tale called "Argonaut", which is about a boy who grows up to become a hero. It's a favorite story of both Bell Cranel (who wants to be a hero) and Tiona Hiryute (who loves fairy tales).
  • Fire-Forged Friends:
    • Bell and Lili - despite the fact that she was using him to become rich enough to buy her way out of her Familia and then left him to die in the dungeon, he was willing to risk his own life for her when she was near death. She never willingly left him after that.
    • Bell, Lili, and Welf - strangers to each other when they formed their Party of adventurers (with Lili and Welf not getting along with each other very well), friends after surviving the journey forced upon them to level 18 of the Dungeon. And, before the halfway point of the second season, part of the same Familia.
  • Focal Character: It sure looked like the elf mage Lefiya Viridis was going to be the protagonist of Sword Oratoria, until it became obvious that she was the deuteragonist of the side-story.
  • Fluffy Tamer: There's an entire class of dungeon delver called Tamers; they specialize in taming monsters at least to the point where they're docile and bringing them to the surface, only killing monsters when there is no other option. The ones we see are all part of the Ganesha Familia.
  • Genius Bonus: The stories reward a knowledge of various myths:
    • If you know more than just pop-culture references regarding Norse Mythology, you'll know who Mia's patron deity is as soon as you hear the name of her restaurant in the very first episode of the first season. If you don't, you won't know until Hermes mentions the name late in the second season.
    • Who gave Syr the good-luck charm she gave Bell during the war game? You'll never know... unless you know the typical depictions of the gods from Classical Mythology.
  • God's Hands Are Tied: All of the gods have tied their hands in order to be able to live in the Lower World with the mortals instead of Heaven. All they can do is bestow a small amount of power to mortals and let them grow stronger on their own.
  • Gonk: Phryne, the Amazoness leader of the Ishtar Familia. She's firmly convinced that she isn't ugly.
  • Groper Girl: Loki in Sword Oratoria, to the point of it being a Running Gag.
  • Have You Seen My God?: In the second-last episode of the second season of the main story, most of the main cast goes looking for Hestia... who they already know has been kidnapped by Ares.
  • Hero of Another Story: Ais Wallenstein in the main story, Bell Cranel in Sword Oratoria.
  • Hot Springs Episode: The first and third OAVs - complete with a School Swimsuit for Asti in the first OAV. (It Makes Sense in Context.)
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Most but not all of the episodes of the main series have two titles, both of which relate to the episode. (Most but not all of the episodes of Sword Oratoria don't.)
  • Instant Runes:
    • If an Elf mage needs to chant a spell in order to cast it, she (or he) will have Instant Runes appear during the casting. It's shown that if the caster fails to concentrate on keeping the runes manifested until the spell is completed, the spell fails... but the "Concurrent Casting" technique lets the caster postpone the manifestation of the Instant Runes to near the end of the incantation.
    • Lefiya also copies Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha‍'‍s "magic circle as gun barrel" effect with her most powerful attack in the sidestory Sword Oratoria.
    • The Movie shows that Arcanum, the power of the gods, also uses Instant Runes.
  • Kill the God: Since the gods' powers are sealed, killing one is as easy as pushing him or her off a ledge, or running a sword through the god's heart... and it's shown to have happened more than once. The god doesn't actually die, but is sent to (the setting's very boring) Heaven with no way to return to the (interesting) Lower World.
  • Lap Pillow:
    • More than once, Ais rests Bell's head on her lap when he's knocked out for whatever reason. Bell being a Chaste Hero, he invariably panics when he wakes up and realizes where he is.
    • In The Stinger at the very end of the first season, it's Hestia's turn to let her lap serve as Bell's pillow.
    • And at one particularly bleak time for Bell in the third season, Syr offers her lap as a pillow... which Bell ends up accepting without panicking.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: The Other Wiki has a spoiler-laden list.
  • Loads and Loads of Races: Human, elf, half-elf, dwarf (with noticeable sexual dimorphism), Prum, beastfolk of various races, and more... and that's outside the Dungeon.
  • Loophole Abuse: Only the Familias directly involved in a war game are allowed to take part in it - but there's no rule that an allied Familia can't help with a peripheral matter that strengthens a Familia taking part in the war game. Thus, Ais and Tiona can (secretly) train Bell without repercussions to the Loki Familia while the Takemikazuchi Familia helps the Hestia Familia prepare for the war game between the Hestia and Apollon Familias.
  • No Hero Discount: It's established in Sword Oratoria that the shopkeepers on the "safe" level 18 of the Dungeon drive very hard bargains, because they know they're the only game in town. However, the trope is thoroughly averted in the final episode of the first season of the main series, when it's obvious that there's no way to avoid a boss fight; the weapons-shop storekeeper tells the adventurers "If you lose your weapon, just grab another one!"
  • Once a Season: Each season of the main story has an episode titled "Argonaut" (although the alternate titles are different), in which Bell has a major change to his fortunes.
  • One-Man Army: The penultimate episode of the second season shows that a single Level 5 (or higher, on a seven-level scale) dungeon adventurer is able to defeat an entire mundane army without breaking a sweat.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Played with. Gareth, one of the three original members of the Loki Familia, is about as stereotypical a Dwarf as one can find. Mia, the owner of the inn where Syr and Ryū work, is tall, beardless, and obviously female... but still wants her patrons to order a lot so that she gets plenty of money, and can break a wooden bar counter with her bare fist.
  • Outdoor Bath Peeping:
    • While at a "safe" (and to all appearances outdoor) level in the Dungeon in episode 12 of the first season, Bell is tricked into going to a spot where he could see almost all of the female cast members present bathing in a stream. The women notice, and react in various different ways depending on their own personalities. (This scene gets a Continuity Nod in the second OAV.)
    • Bell happens to see another female bathing in The Movie. The scene, commented on immediately afterwards by Hestia and Hermes, turns out to be a confirmation that not all is as it seems.
    • Gender Flipped and Played With in season two of the main series, when Hestia tries to peep on Bell at an indoor bath.
  • Overwhelming Obsession: Mikoto loves hot springs so much that she can track them down by scent. For a while, this was her only defining character trait; she became a better-described character during the second season.
  • Paper Cutting: Played with in the third season, when Dix Perdix attacks Bell with a weapon that leaves an apparently small wound... that magically won't stop bleeding.
  • Red Light District: Orario's has accrued around - and is run by - the temple to Ishtar, where there's very little differentiation made between sacred prostitution and the other sort. One story arc involves rescuing a childhood friend of Mikoto from this district.
  • RPG Mechanics Verse:
    • The Dungeon is based on video game dungeons - monsters spawn from its walls, and the very environment has a rudimentary intelligence (similar to a video game AI).
    • The adventurer characters have levels and character statistics which are updated on-screen from time to time... and they get new copies of their own character sheets upon each update.
    • Welf Crozzo is shown to make a high-quality knife from raw materials (a dropped item from the Dungeon and an ingot of steel) in a single day.
    • The Floor Boss that appears at the end of the first season has Contractual Boss Immunity.
  • Rule 63: Loki and Hephaistios are female in this setting.
  • Save Your Deity:
    • Bell has to rescue Hestia twice during the first season: once from a rampaging monster (which involved a Bridal Carry), and later from a kidnapping. Then he has to rescue her again (with another Bridal Carry) during the first OAV.
    • The pattern repeats in the second season: Bell has to rescue Hestia from an rival Familia attack, then later has to rescue her again from a kidnapping.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: The Big Bad in season 3 wears Scary Shiny Goggles. The Reveal about the nature of his organization happens when they finally come off.
  • Sobriquet: Every adventurer gets one upon becoming a Level 2 adventurer, although they aren't all mentioned in the stories. Bell is "Little Rookie" (changed to "Rabbit's Foot" when he makes level 4), Ais is "Sword Princess", Lefiya is "Thousand Elf".
  • Star Scraper: There's an incredibly tall tower above the Dungeon, so tall that we never see its top, no matter how far up the camera pans (although there is one scene in the first season where the tower extends into some clouds, and there is no tower shown where we would expect to see it continue above the clouds, so there is a top). Hephaistios and Freya both live in it quite comfortably, with plenty of room for other occupants. Of course it's named Babel.
  • Throwing Down the Gauntlet: After having a false accusation levelled at her Familia, her Familia's home destroyed, and being personally hounded by the Apollon Familia, Hestia finally snaps. She confronts Apollon at his own home, orders one of Apollon's trusted advisors to give her his glove (so that she doesn't have to use her own), and immediately throws that glove at Apollon's face, thus accepting his challenge to a war game.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Simply learning the "Concurrent Casting" technique (mentioned under "Instant Runes") was enough to change Lefiya from a Glass Cannon to Little Miss Badass.
  • Training Montage: How the stories show Ais teaching Bell to fight.
  • Trial Balloon Question: In the third season of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Bell asks Ais a hypothetical question about what she would do if she ever met a self-aware, intelligent monster in the Dungeon. Her reply convinces him to refrain from revealing the existence of self-aware, intelligent monsters in the Dungeon.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Used in episode 5 of Sword Oratoria to turn the tide during the first battle with the season's recurring antagonist. The entire description provided is, "Remember that combo we used in the past? We're using it!" It works.
  • Unwanted Harem: Bell, being a Chaste Hero, doesn't even realize he has one. But Hestia, Lili, Syr, and possibly Ais know... and Hestia's the jealous type.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The entire plot of season 3, but counting elfs, dwarfs, beast people, and spirit-kin as "human".
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: Bell, complete with the effeminate good looks and the red eyes. Subverted in that he's very definitely a hero.
  • Wingdinglish: The signs and posters in Orario. But not too Wingdinglish - the letter forms bear a (sometimes vague) resemblance to those in the Latin alphabet. With a bit of practice, English-speakers can read the signs and posters in Orario quite easily.
  • Work Off the Debt: How Hestia pays Hephaistios for creating the Hestia Knife. Considering how much it cost, it's a good thing that both goddesses are essentially immortal; the working arrangement will be going on for a long. long time.
  • You Called Me "X" - It Must Be Serious: Hestia is quite able to pronounce Ais Wallenstein's name correctly, but usually calls her "Wallen-whats-it" because Hestia is the jealous sort. Once a Season, when things are serious, Hestia calls Ais by her full name.
  • Zero-Approval Gambit: Bell launches one in season three. The first step toward having the people of Orario accept a group of monsters as intellegent beings instead of mindless killing machines, is to bring that group into Orario. And everybody hates him for it, even his advisor in the guild (who up to this point had been his surrogate big sister). In the end, it doesn't work; the monsters have to try to escape from Orario before they're killed, and Bell's reputation appears to be permanently destroyed; it takes a huge amount of work to undo the change to his fortunes.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Ais's usual outfit is Rank A, as is the store-clerk uniform that Hestia wears when working for Hephaistios. (Lefiya's usual outfit is also Rank A, but she wears a long overskirt over it as part of her usual Elegant Not-Really-Gothic Lolita outfit.)


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