The excellent weirdly named mythology-based series, Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? has returned for its third season this year and while it currently isn’t as exciting as the previous season, it still has a solid plot so far.
Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III
The third season of the anime has a more unique start compared to previous seasons. The first episode starts with a scared little monster girl of the Vouivre species running through the dungeon floors as a large angry group of adventurers and monsters follow behind her. It’s clear the adventures are chasing this monster girl, but thankfully our generic but lovable protagonist Bell Cranel just so happens to be around to save her by hiding her from said angry mob.
Shortly after, he is met by the other members of the Hestia Familia, who notices the girl as a monster and a threat. That is, until she speaks, which shocks the whole party, and they are mildly convinced not to harm the girl. They then take her back to the Familia home to meet Hestia and discuss the strange talking humanoid monster they named Wiene. Meanwhile, Ouranos and his follower Fels watch intently at the situation, alluding to the upcoming events. I found the first episode to be quite interesting as it starts off the season in a modest and simple way while also introducing a mystery which sets up what presumably is the main event.
A Necessary Task
Episode two introduces Dix, a harsh individual and leader of the adventure mob tasked with capturing the Vouivre from the previous episode, as he shows his annoyance at their failure to do so. However, after taking his frustration out on a nearby caged monster, he asks Ikelos, a god listening nearby, for his help in finding information about the escaped monster on the surface. While annoyed by the request, he agrees nonetheless to alleviate his boredom.
The next scene shows the Hestia Familia getting subtly closer to the Winne as they are told by Hestia to seek out more information on the Vouivre. To do so, they’ll need help, so Bell asks the elven adventurer Ryu to help accompany them to the dungeon without telling them the why, to keep Wiene a secret. Due to his inability to share the full details, she refuses his request until they encounter the Amazoness Aisha, who agrees to help Bell only if he gets with her. This annoys Ryu, so she decides to accompany them to keep an eye on Aisha.
After easily defeating the monsters in the dungeon thanks to the pair, Bell and his party eventually encounter a mysterious cloaked woman in the dungeon who asks them if they had kidnapped her “Kindred”, Wiene before vanishing and leaving behind feathers hinting she is perhaps a monster as well. Afterward, Bell encounters Ikelos, who prods him about the whereabouts of Wiene and then shortly after by Hermes, who was previously revealed to also be interested in the Vouivre.
This episode gradually unfolds the mystery of the underlying plot and shows how separated the world of humans and monsters are and the disunion between them. So much so you can’t help but feel bad for Wiene and the cruelty she experiences in Orario.
A Forced Mission
In the next episode, Bell and the Hestia Familia are assigned a secret mission by the guild to take Wiene to the 20th floor of the dungeon. Shocked by the assignment, they discuss among themselves on how the guild found out about the creature and why they’ve chosen to bring her back to the dungeon instead.
Nevertheless, they are forced to take her back to the dungeon, and after defeating many monsters along the way, they finally arrive at the 20th floor to face a group of strange armored monsters. After fighting said monsters, it is revealed they aren’t actually monsters but a newly introduced species in the anime called Xenos, a species of intelligent humanoid monsters.
It turns out the whole ordeal was a test to see if the group would fearlessly protect their kin, and much to their delight, the Hestia Familia passed with flying colors. Meanwhile, Hestia secretly meets Ouranous beneath the ruins of her old Familia house, where he explains the situation on the newly revealed species to her.
As usual, this episode continues the events of the prior episode but finishes spectacularly with a proper introduction to a new species in the anime, and I’m excited to see how the studio adapts the Xenos and how it’ll explore the differences between the two species, especially with the upcoming hindrance from Dix and Ikelos.
Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III – Final Thoughts
So far, the third season of Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? while not as immediately exciting as prior seasons, is doing something interesting that I can appreciate, and I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds.
If you haven’t seen Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III it’s available to stream right now on Crunchyroll and HIDIVE.
Have you seen the third season of Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? What do you think of my impressions? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
