DanMachi Review Season 2 Episode 12 - The Love of a Goddess

Episode 12 is kind of relaxing to watch and while the fact that any tension about Hestia getting kidnapped more or less evaporates doesn’t really seem to matter (or at least it didn’t really bother me). Mostly I just enjoyed the characters enjoying village life and honestly, Bell and Hestia are just too cute. What did you think Irina?

Well it was obviously not my sort of episode as it focused on tones and themes I just don’t connect with much. Also I really liked the fact that Ares was shaping up to be a different character so I was pretty disappointed that last episode seemed to have been a red herring. This episode felt more true to those harem roots you mentioned. It was well paced and kept the narrative flow in line. A well crafted episode and one that makes a lot of sense as a season ender.

The episode starts with Bell nursing Hestia in bed and it is super adorable. Not long after she wakes up and while Ais has scouted around to check for signs of pursuit we’re largely not concerned about Ares or anything that happened last week. Instead, Bell is going to help prepare for the festival. While this doesn’t do great things for the story it does give the characters some quiet time to reflect and we also get a bit more world building when we learn that the villagers worship the black dragon’s scales and Bell has to wonder about whether all monsters are just monsters or not. While this doesn’t go anywhere right now it is going to become pretty important in the next part of the story so there’s something to look forward to in a new season of DanMachi.

They have been foreshadowing that black dragon pretty heavily. Sounds exciting! I do like DanMachi when there’s adventuring involved. The dungeon episodes were always my favourite ones. I’m looking forward to getting back to it.

In addition to Bell and Hestia this episode also deals with the mayor of the village who is dying. He used to be an adventurer but his goddess was killed and returned to heaven leaving him alone. There’s some nice moments when he is talking to Bell and encouraging him not to have regrets and Hestia also gets to shine as she allows him to have hope before the end. About the only problem I had with this particular story was the granddaughter didn’t really get to do much and the episode didn’t focus on her feelings about his passing. It would have been nice for her to have had a moment or two given the story bothered to introduce her at all.

I did like how unperturbed Hestia was by his death. Taking it in stride as everyone else cried. This was a nice illustration of the fact that Hestia has seen so much death that it’s simply become a part of life. Nothing to be all that concerned about. It also reminded me of the distance between gods and humans. I’m with Bell, it’s ridiculous to expect an actual relationship with one. You’d just end up as a favoured pet, if you’re lucky!

But Hestia sure was impressive in the moment. Possibly the most impressive she’s been all season!

The festival itself was more or less what you would expect from a village festival. Best moment of course goes to Hestia demanding that Bell ask her to dance the way he asked Ais way back when they went to Apollo’s ball. It is a nice full circle for the story to turn and definitely managed to make things feel a bit more linked given this season has felt a little bit all over the place.

Before we get to the end of the episode and the journey home, Hestia and Bell have an actual talk about the different life-spans of mortals and gods. Hestia is definitely sugar coating but I loved it when she told Bell that she’d find him again no matter how long it took. It might not be realistic but it is adorable and sweet.

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Well Bell is her child. It’s the sort of thing you tell children. What’s the point of making him feel worse?

And then the season ended. A third season has been announced and the teaser we got at the end of this episode was enough to make me excited, though I’m pretty sure people who don’t know what is coming won’t get why this is so exciting. Honestly, this second season has been a bit of a mixed bag but I still love the characters here and there were definitely more than enough fun moments. What are your final thoughts Irina?

I preferred the first season myself. There were some good episodes this season too of course but I just liked the tone and rhythm of the first season better. I also liked Bell and Hestia’s interactions and relationship a lot more in season 1 where they spent a lot more time alone together.

To me, this season felt like it was trying to get to something. I’m not saying it right. All the mini arcs felt rushed and I couldn’t quite get the connection I wanted to the new characters or the events. I feel like half the stories in there could have been a season to themselves. I don’t know if they skip over a lot of stuff in the novels as well or if this was just out of necessity to fit in the 12 episode span but often times I would find that the set up was great and I was ready to get the adventure started and BAM we’re off to the next thing. I hope next season will have a single overarching story line.

That I’ll have to agree with. It would be nice to spend more time on an idea rather than running straight to the next thing. Still, I think as long as Bell and Hestia show up, most of us will end up happy enough.

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi