Shopping Guide
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, also known as DanMachi for short along with the English subtitle Familia Myth, began as a light novel series written by Fujino Omori with illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda and published under SB Creative’s GA Bunko imprint since 2013. It has since received a manga adaptation illustrated by Kunieda, spin-off light novel and manga series titled Sword Oratoria illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura and Takashi Yagi respectively, a 4-koma manga titled Kamisama no Nichijo written by Masaya Takamura, and an anime series by J.C.Staff, the second season of which, also titled Sword Oratoria, will begin airing in spring 2017.
The series is set in the world of Orario where adventurers travel in order to beat its dungeon and the monsters within to claim crystal shards and other treasures to increase their magical powers and wealth. Adventurers in Orario join groups called familia that serve a range of functions from dungeon-crawling to crafting items under the group’s resident deity, which the group is named after.
The story follows Bell Cranel, a 14-year-old adventurer and (early on) the only member of the Hestia Familia who fights hard each day in the dungeon to try and improve himself. He aspires to become as strong as Aiz Wallenstein, a beautiful and powerful swordswoman of the Loki Familia nicknamed Sword Princess who has killed over 1,000 monsters and is the main character of the spin-off series Sword Oratoria, so he can confess his feelings to her. However, he has to contend with Hestia, his resident deity who protects him and helps with his growth despite being jealous of his involvement with any other girls. Nicknamed the Loli Boob Goddess for her ample chest, she initially failed 50 times to recruit anyone into her familia before secretly following Bell and recruiting him as the one and only member of her familia.
Later in the series, the Hestia Familia expands to include Lilliluka Erde, a former member of the Soma Familia and a porter who initially joins the group to steal Bell’s Hestia Knife but later falls for him after he rescues her from a Killer Ant colony; Welf Crozzo, a magic smithy who was originally a member of the Hephaistos Familia but joins the Hestia Familia after becoming friends with Bell and becomes his personal armorer; Mikoto Yamato; Haruhime’s childhood friend and originally a member of the Takemikazuchi Familia who transfers to the Hestia Familia after assisting them in foiling the Apollo Familia’s plot to bring down Hestia; and Haruhime Sanjono; a Renart (demi-human with fox traits) who joins the Hestia Familia after being rescued by Bell and Mikoto when her familia, the Ishtar Familia, was destroyed by the Freya Familia.
