English Dub Review: Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon III “(Xenos) Heretics”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After Lady Wiene’s little accidental reveal in the middle of town, the guild is being swarmed with angry and distressed villagers up in arms about the response to the supposed threat. Bell is surprised to be summoned to the guild, especially when what he receives is not a quest, but a mandatory mission instead.

He and the Hestia Familia are to escort Weine to the 20th floor. It’s a dangerous journey, but once they arrive, they find something even more frightening to behold: an entire legion of monsters armed with weapons. But just when they think all is lost, a surprising twist is revealed: they’ve reached a place where talking monsters live, and they’re ready to welcome Wiene home.

Our Take:

After the ending of last week’s episode, something had to give. Wiene can’t be kept secret anymore, not when her presence is talked of throughout the town. (Xenos) Heretics solves the problem by giving Wiene a new town to occupy — one that’s entirely comprised of talking creatures like herself. It’s an average episode that benefits from the surprise twist at the end, although it might not have been all that surprising to some.

The setup of the plot is ominous to say the least. A mysterious note instructing Bell and his friends to bring Wiene to the 20th floor isn’t exactly the most encouraging ultimatum to be issued. But they set off all the same, with Wiene saying she knows everything will be okay as long as they’re together. It comes off a bit cloying, as sentimental stuff usually has so far in this season. We’ve spent a little time with Wiene and the family over the past few episodes, but I can’t quite feel like the depth of their connection has been fully earned.

While the gang fights their way down to the 20th floor, Hestia has another task. Inside the mission note was a coded message meant solely for her. She goes to talk to Uranus, and discovers that there’s a colony of exiles living on the 20th floor who sound a lot like Wiene. The scenes with Hestia learning more about them are obviously there just to provide some exposition, but they also give a nice breather between the combat going on below, so I’ll let that go.

The most exciting part of the episode is certainly the fight that Bell and his party gets into with the creatures they encounter on the floor. Dozens of muscle-y monsters with weapons is enough to chill even the most heated of warriors, but Bell stands his ground and doesn’t abandon Wiene. It turns out that that’s exactly what the monsters wanted to test. Once he proves his mettle, they happily welcome him and his friends to their humble town. Seeing the excitement that his presence generates is fun, especially with how badly everyone wants to shake his hand.

This episode did a good job of progressing the plot forward while still providing some surprises along the way. Wiene getting out of the city was a must, but the way the show goes about it is novel enough. And getting to see some fierce battling before it turns into some serious friendship was fun, too. I’m not sure how Wiene is going to feel about leaving Bell to live on the 20th floor with a bunch of strangers, though — next week may come with a majorly put out monster.