Episode 07 – “Aiz Wallenstein: Sword Princess”

I actually envisioned Bell and Lili joining forces earlier and having Lili’s secret come out after a bit of story progressed, but I’m glad we cleared up Lili’s story all at once because it lets us go back to Freya and what she has in store for Bell. As I sort of guessed before, it really seems like all Freya sees in Bell is a simple play thing that she watch grow stronger, and it appears that she intends to throw Ottarl at him as sort of a test.

Despite Ottarl’s godlike strength, Freya likely has full confidence that Bell can beat Ottarl, or at least survive that Minotaur that he brutalized. After all, it’s no fun if your toys get broken before you get a chance to play with them yourself. Though, it looks like Bell is some dire straights with those orcs and goblins in the underground forest where he was attacked by Lili last episode. Interestingly, DanMachi pulls out another sort of cliffhanger, but I like how this one is done much more than the first one with the Silverback gorilla.

The way the episode cuts back to Bell’s training almost made me completely forget that Bell and Lili were in danger. I actually had to rewind the episode back, just in case I had missed something. Cinematically, I’m not quite sure what having that flashback accomplishes that wouldn’t have worked if it was shown chronologically. I guess it’s supposed to create a direct connection with what he learns from Aiz, as well as the character development that happens between them, and the dangerous situation he finds himself in.

Even though our heroes are in a life-threatening situation, DanMachi still finds the time to be funny with Aiz continually knocking Bell’s lights out and Hestia’s jealous fits. There are also plenty of great moments with Bell’s panicked screaming, which I can always appreciate.

“If I keep being scared, I’ll never catch up to her.” ~ Bell Cranel

B.W.