Sword Oratoria: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side

Episode 2

Maybe I blocked it out, but I don't remember so much Loki-assaulting-Lefiya action in the original Sword Oratoria novels. Not that the adaptation needs to strictly adhere to the source material (that has its own risks), but seeing poor Lefiya get jumped on and groped by her goddess several times in half an hour is definitely a detraction for me. The first time the twins and Aiz sidestepped Loki leaving Lefiya to take the fall was kind of funny; by the end of the episode, I wished Lefiya had spent more time learning to dodge than trying to make Aiz feel better.

That's the focus of this episode: Lefiya wanting Aiz to be a little less mopey. It's not a bad premise, given that we know Aiz has some issues bubbling beneath her unemotive surface. In fact, Aiz's stoic demeanor and how she does show emotions are some of the best parts of the episode. The most important is when the scene at Mamma Mia's from Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?'s main series is replayed from the Loki Familia's point of view – as Bete is jealously (and drunkenly) ragging on Bell, we see Aiz slowly clenching her fists on her lap. Whether she's too shy to speak up or just doesn't want to get involved with Bete's rant isn't clear, but we do know that she's not happy with what he's saying, something which comes as a surprise to everyone else when she runs out of the restaurant after Bell. Her body language is key to understanding her, from that clenched fist to her awkwardness when she's modeling the one outfit she actually likes (and picked out for herself) when Lefiya,Tiona, and Tione take her shopping, the decision to put the focus on Lefiya's thoughts rather than Aiz's leaves us dependent on watching for the little details.

Sadly, that backfires a bit this week with a noticeable drop in quality for the character designs. Faces are off-model a surprising amount, and Aiz's face seems to lengthen and shrink depending on the scene. She's the most frequent victim of this (although Tiona suffers from a lack of facial detail a fair amount of the time), which again may be the result of an increased focus on Lefiya, who gets a lot of facial expressions that include her long ears and more consistently detailed clothing. On the bright side, there are no scenes where we see Aiz's incredibly annoying breastplate, which almost makes up for everything.

I realize that it's starting to sound like I resent the switch from Aiz to Lefiya as the main character. That's not actually true – Lefiya makes for a good entry point into Loki Familia, as she's simply neither as powerful nor as comfortable as most of her fellows, and the way she keeps trying so hard to understand and comfort Aiz is endearing. But the downside is that we're still largely in the dark about Aiz herself, and since she's so (deliberately) closed-off, the chance to get inside her head is one that's sorely needed. As of right now, “Mother Hen” Riveria appears to be the only person who has even a basic understanding of who Aiz is and what made her that way, and while the almost parent/child relationship that the two have is nice to see, it isn't quite making up for what we aren't getting.

This is really a transition episode, leading us up to the next big scene in the franchise's timeline – the monster attack in town, AKA the next time Bell and Aiz cross paths. That the two are living in the same city but walking different paths is both obvious and one of the better done aspects of this episode. (Look for the guest appearance of Hestia and her infamous outfit!) The focus on the girls going shopping and taking showers is presumably intended to offer a breather for the audience, but whether that works will depend on your tolerance for boob comparisons and the Loki jumping on Lefiya jokes. Hopefully things will balance out more for this series going forward – although this episode still has its moments, it also feels like a step backwards from episode one.

Rating: B-

Sword Oratoria: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side is currently streaming on Amazon's Anime Strike.