Season One was a straightforward generic isekai, being distinguished only by the high quality of execution. Since I can hear autistic screeching all the way from here, do note that “isekai” as an anime genre name means action-adventure fantasy with JRPG mechanics, or even more precisely, the “SAO clone” (the same way “first-person shooter” is the “Doom clone” genre). Any arguments to the contrary, particularly the ones based on the semantics of the words “another world” (which is NOT how “isekai” translates from Japanese) are an exercise in mental deficiency.
Anyway, the “depth” (quotes to emphasize the fact that many people that like using this word as a praise of anime shows they like wouldn’t recognize depth if it bit their ass and held on) of Season One of Danmachi comes from the fact that it took the building blocks of SAO and treated them as speculative fiction. The MC is overpowered and wins every fight. The MC has a harem. JRPG mechanics are a thing. That’s our baseline. Instead of using these elements mindlessly, or attempting to reject/subvert them, the story tasked itself with building a world where they make logical sense. E.g. the MC is swarmed by women because he is physically attractive, has a pleasant personality, and is a famous prodigy (“bElL iS gEnErIc sELf-iNseRt” - a low-intelligence wannabe critic). Add on top of that Greek Mythology, core ideas of which (the inevitability of fate; a hero’s place in the world; gods walking among men; etc) the author has managed to capture on a level that flies over the head of 99% of the audience - and you get the objectively best non-comedic isekai there is.
Meanwhile, Season Two tries to mix things up, managing to check a lot of boxes on a midwit’s list of things that make an anime series bad in the process. A dip in production values (especially the action sequences). Huge chunks of the source material content that didn’t make it into the adaptation. A story that actually tried to expand its horizons beyond the standard isekai template and do something original and thought-provoking (Ishtar’s “what’s wrong with being a whore” monologue in its 20 seconds has more “depth” than an entire 3x3 of an average pseud) instead of staying in its comfort zone and spinning the wheels - and as every midwit knows, “a show that confuses me by doing something I don’t understand is stupid and bad.”
In short, Season Two was better than Season One in concept but worse in execution (even if the pleb opinion would make you believe it’s the worst thing since cancer).
All this long introduction was necessary so that I could keep my actual Season Three review short - Season Three is peak Danmachi experience as it combines all the strongest aspects of the first two seasons.
More amazing action sequences on the level of Bell vs Minotaur fight - it’s not just that action sequences look good, it’s that they’re episode-spanning and tell a story instead of interrupting (or being interrupted by) a story.
More speculative fiction goodness (a comically evil mustache-twirling antagonist is driven to be comically evil by his hereditary magic schizophrenia).
More godly shenanigans continuing from Season Two - Yato’s Evil Twin (aka Ikelos) is my favorite new character by far, because he’s here to spell out loud what other gods like Hermes, Loki, or Freya are trying to hide under their facades and platitudes - that the gods are there to play The Sims irl, nothing more, nothing less.
More exploration and expansion of the story’s core themes - Wiene’s arc, which spans the entire season, is like Haruhime’s arc on steroids. What does it mean to be a hero? Sure, you want to protect the weak, but who exactly fits the definition of “the weak” here? How are you going to do “the right thing” if you can’t even tell what it is? How about when your close friends consider the right thing to be the opposite of what you think is right and go against you? These aren’t the questions you answer with just doing your best and trying really hard - Punished Bell has to do some serious soul searching.
The direction is as good as in Season One. I’ve seen too much anime for my own good during my lifetime. Too often I find myself watching a show that I can recognize as objectively well-made - but still struggling to finish an episode in one sitting because I kinda know what it is doing at every moment. DanMachi III is in the minority of shows that kept me engaged from start to finish and actually looking forward to new episodes - because new and interesting stuff just keeps happening. This is literally what it means for a series to be well-directed.
9/10 for a top-shelf action-adventure series.
