ANIME REVIEW: IS IT WRONG TO PICK UP GIRLS IN A DUNGEON?: ARROW OF ORION MOVIE

STORY

Arrow of Orion is a film set in the world of IS IT WRONG TO PICK UP GIRLS IN A DUNGEON? Now I knew nothing of this particular series before watching this film and so my review will be reflecting my impressions of the movie on its own merits barring any additional research.

The film offers up some world building background through a montage and voice over after an opening tragic battle scene that sets the lot in motion. The gods at some point decided to come down to the Earth or Lower World as they call it to dwell their children, that being humans and other humanoid races (there are many characters with cat ears and tails seen in the film). The gods have sealed away the greater portion of their godly powers and guide humans in various ways. Some collect humans in groups they call Familias, devoted followers of a particular god. The goddess Hestia only has one named Bell while the other gods shown have many followers of five or more. About the size of an adventuring party if you play Dungeons and Dragons. This is significant as this world is seemingly built on rules from both D&D and dungeon crawler games like Diablo.

Adventuring is a profession and many character go to the local dungeon to level up and gain riches by defeating the monsters that are seemingly endlessly generated in the dungeon (which is actually a tower). It seems that adventurers are needed to keep the monsters contained in a given dungeon so that they do not escape to menace the people in the area. Also when a creature is killed it evaporates leaving a jewel behind (in the fashion ofÂ a video game mechanic). While I’ve seen a few anime that were obviously based on things like D&D before I’ve never seen one where the defeated enemies literally dropped treasure. The idea is weird and amusing and certainly explains the mass appeal of adventuring.

The plot gets in motion when the god Hermes sets up an Arthurian contest, a challenger must pull a spear from a crystal to claim a prize. This is a ruse as Hermes and Artemis are actually seeking a champion for a quest and Bell proves to be the hero the Artemis needs. Artemis and Hermes end up enlisting Hestia, Bell and his friends on a quest to defeat a legendary monster of enormous power. Bell, Hestia and Artemis are the main focus of the film and we get the most out of their relationship. In very anime fashion a love triangle is quickly set up with Hestia becoming quite jealous of Artemis’s interest in Bell. This is complicated by the fact that Artemis is not acting like her old Heavenly self at all according to Hestia a fact which seems to confuse even Artemis. Its easy to guess that this is all times to the opening scene and that Artemis’s familia have all died horribly in front of her and you are left wondering at how this has affected her. Hestia is both jealous of any affection Bell draws from other females but also deeply care about her goddess friend and this conflict only grows as she learns the truth about the quest at hand. Bell for his part is the quintessential idealistic young hero yearning to be the great protector. He is full of grandly naive ideas of what such a life will be like, not yet aware of the realities, hardships and dire choices that such a life will certainly thrust upon him. You see Bell is a rookie adventurer, still just being a level 2 and still retains a great deal of optimistic innocence. Artemis is struggling with what has happened to her. The formerly powerful and capable goddess is still strong but now vulnerable and somewhat fragile in her uncertainty, there is more to it of course but no spoilers.

ART

The character art is rather nice, and done in the traditional style of hand drawn art which as an old schooler I greatly appreciate. The same can be said for the background elements and actions. Certain monsters however, are rendered by computer and even though they are cell shaded to match the other animation as much as possible this sort of thing is always noticeable. Not that I blame the creators as putting fifty giant scorpions in the scene at one time would have taken many months of work by multiple artists.

MUSIC/SOUND

The music is appropriately serviceable but nothing that sticks out in my mind after the movie was over. I honestly can’t remember it but I know it worked while watching the film. It just wasn’t memorable. The sound design did stand out though. Feats and magic preformed by the characters have a lot of impact thanks to the sound work and you get an idea of the scale of power unleashed audibly as well as visually. A nice touch.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Not the best anime I’ve ever seen and some of the plot and ideas are derivative of other anime I’ve watched but Arrow of Orion was very enjoyable with likable characters a classic story and now major flaws I could discern. Well worth a watch for anime and fantasy fans.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

In theaters July 23 through Fathom Events

Director:Â Katsushi Sakurabi
Script:Â Fujino ÅŒmori
Music:Â Keiji Inai
Original creator:Â Fujino ÅŒmori
Original Character Design:Â Suzuhito Yasuda
Character Design:Â Shigeki Kimoto
Art Director:Â Yasuhiro Okumura
Sound Director:Â Jin Aketagawa
Director of Photography:Â Shingo Fukuyo