Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

• 1. Introduction

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  Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, known to fans as DanMachi, had more than 17 million copies of its print franchise in circulation by March 2024. That is a remarkable figure for a series that began as a single writer's contest entry. It is a Japanese light novel series written by Fujino Ōmori and illustrated by Suzuhito Yasuda. The story unfolds in a city shared by gods and mortals, above a labyrinth full of monsters. Its hero is a rookie adventurer who wants to become strong for one particular reason. Why would gods choose to live like ordinary people? What does a young adventurer's admiration for a single swordswoman set in motion? And how does one novel grow into manga, anime seasons, a film and mobile games?

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• 2. Orario Below Ground

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  Beneath the fictional city of Orario lies a labyrinth known simply as the Dungeon. Above it live a number of gods who came to the mortal world looking for excitement. To feel the hardships of ordinary people, they chose to limit their own divine powers. Each god keeps a retinue of adventurers and support personnel drawn from the city's population. Such a group is called a Familia.

  The main work of a Familia is to descend into the Dungeon and fight monsters. When a monster is destroyed, it leaves behind crystal shards. Those shards are used to craft magic items and other treasures. They can also be traded directly for the world's currency.

  Power in this world is measured the way role playing game players would expect. Every adventurer has a level and a set of ability scores. Defeating stronger monsters raises both. It can also unlock special powers called skills. Those rules set the stage for a newcomer whose own skill grows from an unusual source.

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• 3. A Rookie's Admiration

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  Bell Cranel is a 14-year-old rookie adventurer, and he is the only member of the Hestia Familia. His life changes after a chance encounter with Ais Wallenstein, a famous and powerful swordswoman of the Loki Familia. She saves him from a powerful monster. Bell vows on the spot to become as strong as she is.

  That vow feeds a hidden gift. Without realizing it, Bell develops an ability called Liaris Freese. It speeds up his growth in strength, and it is driven by his feelings.

  As Bell pushes himself to grow, many people begin to notice him. Several girls, both deities and mortals, develop romantic feelings for him. The most prominent among them is Hestia herself. Bell never returns any of that affection, because his heart belongs to Ais alone. Readers first met this story through a writing contest.

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• 4. From Contest to Shelf

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  Fujino Ōmori wrote the story under the title Familia Myth as his entry for the 4th GA Bunko Award. It won the Great Prize, and he received an offer of publication along with it. The first volume appeared on the 15th of January 2013 from SB Creative, under the GA Bunko imprint.

  The books kept coming. As of the 11th of October 2025, twenty-one volumes have been published. Sales were already estimated at over 9 million copies as of January 2018.

  Overseas readers got their turn in December 2014. Yen Press licensed the series for North America and released the first volume under its Yen On imprint. Back in Japan, the novel had already placed fourth in 2014 in Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, the annual guide book from Takarajimasha. Only months after the first volume, a manga version began running in a magazine from Square Enix.

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• 5. Manga Editions

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  On the 2nd of August 2013, Square Enix's seinen magazine Young Gangan began serializing the first manga adaptation. Kunieda illustrated it, and it ended unexpectedly in 2018. Its chapters were collected in ten tankōbon volumes. A second manga run, drawn by Yamachi Taisei, started in 2019 and has been collected in six tankōbon volumes.

  Yen Press announced the North American manga rights at its panel at New York Comic Con 2014. A different style of adaptation followed. The four-panel comic Days of Goddess, by Masaya Takamura, began on Gangan Online on the 14th of August 2014.

  The manga branched out further. The Familia Chronicle stories "Episode Lyu" and "Episode Freya" received manga versions. So did the Memoria Freese video game. A manga based on the Record Astrea novels, illustrated by Karu Yoneshiro, is set to begin in Monthly Big Gangan on the 25th of May 2026.

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• 6. First Seasons and a Film

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  On the broadcast night of the 3rd of April 2015, the anime adaptation from J.C.Staff began airing. Yuka Iguchi performed the opening theme, "Hey World". Kanon Wakeshima sang the ending, "Right Light Rise". Crunchyroll streamed the series internationally outside Asia. Sentai Filmworks licensed it for digital and home video release in North America, and an English dub followed in March 2017. In Southeast Asia, the show aired on Aniplus Asia. An original video animation came out on the 7th of December 2016.

  The 18th of February 2018 brought double news. At the GA Bunko 2018 Happyō Stage at Wonder Festival, a second season and an original film were announced. The film, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Arrow of the Orion, was directed by Katsushi Sakurabi. Ōmori wrote it himself, and Keiji Inai composed the music. It opened in Japan on the 15th of February 2019.

  The second season ran from the 13th of July to the 28th of September 2019. Hideki Tachibana took over as director from Yoshiki Yamakawa, while the rest of the cast and staff returned. Iguchi performed the opening, "Hello to Dream". The ending was "Sayakana Shukusai" by Sora tob sakana. Hidive streamed a dubcast of this season. By June 2019, as the second season aired, the print franchise had passed 12 million copies in circulation.

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• 7. Delays and Later Seasons

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  Plans for a third season and a new OVA episode were announced on the 27th of September 2019. The second OVA episode arrived on the 29th of January 2020. The season was slated for July 2020. Because of COVID-19, the production committee pushed the broadcast to "October or later". On the 4th of July 2020, the committee confirmed an October 2020 start.

  The third season aired from the 3rd of October to the 19th of December 2020 and ran for 12 episodes. Iguchi sang the opening, "Over and Over", and Sajou no Hana performed the ending, "Evergreen". A third OVA was announced on the 18th of December 2020. It was released on the 28th of April 2021.

  The fourth season was announced at GA FES 2021 on the 31st of January 2021. Ōmori supervised the scripts alongside Hideki Shirane. It premiered on the 23rd of July 2022 and ended on the 1st of October 2022 after 11 episodes. It resumed on the 7th of January 2023 and finished on the 18th of March 2023 with another 11 episodes, for 22 in total. Sajou no Hana performed the first opening, "Tentō", and Saori Hayami sang the first ending, "Guide". Hayami also sang the second opening, "Shikō", while Sajou no Hana performed the second ending, "Kirikizu".

  On the 31st of March 2022, the series was dropped from Crunchyroll's streaming service, following Sony Pictures Television's acquisition of the platform. The fifth season was announced on the 4th of November 2023 at an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of the light novels. It aired from October 2024 to March 2025. A sixth season was announced at the Aedes Vesta event on the 7th of February 2026.

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• 8. Side Stories and Games

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  In January 2014, a side story series called Sword Oratoria began. Ōmori wrote it, and Kiyotaka Haimura illustrated it, working from designs by Yasuda. Its focus is Ais Wallenstein, the swordswoman Bell admires. As of the 5th of February 2026, sixteen volumes have been published. It has a manga adaptation, and an anime television series aired from April to June 2017. A second spin-off, Familia Chronicle, illustrated by Nilitsu, began in March 2017.

  The games came next. On the 28th of November 2019, the studio 5pb. released Infinite Combate, which it had described as a dungeon action RPG. It launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows. The PlayStation 4, Switch and PC versions reached Europe on the 7th of August 2020 and North America on the 11th of August 2020.

  The mobile role-playing game Memoria Freese was far bigger. It launched in Japan on the 19th of June 2017, in North America on the 30th of March 2018 and in Europe in 2019. It sold over 3 million copies in its first month. By March 2018 it had about 35 million registered users and more than 1 million subscribers. Its earnings in the United States ran 40 percent higher than in Japan.

  In June 2019, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, the voice of Bell, was recognized by Guinness World Records for the largest number of lines performed by a single voice actor in a mobile game. Ōmori himself wrote major stories for the game, including the prequels Argonaut and Astrea Record. Both were later released as light novels. On the 27th of December 2023, the game's international services were announced to end by the 28th of February 2024.

  Another mobile title, Battle Chronicle, was announced in December 2022. It was planned for the 23rd of May 2023 but slipped to the 24th of August. In March 2023, Neowiz and Gree Entertainment announced a further untitled mobile game.

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