Kaithar

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Story	Art	Sound	Character	Enjoyment	Overall
7/10	8/10	5/10	6/10	10/10	8/10
(Good)	(Very Good)	(Mediocre)	(Fair)	(Outstanding)	(Very Good)

I can understand why this show gets the hate it does, but I think some of it is undeserved.

Story wise there is a strange collision of mythos that actually works some how. A few bits to highlight:

• Hestia is an odd interpretation, though some of it fits. Classically she is the Goddess of hearth, home and family, so her feelings towards Bell kind of fit, but she's also classically under a vow of chastity. She's also one of the oldest in the Greek pantheon, so really she should get more respect from the other deities. She is a somewhat non-confrontational Goddess, lacks the kind of domain specific skills that the others have, and is generally less well known, all of which fits her character in DanMachi.
• Hephaestus... I'm not going to say much on her other than that there is precedent in relevant mythology for Gods to switch sex for fun.
• Freya, being a Norse Goddess, is tricky. I don't think she's classically as mean as she's being portrayed here, but she is a patron for love, sex, war and death, so it's not a huge leap.
• The tower. That is the tower of Bable, Old Testament biblical mythos. In this world the tower forms part of the seal keeping the monsters in the dungeon. It's visited often as the dungeon entrance is under it.
  The dungeon goes down (not up like in SAO) [ 1]

  Margin note 1:
  The dungeon is actually conical, the further down you go the larger the floors until they're bigger than the city above them. SAO's Aincrad was similar in shape but traversed in the opposite direction.

  and is likely an allusion to the Labyrinth of Daedalus.
• The general portray of the deities as fickle troublemakers is pretty consistent with their original stories.

That being said, the deities in DanMachi are only loosely based on their real world name sakes, so they shouldn't be compared too much to the relevant characterizations.

As an establishing season it's not terrible, but it would have been nice to have had more information about Bell's first skill.

The art is touch less complex than some anime, but it's still pretty good and consistent.

Sound I have to heavily mark down just for how many times a slightly whiny "Bell-kun!" "Kamisama!" is heard. Could make a drinking game out of just that. Otherwise it's not bad, the opening and closing songs are pleasant (though they don't grab me quite as much as some others have) and the BGM stays in the background properly.

Characters... That's where it gets tricky. The harem aspect is painfully over the top, particularly since he makes it clear he's only interested in Aiz. Having so many of the female characters inexplicably throw themselves at him actually gets in the way of the story... Although I suppose that is somewhat realistic.
The lack of solid male characters is also disappointing, they're mostly shown as weaker fighters than their female peers and/or as chauvinist jerks. The few exceptions are kept in the background. This will hopefully be balanced out as the story progresses.
Many characters are suffering from trope overload, though they do at least seem to have some personality beyond that. I'm willing to write that off as a necessity of establishing their identity and purpose in the plot even though it could have been done better.
Having Hestia be a loli-big-boobs is definitely a fan service choice, somewhat redeemed by the fact she knows she's well endowed and makes light of it. It's also justified for her to have those boobs, considering her position of Goddess of family.
Bell demonstrates depressing amounts of naivety on many occasions, particularly regarding his skill slots. This may frustrate you.

That pattern continues through the series, a lot of apparently pandering choices and tropes that start to get deconstructed or explained but aren't fully satisfied before the end of the season. This is a show that could well get better as it goes on, assuming it doesn't crash and burn first.
So essentially, Season 2 will be the make or break season for the anime. Hopefully it gets that second season.

Overall I enjoyed the show... It's just silly enough that you can ignore the flaws and enjoy it as a comedy, assuming harem isn't a deal breaker for you. Just try not to look too hard for some deeper meaning or moral tale, I'm not sure there is one yet.