Best anime scenes: The birth of a hero in Danmachi (epi 8)
Get rid of all the preconceptions you have on Danmachi. Whether it is a shitty harem anime or not, I am here to convince you on how that shitty anime managed to craft one of the most intense anime battles I have ever seen. So buckle up your seat belts and let's go on an adventure.
The set-up is important in setting the overall tone and to solidify the stakes and motivations of our main character. "This shell can only be broken by those who goes on adventures." This is followed by the roar of the minotaur which instantly sets up for Bell's battle with his greatest fear in the episode. This cuts to showing Bell despairing over the huge gap between him and Ainz who he is trying to catch up. "You can't compare to her, she is special," and "I'm not fast, or strong at all," brilliantly sets up the internal conflict of Bell with his own weakness. And after Ryuu explains the concept of having an adventure, we instantly jump into the emotional crux of the episode. THE EPIC MINOTAUR BATTLE.
I need to compliment JC Staff for capturing the atmosphere of the battle wonderfully with the design of the stage. The use of cold and dark colours emphasises the bleakness of the dungeon, almost drowning out the brighter colours of our characters as well. Before the minotaur appears, we are already feeling the tension of the upcoming battle. The cuts to the minotaur's feet and to its broken horn and the chilling sound of the bastard sword dragging across the rocks makes for the frightening entrance of the minotaur and immediately Bell and Lily are pissing their pants. We even see Bell being so afraid that he zoned out, needing Lily to push him out of harm's way. When Bell finally starts fighting it, he only fires firebolts at a distance which shows how afraid he is of the minotaur. A fist swings in and Bell barely manages to block it, sending him smashing into the wall, stripping him of all his armour. Note that he is defenceless now, which reflects his current mental state as well. Bell is only able to dodge the minotaur's attacks and he keeps thinking to himself how he wants to run away. Even after Lily manages to escape, he is only thinking of buying time. The concept of fighting back doesn't even come across him as he is just waiting for someone to come save him again. This places him back on the same place as episode one where he is weak which means that this episode is the best time for him to grow and gather the courage to fight.
The scene with Bell, struggling to crawl up from being slammed into the ground is almost heart-wrenching. But cut the music as Ainz is here to save the day. It calls for a time to celebrate except for the fact that Bell refuses to be saved again. Bell can't face the fact that Ainz is slowly climbing out of his sight while he stays as level one. This is where his pride compels him to stand against the pain and humiliation he has suffered and finally take a stand. I need to commend the voice actor, Kirito *ahem* I mean Yoshitsugu Matsuoka for delivering those spine-chilling lines to capture Bell's determination perfectly.
"I'm going on an adventure," signals the second cour of the fight. But this time, we know it will be serious and that shit is about to go down. With only the sound of Bell's boots to build hype, it begins with the background music to kick us off to Bell clashing swords with the minotaur. We cut to Ainz's party which severely underestimates Bell but this is immediately contrasted with when Bell manages to stand his ground. And this is where I have to start talking about the OST, 'heroic desire'. You don't even need to watch this episode let alone this anime. Just go listen to it. It is the pure definition of an epic adventure sound track. Every anime should have this sound track. I'm not even joking. This sound track makes up half of the epicness of this fight alone.
"I want to be a hero." This is Bell's motivation. It is so cliche that if one heard of it they would push it off as a shitty harem protaganist but Bell is about to show you that it is not fun and games and he is going to gruellingly work for it. He finally manages to get a few slashes in but it is not effective. His knife can't cut through the minotaur's tough flesh. He shoots firebolts but it isn't effective. The magic isn't strong enough. Everything is disadvantageous to our hero now but he doesn't give up. And he isn't your typical shounen protaganist either, there is no friendship power or a random surplus of magic. He will fight the minotaur with pure skills, tactics and sheer will power. The minotaur shatters his sword but he is not deterred. He counter attacks by digging his knife into the arm of the minotaur and brutally disarms it by twisting it. Can I just add on about how fucking awesome this shit is... Like fucking seriously. Bell fakes the minotaur out by acting like he was going for it while he was actually trying to pick up the minotaur's bastard sword. Again, the bastard sword is like the size of Bell which emphasises how much of a badass our hero is. Then he starts hacking the minotaur like it is his bitch and wears the minotaur's blood like a fucking champ. FUCK ME. IMMA BOUT TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK.
The battle cuts to a wide shot of Bell's fight with Ainz's party spectating at the side. This shot holds so much weight as Ainz's party is the strongest party in the entire series. Yet they are watching this battle of a level one adventurer in such awe. With 'heroic desire' reaching the climax, it is as if the strongest adventurers are watching the birth of a hero themselves.
The minotaur prepares for a charge, signalling to Bell to do the same. Bell could've backed down at this point but he is no longer afraid. He wants to beat the minotaur at its own game. And with roaring cries, they both charge into each other in the climax of their battle. While the others comment on how Bell was foolish, while Lily cries out, Ainz reassures us on Bell's abilities. Bell smashes the bastard sword into the minotaur's horn to try to break it but the sword shatters instead. But when it just so looks like Bell is about to be impaled, Bell dodges the strike from all the training he has received from Ainz and turns the dangerous situation into an advantageous one. He digs his knife into the belly of the minotaur and screams out to the heavens as he shoots fire into the minotaur's body.
"Firebolt!!!" The minotaur spits out blood but still doesn't die and tries to smash Bell into the ground.
"FIREBOLTTT!!!!!" The minotaur spits of fire, clearly losing its strength but it still doesn't fall.
"FIYAAAHHHBOOORRUUUTOOO!!!!!!!" And with a yell which could have summoned the gods themselves, the minotaur explodes into a tornado of flames with its upper body disintegrating into ashes.
The body explodes into a white mist, which rains down on Bell as he faints from exhaustion but still stands tall from the heat of the battle, staring into the heavens as if he has surpassed the gods himself. The battle comes to an end as everyone in Ainz's party, including us as well, just jizzed our fucking pants and contemplate whether this just came from a shitty harem anime. With Hestia holding Bell's hand in the bed, she reassures us as well, that this was only the first page of their story, and Bell's epicness could make us jizz our pants for many more times to come.
Bell went from despairing in his own weakness, to drowning in his cowardice, to standing back up and finally gathering the courage to face his foe. He did not cheese the fight, but turn his disadvantageous like his weak equipment and his weak magic against his opponent. He used his pure skills alone to overpower the minotaur and delivered to us all the best fight finale I have ever laid my eyes on. And in my heart, he has also earned the title of 'best cliche harem protagonist ever' and if I ever wanted to go gay, I will be gay for him.
This fight is a solid package. A good set-up to the fight to pack it with enough meaning for me to root for Bell. Excellent facial expressions from Bell to show his undying determination. A well-done fight scene which isn't the best but manages to keep me at the edge of my seat. Good editing of the cuts between Bell, Ainz, Lily and Ainz's party in the final charge which greatly enhanced the tension and meaning of Bell's head on charge. The badass climatic ending. And of course, the mvp of the episode, 'heroic desire' to convey to us the birth of Bell Cranel as the one and only Argonaut.
I can't do this scene enough justice. But whether or not you like this anime or not, just watch this one episode. You might not be as hype as me. But I assure you that there will at least be one aspect of it that you will certainly enjoy.
The set-up is important in setting the overall tone and to solidify the stakes and motivations of our main character. "This shell can only be broken by those who goes on adventures." This is followed by the roar of the minotaur which instantly sets up for Bell's battle with his greatest fear in the episode. This cuts to showing Bell despairing over the huge gap between him and Ainz who he is trying to catch up. "You can't compare to her, she is special," and "I'm not fast, or strong at all," brilliantly sets up the internal conflict of Bell with his own weakness. And after Ryuu explains the concept of having an adventure, we instantly jump into the emotional crux of the episode. THE EPIC MINOTAUR BATTLE.
I need to compliment JC Staff for capturing the atmosphere of the battle wonderfully with the design of the stage. The use of cold and dark colours emphasises the bleakness of the dungeon, almost drowning out the brighter colours of our characters as well. Before the minotaur appears, we are already feeling the tension of the upcoming battle. The cuts to the minotaur's feet and to its broken horn and the chilling sound of the bastard sword dragging across the rocks makes for the frightening entrance of the minotaur and immediately Bell and Lily are pissing their pants. We even see Bell being so afraid that he zoned out, needing Lily to push him out of harm's way. When Bell finally starts fighting it, he only fires firebolts at a distance which shows how afraid he is of the minotaur. A fist swings in and Bell barely manages to block it, sending him smashing into the wall, stripping him of all his armour. Note that he is defenceless now, which reflects his current mental state as well. Bell is only able to dodge the minotaur's attacks and he keeps thinking to himself how he wants to run away. Even after Lily manages to escape, he is only thinking of buying time. The concept of fighting back doesn't even come across him as he is just waiting for someone to come save him again. This places him back on the same place as episode one where he is weak which means that this episode is the best time for him to grow and gather the courage to fight.
The scene with Bell, struggling to crawl up from being slammed into the ground is almost heart-wrenching. But cut the music as Ainz is here to save the day. It calls for a time to celebrate except for the fact that Bell refuses to be saved again. Bell can't face the fact that Ainz is slowly climbing out of his sight while he stays as level one. This is where his pride compels him to stand against the pain and humiliation he has suffered and finally take a stand. I need to commend the voice actor, Kirito *ahem* I mean Yoshitsugu Matsuoka for delivering those spine-chilling lines to capture Bell's determination perfectly.
"I'm going on an adventure," signals the second cour of the fight. But this time, we know it will be serious and that shit is about to go down. With only the sound of Bell's boots to build hype, it begins with the background music to kick us off to Bell clashing swords with the minotaur. We cut to Ainz's party which severely underestimates Bell but this is immediately contrasted with when Bell manages to stand his ground. And this is where I have to start talking about the OST, 'heroic desire'. You don't even need to watch this episode let alone this anime. Just go listen to it. It is the pure definition of an epic adventure sound track. Every anime should have this sound track. I'm not even joking. This sound track makes up half of the epicness of this fight alone.
"I want to be a hero." This is Bell's motivation. It is so cliche that if one heard of it they would push it off as a shitty harem protaganist but Bell is about to show you that it is not fun and games and he is going to gruellingly work for it. He finally manages to get a few slashes in but it is not effective. His knife can't cut through the minotaur's tough flesh. He shoots firebolts but it isn't effective. The magic isn't strong enough. Everything is disadvantageous to our hero now but he doesn't give up. And he isn't your typical shounen protaganist either, there is no friendship power or a random surplus of magic. He will fight the minotaur with pure skills, tactics and sheer will power. The minotaur shatters his sword but he is not deterred. He counter attacks by digging his knife into the arm of the minotaur and brutally disarms it by twisting it. Can I just add on about how fucking awesome this shit is... Like fucking seriously. Bell fakes the minotaur out by acting like he was going for it while he was actually trying to pick up the minotaur's bastard sword. Again, the bastard sword is like the size of Bell which emphasises how much of a badass our hero is. Then he starts hacking the minotaur like it is his bitch and wears the minotaur's blood like a fucking champ. FUCK ME. IMMA BOUT TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK.
The battle cuts to a wide shot of Bell's fight with Ainz's party spectating at the side. This shot holds so much weight as Ainz's party is the strongest party in the entire series. Yet they are watching this battle of a level one adventurer in such awe. With 'heroic desire' reaching the climax, it is as if the strongest adventurers are watching the birth of a hero themselves.
The minotaur prepares for a charge, signalling to Bell to do the same. Bell could've backed down at this point but he is no longer afraid. He wants to beat the minotaur at its own game. And with roaring cries, they both charge into each other in the climax of their battle. While the others comment on how Bell was foolish, while Lily cries out, Ainz reassures us on Bell's abilities. Bell smashes the bastard sword into the minotaur's horn to try to break it but the sword shatters instead. But when it just so looks like Bell is about to be impaled, Bell dodges the strike from all the training he has received from Ainz and turns the dangerous situation into an advantageous one. He digs his knife into the belly of the minotaur and screams out to the heavens as he shoots fire into the minotaur's body.
"Firebolt!!!" The minotaur spits out blood but still doesn't die and tries to smash Bell into the ground.
"FIREBOLTTT!!!!!" The minotaur spits of fire, clearly losing its strength but it still doesn't fall.
"FIYAAAHHHBOOORRUUUTOOO!!!!!!!" And with a yell which could have summoned the gods themselves, the minotaur explodes into a tornado of flames with its upper body disintegrating into ashes.
The body explodes into a white mist, which rains down on Bell as he faints from exhaustion but still stands tall from the heat of the battle, staring into the heavens as if he has surpassed the gods himself. The battle comes to an end as everyone in Ainz's party, including us as well, just jizzed our fucking pants and contemplate whether this just came from a shitty harem anime. With Hestia holding Bell's hand in the bed, she reassures us as well, that this was only the first page of their story, and Bell's epicness could make us jizz our pants for many more times to come.
Bell went from despairing in his own weakness, to drowning in his cowardice, to standing back up and finally gathering the courage to face his foe. He did not cheese the fight, but turn his disadvantageous like his weak equipment and his weak magic against his opponent. He used his pure skills alone to overpower the minotaur and delivered to us all the best fight finale I have ever laid my eyes on. And in my heart, he has also earned the title of 'best cliche harem protagonist ever' and if I ever wanted to go gay, I will be gay for him.
This fight is a solid package. A good set-up to the fight to pack it with enough meaning for me to root for Bell. Excellent facial expressions from Bell to show his undying determination. A well-done fight scene which isn't the best but manages to keep me at the edge of my seat. Good editing of the cuts between Bell, Ainz, Lily and Ainz's party in the final charge which greatly enhanced the tension and meaning of Bell's head on charge. The badass climatic ending. And of course, the mvp of the episode, 'heroic desire' to convey to us the birth of Bell Cranel as the one and only Argonaut.
I can't do this scene enough justice. But whether or not you like this anime or not, just watch this one episode. You might not be as hype as me. But I assure you that there will at least be one aspect of it that you will certainly enjoy.
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