comprehend story-wise, and a "turn your brain off" level of entertainment value, DanMachi was tailor-made for mainstream success. But whatever integrity it may have had was lost somewhere in the creases of blue boob ribbons. If Maslow's Pyramid were ever accommodated to show the level of quality a title holds, DanMachi would presumably fall somewhere in the lower segments. This isn't to say that the show doesn't retain some sort of value, but in the bigger scheme of things, it's as significant as the crusty end slice of a loaf of bread.Brief synopsis: Set in a world that functions and operates like an MMORPG, we follow Bell Cranel, residential pussy protagonist and one in many self-proclaimed "adventurers" that strive to become the best of the best. These adventurers are aided by Gods/Goddesses who descended from the heavens to live among them. With one God/Goddess being the leader, many adventurers join them to form a guild (or for modern day standards, they're essentially a gang). After a chance encounter with another adventurer named Aiz "no personality" Wallenstein, or better known the world over as the "Sword Princess," our protagonist is motivated to become a better adventurer, if only for a chance to woo her over in the future. With the aid of his Goddess Loli Big Boo— Hestia, he sets off on his journey to do just that.Despite what the paint-by-numbers premise would have you believe, DanMachi doesn't seem to understand the construct of its own narrative. Beyond just meeting regulatory standards, the actual story and content itself never quite mesh. It tries to tell a coming-of-age tale, but our protagonist is never shown going through any of the proper stages of character progression usually associated with this kind of narrative. Instead of seeing him make mistakes to later learn from them, all of his conflicts are overcome by the writers splooging out dues ex machinas at every given turn. His advancements aren't earned through hard work and determination but are simply handed to him on a silver platter, making him yet another "chosen one" figurehead who's nuts haven't dropped, yet finds himself winning every battle like he's the spawn of Guts and Chuck Norris.Why rally for a protagonist if the outcome is always the same? Why portray him as a struggling newbie when he's merely going to gain powerful abilities and weaponry without any foreshadowing towards it? The show quite literally writes in a new power-up every other episode (no I'm not kidding, see spoiler section below), so by the time we're at the halfway point, he's practically outpaced most of the seasoned adventurers set in the same world. This could have been done in a more believable fashion had they given any of sort of proper explanation behind these events, but DanMachi makes no attempts to do so. It shrugs off all accountability and goes back to dangling boob strings like a set of shiny car keys to keep the audiences distracted from the underhanded ploy taking place.What the show does have going for it, however, is the setting itself.The world of DanMachi doesn't waste time debuting its features, with a medieval/high fantasy inspired architecture, it creates an interesting subculture, being anachronistic in its implementation, yet obtuse concept-wise since gaming mechanics are treated as much of a central pillar as its Middle Ages inspiration. Since the game aspects are as much of a part of real life to the inhabitants of DanMachi's universe, it's quite easy to buy into the world from the get-go. There's a weird amalgamation of game physics and natural world properties that the show fully embraces; it's grounded in our universe but slightly left-of-center given that game stats and leveling up is treated with the same sense of normalcy that gravity is. This includes adventurers that have to kill monsters to generate income and possibly to keep regular civilians safe. When they defeat these monsters, gems are left behind from their carcass (similar to most MMORPGs). And while the world mechanics and how things function were never explained to any reasonable amount of detail, the implied base knowledge that most viewers would have going in as to how these games work made it feel suitable despite its tendency to underwrite the parameters of its fantasy elements.Does the prospect of killing monsters and taking gems out their hides for a line of profession make sense? Well no, of course not. But was it fun? Yea, it sure was. For an anime that borrows its world functions from video games, DanMachi accomplishes what it had set out to do. It didn't place any further foresight as to how the macroeconomics of its world operates but that's fine since no one was expecting it to do so in the first place.What I was expecting, however, was better pacing, to be more specific, pacing that wasn't the equivalency of the show trying to belch out the alphabet in one breath. After the introductory episodes (1-3) in which the show maintained a steady pace, it then began to rush through plot points and character introductions at breakneck speeds. Where we were initially given a few episodes to establish the person's backstory, personality, and motivation, the show later attempts the same kind of effort in just one episode. It's as if the show had plans for 2-Cours and was later informed by the studio heads that they canceled plans for the 2nd season, and in a state of panic, the creators condensed everything in its screenplay into whatever schedueled episodes they had left. It's jarring, to say the least, doubly so when plot points are whizzing by without any proper setup or payoff. Shit sorta just... happens.But what did have staying power was a pair of underage sweater puppies. The kind of visual eye-candy that's predestined to overshadow the rest of the characters involved.The characters of DanMachi is of your garden variety, with many having indistinguishable personality traits from other shows. Our protagonist, Bell Cranel, is your typical dense bishounen beta-male who always strive to do the right thing. The kind of boy scout character that you just want to strangle repeatedly for his unrealistic amount of idealism. And like most protagonists of this ilk, he too has the uncanny ability to attract every female character in the series for no real reason whatsoever. But he isn't the one that the show would be remembered for, that honor lies with Hestia.In the same way that Yuno Gasai is more popular than the show she's a part of, so too is DanMachi's mascot, Hestia. Infamous for her boob ribbon, Breastia has become the subject matter of many fan arts, sending manchildren the world over clambering for their body pillows. With a bubbly personality and an extreme infatuation for our pussy protagonist, she's ideal power fantasy material for anyone that chooses to self-insert themselves into the show. The only "depth" found here is in the endless cleavage birthed from her unnaturally huge milk jugs. A character who's only purpose is to serve as someone's 2D desktop waifu. But even this cheap trophy-wife model offers more to like than the show's designated love interest.Aiz Wallenstein, the girl of Bell's affection, does not compute emotion. With the personality of a brick wall and the combat ability of a one-man-army, she's mostly just an idolized Mary Sue placed in the story to be Bell's object of admiration. Outside of that, her nonpresence has made her nothing but a goal for Bell to reach.The rest of the cast is mostly forgettable tag-along members that fall into one of three camps:a.) another female for Bell's haremb.) another female for Bell's haremc.) Welf Crozzo, the one trick ponySimilar to how underbaked the character writing was, the production as a whole also underperformed.The presentation of DanMachi is a mixed bag of passable to awful. There are moments where the show boasts decently-choreographed action scenes that get you pumped up, only to be followed up by jarring CGI monsters and choppy animation. This lack of consistency can be contributed to J.C.Staff's workload, as they were also adapting Shokugeki no Soma during the same period they worked on DanMachi, which could have resulted in an improper allocation of manpower. The art, for the most part, was appealing, with suitable color choices that made the landscapes and characters pop. The peppy tone in which the characters moved and carefree disposition in how its world was colored to life helped compensate where other departments failed.As far as the soundtrack was concerned, there isn't much to say. The opening theme is your standard j-pop track, far from distinctive when placed in a crowd, and could easily be replaced without making so much of a difference. And like most medieval fantasy shows before it, this too has a very standard soundtrack, using all the bells and whistles you'd expect from something trying to portray that period. That basic Celtic music in pub/Inn settings and those usual orchestral choir sections during fight scenes. It's all very standard. And that's basically DanMachi in a nutshell, a show trying to portray things it can't fully grasp and coming off middling because of it.****SPOILER SECTION******Because of the erratic pacing and contrived plotting, every other episode of Danmachi has the main character receiving a power-up of some sort. 1st we find out that he has "unlimited potential," in other words, he's a borderline overpowered beta-male. And then, only two episodes later, he's handed another powerful weapon that he never earns. By the 5th episode, he gets a book that conveniently teaches him fire magic. And if that wasn't enough, he gets an ability to KO any opponent as a last ditch final attack only a few episodes after. And this trend of gaining a new advantage never stops either, happening all the way up to the very finale of the show, robbing the purpose behind even creating a coming-of-age story. The show actively fights against the idea of earned rewards. And to put the icing on the shit cake, we find out he's a Demigod as well, as if being plot armored and overpowered wasn't enough of a buffer.And then there were introductions to people that amount to nothing at all.For example, characters like Welf Crozzo was given a backstory, motivation and character introduction within one episode just to serve the role of a plot device. A character whose entire purpose in the narrative is to be Bell's blacksmith, yet is marketed as a defining side character despite the rushed-job given to indoctrinate him into the group. This isn't just an isolated incident either, as every character introduced after the third episode mark is simply pushed off an assembly line with no time given to even let the "archetype" that is their paint to dry.So at the end of the day, you're not watching this because it has something to offer, you're watching it because there's nothing else to do.****END OF SPOILERS****Going into DanMachi, all I expected to get out of it was easy-to-consume entertainment, and that's precisely what I got. Because of its simplistic story and surface-level depiction, I never felt frustrated watching it since the show never gave me a reason to care, to begin with.With DanMachi, what you see is what you get. It's a show that isn't trying to be more than what it is and is honest about that. And while that's a commendable attribute, it just isn't enough to be anything more than just that. It's easygoing content that offers nothing else when it's all said and done. DanMachi is the intermission title you watch before watching your next "must watch" series. An anime that will forever be remembered for a pair of loli boobs than it will for anything else.