WIth just two episodes left in what looks like the first of a two-cour, 26-episode run, Bell’s party’s predicament is resolved and they are out of danger. But I daresay the way in which it was resolved was a bit…tidy, and underwhelming.
To whit: we barely see any of Hestia’s rescue party in action, and not for very long, which deflated the built-up excitement of first watching her assemble such a solid party, and then watch them head confidently into the dungeon. “This is it?” I was asking myself.
Meanwhile, Bell’s party is in a bad way: Welf and Lili pass out—either from the pain of their injuries, fatigue, or mind down—before they reach the 18th floor safe zone, so Bell has to draw from an extra reserve of strength and energy in order to carry both of them the rest of the way, including through a gauntlet of falling boulders and a very nasty (and very huge) Goliath, who’s surprise appearance, was a highlight of the peril in this episode.
But then Bell kinda luckily falls down a pit, doesn’t break any bones, and wakes up in the grass on a seemingly sunny day. He made it, but has no more strength to help his friends. Also luckily for him (and them) Ais and the Loki familia are also in the safe zone, or “Under Resort”, resting before their battle with Goliath. Once again, Bell owes Ais, but he did make it there, and both Welf and Lili would be goners without his efforts.
Not surprisingly, the two scantily-clad sisters Tione and Tiona latch onto Bell and flirt with him, though it’s not entirely unjustified as they saw him take down that minotaur. Otherwise, everyone’s just sitting around resting, which isn’t all that interesting, until Hestia arrives.
Their reunion is fairly moving (broken up by a jealous, competitive Lili), but to be honest, this was a foregone conclusion, and again, I was pretty disappointed how little Hestia and her team did, and how little we saw of them.
Still, I appreciated the the Take familia apologizing for their pass parade, and Bell acting as diplomat in telling Welf and Lili to put it behind them, even if they can’t immediately forgive. After all, Bell admits he’d have probably done the same thing if he had to choose between the two of them and a party of strangers.
Bell also meets the tagalong Hermes, and for a second I thought something was going to happen when they shook hands, considering Freya sent him to check on his “progress”. Alas, nothing happens. Nothing also happens when Bell and Ais are alone late at night, gazing at the sky made of crystal that emulates stars.
Ais is too willing to go with the flow and allow hers to be disrupted, such as when Hestia interrupts them, while Bell is still too nervous to do anything but blush at the prospect of being beside Ais, let alone go on a date into town with her.
I realize this is (likely) a two-cour series in which some developments take time, but their insipid will-they-won’t-they is frankly the least interesting part of it right now, because it refuses to go anywhere and takes up time. Perhaps when Ais & Co. faces off against Goliath, and Hermes finally does whatever he came to do, things will pick back up.