u/Fit_Tea_4221

I watched the anime completely and wanted to ask. Is the story getting better or worse from the moment>!they reunited with Lena!<. Is it worth reading?

Season 1 was amazing. Season 2 worse, but still good.

I've given some thought about it and decided to drop the series.

I enjoyed the series very much (it was one of my fav for a while). A whole list of good written characters (Ryu, Lefiya, Syr/Freya), world-building and peak romantic moments but there is one thing which i hate immeasurably in this series. It is romance. Romance is terrible here and Danmachi series in general can be called harem-baiting series which is even worse. I've come to realise that i hate it with all my soul.

If you are not a fan of Ais Wallenstein, who is supposed to be a main heroine and endgame love interest, it's impossible to enjoy the series as of the current situation in the novel. Why? Because in this case you're probably a fan of a 'losing heroines' (due to the lack of interesting male characters in the series) who the author reduced to be a part of Bell's false harem, putting them into unrequited feelings and stripping them of all of their agenda entirely for marketing reasons.

The best example of this is Ryu Lion who is the most popular character in the series among Danmachi audience and most-favoured romantic interest but since she wasn't planned as the endgame love interest by the author he decided to leave her in the same spot as other 'losing heroines' in later volumes. The sad part here is that the majority of the audience prefer her over Ais but author stubbornly refused to change the ending he planned from the start (i consider it a bad writing) despite the fact that in Main Series it makes the least sense out of all the girls from the main cast.

To be honest, i find it extremely hard to sympathise with the way author build the romance in his story. All-powerful main heroine (Ais) who barely appears in the main series (because of her power difference with the MC) and needed her own spin-off to make her at least likeable (i read SO manga). Worse than that, the author writes side stories for each novel which contains their interactions as if he thinks a lot people would read it. The anime is based on main series and although it cuts a lot of Ais moments i won't dare call Ais heroine (let alone main heroine) there. She is a cameo character at best.

A lot of people got hyped with volume 21 where her arc started but i consider it weaker than other heroines's arc. Why? Danamchi is a shounen. What people want to see from a romance in a shounen? How MC and FMC struggle together working side by side and developing feelings for each other in a process, right? This is not a case in danmachi where they have never even once worked together as a couple. The MC fell in love with her at first sight and made it a lifelong goal to confess to her once he reaches her level. Their interactions are mostly reduced to training with only real development from FMC perspective happening in her spin-off in HER INNER MONOLOGUES!!! Worse than that. I already mentioned volume 21 as the start of her arc. She was incapacitated all the time and didn't do anything during entire volume. She was the most helpless damsell in distress among all heroines Bell saved during his hourney despite the fact that she is actually the strongest heroine in her generation. How can you even compare it with volume 14/season 4 when Bell and Ryu have been fighting side by side, supporting each other, during half of the volume on the deep leveles. This volume is a peak romance content and this is what i want to see from a main couple. Vol 15-18/season 5 were great too. It's really frustrating to see smth like this being wasted.

The funniest part here is that their development (BellxAis) as a romantic couple is only about to start in vol 22 while the series is nearing it's end (it looks forced).

Dear authors, if you really want you audience to be invested in supposed main love interest - then, please, give her the most meaningful content among the main cast of the girls (better remove other girls asap from the scene). Don't put their interactions in side stories and your tweets. Don't risk the characters you created by putting them in a false harem and find it in you to write a satisfying conclusion (by writing fitting male partners). And don't create this false-harem bs. It's irritating.

I'm sorry but BellxAis is a poorly written romance story, easily one of the least enjoyable i have ever seen. It's just garbage. I have zero reason to be invested in it. I don't recommend this series to anyone if you care about romance in the story.