The Winter 2021 Manga Guide

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? II

What's It About? 

After Mikoto ventures into Orario's pleasure quarter on a lead to find her long-lost friend, Bell, Lily, and Welf decide to join the search! Unfortunately, Bell's hardly comfortable in such an unfamiliar environment, and after he gets separated from the group, he soon finds himself in a part of Orario he never knew existed. There, he spies a beautiful girl with fox ears and a tail, but little does he know, she's exactly who Mikoto's been looking for...

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? II is based on the light novel by Fujino Ōmori and Suzuhito Yasuda. The manga is drawn by Taisei Yamachi and Yen Press has released its first volume both digitally and physically for $6.99 and $13.00 respectively

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

This book, as may be inferred from the “II” on the cover, assumes familiarity with Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon up through the war game with Apollo Familia. The first chapter is more or less a recap, reminding us how Bell and Hestia got started, and there are a few pages of cursory catch-up information before the story properly starts, but really, if you haven't seen the anime or read the light novels or previous manga series, you're probably going to be confused.

As the actual story goes, this is sticking pretty closely to the source material – or at least it is once Bell gets lost in the red light district of Orario. It's very clear that the story wants to get to that point as quickly as possible, and it's a bit hard to blame them, because seeing Hestia (with unwitting help from Mikoto) shoot herself in the foot when it comes to recruiting new members is definitely the least interesting part of the arc. On the other hand, the warmth of Hestia Familia is not only a major draw, it's also even more important here as we see the marked contrast between Hestia's group and the way Ishtar runs her familia, so short-changing that does have its issues.

The volume basically covers the introduction of Haruhime and her situation, as well as the politics of the Ishtar Familia. To call that latter “problematic” might be a bit of an understatement. Ishtar clearly encourages her Amazon children to give in to their less wonderful instincts in pursuing the strong men they need to reproduce, and consent is clearly not a concern for any of them, or at least not for Aisha and Phryne. Both of them are determined to have Bell with no thought to his feelings on the matter (which are an emphatic “no;” he's very embarrassed that everyone thinks he's in the red light district to have sex), and while this is largely played for laughs, it's a very uncomfortable section of story. Meeting Haruhime and realizing that she's been sold to Ishtar and is working off her debt with her body (or believes she is, anyway) is a good way to drive that home; the difference in the way Haruhime is treated as a victim while Bell is more written as a bit of a joke is striking, though.

This is basically a setup volume, introducing the plot threads that will be unwound as the story continues while establishing that Ishtar Familia is most assuredly up to no good – and that Hermes probably shouldn't be trusted. The art is clean and very pretty, which works well for this arc; there's an almost ephemeral quality to how Haruhime is drawn, and the use of backgrounds is particularly well done. There are some pretty serious issues with elements of this arc (one of which is, of course, that the idea of a cult of sacred prostitution dedicated to Ishtar has been debunked since Fujino Ōmori originally wrote the light novel), but this looks like a solid adaptation that should at least hit on all the requisite plot points and do them well.

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MrAJCosplay

Rating:

This volume picks up right after a major climatic story beat, so suffice to say it is not the best starting point for anyone who is looking to get into the franchise. However, if you are already a fan of the series and have read the volumes leading up to this point, then I would argue it just hits all the right notes that a new opening act would need to. My favorite chapter was the beginning one, as it re-establishes the emotional core of the series between Bell and his goddess, showing that no matter how big their family might get or how many crazy things happen in their lives, as long as they remember that they are family, they will be able to get through most bumps in the road, whether it be crazy monsters or poverty. The new additions to the main cast feel right at home and as we had seen before, they have great synergy with Bell and Hestia. You really do get the sense that these characters are a part of a family while also having their own goals and aspirations.

We are pulling back the curtain of this world more and more as forces move behind the scenes, but it's all presented in a rather satisfactory way both for the sake of comedy and drama. Call backs and flashbacks are appropriately used to carry a lot of legwork, as it has admittedly been a while since we've started the series from the very very beginning. In fact, the overall framing of panels and scenes as a whole is extremely easy to digest with action set pieces in particular feeling very fast paced and kinetic. If you're already a fan of Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon and just want more, then you certainly will get more here.