Danmachi Season 4 Episode 10 Review

How Strong is the Juggernaut And is It Invincible?

No crippled gods are walking around, the dungeon works in reverse to the gods. When the gods are seriously injured their Arcane activates and they are summoned to heaven. When the dungeon is injured it summons something from hell.

In Marvel, the juggernaut is unstoppable once he builds momentum, the definition of a juggernaut is An overwhelming or unstoppable force. Danmachi's juggernaut is probably designed to be unbeatable by whoever is around when it's summoned, we don't quite have an accurate statement about its level. What struck me was how much faster than Bell the Juggernaut is. Never before have I seen Bell except for Ais training go against someone much faster than him. So when he could not keep track of its movement I knew he was in trouble. We could estimate that Bell is the equivalent of a Level 5. Ryu is a top tier level 4 so her Familia members at least some of them were probably around the same. She showed no fear against the Goliath who was a level 5. With her Familia, they could take out a level 5 but this Juggernaut wiped them out almost completely. As Bell points out the Juggernaut is designed for speed and offence with hardly any armour. It's made to eliminate adventurers quickly, it's built with predator features a dinosaur like head and an arachnid style of standing like the Dungeon is its web. Even though it has weak armour it has a magic defence. I could imagine it wiping out a group of level 5's and because of its speed maybe even a group of level 6s.

Ouranos explains that the point of the juggernaut's existence is to wipe out everyone in the area so unless it's invincible and it's not or why dodge its strength is probably determined in two ways. Number one its strength is based on the level it's summoned on. A simple theory is that if it's summoned on the 17th floor, for example, it must be significantly stronger than adventurers capable of reaching the 17th floor surviving so would probably be a level 5 so there is no way level 2 adventurers could survive.

Way number two is that its strength is based on the level of adventurers in the area, which is scarier, no matter how strong you are you're never safe. I think it's the first because Ouranos said sending help would be too late meaning that stronger adventurers could respond to it.

I am going to estimate that the Juggernaut on this floor is a level 7 monster. What's your guess?

Has Bell's Luck Run Out Happening To You or Happening For You

In Cassandra's prophecy, Bell and Ryu were the only ones who survived. That means that her prophecy changed, this is the first time in three episodes that the episode has started without her prophecy although she reiterated it early. I believe that Bell's luck skill has helped him achieve the best possible outcome from the scenario. Bell did lose his arm but that fell into the water where Marie one letter short of marine will most likely find it and use her blood to reattach it to Bell. It was not destroyed completely which is rather fortunate. Cassandra was the one who insisted on Welf making the Goliath robe into a scarf for Bell. When Bell used firebolt the Juggernaut seemed to reflect it with more power, Welf's armour was destroyed but not the Goliath robe it must have offered Bell some protection that was not necessarily obvious, you don't see the damage that isn't caused. Without that robe, it probably would have been a lot worse. I think that although things appear bad and adventurers have been killed, as side characters, Bell's luck skill will produce the best possible outcome for him and his allies or the main cast. You can't roll better than a six no matter how lucky you are you can only roll multiple sixes.

Does anyone Else Think Bell's luck skill is at play in the big picture?

Different Flavours Of Fear

This episode gave me an overwhelming sense of trauma and fear. The last episode started it for me with Jura saying he was traumatised by Ryu and Ryu ending the way she started this episode. Fear takes us back to our predator responses and the Juggernaut is the dungeon's ultimate predator. Episode 10 has an interesting way of balancing fear and trauma with individual responses. There are multiple ways of reacting and dealing with fear and Ryu, Jura Bell, Marie and Ouranos all respond in different ways.

Flight and freezing, Ryu tries to get Bell to run and is shaking with fear, freezing instead of helping Bell. She warned Bell not to use magic because she herself or her former Familia tried it and it did not work. Freezing is a defence against predators because you blend into the environment, running away is obvious. This is the first time I have heard Ryu call Bell, Bell instead of Mr Cranel or Cranel san She has a very personal fear of losing him.

Jura

Jura lost his allies to the Juggernaut just like Ryu but his approach to fear is to control. His predator is Ryu he's using a predator to hunt his predator. Put a wolf on a leash until it becomes a dog. I think it will fail him that thing has a magic defence and it's not designed to be controllable.

Marie

Being a Xenos Marie can sense the juggernaut her reaction to her fear is hope. Her hope of being with Bell is stronger than her fear. Because of the Juggernaut's design, I don't think it can be efficient in deep water which may be the only safe place.

Ouranos

Ouranos tries to minimise panic he does not allow its existence to be recorded because of the fear that there is no way to stop it as its name suggests. An unnecessary stampede only creates chaos the opposite of what someone who keeps order wants. Stampedes are caused by the fear of a predator, not the predator itself.

A good episode left off with tension in the air the diffenent fears made me feel like things could go in any direction.