Danmachi Eiyuutan: Argonaut 1
Release Date: 13 July 2023
This is a new Danmachi spin-off based off the Argonaut event in the Danmachi Memoria Freese mobage. It takes place long before the events of Danmachi, in an age without the gods, and follows the legend of Argonaut, the hero that Bell, Haruhime, and Tiona admire. The characters here physically resemble the characters of the main series but the reason for that is unclear. The Danmachi wiki claims that these characters are the previous lives of the Danmachi characters, but that’s not mentioned in this volume so I don’t know if that’s true.
The story starts with Argonaut, a foolish young man who dreams of becoming a hero in an age where the world is heading towards it’s end and villages are destroyed by monsters every day. The king of the capital of this world announces a competition with an enticing prize: whoever wins will become a hero.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. It started a bit dull and felt like an generic fantasy but I came around to it by the end of the volume. The story and characters definitely feel formulaic but it’s interesting enough that it works. It was fun to read this story while thinking of the Danmachi characters who like this story. It’s easy to see why Bell idolizes Argonaut. He’s a man who never gives up, is always smiling, and can’t stand by when he sees other people suffering, despite being physically weak and leaving all the fighting to his younger half-elf sister. It’s easy to see why Haruhime would fantasize about being rescued by a hero like Argonaut. While the characters resemble the Danmachi characters physically, their personalities and roles are completely different, which was a really nice surprise and helped to make thing interesting. I liked seeing what this world was like before the gods descended and how much harder it was for humanity to fight monsters without the god’s help. Finally, as a Greek mythology nerd, I enjoyed all of the references to the story of the Minotaur. The interesting takes on mythology is something I’ve always enjoyed about the series and it’s done really well here.
This is the first part of a two volume spin-off and volume 2 will be released later this month so I’m excited to see how this tale concludes.
