Sword Oratoria: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side (ソード・オラトリアダンジョンに出会いを求めるのは間違っているだろうか外伝, Sword Oratoria – Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka: Gaiden) is a 2017 television anime series based on Fujino Omori’s light novel series of the same name with illustrator Kiyotaka Haimura. The series was adapted by studio J.C. Staff, and the staff credits include director Youhei Suzuki, series composition writer Hideki Shirane, character designer Shigeki Kimoto, and music composed by Keiji Inai. The series first aired in Japan on April 2017, distributed by Hakuhodo DY MAP.
Note: This post has been updated in May 2024 to reflect the current blog layout and some minor tweaks to the original write-up.
Background:
“Contrary to what the adventures of Bell and the Goddess Hestia might imply, not everyone goes into the dungeon of Orario to pick up girls. The veterans of the Goddess Loki’s Familia have lots of reasons for risking life and limb facing the monsters and mayhem lurking within the deadly labyrinth’s multiple levels, but new member and mage Lefiya just wants to prove that she’s worthy to be on the same team as her hero, the famed sword princess Aiz Wallenstein. As for Aiz herself, she’s seeking something that no one else even suspects, and she may find it when trouble comes after her from the previously unreached 59th level! If you thought you knew the Danmachi universe, be prepared to think again as the adventure continues from an all-new point of view in SWORD ORATORIA!”
Plot Synopsis via Sentai Filmworks, June 2018.
With Isekai growing in popularity for the best and worst reasons, the fantasy genre continues to thrive and one of those titles was Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? also known as DanMachi, and it’s very interesting. The name is very odd but the anime is worth a watch and the story got better as it went along.
Early on the series received a spin-off light novel series, focusing on the perspective of Aiz Wallenstein and her guild around the same time as the start of the main novel’s story. This series, called Sword Oratoria, was also written by the same author and eventually adapted into an anime series by the same studio. That said, the adaptation received a lot of changes from the source material that didn’t go down well with the fans, which is pretty evident given we haven’t received any further seasons from this spin-off as a result.
Sword Oratoria was licensed by Sentai Filmworks for streaming and home video, however it did not simulcast on Crunchyroll. Instead it was made available on Amazon Prime Video for United States & Canada while the UK & Ireland were left out for the whole season. The reason was because Sentai was soon to launch their HIDIVE streaming platform which then made the series more accessible. Animatsu tried to pick up the rights to go alongside their UK license of the first season but were rejected as Sentai did not want to provide them with UK & Ireland streaming rights (which was the right choice). MVM Entertainment eventually landed the UK home video rights for the franchise going forward.
Limited Edition Contents:
Much like the main series, Sword Oratoria was also released with a limited edition however Sentai changed their approach by focusing on a more accessible shelf-friendly design with a DVD sized box, rather than DanMachi‘s unique design of having a big square box.
The limited edition release from Sentai Filmworks is a big box with a variety of content. Included are three DVD-sized cases with 2 Blu-ray discs, 3 DVD discs and 2 CDs covering the show’s original soundtrack. Then we have a hardcover booklet covering episode information, character designs and illustrated artwork, and a couple of art cards.
The artwork is free of any information and the bottom part of the box covers the information and specification like previous Sentai Filmworks releases. The limited edition Blu-ray has an unspecified amount of units printed for an SRP of $129.98. A standard Blu-ray was also made available just before this edition.
The series was purchased through Rightstuf during a sale, though I had to pay for customs/duties.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with DVD case packaging and clean artwork
- 2 Original Soundtrack CDs
- 74-page Hardcover Artbook
- 6 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Sentai Filmworks
Released: 12th June 2018
The limited edition release for Sword Oratoria: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side contains all 12 episodes of the series across two Blu-ray discs and three DVD discs, with the encode & authoring done by Sentai Filmworks. The audio options available are Japanese with English subtitles and the Sentai Studios English dub.
The yellow subtitles were locked during playback and the disc regions were accessible to Blu-ray players set to the United States country code (which will work on Region A players as per normal, and for specific Region B players like video games consoles and ones that support the country code), but locked to DVD players set to 1.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B United States Country Code (Geolocking) |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 2.0 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | 1 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 3 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Clean Opening Animation “RE-ILLUSION”
- Clean Closing Animation “day by day”
- Japanese Promos
- Sentai Filmworks Trailers
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Japanese Promos
- Clean Opening Animation “RE-ILLUSION”
- Clean Closing Animation “day by day”
- Japanese Promos
- Sentai Filmworks Trailers
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Sword Oratoria: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Sentai Filmworks in the US & Canada. The limited edition Blu-ray release was available but has since sold out of stock.
The Normanic Vault 
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