Sword Oratoria is a 12 episode spin-off to Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? You feel that it is supposed to follow Ais, the powerful swordswoman that Bell Cranel from the main series has a crush for, and the Loki familia that she is a part of. The season starts with giving a quick recap of what this world is and then shows the Loki familia deep in the dungeon, far far deeper than Bell can even hope to go (for now). It starts right before the main series as the first episode ends with Ais and Bell’s first meeting.
From the beginning, you might think that the show will center around Ais and that is true to an extent. Lefiya seems to be more of the central figure though and she idolizes Ais. Ais is feeling down given that she has been stuck on Level 5 for so long. The start of the season shows off the Loki familia and the typical things that happens around them, it felt slightly like a slice-of-life anime at times. Given that their screentime in the main series is somewhat low, it is interesting to see their team dynamics.
While Hestia from the main series is pretty much walking fan service, relatively speaking, there wasn’t that much of it. That’s not the case here as there are frequent heavy doses of fan service. Loki herself is prone to this, loving to grab the girls of her familia. Lefiya is constantly fantasizing over Ais and while this is done as a running gag, it isn’t much different froma typical male teenager lusting over their crush. This can take the focus away in many scenes since even when a serious event happens, the tone is lost when it defaults to providing fan service at all costs.
There are many parallels with the main series. Lefiya herself is one of the weaker members of the familia, given that she is an inexperienced adventurer. The season has her training hard to make up for that, like how Bell had to. Naturally, both Hestia and Bell make several cameo appearances. The anime goes out of its way to make this happen but in the first half of the season, they never interact with Ais and the Loki familia much. In the second half, they cross paths many times and the story events reconcile with the main series but telling it from Ais’s viewpoint. It is a typical approach but unfortunately not that interesting. By doing this, it doesn’t give Sword Oratoria its own unique identity. The other sad part is that even this spin-off must show Bell in an amazing light as everyone watches him in awe while he rapidly gains power.
Ais is not the best protagonist given her broody nature. She is quiet and isn’t great at interacting with other people. She is an ice queen that takes a long while to defrost, which can make sections of the anime boring. This is why Lefiya is instead the focus of a lot of scenes, given she’s more animated and frankly, more interesting by comparison. She isn’t without her flaws though. Being weak is not a problem, the problem is that whenever something happens, Lefiya gives up way too easily and hopes for Ais to jump in to save her. Invariably, Ais does just that. Lefiya improves during the season, but she never truly breaks away from this habit.
The main plot is scattered and slow. It keeps jumping in and out of progressing it, much to the season’s detriment. Just when it seemed to go back to focus on the plot, Hestia and Bell is show up to sidetrack it. Once that is done, it goes back to the main arc but by this point, it felt like the urgency was never there. The main arc felt like something that doesn’t need to be resolved given how seemingly unimportant it is.
The aimless direction continues into the season finale. Despite teasing the big villain during most of the season, we don’t even get to see much of them. The final episode was a climactic fight and the biggest one in the season. We see the Loki familia show off their teamwork. However, this spin-off has the same issue as the main series. Despite the apparently “dangerous” monsters that they struggle with, the monsters still easily get one-shotted. Despite a character getting significantly injured by defending the others, they will just pop right back up when required in the next scene. Unfortunately, the ending itself is inconclusive and just makes the whole season feel pointless because it does not resolve anything at all.
Overall, Sword Oratoria is average and middling. It had some potential but the decision to still involve Bell so heavily, and the meandering plot that goes nowhere, leads to disappointment. It takes all the focus away from the concept and premise of the anime. All that’s left are generic characters that fits your typical stereotypes, a slow and boring sequence of events, average animation, and a plot that is lacking any sort of hook.