Series will premiere Fall 2024 and has been given the title “Goddess of the Harvest Arc.” I have seen elsewhere that this could be translated as Goddess of Fertility, but I decided to stick to the ANN translation until I see another official source. In case you aren’t familiar with the series, here is the synopsis from AniList for the source novels:
In Orario, fearless adventurers band together in search of fame and fortune within the monstrous underground labyrinth known as Dungeon.
But while riches and renown are incentive enough for most, Bell Cranel, would-be hero extraordinaire, has bigger plans.
He wants to pick up girls.
Is it wrong to face the perils of Dungeon alone, in a single-member guild blessed by a failed goddess? Maybe. Is it wrong to dream of playing hero to hapless maidens in Dungeon? Maybe not. After one misguided adventure, Bell quickly discovers that anything can happen in the labyrinth–even chance encounters with beautiful women. The only problem? He’s the one who winds up the damsel in distress!
It has most of the same staff as the previous season, yes. So, it should keep its feel.
As for Harvest/Fertility, I wonder if the ambiguity (both translations are listed on AniList for instance) might arise because ancient goddesses of fertility were often the same goddess as for the harvest. Demeter from the Greek pantheon is the most well-known example.
I’ll use the spoilers tag just to be safe; the name of the god that I’m talking about is a spoiler, I think.
on Harvest/Fertility
It’s possible that the translators were a bit more familiar with Greek polytheism than the Norse one, and assumed that Freyja’s fertility aspect implied harvest. It would work well for her brother Freyr (who’s a fertility and harvest god), but not for Freyja herself.
And, since both rule complementary aspects (war vs. peace, gold vs. prosperity, feminine witchcraft vs. masculine kingship), that even creates a negative association between her and harvest.
Note that, while the opposition isn’t in DanMachi (as there’s no Freyr), DanMachi Freya is represented rather close to her mythological counterpart: ruling a Fólkvangr full of warriors, looking for her Óðr; sex on legs, not above using her charms to get what she wants, but definitively not commanding prostitutes (as Inanna/Ishtar in The Epic of Gilgamesh, or DanMachi Ishtar on the Pleasure District).
But perhaps the fact that it’s a big arse spoiler prompted them to change it? If you talk about “harvest goddess” in DanMachi people will kind of wonder who she is; fertility though is another matter - people would beeline for Freya on one side and the Hostess of Fertility on another.