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Delicious in Dungeon - Food! Glorious Food! Found only in the dungeon that has never tasted this great, both visually and tantalising, with great stories to follow. I always have faith when it comes to anime offerings from studio Trigger, one of the studios that always has an affluent, but ever-so-bombastic and consistent personality to their works. And for the first time in the studio's history since its founding, other than adapting its very first LN in the form of one of my favourite cult-classic works in the form of Fall 2014's LN author Kota Nozomi's Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de a.k.a When Supernatural BattlesBecame Commonplace, Trigger has once again undertaken that same achievement, only this time in manga form, which represents acclaimed mangaka Ryoko Kui's Dungeon Meshi a.k.a Delicious in Dungeon. This is hands down, one of the best anime of the modern generation, embracing the dungeon-crawling RPG aspect, and also being a fantasy work that doesn't shy away from its contemporaries wholeheartedly. Nothing is being spared in the nook and cranny of the ever-so-illusive depths of dungeons.
Dungeons are a staple of any fantasy work, and every and all adventurers will want to try to conquer its many levels in the usual raid of dungeon explorations, and in Dungeon Meshi's world, it is said to have a mysterious Golden Kingdom where it serves as the treasure of an island dungeon. And what started out like a typical normal scene of adventurers trying to slay huge monsters like dragons, with the likelihood of humans being consumed by these creatures should they unsuccessfully attempt to kill them to save their lives, this has to happen to one unlucky party group involving 4 people: a "tallman" human sibling duo, a half-foot/halfing and an half-elf, with the sister of the sibling duo unfortunately getting eaten by a red dragon, and the brother on a race against time before he can only recognize her in an after-digestion skeleton form. What also works against their favour is their survival, which hinges on their lack of resources (espeically food) and their only source lies within the same monsters that they're forced to consume regardless if they like it or not. The aspirations of the human, who has a fascination for monster food, forces his party to convene, that thanks to a dwarf who has made the same dungeon a home whilst, creates a story of not just all about dungeon food, but turning the huge place into another home which also carves stories of friendship and the hijinks of what to expect in a dungeon, like stories of madness and revenge, in a humorous way that doesn't take itself too seriously. This is the story of Dungeon Meshi, and the party that is Laios Touden, Marcille Donato, Chilchuck Tims and Senshi, and their quest to save Laios's younger sister, the talented Falin, while going about tasting all kinds of Delicious in Dungeon meals.
To talk about Dungeon Meshi, is to realise mangaka Ryoko Kui's magnificent and masterful writing, something that she has built before the realisation of the series that we get to experience in manga form, now with the anime. Being a fan of fantasy, something that was brought up in her family, Kui has always been fascinated with the genre, and is greatly involved in the medium thanks to video games like Dragon Quest, Ultima, and Fire Emblem, and the one game series that would become the centerstage inspiration for the series: Wizardry. The author herself has also been noted for her style of portrayal of reality and fantasy with her unique point of view, something that can be described as embodying "unnaturalness." Kui's affinity for dragons throughout Dungeon Meshi, can be attributed to her smaller works, one of which is in the form of 2011–2012's fantasy comedy manga Terrarium in Drawer, which is a collection of short stories detailing the lives of multiple unrelated characters, ranging from fantastical to conceptual and everyday uniqueness. Its examination of highly fictional situations with a realistic lens, gives it a sense of authenticity that is plastered all around Dungeon Meshi. That's how you know that fantasy is embossed in every degree of perfection, and Ryoko Kui does not rely on pretence to show the inner workings of such a pedigree of work that's unparalleled.
Truly, I've always thought of dungeons as a place of fear, trauma, and torture, and don't get me wrong, Dungeon Meshi has that, but it also knows how to play and poke fun in its adventure aesthetics, combining the comedy with the fantasy to give the entire show a feel as realistic as you can get. Laios and the party truly is one group of unique frenetics, all with their unique personalities that gives the dungeon hike a run for all of its offerings: the tallman swordsman having a talented spellcaster who was consumed by a big creature who dons on monster meals like it's the best thing in the whole world; the halfling locksmith who has an affinity for traps and expresses compassion with the least of his external expressions; the half-elf magician whom like Falin is also rather skilled but cautious in her approaches; and last but not least, the dwarf warrior whose dungeon shelter enables him to create great and balanced meals as a chef, not to mention his expertly vast knowledge that allows him to traverse through the dungeon like it's his second home. It's fun seeing Laios and the gang go through numerous situations, navigate through the dungeon's treacherous nature, and learn about the environment around them, Thanks to Ryoko Kui's impeccable writing, these half-hours of a 2-cour's worth of 24 episodes are truly some of the best time-wasters that anime as a medium can offer to just about anyone.
Speaking of episodes, Trigger's mainstay director Yoshihiro Miyajima may not be the most talented of the bunch, but having author Ryoko Kui alongside him being "very involved" in the anime adaptation, definitely shows the high calibre of how faithful she wants her work to be seen on the small screen. And it really shows, from the immaculate detailing of the anime bringing the manga to life to even its action, which, if you've seen even a slither of Trigger's more recent works, is a lot of sakuga done with the blood, sweat, and tears of the talented staff team behind the anime. And honestly, Trigger doesn't really need to go ham on its first manga adaptation, but the studio did it anyways, and I'm all the happier for the people involved in this, like how most passion projects are done. So far, the anime is only halfway through its adaptation of the manga, so it definitely needs another 2-cour, 24 episodes of consistency to deliver on the promise of a complete adaptation.
The music stands on its own quite well, too. Composed by famed musician Yasunori Mitsuda alongside Shunsuke Tsuchiya, Dungeon Meshi's OST is about as picturesque (on a sound platter) perfect as a dungeon-crawler RPG fest can be, considering that the former is best well known for video game OSTs given his time at Square (formerly Squaresoft, now Square Enix) composing for series like Chrono Trigger (and its sequel Chrono Cross), Xeno and Shadow Hearts, and even having a hand on the Inazuma Eleven franchise, creating some of the best music. The only negative comment I have for the show, is with its rather opaque OP/ED songs, which, while Bump of Chicken's "Sleep Walking Orchestra" is unironically THE best song of representation of the series, other songs like the EDs of Ryokuoushoku Shakai's "Party!" and Regal Lily's 2nd Cour ED are only visually striking, but the songs are just fine, not to mention sumika's 2nd Cour OP, which IMO was a disappointing departure from the fantasy elements it tried to portray, much less living up to the former's excellent showing both musically and visually.
All in all, Dungeon Meshi a.k.a Delicious in Dungeon, is a truly fantastical and unique experience to be had, and I kid you not that it's unsarcastically one of the standouts (so far) of anime when it comes to 2024 that can promise you of a great time, even by Netflix's longer-than-thou episode durations that still feels like you're watching every episode every bit less than its supposed runtime.
A daft show with its endearing touch of idiotic humour, who wouldn't want that? Only can you find this in Dungeon Meshi...ah, Delicious in Dungeon.
