Delicious in Dungeon (Season One) – Dungeon Meshi

Laios’ party encountered a red dragon deep within the dungeon and they were in trouble. Luckily, Falin, Laios’ sister was able to teleport them to safety. However, she was swallowed by the dragon. Now, Laios needs to get back and rescue her!

Delicious in Dungeon (Season One) – Dungeon Meshi

What did you watch?

There are few things as enticing as a sprawling fantasy epic that involves a dungeon. However, I can’t say that I’m the biggest fan of the Gourmet genre. That said, I have enjoyed some shows like that, most notably Princess Connect! Re: Dive and ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess. So, at the very least, I knew that I wouldn’t be completely put off by the gourmet elements of Delicious in Dungeon. With that thought in mind, I jumped on my treadmill and started running. Why should Laios and his party have all the fun? Anyhow, let’s dig in!

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What happened?

Falin had successfully saved everyone in the party but herself, since the dragon was already in the process of eating her. As soon as he realised, Laios began to plan on returning to the dungeon, defeating the red dragon, and resurrecting Falin. He had no idea how long he would have before there was nothing left of her, but he had to try. He also didn’t have any money and all of their supplies were still down there. To make matters worse, two of his party members resigned leaving only Marcille, the elven mage, and Chilchuck, the half-foot scout. However, they were also concerned about supplies. They didn’t even have enough to buy food for another adventure into the dungeon. Laios had a plan!

They would survive on the fruits of the dungeon – the monsters. The others were a little reluctant but wanted to save Falin too so they went along with him. After failing to cook a giant scorpion and a walking mushroom, they drew the attention of another adventurer. Senshi was delighted to find someone else who had an interest in cooking monsters and since he was alone, he joined their party as they pushed through the dungeon. Luckily, Senshi was an incredible cook and knew exactly how to survive in the dungeon.

As they continued their bizarre quest, the dungeon began to give up more and more secrets. It was starting to look like they might actually find the red dragon, however, defeating it was another problem entirely, especially with such a small party, well-fed or otherwise.

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What did you think?

First things first. This show was incredible. The Gourmet elements are there throughout, but they are only really prominent at the beginning. Sooner or later, they just kind of blend in with everything else that’s going on, and there is a lot going on. We learn so much about the dungeon, the curse placed on it, and the former inhabitants of the Golden Castle. We find out so much about the main characters, their desires and their fears. This series is so well crafted. Anyone can throw together a bunch of ingredients to make a meal, but you can tell that Ryoko Kui knows how to mix them into something truly special. I can’t wait for the second season.

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What was your favourite moment?

It has to be the battle with the red dragon. In an attempt to slow it down so that Laios could stab it in the weak spot beneath its chin, they planned on dropping a building on it. That meant that Laios, Senshi, and Chilchuck had to lure it to a specific location where Marcille was waiting. Of course, things didn’t go quite to plan. The red dragon forced them to the location sooner than expected and as such it had plenty of fuel for its fire attack left. Regardless, Marcille destroyed the building and dropped it on the dragon. It looked like it might have worked for about three seconds. Then, the dragon burst out of the rubble.

Senshi and Chilchuck managed to get stuck beneath the dragon which spared them from being barbecued for now. Laios raced to a higher place looking for a way to attack. He ran into Marcille and cooked up a crazy plan. Marcille was going to blow up the area beneath Laios, who was standing in Senshi’s pan. It would launch him onto the dragon’s head. From there, he slid down its face and then placed his food between its teeth. The dragon obliged biting down on his leg. However, Laios used that to swing his body down and pierce the dragon’s weak spot. As it struggled, the dragon bit off his leg and sent him flying to the ground. This was an epic fight that wouldn’t have been out of place in any epic fantasy adventure.

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What was your least favourite moment?

Since this was a two-cour season, we got the opening change about halfway through and I’m not going to lie I was really disappointed with the change. The original OP was melancholy and thoughtful, with an interesting display of the main characters existing in the world, but on a grand scale. It really sold the epic fantasy side of things. The second OP was more light and bubbly and played more into the Gourmet side of things. It was fine, but the first OP was excellent. I don’t understand why they changed something like that when it was clearly so much better. Otherwise, the show was just a blast from start to finish. These are images from the first OP, which was excellent.

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Who was your favourite character?

This is tough. I’m tempted to say Laios, although it could have been any of the main four characters. The party went through a lot and seeing them come together, fall apart, and then rally around one another was amazing. The comradery really sold the show, which is what you need from a group of adventurers battling their way through an impossibly dark and mysterious dungeon. Of course, Laios did do a lot of very dumb things such as tasting the parasite that they caught on the Kraken raw. However, he had a boundless curiosity that turned out to be one of his biggest assets. He knew the monsters and understood so much about them that he saved them on numerous occasions. The way he put that knowledge into play when he was able to show Senshi that he wasn’t secretly fed human meat all those years back when his part was killed in the dungeon. So, as much as I love all of them, Laios was the beating heart of the group and without him, there would be no story.

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Who was your least favourite character?

This one is a little easier, although it’s still not clear-cut. There was another party working their way through the dungeon. They were younger and more ambitious, however, they lacked the knowledge of Laios’ party. As such, they fell fowl of Treasure Insects. When Laios’ party found them, they put a protection spell on their bodies and left them for the corpse collectors to find. Of course, they killed, cooked, and ate the Treasure Insects. However, when Kabru’s party was revived, they went on a hunt to find the adventurers who stole their treasure. Kabru seemed to be fairly switched on, but no matter what, he never quite made the connection with the Treasure Insects until he finally met Laios. I found his arrogance to be incredibly annoying. He did grow on me a little by the end of the season, but only a little.

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Would you like some more?

I need more. There’s obviously a lot of the story to come but this was an absolutely captivating series. When I started watching it I was doing two runs a day, but within a week, I upped it to three a day just so I could get more Delicious in Dungeon in my life. There are fourteen volumes of the manga and the story is complete so I’m guessing another twenty-four-episode season should see us to the finish line. Of course, the second season has no official release date yet, so I may be tempted to pick up the books.

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What have you learned?

The thing that I loved about this series was that it had a gimmick, but it wasn’t the be-all and end-all of the story. It was enough to make it unique and interesting, but there was also much more than that. It also didn’t abandon it either. It was relevant all the way through and while the focus shifted a little more towards the adventure and the dungeon, it was still a part of things. I’ve seen shows that lean too heavily into a gimmick that nothing else really has a chance to shine and shows where the gimmick is discarded after an episode or two, making it completely irrelevant. As with almost anything, finding the balance is the key, and this series does it wonderfully.

Series Information

English Title	Delicious in Dungeon
Japanese Title	Dungeon Meshi
Genres	Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Gourmet
Demographic	Seinen

Anime

Season	Season One
Released	Winter 2024, Spring 2024
Animation Studios	Trigger
Episodes	24

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