“There are more than enough monsters in the dungeon. That means an entire ecosystem exists inside.”

Culinary anime form a rather robust subgenre which can, fittingly, come in a broad variety of flavors. There are low-key slice-of-life series, zany cooking-battle anime, and even fantasy anime that dream up their own styles of dish independent of real world ingredients. Unsurprisingly, given its name, Delicious in Dungeon falls into the latter category. This is one of the few shows I’d heard referenced as a comparatively big title for the Winter Anime Season, though it’s still a bit niche. In a discussion on New Year’s, Birdy had highlighted it as arguably the only show he was moderately interested in. In truth, I find myself in a similar position now, though that’s not necessarily a hit against the show’s quality, but more my personal preferences. Still, even if the show’s genre choices don’t click with me, the comedy and aesthetic are delightful, and there’s a sense of fun throughout. If you’re looking for a fantasy comedy that features some dark edges without becoming meanspirited, then you’ll probably delight in Delicious in Dungeon.

This first episode follows a trio of adventurers, Laios, Chilchuck, and Marcille, who find themselves faced with a troublesome dilemma after a dungeon dive goes wrong. Their priestess, Laios’s sister, sacrifices herself to teleport them out of the dungeon when they end up the losing side of a fight with a red dragon. With limited supplies remaining and a limited amount of time before his sister gets digested (and thus impossible to resurrect), Laios makes a suggestion to the remainder of the team that doesn’t go over well. He suggests they eat monsters to survive as they rush back to her location. Laios apparently has been eager to try this approach for ages, but his teammates find his enthusiasm for the idea and the concept itself a bit off-putting. As a set up for a series, this is a relatively fun idea, but it stumbles upon an issue I regularly have with fantasy culinary shows. To me, part of the appeal of a culinary series is that it provides you opportunities to learn about techniques and means of food preparation that you may be able to implement. This obviously goes right out the window the moment your key ingredients are mushroom men, giant scorpions and slimes. That’s not to say there aren’t ways to bridge that gap, but it certainly creates a barrier to engagement for me. As such, I feel like a major part of this show isn’t clicking with me, though fortunately the other aspects largely work. The characters have good chemistry with each other, and while it’s a little odd how nonchalant they are about rescuing Laios’s sister Falin, the show at least provides a decent reason why they need to progress through the dungeon regardless of their limited resources. I know the show eventually mentions that resurrections are an option, but even afterwards there is some real, “Well, it’s a shame my sister is dead, but I really want to try eating this,” energy.

The animation is being handled by Trigger, which… I’ll be honest, I completely forgot they were doing this. If you’d asked me to guess who the studio behind this was, I don’t think they’d have been in my first 20 guesses. I associate Trigger with a distinctive and angular art style, such as what is seen in Kill la Kill, Kiznaiver, and the Gainax work that gave rise to the studio, Gurren Lagann. On reflection, each of those were original series, but it’s still jarring to see such a departure from the visuals I associate with the studio. That’s not to suggest the show doesn’t look excellent. In fact, I’d argue this is the most beautiful of Trigger’s series I’ve seen. It’s a charming style that complements the show’s D&D story and aesthetic elements. And, yes, the food is wonderfully depicted, but due to the ingredients being imaginary, it still seems odd to me. I think we can all see why I didn’t like Toriko. 

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• I don’t think I’ve ever finished a Trigger series. I watched some of Kill la Kill, but it lost my interest a few episodes in. I reviewed the first episode of Kiznaiver, but I didn’t like it. I’ve been meaning to watch Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, but haven’t gotten around to it.
• The show’s going to be two cours. The manga was completed a few months ago, in September, so I wonder if they’re aiming to cover the full run. That might not be practical, since there are 14 volumes of the manga, and even with 24 episodes, that would be a lot to cover.
• I watched the Japanese dub on Netflix, but evidently Emily Rudd (Nami in the live-action One Piece adaptation) is voicing Marcille. The English cast, as a whole, is a bit eclectic, with Casey Mongillo, Damien Hass of Smosh, and SungWon Cho filling out the rest of our leads for this episode.
• I’m probably not going to do too many “First Impressions” reviews this season. This is partially because I’ve already got an array of shows I’m following from last season, but also, with limited time on my hands, I just don’t have it in me to force out a thousand words on the more painfully generic shows. Normally that’s not too much of a problem, but there are a lot of series this season that I doubt anyone will remember a year from now.

Delicious in Dungeon provides a fun adventure that focuses its attention on the rather unconventional subject of how adventurers go about dining when all you’ve got are monsters. Even if, like me, you find the subject of imaginary recipes to be generally disinteresting, the comedy is fueled by strong chemistry between the leads. I’d certainly recommend sampling this for yourself, and seeing if its flavor clicks with you.

Score: 3.5/5