Dungeon Meshi

Adventuring knight Laios Touden leads a small party through a seemingly endless dungeon, a subterranean maze full of dangerous monsters and precarious traps. Through the use of advanced magic, an explorer can sometimes be resurrected, allowing them to learn from past mistakes and give traversing the dungeon another go. However, when a powerful dragon eats Falin, Laios' spellcasting sister, she sends her brother and his companions back to the beginning to save them from permanent ends.

Though strapped for cash and equipment, Laios resolves to fight his way through the dungeon and rescue Falin before she can be digested by the dragon. Despite some of Laios' allies abandoning him, two remain by his side: elven mage Marcille Donato and halfling locksmith Chilchuck Tims. Due to their lack of funds, the party faces the daunting prospect of starving before being able to complete their quest. However, they find salvation in Senshi, a dwarven warrior with a penchant for cooking and safely eating defeated monsters.

With Senshi's culinary expertise, Laios and his companions struggle through the dungeon while learning about gourmet dining—and each other—along the way.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Donato, Marcille Main

Senbongi, Sayaka Japanese

Touden, Laios Main

Kumagai, Kentarou Japanese

Senshi Main

Naka, Hiroshi Japanese

Tims, Chilchuck Main

Tomari, Asuna Japanese

Izutsumi Supporting

Kambe, Mitsuho Japanese

Touden, Falin Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Mithrun Supporting

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Kabru Supporting

Katou, Wataru Japanese

Thistle Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

Inutade Supporting

Furuya, Yoshino Japanese

Ootsuka, Masahiko Producer, Episode Director

Kikushima, Kazufumi Producer

Usa, Yoshiki Producer, Executive Producer

Shida, Shunsuke Producer

Reviews

Dec 21, 2024

krautnelson

Recommended

While I don't quite understand the hype behind this show, I did enjoy it quite a bit, even if I had to somewhat force myself to finish it.

Dungeon Meshi is an odd mix of high fantasy adventure, slife-of-life comedy, and cooking show. Unfortunately, this causes some unevenness in the pacing and overall vibe. it starts with the issue that the whole premise of "party survives by eating monsters" relies on the idea that the group has no time or money to restock in a city before saving their missing party member, yet the moment the group steps into the dungeon again, any sense of urgency ... is completely lost and the group makes there way through all the different locals of the dungeon at a seemingly leasurely pace. most of the time of earlier episodes is spent on killing monsters and cooking them. and while there is plenty of fun character interactions and a ton of "dungeon building" (I refuse to call it world buildiing), it all feels very filler-y. most episodes have very little relevance for the larger story at hand, and it becomes very clear that the author was more interested in the dungeon itself and the general concept than telling a compelling story.

it isn't until half-way through the show that the main story actually starts rolling and we get to see some darker, more mysterious sides of the characters. still, every other episodes returns to the "let's have dinner first" formula of the early episodes, where the story gets put on hold for some more dungeon building.

as a lover of complex stories with tons of plot twists, the consistently casual, low-stakes atmosphere combined with the drip-feeding of actual story made it somewhat hard for me to stay motivated to continue this show. that said, the characters are well written and it's fun to watch them interact with each other, and the mechanics behind the dungeon are somewhat interesting, especially when the author manages to sprinkle some genuine mystery into all of it. so with that taken into consideration, I give Dungeon Meshi a fairly light 8. it's the kinda show that is perfectly palatable as somethng you put on every day for dinner, but I wouldn't recommend binging it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 9, 2024

Lugga02

Mixed Feelings

Delicious in Dungeon: Gimmick or Genius?

Anime often starts with a “hook”.
A catchy, high-concept premise designed to grab attention. This could be a wild “What if?” scenario, like “What if people turned into giants?” (Attack on Titan). These premises are simple, memorable and marketable.

In Delicious in Dungeon we have: "What if we cook monsters?" "What do Monsters taste like"
and I don‘t mean the energy drink, to set up a hook.

It only stays a gimmick show for the first 8 episodes. After that I see it as a traditional fantasy story.
So I will critisize it like one.
...
There is zero to none emotional depth.
And if they try to show some of it, it just floats on the surface area of how deep the characters could actually show their emotions.
They will point out very important bits for 3-4 minutes only to blabber about the next monster food for 12 minutes. It‘s like a traditional fantasy story with filler.
But why are you calling it filler Lugga? It is called Delicious in Dungeon?
Because it is not that interesting of a concept.
And it has the same joke about the food over and over… Like: "Ewwww are you going to eat that?" "Yucky." (Eats it anyway). "Wowzers! So Yummy!"
Explaing the texture and the taste for 2 minutes…
The same thing over and over.
I appreciate the trivia, but having all that as the main theme of the plot? It just does not work for me. On the other hand, they make the monsters work in another more substantial way. They portray the fights against or with the monsters really, really well. They are making them so damn interesting. Why is the foood part then needed as a main part?!

Getting back to my beginning example:
Some creators genuinely want to “elevate” their gimmick. What begins as “silly concept” becomes an opportunity for reflection. And it has to. Or it is just dull. And Delicious in Dungeon does not do that.

Here are some good examples:
Attack on Titan: Starts as “humans vs. big naked titans” but shifts to a narrative about war, politics and human nature.
Paranoia Agent: Feels like a “crime mystery” but turns into a surreal exploration of social anxiety and repression.

The good thing is that the writer is pretty self-conscious about the food part and makes it less the main trait of the story after the first big progressions.

The positive side is, that you feel very "home" in the friendships of the group.
This has heavy comfort-show-potential!
There is a lot of dialogue, while they are making food, while reflecting on what they have gone through, what plans they have and just to get to know each other more and more.
That is not very common in Japanese media.
If you stay in the fantasy genre in media made in Japan, there are not a lot of fantasy stories where the characters get to know each others details, traits and ideas just through dialogue. Present or past, both.
Take Baldur‘s Gate 3 for example: you will get to know the group and character more and more, while actively talking to them day to day. And you are excited to go onto the next journey and that was the reason for me to power through that game in a couple of days. That is great character writing in dialogue in fanatsy.
Delicious in dungeon has that. Sadly only on surface level. (At least throughout the first 24 episodes, they had dozen of possible situations where they could have gone deeper, which is why I critisize here…)

Let‘s talk about fights, trials and overall conflicts.
It‘s not just "Let‘s figure out the weakness of our enemy!" or the typical low effort written "I have won because I have the biggest willpower and because I am the main character, and have plot armor."
It dives into clever, creative and "edge-on-seat" plots with intersting turns and events while being conflicted with monsters, nature or setting in general that almost scratches at Made-in-Abyss-level of monster writing.

Thats why all the food part is not needed as such a big of a deal.

What about the Animation and Music? The Presentation?

The scripts, additions and storyboards should have been like a great piece of cake for the staff. The mangaka herself was involved in the production side and changed some things more to her vision, which is always great. That is also why this show does not feel as "Studio-Trigger" as you might expect.
Yoshihiro Miyajima has done some Episodes for Trigger in the past, but those also were not very Gainax pilled. But the older staff that Masahiko Otsuka slammed into some Trigger chairs are very welcome.
You have some of the best Ogura cuts in a long time here, very much appreciated. Trigger is also known to train younger staff, and you can see some fresh blood with great animation cuts all around. The quality is mostly very high-bar. Especially with Assisted Episode Directions by older Gainax staff. The characters feel and look very lively to their ways of acting. There is a lot of great additional comedy animation and character acting, that elevated the laugh factor for me.
The music is fine. It is basic fanatsy BGM. Nothing major.

Delicious in Dungeon starts with a quirky premise, but struggles to evolve beyond it. The monster-cooking gimmick quickly wears thin, while the more compelling elements, strategic battles, clever monster writing, and group dynamics remain underexplored.

That said, the show isn’t without charm. The warmth of the party’s camaraderie gives it “comfort-show” potential, and the animation by Trigger talent is lively and engaging. But for all its strengths, it never fully commits to deeper storytelling, cycling back to the same food jokes instead.

Is it a gimmick or genius? Somewhere in between. Fun while it lasts, but it leaves you craving something more substantial.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 11, 2024

ryanq214

Not Recommended

Funny

The show has some redeeming qualities, and the characters are good, but frankly (despite knowing what it's name is) the show is dragged down by all the monster cooking. Just slows down the story most of the time, and it stops being funny pretty fast.
In addition, it's so weird how casual and not in a hurry the characters are 90% of the time despite them being on a time limit to save their friend. They have to save someone with like a month but they almost NEVER act like they are in a hurry. Just makes the overall story ... feel not important

The show would have been better without the cooking and characters just focusing on helping their friend as an adventure story. Would have been much better as the dungeon and adventurer side of the show is pretty good.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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