I almost never write reviews.....occasionally write reviews.... but this show has been so delightful that I felt compelled to on this occasion. I hope my review can inspire someone else to use their time wisely.
This is a pretty good fantasy show, that has begun to develop an interesting world. Don't skip it to save yourself some time, let the story and world unfold naturistically, instead of having a big exposition dump at the beginning like most modern "fantasy" anime.
Main Review:
This might just be the least boring show, I've had the pleasure of watching, in the last 2 years. (That is definitely an exaggeration).
I decided to watch this because I like fantasy shows but I struggle to find anime that dont suck all the fun out of fantasy. Lets start with the character designs since they actually look distinct. Pretty much every character design in this series looks decent in one way or another, despite occasionally falling into some basic fantasy tropes. Take Chilchuck for instance. His oversized ears are a clear indicator of his above average hearing abilities, while also helping to differentiate him from his cast mates. Unlike most standard anime fantasies where every character is just another anime waif, with little to differentiate themselves, except for hair colour, Delicious in Dungeon actually usues character design to show the different abilities and character traits of its cast. Contrast this with an awful example of fantasy character design; Sakura from Naruto. Because it's fantasy she eventually became strong enough to the destroy the ground with a punch, but her arms remained slender and twigish. Theres no change to her character, the powerup is not visually significant, and seems to have come with no character development. Its bad writing, leaving Sakura as a dull fantasy character.
Now on to the music and OST. The soundtrack is decent, if not a particular stand out. The OP is better, this may be Bump of Chicken's best ever performance.
The story is primarily about cooking monsters found in the dungeon and the way it's presented to the viewer is pretty intesresting, allowing the world to be developed through the ecology of the dungeon itself. The characters are charismatic and interesting. Marcille has to be the best though as she acts as an audience surrogate for exploring the dungeon, she was one of the reasons why I continued watching the show. The side characters like the elf in the painting add additional story hooks to be explored, and bring an air of mystery to the world. The show understands character driven comedy. The comedic moments in this series work best when theyre used as moments of characterizationbetween the main cast. Now you might think after all this that at least the action might be good, but it's alright. The staff at trigger are good at using exaggerated character movement, but havent had a real chance to shine yet. I have been surprised by this series, and look forward to continuing it.
