I feel like i’ve sang the praises of Ryoko Kui’s manga “Dungeon Meshi” before on these pages, but regardless, i’m gonna say it again, it’s one of the best goddamn manga series i’ve red in YEARS, it has a devoted following that just keeps growing, and i was super giddy to finally see the anime adaptation, even more as it’s handled by TRIGGER, peculiar choice of animation studio.
So here i am after watching the first 4 episodes (the series it’s streaming on Netflix), it’s more than enough to put down some first impressions.
But first, the premise, as the title clues you in but not completely.
In a high fantasy world, adventurers, merchants and all kinds of people are drawn to an unique, everchanging dungeon, and the protagonists party there finally manage to prep up and fight the elusive Red Dragon lurking in the inner depths of the dungeon.
They fumble it, and one of the magician, Falin, sacrifices herself to save the others, getting eaten by the dragon in the process. The party mostly dismantles, but the elf Marcille and the half-ling Chilchack remain alongside the paladin Laios, Falin’s brother, as he wants to head back into the dungeon immediatly and try to save Falin before she’s digested by the dragon.
Problem is, time is of the essence, so Laios improvizes a plan to avoid wasting precious time on gathering money for supplies and foodstuff: they’re gonna eat the monsters they defeat while exploring the dungeon. They are also joined by a peculiar dwarf living in the dungeon, Senshi, whom apparently has already experience in “monster cuisine”..
Hope you got that because the first episode it’s a bit too brash in establishing the premise and the character dynamics, though fear not, Laios not getting too worried about hurrying up to save his sister isn’t a flaw in the script, he’s not too worried because this plan will also feed his insane monster fetishism and knowledge as he gets to eat creatures he thinks are “cool”, genuinely so.
He’s utterly insane, and his monster fetish creeps out the super fussy/spoiled (and borderline autistic) elf magician Marcille, stuck between this situation and a super-compassed dwarven cook that’s already chopping the monster up and firing up a pan to deep-fry the thing, even if its giant slime. What a lovely bunch of utterly bonkers characters, with the half-ling Chilchack being the more serious, the non-sense guy to balance them out.
Honestly, despite it super brash setting up of the plot, this anime adaptation it’s actually pretty good, perfectly captures the episodic-centric nature of the manga, with each episode having its own adventure that will eventually tie-in into a fairly interesting plot involving control of the dungeon by various races. but so far mostly focusing on oddly relaxed adventures (as we’re explained the Red Dragon takes week to digest its prey, so it’s kind of an oddly laid back rescue mission) providing some good fantasy comedy that ends with a succulent preparation of today’s monster dish.
As the series’ motto puts it “if you don’t eat you can’t become strong, and if you don’t become strong, you don’t get to eat”.
Also, i like how this isn’t an isekai, just a fantasy world that clearly has some very Dungeons and Dragons old style rules, with the equipment cost, death not being final if someone can recover your corpse in a good state, and also having a lot of the classic DnD races, like kobolds, gnomes, and a lot of old fashioned monsters that also remind one of DnD in some way, i’ll say that to avoid spoilers, but there’s also already some decent worlbuilding (that admittely will take a while to pay off, definitely not within the first season) and by the 4th episode you’ll get some conflict and info about the world and the relationships among its races.
I wasn’t sure about TRIGGER handling a more slow-paced type of show that’s a third DnD, a third a comedy, and a third cooking show, but by third episode (the living armor one) the series gets into gear and avoid being a 1-1 adaptation of the manga chapters, adding stuff, and taking opportunities to show off some good action sequences, like, “almost” to show off.
I’m honestly amazed how they did manage to basically do a shitpost reaction with the Marcille face she makes after realizing that yep, they’re gonna actually eat the walking fungus monster, it’s hysterical and i love it.
Bit disappointed they didn’t give justice to her “mushroom dance of no consent”, but it’s a huge nitpick, i’ll admit, i’m still highly recommending the anime, i’m glad i put some time aside to actually start a new anime show when it’s new, and the opening song is the quite fitting Sleep Walking Orchestra by famous japanese alternative rock band Bump Of Chicken (you might remember the amazing MV of their single Acacia did as a promo for Pokemon some years ago).
And yep, this is apparently the season/year of the autistic elves protagonists, which reminds me i gotta give the Frieren manga a punt.
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