Delicious in Dungeon: Season 1

February 12, 2024 1:50 PM - Season 1 (Full Season)

What do you do when your sister has been swallowed whole by a dragon? True, dragons digest very slowly, so time's not an issue, but merely getting back to the lowest level of the dungeon is a an impossible challenge. You can't afford to buy much food, but even if you could, it's so heavy. You couldn't get very far down before you'd have to turn back, and there's nothing else to eat down there ... or is there? (An anime adaptation of Kui Ryoko's food-centric fantasy manga Dungeon Meshi.)

This is currently streaming on Netflix.

posted by fleacircus (16 comments total)

This is surprisingly good. (Tasty, one might say.) Sure, it starts out with the old trope of a dungeon-crawling group, then starts pondering the situation. As someone who used to read articles like, "The Ecology of the Cockatrice" (Dragon Magazine #95, by Ed Greenwood, "Birds of a feather petrify together"), I find it grand fun.
posted by SPrintF at 4:09 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

I think it's genius the way it manages to keep being about cooking, and food, in some kind of positive way.

Imho the first two episodes are a little bit too rushed, but after that it stretches its legs and becomes more itself. Which is 40% Laios being a weird foodie and 50% reaction faces, especially Marcille's.

I might post some of the later episodes as they come out.
posted by fleacircus at 4:27 PM on February 12

I really like the comic and I'm pleased at how well it's translating into animation! And of course it's nice to hear SungWon Cho in things.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:55 PM on February 12 [2 favorites]

I haven't read the manga, but I'm aware of what happens from James Nicoll's reviews. I've been enjoying it, but Marcille's voice annoys me for some reason.
posted by Spike Glee at 7:11 AM on February 13

And of course it's nice to hear SungWon Cho in things.

Oh, that's it, I'm sold.

This and Goblin Slayer really scratch a small itch I have when it comes to the... for lack of a better word, pragmatism of a fantasy world. Like, characters are doing fantasy quests and battling magical creatures, etc. but they're also learning to be practical and level-headed and thinking carefully about their next move, not relying on the plot to bail them out. It has the effect of making me, the reader/viewer, concerned for their well-being because if they haven't thought carefully (and inevitably they'll have to make some fast decision) they could be in even further danger.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:09 PM on February 13 [2 favorites]

If we're talking itch scratching, I can even enjoy a litrpg.. Like "Dungeon Crawler Carl" or the "So I'm a Spider, So What?" light novels. They are weird things to read but they scratch itches of okay how am I going to deal with this (fantasy dungeon) situation.

One thing I like about horror as genre is that it often involves this kind of problem solving. It doesn't even have to be fantastical -- good horror feels like it can be true to everyday people and their lives in ways that other genres really just can't or don't.
posted by fleacircus at 6:16 PM on February 13

I started watching out of curiosity and really enjoyed this show! I especially love how they develop the ecosystem of dungeon critters and adventurers together, like having treasure-mimic bugs parasitize mimic chests. I also got a particular kick out of the way they ended up accidentally making sorbet "realistically" in what amounted to a sort of fantasy recipe feghoot!
posted by traveler_ at 7:58 PM on February 13 [1 favorite]

I'm really enjoying this, unlike Goblin Slayer, which seemed an apology for bigotry (we all know THOSE people are evil and would kill us so we need to kill them first). Also unlike GS, this is fun and not grim, grim, grim. I'll be really unhappy if they finally get to the dragon and the sister is dead.
posted by evilDoug at 8:28 PM on February 13

One nice thing about this show is how there's no gratuitous sexualization. Though, as tumblr has pointed out to me a few times, there *are* fairly regular panty shots, up Senshi's kilt.
posted by fleacircus at 3:28 AM on February 14

One episode in, and I'm enjoying the very straight faced way the tall guy is going to explore! And discover! And do something totally new and weird!

And then he immediately pulls out a written guide and then has to recruit a local to actually make it work.

V. intrepid.
posted by Acari at 6:12 AM on February 14

I'll be really unhappy if they finally get to the dragon and the sister is dead.

I was assuming she’s dead (a dragon ate her!), but resurrectable if they can get to her in time.
posted by zamboni at 8:32 AM on February 14

I love the premise, and I really wanted to like this, but I ended up turning it off before the end of the second episode because I was having a tough time with Marcille. I haven't read the manga, and I hear from other people that it gets better, but I didn't like how she seemed to be there to cry and be an obstacle for the rest of the party to overcome. Maybe the others their chance to derail the mission by wanting to take a long sidequest to eat a rare monster or something.
posted by Akhu at 10:51 AM on February 14

ProZD is voicing Senshi, for those of you who are fans.
posted by praemunire at 12:08 PM on February 14

Marcille's got an arc, and yeah it's a problem when characters start off so annoying you don't care if they improve.

Kui just did an interview and drew some important art of western computer RPG elves and more proof of being a huge gamer nerd.
posted by fleacircus at 5:06 PM on February 14

I was assuming she’s dead (a dragon ate her!), but resurrectable if they can get to her in time.

A couple of the characters drop lines like "the first time I died," so one presume Raise Dead is a fairly cheap spell in this universe.
posted by Gelatin at 4:55 AM on February 19

One thing I like about horror as genre is that it often involves this kind of problem solving.

I have excellent news for you about episode 11.

Anyway, I was going to be happy with it just being 100 British Baking Show style episodes, but the plot has come in surprisingly tight and solid, with a tonal shift I’ll be chewing over for a goddamn while. Or at least until next Thursday when the next episode drops. I hear we’ve entered the “WHAT” zone so maybe something else crazy will happen to make me forget it.

Also to praise some of the side voice acting choices, Marin Miller as Namari was a killer choice, they inhabit the character so well.
posted by brook horse at 9:01 PM on March 15