Delicious in Dungeon first came on my radar when the anime was initially announced back in 2022. The premise immediately caught my attention. It wasn’t much of a surprise, as I’ve always enjoyed series about food, but what really interested me came from the fantasy aspect. Rather than normal food made with typical real-life ingredients, the food in Delicious in Dungeon tends to be made from ingredients unique to the fantasy setting: the monsters found in the dungeon the characters are adventuring in. With a fun premise like that, I knew I had to check out the anime when it finally aired this year.
The brief non-spoiler version of my thoughts on season one: I enjoyed it! If you aren’t a fan of cooking/food shows at all, this might not be for you; but for those who enjoy them, or at the very least don’t mind them, it’s worth giving the show a chance. While the food aspect of the show is important, there is also an interesting plot and some cool world-building that make this series a fun watch. The cast of characters is great as well—from the monster-obsessed main character to his (rather reluctant) fellow adventurers that make up his adventuring party to the others they meet along the way, the characters and their relationships made the series even more fun. There is plenty that this show offers that might interest watchers beyond just the food, so I would recommend anyone who likes fantasy adventure series with a heavy dose of humor to give it a shot.
Now on to the more SPOILER-filled stuff.
The series kicks off with Laios (one of the protagonists) and the rest of his adventuring party members facing down a red dragon, an incredibly dangerous creature that is not typically found on the floor of the dungeon that they are currently on. The group is unprepared to face a dragon and only manage to escape thanks to Falin (Laios’ sister and one of the magic users of the party) who teleports the others out of the dungeon and back to safety. Falin herself, however, is captured and eaten by the dragon as the others are being teleported away—a fate that, while still pretty tragic, is not necessarily the end in a world where resurrection magic can fix most people up good-as-new under the proper conditions. As long as Falin is rescued from the dragon’s stomach before she is completely digested, there is still a chance that she can be saved.
It is with that hope that Laios decides he must return to the dungeon, track down the dragon, and save his sister. Unfortunately, as the party’s last excursion into the dungeon ended before it could actually become profitable, they do not have the money to stock up on food (in this case, actual normal food) or procure better armor or weapons in hopes of making through the dungeon and actually defeating the dragon. As a result, two of the party members make the choice to part ways, leaving only Laios and two others: Marcille, who stays out of friendship with Falin, and Chilchuck, who just can’t seem to say no (and actually stick to it).
With no money for food, the group ends up turning to Laios’ “backup” plan—eating monsters. In actuality, Laios has been dying to try eating monsters ever since he read a book as a child that described different monsters (and what they supposedly tasted like). Despite Marcille and Chilchuck’s protests, they have no other choice but to find and kill monsters for food. Their actions catch the attention of a man named Senshi, who lives in the dungeon and has experience eating and cooking some of its monstrous occupants. With his help, they make it through the various floors of the dungeon, fighting monsters and encountering other adventurers and dungeon dwellers along the way, until they find the dragon again.
This first arc (roughly the first half of the season) eases the audience into the world and sets the stage for the reveals made further in the series. It honestly feels more formulaic at first (not necessarily a bad thing), with a constant cycle of fighting monsters, cooking them, and eating them that repeats throughout the first three or four episodes with little interruption aside from character moments. It does soon pick up as it goes along, however, adding new characters and introducing threads that become important as the season progresses.
Things shift as the show moves into the second arc—having resurrected a Falin who is not entirely herself and is taking orders from the mad mage, the creator of the dungeon who is supposed to keep everything in balance but seems to be making things worse in his search for a particular man—and continue to shift as the secrets of the dungeon start to unravel and greater dangers lurk in the horizon.
Overall, I found the first season to be a highly enjoyable adventure/fantasy/food show. The plot and worldbuilding have me hooked, the characters are fun to follow, and the food (like most anime food) makes me wish food looked that appealing in real life. I’ll definitely be continuing the show when season two airs!
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