- Date: 11/17/2023
- Time: 3:00PM
It’s often been said that food is one of the greatest, simplest joys that one can experience in life. A good meal can inspire joy, relieve worries, or conjure memories from a fonder time. It comes as little surprise then, that Ryōko Kui’s Delicious In Dungeon has found a fervent following since its 2014 debut. The adventure series blends a swords-and-sorcery story with elements from cooking manga, creating a hilariously dark vibe that is difficult to resist.
It seems fitting that Studio TRIGGER, which revels in the absurd and over-the-top, was tapped to produce the anime adaptation. With SSSS.Dynazenon director Yoshihiro Miyajima helming the project and Chrono Trigger composer Yasunori Mitsuda penning the soundtrack, expectations are running high.
The excitement was palpable at Anime NYC, as fans packed into the cavernous Panel Room 2. A table sat at the front, flanked by dual screens depicting an advertisement for the show’s upcoming premiere. The capacity crowd murmured with excitement, as they counted down the moments until the start of the event.
Fervent applause, punctuated by cheers and whoops erupted through the makeshift auditorium, as series producer Kazufumi Kikushima (Kadokawa) took a seat at the table. After greeting the audience, he offered a quick reminder that photography and filming were not allowed. “Unfortunately,” he continued, “the cast members who voice the main characters couldn’t make it today, but we have a video message for you guys, from them! So, shall we watch?”
The lights dimmed, as a pre-recorded message from series leads Kentaro Kumagi (Laios) and Sayaka Sembongi (Marcille) played. They offered thanks to the attendees for watching and implored them to watch the full series when it debuts on Netflix in January.
The crowd applauded politely, as the video faded to black, giving way to the series’ prologue, which explained the origins of the dungeon that ran through the world of the show. This was presented in sketchy, frantically-painted inkbrush style, evoking the mood of a distant, nearly-forgotten tale.
This cut immediately into the main story, which saw Laios the warrior’s party battling against a menacing red dragon. The scene is presented well, with the cast giving off a lot of personality as they struggle to survive. The scene is elevated by numerous small flourishes in the animation, as robes flutter against flickering embers, and rubble is torn up with the great wyrm’s movements.
The conflict, sadly, is doomed to failure, as Falin, the group’s healer and Laios’ sister, is devoured by the dragon. She sends the rest of the party to the surface in a last-ditch effort. With no gear and no money, Laios and his remaining party members, Marcille the mage and Chilchuk the thief, must find a way to slay the dragon, before it finishes digesting Falin. To do so, Laios suggests that they sustain themselves off of the monsters within the dungeon… to his delight, and his party’s abject horror.
And, as one would expect, this does not go well, though they attract the aid of a dwarven monster gourmand known only as Senshi, who offers to help so long as he gets to eat the red dragon.
It’s this dissonance that fuels the series’ humor. Much of the jokes veer between dry barbs about genuinely horrifying elements of fantasy worlds, or slapstick gags that are typically at Marcille’s expense as she plays the straight man in this menagerie of fools. Sayaka Sembongi’s delivery, which ranges from fittingly horrified, to an emotion that can only described as “what the hell is wrong with all of you?!” She captures the character’s unhinged horror and channels it into genuinely hilarious results.
For example, in one scene, Senshi asks Marcille, specifically, what she’d like to eat. She responds with a noncommittal “I don’t care,” prompting the dwarf to name increasingly horrifying-sounding dishes, prompting fittingly emphatic refusals from the mage. The camera pans to Chilchuk and Laios, who just stare, dead-eyed at their comrade, before Chilchuck snarks, “There’s always that one person who shoots down every idea after saying they’d eat anything,” which prompted a wave of giggles throughout the room.
By the end of the second episode, the ragtag group of dungeon-crawling gastronauts cleared two floors, taking them through a traditional crypt, and a massive underground forest. Over teh course of that journey, they had cooked five dishes, which included basilisk egg omelets, carnivorous plant tarts, and giant bat tempura.
The hour seemed to fly by, as the credits rolled, and the house lights turned back on. It was apparent that the many in attendance were impressed, as they shared excited chatter about the series while filing toward the exits. Indeed, with just two months remaining until Delicious In Dungeon debuts worldwide, I can’t help but share that anticipation to dive into this hilarious, if not horrifying world once more.
