NO SPOILER section: What is Dungeon Meshi?
I just finished the first season of Dungeon Meshi , and wow, what a series. What we got for now it's about half of the story, but just this was absolutely fantastic.
Dungeon Meshi (or Delicious in Dungeon) is a medieval fantasy anime, which sets itself appart immediately with it's premise: our protagonists must eat the monsters they encounter in the dungeon to survive. It's not like this is something everybody does on this universe, quite the contrary!
This by itself would have made for a very original story, where we would have been surprised by the iventive ways to cook fantasy beings we all know and love, like golems, ghosts, mandrakes, basilisks, cockatrices, kelpies, etc. and some brand new monsters too, but also all the intricacies of the dungeon ecosystem, accompanied by studio Trigger's beautiful animation, which from what I've seen closely resembles the manga's style; Also, the universe is not framed in a video‐gamy way, referencing HP or XP, but in a realistic way. It's more like Lord of the Rings than Sword Art Online in that way, which feels fresh in anime, at least for me. However, that's not all of what Ryōko Kui (I found her blog) has in store for us. The reason why they adopt this peculiar habit eventually becomes very central, with both the monster cooking and the actual subyacent plot being paralell driving forces, especially a few episodes in.
In the first few minutes (or pages) we see Laios (who is the leader of the group) watching in fear as his sister Falin succumbs to a red dragon. This event leaves him and the rest of the party in a pretty bad state, both mentally and economically, because most of their equipment gets lost in the process of retreating. The premise of the show is caused by this lack of money, and therefore food, while they try to get back into the deep levels of the dungeon to rescue Falin before it's too late. Little by little, the main gang members' relationships, memories and past are revealed to us, fleshing them and Falin out (even when she is offscreen). Most of the anime is very bubbly, funny and cutesy, but around episode 12 a more visceral side shows up, which I didn't expect, but I'm all for it. Without getting into spoiler territory, there's some light gore and body horror.
If any of this got your attention, please go consume (pun absolutely intended) this great piece of media, be it via manga or anime. At the time of writing, just the first season of the series has been released, and it adapts about half of the manga's chapters from what I've read. I found this website where you can start reading the manga, which is finished. In fact, I might start doing that myself, because waiting for the second season to come out seem too long to wait. In fact, one of my close friends has already read the manga and it's eager for me to finish it to talk about the whole thing freely. And about the anime, I just can direct you to Netflix because they hold exclusive rights to it at the moment, unless you want to sail the high sea... *wink wink*
Now let's dive into spoilers for the first season. From here onwards I'm assuming you've watched the first season or read until chapter 52 (this is what the first season of the anime adapts, to my knowledge). Click below to reveal.
SPOILER SECTION
(click to see)
Wasn't that awesome? Did you expect Falin to be dead? Did you expect Marcille to use black blood magic to get her back? Did you expect her to become a FREACKING BIRD DRAGON HUMAN HYBRID??? I certainly didn't. I fully expected the series to be a silly good time until episode 12, like I said. Also, all the backstory between Marcille and Falin(? They're so cute! I loved all the ways they prepared monsters and explained the mechanics of the dungeon and the magic system. I liked Izutsumi, her situation paralelling that of Falin's, although I didn't like how cold and surly she was for all this season. Hopefully she warms up a little to the party.
With the last episode fresh on my mind, I'm eager to see the golden lion, the mad mage and to see if the implications of cannibalism do come true and work to separate Falin's soul from the dragon's.