It's not just about eating dungeon monsters!
Delicious in Dungeon (Dungeon Meshi) spoilers ahead!
Summary:
- Delicious in Dungeon starts off quite dark, but almost immediately loses all seriousness.
- Although the protagonist's goal is to find his sister, this is not mentioned for several episodes.
- In Episode 4, the heroes encounter orcs, who are clearly hostile to humans and elves.
Delicious in Dungeon is an impressive newcomer of the winter season that immediately attracted a lot of attention and won a lot of fans. Despite the fact that the series starts off quite dark, it almost immediately loses all seriousness and turns into a fun anime about cooking monsters from the dungeon.
But this show is not that simple, it just hasn't shown its full potential yet. Episode 4 is a good proof, because for the first time since the beginning of Delicious in Dungeon, it deals with several important and serious topics at the same time.
Delicious Adventures
Everything from the basic idea to the characters in Delicious in Dungeon seems frivolous — the eccentric and funny main characters travel around the dungeon hunting and eating various outwardly unattractive monsters.
One exception is the event that started the anime — the heroes lost to a dungeon dragon, and to save the companions, the main character's sister sacrificed herself.
Although the protagonist's goal is to find his sister and help her, this is not mentioned for several episodes. Some viewers have noticed the repetitive structure of the episodes — the characters first figure out what to eat, then hunt, and finally enjoy dinner.
All of this, of course, takes place in a non-serious and even slightly wacky atmosphere. The characters are also more amusing than mature. Even the leader of the group, Laios, despite the loss of a relative, is primarily concerned with finding new recipes.
Unexpectedly deep
Episode 4 is very different from the other episodes — it addresses several serious issues at once. First, the audience is interested in the ecosystem that Senshi maintains in the dungeon by growing vegetables on golems and fertilizing them with resources from the toilets visited by adventurers.
Golems are crucial not only for growth but also for maintaining balance by keeping more serious and powerful creatures away from the floors where adventurers reside.
Even more interesting and important is the relationship between the races in the Delicious in Dungeon universe. In Episode 4, the heroes encounter orcs, who are clearly hostile to humans and elves.
After a major conflict, the orcs are forced to live in ghettos, but they cannot be clearly identified as the aggrieved party, since violence is inherent to all participants in the conflict. This was an unusual detail of the lore of Delicious in Dungeon that you wouldn't expect after a few episodes of relaxed adventure.