Animation studio Trigger has been on a technology-based tear for the last few years. It keeps pumping out mecha anime shows and movies like SSSS.Gridman, Darling in the Franxx, and Promare. Plus, other dystopian sci-fi thrillers like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and BNA: Brand New Animal. However, we need to remember the fun, magical animation style of Little Witch Academia. Trigger can make the fantasy genre entertaining, but how will it handle the cooking genre? Delicious in Dungeon, the new anime premiering in January 2024 on Netflix, will answer that question with a monstrous feast.
Trigger adapts Delicious in Dungeon from the manga series Dungeon Meshi (ダンジョン飯), which just finished its run this past September 2023 after starting in February 2014. Yen Press summarizes the premise:
“When young adventurer Laios and his company are attacked and soundly thrashed by a dragon deep in a dungeon, the party loses all its money and provisions… and a member! They’re eager to go back and save her, but there is just one problem: If they set out with no food or coin to speak of, they’re sure to starve on the way! But Laios comes up with a brilliant idea: ‘Let’s eat the monsters!’ Slimes, basilisks, and even dragons… none are safe from the appetites of these dungeon-crawling gourmands!”
Laios and company will eat their way through dangerous dungeons. But are monsters delicious, much less edible? Delicious in Dungeon will show us how to make them so.
Gourmet Campfire Cooking
Anime has had cooking shows before. Yakitate!! Japan and Shokugeki no Souma firmly occupied the battle academy space, drawing inspiration from reality TV shows like Iron Chef. But cooking procedural shows also cross-pollinated into the cute-girls-do-cute-things genre in Koufuku Graffiti and the isekai genre with Restaurant to Another World. All the mixing together finally resulted in Yuru Camp∆, where cute girls do cold-weather camping and campfire cooking. Studio 8-bit has slated the third season for Spring 2024. And isekai campfire cooking? Winter 2023 brought us Campfire Cooking in Another World with my Absurd Skill, where our summoned hero abandons saving the world because his skill is buying things on Amazon. That guy cooks monsters that his beast companions bring him on propane gas grills! The anime world is apparently ready for a dungeon-crawling show where the rule is eating what you kill.
Delicious in Dungeon — Monster Season on Netflix
Two pieces of news about Trigger’s production caught my attention. First, Netflix will release the episodes “sequentially” in two consecutive cours. I don’t know if that means a weekly schedule, but at the very least, Delicious in Dungeon will not drop all 24-25 episodes at once. Is Netflix outside of Japan finally learning how to treat episodic television? Shows build a fanbase through word-of-mouth and through slowly revealing its plot. The binge dump is a surefire method of making viewers forget a show. Fans can’t share the anticipation of the next episode after a cliffhanger if everyone is on different parts of the season. Second, an Anime NYC panel screened the first two episodes on November 17 so convention attendees could quickly judge how well Trigger adapted the popular manga. Trigger already previewed the first episode at Anime Expo in July.
Trigger has a solid animation portfolio, so I doubt there will be quality issues during the Delicious in Dungeon run. I will enjoy two of the voice actors in the cast. The cooking dwarf Senshi has Hiroshi Naka performing. He’s best known as Daisuke Aramaki from the Ghost in the Shell series. And Saori Hayami plays Laios’s missing sister, Falin. She voices Yor in Spy x Family, Charlotte in Ikenaikyo, and Angeline in S-Rank Musume for the Fall 2023 season. Busy lady! The English-language Twitter account for Delicious in Dungeon helpfully translated its cast character descriptions. And Bump of Chicken performs the opening theme, “Sleep Walking Orchestra,” for the show.
Are you looking forward to monster grilling in the fantasy adventure Delicious in Dungeon next year? Does Netflix carrying the show give you pause? Let us know in the comments below or online on Facebook, Twitter, or Discord.
Waiting for the next Yuru Camp∆ season must be tough. How about letting Chiaki keep you warm and comfy until then? Remember to order this detailed figure as soon as possible to get it in time for Christmas!
