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Delicious in Dungeon
Japanese manga series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Delicious in Dungeon, known in Japan as Dungeon Meshi (Japanese: ダンジョン飯, Hepburn: Danjon Meshi; lit. "Dungeon Meals"), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ryoko Kui. It was serialized in Enterbrain's seinen manga magazine Harta from February 2014 to September 2023, with its chapters collected in 14 tankōbon volumes. The story follows a group of adventurers in a fantasy world who, after failing to defeat a dragon that consumed one of their own, embark on a journey through a dungeon to revive her, surviving by cooking and eating the monsters they encounter along the way.
Yen Press has licensed the series in North America. An anime television series adaptation produced by Trigger aired from January to June 2024. A second season has been announced.
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Plot
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In a fantasy world of dungeon exploration, adventuring parties set out on expeditions to raid dungeons. Many hope to find the mysterious Golden Country located in one dungeon, discovered after its king crawled to the surface and promised his kingdom to whoever defeats the "Lunatic Magician". Those who are killed in the dungeon are able to be revived depending on how intact their bodies are. The story begins as a group of adventurers unsuccessfully attempt to slay a red dragon, which consumes Falin Touden, a "tallman" (human) spellcaster. Falin uses magic to teleport her party to safety. The remaining members of the party—Laios Touden, a tallman swordsman and Falin's brother; Marcille Donato, an elven spellcaster who befriended Falin at the Magic Academy, and Chilchuck Tims, a half-foot locksmith—seek to rescue Falin before she is digested. With most of their supplies left behind in the dungeon, Laios, who secretly wants to eat dungeon monsters, suggests they sustain themselves by finding food inside, to which Marcille and Chilchuck reluctantly agree. Inside, they are immediately joined by Senshi, a dwarf with many years of experience surviving in the dungeon by cooking monsters and harvesting food. They are later joined by Izutsumi, a tallman who seeks to separate a cat monster's soul from her own human soul. The story details their travels through the dungeon, the environments, traps, and monsters they encounter, and the meals they create.
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Production
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Ryoko Kui said in an interview that she had been a picky eater since childhood. She explained that as a child she enjoyed thinking about which monster was the strongest while drawing pictures of monsters, and she used those memories when creating the manga.[2] Initially, she planned to write a dungeon-exploration manga as a hobby, but after receiving support from her editor Masaru Hiroi, she decided to make it a long-running series. Kui initially wanted to serialize a science fiction manga titled Nō no naka wo kaku (脳の中を描く; lit. 'Drawing inside the brain'), but Hiroi repeatedly rejected this idea and noticed her work on the desk that would later become Delicious in Dungeon. In the manga's original draft, there was far too much material, so the editors had to cut many parts. Kui had wanted the characters to speak in various languages, but she was concerned that such elements might bore readers and distract from the story, so she removed them. Because she wanted the entire story to take place solely within the dungeon, she initially did not want to give the characters surnames or name the country where the dungeon is located; however, as the story progressed, Hiroi asked her to add more characters and expand the world.[3] Before the manga was serialized, Kui read fantasy works like The Neverending Story and The Lord of the Rings, and she began reading Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks and playing role-playing games like Legend of Grimrock for inspiration.[4][5] She specifically mentioned that the 1990 game Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge was the biggest source of inspiration for the manga.[6] The title for the manga series was chosen by Hiroi.[4]
For the anime adaptation, Ryoko Kui preferred Yasunori Mitsuda as the composer, since she liked the soundtrack he made for Chrono Cross.[5] Director Yoshihiro Miyajima said in an interview that he had been familiar with Ryoko Kui's works since 2011 and that when the manga began serialization in 2014, he had dreamed of one day creating an anime adaptation of the manga. He frequently consulted with Kui on the anime adaptation and sought her thoughts on the characters' inner perspectives.[7] Miyajima said that Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible which provides detailed information about the world of the manga, was very helpful to him.[8] Character designer Naoki Takeda also joined the project as a fan of the manga series. They consulted professional food designer Mao Momichi so that the foods in the anime would look delicious while retaining their "monstrous" vibe. About a hundred voice actors were invited to audition for each of the characters Laios, Marcille, Chilchuck, and Senshi. According to Miyajima, finding an actor to voice Laios was difficult because they were looking for someone who could naturally express Laios's "eccentricity".[7] To help them understand what it's like to eat dungeon food, the staff provided them with insects to eat.[9]
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Media
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Manga
Written and illustrated by Ryoko Kui, Delicious in Dungeon was serialized in Enterbrain's Harta magazine from February 15, 2014,[10][11] to September 15, 2023.[12] Enterbrain collected its chapters in 14 tankōbon volumes, released from January 15, 2014, to December 15, 2023.[13][14]
In October 2016, North American publisher Yen Press announced it had licensed the series.[15] The 14 volumes were released from May 23, 2017, to July 23, 2024.[16]
Anime
The series received an anime television adaptation produced by Trigger.[17] It is directed by Yoshihiro Miyajima, with scripts written by Kimiko Ueno, character designs by Naoki Takeda, and music composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and Shunsuke Tsuchiya.[18][19] For the first cours, the opening theme song is "Sleep Walking Orchestra", performed by Bump of Chicken, while the ending theme song is "Party!!", performed by Ryokuoushoku Shakai.[20][21] For the second cours, the opening theme song is "Unmei" (運命; "Destiny"), performed by Sumika, while the ending theme song is "Kirakira no Hai" (キラキラの灰; "Twinkling Ash"), performed by Regal Lily.[22] The series aired its first season in two consecutive cours from January 4 to June 13, 2024, on Tokyo MX and other networks,[23][24] with Netflix licensing it for streaming and simuldubbing worldwide weekly.[25][26][21]
After the final episode of the first season, a second season was announced.[27]
Other media
Additional comics, sketches, and full color illustrations drawn over the course of the series' creation were released as five short artbooks published with Harta volumes under the name Daydream Hour from August 12, 2016,[28] to August 12, 2022,[29] with unpublished illustrations released on Harta's official website for a limited time on May 11, 2020.[30] A compilation artbook, Doodles by Ryoko Kui: Daydream Hour (九井諒子ラクガキ本 デイドリーム・アワー, Ryoko Kui Rakugaki Hon Daydream Hour), was published on January 15, 2024.[31] Yen Press released it in English on May 27, 2025.[32]
On August 1, 2017, a stop motion animation, subtitled Senshi's Easy Cooking! (センシのかんたんクッキング！, Senshi no Kantan Kukkingu!), was released on YouTube to commemorate the release of the manga's fifth volume.[33] On September 5, 2019, an animated commercial produced by Trigger was released to promote the manga's eighth volume.[34]
Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible (ダンジョン飯 ワールドガイド 冒険者バイブル, Danjon Meshi Wārudogaido Bōken-sha Baiburu) art and reference book was released in Japan on February 13, 2021.[35] It was released in English by Yen Press on August 23, 2022.[36] An updated and expanded version, Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible, Complete Edition (ダンジョン飯 ワールドガイド 冒険者バイブル 完全版, Danjon Meshi Wārudogaido Bōken-sha Baiburu Kanzenban), was released in Japan on February 15, 2024.[37] Yen Press released the later edition on July 22, 2025.[38][39]
An exhibition event showcasing replicas of the food from the series was held at Shibuya N-space from January 18–21, 2024.[40][41]
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Reception
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Manga
Volume 1 reached the 11th place on the weekly Oricon manga charts[42] and it was the 87th best-selling manga volume in Japan from November 17, 2014, to May 17, 2015, with 315,298 copies sold.[43] By August 2015, it had sold 381,614 copies.[44] Volume 2 reached the third place on the charts,[44] and by September 2015, it had sold 362,906 copies.[45] By August 2017, the first four volumes had over 2 million copies in print.[46] By October 2023, the manga had over 10 million copies in circulation; after its anime adaptation premiere, the number of copies in circulation increased in half a year to 14 million by March 2024 (including digital copies).[47]
The manga was chosen as the 13th best manga of 2015 in the Book of the Year manga ranking of Da Vinci magazine.[48] The 2016 edition of the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook ranked the series at number one on its list of top 20 manga for male readers.[49] The manga was nominated for the 9th to 12th Manga Taishō Award from 2016 to 2019.[50] A panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 highlighted it as one of the "Best Continuing Series for Kids/Teens".[51] It was also ranked second on Amazon Japan's Best-Selling Kindle Book Rankings for 2018.[52] In 2024, the manga won the 55th Seiun Award's Best Comic award.[53] It also won the Japan Society and Anime NYC's first American Manga Awards in the Best Continuing Manga Series category in 2024.[54][55] It won the Harvey Awards in the Best Manga category in the same year.[56][57]
Anime
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of six critics' reviews are positive.[58] In the Anime Corner awards of Winter 2024, the anime won Best Adventure and Best Comedy, based on 62,120 votes.[59] At the 9th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2025, the series received 16 nominations including Anime of the Year, but failed to win any awards.[60]
Accolades
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References
External links
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