Ryoko Kui

Laios and his adventuring party are trying to defeat a dragon when his sister is grabbed and eaten. Before the dragon gets her, she uses magic to teleport the whole party to safety. Laios wants to save her before she's digested and unrevivably dead, but he's all out of money for provisions, and selling his weapons in order to buy food wouldn't put him in any better of a situation. Which is why he decides to try something he's been curious about for ages: cooking and eating the dungeon show more monsters he kills. His companions are horrified, but they go along with it out of necessity. It helps that they gain a new member, an experienced dungeon monster cook/nutritionist named Senshi.

This series is bizarro. No one seems to be very worried about dying, or even in that much of a rush to save Laios's sister, in large part because resurrection spells are a thing. So a lot of time is devoted to killing and cooking things. This is basically a foodie manga, just with fantasy food. Each meal even includes a list of ingredients.

This particular volume discusses the importance of a balanced diet, the fact that even experienced dungeon cooks can learn new things (for example, Senshi learns that mandrakes taste better if you let them scream first), and the use of dungeon traps as kitchen utensils and appliances (for chopping meat, frying it, etc.). Also, Laios acquires a sword with a living armor creature inside it. Portable food? I worry that this guy's obsession with eating dungeon monsters is going to get him and his party killed. Thank goodness Senshi is there, although that guy has his own issues.

Marcille, the elf character, was borderline annoying. She was the character who seemed to have the most difficulty adjusting to eating dungeon monsters and finding her place in this slightly altered adventuring party - the polar opposite of Laios, who'd have happily eaten anything Senshi gave him (and some things even Senshi never considered cooking).

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

I grew up on CLAMP so I am accustomed to manga that spends about 20 volumes faffing around without progressing the plot much, or at all. I honestly expected a good 10 volumes to pass, minimum, before we got to the Red Dragon from volume 1.

Color me pleasantly surprised!

The fight feels pretty hopeless and exciting throughout. I really expected something like "It turns out being eaten by a dragon makes the dragon sluggish and the person takes 1000 years to digest, much like in the show more Sarlacc."

Instead, it pulled no punches. She is dead and digested and what's left of her skeleton is trapped in a dragon-size owl pellet of fur and bones, mixed with that of some war dogs. Its gross and dark and far more realistic than I would have expected. The long time to get to this point was taken into account. show less

An absolutely wonderful conclusion to an excellent series. Kui's art was good to start with, and it's only improved over the course of the manga. The characters have come so far, and it's good to see where they'll go next.

There's a lot of things I love about the series, including that central to Laios' story is his being ostracized by most people in his life for various reasons. He left the army, he's been picked on by people who took advantage, his team has been weirded out by his quirks, show more and people generally view him as strange and kind of evil. This has made him close in on himself, be quieter, not share his thoughts so much, and run from people. And it's while running away that he's found, and brought into people's arms so they can hug and congratulate and thank him, and he's very overwhelmed. And in the end he chooses to help them back. He's not perfect, and people aren't perfect, either, but he's doing a lot better. It's a fulfilling story.

My favorite story is Mithrun's, and how he listens to Kabru, who fights so hard for Mithrun's life. And Mithrun trying to find some way to go forward, or at least help other people if nothing else. And when Senshi advises him in a way that can help him go on. Mithrun's story is so tragic, and it's lovely to see everyone come in around him to support him.

Kabru, meanwhile, has learned to reach out to people and advocate on his own and their behalf. He's moving forward, not staying in the shadows.

The volume is sweet and sad and all-around good. I hope Yen Press translates the Complete Adventurer's Guide and Daydream Hour, too. And I'm looking forward to the rest of the manga being animated. show less

And so continues my love affair with this impeccable series. Seriously, I'm swooning! There are other manga series that I have adored and are overall 5-star series for me, like "Death Note" and "Horimiya", but this one takes the cake (food pun intended). I think it's a personal thing because "Delicious in Dungeon" is the alignment of so many of my favorite things: adventures, magic worlds, cooking, monsters, cool battles, and a hella cool dwarf.
Ryoko Kui continues to balance moving the show more overall plot forwards at beautiful pace, while taking time to explore the intricacies of the dungeon and all its inhabitants. I deeply appreciate the fact that readers don't just get blasted with names of creatures but also information about their ecosystems and what's unique about them; this really fleshes out the world so well!
The characters are as wonderful as ever, and each person gets a nice balance of focal time. The additional group that the main bunch met up with in this volume was nicely done: it added texture to the volume while again progressing the plots of everyone involved in a natural way.
5/5, would definitely recommend this series if you're looking for a funny, heartfelt, and really unique fantasy manga! show less