And that is how the relatively niche series of Delicious in Dungeon, a mixture of fantasy adventure and food porn, was born. Following the success of its first season, the studio that created the show has taken the heat up a notch with news that a second season is on the way. It’s a take on a fantasy adventure that – for the kitchen wizards out there, and the growing number of armchair adventurers and dungeon crawlers who identify as foodies – makes for mouthwatering viewing.
The studio behind the Delicious in Dungeon manga has confirmed a Season 2 is coming – it’s not just a wish for the future but something that’s steaming in a pot already. The announcement thundered across social media, as fans posted on their favourite social media and forum websites that they couldn’t wait for more of the series, and newbies announced with exclamation marks that they were joining the ride for the first time. Season one, still available for bingeing on Netflix, was aMAYzing: it had 24 episodes of action-packed adventures hilariously dappled with episodes that really want to be called ‘mouthgasmic’.
At its core, Delicious in Dungeon is the story of a quartet of cash-strapped adventurers who, in an effort to rescue a friend swallowed by a dragon, simply eat the monsters they encounter. The studio has done exactly what it needs to do: created an anime that’s interesting and fun as a result of its uncanny premise. It’s a masterstroke in tension and the absurd served with a side of culinary experimentation that begs the question: ‘Is monster cuisine real?
And it’s that combination of top-notch traditional fantasy and an anime-cised cooking show that has helped Delicious in Dungeon capture an international audience, thanks in part to the Japanese animation studio TRIGGER, INC, which produced it. TRIGGER is best known among anime nerds for two things: its ready willingness to experiment and its sometimes obsessive attention to detail. And those characteristics effortlessly carry over from the high-octane action sequences to the visual exploration of the food being served up against them. It’s all so pretty.
The studio’s flair for storytelling is evident in the series’ continued ability to keep us laughing and crying and holding our breath until the next episode – and enticing viewers to come back again. Adapting a novel concept into an anime further expands the possibilities for the genre, and proves that food and fantasy go well together.
Though details about the second season’s storyline remain closely held, if the studio’s track record is anything to go by, fans are in for another season of surprises. Will the adventurers’ culinary experimentation continue to be a source of sustenance and salvation as they venture deeper into the dungeon? We’ll have to wait and see. One thing’s for sure: the studio is cooking some good eats, and our tastebuds are ready.
Behind Delicious in Dungeon is the studio TRIGGER, INC., perhaps the most boundary-breaking media conglomerate to come along since (possibly during?) the studio-driven boom of 1930s Japan. Among the shows on their resume are such critical and popular hits as Little Witch Academia, Space Patrol Luluco, Kiznaiver, SSSS.Gridman and Promare. TRIGGER is basically an anime Titanium Studios. But such glittering works and global reach aside, the artistic and business sense of TRIGGER, in the case of Delicious in Dungeon, extends to what they managed to do visually, in storyboarding and the resulting animation, with a manga which seems like it would be a natural fit for studios with far less established reputations, and instead saw the end of the original studio that handled it. TRIGGER recognised that the marriage of fantasy and foodie bean counter would bring together two distinct headcanons, combined into one free-wheeling escapade that would cut across demographics, and age groups, making it the perfect subject for an exceptional studio like TRIGGER, as well as for the sharp-minded audiences that reliably snap up any show that comes from them. Season 2 is being made and is simmering on the studio’s creative stove right now, ready to feed yet another ravenous audience.
Overall, it seems that the adventurers have cooked up an unexpectedly tasty TV anime as the studio readies itself to serve up a second season of Delicious in Dungeon. Whether it’s the writing, the studio’s artistic execution, or the novelty of the concept, there’s plenty to enjoy here. With any luck, a return visit to the dungeon will be equally delicious.
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