Talking about weirdness, the new anime series on Netflix titled Delicious In Dungeon bases everything on being a weird adventure comedy with the premise being absurd. The main plot point has something to do with saving a girl named Falin from getting digested by a Red Dragon, but the comedy aspect of it is derived from the fact that the people who are going to save her are famished and there is only ‘monster food’ available all around. The anime has very little to do with how food functions in reality and has a completely new point of view on concepts like food chains. Delicious in Dungeon’s characters are in conflict over what can be considered edible food and have to make do with what’s available on the way to the dungeon where the Red Dragon lives.
Spoilers Ahead
How Did Laios Get Out Of The Dungeon?
Before diving deep into Laios’ story, one has to learn about the backstory of how the dungeon was created. Once, in a village inhabited by humans, the earth split open, and a man came out of the catacombs to reveal that he was the ruler of a place known as the Golden Country, and he had ruled the place for over a thousand years. The village that stood upon the catacombs owed it to a mage, who cast a spell on him and put his kingdom way down under the surface of the earth. The man, before vanishing back into his kingdom, put a handsome bounty on the mage’s head. Now, getting back to Laios, he seemed to be the leader of an army that had ventured into the dungeon to fight the Red Dragon, perhaps because there was a treasure to be found. Laios had a lot of eclectic members on his team. There were Falin and Marcille, the two magician sisters, and then there was Chilchuck, who could pick any lock in the world. The dragon had its army as well, and Laios could see that his army was no match for the opponent’s ferociousness. He began to doubt his mission. There had already been a delay in reaching the dungeon because the team had fallen into a trap and wasted its resources getting out. Everybody had reached the dungeon a little bit more weary than was desired. Laios wanted to feed himself, but there was no way out, and before he could ask his team to retreat, Falin was attacked by the Red Dragon. Before getting ingested by the monster, Falin used a spell to get Laios, Marcille, and Chilchuck on the surface. Now the trio had to get back into the dungeon and get Falin out. She was deemed to be alive as the dragon took one month to digest its food. So Falin was in the dragon’s stomach, and the trio began their adventure, learning about all sorts of ‘monster foods’ to get them strong again for the fight.
Why Did Senshi Venture Into The Dungeon?
There were several levels to the Golden Country. Somewhere along the way, there was the dungeon, where there was no food that the trio could have, but before that level, there was a lot to experiment with. Laios and Chilchuck seemed to have no problem eating monster food, which included carnivorous plants, cross-breeding between plants and humans, and slime. Laios had a book dedicated to explaining the delicacies that could be prepared from the ingredients available in the monster world. Chilchuck trusted Laios, and he was more worried about how they would get back to the dungeon and if they would beat the Red Dragon. Laios, too, wanted to focus only on Falin, perhaps because she was his lover. But it was Marcille who was so averse to eating the monster food and getting on with the adventure. She just couldn’t digest the fact that she had to taste absolutely disgusting-looking food. She didn’t trust Laios’ book, which was inclined to reveal the delicious nature of these edible items.
To please Marcille and convince her became a chore, which started to take a lot more time than Laios had expected. Luckily, the team met a man named Senshi, who was an expert on monster food and wanted to accompany Laios in capturing the Red Dragon. His reason was not that he wanted to save Falin, but that he wanted to make a fantastic dish using the Red Dragon as the main ingredient. It was to be his magnum opus. The master chef showed his skill when he prepared a dish from just slime, and it was the only thing Marcille could digest. Later, at one level below, the team saw the carnivorous plant that attacked Marcille. Thanks to Laios’ heroics, she got saved. The trip was halted as Marcille had to eat something more than slime to get some energy. Senshi gathered whatever elements he thought would be best suited for Marcille’s taste buds and prepared a delicacy that blew her away. She began to see that monster food could be tasty as well.
Final Words
I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m not much of a foodie. The new anime on Netflix, Delicious in Dungeon, has a target audience that must believe that they can eat anything. The show seems to be inclined to describe the pleasures of eating a great delicacy without judging it beforehand. The theme seems to be that eating is a pleasurable act and that it has the power to make one feel the rapture of being alive. There is the plot about saving Falin as well, which is so cliche that it does not warrant any more details. Like Mario crossing all the absurd levels to rescue the princess, Laios and his gang have to get to the final level and save Falin. But in that way, they will make some of the best dishes that we will not get to taste, and I’m fine with that proposition.
