I went off anime when the isekai and moe craze took off about 10 years ago.

I tried to get into modern anime, but couldn’t (JoJo is based off an 80s manga, that doesn’t count as modern to me).

But I’m on episode 3 and I’m really digging Dungeon Meishi/ Delicious in Dungeon. I’m watching the English dub and It’s like if Monster Hunter and Dimension 20 had a baby. The humour is great, I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. The world is cool too.

I like how it isn’t following the anime tropes. The characters aren’t high schoolers, the women act like real human beings, there’s no Shonen toy commercial BS. It’s just a good fun adventure.

My only criticisms are that it’s a little videogamey, it makes me hungry and that the title Delicious in Dungeon makes no sense, it should be Delicious in THE Dungeon.

Senshi is my favourite.

  • Southloop [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    Pst! The title is goofy in English because a creative decision was made to make it sound like both a play on D’n’D and a cooking show on public television, for example “Barefoot Contessa” or “Welcome to Homegrown!” instead of doing a direct calque of its Japanese name and calling it “Dungeon Meal.” Real clunker, huh?

  • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    It is an honest to god dungeon crawl in the old tabletop sense, where the characters triumph due to their knowledge and cunning rather than raw power. Everyone’s personality is believable, and each member of the party has complimentary strengths and weaknesses.

    Ryoko Kui plays CRPGs and it shows, but she also transcends the videogame logic by centering the narrative on the party’s mastery of the environment (the dungeon, the monsters, the nature of magic and so on) rather than a series of pitched battles. I recommend it to pretty much everyone who has an interest on anime or computer RPGs.

    But more importantly, I want to eat the ice cream.

  • VapeNoir [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    Everything dungeon meshi related should come with a big certification sticker that says “Contains no isekai content!”

  • CriticalOtaku [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    the title Delicious in Dungeon makes no sense, it should be Delicious in THE Dungeon.

    It’s trying to be a pun on DnD but the english title doesn’t translate well.

    • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      (I write this as my daughter and I are arguing about whether or not Butterfree’s wings are intrinsically toxic or not. The Pokédex says that it can flap its wings to release toxic scales / powder, but that doesn’t necessarily imply that the wings themselves are comprised of toxic scales! These are important questions to ask when assessing a Pokémon’s snuggleability.)

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      I like Chilchuck the best myself, the idea that he’s a professional working on a contract with a family back home speaks to me I guess.

      He’s a fun subversion of “this childlike anime waifu is actually 1000 years old even though she talks acts and looks like a child” creep pandering; he acts and even talks like a grumpy middle-aged man because he is.

  • the_post_of_tom_joad [any, any]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    Ok my friend recc’d this one to me just the other day and i had been blowing it off as “one day”. But you reiterate some good things she said said and some magic words she didn’t and now I have to check it out. Here goes

    Edit yup this is funny. When she fed that adventurer the antidote i lost my shit

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      It somehow dodges that “what if bibeo bame” isekai exploitation shit entirely and gives decent lore explanations for what’s left. Excellent. chefs-kiss

      • Monk3brain3 [any, he/him]@hexbear.net
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        3 months ago

        I’d even argue that the video game vibes are more down to our conditioning as viewers and consumers of media in general. Also any fantasy anime that isn’t an isekai will have a decent chance of being a good show. We even had frieren recently. Unless it’s trash like goblin slayer. And the only fantasy type anime that’s worse than goblin slayer is surprise, an isekai. The dogshit trash that is Gate. It’s wild how people forget Imperial Japanese were basically the Asian Nazis and this let’s nationalist garbage like Gate be produced. Then there’s mushoku tensei… holy shit isekai sucks ass.

        • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          3 months ago

          Then there’s mushoku tensei… holy shit isekai sucks ass.

          I never heard of that one, but you seemed to imply it’s worse than Goblin Slayer, Surprise, and Gate. I don’t dare look it up even for curiosity. dead-dove-1

            • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              3 months ago

              I assume it’s one of those “kiddie creepers care about kids and are so misunderstood about their intentions” cognitohazard messages. libertarian-alert

              • Monk3brain3 [any, he/him]@hexbear.net
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                3 months ago

                I mean I straight up think it’s just the authors own fantasy. Like having a pedo reborn as a kid and the implications of that isnt even good propaganda. Although I don’t think any pedo propaganda can even be good. Rebranding as maps hasn’t done anything for them. Probably the best niche for pedos is to become right wingers.

                It’s really disturbing also that this anime is extremely popular. I sometimes wonder why anime fans get a bad rap. Then I see a situation like this.

                • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  3 months ago

                  Definitely another “dare ye enter my magical realm” creepy maker issue. Similar deal with the sex pest that made Ready Player One and his issues with consent and respecting boundaries especially in his shitty book’s shittier sequel.

                  Worse than that, “Shield Hero” was an incel revenge/power fantasy that takes their deep fear and hatred of “false SV accusations” and turns it into punitive SV with slavery characteristics. guts-rage

        • DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml
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          3 months ago

          Goblin Slayer is basically an Isekai minus the Isekai part, it’s the exact same wish fulfillment stuff for socially inept losers and waifu pillow manufacturing machine that they all are, it just didn’t start with the goblin slayer travelling to the fantasy world after being hit by a truck.

  • Gorb [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    Now watch dragon pilot

    I will convince you with this ed https://youtu.be/hG-ahxkDPCA

    Honestly a lot of anime coming out these days are so much better than the isekai dark ages. Dead dead demons destruction is absolutely goated and probably the best thing I’ve seen in a while.

  • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    The premise is cute but i bounced off the animation. Not DiD-specific, i had the same issue with the new batman. The current generation of cg cartoon animation looks so flat and, idk… austere? I’m not sure what the call it. But it doesn’t speak to me or generate visual interest.

    • Owl [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      The manga is gorgeous, and has a lot of cool establishing shots of the dungeon that the anime just skips over.

    • Moss [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      There’s no CG in dungeon meishi from what I can remember. The animation quality is worse in the first few episodes than the rest of the show, I remember watching an action sequence in episode six and thinking “oh hey, the animatioj budget turned up”

    • KobaCumTribute [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      Yeah, aesthetically it’s more or less perfectly capturing the manga in a way that looks better on paper on than it does as an animation. It’s pretty visually disappointing coming from a studio with a history of doing incredibly vibrant and dynamic original work like Kill la Kill, BNA, and Edgerunners.

      Although I wouldn’t say this is a modern problem, because they’re doing a very good job of mimicking a very specific aesthetic style. It’s just that their own original work has historically been a lot better looking including their other most recent series Edgerunners.

        • KobaCumTribute [she/her]@hexbear.net
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          3 months ago

          Yeah, my experience with it was “wow, I don’t really like how this looks but I’ve heard enough good things about it that I’ll stick it out anyways” and then I ran out of anime and read the manga and it all made sense, because it’s just straight up shot for shot the manga turned into animation.

  • Moss [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    Has the best character been introduced yet? kbity kbity-how I think she shows up in episode 17 or something. She’s amazing every time she’s doing anything I go hoohoohehehehe

  • micnd90 [he/him,any]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    It’s going to get better further as the world and lore opens itself. The world has a surprisingly well-established tabletop DnD rule, with each race given fairly sufficient lore just like the edible monster that you have seen so far. I also highly recommend going to the manga after you complete the anime, as the manga has concluded (it is only 90 or so chapter) and the art is gorgeous. Unlike many other manga that drags on, the author wraps it up where it makes sense with very satisfying book-end (although some people suspect that she did wrap up the series just in time for BG3 release last year, the author is a massive western CRPG fan, she’s too much of an anti-social to actually play DnD with other people).

    • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      although some people suspect that she did wrap up the series just in time for BG3 release last year

      This is confirmed. The final chapters were delayed slightly because BG3 came out in August.