Delicious in Dungeon

Episode 14

Episode 14 of Delicious in Dungeon starts the new season with a few great ideas and scenes mixed in with a head-scratching structural choice.

Much of this episode is focused on Kabru and his adventuring party. It's nice for a change of pace to travel with a different set of companions through the dungeon, resetting expectations and getting back to just-the-adventuring-ma'am. Kabru and his crew don't leave the most lasting impact either as individuals or as a crew, but they aren't offputting to watch. They feel rather typical in most regards, though we do learn about how Kabru views/values leadership and the joy of deduction. Also, the dog guy is a very fun cartoon character who is a joy to watch, even if most of what he is doing in this episode is sniffing the air.

The draw for the first half of the episode is the fight with the bandits. This is incredibly well-animated, yet more of that Trigger goodness we are used to. I think it's also really fun conceptually that there's an illusion caster in the group and Kabru uses his deductive skills to suss out what is going on. The bit about having to kiss a wizard to stop them from casting a spell - the fanfic practically writes itself, folks. I'll be curious if this comes up again.

From my perspective, the oddest thing about this episode was that it was a season opener that did not feel completely necessary. Kabru's deduction worked more as a recap than a truly compelling in-character discussion, and that makes sense for the first episode of a new season… except we just saw the end of season one last week. I think this would have made more sense if there was some time between the seasons airing, or perhaps it might be helpful if this was where there was a break in the manga or a break between volumes (which may have been the case, I can't say). As a weekly viewer with no break though it felt perfunctory.

In the final stretch, we get the introduction of another crew - Shuro's new party! A bunch of great designs here and the Trigger team gives them a big flashy entrance. This is my bias showing but I'm already hoping the tall (oni? ogre?) girl with the club gets more screen time going forward. Curious about what drama Shuro's team will introduce into the mix.

Rating:

Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

Delicious in Dungeon is currently streaming on Netflix.