Dungeon Meshi

The life of an adventurer is quite rough, tough mobs, deadly traps and most importantly not starving to death and dealing with the prospect of eating your fellow adventurers. Lauis was forced into the predictament after a raid to the Red Dragon led to his sister being eaten alive and left inside the belly of the beast and they only have an entire month to save her. But since they don't have much in the way of gold, the adventurers are forced to dine on the mobs they have slain. An unappetizing option for his companions, thankfully they stumble across the dwarf Senshi, the reliable dwarf is an hardly survivalist who wants to kill the Dragon not for the prize but for the taste of dragon and so a journey is made underground to save Lauis' sister and find new ways to kill the mobs and taste their remains.

Dungeon Meshi is a manga that takes cues from Toriko, Dragon Crown and Danmachi and combines it into a tabletop inspired adventure as the cast goes down into breach once more and feast on every mob they fight. The motley crew consists of Lauis, the aloof warrior who wants to keep track of the things they ate in the dungeon for future adventures, Mircelle the elven sorceress who is too used to eating prepackaged meals from the surface, Tirchac, the halfling thief and straight man to Lauis' quirky personality and Senshi's desire to taste a red dragon.

RIght now the manga has reached volume 2 and the I am gonna wait for volume 3's release and their forays into the dungeon culinary world.

It starts with the mc sister getting eaten by a dragon and instead of trying to get to the dragons level and help her they make a hot pot with a mushroom dwarf or whatever that guy is. I understand that this is a comedy but don't start your series with somebody getting eaten by a dragon if it's gonna be a secondary goal to eating god damn mushroom legs from a hotpot. And like there are so many dungeon mangas and so many food mangas so combining them isn't a bad thing but again bad story for a comedy manga about food.

this manga is good folks.

initially it may seem like it relies too heavily on cliches, but actually this is something it uses beneficially imo. despite the fact that it starts in a standard fantasy setting with standard fantasy rpg characters, this is just a base from which dungeon meshi builds a solid, interesting, engaging, and unique story. you have to be a good writer to pull this off, but good writing is something this manga consistently provides. it's able to keep you entertained with fun realistic monster-based cooking and absolutely hilarious situations and character interactions. meanwhile as it progresses, a fascinating and dark plotline is unveiled while the characters develop and start defying your first impressions of them.

i was really happy with how cool the worldbuilding ends up being. there's a lot of really fun stuff, from the magic of "dungeon creation" to realistic, believable monster biology. concepts are introduced and then explored in surprising ways, and have consequences. as in, monsters and magic and etc don't simply exist in a void, they have effects on all aspects of life, like a real ecosystem. it's obvious that despite drawing from existing myths and standard expectations of rpgs, there's a lot of thought put into this. the dungeon is almost its own character, really. it was refreshing to see an author be able to put a new, unique spin on familiar ideas.

the characters are really the best part of it all, though. every major character is likable and interesting, and they all have unexpected developments that are really fun. for example: the character who's standard rpg role is "reliable leader with a noble heart" ends up being really weird, and having virtually no leadership skills. these developments and reveals are by turns comedic and tragic, and leave you wanting to spend more time with pretty much everyone.

basically despite appearances, this manga brings forth more unique and exciting concepts than a lot of "more original" series do. and tbh, even if it didn't, it's funny and charming enough to be worth reading anyway. give it a shot!

I really enjoy this manga, from the art to the story and the character, this work show how much creativeness a mangaka can have when they go their own way.

The character is lighthearted, not too serious, not a single trace of edginess, some of them is very mature (thanks god), as author break away from that highschool teenager awkward and cutesy character design, so apparently most of them are very likeable.

The story is mostly about killing monster and eat food so it can be repetitive but that what I like about them because the character is unique and likeable, it's like watching a food show with your favorite host, and the food is good too, the author did a good making the cuisine drawing as appealing as possible, and there is bunch of difference kind of food, way of making them, as if you will never get boring with it, each month I go straight a way to the manga site to find out what they gonna cook this time.

At first, i only read this manga because i ran out of things to read, i thought it would be a somewhat cute manga that has no purpose and just keeps being cute to make people to read it, but i was wrong, its actually one of the best manga that is currently being written.

Story: 10/10
The story started off simple, as it has been summarized in the synopsis, the group of dungeon explorers have to commit the taboo act of eating monsters inside the dungeon to help them advance in the dungeon as the result of many difficult circumstances. The story develops in a comedy way in the few first chapters, but then continue to slowly unfolds into much more complex and interesting plot as the manga progresses. The best thing about the story is that the author somehow manages to logically explains everything that happens throughout the story, connecting all the past current events together in a smooth and satisfying way that makes us readers hungry for more chapters.

Art: 10/10
Art is drawn in a cute but detailed way, all the characters emotions and all the details are drawn in a very satisfying way that perfectly describes the characteristics of characters and the scenery of the dungeon.

Character: 10/10
The best part of this manga, each and every character in the manga is developed very carefully and logically, all the characters feels relatable and distinguishable, even the side characters or monsters. The best part is that all the monsters feel like they have a purpose, not just plain bad guys made so that the hero can shine by killing them like in other manga, all the monsters in the manga are described very logically from biological, to characteristics.

Enjoyment: 10/10
At first, i enjoyed the good comedy and cuteness of the characters, but the more i read, the more i learn that there are so many amazing things about this manga, everything about it is perfect, the anatomy of monsters are even described in a very logical way that makes the manga virtually have near zero plot holes.

Overall: 10/10
It's not even a finished manga, but the author has proven that it has the potential to become a masterpiece with good storytelling, character developments and art combined with good comedies that doesn't feel out of place or just bland bad like in other manga. One of the best manga currently.

This is a manga that I had tried to start probably three times over the last year after seeing it recommended on Reddit, but the first half of the first chapter always seemed to stop me from going any further. I tend to be a sucker for a generic fantasy RPG style series, but the beginning of this manga seemed so generic that I couldn't get into it. However, on my fourth attempt I decided to power through the beginning and see what all of the hype was about, and I was rewarded with one of the most unique takes on the dungeon crawler style manga I've ever seen.

While Dungeon Meshi shines brightest for its sequences outside of combat, its action scenes also manage to expertly incorporate D&D style creative problem solving. None of the main party members are particularly powerful on their own, so they tend to fight by analyzing their environment for help or by repurposing cooking tools into weapons for surprisingly good results. Characters also seem to be more willing to try risky and potentially deadly strategies than in most manga, as reviving the dead is as common of an occurrence as treating an injury. These scenes can also occasionally get pretty dark/philosophical which I think offsets the comedy really well.

Combat aside though, the real spirit of this manga is when it turns into a fantasy slice-of-life in between fights. The party leader and a dwarf they meet early on are both obsessed with cooking and eating monsters, so after each fight the reader is treated to a cooking sequence that gives me similar vibes to the cooking scenes in Yuru Camp. There's a lot of good comedy in these scenes too, usually about other party members' objections to cooking whatever horrific monster just tried to kill them. These sequences also help develop an interesting party dynamic, full of running jokes and characters who are deeper than they initially seem.

TL;DR - Dungeon Meshi is a really fun mix of creative fantasy combat and laidback slice-of-life cooking that isn't afraid to get serious when it needs to, combining to make one of my favorite manga to date.

What is an ultimate adventure? A journey toward a new world? An encounter with new companion? A battle to save a kingdom? Quite a typical theme for a fantasy adventure don't you think(not that I against it though)? Now consider this new dimension: An adventure won't be complete without taking on a whole new taste.

Dungeon Meshi is an unique fantasy adventure that able to bring that new dimension of adventure, which surprisingly resonates with the concept of adventure in real life. What differentiate this from other similar manga is the fact that this series try to appeal the reader's appetite not from the drawing, but through the whole process of preparing food toward the table. The dishes is well planned (or should I say designed?) by considering the availability of the ingredient, the nutritional balance, and at some point: moral value.

However, the whole story goal are not exactly to collect ingredients or eating the best food. Food in this series is portrayed as daily necessity (and sometimes a reward) to continue their main quest, which quite humbled compared to typical fantasy adventure you'll commonly see. For me, this hit a balanced point that make this enjoyable both as fantasy adventure and cooking manga.

Dungeon Meshi. It's a 10 folks, and only because scores don't go higher, so don't miss it! By the way this is gonna be more of a praise for this manga's strong points rather than a story's summary.

To start off, just want to make it clear that, even though you might have heard that this is a cooking manga (correct), this story is NOT limited to a gimmick. I repeat, this is not a gimmick manga. Yes they cook often but that's something that happens as the story unfolds, not like, the main thing you have to look forward to. Unless you are into that, of course, people like different things after all. Just trying to say that the story is TOP NOTCH

So, getting started, characters are all great and well written, which makes you very invested in their misadventures and whatnot. Their dynamics are very good too, you LOVE seeing all of them interact with each other.
The art is really good too but that's not hard at all to see so that's that.

The story is awesome, as mentioned. It starts off nice and promising and keeps delivering more and more as it goes on. It's the kind that has you needing to see through to the end. The world building is TIER ONE; a lot of times when you start a fantasy manga you realize the mangaka doesn't really wanna bother with writing new stuff for their world so they just use the classic settings and assume you are familiar with all that, which is fine depending on their intention, but reading this manga and seeing the amount of work this authoress has put into her world, it's just amazing! Everything is so detailed and original, so good so good.

Characters have really good designs too, they all look super good and memorable. Whenever a new one is introduced, you can't help but to wonder all about them, like "oooooh who are they? what do they do?? i need them to talk to this other character, they will hate each other!" or whatever you think when you see a cool character, oh and by the way they WILL be well designed NO matter how much of background character they are (you experience HxH once and get spoiled with this kind of attention to character design so seeing it again every once in a while makes you feel good). The monsters are all VERY cool and interesting too if you are into that.

There are some chapters in which the creator talks about her designs with illustrations and these are always very nice to go through.

No conventional fan service, which can be good or bad depending on you. You will not find WoW style female conterparts that look like anorexic and boobed version of the males in every race. You will not find elves dressed in bikinis for no reason and you will not find panty shots in the middle of a battle sequence. Very elegant!
(And i say conventional because in my opinion this manga in itself is a service to all fans)

It's also very funny, in this case the comedy tag is not lying to you. The characters very much complement each other causing hilarity to ensue.

Please go ahead and experience this world, you won't regret it!! I believe it is criminal that it is not in the top 10 or 50 or in the 9.smth scores. And you'll think so too, if you allow yourself.

As much as it pains me to say so, this work is mediocre – enjoyable while you are reading it, but not gripping enough. The characters are nice, the art is the reason I don’t have the heart to give this manga a 5, I liked the mangaka’s other works, but during all my time with this series I was unsure, whether I want to read on or prefer to drop it for good.

The problem is that the core idea is weak. I don’t see comedic potential in the concept of heroes eating monsters. So what? Most of us have done so in video games, DnD sessions or in fantasy fiction. And Dungeon Meshi for the most part is just that – a stroll through the dungeon, which is not that big of a problem for the party, and a parody of a cooking show. Or maybe a cooking show, I am not sure how much of this manga can be translated to real-life cooking (personally, I don’t think that it’s worth it anyway, since they cook from what they have and on the move). Reading more of the same mangaka made me understand better the type of crazy-turned-straight punchline she enjoys, but while I see a point in the normalizing subversion, it doesn’t make me excited as a reader. The characters as well initially are too schematic: each is defined by a quirk, usually an obsession with one topic.

Why have I read the available chapters? Mostly for the art (I’ll come back to it) and because somehow, each time I became critically disheartened, manga offered the bare minimum of material to hold me. The plot has its brighter moments – when it revisits some of the previously established rules, so that you’re as “on”, as the characters, when it allows the characters to lose face, putting them in more surreal situations, or when danger spices things up. Danger tends to be engaging by itself, but what’s more important “cooking in a very dangerous dungeon” or “adventurer party being so strong that it turns things that kill others in a picnic” have that spark.

Currently the story is at its turning point – they’ve reached a conclusion for the first arc. It’s unclear what will happen next, but there’re hints on a broader overarching plot forming. It looks like it involves fantasy politics, namely another iteration of scheming elves, and personally I am not sure I look forward to it.

My opinion on worldbuilding is mixed. The world of Dungeon Meshi is not as MMO as those in many fantasy mangas nowadays – there’re no damage numbers or stats – but there’re regen spells and dungeon levels. Also I don’t think that I can call a fantasy world consistent, when characters sleep in an armor you can hardly sleep in or use modern-term terms and theories, like ecosystem or nutrition. A lot of effort was put into explaining food, monsters and food out of monsters, making it look plausible and similar to our own, though I don’t know why. Sure, there’s educational value, but making their views or their dishes more alien is a good opportunity missed.

The things I can praise are:
The art. It’s stellar. It’s not exactly showy, as in you won’t find two-page panels with a character striking a pose. The art is narrative, and excels in its own way – the panels with characters’ expressions shown in just the right way in just the right moment are what really makes it tick. The monsters are detailed and vivid. The food is drawn amazingly – the author can pull off things like drawing it a bit more like a still-life or like a photo from a lifestyle magazine.
The character designs are lovable. The cast here is in their twenties (or the fantasy analog of them), and they look and behave their age. They are dressed sensibly, they display a big variety of facial expressions. The designs support the backgrounds and personalities with subtlety. I can’t help but swoon over the design of the main character, Laius, he’s a knight drawn right

Maybe the cast itself. On one hand, as I’ve mentioned, they are defined by a few exaggerated features and there’s the immersion-breaking detail that they enjoy their great culinary adventure while on timer to save their friend. On the other, albeit very slow, the barebone concepts grow meat along the way. In any case they end up being much fresher than what you’d see in most fantasy series. The best example would be the female members of the main cast – they’re strikingly different from each other, and it is achieved without making bust size, love interests or hair color a factor. (By the way, this manga zero sexual pandering).

The third, the hardest to define, yet maybe the most important positive point of Dungeon Meshi, is that some rules in their world just work, you can’t change them with wishful thinking. The characters don’t feel like Sues and are not allowed to warp reality. Monsters are monsters, you need to cook meat thoroughly to make it safe to eat and people, even ones you know well, move on. This manga has nor sexy loli dragons, nor nakama power, and it cannot and won’t ever have them.

So who should read this? The thing that makes me pause at the question is that I am not sure, maybe the lukewarm appeal I've experienced is universal, even if weak, that would mean I should recommend it to the majority of readers. But I can't count on things I can't predict with any sense of certainty. Let’s say it this way: I have confidence in recommending the author’s shorter works (do check them out), but as for Dungeon Meshi – I believe that ultimately it’s up to your willful decision or circumstances (topics you look for, how much you can forgive for pretty art at the moment, your backlog) – reading this manga is ok, skipping is also fine.

I came into Dungeon Meshi with no expectations and no prior knowledge of what it was about or how good it might be. I was looking for a new manga to read and I tend to like stories involving dungeons in general so I clicked on it and tried it out. Overall, I'm very glad that I did.

Dungeon Meshi is not a groundbreaking, exciting manga full of action and twists. Instead it is an extremely solid story with a simple premise. At first I thought that the focus was too much on food and too little on the great fantasy world imagined by this author. However after I got through a few chapters I came to truly enjoy both the realistic food preparation aspects of the story and the fantasy aspects as well.

Although Dungeon Meshi's story is very much rooted in the archetypal idea of a medieval fantasy world, many of the plot points are grounded completely in logic and reality. Food preparation works as it does in real life, the monster's strengths and weaknesses are sometimes magic but more often realistic details based on how they might be if monsters lived on earth as we know it.

The art is somewhat simple. I don't know too much about judging manga's art but I will say that it is certainly not bad art. It may lack the detail and flair that some manga readers are used to but the style overall is solid.

The characters pretty much adhere to the normal characters you'd expect in a medieval fantasy RPG style world which didn't bother me but may be too plain for others.

Overall I give Dungeon Meshi a 9/10 because although it is a simple manga, it is also a charming one and sometimes it is nice to read something without so much drama, fan service, and cliffhangers.

Story - 9
Art - 8
Character - 8
Enjoyment - 9
Overall - 9