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.