James Nicoll Reviews

2023’s Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 13 is the thirteenth tankōbon in Ryoko Kui’s secondary-world comedy fantasy manga series. Originally published as Danjon Meshi, Delicious in Dungeon appears in Enterbrain’s Harta. Volume 13 was translated into English in 2023 by Taylor Engel.

Laios and his dungeon-delving companions (half-elf mage Marcille, halfling security expert Chilchuck, dwarf fighter Senshi, and cat-beastkin ninja Izutsumi) have gone on a quest to save Laios’ dead sister Falin. In so doing, they may have doomed the world.

Defeating the Lunatic Magician who ruled the Dungeon created a job vacancy. Magician Marcille accepted the post. This was a grave error. If only Marcille were the only victim.

Ultimately all power over the Dungeon comes from the Winged Lion, an extradimensional being whose nigh-godlike abilities are matched only by its bottomless hunger. An endless drive to eat people or their souls would be bad enough. The Winged Lion’s food is desire itself. It gives its supposed masters whatever they demand, then fuels further desire. Once the victim is fully in thrall to desire, the Winged Lion eats their desires, which leaves the victims hollow shells.

The Winged Lion is a master manipulator. It easily convinces its victims to wish for that which advances the Winged Lion’s own goals. Above all else, the Winged Lion wishes to escape the Dungeon and unleash its powers on a helpless world. Marcille is all too easy to manipulate.

Enter Laios to save the day! All he needs to do is convince Marcille to let him replace her as master of the Dungeon. Armed with his superior knowledge of monsters, shielded by his monomaniacal focus on his goals, surely Laios can resist temptation where all before him have failed.

Or perhaps he will be immediately seduced by the power to make his dreams real and the Winged Lion will finally escape from the Dungeon.

~oOo~

Laios is deficient in people skills¹ and knows it. But he does know his companions well enough to know which one should be given the task of killing Laios on the spot should he appear to have been seduced by the Winged Lion. This person is, of course, Izutsumi, whose lightning reflexes and ability to jump to conclusions on slender pretexts are matched only by her indifference to consequences. As it happens, once Laios falls under the Winged Lion’s spell, it turns out to be impossible to kill him. Still, E for Effort.

This manga abounds in monsters, but not all of them are evil. The creatures of the Dungeon, both people and the monsters, exist in an ecological context. They act as they do for reasons that make sense from their own perspectives. This true even of the Winged Lion, whose backstory is greatly expanded upon in this volume. The Winged Lion isn’t particularly cruel or malicious, simply ruthless in pursuit of its drives. In fact, one could argue it’s a victim of circumstance… an incredibly dangerous victim of circumstance.

Readers who enjoy Delicious in Dungeon for the meals may be concerned that this focus has been displaced by the quest to save the world from a fate against which apocalypse would be mercy. Be assured that the manga still have food at its core, and that this volume depicts a meal best described as ​“epic.”

Volume 13 offers all the virtues found in the previous twelve issues: art, characters, plot are all interesting. It also offers what would to many eyes be a conclusion… except there are one or two important details to sort out. Presumably those will be resolved in the next (and final?) volume.

Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 13 is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).

1: Lack of people skills is a trait shared by both Laios and the Winged Lion. In the Lion’s early days, it would grant wishes without understanding why anyone would ask for them. Indeed, it didn’t think too hard about consequences. When someone asked for an apocalypse, it delivered. Only in the aftermath did the Winged Lion realize that it had greatly reduced its food sources.