James Nicoll Reviews

2016’s Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 3 is the third tankōbon that collects Ryoko Kui’s secondary-world comic ecological fantasy manga. Originally published as Danjon Meshi, Delicious in Dungeon appears in Enterbrain’s Harta magazine. Volume 3 was translated into English in 2017.

When last seen, human fighter Laios and his allies (halfling lock expert Chilchuck, half-elf mage Marcille, and dwarven warrior gourmand Shenshi) were racing deep into the dungeon, hoping to reach Laios’ sister Falin before the dragon that ate her fully digests her remains. The entirety of this volume is spent doing the same. It’s a very deep dungeon. 

As with the two earlier volumes, the party must deal with: how to survive encountering the monsters they meet, how to kill them, and how to cook and eat them. Party members may have qualms (Marcille in particular) about eating monsters, especially the more intelligent ones, but needs must if they are to reach Falin in time.

In addition to exciting adventures in field biology, the volume offers insight into Marcille’s academic past and how she became besties in school with Falin, who was not dead at the time. Marcille shares with Laios and Shenshi a deep interest in dungeon ecology, although in her case her interest is pursuing knowledge rather than eating things.

A fair way down into the dungeon, the party encounters an old friend, that friend’s rather surly new employers, and a pointed lesson in how handy it can be to have a healer in the party (someone who can resurrect insufficiently cautious party members). 

Best of all: they are nearly upon the dragon! Surely all the current plot points will be tied up in the next installment, the 4^th of at least 11 volumes. 

~oOo~

Marcille may also have a crush on Falin, although we are given few clues as to the matter. Oh well. This is an adventure manga, not a romance manga. The author is more concerned with the setting (the lush, vibrant environment of the dungeon). She’s clearly invested a lot of time thinking about how dungeon ecologies could work, homework that she manages to make absorbing for readers. 

Of particular note and something I am sure will play an important role later on: the reason that resurrection spells are much more effective in the dungeon than they are aboveground is due to a pervading dungeon magic that binds souls to their bodies, live or dead. Death doesn’t free souls to go on to whatever afterlife exists. This is disturbing, giving how many beings die in the dungeons. Natural phenomenon? A spell? Perhaps I’ll find out in future volumes. 

I didn’t mean to get back to this series so soon (the third volume of an eleven-volume series tends to be rather anticlimactic) but I wanted a quick read (I am working my way through a nine-hundred-page behemoth for next Sunday’s review). I am pleased to report that this volume was in fact quite beguiling: there was some interesting backstory and … if it seems that the party is close to Falin, I sure something will go terribly wrong very soon. Suspense!

Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 3 is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Book Depository), and here (Chapters-Indigo).