When a Delicious in Dungeon anime was announced way back in 2022, I immediately felt excited. I was a big fan of what I’d read of the manga at the time, and hearing the news that it was being handled by none other than Studio Trigger – the same animation team that’s overseen projects like Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia, and Promare, all of which have an incredible energy to them – did nothing to put me off. Of course, that meant that there were some big expectations for Trigger’s adaptation of Delicious in Dungeon to match – those who loved the manga really loved it, so Trigger really couldn’t afford to mess it up.
Luckily, I don’t think it did! When it started airing way back in January, I will admit that I felt a little nervous about how the series was going to play out. The first couple of episodes were good, but animated conservatively for the most part, which felt strange given Trigger’s history of really going out there when it came to sillier stories. It didn’t take long for those nerves to be put to bed, thankfully, as along came the third episode, which is probably one of my favourite episodes of the season. It was thanks to this episode, which offered a unique take on a classic fantasy RPG enemy – living armour – that I knew Delicious in Dungeon was in good hands.
The whole episode had such a specific look to it, distinct from the previous two episodes, and one that didn’t crop up again throughout the rest of the season, which is partially why it still stands out so much. This isn’t to say the rest of the show felt disappointing, far from it. Numerous other episodes had pockets of animation used at exactly the right time to accentuate the ‘what the hell is going on’ feeling of it all. That’s the most surprising thing about Delicious in Dungeon – the places it goes.
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