It has been 10 years since the first serialization and Things have come to a full circle for this Fantasy Masterpiece of a manga with the final chapter being published last week, Truly it is a very enjoyable ride while it last. While I never thought Cooking and Fantasy genre is particularly compatible, Ryoko Kui-Sensei had proved otherwise with her Dungeon Meshi. I have reserved writing any post related with Dungeon Meshi as my own way to pay respect for this series since I wanted to give the most proper judgement that this series deserves. Long Story short, Dungeon Meshi is probably one, if not the best Fantasy series that came out of Manga Industry over past 20 years being a complete package of a good story.
-Meals are the privilege of the living, to live is to eat
Dungeon Meshi is a story of a group of adventurers exploring a dungeon created by a mad sorcerer that promised riches of a lost kingdom to those who conquer it. Using his deep knowledge about monsters and his companions strengths, The main protagonist treads into the perils of the mad sorcerer dungeon to save her Sister who sacrificed herself to save the party and got eaten by a Dragon in the process.
What sets apart Dungeon Meshi with other fantasy series is the focus on culinary theme as the main source to drive the plotline. Throughout the series storyline, the main protagonist fought varieties of Fantasy Monsters ranging from Slime to Dragon and more often than not making a food out of these creatures that turns out to be tasty delights when prepared properly. Kui-Sensei really has a good knack of storytelling and understanding of Western and JRPG to make good story out of a fantasy cooking manga with many layers of depth. Dungeon Meshi had a lighthearted tone overall but it can get dark and depressing when the Mangaka wills it and every turn is made for a reason just to showcase a fraction Kui-sensei's talent. Seriously Dungeon Meshi overall quality will put any Isekai series to shame because their overpowered protagonists will never be able to achieve the same depth due to lack of the fundamental aspects of a good Fantasy Genre.
Personally for me a good fantasy series is judged by its capability of combining the contradictory nature of duality of Fantasy and Reality. The better fantasy series will be able to portray the life of a fantasy adventuring in most grounded manner possible as the Protagonists braved through the challenges that always have threats that are more powerful than them and the Protagonists will need to rely their wits most of the time to came on top these life-or-death situations because it the Mind not the brawn that is Humanity's greatest strength. To put it simply Dungeon Meshi passed this aspect in flying colors with the Ending as the icing on top.
From what I know, Dungeon Meshi is heavily influenced by JRPG Wizardry series but this series would make a good Dungeons and Dragon Campaign. Dungeon Meshi is probably a mid level 7-10 campaign as the protagonists are capable to defeat creatures like dragons not outright but with proper planning. Seriously Dungeon Meshi had the right mix of the random and unpredictable elements to make a good Fantasy Story.
I have been following Dungeon Meshi over past 9-10 years and this is one of the few Manga series that have solid chapters all the way until the ending. I will look forward for Dungeon Meshi anime, Supplementary story and Ryoko Kui-Sensei future endeavors. Personally I think there are rooms for story continuation for Dungeon Meshi sequel considering the series had good range of interesting characters as the casts. In any case I will look forward to the future merchandise for this series which should be flooding in when the Anime is airing. Lastly I would say Vanillaware would make a good use of Dungeon Meshi if the series plan to have a Video Game.
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