Delicious in Dungeon: The Feast You’ll Never be Full Of
February 4, 2026
My dear manga lovers,
Ever wanted to explore a dungeon? Ravage its darkened depths? Fight heroically against creatures found nowhere else? And perhaps… eat the monsters?
Ryoko Kui’s Delicious in Dungeon has everything you could want in a manga. Composed of a total of 14 books, this epic series combines humor, mystery, and camaraderie to make a story that will have you glued to its pages for days. With over 14 million copies in circulation, Kui’s manga is beloved by people everywhere. Her use of character development and world-building highlight excellent themes and thought-provoking ideas around friendship, eternity, and desire, making her series a must-read.
This thrilling fantasy begins when monster-loving Laios loses his sister to a dragon in a fight. Their party had been completely prepared, with only one disadvantage- they were hungry. Now, due to the dungeon’s powers to tie a soul to its body, Laios hopes to find his sister, Falin, and resurrect her.
But things aren’t easy for him. Two members of their party have deserted them, leaving Laios and his fellow adventurers with only the clothes on their backs. Hungry, poor, yet eager to get back into the dungeon, Laios decides that they will re-enter with a new plan- he and his party will eat the monsters!
With him travels Marcille, a dramatic yet extremely talented mage with a deep loyalty for Laios’ sister, Falin. Additionally, we have our sneak, spy, and picklock, Chilchuck. He is a determined and closed-off character, yet never hesitates to perform his duties.
They soon meet Senshi, a dwarf who’s devoted his life to learning the secrets of cooking in the dungeon. He asks to accompany them and they eagerly agree, due to his unparalleled cooking skills. Together, the party sets off deep into the dungeon. They explore its caverns and secrets, cook fantastic food, and draw closer to the ever-elusive red dragon which carries Falin inside of itself.
One of the truly unique things about this series is the way its art portrays the story. In most mangas, the characters are detailed and refined. Facial expressions carry hundreds of lines which join together to leave the reader with a distinct expression of the character’s emotions, thoughts, and physical condition. However, in Delicious in Dungeon, the exact opposite is true. The people are designed with apparently minimal detail, possessing only mouths, noses, eyes, and eyebrows, which change shape depending on emotion. Instead, detail is given to the world, or rather dungeon, in which they inhabit. Winding towers are made of bricks cracking at the seams. Vines twist up every facet of the trees, and their long, flowery leaves hang down to brush the adventurers’ heads.
Every detail of Kui’s art is intentional. Her investment into the world around the characters highlights a recurring idea throughout the story; the adventurers are merely another part of the dungeon, one star in a vast sky. It reinforces the thought that they are no more significant than any other thing living in the dungeon. That they are part of something larger, something bigger than them.
After having made a meal from vegetables grown on the backs of monsters, Senshi is asked about why he invests so much into caring for the dungeon the way he does. He says, “The dungeon is like a field. You can’t reap its blessings by neglecting it. More than anything… I eat what grows here… and I share with the dungeon. When you live like that… you finally feel as if you’re really in the dungeon. And that makes me happy” (chapter 8, page 27). When Senshi says this, he shows the power of feeling like you are part of something bigger. It emphasizes the subtle way Kui’s illustrations draw your eye away from the characters and show that they are part of a larger system. By using art to hint at themes in the story, Ryoko Kui creates a unique, thought-provoking fantasy series.
The excellent use of humor woven throughout Delicious in Dungeon creates a stark contrast to the scary plot twists, making the manga a surprising and exciting read.
When I first started Delicious in Dungeon, it was a nice, happy series. Despite a death at the beginning, the chapters to follow are light and humorous. Characters explore the dungeon and find creative ways to cook the monsters they defeat. Some lament the need to eat odd creatures, others relish in the glory of trying something new. Each chapter has interesting food and humor woven into it. For example, in book three, the characters end up having to dress in fresh frog skins in order to avoid being eaten by carnivorous plants. This leads to a hilarious illustration featuring all four main characters wearing what appears to be badly sewn costumes.
Because of the humor and lightness the earlier parts of the series possess, no one is prepared when darkness sets in. Suddenly, we learn that Marcille, formerly an annoying, fussy mage, has been practicing dark forbidden sorcery, and is able to resurrect a body from nothing but bones. Furthermore, I was shocked when the mad sorcerer who created the entire dungeon thousands of years ago appeared right before my eyes, hinting at a mysterious connection between her and the newly resurrected Falin. These scenes contrasted the earlier story beautifully; they make the reader’s heart race and hands grip the book tight. No one expects them, but the thrill is unparalleled.
Delicious in Dungeon is a widely popular series. It has been nominated each year since 2016 for the Manga Taisho Awards (Cartoon Grand Prize). Additionally, in 2016, The series was ranked number one on its list, Top 20 Manga for Male Readers in the manga guidebook Kono Manga ga Sugoi! With volumes being published since 2015, in 2024, the anime began airing! Impressively, by the end of the first quarter of their fiscal year, they were the top earner in two major categories- IP creation/publishing, meaning manga and art books, and the anime/live action film category. This series is a unique, phenomenal story loved by people all over.
Ryoko Kui explores deep, relevant themes throughout her manga, some of the most prominent being friendship, eternity, and desire.
At the beginning of the series, Laios, Marcille, and Chilchuck all set out to attempt to rescue their companion and Laios’ sister, Falin. Despite having no food nor money, they are ready to risk everything in the dungeon to find their comrade again. After Marcille recounts fond memories she has of Falin, Laios thinks, “When my little sister started magic school… at first her letters were very anxious. But then she said she’d made a friend. After that, it sounded like she was having fun every day” (chapter 17, page 79). This demonstrates the powerful feeling of friendship that these characters experience. It shows how impactful people can be on others, even if they don’t know it. And these things can lead to them risking everything for their friends when the time comes.
Also written about in the series is the idea of eternity. Senshi talks a lot about what it means to be a part of the dungeon’s ecosystem, and the responsibility you have to keep it in balance. As someone who lives in the dungeon, he desires to see it remain in balance for generations to come. This highlights the importance to him of things being able to remain as they are, or stay eternal, forever.
Eternity can be interpreted in many ways. As another example, in the dungeon, people’s souls are bound to their bodies after being killed. This means that characters have many chances at life and at making their mark in the dungeon. Eternity comes with a different mindset, too- one in which we have multiple chances, in which the consequences of taking risks are much lower than the reward.
Delicious in Dungeon delves deeper into themes that we all wonder about in our lives. It makes us ask ourselves questions again, and think, what if…?
In conclusion, Ryoko Kui’s Delicious in Dungeon is a must-read for any manga lover who enjoys humor, fantasy, and beautifully crafted characters and worlds. I would give it a full 10/10. The art is perfectly suited for the story, the plot is funny and deep at the same time, and this series explores themes that couldn’t be described in a better way. I love the variety and excitement these books have. They glued me to their pages for days.
Please, feast your eyes and your love of manga on this spectacular, page-turning series!
Wishing you the happiest reading,
Audrey
Citations:
https://delicious-in-dungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Delicious_in_Dungeon#Reception
https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=2152827
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