Summary
- Izutsumi adds prickly comedy and inter-personal conflict to Delicious in Dungeon, revitalizing the familiar team dynamic.
- Izutsumi provides a unique twist on the typical "fantasy animal girl" role by being abrasive and surly, adding realism.
- As the party delves deeper into the dungeon, Izutsumi's wild personality brings a much-needed element of unpredictability and newness.
The fantasy anime Delicious in Dungeon, which is currently streaming on Netflix, recently added the chimeric Izutsumi to the main cast, and is quickly becoming a welcome addition. Manga readers who had been waiting for her arrival are likely vindicated as she is a shot in the arm for the Touden party. Not only does she add a new dynamic to the group, she also stands out as a near-parody of the "fantasy cat girl" role she's fulfilling.
Izutsumi's combination of irascible aloofness and immaturity makes the party more lively, with the latest episode providing more opportunities to interact with Laios' group as an equal. While she has her charm, her difficult personality is a far cry from the common anime depictions of her character type, which often pushes for a more fanservic-centric approach, or at least a cuddly, pet-like cuteness.
With the party continuing to dive even deeper into the dungeon, the need for new faces was vital, and Izutsumi's wild personality revitalizes the otherwise familiar team.
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Though it can be argued that Izutsumi ed the team as early as episode #19, it is the episode afterward that shows off the dynamic the beast-person will bring to the party. Right now, she's still unused to the other ' quirks, and responds to them in ways that frustrate the group, be it annoyance at Senshi's cooking or violence when prodded at. It's well-timed: by now the original team has gotten used to each other, and their responses to any antics have also become predictable. Even Marcille, once the most hostile to eating monsters, is quietly resigned to it.
Izutsumi is also unique in how abrasive she is, especially given she fills in the "animal girl" character that's especially omnipresent in fantasy shows, as she accompanies Holo from Spice and Wolf and Fenrys from the anime focuses on the realism of monsters, it likewise recognizes that cats can be frustratingly guarded, though Izutsumi still shows her unguarded moments.
Delicious in Dungeon Continues to Stand Out Among Anime Fantasies
The series has elevated typical fantasy conventions found in anime and manga time and time again
Overall, Izutsumi adds a light element of interpersonal conflict that keeps the dungeon dive interesting now that the formula's become familiar – even if Laios' party confronts odd monsters, cooking them up is an inevitability. While the plot wisely chooses to continue diving deeper into the dungeon rather than lose its narrative momentum with any break on the surface, this also means there is a danger of boring audiences with "more of the same". That only shows how vital Delicious in Dungeon's resident cat chimera is in adding something new after 20 episodes with a group audiences have become well-accustomed to.
Delicious in Dungeon
- Release Date
- January 4, 2024
- Directors
- Yoshihiro Miyajima
- Writers
- Ryoko Kui, Kimiko Ueno
Cast
Sayaka Senbongi-
Kentarou Kumagai
WHERE TO WATCH
Based on the manga series, Delicious in Dungeon is a comedic fantasy series with a cooking emphasis. The series follows the exploits of a guild leader named Laios as he heads into a massive dungeon that contains a sunken kingdom, lured by the promise of untold treasure if he can slay the magician that caused it all. When a dragon takes his sister captive, Laios partners up with a new group of adventures and finds themselves cooking monsters to keep themselves filled as they seek to stop the dragon and save his sister.
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
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