Lyos and his party are wiped out, and his sister is eaten by a dragon, so they need to go back to the dungeon ASAP and rescue her before she is digested, but their funds are quite low, and they're not sure how supplies will last on the endeavour, but well, they meet a dwarf, and he introduces them to dungeon cuisine, aka eating monsters.

Characters are fairly dynamic and interesting, the start is kinda slow and episodic, in more of a "dish of the day" format but there is a story buried underneath that starts to show up later on.

I started out with this series early on thinking it was just another fantasy food manga, which I like. I’m currently up to chapter 74. The plot ends up being multi-layered after the first 20 or 30 chapters, though, while still keeping the food theme as part of it. The party has multiple goals so it is slow, but well-paced. It doesn’t feel like things are dragging out pointlessly. In addition, the art is amazing and varied; I admire the mangaka’s skill conveying characterization.

While the protagonist is a happy-go-lucky simple guy, he doesn’t get annoying because all the different characters balance well without feeling overwhelming or repetitive. A must-read!

Give it a shot: it's true that the pace is slow and is kinda uninteresting for a bit of chapters, but around chapter 20-30 it changes pace and the plot finally unravels, we could say "beginning" the real story and even the worldbuilding itself.
So while you're "bearing with" the initial chapters, treat them like cute little fantasy slice of life standalone chapters, while knowing that this IS going somewhere. It will be easier on the reader, and you won't skip on the still nice details.

It start in a very episodic fashion with the dish of the day format but there is a story underneath and it starts to show later on.
Chars are interesting, dialogues are decent and the story is... to soon to tell maybe. In any case, it's entertaining to read and has some comedy mixed in too that's actually funny, sometimes.

It's a good read. It's refreshing and fairly funny, although the cooking tends to be pretty boring and repetitive. Sure, it's interesting how they make use of all weird stuff they find, but I will never find cooking to be exciting or awesome to read about. Don't get me wrong, I personally like cooking good food at home, but reading about it in a manga? Nah. I would prefer it if they cut down a bit on the cooking parts, there's too much focus on food, I'm not saying it should be removed, I just think it'd be better if there was a little bit less and perhaps not every chapter. Sure, it's called "dungeon MESHI", but that doesn't mean there has to be so much of it since it tends to get repetitive quickly, especially if you're experienced in cooking and not a blank page.

I feel like people give out a 10/10 score way too easily. Currently, when I write this, 46%(114) people gave it a 10. That's ridiculous. Yeah, it's fine, it's pretty good, but even if I loved the cooking, I still wouldn't give it a 10. You know what 10 is? It's a perfect score, flawless. There's nothing to improve on. It's the ultimate work you can think of and you're unable to imagine anything that could be done better and your enjoyment parameters are through the roof. But do people feel that way? Nah, most people just think "Oh, this was awesome, I loved it" and drops a 10/10 because they really enjoyed it without anything notable they felt they needed to complain about... Sigh... I mean, a 9/10 is already ridiculous enough for a score, giving it that score means there's almost nothing you think could be done better and you loved it, enjoying it immensely and not having any moments where you thought it was a bit dull, repetitive or so-so. I feel like most of the people giving a 10 should probably give an 8/10 instead, the score always gets so screwed up when people rate something without caring about what is actually required to get such high ratings. It's amazing how this manga has almost no votes under 7 though, that just means it's great, and I agree. It's easily worth around 7, which is "Great", some complaints but nothing too major.

The focus is hardly on cooking, most of the focus is of how you'd survive a long journey into a massive dungeon. Yes there are at least a couple pages every chapter dedicated to food, but that is an important part of surviving a long journey in a dungeon that's often ignored.

Just talking about it already makes it more interesting than most dungeon type stories.

There is also a LOT of world development, they explain how the revival system works for instance, it has rules like you need the corpse, for example.

Which is very interesting and creates very interesting things like people who work and get paid to go into the dungeon and bring corpses of dead adventurers back to be revived.

How everything works is very detailed, like the monsters ecosystems.

It's basically a really cool biology study of monsters and a really realistic and believable look at dungeon and how they could exist and be explored in a realistic environment where people don't have infinite food, or the ability to carry anything they want in magical inventories.

It's really cool and you should give it a chance.

I could go on and on about the ways this series is great and I have in a review I wrote about it. To summarize that review: Dungeon Meshi is a series that sticks to its somewhat weird Wizardry/D&D-inspired setting down to how these adventurers aren't trying to save the world, just trying to do one small thing within it. Interesting cooking abounds, the series is hilarious, Marcille is a great major female character (not a love interest, that's a plus), internal consistency is down pat. Well done, Kui-sensei.

Full review:
https://terrenceswiff.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/dungeon-meshi/

Quite peculiar without being particularly original, 'tis a lighthearted adventure in a RPG-inspired (to some extent) fantasy setting.

Noteworthy, the author's writing is smart and the story construction kinda quirky:

- she hints a few things related to the RPG qualities of her world, without spilling any real beans (we're led to believe it's actually a real fantasy world working like a RPG, not a VR-RPG like we could think at first)

- the story revolves around food each chapter, but she still succeeds to renew the situations and use new elements of it to her benefit in order to surprise us and make it interesting to read so we don't get bored on mid-term

Though, that's still a bit repetitive.

Thankfully, the travel is detailed enough to feel exotic and refreshing. Characters are likeable and can become endearing, the humor and gags aren't bad, reminding me at times the likes of FMA. The art too, by the way, which is simple but characteristic and well adapted for SD funny drawings.

Overall, it makes me hungry and wanting to taste all kind of various dishes. There're also some interestingly slipped morals throughout the story. A nice read.

... Last updated on July 3rd, 2016, 6:15am

Ryoko Kui cements herself as one of the leading manga artists of the moment with this title. She gave us a taste of her boundless creativity in her short story compilations, but with this, her first long story, she confirms and refines her best traits.

So far there's no flaw in this work. The artwork is simple and clean but exquisitely crafted, the characters unique and charismatic, the story engaging and, best of all, the world the story takes place in is very well constructed.

Not only the premise is very original, it also works really well. The idea of mixing dungeon crawling with cooking may sound strange at first, but it makes perfect sense in this situation with the characters not having enough money to buy proper equipment and supplies, and the food bits don't get in the way of the story nor feel tacked on.

The author is probably a big fan of dungeon crawling games; even though there's plenty of humor coming from character interaction, I think there's nothing that comes as close as Dark Souls in manga format. The battle segments aren't just the usual "swing your sword and shoot some spells" but usually show a good sense of strategy, with the characters having to sort out a good plan and work as a team to overcome their challenges.

The fantasy genre is full of tropes, so it's hard to make something that feels fresh, but Ryoko Kui has managed to do it. With the author being so proficient at so many levels, this is a must read for any fantasy fan.

Dungeon Meshi is amazing. Go read it now if you aren't already.

No, really. There's no other way to describe this manga other than: 10/10 would use as a cookbook.

I've always been a fan of Kui Ryoko's work ever since reading The Dragon's Seven Adorable Children, and Dungeon Meshi might just be her finest yet. She's great at mixing the fantastical with the very real. This might just be the most realistic cooking manga I've ever read--except the ingredients are all, uh, well, monsters in a dungeon.

The characters are all really lovable too, and they all have distinct personalities which really shine through their interactions with each other. (Marcille is my favorite, but Laius's propensity to want to eat everything is great fun too, as well as Chillchack's exasperation with everyone else and Senshi's absolute and complete dedication to cooking.)

Every chapter is an absolute joy to read. So much so that all I can say is: Hurry, someone license this!

... Last updated on December 18th, 2015, 1:17am