The Delicious in Dungeon manga has come to a close. The final 14th volume of the manga was released in English by Yen Press and wraps up a thrilling and captivating fantasy series. In addition, the first season of the anime series adaptation concluded on Netflix with season 2 in production.
At Anime Expo, Anime Trending had the opportunity to explore the series with Ryoko Kui, the author of Delicious in Dungeon.
Congratulations on Delicious in Dungeon winning best comic at the 15th seiun award! What was your reaction when you heard the news?
Ryoko Kui: In general, comics tend to lose attention as the series gets longer. I was thrilled that my book received that award, even after the series completion. I was very grateful for the generosity of the judges of The Nebula Awards.
What was the inspiration for Delicious in Dungeon, especially with the inclusion of its cooking and dungeon ecology aspects?
Ryoko Kui: Since my childhood, I’ve enjoyed drawing fantasy comics, but at the time, fantasy [as a genre] was not a thing in Japan. I wanted to incorporate something and the gourmet-aspect was one of them. I wanted to publish a fantasy involving the food, the recipes, and dietary education.
What did you mean by dietary education? Like nutrition (such as how you eat), or otherwise?
Ryoko Kui: In Japan, people often use the word “food/dietary education(shoku iku)”, for learning
how to eat properly or have balanced diet. So it’s not like I wanted to educate people, I just
wanted to tell everyone it’s good to eat properly. Not really like education, but something like a mother telling kids how to eat properly or have a balanced diet. In Japanese, we call it “food education” (食育).
Thank you for the clarification! Moving onwards, what was the process of visualizing and designing the dungeons layout in aesthetics like?
Ryoko Kui: I wanted the reader to experience the sense of familiarity of, “Oh, I’ve seen this before, I know this!” My thought process is more logical where the story starts off with the greenery or scenery, and gradually introduces a cold or hot weather. The thought process is more like, “What is happening? What’s going to happen next?” It’s quite similar to what you see in a game.
As you are developing Delicious in Dungeon, did you start out focusing on the cooking aspect of the story first? Or were you more focused on developing the fantasy elements, such as the new monster recipes that were created as the story progressed?
Ryoko Kui: My creative process starts on the first floor and goes up. For example, the first floor of the dungeon typically has monsters like slimes or gigantic insects. Based on those monsters, I think, “What kind of recipe or food can I make?” That’s the kind of thought process I go through.
One of Delicious in Dungeon’s stand-out aspects is its oft-quirky nature. Was this side of the manga planned from the start, and was there any particular reason you decided to adopt this tone for it?
Ryoko Kui: When I thought of the ultimate goal or the ending to this comic, I didn’t want to make it too serious. I basically wanted to read that to purely enjoy my story. That’s why we put those kinds of elements in the story.
Is there any real life inspiration behind Senshi’s love for cooking and keeping people fed?
Ryoko Kui: I’ve been a picky eater since my childhood, but my mother often emphasized the importance of a balanced diet like eating vegetables. So her influence on me is quite significant.
Laios, Marcille, and Senshi represent the classic human-elf-dwarf fantasy trio while Chilchuck is a half-foot/halfling. How did these characters come together during your creative process?
Ryoko Kui: In my childhood days, I used to watch my father play Wizardry. Since I was familiar with the characters, it was natural for me to include elves, dwarves, and also half- foots/halflings when I decided to make every main type of fantasy races appear in my story. Warriors are dwarves, wizards are elves, rogues are hobbits–that was what was in my mind. If I was able to include gnomes, that would have made this story perfect, though.
I’ve heard stories of another artist who used a character from Dungeons & Dragons. It had a big eye, and is known as the Beholder. Because the artist used the exact name from the franchise, they were later sued by Dungeons & Dragons. That’s why I knew I couldn’t use those words,
Many people on the neurodivergent scale have connected deeply with Laois and are huge fans of Delicious in Dungeon. How does it feel to know a protagonist resonated deeply with people who often feel they go through life misunderstood?
Ryoko Kui: It was a pleasure for me to know that many people had felt that they have connected with Laios. If his story means something to people who feels they’re misunderstood, that would be an unexpected honor for me.
Throughout the story, Laios is shown to have a deep fascination and knowledge of different dungeon monsters. From your perspective, how do you think he evolves and matures from the beginning of the manga to the end?
Ryoko Kui: This is a very difficult question. I’m not sure if Laios had evolved or matured from the beginning of the story. However, I can say that he had changed. Through his encounters with many people and many experiences, he made friends, and he started to think it might be better to communicate with others. Did he evolved or matured? Well, I’d like to leave it to the readers to decide.
The monsters and the world of Delicious in Dungeon are reminiscent of many real life animals and ecosystems of Earth. For example, the treasure bug and its parasitizing mimicry heavily resembles parasitic wasps who inject their eggs into caterpillars. Could you talk about the creative process behind the various animals and monster designs?
Ryoko Kui: So, fantasy is fantasy, and you can create anything. If the fantasy is too far from the reality, I thought the people might lose interest or think it’s a little dull, so I wanted to relate or incorporate something close to the real world. That’s why I referenced the ecology and the creatures from the real world.
You’ve mentioned that if it wasn’t for physical and time constraints, you would’ve liked to draw Senshi with body hair. Are there any other aspects of your characters that you wish you could’ve done but couldn’t or didn’t? If so, why?
Ryoko Kui: Originally, I wanted the elves, the dwarves, and all the other creatures to speak their own language and sometimes use a common language. I wanted to express those differences by using different texts, pictures, or font types. But my editor advised strongly against it, so I just gave up on the idea.
This is a fun question: what fantasy titles — books, movies, games etc. — are you currently into? For instance, we’ve seen your interest in Baldur’s Gate and other fantasy series. Could you elaborate what drew you into that series?
Kui: In preparation for Delicious in Dungeon, I thought I should try or play some famous RPGs. Games like Baldur’s Gate mainly consist of text, so it was fun reading them. It made me feel like I was reading a game book or something with all the texts. It was really fun to imagine it. Honestly, my favorite games are something like Stardew Valley or games that are about daily lives, something not too busy.
Delicious in Dungeon is a complete series and then received an anime adaptation. Was there a reason behind that decision? How involved were you with the animation production by studio TRIGGER?
Ryoko Kui: It was not really one particular person’s decision. Even if I wanted to start my own animation, it was not possible. My timing, the publisher’s timing, and also studio TRIGGER’s timing is purely coincidental.
After the anime started, I tried not to say much…however, after the anime first season ended, the studio TRIGGER staff told me “Thank you so much for the feedback! We don’t receive so much from the author,” so maybe I had made too many comments on it.
Any final comments to overseas (outside of Japan) fans of Delicious in Dungeon?
Ryoko Kui: At first, I thought only Japanese people would enjoy my manga. As I got more global feedback, it became an unexpected surprise, but a good and happy surprise. I am incredibly happy and grateful for this experience, including the anime. I really want to thank all of the fans and you for the experience.
Special thanks to Yen Press and KADOKAWA for this interview opportunity. Delicious in Dungeon is available globally on Netflix. The Delicious in Dungeon manga is currently available in English by Yen Press.
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This interview has been edited for clarity and was conducted on July 5th, 2024 by Kwok-wai Hanson and Nico Monterosso via an interpreter. Questions submitted by Melvyn Tan, Gracie Qu, and William Moo.
