I wanna talk about how Dungeon Meshi is my new favorite anime because it shares many traits with my other favorite anime, Made in Abyss, without the soul crushing misery and pee content.
Like Made in Abyss, DunMeshi has a large focus on the wild joy of discovery, the thrill of danger, the fear of the unknown, and the temptation of looking under rocks to see how much you can learn. Both worlds have amazing lore and mystery, and traversal that can only go downwards in the long run, with a depth no one has ever seen before. Both have monsters that adventurers only really have a surface level understanding of, and we learn more about them as we go.
Laios and Riiko are the same person in my head (although Laios gets a 50% boost to Autism). Both are blissfully in love with the mystery of the dungeon/abyss. Both are hell bent on reaching as far as they can to get back someone they love, even if there’s no guarantee of survival. And both have an unquenchable joy in their adventure no matter where it goes.
Both series also have a focus on cooking monsters and ingredients found in the dungeon/abyss, which is actually a pretty unique mechanic. And even if we don’t recognize a lot of what they use, we still get a good idea of what it might taste like. I think DunMeshi does this better but then again, it IS the main core of the series.
And everything in the dungeon/abyss has the ability to hurt you. You will face the threat of death around every corner. But…
Made in Abyss character dies: NO GOD WHY why would you DO THIS TO HER I am SCREAMING AND CRYIBG AND THROWING UP she deserved SO MUCH BETTER
Dungeon Meshi character dies: Oh no! … eh they’ll be fine, walk it off