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Delicious in Dungeon episode 13 opens with a bang and fills in more space for the world without moving too far forward.
First, I'm definitely glad I was wrong about the final episode being the season finale. Things are still going and we have many more episodes ahead, huzzah! Not just in the third part of the finale, it looks like we're heading straight into the next part next week. Very happy with that.
The opening of this episode is very strong. There's the introduction of a mysterious new character, the strange connection between Falin and red dragon meat, great animation, and the works. The scene of Falin's shadow bubbling on the floor beneath the goblin's magical power is wonderful, super surreal stuff. We also know that the dragon is just a servant of a greater power and that there will be more drama when it comes to the true lord of the dungeon.
I also really like the little lore details we get here. The power of names associated with orc clans is their clear communication, as well as their reliance on smell rather than sight to identify people. Marceille's account of not being found to respawn also helps us understand more about how death/respawn works in dungeons. This further heightens the tension with death; we already knew locating the body was a concern initially (I mean, Falin and all that from the beginning), but emphasizing to the audience that death is somewhere deep and far is a death sentence regardless of the available resurrection spells that help emphasize that point.
The appearance of the orcs and Chilchuck made me less nervous. I couldn't understand it, but despite my best efforts, I still found myself focusing on these parts. I don't know if it was the knock-on effect of being involved in the first place, but the second half of the episode seemed meandering to me. Maybe I expected more flashbacks or more character insights.
Rating:
Grant is a host on the Blade Thief Podcast and the Super Senpai Podcast.
Delicious in Dungeon is now streaming on Netflix.
Delicious in Dungeon is now streaming on Netflix.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more companies mentioned in this article are members of the Kadokawa Group.
