Delicious In Dungeon Episode 5 Review

Delicious in Dungeon episode 5 Laios sword

Delicious in Dungeon has been a delightful departure from the standard fare we’ve seen in anime over the last decade or so, with a lightness to it that really doesn’t exist anywhere else in the sector right now. Episode 5 of the anime, titled Snacks/Sorbet, is a perfect example of this, expertly weaving comedy, action, emotion and, of course, cooking into a 25-minute runtime.

Related: If You Liked Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, You Need To Watch These Studio Trigger Anime Series

But first, let’s take a quick look back at what’s happened so far. Delicious in Dungeon is a Dungeons and Dragons-inspired cooking adventure anime that sees a party led by Laios delving deep into a dungeon to take down a dragon that knocked them out previously and ate Laios’ sister, Falin. The team – which consists of a half-elf magician called Marcille and a halfling thief called Chilchuck – reckon they have about a month before Falin is digested, so time is somewhat of the essence.

Being low on food and money means they didn’t really have the resources to take on a full dungeon run, but they happened upon a dwarf named Senshi while exploring, who has made a life for himself in the dungeon cooking monsters found there. Laios has secretly always wanted to eat monsters, so it was a match made in heaven.

Since then, the team’s been delving deeper into the dungeon, eating all sorts of creepy creatures along the way. It’s been a delight to watch the party learn from Senshi, the real star of the show, even if some characters – looking at you, Marcille – inexplicably hesitate before eating anything he makes, despite every previous meal being delicious.

So back to this week’s episode. We get a glimpse at another party, for the first time, headed up by a guy named Kabru. He seems pretty cool, and he and his party are actually in the opening for the anime, so it’s a little bit surprising that about 5 minutes into the episode, they all die after snatching a bunch of treasure from some zombies. People can respawn in this universe, though, so I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of Kabru’s party.

Laios and the gang discover their bodies, with Marcille casting a protection spell so they don’t get possessed by ghosts, and grab the treasure for themselves. Then we finally get to see Laios’ barnacle sword in action, as it starts shaking when close to the treasure. It’s actually quite sweet seeing Laios connect with his sword, which he calls Kensuke, like this. You wouldn’t think that a barnacle living inside a sword could be such an endearing character, but here we are.

The treasure is soon revealed to be monsters in disguise, and after a quick stun spell from Marcille, Senshi goes about preparing some incredible-looking food from them. It’s always a delight to see Senshi in action, giving his little speeches about food, confidently preparing everything needed to make a dish into a meal.

Shortly after we get to the meat of the action, when ghosts start attacking the party. There’s some charming emotional depth, here, with Marcille reminiscing about how Falin would approach ghost-banishing. I kind of get the vibe that Falin and Marcille were quite close prior to the former being eaten by a dragon, and I’m excited to see how that pans out going forward.

We also get to see Laios starting to take this journey seriously, which is a nice change of pace after being a little bit more aloof in previous episodes. Knowing that dealing with ghosts was Falin’s specialty hits hard for Laios, who begins to realize just how important it is for him to get his sister back and complete the party once more.

Seeing Laios spring into action, swinging around Senshi’s improvised holy water, is a genuinely touching moment, because he’s not just doing it for himself or his party — he’s doing it because somebody has to fill those shoes, and he feels like he’s the reason Falin can’t be the one to do that. It’s a very layered approach to storytelling, relying just as much on what’s unspoken as what’s made explicit.

Delicious in Dungeon has been a little bit slow to get going in previous episodes, but it feels like things are really starting to take shape. I don’t personally mind the slowness of the series so far, given most anime are more than happy to rush through character introductions. Here, the slow start means that every character got to be well-established before the plot kicked in and thrust the party forward, which makes for a much more rounded experience in the long run.

Delicious in Dungeon is being released weekly exclusively on Netflix, with new episodes releasing every Friday.