Mar 24, 2024
I went into this anime with average expectations. I didn't set the bar high or low but I wanted to watch it because a lot of people have been giving it great ratings and one review here even said they enjoyed it more than Frieren (blasphemy by the way) though I took that with a grain of salt before even going in anyways. Basically my point is, I went in unbiased of it being amazing or bad. But here is my review. I'm going to break it down into 5 parts. Animation, OST, Story, Characters, and my Overall final thoughts on it.
Animation: 5/10 (Average)
Studio Trigger
...
is one of the best animation studios ever. They've produced some beautiful bangers in the likes of Kill La Kill, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Panty and Stocking etc. So many beautiful anime. Here it's just okay. It isn't bad. It's well animated. But there's nothing amazing like the above mentioned or anything that sticks out. It just isn't bad. I don't believe this is on Studio Triggers part rather it's just a lack of anything substantial enough story or plot-wise to really bring out that creativeness for animating. This is one of VERY few instances I've seen something bland actually come out of Studio Trigger and that should tell you something.
OST: 5/10 (Average)
You know when you hear an opening or ending, or sometimes even a regular soundtrack in the middle of an anime or game and think to yourself "Wow! I need to look this up on youtube so I can listen to it regularly!" Yeah nothing here like that. In fact the OST is bad enough I would often not even realize anything was playing in the background and I gave the OP/ED one chance then skipped them every time no questions asked. Not much else to say here. Just unremarkable. I guess I can't say bad so I'll just leave it at average.
Story: 4/10 (Bad)
There isn't really much of a central plot. I mean I guess technically there is but it's sidelined so hard not even the main cast actually cares or brings it up after the first episode. What the "story" really is, is exactly as the title suggests. Cuisine in a dungeon. They hunt various monsters in the dungeon and make meals out of them. And this is every episode. Sounds like it could be interesting given there are great anime like Toriko and Food Wars out there with similar concepts. However the action isn't good. It's really boring and the cooking is portrayed in a very boring manner and the final product that is the food, doesn't even look that appetizing.
The only positive I can really give in this regard is the way the author designed and portrays some of these monsters is really interesting and cool. Such as plant monsters and the different types and how they subdue prey and their different uses, or how possessed armors turn out to actually be these muscle mollusks that join together to control them. They are interesting but not enough to literally watch just for them especially with the bland action and characters. Speaking of, lets move onto the characters.
Characters: 3/10 (1 dimensional characters. Very Bad)
I saw another review that mentioned they're 1 dimensional and they're absolutely correct. Laios has no personality aside from being fixated on monsters. Marcille has no personality aside from being a clutz and the butt of many jokes. Midget often plays as the straight man who is the only sensible character. The dwarf guy or whatever is overly obesessed with recipes from monsters. This actually sounds like a decent cast of interesting characters. But they aren't and the main reason behind this is how they're utilized which would be the dynamics between them to highlight personalities or add more depth to them.
Character Dynamics: The dynamics between the characters is mostly from slapstick comedy. The comedy lacks any real punch or funny moments though. It's a lot of rehashed jokes mostly centered around "Lets eat this weird creature!" and "Ehhhh!? We can't eat this! Muri muri muri! Wow it's so good!" and the elf Marcille being a clutz. It doesn't have any moments that are really that funny to make it worth watching for the comedy. This in turn makes it very difficult to actually like any of the characters and building any connection with them is abysmal. The dialogue in general is just really boring too, so even if it isn't the bad comedy that makes me not like the characters, the basic dialogue definitely does. It's reminds me of Oblivion NPCs. Nothing noteworthy at all and some of the most forgettable characters I've seen from an anime in a while.
Overall: 4/10 (Bad)
This is the most boring anime I've given a chance in a while because a lot of people are rating it as good for some reason. I think it may have to do with the hype coming off the back end of Frieren but there just isn't anything substantial about this anime. It lacks a compelling story, the characters are really bland, and the food doesn't even look appetizing and that's the main premise. OST is also very average if not kind of bad and animation is subpar. The comedy isn't anywhere near funny enough and is actually very unfunny to be worth watching for. It has nothing good going for it. This is an average anime at best and really bad at worst.
UPDATE: I've been thinking lately I'm going to try reading the manga for this. I think it may work better in Manga format for me than the anime did. I struggled to find any enjoyment while watching but since people say the story is good, I will give reading it a chance instead.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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