Saturday, November 9, 2024

2024 read #137: Delicious in Dungeon: Volume 12 by Ryoko Kui.

Delicious in Dungeon: Volume 12 by Ryoko Kui
Translated by Taylor Engel
239 pages
Published 2022 (English translation published 2023)
Read from November 8 to November 9
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

What began as a fun adventure with a clever hook — eating the monsters on our way through a dungeon! — has broadened and deepened into an exploration of desires, consent, grief, and what it means to be alive. Kui’s art and storytelling continue to be astonishingly dynamic, twists and developments conveyed in amazing compositions. At the heart of everything are the characters we’ve gotten attached to, even the secondary and tertiary characters from various factions, all of them drawn together in an extended climax that never feels overwhelming. And as always, the loving central emphasis on food, on cooking, on feeding one another as an act of care.

An excellent installment of a superlative manga. When I began it, I never imagined our world would be what it is here near the end, never expected the comfort I would find in these monstrous times. I’ll be so sad to reach Dungeon’s end.

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