Newtype Exclusive: Delicious in Dungeon Director Yoshihiro Miyajima Reflects on Season 1

Delicious in Dungeon's first adventure has come to an end

However, the second season is already underway, meaning many more future opportunities to meet Laios's party and the rest of the Delicious in Dungeon characters!

First of all, we must give thanks to Laios, his companions, and the production team.

As well as prayers and blessings on their journey.

May they have a most delicious meal!!

All in this together

Delicious in Dungeon

Director Yoshihiro Miyajima

The monster I'd most like to eat would be…
…none of them!

—-Thank you for all your hard work on Delicious in Dungeon, and congratulations on getting a second season!

Miyajima: Thank you. At first, I thought that after the final episode I'd be waiting around for a while, hoping for a second season to be greenlit. But then, in the latter half of production, producer Kazufumi Kikushima came to speak with me about Season 2. We were in the middle of production at the time though, so rather than being happy, it was more like “give me a break!” (laughs), but we made some quick adjustments to the final episode so that it could tie into the second season.

—-So you changed the ending?

Miyajima: That's right. Back in the initial scenario writing stage, we had decided on a final scene with everyone eating together. We wanted to close it out in a way that anyone else could continue the story where we left off. However, if we were going to be able to do the second season, then we wanted to set it up for a continuation right then and there.

—-Delicious in Dungeon Season 1 has successfully concluded, and we saw many characters appear in the second half. Let's revisit some of them, starting with Izutsumi, who joined Laios' party.

Miyajima: For Izutsumi, I wanted to portray her feline characteristics and make sure she didn't yield to Laios and the others. She's very fickle—just when she seems to open up to them, she suddenly goes on a rampage. I wanted her to be a free-spirited character. Actually, the character designer Naoki Takeda is a cat owner himself, so when drawing Izutsumi's movements, he would say, “A cat would do it like this.” Takeda found the part with her fur getting on their clothes from the original manga and put it into episode 21. I remember thinking that was something only a cat owner would think to do, and that Takeda also had cat hair on his clothes, come to think of it (laughs).

—-The elvish Canaries showed up in episode 21, but it's exciting to think we'll see them again now that there's going to be a Season 2.

Miyajima: I'm honestly so grateful. There are still characters among the Canaries who have only spoken a word or two. We held a proper audition for each of them in which we had voice actors read lines from later scenes, so if there was no Season 2, then they probably would have been like, “What was that all about?” I'm really glad we got a second season.

What were your criteria for casting the elves during auditions?

Miyajima: When I first read the manga I honestly couldn't even tell what gender Mithrun or Lycion were supposed to be at first, so I asked the art staff to give them that gender- neutral feel. When it was time for auditions, I wanted to preserve the atmosphere of the original manga and how I felt when I first read the manga with the casting. For Mithrun in particular I asked for a voice with a deep laryngeal feel.

—-How did you confer with the original work?

Miyajima: There were plenty of times I asked the original manga artist Ryōko Kui herself, but the Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible also helped me out a lot. When production first began and I heard they were going to be releasing The Adventurer's Bible, I knew I wanted to get my hands on it no matter what. The elves' height and gender are all listed in it, so it was incredibly useful for reference.

—-After coming this far with the anime, what would you say is the original manga artist Ryōko Kui's greatest strength?

Miyajima: Her depictions of the characters and her ideas for the monsters are both excellent of course, but the plot is also just so fantastic. The fact that she put the story together so succinctly from start to finish in the span of nine years or so is truly amazing. I think manga has a habit of changing during serialization in reflection of the times or depending on the situation, but from what I've heard from Kui herself, she ended the story exactly how she wanted to from the very beginning. I think she's an incredible author for not leaving anything out.

—-In the 24 episodes of the anime, you've illustrated over 40 different monster meals and dishes, but which one would you most like to eat?

Miyajima: None of them!

—-Wow, none! Really?

Miyajima: So many of the staff worked together to make sure the monster meals looked as delicious as possible, yet you can't eat even a single bite of it in real life. That was a bit frustrating to me. Still, if I were to go into a dungeon and see a real-life monster in front of me…I don't think I could bring myself to eat it. I mean, you'd have to kill the monsters right in front of you.

—-Good point…

Miyajima: When I think about it that way, I can't help thinking that Laios is a pretty incredible guy. I feel a lot of sympathy for Kabru and Marcille. Laios eats monster meals of his own volition, so I have to hand it to him for doing something so wild.

—-You've got that right. You asked Kentarō Kumagai, who plays Laios, not to read volumes 13 or 14 of the manga before recording for the anime, which it seems he faithfully still has not done. Will those volumes be off-limits even though the second season's production is now greenlit?

Miyajima: That's right. I want him to perform the second half of the story as he's seeing it all unfold for the first time, so I hope he will hold off on reading the end of the manga for a little longer.

—-How about your current plans for Season 2?

Miyajima: I have to think about it starting now. We just finished the first season, but now we have to do the second one, so I can't relax. It feels like I'm immediately going from one thing to the next.

—-Did you see a lot of growth in your team during the first season's production?

Miyajima: Everyone is honestly so incredible. The younger members of TRIGGER have all grown up, the animation team is so well-rounded, and everyone on the production team took charge with the storyboarding. I think it's amazing.

—-How would you describe the three years you spent on Delicious in Dungeon Season 1?

Miyajima: If it had ended there, I probably would have said, “Those were three years of some really great memories,” but since there's still more to come, I feel like these past three years went by in the blink of an eye. This was my first time working as a series director, and on a title that I love, so I really gave it my all, as did all of the staff. And we will continue to give it our all moving forward!

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