Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill Season 2

Episodes 1-3

Meat is back on the menu this season, and you better believe this anime has got something cooking. Everything I liked from the previous season is here in this opening triptych: Cozy fun fantasy adventures! Delicious food! Light-hearted humor! Grassy fields as green as emeralds, juxtaposed with a wonderfully azure sky that makes for some nice eye candy! Speaking of things related to candy, did I mention that the food is delicious? Because it is. (Also, isn't it obvious I haven't eaten all day? I'm h o n g r y .)

If you've read my thoughts on the first two episodes via the Fall Premiere Guide, then you already know my stance on the first two episodes. To recap: the first episode gave us some of the same ol', same ol' we've come to expect from Campfire Cooking by now, from Mukohda cooking and sharing food, to Fel begging for treats that is so off-brand for a mystical fenrir, yet always such a delight to watch. The wise-ass pixie dragon Dora-chan makes his grand entrance, while Sui continues to be the helper slime of the group meant to rake in moe points. The following episode hinted at further progression but never quite got there. The Earth Dragon is pulled out of Muhkoda's inventory, and the new elven character Elrand gets excited to slice the slain beast, only to... not. I wasn't necessarily disappointed by this episode, although I did wish for more progress.

This new third episode makes up for whatever flaws in the previous episode by slowly tiptoeing its way towards a new direction. After taking up space in Muhokda's inventory for so long, the slain Earth Dragon is finally put to good use. The dragon-crazed Elrand is finally able to slice open the beast using an Mithril Sword enhanced by Sui's magic. The glee that Elrand has is contagious, especially with the way he yelps and shouts in the English dub--I never thought someone could get THAT excited over dragon meat and blood, but hey, they don't call it food porn for nothing. We're talking dragon blood for potions. We're talking about giant slabs of dragon meat that make the dinosaur steak Fred Flintstone always orders at the drive-in look like a dinner for ants. We're talking about meat that looks so deliciously drenched in sauce that I forgive Muhkoda for using the pre-made stuff here, although honestly, who amongst us hasn't had to resort to quicker solutions because they were pressed for time?

The thought of eating the Earth Dragon has Dora-chan whip out the show's funniest moment. See, a dragon cannot eat another dragon, because such would be cannibalism. When Muhkoda calls him out for devouring his own kind, Dora-chan comes up with a loophole: he's eating an Earth Dragon, not a Pixie Dragon like himself, so it doesn't count. Considering how Dora-chan mostly sat on the sidelines in the last episode, it's nice to see his snarky, wise-assness make its way into the foreground again.

The episode ends with another appearance from our useless, hungry goddesses, and it goes about exactly how you would expect. What is unexpected, however, is the way a minor character pops up again to become more of a major player here. Her name is Vianca, and she's a guild secretary who has a thing for Fel. After registering Mukohda, Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan for the long-anticipated dungeon crawl, it's revealed that she has a thing for Fel. Apparently, the two have previously met in a time when Fel was not as manly or fluffy as he is now. The details here are vague enough to make me come up with some pretty wild theories--was Fel actually once a human? I don't know. I haven't read the light novels, so while I can't confirm this, there's still more than meets the eye here, and I'm diggin' it.

This introductory three-episode suite continues to cook up some damn good comfort food for this anime season. I'm curious to see what awaits in the fourth episode--dungeon crawling is something that has been done over and over and over again in fantasy isekai series, although now that this anime has done everything it can to properly prepare for it, consider my interest piqued.

Very random and irrelevant point: There's a moment where Mukohda finds a magic stove to make his dinners. It's nice in a storytelling sense, but why does this magic oven look like a glass-top stove? I have a glass-top stove, and let me tell you something: don't buy one. Its monolithic design is bereft of artistic personality and looks like something Hal 9000 made. Not to mention that it's a pain and a half to clean up after every cooked meal. Trust me on this: I have one.

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Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.