Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!

Episodes 1-3

I know it's tempting to think so, but Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! isn't so much the Delicious in Dungeon we have at home, as much as it is Delicious in Dungeon and the villainess anime of your choice, blended together in a food processor, and poured generously over a romance between misfits. And I must say, it is absolutely delicious. So delicious, in fact, that moving forward I'm going to refer to it as MM—not for "Monster Meat" or "Meat, Milady!," but for the sound it'd make one emit if it were only edible itself.

In case it wasn't obvious, I just think this show is delightful so far. It's not reinventing the wheel of food anime, villainess anime, and especially not romance anime overall. But it also doesn't have to. It's cute, it's lighthearted, and it makes me aspire to eat something a little better than the pizza rolls that'll inevitably burn my mouth because I kept them in the microwave for exactly 3 seconds too many.

That being said, my favorite thing about this anime so far is, without a doubt, the adorable dynamic between the monster meat lover Melphiera, and adventurous eater Aristide. They're a classic duo of social rejects, who've inevitably found their way to each other after being rejected by the rest of their high-society peers. Well, that, and a common interest: The titular monster meat. More specifically, Melphiera—who's known as the Voracious Villainess—has already garnered a reputation for daring to eat monsters, and it's something that Aristide more than tolerates. He's actually quite interested in it himself, and Melphiera is more than happy to evangelize. And so, bonded by their unconventional taste, Aristide quickly makes it known that he intends on proposing to Melphiera.

There's no "will they won't they" about it, which might kill the momentum for some people, but I think MM is able to make it work. Melphiera and Aristide are adorkable around each other, and watching Aristide wanting to join Melphiera in what's essentially her niche hobby—preparing, cooking, and eating monster meat—is just as fun. They already seem pretty smitten from each other (Aristide in particular), and I'd be willing to bet that as the series progresses, this unique bonding time will only make them closer.

Not everything about this anime is perfect though, of course. The animation is serviceable but middling. And while I'm going to try to refrain as best as I can from not comparing this to Delicious in Dungeon too much, one can't help but constantly feel like a lot of the things MM is doing, Delicious in Dungeon did way better. But most notably, my eyebrow's quite raised by some of the information dropped at the end of the third episode. More specifically, the details aren't yet clear, but at least for the time being, there's something of a suggestion that a lot of the people around Melphiera don't eat monster meat not because they think it's gross and disgusting, but rather due to religious practices. If that's the case, it certainly casts a different light on the idea of Melphiera wanting to show all the people around her the culinary joys of monster meat. The newest episode ended in such a way where it's almost certainly going to be explained in full next week, so I'll withhold judgment here until we have all the details, but for now I will say that I hope I'm wrong.

Frankly, I don't think MM needs for Melphiera to have a reason rooted in a tragic backstory for why she loves monster meat. In fact, I don't think she needs a reason, full stop. Delicious in Dungeon is nothing if not proof that you can make a perfectly great story with someone who just loves it because they think it's cool. It doesn't have to be deep, and not everything needs to be locked behind a dark flashback that'll be unlocked once our social link reaches level eight.

All the same, even if it's not without hiccups, and it's far from being the strongest premiere I've seen this season, this is still an enjoyable premiere overall. If you abide by it, I'd say it passes the 3-episode test. If nothing else, at the end of the day, all that matters is whether or not a show leaves you wanting to watch the next episode, and it's definitely left me hungry for more.

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Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.