Dungeon Meshi

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Dungeon Meshi (subtitled "Delicious in Dungeon" in Engrish) is a Japanese mango about a group of murderhobos in a typical fantasy setting. It features an atypical but innovative premise: if your party is stuck underground and is starving to death, why not eat all those monsters you've been fighting? The story explores one such party learning dungeon crawler cuisine and bumbling their way through their quests.

Dungeon Meshi is most known on /tg/ for being a humorous manga with a nice set of characters, each with a variety of humorous reaction pictures. All in all, it's pretty good, and you should read it.

Also: Elves are a proud and noble race, and they are not lewd.

Plot

After getting his sister devoured by a dragon and losing all their supplies in a failed dungeon raid, Laius and his party are determined to save his sister before she gets fully digested. Completely broke and having to resort to eating monsters as food, they meet a dwarf who will introduce them to the world of delicious cuisines made from ingredients such as the flesh of giant bats, walking mushroom, or even screaming mandrakes.

Reading on an empty stomach is not advised.

Characters

Thorden Party

A small group of lovable idiots, trying to get through the dungeon, rescue Farlyn, and eat a menagerie of monstrous creatures while they're at it. Despite their friendliness, Laius and Farlyn have suspicious reputations, meaning that other parties (such as Kabru's) are somewhat untrustworthy of them.

• Laius Thorden - The human Fighter of the group. He's always had a secret fascination with monstrous biology, and is the first to suggest that they try cooking monsters when they run out of money to buy food. His early curiosity slowly transforms over time into a somewhat distressing obsession; when the party was attacked by succubi, his greatest desire was revealed to be Marcille - who was turned into a chimera. He is Farlyn's older brother.
• Marcille - The half-elven Wizard specializing in black magic. She's the most reluctant to try eating monsters, even after several of the dishes they try turn out quite well. Laius and Senshi's obsessions disturb her, yet despite this, she's obsessed with ancient magic in the same way Laius is obsessed with monster food, which is why she's one of the few elves in the dungeon. Has fat ears, isn't lewd.
• Senshi - A mysterious dwarf who joins the group after discovering their interest in monster cuisine. He's been cooking monsters for 10 years and knows all the best preparations and nutritional value of most monsters they come across. Unlike your typical dwarf stereotype, he is not good with smithing nor does he take good care of his weapon and armor: he turned his mithril family heirloom weapons into a pair of woks and carries most of the cooking equipment. Later revealed to be a survivor from a group of Dwarven miners, including Senshi's father whom were either killed by the dungeon's shenanigan or went mad of not being able to find the exit.
• Chilchack - The group's halfling Thief. He's mostly there to pick locks and make money. Something of an only sane man. He hates mimics; as the one to open treasure chests, he's the one who usually gets killed by them. Also gets annoyed when people treat him like a child, as he’s got a family back home. Despite his antisocial behavior, he's a reliable ally.
• Farlyn - Laius' younger sister. As a child she showed a natural affinity for communicating with and banishing restless spirits. Eventually, she went to magic school, specializing in healing and purification magic and meeting Marcille. The first arc of the series chronicles their quest to rescue her from the belly of a red dragon. Turns out she still got dissolved by the dragon's stomach acid and had to be resurrected by Marcille's dark magic (which no one had expected she knew). And isn’t that just horrifying. It ended badly with the dungeon master controlling the newly resurrected Farlyn and turned her into a harpy like monster. Laius' solution is to eat away the monster parts of her body and hope that it will remove the Mad Sorcerer's control over her.
• Izutsumi (Asebi) - See Shuro's party.

Ex-Thorden Party Members

Otherwise known as goddamn quitters.

• Shuro - A Samurai-styled male human fighter. After the Red Dragon ate Farlyn, he quit the team and left Laius behind. Until he came back with his own party.
• Namari - Female dwarf, and quite infamous amongst most dwarves; her family used to serve the local governor, but her dad stole money from him and ran off, getting them kicked out and causing the governor to blame all dwarves. Like Shuro, she abandoned Laius' party after the Red Dragon ate Farlyn and nearly killed them all.

Gnome Party

• Mr. Tance - A grumpy gnome magic user specializing in healing magic researching the Dungeon. Haugty, foul tempered, and condescending he tends to rub people the wrong way when first met, but is otherwise a man of his word. Despite working for the governor of the town is eager to unravel the mysteries of the dungeon for their own sake.

• Mrs. Tance - Mr. Tance's wife. Not much to say about her otherwise, as shes fairly passive and quiet if not more positive than her husband. Also seems to be a magic user. Notable wears a necklace with three bird skulls around it

• Namari - See Ex Thorden members. Joined up the Tance's as extra muscle for continued payment. Her seeming money grubbing attitude does her no favors, especially to those aware of her familys reputation. but still has a soft spot fer her former crew. she also has an eye for metal and weapon quality, putting her at odds with fellow dwarf Senshi who couldn't care a lick for weapons and melted down his heirloom adamantine shield for a pot

• Kaka & Kiki - Male and Female respectivly. Also bodyguards for the Tance's as well as strong silent types. Like Mrs. Tance similarly little to say given a lack of stand out scenes. an extra comic revealed they are the adoptive children of the Tance's having been abandoned as small children, though growing up as Tall-men in an all gnome village apparently was rough at times.

Kabru Party

An adventurer party that is currently rising in the ranks and descending deeper into the dungeon. Initially rescued by Laius' party, a misunderstanding meant that they went deeper into the dungeon and continually fail challenges above their CR. Also known as the Scrub Party because they're not as experienced as Laius' party.

• Kabru - A dark-skinned human Fighter. He fights for the weak and the innocent, and seeks to conquer the dungeon so he can purge it before it corrupts the people and the land around it. He also thinks Laius' party is secretly Neutral Evil, and is determined to expose them...which he had a change of mind after found out their monster eating habit as well as their knowledge on monster behavior. Being a paladin, he aggresively condemns the Murderhobo mentality, to the point of executing any murderhobos he meets. Apparently fear monsters due to a traumatic childhood experience where his town was attacked by beastmen coming from the dungeon, which instantly making him inferior to the monster-obessessed hero Laius, a fact he was so well aware of to the point of even believing Lauis' party has the highest chance at delving the deeper part of the dungeon, strong enough to even defeat the dungeon master. He was adopted by the vice-commander of Canaries Milsril, who is skilled in swordplay and puppet control. Despite Milsril's advice for him to stay away from dungeon and kept him sheltered inside her home like a pet, Kabru insist not only to become an adventurer, but also to become strong by having Milsril taught him swordplay, which Milsril initially against it, but ended up giving him a harsh but effective lesson.
• Lynnsha - Oriental wizard and Kabru's sort-off girlfriend. Often accuses Kabru of hitting on women of all races, and so comes off as mildly xenophobic due to her bad childhood experience with Elves, instilling her that every knife-ear is another woman that could steal her man. Apparently learned her magic from some other magical school than the Academy that Farlyn and Marcille went to.
• Daya - Female Dwarf. Has a bad impression of Laius' party because Namari was a part of it, and Namari's family has a bad reputation among dwarfs.
• Holme - A gnome spellcaster who can apparently "summon" something. That something turn out to be an udine, a type of water elemental. Also, know resurrection spells (although not really good at it).
• Mickbell - Halfling Rogue and Kuro's master. Unlike other adventurers, she advocates for right-to-work laws and refuses to join the adventurer's guild despite Chilchak trying to get all the halflings to join it and pay guild fees.
• Kuro - Dog-type Kobold Ranger who provides tracking services for the Kabru party. Kobolds are often discriminated against by civilized people because of their low intelligence, which makes Kuro's presence in the party all the more unusual. Is paid in head pats, belly rubs, and food, and arguing whether or not that's a fair days wages will, without exception, ignite a flame war. He is also a good boy.

Shuro's Party

Originally part of the Thorden party, Shuro (real name Toshiro Nakamoto (半本 俊朗, Nakamoto Toshirō)) is a samurai nobleman from "the East". Although Laius initially considered Shuro a close friend, it is revealed that Shuro could not stand Laius' inability to grasp subtlety and straightforward nature. It is also revealed that while a part of Laius' original party, he developed intense romantic feelings for Farlyn, who he had planned to propose to before the incident with the Red Dragon. After the party's dissolution following the massacre, he returned home to form a rescue party of his own, made up of servants from his household. He has openly stated his distrust of Laius and his lack of support for Laius' party's current rescue attempts; however he has agreed to keep quiet about their endeavours for Farlyn's sake until he is able to rescue her himself.

His personal party consists of:

• Hien and Benichidori - A pair of ninja who are potentially sisters; they are able to move swiftly on battlefield using throwing weapons like bombs.
• Maizuru - Her appearance is very similar to a Noh performer or Miko with winglike robes. She was tasked by the master of the household to look after Shuro when he was young. Her shrine maiden outfit suggests that she is a magic user, and she has been revealed to be able to summon various yokai-like entities to do her bidding, as well as using talisman-style sealing spells. She also serves as the party's cook, specializing in Japanese-style dishes.
• Tade - An oni armed with a Japanese style iron club. She is incredibly strong and resistant to physical damage, but is also shown to be very sweet and childlike in temperament.
• Izutsumi (Asebi) - Ostensibly a ninja assassin, Izutsumi is a beastkin — a chimera created by the combination of human and nonhuman souls inhabiting a single vessel. She abandons Shuro's party in order to join up with the Thorden party in the hopes that Marcille will be able to separate her soul from the animal soul that gives her a catlike appearance. She has a childish and passionate attitude, is a picky eater, and has been observed to have terrible table manners. She is the first person who refuses to eat part of Senshi's cooking.

Shuro and the other members of his party have temporarily left the dungeon with Kabru's party, though Shuro intends to return.

The Canaries Party

The Canaries are an Elven organization from the west whose mission it is to investigate and take control of dungeons that have surpassed a certain danger level. Each member are not only talented in magic, but are also experienced in venturing dungeon. The majority of the Canaries are criminals convicted of using ancient magic, with the rest being children of the nobility presented to their country as an act of loyalty, in a ratio of two criminals to one 'guard'. A notch cut into the ear is a mark of a criminal member of the Canaries. Other than that, members with criminal background are shown to be rude and arrogant people who loves to underestimate their enemies; the team member with nobility background has to do the jobs of sucking up to other people in order to represent and act as some sort of emissary for the Elven race.

• Captain Mithrun - A short haired male Elf with one eye (the other can kinda open but doesn't see) with a bad sense of direction. He has a badass special magic ability that allows him to teleport any thing he touched around ("mishaps" make colliding things swap places for extra comedic effect) to, say, someone's brain instantly with a pebble, which sounds scary as hell... until you remember that it relies on vision and he has no depth perception. He was a lord of dungeon once, which he was enticed by a demon into forming a contract to become one because his brother cucked him and he wished for a life of not being a Canaries. He enjoyed his new life at first, until the demon was revealed to have been feeding on his desires, draining away his essence until it decides to eat him, which robbed him of his desires (like the basic needs for all living beings such as the needs for sleeping and eating, even the ability to lie), his right eye and broke his two ear.
• Cithis - A 149 years old notch-eared female Elf with dark skin and facial markings. She appears to be the second in command to Misurn. Armed with a bell wand which she could use it's bell sound to control people's heart with illusion magic, or cast offensive blast magic (which it has yet to be shown). She used to be a fortune teller with many influential customers. She had been repeatedly joining and escaping the Canaries with the aid of a guard she has enticed with, that is until Mithrun became her captain.
• Pattdohl - A very young 82 years old female Elf with long nose. She can cast barrier magic and use familiars (small magical automaton, not a creature) to allow communication with her team. Appears to be the most proper of the team due to her noble background. She is apparently the newest member and was made in charge of Fleki and Lysion. Although she was aware of the Mithrun team grim reputations, that their members had high mortality rate than usual, she remained determined and refused to give up.
• Fleki - A 130 years old notch-eared female Elf with messy hair. She command a shadow bird with a curly tail which may be her thing. She could also fully control the bird, which would put her mind in a dream like state and leaving her vulnerable. Addicted to drugs. Often cursing in a good mood. She hunts ancient magics for money, not for curiosity like the rest of her teammates.
• Otta - A 137 year old notch-eared female Elf with short hair and a series of ringed markings on her arms and legs. She is capable of manipulating the dungeon's terrain to an extent by using magic connect to the dungeon. She likes to making herself look masculine which made other Elves mistook her as male. Used to be a merchant who buys and sells ancient relic, monsters, humans and other illegal stuffs.
• Lysion - A 126 years old topless notch-eared male Elf-Beastmen hybrid with droopy eyes, feminine look, a calm attitude and tattoos on his body. Can turn into some kind of werewolf like beast, which he achieved using ancient magic. Used to live in a community who use the same ability like him. Likes to dress in near half-naked fashion. Suffer his first death on a gladiator arena.

Fantastic Beasts and how to eat them

• Scorpion: A typical scorp. It's got claws and a tail, regular scorp stuff. When preparing, remove the legs, guts and tail, as they taste bad. Cutting into scores helps the heat travel better.
• Trotting Mushroom: Primary prey consists of overconfident eight year olds. To eat, cut off the butt and outer layers. The legs are fine to eat, though. Cutting vertically is the best way to slice them, it seems
• Slime: A Drops onto people right after they exhale, drowning them. Difficult to remove without tools, though fire will do the trick. Tastes good dried.
• Man eating plants: Some strangle you, some digest you, some lay seeds in your skin. Nasty. Tends to grow well in walls with space in them, that is, areas with traps. This makes the traps even more dangerous since you'll be dealing with unreliable, broken mechanism along with paralyzing plants. Can be eaten with vinegar.
• Basilisk: A chicken with a snake tail (or a snake with a chicken tail? Forbidden knowledge~) Can be spooked by things that look bigger than it. And don't run away with your back turned, it'll kick the shit outta ya. Also have lethal venom in their bite.
• Mandrakes: Well known for making elves scream at ear shattering volumes. Their regular scream is also deadly, but it can be safely plucked by a) murdering dogs, b) having long ropes, or c) stabbing it quick enough. Replacing the dog option with a big bat is not recommended.
• Animated armour: Are actually mollusks (forbidden knowledge) that exist between the metal armour and a thin internal shell. They try to protect their eggs like all living creatures. Cannot be trusted inside swords. Boiling or steaming the armor makes them easier to remove and eat.
• Golems: are little magic totems inside mounds of clay or other substances. Can be used to grow their own crops.
• Orcs: are sentient demi-humans so please don't eat them. They are rather violent, and are rather grumpy too.
• Treasure insects: A sign that the DM very clearly hates all of you. Bugs that take the form of valuble items, can be boiled and skewered.
• Ghosts: Spooky. While not directly edible, banishing them with holy water leads to a refrigerating effect that can be used to make shaved ice.
• Mimics: According to Chilchack, the worst thing in the entire world. Giant crabs that choose the sneakiest places to hide, so that they may jump out and ruin the day of whoever comes near to their hiding place. You can cook it just like any other sort of crab.
• Kelpies: Horses with mermaid tails. Might act charming, but have nothing but evil in their hearts after even years of friendly encounters.
• Giant Squids: Fairly self-explanatory.
• Mermaids: Come in "tempting siren" mammalian variety and "Oh god, kill it" piscene variety. Both are dangerous.
• Squid parasites: Also have parasites in them. Which also have parasites...
• Undine: Highly dangerous water spirits that blast people with high-pressure water. Basically concentrated mana so if you manage to catch one, can be boiled alive and made into soup for convenient mana refill.
• Giant Frogs: Giant frogs with giant tongues for snatching weapons off your hands. Their skin is resistant to paralyzing effects of plants in dungeon, so chances are you'll meet these together.
• Dragons: They are dragons, what do you expect? Really hard to kill even for full, experienced parties. Eats everything that's meat, from adventurers to wolves. They have a bad habit to fight each other upon meeting so it is a bad idea for a dungeon master to summon many of them in a small space.
  • Red Dragons: Large, scaly red Dragon with two paired of horns on their head. They are known for their ability to breathe fire, which they accomplish this by clicking their tongue (like flint stone) and igniting the fuel stored in their bodies, then exhaling. The fuel is typically the indigestible parts of their meals, like bones and fur, as well as oil. The burns left by dragon fire are apparently different to normal fires. Despite being very large, they lack any wings to fly and are not very agile. They are known for being extremely tough due to their thick as steel scales that is invulnerable to both physical and magical attacks, as well as having very thick skin. They can be killed however with a well placed strike underside of their neck with Mithril weapons, which are known for their sharpness to cut through dragon scales. Male dragons have a small protrusion underneath their chin, while female dragons do not. It's meat is fairly tough and chewy, but has a rich taste and powerful aroma.
  • White Dragon: Dragon that can breathe ice. Coated in fur instead of being scaly.
  • Green Dragon: Extremely agile dragon. Obsessed with shiny treasure of gold and silver.
  • Eastern Dragon: Asian serpent like dragon that can telekinetic fly and control weathers.
  • Wyrm: Also known as an Earth Dragon. It is toothless, dwells in dark cave and breathe extremely toxic gas that kills any who inhales it. It's eyes are degenerated so it rely more on hearing to live in dark environment. Apparently it's gas is ignitable by fire that cause an explosion upon meeting.
  • Leviathan: An Orca like whale monster that swallow its prey like Jaws and has the power to summon sea waters and creates whirl pool in the water.
  • Nightmares: Small monsters that give you nightmares and feed on your emotions if you sleep close to them, usually this happens when they hide in your pillow. Despite looking like clams, they're apparently dragons (which is apparently a nod to an ancient Asian folk belief). After being discovered they can't really do much, so feel free to steam them alive.
• Cockatrices: Similar to basilisks but bigger, meaner and nastier. Their venom petrifies you, from which you can recover naturally... as long as none of your petrified body parts snap off.
• Dryads: Gendered plants, females look like human women, with males being basically pumpkins with human faces. Only females put up a fight and cutting one results in outburst of pollen which's ingestion causes heavy allergic reactions. Grow from fruits which are edible.
• Shapeshifters: Generally refers to all monsters that change shape, but the ones that seem to take shape of party members are actually illusions caused by mind-reading beast that creates images based on thoughts of other members of the party.
• Ice Golems: These appear if a magic totem used for creation of golems ends up in water that freezes, and then gets activated with magic circle. Basically, all of this coming together would require one hell of a coincidence so you really don't have to worry about ever seeing one.
• Barometz: Sheep that grow from plants, harmless by themself but regularly preyed on by wolves and other carnivores, so it's best not to stick to places where they grow for too long. Tastes like crab.
• Griffins: You should know what griffin are.
• Hippogriffs: As seen in Harry Potter! They do resemble griffins, but have lower body that resembles a horse. They are also herbivorous, and have distinct taste.
• Changelings: Contrary to popular belief, changelings are not creatures in and of themselves, but the result of a creature stepping into a ring of magic mushrooms. Said creature will eventually turn into mushrooms themselves unless they wash off all of the spores. Useful if you wanted to turn your griffon meat into hippogriff meat for whatever reason, or if you're feeling bored with the dumplings you have, you can just change your pot-stickers into ravioli, or your baozi into perogies. Just avoid direct contact.
• Bicorn: Whereas Unicorns are attracted to purity, Bicorns are attracted to immorality and corruption. However, its favorite prey is virtuous husbands; if you get too close, it'll try to take a bite out of you, but otherwise it doesn't seem (or at least taste) that different from a normal horse.
• Dullahan: An undead monster taking the form of a headless suit of armor. Do not eat.
• Succubus: The kind that most adventurers encounter are not true demons, but a type of shapeshifting mosquito that morphs itself into whatever its victim most desires, then uses its proboscis to suck the essence out of its victim, converting it into a milk to feed its larva. The best defense against a succubus is to have several party members at the ready since a succubus can only target one person at a time; if outnumbered, the only real defense is to have multiple souls in the same body (as the case with beastmen) so at least part of you isn't enthralled. Succubus victims can have their vitality restored by drinking said milk mixed with some nutrients. The larva are also nutritious, akin to shrimp when cooked.
• Phoenix: Pretty much exactly how your typical phoenix works; bursts into flames every time it resurrects. So how exactly do you cook a phoenix? Well, thanks to some rules put in place by the dungeonmaster, monsters cannot harm the native residents of the dungeon, so having one in close proximity allows you to prepare the meat, step back to let it self-cook, then quickly get close again. It is recommended to stay close to a dungeon resident for at least three hours to let the meat properly digest... otherwise you'll get a very different kind of "heartburn."
• Dungeon Rabbit: With a name like that, you thought they'd be just regular old rabbits living in a dungeon, right? Hahaha NO. These fuckers are the bastard children of the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog. They're fully capable of decapitating seasoned adventures despite being no bigger than ordinary rabbits. Instead of razor sharp teeth, they have razor sharp spikes on their hind legs that they use to slit their victim's throats, so neck protection is critical.