I think today’s episode of Delicious In Dungeon is interesting, but definitely for reasons that differ from what I’m used to talking about. Not that the boards or the work on the episode as a whole was bad or anything, but just that the circumstances around it are quite intriguing. For example in Delicious In Dungeon episode 10, we see our first assistant episode director in Dohei Shimon– and it’s only their second ever credit related to episode direction. Similarly, our storyboarder Munehiro Tomoyuki might not have the greatest track record thanks to their time with series like Spirit Chronicles. And then of course we have all of our animation directors, of which I think is the most we’ve seen on a Delicious In Dungeon episode. Across the four different AD credits (CAD, AD, assistant AD, monster AD) we’ve got a total of 6 staff members.
And then you can go further in to the credits for Delicious In Dungeon episode 10, and you can look back at the previous episodes, and so on and so forth. Doing so, you realize that Trigger’s taking part in some load management with these recent two episodes. Their KA lists have ballooned, they’ve put less experienced staff on the episodes, and they’ve brought in animators from other studios to help round out their staff list.
None of this is bad for Delicious In Dungeon episode 10 though
You can take one look at the episode and understand that, but I thought it important to reiterate. Yes, this episode, like the previous, sorely lacks in creativity and excessive expression like episodes eight and six have most recently displayed, but for a moment consider which you would rather. Do you want every episode to aim for the best (and ultimately fall short), or do you want to conserve that effort for the places that it will mean the most? As many have discussed before with things like the Enshiya outsourced episode, these sorts of production decisions are really good for the series overall, and allow some of the fresher staff an opportunity at larger roles.
Yes, I don’t think that Tomoyuki’s boards are the greatest thing ever, but it’s hard to deny their ability to shift the tone of the episode effectively. They brought out plenty of the humor and lightheartedness with the frog suits, and were able to comfortably make the transition to the weightier moments with Mr. Tansu and the island lord. I also think they did a good job of carrying that weight into Laios and co’s foray in to the Red Dragon’s territory, while being able to still mess around and get a good laugh or two out.
Similarly, while the ADs are largely lacking in Trigger AD experience, I think they’ve done a commendably impressive job with this episode. Just look at Mr. Tansu above, he looks incredibly well defined and modelled for being at such an angle. I think a lot of people, myself included, can take for granted just how good Trigger is even at their most plain. There’s plenty of creative effort and appeal placed into the character models in the episode, even if they don’t pop quite as much as previous ones. One of my biggest “loves” in this episode is how much effort they put into those sorts of things. For example, there’s this panel I mentioned on Twitter. While Kui provides plenty of awareness to readers to the ears of the elves beneath their cloaks, Delicious In Dungeon Episode 10 goes a little beyond that. They take it out as a full frame, and really flare out the ears of the lead elf. I thought it was incredibly interesting, and really does well to draw your attention towards the center of the frame while still bringing out the most in Kui’s subtle details in the original panel.
In a similar vein of detail, I think Tomoyuki as well as monster AD Kaneko Yuuto connected really well on selling the weak point of the Red Dragon in this episode. It’s a little hard to convey with the limited space afforded by manga, but in the anime they’re able to take out a whole frame for the upper portions of the Red Dragon, where they draw you into looking at its weak point. Additionally, they also sell the scale of the Red Dragon really well with that panning shot that traces the body of the Red Dragon.
I think in this modern age where everything ends up being about the “greatest” that something can be, we end up taking for granted work like this. Of course it’ll never measure up to the work of the greats in the industry, but as rather fresh faces, you really do have to give credit for this degree of quality and refinement in the series. Delicious In Dungeon episode 10 may be another that’s aiming to sort of “fill the space” before our next massive encounter, but the staff tapped for this episode really put their best work out there. It still carries a lot of the energy that fans have come to love with the series, there’s still some incredibly well animated sequences, and the boards and animation direction do nothing to get in the way of those things. I think overall it’s a very well done episode, and I think it has me incredibly excited to see what will go on with episode 11!
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