Even with the (expected) dip in quality with Dungeon People episode 2, I feel like I have to reiterate my surprise with the overall quality of the work being done. Certainly, there’s still wonky animation and some potentially questionable pieces here and there, but overall Sayaka Yamai and co. are doing a good job with this series- even when they settle into a more casual cadence like this episode. In a way though, you could also argue that getting that backwards step in has helped OLM a great deal. After all, it’s cut down on the number of unique and challenger characters to draw and animate, and there’s far less “intense” action sequences prevalent now. We’ll see if that argument can hold up for the entirety of the season, though.
Either way, though this is now the 2nd episode of Dungeon People, there’s still quite a bit of setup. All in all, it’s to be expected with its slower pacing and more meandering story. Clay gets their tour of the dungeon, they get their first job- all the usual things. In-between though, Dungeon People episode 2 flexes its world building chops quite a bit. It’s very easy to approach a self-sufficient dungeon in a number of ways that has already been explored, but credit given where credit’s due to creator Sui Hutami for cooking up something reasonably unique. Rather than the typical revivification cycle, or the equally used regeneration system, Hutami went for something totally separate- body doubles. It’s a rather simple idea in the grand scheme of things, but the way it integrates with the story and dungeon itself is quite interesting. It allows for an “infinite” amount of monsters on a surprisingly small budget while totally avoiding the death of characters that can exhibit intelligence. Also, as a little addendum: cool names are cool. Really appreciate the effort to come up with unique ones like Antomurg that follow established concepts for naming things.
Now that the world building butter has been applied for readers, it’s time to discuss the most curious piece of Dungeon People episode 2: the storyboards. Done by (well) seasoned veteran Shigeharu Takahashi. Playing a strong role in a majority of successful 90s anime, they transitioned into roles with children’s TV series like Yokai Watch!. Surprisingly, this has done little to dull their creative sense, but it may have crossed some wires here and there.
Let’s take a deeper look. Takahashi’s consistently high angle shots do great to provide a sense of scale and depth to the dungeon. It forces into perspective the odd sort of space that Clay is wandering through in the dungeon of Antomurg while simultaneously letting viewers get a grasp of just how empty this liminal spaces are. Countering the expression of these big and hollow spaces, Takahashi also makes good use of foreground obstructions in Dungeon People episode 2. While it does well at providing a solid amount of variance in shot composition, it’s also a bit of a humorous visual play towards dungeon master Beilleheila’s hoarding problem, placing plenty of boxes and other objects all across the screen.
The confusion more so comes from a single type of shot that Takahashi routinely employs (especially in the first half of the episode)- the Dutch Angle. Typically reserved for extracting unease or disorientation, it can have a place in adding to the air of the dungeon. It’s just that said place isn’t every few cuts in the episode. The frequency takes away from the value of the shot, and it quickly becomes something that’s used purely for the sake of variance from a visual perspective, weighing down the rest of Takahashi’s stronger work in the front half.
In contrast to Takahashi’s visual back and forth, the two areas that remain consistently impressive throughout Dungeon People episode 2 have to be composition and art direction. In the capable hands of Atushi Satou and Kenji Katou respectively, their work helps tie together a great deal of the episode. Katou’s very sketchy and rough direction fits the vision for Dungeon People quite well despite having very little to work off of in the manga. Conversely, Satou’s very strong composition works surprisingly well against its flatter backdrop.
In particular with Satou, their strong depth of field and chromatic aberration add a lot of flair and importance to a select few sequences in the episode. Additionally, their work with magical effects may not be perfect, but in effectively all cases this episode, it does quite well to add some well needed flair and style to the more monotonous pacing of the episode. As for the specifics of Katou’s work… it’s a little hard to put together more explicit praise. They just do a really good job of providing a backdrop and atmosphere for the team to work with. It feels right at home with Dungeon People episode 2, and plays surprisingly nicely with Satou’s far more rendered and refined visual effects.
Seeing how things have gone through to Dungeon People episode 2, I’m left a little confused as to why I felt so negative about this adaptation initially. You can very much tell that OLM isn’t putting out their very best work in terms of animation, but everywhere else has been doing surprisingly well- in particular the model accuracy. It may not move incredibly well all the time, but it’s hard to argue that they’ve traded accuracy for animation in any capacity here. Then you get to discussing the really solid work on display from all the high level staff on the series, and it’s hard to argue that OLM is “getting in the way” of Dungeon People as an adaptation. It’s fun, rather relaxing, surprisingly pretty occasionally, and is rather adept at presenting a creative world. I certainly could ask for more for this series, but it’s a fact that I’m surprisingly satisfied with where things stand currently. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m not hoping to see better and brighter things on the horizon, but that’s yet to be seen.
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