Anyway while I don't think Dungeon Meshi is by any means perfect (it is very extremely good, it just has a few things which don't quite stick the landing for me personally) I think it is one of the best examples of media in the broad genre of "dungeon fantasy" that engages with many of the conventions and tropes of the genre critically while at the same time being very reverent of the genre itself. It is both a good example of the genre it's a part of while also examining some of the ideas of said genre and I think that's a lot better than a lot of "irreverent take on D&D" media. The motivations of the main cast are quite mercenary and the story very much doesn't start out as a quest to save the world but a quest to save someone who got in trouble during a get-rich-quick scheme, but the characters are still fun and sympathetic.
And like one of the tropes of the genre it engages with critically is central to its story, which is the whole idea of food as more than just fuel for dungeon crawling but as a make-or-break thing where the ingredients used and actual nutrition matters. Most dungeon-crawling fantasy just ignores this, at most giving a contrast between food that's just boring fuel/stale rations and food that's actually sold at da store back in town, but the difference doesn't actually have teeth in the narrative. It doesn't matter whether Goblin Steve ate icky stale rations that day or had a delicious feast at the banquet, they both just count as the thing stops the hunger mechanic kicking in. Anyway yeah so Dungeon Meshi is like "there actually is a difference."
also don't eat goblin steve
Also don't eat goblin steve
