Let’s Watch is a weekly recap column where I follow an anime over the course of its runtime. Expect spoilers!
Ah, damn it. I didn’t want to do these anymore.
Let’s Watch used to be my most consistent regular column; but it’s been nearly a year since I last wrote one, and the facts of the anime industry, and my own tendency to randomly burn out toward the end of an anime season, make doing them consistently a fraught prospect. But I couldn’t help myself today, this week’s Dungeon Meshi episode was just too freakin’ pretty. So even if this doesn’t mark the return of the column in general, I hope you’ll enjoy me puffing the series up a bit, here.
This week’s episode, its third, was just an absolute visual treat. It’s one of the best-looking episodes of the year so far in general, actually. TRIGGER continue to deliver absolutely great-looking stuff a decade into their existence as a contemporary studio of note. I suspect it has a different episode director than the prior two; the character animation is noticeably looser and the storyboards seem more willing to deviate from the manga. This was one of my few complaints about the anime so far, that it was sticking maybe a little too close to the source material, so I’m happy to see some extra expression this time around.
The obstacles / menu items for our heroes this time around are suits of living armor. As Senshi so wisely points out in the episode’s opening minutes—and to Laios’ immense disappointment—armor itself is, you know, metal. It’s not food. You literally cannot eat it.
Look at him, he’s so sad about this.
This does little to keep Laios from wondering, though, and since the party inevitably crosses paths with a swarm of suits of living armor guarding the path they’re trying to take further into the dungeon, it’s a somewhat relevant concern. (Actually, what is the term for a group of these things? An armory? A war chest? Who knows.) It’s especially so since they’re acting different from usual; rather than just springing to life when passed by, and returning to wherever they previously stood when the threat passes, these suits of armor seem to be deliberately trying to prevent our heroes from getting through the area. This is especially weird since, as Marcille points out, living armor aren’t alive, they’re magical constructs.
As our party struggles to deal with all this, we get some really nice fight scenes here. Action is not a main focus of Dungeon Meshi, but it is definitely a feature of the series, and it’s nice to see it fleshed out here with some of TRIGGER’s usual flash. There’s a lot of fluidity and style to the main fight scene here, with Marcille specifically often getting in a lot of goofy expressions (even moreso than the norm for this series) contrasted by some genuinely cool moments as she’s fighting the armors. The armors themselves are actually animated in a way that subtly hints as to what’s really going on here by having them move in a jerky, imperfect fashion. Needless to say, this is an absolutely lovely touch.
Particular attention is also paid to Laios’ imagination, which we get to see a little more of than usual here, and is expanded upon slightly from this part of the manga. Laios eventually finds and confronts the apparent ‘queen of the hive’ here, so to speak, which is wearing an ornate, rather Ornstein-ian design as opposed to the regular knights seen up to this point.
Laios happens to spot something on the inside of its tower shield, and we’re treated to a delightfully weird and loopy-looking segment where he flashes back to his childhood.
Doing so helps him put 2 and 2 together; the thing on its shield is an egg sac. A little more work, and he discerns the true identity of these creatures; they’re not the suits of armor themselves, they’re mollusks—things that look a bit like a cross between a sea slug and a scallop, specifically—hiding inside of them and mimicking muscle movements.
This, of course, leads Laios to an important revelation; he totally can eat them.
And so, the episode ends with the usual cooking portion. These creatures are new to Senshi, so only some of their dishes turn out well (an attempt to steam the creatures in the armor’s helmet ends poorly). This also makes Marcille’s usual food skepticism a little more understandable—honestly, as someone with an eating disorder who cannot eat a lot of foods, I always have wished the series was a little nicer to her about this. Maybe it is later on? I am still in the process of reading the manga—and even Chilchuck and Senshi make Laios eat the food first. But everything basically turns out alright, and Laios even picks up a passenger, which he keeps secret from the rest of his party, when he salvages a new sword from the defeated armor mollusks.
Surely, this is not a decision that will have no consequences whatsoever, right?
In any case, anime fans. I don’t necessarily want to sign off with ‘see you next week.’ My schedule remains very much in flux and 2024 promises to be a very busy year for me, but I do have some more articles in the pipeline (including one that should be out tomorrow or so), so I will definitely be seeing you in some capacity, somewhere soon. Ciao!
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