As Dungeon Meshi is still currently being published, it feels a bit early for me to try to post any sort of review, but I feel like I need to make an exception in this case, as Dungeon Meshi has evolved over its run from a little manga about a DnD party cooking monsters into one of the absolute best pieces of fantasy I've ever experienced in any medium.

As it's progressed, Dungeon Meshi has consistently developed its world around a deep dive into a single aspect of its universe (dungeon exploration), exploring that topic from ecological, political, economical, and sociological angles, intertwining them into an incredibly realistic backdrop for a main plot and characters that are equally as complex, well-developed, and totally engaging. It does all this at one of the most perfect paces I've ever seen in any media - it starts out as a cute little generic fantasy manga with a simple premise - broke dungeon explorers decide to eat monsters as they rush through a dungeon to try and revive their healer, who was killed by a dragon deep in the dungeon on their last excursion. From this base, every single chapter develops and builds upon at least one element of the series, be it the world, the monsters, the characters, the society, etc. etc., and once you're past the slower early chapters, it chugs along at a pace where it's never too slow as to grow stale, but never too fast as to become overwhelming, which has pushed the plot to a level of extremely satisfying complexity, where all the pieces and players on the board have been so well defined that nothing feels underdeveloped or lost in the details.

Beyond the excellent central narrative and world building, it also boast a fantastic cast of characters as well-developed as they are lovable, all of them with believable character flaws and personal ideologies that clash and cooperate with one another constantly to create believable and interesting dynamics, both among the main characters and the diverse supporting cast that drift in, out, and around their journey through the dungeon.

The art in this series is exceptional, with the mangaka particularly excelling in character and monster designs. The monsters can range from cute, to bizarre, to disgusting, to threatening behemoths, and all are given a level of detail that really helps them jump off the page. This detail even carries over to the humans and humanoids, where species-to-species and individual-to-individual differences are extremely well defined, completely avoiding the issue so much of the medium has with every-character-looks-the-same-with-different-hair-syndrom. She's also exceptional at using facial expressions to drive home the narrative almost as much as the dialog itself, akin to what I've seen in series like One Piece.

At the manga's latest chapter, where the story has progressed to a scale of global inter-species geopolitics that hinge upon decisions and actions tied up in magical/biological processes so morally grey that you're not even sure if the story has a hero anymore, the only thing more insane than looking back at how simply and humbly the series began, is how well it avoided ever feeling jarring at any point climbing to the ridiculous height it's currently at, and this upwards trend has shown no signs of slowing down. I'd like to say that I couldn't see a way that we weren't marching towards an extremely satisfying conclusion, but as every manga reader is well aware even some GOAT-contender candidates can fumble right before they hit the finish line, and if Dungeon Meshi falls prey to this same curse I'll update this review and my rating as I feel necessary. But at current, Dungeon Meshi is nipping at the heels of the all-time best manga and anime that I've ever experienced, and I feel like anyone looking for truly fantastic twist on old fantasy tropes would love to dive into this dungeon alongside our main cast, because it's a far deeper journey than anyone could have expected.