‘Delicious in Dungeon’ review: “Dryad/Cockatrice” makes comedy in the dungeon legal again

Laios and his party are in quite a pickle in Delicious in Dungeon episode 15! After a break in “Sea Serpent,” “Dryad/Cockatrice” focuses on the main party and it’s stronger for that. Additionally, the humor that audiences got used to at the beginning of the series is back despite the unfortunate circumstances the party finds themselves in. 

I can’t start this review without talking about how ridiculous “Dryad/Cockatrice” is. From start to finish, this episode brought humor back into the mix. The dryad scene in particular is hilarious because the party is strong, but the pollen is so much stronger. Chilchuk, Laios, and Senshi all fall victim to the pollen that dryads release and the scene turns into the three—more like two— of them attempting to fight without being able to see. Later on in the episode, Marcille gets bitten by the snake head of a cockatrice and turns to stone while in the middle of yelling at Laios. The way she freezes is so on the nose for her as a character that you can’t help but laugh. 

Plus, the party using Marcille as a pickling weight without a shred of guilt is one of the funniest things I’ve had the pleasure of watching.

Another thing that makes Delicious in Dungeon so funny to me is Senshi’s age blindness. At no point does he know how old the rest of the party is. Because of this, he feels guilty for not properly feeding them. From a purely logical standpoint, this makes sense — he did join the party as their chef originally. But, it’s clear that the party hasn’t eaten in the last few days of their escape attempt and it’s taking a toll on them. This scene hones in his desire to take care of the party in a sort of patriarchal manner. On one hand, this reveals just how much Senshi cares about the rest of the party. 

On the other hand, this age blindness of Senshi’s does lead to yet another of the funniest moments in the episode and possibly the series. Because he thinks Chilchuk is young, Senshi goes into what can only be called “dad mode” to lecture him about the birds and the bees. What makes this funnier is that Chilchuk has made it clear that respective to his race, he’s not a teenager. The whole interaction is one of the shorter scenes in “Dryad/Cockatrice” but it stands out above the rest for me. 

Magic is the main character of this episode. It is ever present throughout the episode in the constantly shifting layout of the dungeon. The Lunatic Magician makes it harder for the party to find a way to the above floor by magical rearrangement. This comes in the form of earthquakes that happen at a certain rate. On top of that, Marcille teaching Laios healing magic is a major plot point. While teaching him, she notes that the Touden family line is very in tune with magic because of how easily Laios was able to use healing magic for the first time. The magical undercurrent throughout the series shows itself in this episode.

The monster design for the dryads is nothing short of top-tier. As with the orcs in “Red Dragon III/Good Medicine” and the living armor in “Living Armor,” the design of the dryad is particularly unique. First and foremost, the dryad fruit is hilarious. It’s a simple design of a face on the side of a pumpkin that works so well. The blank stare makes both the party and audience feel just the tiniest bit awkward about eating from them. Though, I do have to say an empty dryad fruit makes for a great bowl. 

Moving onto the adult dryad, I want to bring attention to the way the hair is designed. The way it falls from the head is almost petal-like. Additionally, their bodies are lithe and androgynous despite leaning heavily on female anatomy. Both female and male dryads looking the same regardless of sex is a really smart way of bringing monster biology into the mix. This allows the dryad a way to protect the one with the seed by way of camouflage. 

“Dryad/Cockatrice” brings humor back to Delicious in Dungeon after focusing on the action in the last couple of episodes. Despite the danger they still manage to run into, this episode might be the funniest one in the series yet. Which is exactly what the audience needs before it starts to get really dark all over again.

Delicious in Dungeon is available now on Netflix.

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Featured images: © Ryoko Kui / KADOKAWA / “Delicious in Dungeon” PARTNERS, Netflix