Summary
Warning: The following contains spoilers forDelicious in DungeonEpisode 3, “Living Armor”, now streaming onNetflix.
Laios, Marcille, Chilchuk, and Senshi continue to push deeper into the dungeon. They’ve gone past the beautiful rainforest and entered an area that resembles a typical dungeon. A structure thatlooks like the interior of a medieval castlewith halls and corridors made out of stone walls, stone floors, and stone ceilings.
Since the start of this rescue mission, our heroes have depended on the dungeon to provide them with sustenance. However, no monsters, much less edible plants, are in sight in these gloomy hallways. The only enemies in this dimly-lit part of the dungeon are the spooky living armors. As usual, Laios utters an outrageous proposal to the team. “Why don’t we try eating the Living Armor?”, he said gleefully. This time around, however, everybody rejected his ridiculous idea.
A Pseudo Horror Fantasy
It’s interesting how changing the setting can drastically alter the overall mood and atmosphere of the story. The previous episode took place in a lush and beautiful rainforest, which makes the story feel bright and cheerful. Sure, there are giant bats and man-eating plants all around, but the overall mood of the story remains relatively light.
But then our heroes enter a much darker environment, and the mood suddenly shifts from bright to gloomy. It’s like the genre abruptly changed from a fun adventure fantasy toa pseudo-horror fantasy.It’s no longer about a group of adventurers who venture into a dungeon to save one of their fallen members, but rather about a group of friends who mistakenly enter an abandoned castle that is haunted by ghosts that live inside suits of armor.
Needless to say, the story doesn’t really change. It’s still about Laios and friends trying their best to save his sister, while occasionally getting sidetracked by all the delicious monsters in the dungeon. It is justDelicious in Dungeondoing what it does best,playing with the viewer’s perspective. Everything remains the same, but by using a setting that is often used in the horror genre, the showrunners manage to alter the mood and atmosphere of the story as a whole.
Hidden in Plain Sight
Back to Laios’s earlier question. So is it possible to eat living armor? Well, any normal person who has a working common sense would confidently say no, it is not possible to eat a piece of armor. After all, Living Armor is no different from regular armor apart from the fact that it is controlled by magic. It is just a collection of leathers and irons. Sure, it is technically possible to eat iron, but even the most desperate individuals won’t eat such a thing.
However, against everybody’s judgment, Laios is determined that there must be a way to eat the living armor. Mind you, it is not a decision that he made purely out of his absurd desire to eatas many kinds of monsters as possible.It comes from various bits of information that he gathers during their fight against these living armors.
Laios notices minor details like the fact that the armor needs to put the helmet in the right orientation or otherwise, they can’t see what is in front of them. If the armor is truly controlled by magic, there’s no need for them to wear helmets in the first place, much less wear the helmets the right way. There must be more to these living armors than meets the eye.
As it turns out, Laios was right all along. It’s not magic that controls these living armors. There are actuallymollusk-like creatures hidden underneath the linings of the armors.Every complete piece of armor houses a colony of these mollusks. When mollusks from different sections of the armor are working together, they create some sort of muscular system that allows the armor to move like a human. So in that case, the answer is yes, it is apparently possible to eat living armor.
What Does a Living Armor Taste Like?
Just like any other monster-based dishes that our heroes have enjoyed thus far, the Living Armor turns out to be incredibly delicious food. To be fair though, anything that Chef Senshi touches seems toturn out to be scrumptious cuisine.As for the taste, well, apparently living armor tastes similar to high-quality clams.
This episode marks the third time our heroes defeat, cook, and eat the monsters from the dungeon. Usually, when an anime series repeats the same story structure like this, the viewers would’ve already shouted about how the story is so boring and repetitive. Interestingly enough,that is not the case at all withDelicious in Dungeon.
We know that the heroes will likely kill and eat a monster in this episode, but it somehow never gets boring to watch. On the contrary, we look forward to what kind of monsters they will catch this time and how they will cook it. Perhaps it’s thanks to the strength of its unique premise or maybe due to the skill of the storyteller. One thing’s for sure, we can’t wait to see the next episode.
