Delicious in Dungeon vol 1

 Delicious in Dungeon vol 1 by Ryoko Kui (trans. Sébastien Ludmann), 192 pages.

Laios and his adventuring party are thoroughly beaten by a dragon deep in the dungeon and teleported to safety with very few resources to speak of. Laios little sister was not teleported to safety, and he is determined to go back for her, no matter the difficulty (resurrection is possible, if they can only get to her body while there's something to recover). Unfortunately, going into the dungeon with no food or coin is suicidal but, as they don't have time to gather any, they're just going to have to eat the monsters. Luckily for them, they very quickly find a dwarf who is an expert dungeon chef (and very passionate on the topic of dungeon food), who is happy to tag along for the chance to cook a dragon. 

This is a delightful manga! It's a very smart and low-stakes version of the Dungeons & Dragons-type genre with the emphasis on characters that makes that genre thrive. I really appreciate the thought that went into making a plausible ecosystem in a classic D&D style dungeon (which were not traditionally designed with plausibility in mind). I thought the emphasis on botany and fieldbook-type notes were a really interesting touch, and overall this story feels like something both very unique and entirely familiar. I definitely plan to continue this series.

(This series is also commonly referred to as Dungeon Meshi, which is a more direct Anglicization of the Japanese name. It is also currently being adapted into a show on Netflix! I haven't seen any of that, but I will say that is looks interesting)