Delicious in Dungeon, by Ryoko Kui Vol 02

If volume 01 was an appetizer what would volume 02 be? It's not the entrée. Let's call it the salad course. Why? Because we spend a lot of time harvesting vegetables off of the backs of golems. Well, the manga calls them golems, but they look like shambling mounds of sentient soil to me. I guess they're golems because they are created magically by wizards and given instructions to "protect" or "defend" like golems are.

Anyway, volume 02 continues the rescue of the fallen (and, by now, somewhat digested) human mage Falin. The party seems to be taking their time to rescue her, often getting distracted by side quests involving the gathering of food and the preparation of meals.

The theme of looking at the monsters in the dungeon as being more than mere monsters continues as the party starts looking at them in a more, um, scientific and reasonable nature. We also meet an orc community that teaches us that perspective is very important in life and in relationships.

One thing I’d like to mention is the translation notes at the one of the stories. We’ve been watching anime and reading manga for years and we enjoy the Japanese culture. In the translation to English much the folk lore is also changed to fit with Western culture, and while that helps us Westerners enjoy the story it sucks much of the flavor of the Japanese culture out of the story. The translation notes are a nice way of them trying to put that flavor back into the story.

For example, at one point Laios is chided for wanting “pie in the sky”. But that’s a Western phrase and the notes tell us that in Japan the phrase is more “rice cake in a picture”. As a linguist I know that literal translations rarely work and we need to find cultural similarities. But I am very glad that they decided to add the translation notes. Domo arigato!

Y'all take care! Read every day and read for fun!