Delicious in Dungeon wins Harvey Award for Best Manga – beating out 9 superb competitors
Michelle Topham 
Is anyone surprised the Delicious in Dungeon manga has just won a prestigious Harvey Award for Best Manga, as I sure as hell am not?
Not if you have read that now-completed manga series, and been amazed by its beautiful art style, wonderfully quirky characters and, of course, its recipes for the best monster meals complete with the amount of carbs, protein, vitamins and calories in them.
Delicious in Dungeon was up against nine other also superb nominees for the award —
- The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren, translated by Ajani Oloye (Yen Press)
- Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama, translated by Stephen Kohler (Kodansha)
- Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe, translated by Misa ‘Japanese Ammo’ (VIZ)
- Soichi: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito, translated by Jocelyne Allen (VIZ)
- H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth by Gou Tanabe, translated by Zack Davisson (Dark Horse)
- Berserk Deluxe Edition Vol 14 by Kentaro Miura, translated by Duane Johnson (Dark Horse)
- Second Hand Love by Yamada Murasaki, translated by Ryan Holmberg (Drawn & Quarterly)
- My Picture Diary by Fujiwara Maki, translated by Ryan Holmberg (Drawn & Quarterly)
- Okinawa by Susumu Higa, translated by Jocelyne Allen (Fantagraphics)
but it was Delicious in Dungeon written and illustrated by Ryoko Kui, and translated by Taylor Engel (published by Yen Press) that was given the organization’s Best Manga award.
The late Dragon Ball mangaka Akira Toriyama was also inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame.
The Delicious in Dungeon manga series
In case you haven’t yet read this superb fantasy manga, here are its pertinent details.
There are 14 volumes in the series in total, with the final one being published in Japanese in December, 2023 and in English in July, 2024 via Yen Press.
Yen Press is also publishing a box set of the entire series (on pre-order now), along with a stand-alone book called Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer’s Bible — which they call “an encyclopedia of monsters”.
Finally, a new book of artwork called Doodles by Ryoko Kui: Daydream Hour has also just been licensed for publication.
The publisher explains the now-Harvey Award-winning manga like this:
When young adventurer Laios and his company are attacked and soundly thrashed by a dragon deep in a dungeon, the party loses all its money and provisions…and a member! They’re eager to go back and save her, but there is just one problem: If they set out with no food or coin to speak of, they’re sure to starve on the way!
But Laios comes up with a brilliant idea: “Let’s eat the monsters!” Slimes, basilisks, and even dragons…none are safe from the appetites of these dungeon-crawling gourmands!
There’s also a funny stop-motion trailer for the book series you can watch below.
And yes, the manga has spawned a hit anime series, which ran on Netflix from January 4th, 2024 to June 13th, 2024, with a second season also now in production.
Now you’re not surprised Delicious in Dungeon won that award, eh?
More information: The Harvey Awards official website
About the Author
Steven Reynolds 
