andgibs vallery yootha
Asia Jordan
Back in the day, before I started doing this weird job called video games journalism, I worked in hospitality for more years than I'd like to think about. It was always going to happen, my family has a background in it, and my dad's a chef, so food was just a big part of my life anyway. In turn, I'm lucky enough to know a little bit about cooking, and have gotten pretty good at it! It's a skill you have to put time into, as it's not exactly something most people will teach you, which sometimes makes it hard to learn. But, and bear with me here, I honestly think Delicious in Dungeon, Netflix's latest anime about killing monsters and turning them into delicious meals, has some surprisingly good lessons about cooking.
How about a point of introduction, first, as you might not have heard of this new anime. Based on the manga of the same name, Delicious in Dungeon sees a group of travellers attempting to make their way through an underground dungeon filled with all kinds of creatures and monsters, as they attempt to rescue one of their members from the stomach of a dragon. The only problem is, they're flat broke, so can't afford food. Enter Laios, leader of the party, and monster lover, suggesting that they eat the monsters they kill.
The anime adaptation comes from the acclaimed Studio Trigger, best known for their works like Kill la Kill, Promare, and more recently, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. It's not got the fanciest animation in town, but it's still lovingly rendered, and funny as all hell, a lot of that coming from the complete opposing force that is Laios, secret weirdo that wants to eat monsters, and Marcille, the elven mage of the group who couldn't be more repulsed by the idea.
What I love most about the way it presents cooking is the way that it encourages experimentation. The first episode introduces a dwarf called Senshi, an odd fellow who knows a lot more about cooking monsters than Laios does, thanks to his years spent figuring out how to do so. Laios, new to the whole thing, simply relied upon a guide telling him what was and wasn't safe to eat, and while I love a good cookbook, it can only get you so far.
There's also a good lesson to be learned about foraging, too. At one point in the first episode Marcille starts to prepare a spell that will kill a bunch of plant monsters that they want to eat, but Senshi interrupts her, teaching her that you should only ever take as much as you need. This is a genuine rule of foraging too, as whenever you do forage, you should never take it all, and you should especially leave behind anything you can't physically reach.
With lessons like these, what we're left with as a viewer is the idea that food is something to be respected, particularly the preparation of food, and the steps we take to even get to the prep part. Cooking definitely isn't for everyone, we all have our own skills, but it's one I'm really glad I have, and seeing the joy of it translated onto screen in such a fantastical way lights up my metaphorical kitchen hob.
What's that I hear you say? The idea of eating "huge scorpion and walking mushroom hotpot" grosses you out? Well, fair, but the show does make it look pretty tasty if you ask me, and really the important thing to learn here isn't what you make, but that it's worth putting in the time to learn how to make it. It's fine, you can make a regular hotpot, but when you do, make sure you really put some time into thinking about why you're adding what you are. It might just make the food taste better.
Monster (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was published by Shogakukan in its seinen manga magazine Big Comic Original between December 1994 and December 2001, with its chapters collected in 18 tankōbon volumes. The story revolves around Kenzo Tenma, a Japanese surgeon living in Dsseldorf, Germany whose life enters turmoil after he gets himself involved with Johan Liebert, one of his former patients, who is revealed to be a psychopathic serial killer.
Urasawa later wrote and illustrated the novel Another Monster, a story detailing the events of the manga from an investigative reporter's point of view, which was published in 2002. The manga was adapted by Madhouse into a 74-episode anime television series, which aired on Nippon TV from April 2004 to September 2005. The manga and anime were both licensed by Viz Media for English releases in North America, and the anime was broadcast on several television channels. In 2013, Siren Visual licensed the anime for Australia.
Monster was Urasawa's first work to receive international acclaim and success; the manga has sold over 20 million copies, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. The manga has won several awards, including the 46th Shogakukan Manga Award and the Japan Media Arts Festival. Its anime adaptation has been called one of the best anime series of its decade.
Dr. Kenzo Tenma is a young Japanese brain surgeon, working at Eisler Memorial Hospital in Dsseldorf, West Germany. Tenma is dissatisfied with the political bias of the hospital in treating patients, and seizes the chance to change things after a massacre brings fraternal twins Johan and Anna Liebert into the hospital. Johan has a gunshot wound to his head, and Anna mutters about killing; Tenma operates on Johan instead of the mayor, who arrived later. Johan is saved, but Mayor Roedecker dies; Tenma loses his social standing. Director Heinemann and the other doctors in Tenma's way are mysteriously murdered, and both children disappear from the hospital. The police suspect Tenma, but they have no evidence and can only question him.
Nine years later, Tenma is Chief of Surgery at Eisler Memorial. After saving a criminal named Adolf Junkers, Junkers mutters about a "monster." Tenma returns with a clock for Junkers, he finds the guard in front of Junkers' room dead and Junkers gone. Following the trail to the construction site of a half-finished building near the hospital, Tenma finds Junkers held at gunpoint. Junkers warns him against coming closer and pleads with him to run away. Tenma refuses, and the man holding the gun is revealed to be Johan Liebert. Despite Tenma's attempts to reason with him, Johan shoots Junkers. Telling Tenma he could never kill the man who saved his life, he walks off into the night, with Tenma too shocked to stop him.
Tenma is suspected by the police, particularly BKA Inspector Lunge, and he tries to find more information about Johan. He soon discovers that the boy's sister is living a happy life as an adopted daughter; the only traces of her terrible past are a few nightmares. Tenma finds Anna, who was subsequently named Nina by her adoptive parents, on her birthday; he keeps her from Johan, but is too late to stop him from murdering her adoptive parents. Tenma eventually learns the origins of this "monster": from the former East Germany's attempt to use a secret orphanage known as "511 Kinderheim" to create perfect soldiers through psychological reprogramming, to the author of children's books used in a eugenics experiment in the former Czechoslovakia. Tenma learns the scope of the atrocities committed by this "monster", and vows to fix the mistake he made by ending Johan's life.
The original idea for Monster came from the 1960s American television series The Fugitive, which had a strong impact on Urasawa when he saw it at the age of eight. In the story, a doctor is wrongfully convicted of murder, but escapes and searches for the real killer while on the run from the police.[3] He said that his editor was adamant that the series would not do well, and tried to stop him from creating it.[3]
The Japanese medical industry was strongly influenced by the professional practices in Germany, thus it seemed natural to the author to set Monster in Germany. Post-war Germany was chosen so that the neo-Nazi movement could be included in the story.[4] When he started the semimonthly Monster at the end of 1994, Urasawa was already writing Happy! weekly and continued to serialize both at the same time. When Happy! ended in 1999, he began the weekly 20th Century Boys. Writing both Monster and 20th Century Boys at the same time caused him to be briefly hospitalized for exhaustion.[5]
Written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa, Monster was serialized in Shōgakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Original from December 1994 to December 2001.[6] Shōgakukan collected its 162 chapters into 18 tankōbon volumes released from 30 June 1995 to 28 February 2002.[7] Takashi Nagasaki is credited as "co-producer" of the manga's story.[8] Monster received a nine-volume kanzenban re-release between 30 January and 29 August 2008.[9][10]
Monster was licensed in North America by Viz Media, who published all 18 volumes between 21 February 2006 and 16 December 2008.[11] They released the kanzenban version of the series, titled Monster: The Perfect Edition, between 15 July 2014 and 19 July 2016.[11][12][13]
The manga series was adapted into an anime by Madhouse, which aired between 7 April 2004 and 28 September 2005 on Nippon TV. Directed by Masayuki Kojima and written by Tatsuhiko Urahata, it features original character designs by long-time Studio Ghibli animator Kitarō Kōsaka which were adapted for the anime by Shigeru Fujita. The music was composed by Kuniaki Haishima, including the opening theme "Grain".
David Sylvian was commissioned to write the first ending theme, "For the Love of Life", on which he collaborated with Haishima. In the cover notes to the official soundtrack he said, "I was attracted to the Monster material by the moral dilemma faced by its central character. The calm surface of the music giving way to darker undercurrents, signifying the conscience of the lead protagonist and the themes of morality, fate, resignation, and free will."[14] It was used for the first 32 episodes. The second ending theme, "Make It Home" by Fujiko Hemming, was used for the remaining 42 episodes. It is the only song Hemming sung in her career.[15]
90f70e40cf