On September 11th and 15th, two special screenings were held for the upcoming anime adaptation of Delicious in Dungeon. At the event, the cast and crew took the stage to share their experience adapting the series.
On the 11th, Director Yoshihiro Miyajima and Producer Kazufumi Kikushima were joined by voice actors Kentaro Kumagai (Laios) and Asuna Tomari (Chilchuck) to talk about their work.
The first piece of animated content to come out of Delicious in Dungeon was a trailer that would accommodate the eighth volume of the manga in September 2019. At the time, Kazufumi Kikushima was already involved with the early stages of the anime adaptation, but did not play a hand in the manga trailer.
It was Yoshihiro Miyajima, a long-time fan of both Delicious in Dungeon and author Ryoko Kui, who would assemble a team of the younger staff members at studio TRIGGER to helm the project.
“I’ve loved Delicious in Dungeon ever since it first began serialization. Back when the first volume was released (January of 2015) I remember asking my boss if there was any way we (TRIGGER) could do an anime adaptation, only to be told we didn’t have any director capable of animating such a series at the time. Several years later, the opportunity to work on the animated teaser came our way. I felt I ought to be the one to direct it, so I put my own name forward for the project,” Yoshihiro Miyajima shared at the screener.
The trailer animated by Yoshihiro Miyajima and his team and TRIGGER would inspire Kazufumi Kikushima to set them in charge for the TV anime. The project was officially announced in August, 2022.
“Character designer Naoki Takeda also drew various monsters lurking in the shadows. It’s hard to see them since they’re in the shadows, though,” noted Kazufumi Kikushima.
Their work on the TV anime would go public in May 2023 with the release of the first teaser trailer.
Asuna Tomari and Kentaro Kumagai commented on their excitement, and shared some insight into their audition process. They were first selected from an audition reel, which was followed by an in-studio audition. Then, the cast members were invited to a four-person cold read, where the crew could get a feel for their dynamics as a team.
“I picked Kentaro Kumagai for the role of Laios because of how he managed to sort of drift among the four party members, in a good way. I felt it wouldn’t be quite right for the production if the four of them got along too well from the start. Kentaro Kumagai had just the right amount of distance with everyone,” shared Yoshihiro Miyajima.
On September 15th, Sayaka Sembongi (Marcille) joined Yoshihiro Miyajima and Kazufumi Kikushima. Sayaka Sembongi shared that, from the moment she read the manga, she wanted to play Marcille.
Her dedication wouldn’t go unrewarded. Kazufumi Kikushima and Yoshiro Miyajima came to a consensus almost immediately after hearing Sayaka Sembongi’s audition reel.
“I wanted to cast Sayaka Sembongi as Marcille as soon as I saw her audition reel,” shared Yoshihiro Miyajima.
The screenings marked the world premier of the second episode, following the first which had premiered at longside the first episode which had previously premiered at Anime Expo 2023 in the U.S. Delicious in Dungeon will premier worldwide on Netflix in January 2024.
Source: press release
