I miss Dungeon Meshi Thursday. So much. From January through mid-June 2024, Dungeon Meshi Thursday was the staple of my week. My grounding point, my landing point. “Ah, it’s Dungeon Meshi Thursday, everything’s going to be okay,” I thought on more than one occasion.
And I was not alone in this: I received a tweet from a reader angry at me purely because I was the bearer of the bad news that episode 25 wouldn’t exist until season 2.
The good news is that we now for certain that Delicious in Dungeon isn’t over. The same day that the season one finale aired, Studio Trigger and Netflix announced that season two is already in production. And while we don’t know exactly what to expect for the beloved, heavily RPG-influenced series, we can gather up some ingredients and cook up a delicious hot pot of speculation.
When could season 2 drop?
Since we know for sure that season two will definitely happen, there’s an obvious followup question: when?
The season two announcement came with no timeline attached. However, we do know that the second season is already in development. It’s highly likely Studio Trigger moved straight from Dungeon Meshi‘s first season into its second.
Which brings us to a surprising fact: this is the first Trigger anime to have a second season. While, like Dungeon Meshi, there have been plenty of Trigger series with around 24 episode seasons, those 24 episodes finished off the series in all previous cases. There’s no precedent within Trigger we can look at to estimate how long production between seasons of the same show take.
And so, current industry trends considered, the absolute earliest that Delicious in Dungeon‘s second season could drop is summer 2025. But this is animation, and animation takes time. Especially if you’re looking out for the wellbeing of the animators. From that perspective, a longer wait time between seasons is a good sign. But considering Trigger’s usual pace, winter 2026 seems more likely.
Will the season one cast return for season two?
While nothing has been announced officially, it would be surprising if the cast of Dungeon Meshi season one didn’t come back to (likely) close out the series in season two. Especially seeing how the English dub cast in particular seem to be having the time of their lives on this show.
For the English dub, a full main cast return would see Damien Haas as Laois Touden, One Piece‘s own Emily Rudd as Marcille Donato, Casey Mongillo (AKA dub Shinji Ikari) as Chilchuck Tims, SungWon Cho as Senshi, Lara Stahl as Izutsumi, and Lisa Reimold as Falin Touden.
For the Japanese voice cast, a full return would feature Kentaro Kumagai as Laois, Sayaka Senbongi as Marcille, Asuna Tomari as Chilchuck, Hiroshi Naka as Senshi (fun fact: he also plays Garp in One Piece), Mitsuho Kambe as Izutsumi, and Saori Hayami as Falin (second fun fact: she’s a badass who plays Shinobu in Demon Slayer, Yor in Spy x Family, and Yamato in One Piece).
What would season 2 cover?
Ryoko Kui’s Delicious in Dungeon manga is collected in fourteen volumes, which breaks down into 97 chapters (plus from extra goodies). Each of those chapters’ names translate directly to the names of the anime’s episodes. So without even needing to spoil yourself, it’s incredibly easy to discover how much the anime adaptation has covered—and how much further it has left to go.
The 24 episodes of Dungeon Meshi‘s first season take us through chapter 52 of the manga, “Bacon and Eggs.” That means season two will kick off with material from chapter 53, “On The 1st Level.” Which isn’t even the name of a monster or a food, so some shit must go down.
Since a 24-episode season took us a little over halfway through Dungeon Meshi‘s 97 chapter-long story, it stands to reason that a second season of similar length would finish it off. However, the episode count of season two has not been confirmed. Trigger could also opt to stagger the releases into two shorter, 12-episode seasons—which, to look on the bright side, might mean getting a chunk of episodes sooner.
Either way, episode-count wise, Dungeon Meshi is about halfway over. Season two is likely the last season. So make sure to hold your spoon properly and really savor this meal while you can.
