English Dub Review: Dungeon People “A Person in the Dungeon”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

A member of the thieves’ guild, Clay, ventures into the dungeon in search of her missing father.  What she finds is that there’s a lot of work to be done!

Our Take:

Usually, when we enter a dungeon, we expect ourselves to battle tough monsters residing on each floor and find specific treasures.  However, we didn’t expect ourselves to also work at a job there.  I suppose that’s one way to hire more employees other than a “Help Wanted” sign.  Dungeon People is the latest anime to explore the concept of dungeon-crawling adventures but with an unexpected twist.  We get to see characters work in a dungeon instead of fighting in it.  Well, there might be some battling involved depending on how it progresses, but we’re also expecting them to get a big paycheck from handling the dungeon’s mechanisms.

The series introduces viewers to Clay, a young girl working for a guild of thieves trained under her father, Brans, a skilled warrior.  When Brans mysteriously disappeared into a dungeon years ago, Clay journeys into the ten-floor underground cell full of monsters that drop small crystals to search for him.  What Clay finds instead is the tenth-floor boss, who happens to be a young but excessively powerful girl named Beilleheila Langdass, or Belle for short.  Belle is also revealed as the dungeon’s owner who offers Clay a job.  Clay is hesitant at first, but after their surprisingly short battle and the discovery that Belle also owns the guild she works for, she reluctantly accepts, beginning the unexpected friendship between boss and employee.

At first glance, the dungeon in Dungeon People looked pretty bland compared to the other dungeon-exploring anime like Delicious in Dungeon.  I know it’s supposed to be a dungeon, but the empty rooms and hallways gave off a sense of emptiness that lacked the stakes of the battles and designs.  Fortunately, the show’s unique approach of a dungeon being an operational business managed to compensate for its simplistic production design.  That was enough to provide a serviceable introduction to its concept, simple yet cute animation style, and respectable voice cast.  Donna Bella Litton’s vocal performance was something to get used to regarding Clay’s stern personality, and Annie Wild’s Belle was another character who could either make or break the series regarding her joyous and seemingly innocent persona.  We shall see if this job is worth applying to as we reach further into this particular dungeon.