English Dub Review: Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! “A Jerky is a Promise: Skatzbitt”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Melphiera Marchalrayd is the daughter of a count but is ostracized from the rich community due to her preference of cooking monster meat. That is, until she meets Aristide Rogier, a duke, and they instantly fall in love.

OUR TAKE

Are you a fan of Delicious in Dungeon? Probably, if you’re watching this! I haven’t seen that one myself, but I can definitely see the appeal of bringing a cooking lens to a fantasy world and thinking of all of the interesting ways that monsters and critters could be turned into tasty delicacies. And it seems the writer of this series had the same idea, but for some reason felt that the only things missing were aristocracy and romance! Hey, sometimes a dish just needs a couple more key ingredients to really accentuate the flavors, so it’s worth a try at least. But yeah, the main thrust of this story is that Melphiera and Aristide are basically the black sheep of their respective classes, but soon find one another and notice soon after that they match each others’ freak quite well, and thus begins their partnership in finding more monster meats to turn into succulent meals, as well as admit their feelings towards the other. Or at least that’s what I assume is what this will be about, since the main two focuses of this first episode were them meeting and talking about how monsters taste really good if prepared well enough. If it’s not, I am going to be quite surprised!

So, as a first episode, this is perfectly fine in setting everything up. Melphiera being so ostracized by her peers and forced to find a husband is…believable to an extent in this setting, though it still feels a little bit forced, especially since being able to turn wild animals, even monstrous fantasy creatures, into tasty food sounds like a pretty pragmatic skill, not something to be looked down upon. But maybe that’s where things are headed for this world, as Aristide and his compatriots help Melphy find more monsters, there will probably be more means of serving them to the public, which will then change their views on eating these things. And maybe that will impact the economy and they’ll start hunting more of these things, which will then change the vibe of the story and…well, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s just focus on the good looking food and good looking fantasy couple for the moment. Honestly, this has got me craving some dragon meat right about now. Unfortunately the only supplier I know got shut down because of the damn tariffs. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, good first episode, let’s keep em coming.