Caution: Spoilers for Delicious in Dungeon!
If there's one thing I'm annoyed about in fantasy, it's what I guess can be called the "flanderization" of fantasy elements. Things like the different races, the setting, or the story have been distilled down to pretty much an exact science. And let me be clear: I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping things relatively simple and in-line with everything else. It's nice to be able to have multiple entry points into a genre that can evoke many kinds of feelings. But that's the thing, the insistence of distilling this genre into its mere basic elements has gotten to the point where it's just doesn't really evoke the same kind of wonder that I really want in a genre where literally anything can happen.
Just take a look at orcs. Most orcs that I see tend to be characterized as just brutes with not much depth or any real story to tell. And that's not even considering how female orcs are usually depicted as either just GREEN WOMAN WITH BEWBS or...pretty much the most grotesque thing I've ever seen all for the sake of a joke. Like, that's not fantasy. That's like the AI generated version of what fantasy kinda resemble.
It makes me appreciate Dungeon Meshi's take on orcs so much more as they're not just mindless killing machines. They're refugees that are being displaced by the dragon that decided to make their home its new playground. They're literally just trying to survive like any other being in the world. Plus, the orc designs are actually fairly unique (at least imo) including a female design that actually fits within the confines of the world! It's probably a minor thing in the grand scheme of things given how much is going on. To me however, the little time we spent with these orcs does so much to characterize the world, its inhabitants, and how our main party fits into it all.
THAT is fantasy to me. The power to make us believe that a world that's entirely out of reality feel very much real and being able to see what these worlds show us and the stories that are capable of arising from them.
Goddamn, what an amazing series.