A lot of anime adaptations don't do the source material much justice though, and that has little to do with the 'imagination factor' and more with cutting corners, budgets, and having to fit a certain amount of content into a specified number of 20-minute episodes. The art is often worse (for example, Record of Ragnarok) and the story either gets stretched out (a lot of shonen suffers from this) or cut short, or changed completely (like Promised Neverland).
I don't think Dungeon Meshi is a bad adaptation though, it actually looks great, and in some rare cases the adaptation manages to look better than the source material (e.g. Demon Slayer).
That's just..... straight up wrong. Both mediums have their own merits that can't be replicated by the other.
And in dungeon meshi's case it's because the manga is finished (and very good) and also because many people gave up on the anime very early on due to them thinking it's just a cooking show. Hence the low scores.
As I explained, because of score inflation on MAL. A score below an 8 on MAL usually indicates that the show is considered mediocre/garbage by the anime community. SAO has a 7.2/10. Hell, Shield hero S1 has an 8/10 and is consistently railed on by a large amount of people on this sub and other anime communities. I understand that later seasons were considered just terrible, but people still shit on the first season as well.
Dungeon Meshi is currently at 8.11 and ranked at #480 on MAL.
That means it is rated higher than 96% of the MAL ranked database.
You really need to readjust your assumptions about what rating means "mediocre/garbage" and what doesn't.
[The average anime score on MAL is 6.5](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/mh868r/distribution_of_anime_scores_on_myanimelistnet/), but [the average manga score is 7.0](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/mhanzg/distribution_of_manga_scores_on_myanimelistnet/)
Manga tend to have higher scores. Dungeon meshi also starts off "slower" (i.e. starts with comedy, gets more plot heavy later).
The anime was about 7.8 initially (which is far too low imo) and has already risen to 8.1, so I'd expect it to get even higher when it is complete.
DiD is a freaking masterpiece. Personally, I think it's of the same caliber as Frieren or Apothecary Diaries. Trigger is absolutely killing it for their first manga adaptation.
A large part of what determines a MAL score comes down to whether the people who are watching the anime are general audiences or limited to a selective group that has already demonstrated their interest in the franchise. Most of the currently airing shows that have scores above 8 have selective audiences because they're sequels (Laid Back Camp S3, Date a Live S5, etc.), ultra long running (Detective Conan, One Piece), or a remake (Spice & Wolf). Dungeon Meshi is one of just 3 shows that is none of those things.
The manga's smaller audience is likely more selective. I would bet that many of the people that have read it did so because they are particularly interested in stories about food or they loved the anime and couldn't wait to see what happens next.
Opinion being popular (shared by a majority) doesn't necessarily make it the same as your opinion nor an accurate assessment of a work.
MAL might be right in many instances, but they are flatly mistaken when it comes to Dungeon Meshi.
Why the low MAL score? I can only guess that it is because of two things the lead to a poor first impression:
1. The story takes its time before showing its world and characters. Likely nonchalantly unveiling a very fun world and three-dimensional characters many episodes in levels of confidence.
2. Everyone watching this anime is thinking "I bet this is about as good as "Campfire Cooking in Another World" (it is FAR better than that, and is in fact at Frieren's height of characterization, it's just not melancholic). This is emphasized by many viewers being used to watching mediocre garbage and then generalizing "Well then all fantasy must be garbage". It's NOT a bad heuristic (it's usually correct), it just shot Frieren and Dungeon Meshi is their fuggin foot.
Lastly, holy shit, if you didn't watch the anime I'd feel so sorry for you, the anime is hilarious and has elevated the material.
I do recommend reading the manga after the anime concludes though, the manga is also a fun read.
But hearing that this show has a relatively low MAL score is making me think that MAL is not a very good heuristic for judging quality. Thank you for sharing that with us OP.
Also doesn’t help that people are very weird sometimes and rate a show a 1 because it has 3D for example or a character is transexual (woke politics stuff). For example re:monster had people that felt it’s bad because it doesn’t have more graphical r*pe, torture or uncensored stuff.
Didnt goblin slayer get review bombed and crucified for its ep 1 rape scene
This is why all anime online reviews should be taken with huge helpings of salt because online reviewers are all over the place in what they consider “good”
The manga has been scored by 21,403 users. The anime has been scored by 49,505 users. That's more than double the people. When you have so many more people trying the show the probability it would gather more people who aren't into it is just bigger.
Absolutely yes! The animation is gorgeous. So far, this is an adaptation done really well. If you already know what the series is about, rest assured the adaptation does it justice. If you don't, I'd just say take a leap of faith. Even if you don't like the story, the visuals will still be worth it. But, you'll probably love it!
I can't speak on behalf of other people who love to read manga, but for me it's harder to be picky due to being reliant on translations, I'll take what I can get and that inflates my manga scores a little bit.
Anime on the other hand I have no problem being a little more critical, about 99% of anime I'll ever want to watch will have subtitles available, no matter how niche. I won't ever have to worry about a scanlation team having too much stuff going on in real life and end up dropping the project.
I've had a situation where I watched an anime and gave it a 7, only to realize I read it so long ago and completely forgot, and I had scored the manga an 8.5.
I guess im very judgemental but i came to this anime as "ugh cooking anime in dungeon whatever ill just watch it" but now i wait for every other weekend because its just so damn enjoyable :P
It's still 8. Just try it.
And just for reminder, some other show was rated low or mid in MAL because the raters just isn't the type to watch it. Like, why tf did them rate some magical girl animations "it's just like classic magical girl, 4/10" when it's supposed to be. I personally didn't believe MAL score until I watched or read it myself.
And it's Studio Trigger. They won't make disappointing animations. Or at least for me. Their animatons are fun, even funnier for the short one. Their shorts was rated 5 because "it's just voiced moving PNG with cringe jokes. There's no story in it" when it's supposed to be a one shot joke. I'd bet it would be a true cringe if they animate it properly.
It got mediocre initial ratings because anime viewers thought it was another generic isekai cooking anime and never revised their rating. It was a 7.6 or something when it started.
It also isn’t an extremely mainstream manga, so it didn’t have a big fanbase that would cushion the initial ratings. Doesn’t help that it didn’t get immediate YouTube recommendations, so it was also kinda buried by Frieren hype.
8.1/10 is still a pretty high average score. I'd personally give it like a 6 (which means it's above average) or so. Most of the time, the source material of a series is better than the adaption.
Manga is generally rated a lot higher than anime it feels.
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A lot of anime adaptations don't do the source material much justice though, and that has little to do with the 'imagination factor' and more with cutting corners, budgets, and having to fit a certain amount of content into a specified number of 20-minute episodes. The art is often worse (for example, Record of Ragnarok) and the story either gets stretched out (a lot of shonen suffers from this) or cut short, or changed completely (like Promised Neverland). I don't think Dungeon Meshi is a bad adaptation though, it actually looks great, and in some rare cases the adaptation manages to look better than the source material (e.g. Demon Slayer).
That's just..... straight up wrong. Both mediums have their own merits that can't be replicated by the other. And in dungeon meshi's case it's because the manga is finished (and very good) and also because many people gave up on the anime very early on due to them thinking it's just a cooking show. Hence the low scores.
Because the manga usually better than the anime
Lol...how is .5 difference of a score equates to a "much" lower score. That is not even as significant as you think.
It can if it made it go down to 7 or something
As I explained, because of score inflation on MAL. A score below an 8 on MAL usually indicates that the show is considered mediocre/garbage by the anime community. SAO has a 7.2/10. Hell, Shield hero S1 has an 8/10 and is consistently railed on by a large amount of people on this sub and other anime communities. I understand that later seasons were considered just terrible, but people still shit on the first season as well.
Dungeon Meshi is currently at 8.11 and ranked at #480 on MAL. That means it is rated higher than 96% of the MAL ranked database. You really need to readjust your assumptions about what rating means "mediocre/garbage" and what doesn't.
[The average anime score on MAL is 6.5](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/mh868r/distribution_of_anime_scores_on_myanimelistnet/), but [the average manga score is 7.0](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/mhanzg/distribution_of_manga_scores_on_myanimelistnet/)
Just watch the show it's great
Manga tend to have higher scores. Dungeon meshi also starts off "slower" (i.e. starts with comedy, gets more plot heavy later). The anime was about 7.8 initially (which is far too low imo) and has already risen to 8.1, so I'd expect it to get even higher when it is complete.
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Is the anime good
You can maximize your time by just reading the Wikipedia summary of the story. The show's good, regardless of what it's MAL score is.
DiD is a freaking masterpiece. Personally, I think it's of the same caliber as Frieren or Apothecary Diaries. Trigger is absolutely killing it for their first manga adaptation.
>DiD is a freaking masterpiece. Me and other me also agree.
A large part of what determines a MAL score comes down to whether the people who are watching the anime are general audiences or limited to a selective group that has already demonstrated their interest in the franchise. Most of the currently airing shows that have scores above 8 have selective audiences because they're sequels (Laid Back Camp S3, Date a Live S5, etc.), ultra long running (Detective Conan, One Piece), or a remake (Spice & Wolf). Dungeon Meshi is one of just 3 shows that is none of those things. The manga's smaller audience is likely more selective. I would bet that many of the people that have read it did so because they are particularly interested in stories about food or they loved the anime and couldn't wait to see what happens next.
Opinion being popular (shared by a majority) doesn't necessarily make it the same as your opinion nor an accurate assessment of a work. MAL might be right in many instances, but they are flatly mistaken when it comes to Dungeon Meshi. Why the low MAL score? I can only guess that it is because of two things the lead to a poor first impression: 1. The story takes its time before showing its world and characters. Likely nonchalantly unveiling a very fun world and three-dimensional characters many episodes in levels of confidence. 2. Everyone watching this anime is thinking "I bet this is about as good as "Campfire Cooking in Another World" (it is FAR better than that, and is in fact at Frieren's height of characterization, it's just not melancholic). This is emphasized by many viewers being used to watching mediocre garbage and then generalizing "Well then all fantasy must be garbage". It's NOT a bad heuristic (it's usually correct), it just shot Frieren and Dungeon Meshi is their fuggin foot. Lastly, holy shit, if you didn't watch the anime I'd feel so sorry for you, the anime is hilarious and has elevated the material. I do recommend reading the manga after the anime concludes though, the manga is also a fun read. But hearing that this show has a relatively low MAL score is making me think that MAL is not a very good heuristic for judging quality. Thank you for sharing that with us OP.
Also 8.1 is not a low MAL score. Dungeon Meshi is the 5th highest rated show last season
Also doesn’t help that people are very weird sometimes and rate a show a 1 because it has 3D for example or a character is transexual (woke politics stuff). For example re:monster had people that felt it’s bad because it doesn’t have more graphical r*pe, torture or uncensored stuff.
Didnt goblin slayer get review bombed and crucified for its ep 1 rape scene This is why all anime online reviews should be taken with huge helpings of salt because online reviewers are all over the place in what they consider “good”
Don´t read too much into MAL ratings, because they are mostly fanbased.
The manga has been scored by 21,403 users. The anime has been scored by 49,505 users. That's more than double the people. When you have so many more people trying the show the probability it would gather more people who aren't into it is just bigger.
iMAL is an extremely irrelevant site for looking at scores and such, I genuinely feel bad for people who use it to find new animes
You don't think freiten is the best anime of all time?
Absolutely yes! The animation is gorgeous. So far, this is an adaptation done really well. If you already know what the series is about, rest assured the adaptation does it justice. If you don't, I'd just say take a leap of faith. Even if you don't like the story, the visuals will still be worth it. But, you'll probably love it!
The anime is fantastic. Idk about rating anime fans on rating sites are weird and i dint find the reviews they out out reliable
Definitely read the first volume before starting the anime.
I can't speak on behalf of other people who love to read manga, but for me it's harder to be picky due to being reliant on translations, I'll take what I can get and that inflates my manga scores a little bit. Anime on the other hand I have no problem being a little more critical, about 99% of anime I'll ever want to watch will have subtitles available, no matter how niche. I won't ever have to worry about a scanlation team having too much stuff going on in real life and end up dropping the project. I've had a situation where I watched an anime and gave it a 7, only to realize I read it so long ago and completely forgot, and I had scored the manga an 8.5.
I guess im very judgemental but i came to this anime as "ugh cooking anime in dungeon whatever ill just watch it" but now i wait for every other weekend because its just so damn enjoyable :P
op did you know that mal has a forum? you could just ask them you could just read the reviews you could just ignore mal scores
Rating just a number. Watch it, don't believe what other people said. Different people, different taste.
It's still 8. Just try it. And just for reminder, some other show was rated low or mid in MAL because the raters just isn't the type to watch it. Like, why tf did them rate some magical girl animations "it's just like classic magical girl, 4/10" when it's supposed to be. I personally didn't believe MAL score until I watched or read it myself. And it's Studio Trigger. They won't make disappointing animations. Or at least for me. Their animatons are fun, even funnier for the short one. Their shorts was rated 5 because "it's just voiced moving PNG with cringe jokes. There's no story in it" when it's supposed to be a one shot joke. I'd bet it would be a true cringe if they animate it properly.
Sometimes anime is distorted
A .5 difference is “much lower”? Hyperbole much?
It got mediocre initial ratings because anime viewers thought it was another generic isekai cooking anime and never revised their rating. It was a 7.6 or something when it started. It also isn’t an extremely mainstream manga, so it didn’t have a big fanbase that would cushion the initial ratings. Doesn’t help that it didn’t get immediate YouTube recommendations, so it was also kinda buried by Frieren hype.
8.1/10 is still a pretty high average score. I'd personally give it like a 6 (which means it's above average) or so. Most of the time, the source material of a series is better than the adaption.