The first season (2 cours, 24 episodes) of the TV anime Delicious in Dungeon was broadcast in 2024. The highly anticipated second season is scheduled to begin broadcasting in October 2027! At "Anime Expo 2026" held in Los Angeles, USA, the latest ultra-teaser visual and other updates were announced at the TRIGGER panel on July 4th, the third day of the event.

This report covers another special event held in Los Angeles: the Ryoko Kui Exhibition & "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition, running from July 2 through July 26, 2026!

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The original Ryoko Kui Exhibition & "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition has toured across Japan—Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Osaka, Kumamoto, and Hokkaido—since the spring of 2024, when the first season of the anime aired. In addition to making a triumphant return to Ikebukuro, Tokyo in July 2025, this highly popular exhibition was also held at a New York venue (Chelsea Walls) in October of the same year.

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The Los Angeles venue is "Art Share L.A." in the Arts District, which is adjacent to the Japanese-American neighborhood of Little Tokyo. This expansive facility, normally used as a gallery, small theater, and dance studio, has been divided into two sections. It is an interactive exhibition where visitors can simultaneously enjoy the world of the anime Delicious in Dungeon and the manga world of its creator, Ryoko Kui. During Anime Expo, on July 5th, both venues were filled with visitors hopping between them, with lines for pre-purchased timed tickets stretching out onto the main street.

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The first area upon entering is the Ryoko Kui Exhibition. Centered around highly detailed replica original drawings from her early short story collections The Dragon's School Is on Top of the Mountain (2011), Seven Little Sons of the Dragon (2012), and Terrarium in Drawer (2013), it explores the creative origins of manga artist Ryoko Kui. With the exception of her very early works, Kui-sensei mostly draws digitally, so the feel differs slightly from an exhibition of hand-drawn manuscripts. However, the luxurious curation brilliantly makes up for it, offering a glimpse into the trial and error that takes place from the moment an idea comes to mind until it is printed as the actual completed manuscript.

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In particular, in the corner displaying countless rough sketches used to prepare color illustrations for the manga covers, every single quick, doodle-like piece was incredibly beautiful and exceptionally cute! Cries of "I want them to sell this as merch too!" arose over the image sketches. In front of a wall lined with over a dozen cover design drafts, impromptu popularity polls like "Which composition is your favorite?" began. Furthermore, a huge crowd consistently gathered in front of the screen playing a time-lapse video of the drawing process for the "Ryoko Kui Exhibition" key visual.

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Precious original copies of her print doujinshi from around 2009, prior to her commercial debut, were also on display. Just like at the venues in Japan, captions featuring comments from Kui-sensei herself and staff involved were carefully translated into English. For works that have published English comic editions, English translation panels were provided alongside the Japanese replica original drawings, showing meticulous attention to detail. Hearing sighs of admiration not only in English but also in Chinese, Spanish, German, and more, it truly felt like a sanctuary for fans from all over the world.

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Continuing on, in the hallway right before rushing into the "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition, there was a spectacular display of replica original drawings. These included special Delicious in Dungeon illustrations drawn exclusively for this exhibition, image boards drawn for the anime's ending sequence, and the production process of the cover illustration for the first volume of the Delicious in Dungeon manga.

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Following the route, the dungeon exploration finally begins. "Actual items" appearing in the story, such as the Giant Bat, Mandrake, Living Armor, and Kensuke, were on display. The flow of the exhibits—from the original manga to the anime, and from the anime to "reality"—had the visitors in high excitement. The food replicas are intricately reproduced "Monster Dishes" from the story, displayed alongside anime stills and cooking recipes. According to the organizer, the number of dishes has doubled since the previous venue's exhibition. Huge Scorpion and Walking Mushroom Hot Pot, Treasure Insect Snacks, Mandrake and Basilisk Omelette, Jack-o'-Lantern Potage, Dumplings... Just which meals have been added? Be sure to check it out for yourself at the venue!

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In the deepest part of the dungeon, where the atmosphere thickens as the lighting gets darker the further you go, there is a face-cutout panel where you can join Laios and his party in frog suits, a Giant Kraken photo spot, and surprisingly, even a life-size (?) Red Dragon! The area where you could take commemorative photos of being "eaten" in your own style was especially popular. Strangers enthusiastically handed their smartphones to each other, came up with photogenic poses, and happily took pictures of one another. The scene looked just like a moment from the story where different parties exploring the same dungeon separately temporarily join forces.

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The organizer mentioned that while the New York exhibition was somewhat compact due to venue space limitations, this Los Angeles venue is larger in size and offers plenty to see in terms of exhibit content.. To commemorate the broadcast of the anime's second season, they said the biggest highlight is the addition of exhibits that were rarely seen even in Japan.

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In the merchandise section, which was packed with both US-version official goods and exhibition-exclusive goods imported directly from Japan, many appetizing items featuring the monster meals from the story were also on sale. Unfortunately, there was no actual food or drink provided inside the venue this time, but adventurers who had finished exploring the dungeon let out joyful screams, saying, "Ah, looking at all this delicious-looking stuff made me hungry!"

The TV anime Delicious in Dungeon Season 2 is scheduled to broadcast from October 2027 and will also be sequentially distributed on Netflix and other streaming sites. Meanwhile, the Ryoko Kui Exhibition & "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition at the Los Angeles venue will run until the 26th of this month. Tickets with bonus plates are sold out, but it seems general admission tickets are easier to get after Anime Expo ends. For everyone living near the West Coast of the US, please don't miss this precious opportunity!

[Coverage & Text / Iku Okada]

Ryoko Kui Exhibition & "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition in LA
Ticket site
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ryoko-kui-exhibition-delicious-in-dungeon-exhibition-in-la-tickets-1989407775209