I originally planned to write this as soon as I finished, but I ended up putting it off for a while. I loved it—so much that it stirred up a lot of 思い出 (memories) for me. 私はずっと昔からヒンメル見たいなやつになりたかったなーっと思った。 I’ve always wanted to be like Himmel—kind, gentle, and full of the adventurous spirit of exploration. A party like that, one that embraces the joy of adventure and discovery, is just too captivating.
Yamada Kanato-sensei has such a creative way of storytelling. The way the story flashes back to past adventures with 仲間 (companions) after their death, while continuing the 旅の途中 (journey), is truly heartbreaking. There’s nothing more emotionally cutting than this—it completely got me. It took me weeks after finishing it to finally sit down and write my thoughts because the 即視感 (sense of déjà vu) was just too strong.
Early on, I caught hints that made me realize: I’ve played the exact same kind of game as the author. And as the story progressed, that feeling only deepened. Since 2015, I’ve been playing this game for almost a decade now – that’s a long time in human terms. It felt like I was seeing my own memories from 2017, raiding dungeons with my party, encountering treasure chest monsters, getting wiped in Zero and Ultimate fights, watching story cutscenes together.
There was once a party I shared an unspoken understanding with, and that was also the happiest time of my life—laughing and strategizing through every dungeon together. But now, somehow, I’m alone. Or maybe, they’re gone because I don’t play anymore. I often wonder—how much of the author’s inspiration came from their own party members? lol.
I hope that in life, I can become someone like ヒンメル—kind, brave, and always exploring the world, cherishing every happy moment.
「僕はね、終わった後にくだらなかったって笑い飛ばせるような楽しい旅がしたいんだ」
I feel the same way.
btw, I had a hunch the author was a girl—and turns out I was right. The reason I felt that way? Dungeon Meshi has such an overwhelmingly male perspective that, by comparison, this story doesn’t carry that same male-gaze energy.
