#feel so much for marcille for all her suffering

[alphaketoglutaricacid]

As much as i think toshiros complicity is based in his cowardice I do kinda get why he didnt talk to tade about what he thought abt how she views her retainership. Like even if he had that conversation like what could she do other than nod and smile—the power differential between them is huge. I feel something that plays into his conflict aversion is that if he did get upset or hit someone its not like they could hit back without serious consequences. But also he’s been raised in an environment where his comfort has always been prioritized above other ppls wellbeing and he def chooses the easier route A Lot. Like the fact that instead of genuinely engaging w whats going on w izutsumi and tade he ignored all his retainers, let maizuru handle it, and went on some two year spring break dungeon crawling whatever like words cannot describe what an abdication of responsibility this was. That instead of working w his party he went off on his own w his retainers bc he just didnt want them to know he was a noble that much (granted he also didnt think laios was cut out to lead which tough but fair) like cmon man…. But i do think his fight w laios was good for him even tho it was a shitty bitch fight when they rlly shouldve been helping their party revive ppl bc he could have a conflict on equal footing w someone. His whole life hes viewed himself as someone w no power (and the ways this is false esp on the island) but i think in the dungeon he realized he genuinely has a responsibility to his retainers n his actions led to them following him into something really dangerous when they had no dog in this. But also it seems as an attempt to reciprocate, he does seem to have become very observant of other people beyond what is normal bc he doesnt speak much. Culture plays into his clash w laios but i think the fact he’s grown up being so closely observed and in turn closely observes others plays into it too. But its fun how hes always toeing the line between being a spoiled brat, being too passive bc of his own lack of agency, n also that hes genuinely intelligent and has thought a really long time about power.

I think it also gets at why marcilles plan to equalize the races by making their lifespans the same was doomed to fail and also highlights how she can only view other ppls oppression thru her own suffering—that theres always going to be differentials in power that are difficult, but you have to interact meaningfully w them rather than running from them. A simple world w easy solutions like that would be bloodless and false, no?

#dungeon meshi spoilers #Toshiro nakamoto man that you are… #fascinating fascinating character in such an interesting social position where there is no easy answer out #Unenviable situation tbh i would probs run away from it too that shits horrifying and thorny #Dungeon meshi really good at portraying situations that are coercive and take away ppls choices #like sure as a retainer u get food safety get paid and u have some freedoms but it doesnt make tade or izutsumis situations not coercive #Like the fact they wouldve been treated worse makes it worse the fact other ppl think they should be grateful instead of engaging #in the reality of their situation means makes it worse #there seems to be some kind of mutual agreement in benichis situations bc human servants dont seem to be able to have their service be #purchased without their consent in feudal japan but i doubt tade had a say in this and izutsumi def did not and was bought on a lark #but at some point its like well… whatever social construct their reffing is clearly outside my frame of reference #But well known culturally in japan so throws up hands…. some things i just wont understand

[nickytess]

happy lesbian visibility week yaay (i love them so much)

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi fanart #dungeon meshi falin #dungeon meshi marcille #farcille #marcille dungeon meshi #marcille dunmeshi #dunmeshi #falin x marcille #marcille fanart #marcille #marcille donato #delicious in dungeon marcille #marcille my beloved #falin touden #falin dungeon meshi #dunmeshi falin #delicious in dungeon falin #falin fanart #feel so much for marcille for all her suffering #wlw love

[tagasaing]

i have to get this out of the way, re: dungeon meshi discussions

major spoilers ahead, obviously.

you know for a series that focuses so much on platonic and familial relationships it’s weird that dungeon meshi has attracted so much useless ship wars though. the most important driving force in the story is two sibling relationships (laios’s search for falin, thistle’s search for delgal) and one of the central themes is how loving others way too much can lead to your downfall (thistle’s desperate attempt to keep his loved ones leads to his mental state deteriorating so much he starts torturing people he claims to protect, marcille’s fear of losing her friends leads to her being easily manipulated by the main antagonist)

even with regards to falin. thistle wants to bring the ‘brother’ he raised back at all costs, he saw a young human woman as nothing more than a dragon, his tool. marcille wants to bring falin back at all costs, she didn’t care about the repercussions of using monster meat instead of animal meat even though she was an expert at ancient magic and should know why it’s such a dangerous practice.

each and every single one of the major characters has some form of tragedy with their family one way or another: the toudens, marcille and her dad. chilchuck and his wife. senshi’s entire backstory. izutsumi’s hidden desire for a mother. namari’s father. shuro and his family. kabru and his mother(both tallman and elf). mithrun and his brother. thistle and the melinis.

even some of the minor characters: flamela and her dead twin sister. the twins and the floke couple. kuro being the closest mickbell has to a family. etc etc

as someone who has reread this manga several times by now, i wonder if people just… read it once as fast as they could and act like they’re some sort of authority on fan discussion. i’ve seen people brag about reading the entire thing in one sitting as if it’s something to be proud of. this manga isn’t meant to be read that fast, that’s how you get people claiming that laios doesn’t reaaally love falin as much as marcille does.

to these people, laios just gets in the way, as if it wasn’t his idea to go down the dungeon in the first place, it wasn’t him who said his pain doesn’t matter because falin suffered more than him, it wasn’t him who felt immense guilt for leaving falin behind, it wasn’t him who found her skull, it wasn’t him who killed her to save her from her chimera form. i feel like people forget about the ‘too’ part when marcille said “i miss falin too”

marcille knows how much falin and laios love each other. that’s why she asked him if she’s allowed to resurrect her and didn’t act on her own. that’s why when both times a shapeshifting monster copied marcille to trick laios, it was what she looked like at the time she was reviving falin.

as someone who DOES ship farcille, none of the romance is canon. this isn’t meant to be anti-farcille. one of the post-canon comics is about falin gently turning down shuro because she wants to travel the world, “you can’t tie a dragon down” after all. she wants to travel the world and find herself because she doesn’t know who she is outside of marcille and laios. even marcille, who was hoping she’d reject him, tears up because of how beautiful and tragic it was.

there are a lot of ship teases because what author doesn’t like a good ship tease. but to say that dungeon meshi is a romantic love more than it is a story about family(both real and found) is a great misinterpretation of the text.

#delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi spoilers #delicious in dungeon spoilers #dungeon meshi meta

[michinekot]

What do u like about thistle?

I'll start off with his design because it's not so spoiler-heavy.

He's short, cute, a total menace and has the cutest evil grin ever. I certainly have a thing for villains... But also generally, jesters are fun and I usually love their outfits. Thistle is no exception, I love all of his looks (but I'm not gonna look for them all through the manga...) and how different he is after becoming the Dungeon Master. Also, white hair, purple eyes & outfit... (´,,•ω•,,)♡

I must also add, I adore how the author draws elf ears pointed upwards and how expressive her art is. Absolutely amazing, all the angry Thistles are great.

Now I'll get into heavy spoiler territory, I'll go over the ending too:

First off, I really like how he shows his love through "eternity", much like Marcille. Elves who love people of other races suffer because they will undoubtedly outlive everyone else. The way Thistle and Marcille are similar is so great to see... and I think it's great that Marcille wasn't made out to be a terrible, selfish villain and neither was Thistle. Through her becoming the Dungeon Master, we see how much this power changes them.

He meant well and his wish wasn't initially selfish. He didn't even wish for eternal live, just a peaceful one. Of course, the Winged Lion dug deeper into it and the selfish part came to light.

And because no one was aware of the danger, it became absolute truth to Thistle that he's doing the right thing and making everyone happy. His dream was everybody else's dream in his mind. And I think it's nice how much he must've paid attention to the townsfolk needs, because...

He must've done so much to make the Dungeon liveable and safe for the people he cares about. All those traps were to ward off people who (he assumed) must've been just like the ones who came to destroy the kingdom. On the other hand, he saw opportunity in the monsters and had people take care of them like they did with their farm animals. It was unnecessary, he didn't have to do that since they don't need to sleep, eat or drink. But he knew that they weren't happy doing nothing at all and put a lot of thought into the ecosystem (compared to Marcille, which is understandable, but y'know. I think it's great to see the difference since her monsters werent very, uh... thought out?)

It's been SO many years of stagnation, they can't even taste the food or enjoy anything.

He's aware, he'd enjoy a little change of pace too, he's open to it! but the desire to protect everyone wins.

He just... loves everyone so much. His platonic love isn't simple at all. He did so much for everyone. And after losing his desires... I feel like he hasn't lost his love for everyone.

I think that, maybe... he feels like everything was fullfilled? He's been angry and anxious for so long and now there's nothing to worry about anymore. I'm really sad for him, but there's no going back to "normal" after everything. But I'm glad Yaad doesn't hate him. I don't think anyone from the kingdom truly hates him.

Also this page makes me want to cry...... he's holding him so gently and Thistle only looks tired and like he wants to sleep. I hope he finds his place in the new world and lives out the rest of his life peacefully.

I haven't read much of the additional stuff yet, but I also think about Mithrun a lot.

I think Mithrun was extremely selfish in his desires and that's why, aside from them, his eye and ears were taken away. It might be just the demon's will because it wasn't exactly the Winged Lion, but all demons are technically the same one(? from what I understood...). The only desire left within Mithrun was about the demon, but in the end, it still seemed selfish.

But neither Marcille or Thistle were physically hurt after having desires taken from them. The Winged Lion also said something along the lines of "this is for everyone, I want everyone's desires to be fullfilled for all eternity". It didn't like Thistle because he stagnated, but it probably understood him a little bit, since he mostly thought of others. But there was no way to manipulate him into thinking about Anyone outside of the kingdom. Only Laios managed to talk a tiny bit of sense into him... but it still didn't work out.

So yeah, Dungeon Meshi is amazing and I generally love everyone, but Thistle speaks to me the most because... his top priority was protecting those he loves, freeing them from death and pain, living out the life they had on the surface forever. And this feels personal to me- I lost both of my parents and the friends I cared about the most left me. So like, if we ditch all the (totally right) talk about how there's no happiness without pain and such, I get Thistle. He meant well. He's a very well done character. :)

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi #dungeon meshi spoilers #thistle #marcille #mithrun #sorry about the essay lol but whatever. i wanted to ramble.

[ambrosiagourmet]

falin for the ask meme? :3c

Falin!

First impression

oh. OH. So this is what people mean when they say a character is "haunting the narrative".

Impression now

Hello, character I relate to a little too much!!

I really, really love Falin. To be honest, there was a point in the story where I got kind of frustrated with how she was portrayed - it got a little TOO 'haunting the narrative' for my taste, if that makes any sense. She was a little too much of an idea instead of like, a Whole Actual Person.

But I came around by the end! I think the finale does really really well by her.

I honestly sometimes am not sure how much of My Take on Falin is actually intended, but I LOVE the idea of her as a person who doesn't know how to take up space of her own. I have to carefully balance my read on her kindness because I don't want to treat it as ALL motivated by like trauma & repression, but I do think that a lot of her character is informed by that. I don't think she's very good at being selfish, or tolerating other people's pain.

That balance of 'very kind, but not always for the right reasons' is a quiet tragedy that is very relatable. I really like to think she can start to heal and move on from some of that in post-canon.

Favorite moment

Teef smile Falin is so so dear to me. Most authentic Falin smile of the whole manga I knew in my heart that she was going to have room to grow and find herself and love herself as soon as I saw this panel v

Idea for a story

I have been noodling on Falin/Rin and I think it could be a REALLY fun dynamic. Both have suffered from similar 'rejected because of magic stigma' traumas. Both repress their feelings, but Falin becomes exceedingly soft and Rin becomes exceedingly hard. Rin doesn't like magic schools and Falin studied at one but also did so in a really unconventional way. There's a lot of fun contrasts to mine here!!

So I'd love some kind of AU that ends up with them stuck together deep in the dungeon having to work together would be very good!! Force them to adventure together and see what happens!!!!

Unpopular opinion

She's not perfect, and not all of the traits people admire in Falin are entirely healthy for her.

(idk how unpopular this really is, but I don't feel like I've seen it talked about much?)

Favorite relationship

Definitely her and Laios. God. The siblings of all time. The way they have supported each other through so much trauma and heartache, but also have been sources of pain for each other. The way they are constantly working to repair the things that have been broken for and between them. Ough.

Favorite headcanon

Not so much headcanon as "extended material canon" but I love that she squints so much because she's nearsighted. Get that girl some glasses T.T

Oh also I'm a soft butch Falin truther. Marcille can't keep us silent forever. We know the truth!!! She is meant to have short fluffy hair and wear big soft cable knit sweaters and embrace women in her big warm arms. #justiceforbutchfalinlooks

#ask #ask meme

[bichilchuck]

dungeon meshi is about food but it is also about connection, and grief, and the bonds we form because of it. food has always been used to connect people across all times and cultures, a true universal language.

laios is very cerebrally intelligent and has a high capability for memorizing and analyzing things relating to his fields of interests, but lacks emotional intelligence and for this people regard him as lacking in intelligence overall. laios is also the most eager to eat monsters and, similarly, the most yearning for connection. the entire reason he went back into the dungeon was to find his sister, his only remaining blood family (or at least the only blood family he still keeps in contact with by choice, going by his opinion of his father.) he had his connection severed from him without his consent, because falin had chosen to sacrifice herself because of the connection she shared with the others. laios is also only ever lacking in connection with others because his attempts to reach out to them are rebuffed, not for his own lack of trying to forge connections in the first place.

senshi is both the most connected to food and the most emotionally intelligent, if a little out of practice from his years of semi-isolation living in the dungeon. senshi forges bonds with others through and because of food, and he rescued the touden party from assured starvation through both food and the connection he forged with them. the only time senshi rebuked food was when it related directly to his previous party and thus the trauma he has around losing them. it was when senshi was able to taste the food relating to his trauma that he was able to resolve it, and find the connection to his previous party again despite all of them being gone.

chilchuck and izutsumi are similar cases to one another. they both had bonds severed from them not because of their own choice and suffered isolation because of it, whether while surrounded by other people or not. izutsumi was forcefully isolated within a group. she has terrible table manners and, similarly, no respect for those who wronged her in the past, showing both a lack of respect for food and for people she resents connection with. chilchuck was left by his wife and children for reasons he still doesn’t understand, and had a reluctance to eat monsters initially but slowly got over it. he showed his loyalty in times of duress such as during the fight with the red dragon, loyalty because of a connection forged between himself and others and a respect for laios as a leader despite being outwardly very prickly at all other times. chilchuck and izutsumi are both hungry but bite the hand that feeds them because they were burnt before.

mithrun has no desire, cannot feel hunger, but is still taken care of by his peers and subordinates because they desire connection with him even if he can’t feel a desire for it himself. kabru and mithrun are forced to bond and connect when they’re trapped in the dungeon together, the same way kabru is forced to attend to mithrun’s every need he can’t attend to himself.

marcille was the most opposed to eating monsters and the most lacking in connection, from losing falin to missing her late father. she refuses to lose these connections, going so far as to resurrect falin and to miss her father so much the dungeon created a facsimile of him when she became dungeon lord. marcille wants to put the life of her loved ones in stasis and extend their lifespans. the people in the golden kingdom don’t need to eat anymore. they’ve also been suspended in time because of thistle’s desire for connection, both to the people and to the past, after losing the most important person in their life. thistle is denying their own grief the same way they’ve denied their own hunger and marcille is rapidly heading down the same path.

a dungeon is an ecosystem. in ecosystems, things eat and are eaten by, and live and die in the same turn. thistle has effectively paused time and marcille is doing her best to wind it back, disrupting the ecosystem of the dungeon via the invasive species of the winged lion. the winged lion hungers for desires, for hunger itself, and is single minded in its pursuit of satiation. it’s obstructing the ecosystem, the cycle of life and death, the cycle of eat and be eaten. the winged lion seeks to make genuine connection obsolete, from forging connections via lies and trickery to encouraging destruction of the ecosystem. when food no longer exists what do you hunger for? when there is no one left, who do you connect with?

#ok to rb! #dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi spoilers #dunmeshi #aj.txt #ah jeez this got out of hand #dungeon meshi tag

[yurisorcerer]

That was really good!

Gosh, I have many thoughts, but I'm not sure how well I'll be able to articulate them given that I'm kind of tired at the moment.

So, my main love here is for the characters. I think people tend to sell Dungeon Meshi on its worldbuilding and I do get that (it's very complex and is quite well thought-out), but the characters are what really grabbed me. I don't think there was a single member of the main cast I didn't love. Laios is such a delightfully weird monster manual fanboy and I 100% agree with the people who say he feels neurodivergent and that this feels intentional. Senshi is awesome and it's very funny how the manga is extremely horny for him. Chilchuk brings a profound Divorced Dad energy to the cast that I think is great for bouncing off of the other characters. Izutsumi is interesting by how she contrasts with the earlier party members, I want to think about her role in the story more. I think she was kind of meant to give us an "outcast's perspective" of sorts? I think she's good at being that, but I feel like having blown through most of the manga in a few days may have hampered my appreciation of some of the more subtle aspects of her character.

Marcille, though, is my favorite; as someone who is also a really fussy eater and just kind of tightly-wound in general I found her really relatable. She's also super, super, super pretty and cute but we don't need to get into that right now. I cannot be the first person to point out how, when she becomes the dungeon lord, her behavior starts feeling extremely manic, right? I suffer from delusional episodes that include very difficult to ignore intrusive thoughts, and I thought the whole bit she went into about how being the dungeon lord feels felt very familiar in that respect, and it really hit home for me.

(On the flip side, having your desires eaten by the demon seems similar to depression. I've been there, too.)

Other stuff! I like the whole overarching theme of eating both in the literal sense and as a general metaphor for going through one's life. In the very last chapter Marcille says something to the effect of, perhaps this journey was to teach us to accept death, and I don't think that's necessarily the entirety of what the series is going for, but that's part of it definitely. There's a whole circle of life thing going on here. The manga is very....sensory? Lots of focus on taste of course but also scent and feeling. Lots of really strong imagery along those lines throughout the entirety of it.

I set the worldbuilding aside earlier but it is super neat actually, also. I still don't love the general conceits of a western-style fantasy setup, but I think this is honestly about as well as it's possible to do this material. Everyone has a motivation for their actions that feels inspired by experience and history rather than just Dwarves Do X and Elves Do Y and so on. There's a LITTLE of that, but not nearly as much as is typical for this kind of thing. In particular, I liked the orcs. Their usage as a symbol is perhaps somewhat fraught (I'm not the person to make that call either way), but it felt like it was coming from a good place and they're just treated so much better here than comparable people in other media, idk. It felt nice to me.

The art! The art is fucking gorgeous, like, if I wanted to get someone to read this manga this is one of the things I'd mention. The entire dungeon feels so wonderfully lived-in and ancient. You can practically feel the stonework in some panels. (Sidebar here! The anime is really good at capturing this, do watch the anime it's fantastic.)

Some other random stray thoughts:

-The circumstances she gets it in obviously suck, but Marcille's dungeon lord outfit honestly serves hard and everyone should get off her case about it.

-I ended up liking the captain of the Canaries a lot more than I thought I would. He's just an interesting character all around.

-I also really love Sissel / Thistle / apparently how you romanize this is a source of some contention. I feel sooooo bad for the guy. He just wanted to keep everyone safe! It's not his fault that his idea of keeping everyone safe ended up being influenced by a lion-headed demon from outside of reality and corrupted into a suffocating hellscape for those same people! OK maybe it's a little his fault

-I like the diversity in appearances across the characters. This is a thing I wish more manga did this well.

-Laios' kingly titles in the final chapter, RANKED from MOST to LEAST badass: 1. Laios of the Three Heads (based as fuck, makes people ask questions when they hear about you in a history book several centuries down the line), 2. The Demon-Eater (badass and very specific) 3. The Vegetable-Armored (basically gets the same reaction as #1, but with a more comedic lean) 4. Demon King Laios (this honestly seems pretty disingenuous but it is dope) 5. The Dragon-Slayer (very generic, also not even the most impressive part of what he did) 6. The Lord of the Dungeon (Crusader Kings 2 auto-generated-ass name) 7. Pervy Tallman (this sounds like a bad comedian)

-I want to kiss Marcille on the lips

-who said that

-haha I wouldn't mind the Canaries coming to arrest me am I right fellow lesbians

-who said that (part 2)

anyway yeah really good manga highly recommended. I'm not sure if it's a (get out the scare quotes folks) "Personal Favorite" per se, but it might become one over time. Usually such things take a bit to settle with me. The fact that I have any interest in reading it again is a good sign, though. 90% of the time when I'm done with media I'm fine with never revisiting it again. Dungeon Meshi I would very much like to revisit, both in the form of the anime that's airing right now and also I think I'd like to re-read the manga in a few years when I'm at a different place in my life to see what I think of it a little farther down the line. I liked it a lot, and I think it will stick with me.

#Dungeon Meshi #Delicious in Dungeon #yurisorcerer talks about media #spoilers

[vaingloury]

Disparate Thoughts on Dungeon Meshi

I'm an anime-only watcher, so no spoilers beyond what's currently aired (eps 1-3) + mild map spoilers for a random 3.5e D&D module (Sunless Citadel).

- I'm not the first nor will I be the last to harp on the English localised title but Delicious in Dungeon sucks. I do, however, think going with the "DnD" naming scheme was a nugget of a good idea (let's face it, "Dungeon Food" sucks too). Maybe "Diners in Dungeon"/"Dungeons & Diners" instead (as in those who dine, not a place where one dines). Or "Dungeon Dine" (like "dungeon dive"). Regardless, I'll just be calling it Dungeon Meshi going forward.

- I don't know if this is coloured by me going into this series with the knowledge that Ryoko Kui loves Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 or a wider ripple effect of eastern dungeon-fantasy conventions being shaped by there not being an official Japanese translation of D&D between Basic and 5e, but the world-building's vibe is old-school D&D as hell. It feels like it was written by someone who maybe never got the chance to play the tabletop game much but spent hours poring over the 1e Monster Manual in hopes of getting a campaign off the ground (and ended up penning a manga instead, game scheduling be damned). There's the disarming of traps, feeling for secret doors, and even the iconic red dragon as seen on the covers of the Basic Dungeon Master's Handbook and 1e Monster Manual being the dungeon boss. Design-wise, the dungeon's layout it reminds me a bit of the map from Ruins of Castle Greyhawk or The Sunless Citadel (pictured below, right).

- The main cast is very tropey at the moment. Quite literally all the Basic classes are covered; the generic white man Fighter (Lv 1, no multi-attack yet :P) as the party face, the halfling/thief, the elf/wizard, the missing cleric, the dwarf... This works for this point in the narrative but doesn't make me particularly attached to any of them. They need another overarching obstacle.

- I generally don't like Studio Trigger's output (not the Imaishi-involved stuff anyway; Gridman fucks) but I respect how bouncy their animation usually is. So, I was excited to watch something animated by Trigger but not (originally) written by them. Dungeon Meshi, however, looks static and resorts too often to Dutch angles to maintain visual interest. There's a bit of an art shift in episode 3 where this improves; more fun "off-model" moments, the movements get a little bouncier, more color harmony. Hopefully, this stays and isn't just a guest director fluke. Form the snippets I've seen on the manga, Kui suffers a bit from "draw background killed my grandma", thus her ability to make her simple character designs emote well has to carry the page. The anime does the opposite; super detailed backgrounds but flat shading/lack of texture on the characters creates a need for them to over-emote with a "screen-shake" effect in order to stand out from their surroundings, which I could see getting old fast. The main event, the food, looks better in the anime than in the manga due to colour and animation bringing it to life.

- I don't usually laugh at Japanese comedies because they're either too slapstick for my tastes or too pun heavy for my JP comprehension level. Dungeon Meshi gets a point for making me "lol" more than once.

- Finally, a good panty shot:

- I watched episode 3 dubbed. EN Marcille > JP Marcille (I say this as a stickler for subs). The rest of the dub cast is fine but I'm probably sticking with JP because JP Laios' ability to scream > EN Laios (EN is a great generic white man, though). I'm not familiar with most of the JP voice cast. I think Chilchuck is my fave in JP.

Both languages have little breathing room between lines of dialog and I was hoping the EN dub would play around with the fact that the character speaking isn't necessarily the one on screen (thus less lip-flap matching, especially for Senshi, who has few indicators that he's actually speaking even when he's onscreen) but alas. I'll do another one of these if I have more to say later in the season 🥂

#dungeon meshi #anime blogging #b

[sonoda-oomers]

big fat spoiler warning for chapter 74 onward and just the manga in general but i wanna talk about dungeon meshi and the dynamics between authority and deviance

i would say this is the main theme dungeon meshi depicts but it’s been unfolding slowly. particularly themes of deviance have always been there, through the absurdity of eating dungeon monsters and senshi’s lifestyle, but to the audience at first the absurdity served to contribute to the manga’s humor. as the story progressed, the authority aspect slowly revealed itself, starting with the party’s fear of being persecuted for using ancient magic... and the tone became darker and darker until you ended up watching marcille be humiliated and insulted for her mixed race and you realize oh wow things are fucked up fucked up

after reading the clusterfuck that is ch74 the first thing that came to my mind was irony. the canaries insult marcille for things out of her control, for information that she had no agency in revealing let alone deceive anyone with (it was chil who gave it out, and without his agency too), and it felt like they were making a horrific show out of toying with her for no reason. thing is, while they mock marcille for her deviance, we already know the canaries is a party made out of deviants: most of them are considered dangerous individuals valued by the elven court for their abilities. to somewhat escape the label of deviant they were re-employed by authority and became an agent of it, and so they felt justified belittling marcille even though the only thing that separates her from them is she’s only half elf. the whole ordeal is horrific and tragic.

even before the events of ch74, the main cast of dungeon meshi has always also been a party of deviants. senshi’s lifestyle marks him out the most, but personally what i’ve always focused on is how laios and falin are clearly neurodivergent and their neurodivergence plays a huge part in not only their personal character arcs but also the story at large. needless to say, they have always had difficulty getting along with their peers, due to the different ways they perceive and interact with the world and the people in it. during the events of dungeon meshi, falin suffers a bit from damsel disease so her influence is mostly motivating other characters (but one of them is marcille so ig that cancels out????), while laios’ fixation on monster knowledge goes mostly unacknowledged and even belittled by the same people whose lives were saved by said knowledge. the way people in the world of dungeon meshi treat laios and falin plays very well into the themes, depicting “authority” as a social concept instead of one visible villain.

as the plot progressed to introduce the canaries the power struggle was made clearer: long-lived races have a sense of superiority over those who don’t live as long. but this power dynamic is not simple and even: the elven court in particular has become a very visible and aggressive oppressor, staking their claims over land and even magic practices. it’s very interesting, however, that the story of dungeon meshi explores these power struggles only in the confines of “the island”: the one group representing the elven court on the island is also very much surveilled and persecuted by the authority they represent. as a result, these political topics are brought down to a very personal level: the prejudices of the elven world are reflected in how the canaries treat marcille’s origins and agency. all these prejudices exist in every regular person, willingly or not they’re all part of the cycle of abuse, and they’re all subsceptible to the thirst for authority.

marcille’s wish to even the lifespan of all races is something that can affect the whole world as it is, but at the same time it was made up only from her perception of the world and how she feels for the people closest to her. this is also reflected in the act of becoming dungeon master itself: while the wish can affect anything, the actual position gives one power over a world that, while insanely manipulable, is completely closed off and stunted as it denies outside feedback that would cause it to change and grow. this image can be applied to all sorts of conflicts in the dungeon meshi world: how people treat laois and falin, the governor’s greed, how the canaries treat marcille, etc.

people are engaged in this constant battle for the seat of authority, for the ability to cast aside the feelings and needs of others and exile deviants who don’t fit into their ideal, to make up for what they’d gone through themselves as deviants, to be allowed to remain as stunted and unchanging as the authority who oppressed them. but very few people actually recognize the terrifying void in the closed off world offered up by the illusion of authority, even people like mithrun who supposedly know better: in perceiving marcille as a deviant, dismissing her as a person with agency and reasoning and motivations independent of authority figures, and arrogantly assuming what she wants, he only managed to piss her off and set off what he wanted to stop.

only by forcing a path out of the dungeon’s closed off world, only by valuing and seeking help from other people, only then was change able to go forward. rip delgal he was a real one

#spud.txt #kas overthinks media #dungeon meshi #at some point i thought dm was like an absurd gag manga that became more serious as time went on but now i'm like... Dang #the signs have always been there scoob...

[monstertidbits]

001 dungeon mesh

Favorite character: its hard to choose but laius and kabru

Least Favorite character: dont really have a character i dislike besides laius' parents and the villagers he grew up with and the boys who bullied him in school and although i understand shuro or sureau or toshiro or whatever to some extent i still dont like him very much. Yes i just listed everyone who hurt laius

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): farlyn/marcille and misurn/kabru+i wish chilchack happiness w his family i love him

Character I find most attractive: kabru!!!! and marcille and laius

Character I would marry: maybe...laius..😳🥺

Character I would be best friends with: marcille i think we have a bit in common and i love her, maybe inutade too she seems super sweet and fun, and farlyn shes great !

a random thought: remember that time chilchack cussed laius out in another language? that was too funny i love chil sm

An unpopular opinion: what unpopular opinion this manga isnt even popular enough for that

My Canon OTP: farlyn and marcille 😌

My Non-canon OTP: misurn and kabru 🤭

Most Badass Character: misurn and marcille!!!!!

Most Epic Villain: thistle? lol but if the winged lion is the true villain here then this guy

Pairing I am not a fan of: laius/marcille and lynn/kabru.......... im sorry

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): farlyn. i think she deserves more screentime and i wish we get more parts of her with the main party before the story ends, because im kinda sad we only really know her through their eyes and memories.

Favourite Friendship: main party !!! chilchack, senshi, izutsumi, laius and marcille are all so great i love all their interactions

Character I most identify with: maybe marcille

Character I wish I could be: the first character that comes to my mind is laius, for a very specific reason: he's so unapologetically him. he has his regrets, he doubts himself, and i think part of why we don't see him lash out or break down so much like other characters is because he blames himself for everything and suffers silently. he's not perfect and he doesn't actually think he's right all the time. but it occured to me after reading his fight with sureau that... he didn't apologize for being himself. he didnt apologize for not figuring out how sureau feels, or for being awkward or annoying or whatever the fuck the guy said. at the end of the day this man went after his dreams, found true joy and satisfaction, and during the hardest of times he led his party farther than anyone else dared to go and gave each of them hope. and all that because he chose time and time again to act the way he wants to, the way that feels right for him, because he stopped trying so hard to fit in years ago after he ran away. i sometimes think of how life would be if i could just reinvent myself, and i know that what i truly want is to feel free to be myself without shame or embarrassment. so this part of laius resonates with me and um this got long but i love him so much

#thank u for sending dunmesh fer ilysm 🥺❤💘 #asks #incluido