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cenvast · 4 months ago

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@dokibaesil ty as always for your comments! screenshotted tags and my response under the cut lolll

You open a very fascinating discussion on accounting for cultural context when analyzing characters' motives and behaviors! My goal with this post was to address some of the discourse surrounding Toshiro and critique his character without resorting to racist generalizations. As you and others have said, critique against him sometimes devolves into racially-charged rhetoric.

As you've implied, it's important to acknowledge that in real life, people of color, especially people from collectivist cultures like Toshiro, often have a harder time extricating themselves from their families when they want to — or do — go against societal conventions than white people do. Within this lens, despite Laios and Toshiro both being from families with political power and disapproving of how that power is wielded, one can assume that Laios, as a white man who's presumably from an individualistic culture, would find it easier to leave his village than Toshiro, who's from a collectivist culture.

But I would actually suggest that Laios' village is also more collectivist. It's difficult for a medieval farming village to not be collectivist; a villager has to work for the good of the whole, or everyone starves. Also, the villagers reject difference and enforce conformity as seen through their treatment of Falin. Valuing conformity is a common trend within collectivist societies. Both Laios and Toshiro seem to have had collectivist upbringings, so leaving would've been hard for them both in this sense.

Interestingly, Laios' father seems to have less authority over his village than Toshiro's father has over his clan. While Toshiro's father does many things that upset his retainers without suffering any consequences, Laios' father complies with the village's climate; he kicks out his own daughter when the villagers turn against her. He seems more beholden to the village's wishes in a way that Toshiro's father is not to his clan. Because of this, Toshiro probably also has more power in his clan as his father's heir than Laios had in his village as his father's heir. Toshiro probably has more ability to change things than Laios did.

The main barrier Toshiro seems to face with leaving is the hierarchical nature of his household. Obedience is heavily emphasized, and running away wouldn't be very compliant of him. His personality is more passive than Laios' as well, and like you said, it's hard to leave everything you've ever known and leap into the unknown. But when the choice is between being a slave owner and leaving your household (he can also stay and change things, so it's not like these are his only choices), being from a collectivist culture or a strict household cannot excuse perpetuating slavery. Of course, it'd be hard for him to leave or disrupt the status quo, but not nearly as hard as it is for Izutsumi and Inutade to be enslaved by his family.

I don't think the solution is necessarily Toshiro leaving his household and/or staying in Melini. Ideally, he would go back to Wa and use his privilege to dismantle the imbalanced power structures of his household as you mentioned that some fans have headcanoned.

As much as I'd like for that to happen, I personally believe Toshiro acknowledging his participation in his household's system of injustice and working to dismantle it is a bit unrealistic at the story's close. I do believe Toshiro, like anyone else, has the ability to change. But at the narrative's end, he still has not experienced an extreme enough event that would force him to confront the class hierarchies he upholds and dismantle them.

If he wanted to dismantle his household's hierarchies, he would essentially have to tear down his entire society's social organization by ceding his power as a nobleman and placing all his servants and slaves on an equal footing with him. It would be the societal equivalent of causing an earthquake. If Toshiro, the notoriously most avoidant character of the series, were to do this, he would have to experience something extremely drastic. No situation he encountered on the Island seems to have explicitly increased his empathy for demi-humans and/or lower class people. Yes, he experienced racism on the Island, but we don't gain any indication that he's drawn parallels between Laios' microaggressions towards him and his family's exploitation of his retainers' labor and dehumanization of demi-humans. Beyond the shared experience of being marginalized, these are also just fairly unrelated.

Toshiro's growth in the series feels more personal to me. He learns to express himself better, but learning to be more expressive doesn't necessarily correlate to gaining political awareness regarding other marginalized people's experiences.

Returning to Izutsumi, I love that her storyline is about constantly trying reclaim her agency and personhood from the Nakamoto clan and then ultimately escaping from them. Notably, she is a slave, and she's heavily racialized in the narrative. She's perceived as sub-human because she's a beastman. For instance, Toshitsugu introduces her to Maizuru as a "kitten," not a girl. As a slave, she's held against her will. It's not that she doesn't want to leave or doesn't have the motivation to stay away, but that she physically cannot leave because of, like you said, the hag curse. While she obviously grows as a character throughout the story, she has always wanted to escape her enslavement. I see her character arc as not being about learning to leave but about learning to depend on others.

Unlike Izutsumi, Toshiro isn't really motivated to leave his clan. He's in nearly the most privileged position in his household while she's in the lowest possible position. Despite how his clan has emotionally traumatized him, he still materially benefits from staying and inheriting the clan leadership. In contrast, if Izutsumi stayed, she would just continue to be exploited and dehumanized. So while Toshiro and Izutsumi come from the same household, a racialized slave girl and her nobleman master don't have equivalent amounts of agency in leaving the household.

"Toshiro Is Sexist," "Toshiro Owns Slaves": What's Really Going on With This Guy?

I've seen a lot of debate on whether or not Toshiro is problematic because he's a slave owner or because he's sexist in the context of his crush on Falin. While I do want to examine his relationship to Falin, I'd like to take a few steps back and unpack his upbringing first. We'll dive into the gender and class dynamics he was raised with and how it impacts his behavior in the main storyline.

Like all people, Toshiro is shaped by the environment he grew up in. Toshitsugu, Toshiro's father and the head of the Nakamoto clan, is the most impactful model of authority and manhood in his life. Toshiro does recognize some of his father's flaws and tries to avoid replicating them. But whether or not he emulates or subverts his father's behavior, Toshitsugu is often the starting point for Toshiro's treatment of others, particularly marginalized people.

The Nakamoto clan exists under a patriarchal hierarchy with Toshitsugu at the top. As noted by @fumifooms in their Nakamoto household post, his wife has more authority than Maizuru. She's able to ban Maizuru from parts of their residence, but despite disliking his infidelity, she can't divorce him or stop him from cheating on her. Their marriage is not an equal partnership.

On an interpersonal level, Toshitsugu and Maizuru also have a fraught relationship. While she does seem to care for him, she's often frustrated by his thoughtless behavior.

For example, he drunkenly buys Izutsumi for her — without considering how she'll have to raise this child — and invades her room in the middle of the night. When he cryptically says, "It's all my fault," she replies, "I can think of a lot of things that are your fault." She calls him an "idiot" and "believes that [Toshiro] will grow up to be a better clan leader than his father," implying that she takes issue with Toshitsugu's leadership.

Because Maizuru and Toshitsugu are described as being "in an intimate relationship" and "seem[ing] to be lovers," Maizuru appears to be a consensual participant. Still, this doesn't negate the large power imbalance between them as a male noble clan leader and his female retainer. This imbalance introduces an insidious undertone to Maizuru's frustration with Toshitsugu. Like Toshiro's mother, Maizuru doesn't have the agency to do as she pleases in their relationship; he has the ultimate authority. For instance, she doesn't seem to want to raise Izutsumi, but she has to anyway.

While Maizuru's role as Toshitsugu's mistress is significant, she's also the Nakamoto clan's teacher and Toshiro's primary maternal figure. She cares deeply for Toshiro: tailing him, feeding him, and taking responsibility even for his actions as an adult. While it might seem sweet that she cares for him like a son at first, Maizuru was notably fifteen years old at the time of his birth. In the extra comic below, he's six years old and has already been in her care for some time. Even if we're being generous and assuming that she didn't start raising him until he was six, she was still only twenty-one at the time she was parenting her boss/lover's child with another woman.

Maizuru's roles as mistress and maternal figure, in addition to her role as retainer, demonstrate the intersection between gendered and class oppression in the Nakamoto household. Despite her original role being a retainer trained in espionage, Toshitsugu presses her into performing gendered labor for him and eventually, Toshiro. She's expected to be Toshitsugu's lover, perform emotional labor for him as his confidant, care for his child, and carry out domestic tasks like cooking. She says, "Even during missions, I was often dragged into the kitchen." If she was a male servant, I doubt she would have been expected to perform these additional tasks. She can't avoid these tasks either, stating that her "own feelings don't factor into it."

Toshitsugu disregards his wife's and Maizuru's desires and emotions to serve his own interests. Because he has societal power over them as a nobleman and in Maizuru's case, her master, neither woman can escape their position in the household hierarchy.

As a result, Toshiro grew up within a structure where men and male nobility, in particular, wield the most societal power. The hierarchical nature of his household and society discourages everyone, including him as a clan leader's eldest son, from questioning and disrupting the existing hierarchy.

The other Nakamoto household members also internalize its sexist, classist power dynamics.

For example, Hien expects that she and Toshiro will replicate the uneven dynamics of the previous generation, regardless of her personal feelings. She sees her and Toshiro's relationship as paralleling Maizuru and Toshitsugu's relationship; she is the closest woman to Toshiro and his retainer, so she's shocked when Toshiro doesn't attempt to begin an intimate relationship with her. Notably, she doesn't have actual feelings for him. Her expectations are centered around the household's precedent of placing emotional, sexual, domestic, and child-rearing labor onto the female servants without any regard for their personal desires.

Hien also probably knows that her position in the household will improve if she is Toshiro's lover because she's seen it improve Maizuru's position. However, the fact that being the future clan leader's lover is the closest proximity she, as a female servant, has to power further reveals the gendered, class-based oppression she and the other women live under.

It's important to note that the Nakamoto clan bought Benichidori, Izutsumi, and Inutade as slaves, so they have less power and agency than Maizuru and Hien. The clan further dehumanizes Izutsumi and Inutade as demi-humans; their enslavement contains an additional layer of racialization.

Toshiro isn't oblivious to the gendered, class, and racial power dynamics of his household. He tries to distance himself from participating in its exploitative power structure. He walls himself off from Hien, who he's known since childhood, to avoid replicating his father's behavior and making his servant into his lover. He disapproves of his father's enslavement of Izutsumi and Inutade, and he lets Izutsumi go when she runs away in the Dungeon.

But does any of this absolve him of his complicity in his household's sexist, classist power dynamics and racialized slavery?

The short answer is absolutely not.

Despite his distaste for his father's exploitation of his servants and slaves, Toshiro still uses them. He refers to his party as "his retainers," and he has them fight and perform domestic tasks for him. You could argue that Toshiro doesn't like to and thus, doesn't regularly use his servants and slaves. In the context of him asking his retainers to help him rescue Falin, Maizuru says, "The only time he ever made any sort of personal request was for this task." But it shouldn't matter whether exploitation is a regular occurrence or not for it to be considered harmful. Toshiro asking Maizuru to cook him a meal still constitutes asking his female servant to perform gendered labor for him. He's also very accustomed to her grooming and dressing him.

Maizuru sees feeding, washing, and even advising Toshiro romantically as fulfilling Toshitsugu's orders to care for his son. They aren't fulfilling a "personal request." But just because her labor has been deemed expected and thereby devalued doesn't mean that it isn't labor or that she isn't performing it.

Maizuru's dynamic with Toshiro is also complicated by her role as his maternal figure. She loves him and wants to take care of him, and she doesn't have a choice in the matter. During Toshiro's childhood, the onus was on Toshitsugu to cease exploiting his lover and release her from servitude, but Toshiro is now an adult man. Seeing as how Maizuru defers to his wishes and calls him "Young Master," they still have a power imbalance that he's passively maintaining. Ideally, he would not ask anything of her until he has the authority to release her from servitude.

Throughout the story, Toshiro acts as if he has no agency and quietly disapproving of his father's actions absolves him of his participation in maintaining oppressive dynamics. While his father still ranks higher than him, he's essentially his father's heir. He has much more power than Maizuru, the highest-ranked servant. At the very least, he could leave his slave-owning household.

Unfortunately, his refusal to confront injustice is consistent with his character's major flaw: he does not express his opinions, desires, or needs. While this character trait obviously hurts his friendships, it also furthers his complicity in the injustices his household runs on.

Toshiro's relationship with eating food — the prevailing metaphor of the series — also parallels his relationship with confronting injustice. Maizuru mentions that he was a sickly child, so the act of eating may have been physically uncomfortable for him. As an adult, his refusal to eat crops up during his rescue attempt of Falin. Denying himself food might have been punishment for not accomplishing important tasks like rescuing Falin and/or a way to maintain control over something in his life when he felt like he'd lost control over the rest of it, again in the context of losing Falin. (Note: I suggest reading this post on Toshiro's disordered eating by @malaierba.)

But he cannot and does not avoid consuming food forever.

Similarly, Toshiro keeps his distance from his retainers and tries not to use them until the Falin situation occurs. His efforts to avoid exploiting his retainers amount to inaction — things he doesn't ask of them or do to them. But his inaction does nothing to dismantle the existing hierarchy that places his retainers under his authority, denies them agency, and often marginalizes them as not only servants or slaves but as women, and he ends up using them as servants and slaves anyways.

Returning to the narrative's themes of consumption, Toshiro cannot avoid eating just as he cannot avoid perpetuating the exploitative system of his household. The Nakamoto clan consumes the labor and personhood of those lower in the hierarchy. The retainers' labor as spies and domestic servants is the foundation of the clan's existence. Thus, the clan consumes their labor to sustain itself.

Within this hierarchy, the retainers' personhood is also consumed and erased. As Izutsumi describes, they are given different names and stripped of their agency to reject orders or leave. Maizuru and Hien also say their feelings are irrelevant in the context of Toshitsugu's and Toshiro's wants and needs. Both women are expected to comply with whatever is most beneficial and comfortable for the noblemen. Clearly, despite Toshiro's detachment from his household's functions, these social structures remain in place and harm the women under him.

Although we know the Nakamoto clan has male retainers, the choice to highlight the female retainers seems intentional. We're asked to interrogate how not only being a servant or a slave in a noble household impacts a person's life and agency, but how being a woman intersects with being a member of some of the lowest social classes.

Toshiro only distances himself from his father's behaviors of infidelity and exploitation so long as it doesn't take Toshiro out of his comfort zone. He doesn't free his slaves. He's far too comfortable with his female retainers performing domestic labor for him, and he barely acknowledges their efforts; they're shocked when he thanks them for helping him save Falin. He hasn't unpacked his sexist (or classist or racist) biases because he perpetuates his household's oppressive hierarchy throughout the narrative. Considering all of this, he inevitably brings this baggage to his interactions with Falin.

Falin is presumably one of the first women he's had extended contact with that isn't his relative or his family's servant. Because of his trauma surrounding his father and Maizuru sleeping together, he understandably falls for a woman as disconnected as possible from his father and his clan. He seems to genuinely like Falin, respects her boundaries, and graciously accepts her rejection. His behavior towards her is overall kind and unproblematic.

But if Falin had gone with him, she would've likely been devalued and sidelined like the other women of the Nakamoto household. No matter how much he loves Falin, simply loving her cannot replace the difficult work of unlearning his sexism. Love, of course, can and should be accompanied by that work, but by the close of the narrative, we gain little indication that Toshiro acknowledges or seeks to end his part in exploiting and devaluing women and other marginalized people.

A spark of hope does exist. Toshiro expressing his feelings to Laios and Falin suggests that his time away from home has encouraged him to speak up more. Breaking his habit of avoidance may be the first step towards acknowledging his complicity in systems of injustice and moving towards dismantling them.

Special thanks to my very smart friend @atialeague for bringing up Toshitsugu's relationship with Maizuru and the replication of dynamics of consumption and class! <3

#lol this got so long so sorry #tldr for what's under the read more:#toshiro and laios are prbly both from collectivist environments #i don't think toshiro has experienced an extreme enough event yet for him to enact social change #unlike toshiro who is prbly the second highest position izutsumi is in the lowest position in the nakamoto household and can't leave #+ toshiro materially benefits from maintaining his privileged position in his clan despite how his clan has emotionally traumatized him #toshiro nakamoto #izutsumi #laios touden #dungeon meshi #long post

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room-surprise · 5 months ago

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Shuro's Ninja Girl Squad: Why do they have code names? Does Toshiro have a code name????

(WARNING FOR GENERAL SPOILERS!) The culture of Wa Island appears to be inspired exclusively by historic Japan, since all of the characters that come from Wa have Japanese names, clothing, weapons, and magic, they eat Japanese food, imagine traditional Japanese-style artwork, and obey Japanese social norms.

THE NINJA GIRL SQUAD

Maizuru, Hein, Benichidori, Inutade and Izutsumi are servants that work for the Nakamoto family, and they have been assigned to travel with Toshiro, serve and protect him. In some translations they have been called retainers. I’m not sure what the original Japanese calls them, but most likely some form of servant or vassal, such as 家臣 or 家来.

A retainer is a part of a retinue, which is a group of people who are "retained" (employed) in the service of nobility, royalty or a dignitary.

Retainers can have many varied functions, such as domestic servants, personal attendants, bodyguards, porters, musicians, tutors, translators, guides, etc. Retainers often wear some kind of uniform, possibly bearing the colors or insignia of their lord. They serve their master, but they also expect to be protected and cared for by their master as a part of his household.

HISTORIC JAPANESE NAMING CONVENTIONS

Japanese personal names were fluid in the pre-modern era. Men changed their names for a variety of reasons: to signify that they had attained a higher social status, to demonstrate their allegiance to a house or clan, to show that they had succeeded to the headship of a family or company, to shed bad luck that was attached to an inauspicious name, or simply to avoid being mistaken for a neighbor with a similar name.

Changes in women's personal names were recorded less often, so they may not have changed their names as frequently as men did, but women who took jobs (such as maids or entertainers) frequently changed their names for the duration of their service. During their employment, their temporary names were treated as their legal names.

THE NAKAMOTO CLAN’S NAMING PRACTICES

All of Toshiro’s servants, Maizuru, Hien, Benichidori, Inutade and Izutsumi, have real names and work-issued code-names, similar to the Japanese practice I just described. Only Izutsumi seems to mind this, the rest of the characters use their aliases all the time.

All of the ninja code-names are plant-based, and Maizuru, Hein and Benichidori’s names also have a bird theme, something they do not share with Izutsumi and Inutade. All of the birds they are named after have been popular in Japan since ancient times and are considered lucky symbols. The plants Maizuru, Hein and Benichidori are named after are also all beautiful flowers, while Izutsumi’s is a toxic shrub and Inutade’s is a weed.

This may be meant to show how Izutsumi and Inutade’s status is separate and lower from the other three.

Interestingly, although Toshiro is their master, he also has a nickname, given to him by Laios, that sounds like a plant, which matches his subordinates!

Perhaps the way Toshiro endures this nickname and doesn't protest it, is a hint that Toshiro does not want to enforce his position as a superior to his subordinates, but wants to treat them with compassion and empathy, because he does not consider himself better than them. He demonstrates this when he gets down on his knees and begs Maizuru and the others to help him save Falin, since this is going outside of their standard duties.

This unusual humility and kindness is probably why the World Guide says Maizuru thinks Toshiro will be a better leader than his father.

If you want more details, and to read a full analysis of all of their names and code-names, be sure to check out Chapter 6 of my essay!

BONUS: TOSHIRO’S SECRET NICKNAME???

Laios, mishearing Toshiro’s name during their first meeting, started calling him シュロー (Shurow), and told everyone they met that his name was Shuro. Toshiro, too embarrassed to correct him, has allowed this to continue for the three years that they’ve known each other.

Shuro (棕櫚 or シュロ) is Trachycarpus fortunei, the Chinese windmill palm or Chusan palm. It is a species of evergreen palm tree in the family Arecaceae, native to parts of China, Japan, Myanmar and India.

Windmill palm is one of the hardiest palms. They tolerate cool, moist summers as well as cold winters. Trachycarpus fortunei has been cultivated in China and Japan for thousands of years, for its coarse but very strong leaf sheath fiber, used for making rope, sacks, and other coarse cloth where great strength is important.

This is very funny, since we know that Toshiro is one of the strongest characters in the story, due to his skill with the blade... But we also know he's insanely patient (tolerates everything, just like the palm!), because he puts up with Laios bothering him for years before finally snapping and asserting his boundaries.

Plus, a palm tree used to make humble but strong items such as rope, sacks and coarse cloth, really shows Toshiro's true nature (a strong but humble man) versus his aristocratic status.

THREE TYPES OF BROOM

A Shuro Houki (棕櫚箒) is a traditional Japanese hemp-palm broom made from the Trachycarpus fortunei palm.

There are three distinct subtypes of this broom, the first two of which are considered very durable and the last one which is considered expendable. The Hon-onike Houki will last for 1/3rd of a person’s life, a Onike Houki you’ll need to replace every 15 years, and a Kawa Houki can be thrown away after 2 years of use.

Toshiro is the oldest of three brothers, and they are competing for their father’s favor to see who will become the heir of the household… Their father is testing them to see which of them is disposable, and which of them is strong enough to lead the family. Which type of broom are they?

SHURO THE HUMAN NAME

It should also be noted that Shuro is a Japanese name, it just isn't a nickname for Toshiro. The correct nicknames for Toshiro would be Toshi, or Shiro. Shuro sounds similar to Shiro, but it would be like calling someone named Robert the nickname Bart instead of Bert, or calling Matthew Pat.

Depending on the kanji used Shuro can mean several things. I think the most appropriate kanji is 修郎.

修 means to make right, to be in shape, to become correct, to put things together, to learn, to acquire learning or skills, to decorate, to harmonize, to fix, to mend, to put together in a book, good, excellent, beautiful, splendid.

郎 means male, men, young men, boy.

While Toshiro’s actual name describes him very well, his nickname, given to him by Laios, is also extremely accurate. Laios’ name means “left” and “wrong”, so Toshiro’s name potentially meaning things like “right”, “correct” and “to fix” is extremely funny and appropriate!

They can fix their friendship!

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #Toshiro Nakamoto #Shuro #Shuro Dungeon Meshi #Laios Touden #maizuru #benichidori #hien #izutsumi #tade dungeon meshi #inutade #The Essay

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giselleloversclub · 4 months ago

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NCT HOGWARTS AU FIC REC

LEE TAEYONG

AT THE PITCH @jeogiyall

hufflepuff taeyong x slytherin reader

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personal fav

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NAKAMOTO YUTA

YOU HAVE NO IDEA , DO YOU ? @sehunniepotwrites

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NOT THAT BAD @sheeple

Slytherin’s aren’t evil. Sure, there are some bad apples between them. But you find them everywhere.

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QUIAN KUN

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Having friends in common, you and Kun have crossed paths over the years. In your sixth year, what once was an acquaintanceship slowly blooms into a friendship. And what better way to strengthen the bond than by dealing with a boggart and helping out a trio of would-be troublemakers.

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KIM DOYOUNG

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in which a prideful slytherin and an oblivious hufflepuff play a clueless emotion game of tug of war.

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slytherin doyoung x hufflepuff reader

smut (mdni)

word count : pt1: 9.7k , pt2 : 2k , pt3 : 8.4k

THE ENCHANTED CANVAS @sly-merlin

Y/n , a muggle is called to Hogwarts not because of her exceptional talents but due to the fact that her soulmate is a pure/half blood studying in Hogwarts. Her destiny takes her from an average household to the enchanting world of spells and charms. Would she found the one she sought? or sh’d end up losing herself in the new world!

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MISCHIEF MANAGED @sparklingchan

You are forced to befriend Kim Doyoung under unexpected circumstances but as two lonely souls meet, you find yourself enjoying his company a little too much.

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JUNG JAEHYUN

RAVENCLAW JAEHYUN X RAVENCLAW READER @nsheetee

EVEN WHEN YOU ANNOY THE FUCK OUT OF ME I STILL LOVE YOU @sehunniepotwrites

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Head Over Broomsticks

When your friends are tired of watching you and your crush go around in circles, they take matters into their own hands. Putting their Advanced Potions skills to the test, Donghyuck and Chenle conjure up a powerful truth serum and slip it in your drink right before a Quidditch game, which leads to a few inappropriate comments about No. 77, Jeong Jaehyun, of Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. This would’ve been fine if you were just a regular spectator but you are much more than that--you’re the Announcer and everyone is subjected to hear your unfiltered thoughts. Just great.

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wc : 3.5k+

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DONG SICHENG

YULE BALL ? @sehunniepotwrites

word count : 909

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#nct fanfic #nct x reader #nct #nct u #nct 127 #nct hogwarts au #nct fic rec

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dunmeshistash · 7 months ago

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Hey im @holmsister tumblr is tumbling as usual.

About the Maizuru complaint and bad faith interpretation: I feel the same way about POC in this fandom. I didn't really engage in fandoms that have many canon POC because most of my reading in the last years has been historical and classical European lit and nonfiction so like. The racism is baked into the source so to speak. AND im super white so im not going to try and speak out of turn. But moving into a fandom for a recent work of art in which there are important characters of colour has been... enlightening (derogatory). Also not naming names, but the way white characters are extended grace for things the POC are criticised extensively is... enlightening (derogatory). Maizuru, being at the intersection of being a woman and POC, is obviously going to get the brunt of it. Especially because yeah, she's not exactly a pleasant character - yeah, the way she treats the other retainers is not nice. But she is basically a sex slave. Like we can mince our words as much as we like, add in everything about how she is clearly being well-treated and not resentful, etc etc, but she's there to entertain Nakamoto and she can't say no if he comes to her room. All of her privileges are dependent on her pleasing him. That doesn't mean that she can't be abusive in her own right - but like. How old was she when she was taken in by Nakamoto? She's been around since Toshiro was little, remember? Hell, her obsession with being a good retainer with Toshiro might be a way to safely "escape" Nakamoto - after all, if she's following Toshiro around, she's not in her parlour waiting for his father's next visit, and if Toshiro, who has no interest in her, became the next head of the household, she would be allowed to live out her last years in peace. Like this is speculation of course, but it's based on what we know of the character in much the same way any other speculation is - I'm choosing to give her the benefit of the doubt the same way I do for example Laios choosing to join the army.

Sorry for the vent, it's just. The complexity of the characters is a good thing! Stop trying to find a bad guy, you're missing the point! (And showing your ass in the process). everyone has complex motivations!

Truly, people hate nuance and it seems like internalized misogyny and racism amplifies that.

I feel like at least for the racism one there's more awareness and people speak more about it? But I usually see misogyny arguments being dismissed a lot more so I got specially angy at it.

I guess I wanted to find a reason outside misogyny to justify how people treated these character's cause I've seen lots of people being mad about that before about other characters and even thinking myself "It's surely not that bad/widespread, this character is the one that sucks" but when you have a more general view of reactions it becomes painfully obvious.

Thankfully I didn't see the racism against Toshiro (maybe cause I barely post about him) but I can only imagine.

#dunmeshi complaint #holmsister

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leftrightnomin · 1 year ago

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Please, Sir! || Yuta Nakamoto

Pairing: Yuta Nakamoto x Reader

Summary: You found yourself sitting at the dinner table of the Nakamoto household. Rest assured that you are safe for the night. Maybe.

Genre: Smut, Rated R (18+), Bestfriend's Dad x Reader

Word Count: 4.2k

Warnings: Unprotected sex (wrap it up, ppl), Cheating (Yuta is married), Praise kink, Begging, Degradation, Fingering, Lots of dirty talking, Size kink, Oral sex (nky receiving), Dumbification,

A/N: Hi, did anyone miss me? Well, here's a little something for all of you. Enjoy!

~ • ~ •~ • ~ •~ • ~ •~ • ~

You had been trying to avoid going to the Nakamoto’s home. You were trying to avoid conflict with your best friend's smoking-hot father, Yuta. It wasn't like you were always around their home, Giselle lived in her own apartment. For that reason, you were thankful. When you were younger and in college you would often go over for dinner with Giselle or she’d go to your family’s house. But it wasn’t necessary anymore. You were both grown adults now with 9 to 5 jobs to attend to.

This time, however, Julia A.K.A Mrs. Nakamoto was throwing a small dinner party for their family, close friends, and relatives. Apparently, Mr. Nakamoto got promoted at his company and from what you heard, the newly acquired title comes with a six-figure salary. A big deal really. Giselle had told you that her mom and dad wanted you there.

Of course, your father would want me there. You thought.

It wouldn't be an actual crisis if you and Yuta weren't indulging in each other's warmth behind closed doors, away from his family's eyes. Or anyone at all. You'd have to be playing the poker face like crazy at the dinner table to protect what you and Yuta shared. Certainly, you wouldn’t do anything with him with all the people around.

But still, you are sure that you will be having a hard time pretending. Not now and obviously not sooner. Not when you've had a taste of the great Yuta Nakamoto. You were in for a long night now that you knew what he was like, how good he was, how wild he could get, and just how hot and filthy he could be.

You made the choice to use a panty liner solely because you thought it would be handy. Having your panties wet and also probably your pants or anything to show through your clothing wouldn't look good. You didn't anticipate needing it, but you were also aware of how frail you had become from a quick glimpse of Mr. Nakamoto.

If he even extended his hug or spoke to you in a deep, seductive voice or if he smiled too broadly while flashing those dimples, you were pretty well doomed. So, yes, for practical reasons, merely a just-in-case moment, you wore pantyliners.

You were picked up by Giselle as scheduled. The trip to The Nakamotos' home took close to 30 minutes.

"Are you alright?" Giselle maintained her focus on the road. She detected something about you. She simply had no idea what.

"Yeah. No doubt. Why?"

"You've been quiet since you got in my car. It reminds me of when we first met in junior high or worse," she chuckled as she hastily cast a short glance your way.

Prior to her arrival, you made an effort to relax. You calmed your stiff body and mind through meditation, chamomile tea, and a bite of dried ginger. You practiced some meditative yoga while listening to soothing background music. And you thought it was beneficial.

But as soon as Yuta's text message chimed into your phone, your pulse shot up and you started to sweat heavily. All that effort you put into calming yourself was for nothing.

He didn't say anything other than that he was anticipating seeing you after asking you if you were still coming. There it was. His communications contained nothing sexually explicit or provocative. Without trying, he did that to you. Hence the need for wearing pantyliners was a must.

You shook your head and laughed at your friend's remark. "No, I'm alright. Just worn out. Last night at the restaurant was a long one. Not exactly a lie, but I had barely arrived home by midnight."

And that appeared to be a suitable response. Giselle didn't inquire more about your strange behavior that evening at least.

There were Yuta's brother and his wife. The parents, husband, and cousin of Mrs. Nakamoto, a friend from down the street and a neighbor. Then, you and Giselle. That's it.

A delightful modest supper with dessert was served along with drinks. some musical selections. It was lovely to see everyone chatting while outside. However, you were agitated and making an effort to force yourself to stop staring at the man of the moment. Your cheeks and neck warmed up each time your sight met his, sending shivers down your spine.

Control yourself, Y/N.

It's a celebratory dinner for Pete's sake.

You shouldn't even be thinking of it.

You got along well with Yuta over dinner. He treated you as the best friend of his daughter. It was good yet at the same time you detested it.

You wished you could join everyone else in laughing at his jokes while sitting on his lap and encircling his shoulders. You desired to boldly kiss him in front of his crowd and hold his hand. But it was clear that wouldn't happen.

The man's wife was always close by. And after all, he was only secretly yours. With the door locked, in your apartment, and covered in fabrics. He was only yours in the absence of sight and hearing of others.

At supper, you barely gave him a glance as you were eating. Not even when he was speaking to everyone and expressing gratitude for their attendance. You restrained yourself from glancing at his face. You admired how his eyes sparkled and how his lips twitched, how he made motions with his hands and ringed fingers while he spoke, and most importantly, his smile. You knew it would only cause you trouble if you did.

At the conclusion of his little thank-you speech, he turned to face you and raised his glass. Along with the others, you raised yours skyward before taking a sip collectively eyes fixed on him. Even if it just lasted a few seconds, it made you warm. Hot enough to have your thighs pressed closely together beneath your white linen dress.

When everyone was mingling and strolling around the backyard, Yuta had the chance to walk up to you.

He placed his hand on your bare shoulder and whispered into your ear, "I missed you, sweetheart."

All of your encounters with her took place there at your residence. He sometimes spends a night there and even a whole full day.

However, you were scheduled to work and cover for a few servers who couldn't arrive for whatever reason because you had been busy. Additionally, Yuta was absent for nearly a week due to a business trip. Typically, you and Yuta met once a week at most. He hadn't spent any time in your bed in a few weeks.

It's true—you really did miss him.

"Do not leave until you and I are able to have a chat."

He squeezed at your exposed skin as he emphasized the word chat, and as he started to leave, he glanced down at you and winked.

A panty liner was indeed required.

You assisted Giselle in replenishing some of the empty bottles and replacing the cooler's ice. You made an effort to keep busy and avoid thinking about what Yuta wanted to "chat" about. Or suppose "chat" was a code word for something different.

At the gathering, a neighbor approached you and entertained you with his jokes. He appeared to be friendly and outgoing with everyone. You could understand his invitation and the Nakamoto's preference for him as a close friend. He was extremely hilarious. In fact, chatting to him and hearing his outrageous college narrative got you thinking back to your own experience while making you giggle. He assisted you in temporarily forgetting about your small taboo affair. He temporarily distracted you from Yuta.

Yet, Yuta didn't like how you and Johnny were laughing.

You were smiling when Johnny gently took hold of your forearm and moved in to speak to you. And so, when the man stood right next to you and your new friend, the brief respite you got from thinking about Yuta and swooning over him abruptly ended.

"Y/N, I need your assistance with something," He furrowed his brow and indicated the home, "Would you help me, please?"

Oh.

You took a breath and nodded, "Sure, Mr. Nakamoto."

You gave Johnny a courteous grin and walked with the broad-shouldered guy into his house.

Yuta escorted you upstairs and into a spacious bathroom which was never used in silence. He quickly ushered you inside and secured the door with a click sound of the door lock. He undid the cuffs from his pale pink button-up shirt while you watched in silence, then raised his eyes to meet yours as he rolled the material up his forearms.

"Isn't Johnny a great guy?" Yuta finally spoke up, leaning against the wide vanity sink with the wall-length mirror opposite him and crossing his arms over his wide chest.

"Yeah," you smiled sheepishly as you nodded, "He is nice. Funny too."

Yuta pursed his lips and slowly scanned your figure, taking you in.

He had seen your attire and had daringly glanced at you all evening, but he was unable to hold his stare for very long. Hence, nothing he experienced was gratifying. It wasn't enough to allow himself to see your ass's curvature or the point where your neck and jaw connected. He was now relieved that he was finally able to get the close look at you that he had been craving for all night.

"What were you two discussing?" Yuta jutted out his hips and displayed his stunning bulge for you as he uncrossed his arms and placed his palms on the marble top of the vanity behind him.

Acting with knowledge, I see.

"Well, sir, absolutely nothing actually. He was relating stories to me from his time in university. We were exchanging stories from college."

"Yeah? Did you discover after that the two of you have a lot in something in common?" He furrowed his brow.

You glanced briefly at his crotch before returning to his face. It was an uninvited glance. He saw where your eyes wandered, and even though you didn't mean to, it made him smile.

"No. Not really," you thought as you reciprocated his sly grin with your own and crossed your arms over your chest.

Over the months, you had grown to know him a little, and this small detail about him straight away made you feel at peace. He liked playing with you, teasing and building up your hunger for his heat.

"Why do you have a lot of questions about Johnny? Are you perhaps interested in him?" You crack a joke.

"No, I'm not," said Yuta, cocking his head and widening his grin. "Come, move closer."

You took the few sluggish steps necessary to narrow the distance between you two while biting your lip and uncrossing your arms. Your hips aligned with his as soon as you were within arm's reach of him.

"I'm just worried that I haven't been able to fuck you in what?" He then pulled you into him by your waist and said, "A span of three weeks?"

You chuckled softly and nodded, "Almost, 18 days to be exact."

Yuta smirked, "Counting the days without my cock are you?"

You placed your arms around his shoulders, saying, "Yes," with a big smile and a giggle. "I missed you so much, Mr. Nakamoto."

Yuta admired your lips briefly before returning her attention to your eyes, "Unfortunately, the house is crowded with visitors."

You frowned, "I'll be quiet, Sir. I promise."

"I bet you'd love for me to bend you over so I can fuck you right now in this bathroom, wouldn't you?" Yuta murmured in a low, raspy voice as he moved one of his hands up to your face and thumbed over your cheekbone.

You quickly separated your lips while nodding, "Yes, please, Sir. "

Yuta scolded, "So filthy. So fucking desperate. Do you need me that much, baby?" As you reached your tongue out to taste it, his thumb lightly touched your bottom lip.

You looked at his eyes with lust and a hint of greed. You needed his cock so bad. You wailed as you attempted to encircle his thumb with your lips, but he quickly withdrew his hand from your grasp. He was suddenly slipping between your legs and was pulling you such that you were pulled up onto the counter.

"When was the last time you had an orgasm?" he asks as his palms go underneath your dress and grab hold of your thighs.

Your words were breaths, "This morning."

"Really, how horrible was it? You don't seem to be content with anything. You used your fingers, right?"

"Yes, Sir. I used my clit sucker, too," you grinned and ran your fingers down his chest, "Pretended it was you between my legs."

Despite how cool he was behaving, you could see his dick hardening in his trousers and knew he was getting turned on.

"And you're still in such need? Does your little pussy require a lot of care or are you just pure filthy greedy for it?

"A little bit of both, Sir, " You let out a heavy breathe.

"I bet you're drenched as hell."

You gasped as you saw what he was about to find as his hands traveled upward toward your panties. Your wet underwear liner. Hardly that, seductive.

He stopped with a perplexed expression when his index finger touched the crotch of your pants. It felt unique not typical.

"Are you perhaps on your period, angel?" He said as he examined your underwear by pushing your legs apart and removing your dress.

When he ran his fingers down the edge of the cotton in your panty liner, he recognized what it was which earned you a light frustrated groan.

"No," you jerked your head. "It was only for keeping dry."

Yuta licked his lips and poked his middle finger beneath the crotch of your pants, and when he grasped what you meant, his eyebrows went up. Your underwear was dry, but the liner was sodden. As he kissed your lips, his fingers found your crease and softly played with it.

Both his fingers and the kiss were gentle and easy. He massaged your soaking pussy lips while you whimpered and ran your hands through his hair.

He kissed you briefly before removing his hands from your underwear and saying, "Like I said, our home is crowded with people."

"I bet your wet pussy would feel fantastic wrapped around my cock, right now," he kissed you soft lips once again. "I'm going to fuck my fist tonight thinking about how wet you got for me before I even touched you, princess."

"Please, Sir. Please." Angry, you yanked at his hands and begged, "I'll keep quiet, I promise. We can do it silently. I just —,"

You let your head down and closed your eyes tightly from too much need and frustration.

He raised you chin so that you could meet his equally lustful eyes, "Wow. Look at you. So frustrated and needy."

"I don’t know baby," you felt his hands on your thighs again. "I really don’t think it’s a good idea.”

He squeezed your thighs, his eyes growing darker and the bulge under his pants, pushing hard at his zipper.

“Please, fuck me, Mr. Nakamoto,"

"You’re the only one that can satisfy me,”

"I really need your cock,"

You were practically a mess by the time, begging so desperately for what you've been need the past eighteen days.

Yuta let out a laugh through his nose and shook his head, “Although that's a fact, I still think it's just too risky.”

Although he held your thighs firmly in place and used his pink tongue to moisten his lips as he peered down at your cleavage, his body language belied what he had just stated.

You were aware of the risk as well. However, you had another thought. You'd already politely asked him even added a please. He just wanted to continue acting as though he didn't care about you. He wanted you to beg for him.

And you did. Like a whore thirsty for cock, you desperately did.

"I want your cock, Mr. Nakamoto,"

"I don't think a toy will do for tonight,"

"I really fucking need your cock,"

He knew he had the upper hand, "You're gonna have to be patient little one."

You figured he'd hear you pleading with him once more. Of course, with a bargain in mind.

"Sir, I cannot wait now. It hurts," you pouted.

You brought his hand back to your front and held it in place, "Feel me, Mr. Nakamoto. Feel my aching clit hungry for your touch."

He shut his eyes and clinched his jaw as you stared. He was aware that you were playing with him to get what you want. After all, he was already wrapped around your tiny little fingers.

"Oh my sweet, sweet princess,"

"Would Johnny reject my request if I made it?" You asked with a raised brow as your last attempt of seducing him.

"You are such a fucking brat, princess," he shook his head, eyes glaring intensely at yours.

His comments sounded mean but they sounded so good to your ears. Accompanied with a smirk on his flushed face, he pulled your pants with its liner down your legs, tossing it onto the floor, and immediately undid his pants, pulling his cock out from the front of his briefs.

When you first saw his girthy, warm cock unconstrained, you couldn't help but groan. You moved to the edge and positioned your bare feet on the counter top so you were spread out and readily available for him to access as you reached down to touch him. Ready for him to ruin.

"Is this what you were hungry for?" Yuta already had lust in his eyes, His gaze was heavy as he eyed you and cupped his cock in his hand while holding his tip to your wet hole and asking,

"Mhmm," you hummed as you felt the tip of his pulsating cock.

"Wanted to be fucked by a married man in the guest bathroom?"

Fuck, his voice sounds so good.

"Wanted to get with my daughter and wife merely down there?"

So fucking good.

"Wanted me to fuck you with a house full of strangers wondering where I am?" Yuta's strong voice eventually broke through your tight muscle as he spoke lowly into your ear.

"Fuck, yes please, Sir." You desperately nodded, "I don't care if there's people downstairs. All I want is your cock."

"You better be true to your word, sweetheart." Yuta warned you. "Be quiet or else, I'll stop."

"Yes… yes," you mumbled as gently as you could and clung to his shoulders to keep yourself steady, as you gasped at the way his huge cock started to push past your soft and wet walls.

Yuta watched as his cock gently dipped inside your pussy and heaved a trembling breath mingled with a gasp. You were already so drenched in your own juice that Yuta could hear when he pulled back an inch before diving in even deeper.

"Fuck!"

"Can't help myself, Y/N. You're pussy is choking my cock so deliciously."

He started to push and cant his hips, sinking so far into your cunt that each time he came to the bottom, his balls hit you "My sweet girl is doing such an excellent job taking me in."

Yuta pushes in accompanied with either a soft groan or a whimper.

"Ugh, so tight sweetheart,"

Thrusts in.

"Fuck, yes,"

Pulls out.

"Ooh, more please,"

In.

"So good,"

Out.

You were relieved that the only sounds were gasps, pants, and the sound of a pussy being pounded.

Yuta leaned in so he could reach for your lips and fuck you slowly, trying his best to minimize the sound of skin sticking and slapping while you clung tightly to his shoulders.

Your limbs were starting to tire, and your head was spinning from too much pleasure. Your thighs were kept wide by Yuta's painful yet pleasurable grip.

"Fuck, Yuta," You gasped as he released one of your thighs and put his thumb to your clit exactly as you needed, "Right there, Mr. Nakamoto. Don't stop, please!"

This was one of the things you couldn't resist. He always understood your needs perfectly.

"Here?" He smirked as he started to lose rhythm while fucking into you. "Do I make you feel good, baby? Are you gonna come for me?"

"Oh fuck yes," you covered your mouth in an attempt to silence your moans. "So good, Mr. Nakamoto. You're cock fills so fucking good."

Your stomach started to burn and your thighs began trembling as Yuta's lips remained over your mouth and he kept rocking his hips in. You sobbed into his mouth and tightened your hold on his shoulders.

"Such desperate little whore you are," Yuta himself said in a tense, labored voice as he felt his balls contract. "Couldn't even wait for a couple more days,"

He always met his demise too quickly thanks to you. He felt like he was a horny teenager once again every time he was with you. There is no turning back when it comes to you. Your immaculate, tight and slick pussy, complete with bedroom eyes and full lips — he wanted it. He had a similar burning desire for you. He desperately need you.

“Desperate for you, Mr. Nakamoto," You panted and felt the hot decadence of your insides begin to unfurl as Yuta’s thumb expertly rubbed and circled your clit. "Want you so bad. I'll let you ruin me all day and all night."

He sensed you starting to close in on him and, anticipating your climax, "M'coming, Mr. Nakamoto. So fucking close, fuck!"

"Come for me, sweetheart," he covered your mouth with his. "Come all over my hard cock."

You saw stars and writhed onto his thumb as he continued to thrust into you with deep, powerful strokes while he kissed you hungrily. He was couldn't help himself back either at each twitch your cunt made and the slick noises of your pouring orgasm.

"Fuck, baby. I'm gonna come,"

"Come inside me, Sir," you caressed his hair as you came down your own high, "Give it all to me."

"Fuck," He rutted into you forcefully while panting into your mouth, shoving himself so deeply that his come could adequately coat every part of your body. "Oh, feels so good, Y/N."

He slowly drew away from you and then fucked himself back into you until he was balls-deep in you, all of his juices smothered your warm walls.

He pulled your legs up over his hips as he leaned in to kiss you, removing his thumb from your overstimulated clit and placing both hands on your thighs. His cock was still pulsing as he came down, and as he pressed his mouth against yours.

You laughed in his face, "Mr. Nakamoto, we were both desperate for release."

Knowing that he was in the same situation as you made you smile.

You finally dropped your legs as Yuta gently hissed at how sensitive he felt as he pushed himself away from the kiss. It wasn't the same, despite the fact that he had been torturing himself with thoughts of you every night. He desired your pussy to be content, just as you desired for his cock.

Not only his cock, either.

Him.

Mr. Nakamoto was essential.

It started to become an obsession. Your obsession.

Yuta brought his finger up to your lips after dragging it along the area where his come was starting to escape from you. He smiled at your greed as you quickly sucked his warm sperm from his fingers.

Your cheek was lovingly stroked by his knuckles as he said, "You are my sweet daughter, aren't you?"

You chuckled and gave him a sly smile, "You're just too hard to resist, Sir."

"What day off are you taking next?"

"Wednesday. Why?" You gave him an expectant smile.

"Stay free on that day." He handed you your underwear and casually stated, "I'm coming over," before pulling his pants back up.

"What if I already had plans that day?" You hopped down from the counter while grinning as your panties were being dragged up your legs.

He encircled you, palms flat on the vanity counter on either side of your hips lightly pinning you against the counter, "Cancel them."

Why would you refuse? You couldn't even though you should. You even loved to tease him a little, but you weren't going to anyhow. With him, you can never say no. It's the same way as he could never resist you.

"Okay. Fine. My scheduled has been moved, Sir. Considering how lost and hopeless you are without me."

Yuta shook his head and laughed through his nose, "Such a mouthy brat."

He gave you one final kiss before straightening himself up in the mirror and exiting the bathroom as if he hadn't just screwed his daughter's best friend while his spouse and other relatives were present.

You groaned and smiled as you turned to face the mirror. Such a mistake. But he was in such excellent spirits.

And even though he was married, you were well aware that he belonged to you.

#nct #nct127 #nctnation #smartist #nakamoto yuta #nct yuta #nct smau #nct smut #nct imagines #nct scenarios #kpop smut #kpop scenarios #nct u #nct universe #nctzen #czennie

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felixcloud6288 · 2 days ago

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Dungeon Meshi Chapter 58

I've been waiting to learn more about Izutsumi.

More evidence that there's another party in the lower depths.

At this point in time, the Canaries should have already blocked access to the dungeon, and no other adventuring parties have managed to reach this far down. Chapters 53-55 would likely have taken place several days ago, so this and the campfire from chapter 50 would likely be from the Canaries. If Kabru's still alive, he'll probably have been taken prisoner if they found him.

Since Laios's team hasn't met the other party yet, that might mean there's more than one way to reach the dwarf city. Maybe there are several trolleys.

It seems a bit out of nowhere that Izutsumi is getting so impatient, but I want to point out that Marcille has had the same hair style since chapter 56. So the day has actually seen almost no progress. They started by hunting a bicorn for meat only for Laios to surrender most of it to a dullahan. And they also got held up because Laios had been seriously injured.

And Izutsumi is probably also still annoyed at the party's antics when trying to hunt the bicorn. She's frustrated over everything that's happened today.

Izutsumi traveled with Shuro before joining the party. She's seen first-hand what happens when you don't pace yourself. And there's less reason to rush things since they're not dealing with a time limit right now.

I guess the only takeaway Izutsumi got from traveling with Shuro is that it's annoying to be the one who has to do things at someone else's pace.

Izutsumi has an amazing sense of balance. She's not only able to walk on the guard rails, she's able to do it while wearing a backpack. She knows how to adjust her balance to accommodate the extra weight.

Also, good on the ancient dwarfs for having an ancient dwarf OSHA.

Since joining them, Izutsumi has been dealing with the party's general dysfunctionality. Either she was the one who fought monsters, or someone else did. She's not had a moment like the red dragon fight where everyone had to work together to overcome a challenge.

So maybe Izutsumi really does think she can do everything on her own since she's not experienced something she genuinely cannot do.

Or maybe she's just being a bratty teenager.

Succubi have been alluded to previously. They were a type of shapeshifter in MMT6 and Senshi mentioned something like them in chapter 49.

"I thought they'd died out in this dungeon too." This line implies succubi had been discovered in this dungeon and sightings had stopped at some point. But also, Laios is apparently aware of the ecosystem of several other dungeons. I wouldn't be surprised if there's something like National Geographic where researchers write articles about various dungeon environments. Laios would totally subscribe to it.

And he has such a sad face when he talks about the succubi dying out. That is the face of a biologist learning that a rare species of parasitic wasp has gone extinct.

Marcille and Chilchuck are understandably scared about facing a succubbus. Izutsumi is mad that Laios implied she can't take it on by herself.

Izutsumi is the straight man in this circus of clowns.

I swear, if the succubus that got Laios disguised itself as a minotaur...

Izutsumi: Ace icon

Chilchuck is definitely speaking from experience about how succubi work.

Oh Chilchuck hit a nerve. Everything about Izutsumi's behaviour, especially with respect to food, indicated a horrible upbringing and it is indeed as bad as expected.

Several of her previous owners probably withheld or took food from her and gave her the worst scraps of anything. I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't even toilet-trained when Shuro's father bought her.

From the look of things, Izutsumi has spent most of her life under the Nakamoto household. Despite years with them, she never developed any loyalty to Shuro or kinship with his other retainers (with the exception of getting along with Tade to a degree). Maizuru simply replaced her cage with a leash.

Izutsumi is angry with Chilchuck since he struck a particular nerve with her, but she doesn't hate him. She came running back as soon as she heard him in danger.

Wow. All of them got got. In case you can't tell, I kind of don't like this arc cause the party has been amazingly incompetent.

Along with being blonde, all the succubi targeting Chilchuck have roughly the same face. He doesn't confirm if their appearance has anything to do with his wife, but I want to guess they look like her but are blonde since Chilchuck has a thing for blondes.

They all have different hairstyles too. Nothing elaborate like Marcille's hair.

The protagonist from The Daltian Clan!?

Succubi can read subconscious thoughts and mimic what a person desires. Despite the succubus targeting Marcille being able to talk, succubi might not necessarily have the intelligence to speak normally. All the succubi targeting Chilchuck just jumped him, so they probably mimic both the appearance and behaviour needed to safely approach a victim.

Marcille wants a gallant knight to appear and call her a princess. Chilchuck just wants hot babes to get naked and throw themselves at him.

I would not blame her if Izutsumi decided to abandon the others to die at this point.

In chapter 56, Izutsumi mentioned hating rats cause they taste nasty. Turns out, she had to eat them out of desperation.

Izutsumi really didn't want to eat monsters at first because she thought it signified desperation. She lived her early life in such horribly abusive situations that she had to eat rats to survive. Eating monsters likely had the same connotation as eating rats did - you'd only eat that if you're desperate and forced to. And since she'd always been a slave, she was forced to eat such things.

Back in chapter 44, Izutsumi accused Laios of hoarding the good food. And she probably thought that he was indeed doing that because her experience was the person at the top would always keep the good food for themselves and make the others eat whatever leftover scraps they didn't want, if they gave them anything at all.

It's been gradual, but Izutsumi has shown she's willing to behave better and doesn't act bad around mealtimes. Senshi has made a conscious effort to ensure she enjoys her food and won't force her to eat something she doesn't like. When they first met, Senshi gave her a lecture about holding her spoon properly, but he took as gentle an approach as he could while also fighting a hag, and he focused on why it's important to use her utensils properly rather than demand she do so. He didn't say anything about how she used chopsticks; Izutsumi decided to learn how to use them on her own.

Even though nothing is stopping her from leaving, she's deciding to stay and protect the others because they're the first people who have been letting her roam free and enjoy food the way she likes.

back

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi readthrough

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alphaketoglutaricacid · 7 months ago

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think hien and toshiro can rekindle their friendship tho now they theyve both got some experience under their belt. Their approaches to things compliment each other (empathy + diplomacy/trickery and being decisive and tackling things head on). They both got a sense of duty to their house and their roles tho toshiros much more ambivalent to his role as a heir, but I think he does genuinely care for the ppl in his house but its like well. Hand gestures Avoidant issues Daddy issues Agency issues. They both got friends they get on well with who have traits of the other respectively. They seem to be eyeing the rift and each other across it for awhile. Theyre both unreasonably harsh on each other but in ways that are like. Well they have a good grasp of each others flaws bc they grew up together. U kinda get the feeling these started as petty grievances that have simmered in there for years . Hien thinks hes unreliable and he is indecisive at crucial moments BUT with the support of ppl around him to remind him get back into the fray he does come up with clever solutions. Get the impression toshiro finds her insensitive and unsympathetic to others and just shut her out as a result BUT shes the one that questions the inconsistencies of how ppl categorize who is human and who as not and u can see the gears in her head turning when maizuru tells her about the hag curse.

Toshiro seems to be sensitive to the difference in social standing that hien is less so bc shes like well were childhood friends after all. But shes aware of it for sure. But he genuinely wants to engage w his retainers as equals and in many ways hien sees them as equals. And theyre both right I think, in that you have to be aware of those power differentials but also that shouldnt stop u from genuinely engaging w others and these formal standings arent so rigid (lookit maizuru after all who certainly has power n influence over shuro as his teacher and the person who raised him and even more broadly over the operations of the nakamoto household.). Anyways, grudges by paramore.

#dungeon meshi spoilers #Fun tense relationship that CAN be resolved for the better #I like the amount of ambivalent relationships in here… like wow. These are complicated! Keeping up w the nakamotos

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mkashiii · 9 months ago

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fumifooms · 10 months ago

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The Nakamoto household - facts & theories masterpost

Table of contents:

the hierarchy & general situation

The parents

The Maizuru situation

The siblings

The other retainers

Izutsumi

Toshiro

Conclusion

I also made tldr summary charts here. This post is about collecting facts about the setting and characters, but it’s gonna be a lot of analysis on what it means through the lens of Toshiro as well, his relationship and place in everything etc etc. They have entangled drama the scale of Daltian Clan. Things are so interwoven it’s hard to keep topics neatly in their own section, because of this pictures may be relevant at several point of this but I mostly won’t be putting them in twice, you might have to do some scrolling up while reading if you want the visual proof to accompany statements. Unlike with Chilchuck’s family there’s less ambiguousness and more intricate details and implications so it’s less theorizing & headcanoning and more stringing together all the crumbs canon gave us. I also dig into some cultural parallels, especially since characters from Wa are the most culturally coded in the series. Also disclaimer that I’ll be calling Shuro Toshiro through this whole thing because that’s his actual name & Shuro isn’t even a nickname he’s shown to like, for accuracy’s sake. The servant girls have real names but are always called by their code names so I’ll call them as such, except for Izutsumi who was named Asebi which I won’t be using.

The general situation

To start off, what’s the situation in canon? All three kids of the head of the house, the three sons (Toshiro and his two younger brothers), are sent out on a vague mission to find something interesting for his father to pick the heir. Each son is thus on their own journey, out with their own group of retainers for an unsure length of time, during canon it’s been 2 years that Toshiro left the house for this mission, and they seemingly all drifted towards dungeons. It’s important to remember that this state of things is the exception and not the rule, and before this the sons lived at home and had different uses of their time, and the retainers had other jobs than care after them. See the next paragraph.

The household offers ninja services, no exaggeration or misuse of the term, mostly spyint but also "covert maneuvers" which could include anything including assassination of people high up. That’s the job of their servants/retainers at least, the heads themselves are more like managers probably, possibly samurais themselves though especially since as we see with the heirs (besides the samurai armor) they also got trained in fighting as their skills showcase. I need to dig into the history of samurais more before I can draw the parallel confidently though. The Nakamoto household is noble/wealthy, distinguished as the Adventurer’s Bible puts it, but it works for and puts its service at use for "their local lord". It buys servants, but also has families who have served it for generations like with Hien. The comic shows that there aren’t only women servants, it’s just the ones we see all happen to be because Toshiro’s retainers are only a small team of all of Nakamoto’s servants.

Above, in a page showcasing characters’ relationships with their party leader: 父親の部下を借りている状態なので、距離がある。Doubtlessly there must be a translation of this already somewhere but I’m lazy and impatient so I turned to machine translation instead, this translates into: "Since he is borrowing his father's subordinates, there is a distance between him and them". Calling the servants retainers is what most of the fandom does and it’s accurate so I’ll be calling them this.

Hien and Toshiro were childhood friends which means the servants do have some degree of contact not even just together but with the heirs too, or maybe just specifically Hien, since both their parents were ninjas for the Nakamotos she ended up getting raised there and they let her play with him as an exception? They did end up drifting away as adults as their relationship got more professional, so it’s possible. The servants eat and sleep in shared spaces, separate from the masters, though Maizuru has her own bedroom, if the room configuration at the in is to be believed + it’d make sense since she’s governess/head servant. I’m hesitant wether to say it’s implied that this group of 4 retainers was always a bit of a team or it wasn’t and got formed for Toshiro specifically. We know that Benichidori had little contact with Toshiro before they were sent out together for example, but we do see all three girls with Izutsumi in Inutade’s extra when they were younger, and them eating in the same japanese styled room etc. The inn they stay at on The Island is western styled though they do have futons rather than beds (there’s only one bed in their shared room and Hien has it because of her rank).

From Izutsumi’s Adventurer’s Bible profile: "Maizuru, who was also Shuro's governess, is the one thing Izutsumi fears. After Izutsumi was taken in by the Nakamoto family, Maizuru forced her through a harsh training regimen of speech, common sense, and fighting skills. Since Izutsumi refused to listen to her, Maizuru set a curse on her that would activate if Maizuru didn't touch her within a set time frame: "Ninja Art: Babysitter." "

Maizuru, called a governess, is the one training the girls, at least some of them, we know for a fact she was the one to train Izutsumi for example, and in general she’s the one in charge of the ninja girls we see. She was a ninja herself but retired from frontline missions, but has a central role managing the servants instead. Inutade for example is strong but not stealthy, and it’s said that it’s Maizuru’s job to choose how to train her and what role to give her in consequence. Her training includes manners but fighting as well, notably kunais and martial arts. Hien is shown to use bombs and Benichidori is implied to be good at disguises, Inutade uses a bold weapon like a club but it’s implied with "ogres and clubs just go together" and Maizuru not knowing where to put her to use that it’s uncommon for Nakamoto servants to use those. Their board game artworks also show their specialties neatly. When brought into the household, the servants are given new names and their whole lives become devotion to the house and their duties. The names might be intended to act as code names due to them being ninjas? It’s implied that they never use their non-code names anymore once they start serving the household. Maizuru’s training also contains language and "common sense"… Critical thinking? As well as implied etiquette. This isn’t surprising, as she was the one put in charge of raising not only Toshiro but his brothers as well.

Oh yes I want to mention that all the retainers’ "first deaths" are in the dungeon during canon, considering our main cast we’re used to death being permissible because dungeons make resurrections possible, but it’s relevant to remember that these people never died before. Never. These girls are professionals, ninjas with a sometimes very dangerous job. Messing up means death, permanently.

From what we see and with who we see, the hierarchy is:

Father (head of house, his word goes)

Mother (has status which puts her wishes above others’ and give her some control over the house, it’s unsure how much though, but hierarchy wise she’s very much above the rest but below the father)

Maizuru (governess, in charge of (at least some) servants and raising Toshiro. Two dots)

Hien (leader of their squad, trained servant from a family devoted to the Nakamotos. Two dots)

Benichidori (trained bought servant. Two dots)

Inutade and Izutsumi (bought servants. Power wise from their rank it’s unsure just how much the difference between Inutade (who has one dot), Izutsumi (who has none) and Benichidori (who has two) is, since Hien is team leader between the four servants at least that’s measurable. Inutade gets some janitor duties, and Izutsumi has a curse put on her so she doesn’t run away I suppose. Power wise it’s unsure, but socially/role wise Inutade and especially Asebi are treated worse.)

I didn’t add the sons because I’m talking more generally about the power structure and it’d depend on each sibling, like Toshiro’s wants and directives during canon trump Maizuru’s, but Maizuru is also his nanny and manages the girls so she has a lot of importance and sway even on the final decisions.

The parents

I am so pissed I forgot that we know Toshiro’s father’s name, Toshitsugu, from these panels showing the progression of the family tree. I am so pissed I’m adding this halfway into writing this whole thing, I am not gonna go back and replace every "the father" by his name atm.

The father is the part of this puzzle most important yet most shrouded in mystery, or rather a lack of details. What we do know paints a pretty full and vivid portrait: impulsive and cares mainly about his own entertainment. Maizuru calls him a fool, his sons are exasperated and go "This again?" when he summons them saying that they’re boring/dull, everyone knows he’s having an affair and he often has undignified demeanor, but what he says goes so yes Maizuru will take Izutsumi under her wing, yes the sons will be going out right away into the world to find you the 8th world wonder, yes whatever you want lord. He seems to have little care for how his action affects others, like crashing into Maizuru’s room at night and asking she take care of a catgirl, or sending out his sons suddenly with kicks to the butts. He does what he wants hen he wants and others have to comply.

Like we see with Izutsumi and Inutade, he tends to take a liking to slaves here and there and buy them on the spot, usually at entertainment places, like sumo wrestling matches for Inutade and a freakshow for Izutsumi. The Adventurer’s Bible states him acquiring Inutade as "By coincidence, Shuro's father came to see her first match; he liked her and bought her for the Nakamoto family." and Izutsumi as "She was on display as a "cat-girl" in a sideshow when Shuro's father took an interest in her and bought her." In Maizuru’s extra, he calls Izutsumi a "souvenir" he got for her, and he’s drunk so it could well be assumed that buying Izutsumi was a drunken whim, and that he mitht be alcoholic. You can’t really say that he picks them out because he sees potential in them to be a ninja or would be useful, since with Izutsumi she had no fighting training and Inutade doesn’t fit the skills they seek like stealth and she has trouble fitting in. You could assign noble goals to him like maybe wanting to help or relating to the misfits, but I think with what we see of him it’s more likely that he likes to pick up "oddities", like a catgirl at a freakshow or an ogre, especially since one of the only things we know of him is he wants his sons to bring back interesting trophies from their travels. Toshiro, about his father buying Inutade, says: "People in power desire ogre as servants, and ogres are chosen as opponents in tests of strengths or military exploits. My father bought her for similar reasons."

Also from this we can infer that he goes out to events often, like circus and sumo wrestling, again mostly for entertainment from what we see. I like to think it’s implied that he used to travell maybe still does, due to his own liking for it as a test and because he visits various places like the sideshow, plus his forearm scars in Toshiro’s extra… But him being a samurai in service of a lord could definitely explain that.

This all paints an interesting picture doesn’t it… The Nakamoto’s lifestyle is super encased in rules and social propriety, duty and hierarchy. Old noble man who’s been surrounded by propriety all his life and just wants some spark of interesting stuff happening amongst the humdrum of his lavish cushioned life at home, and is shitty to people around him in consequence and due to his privilege allowing him to. He’s despicable, but from his 3 appearances he becomes an interesting well-fleshed character, at least proportionally to the screentime he gets…

We also know that the affair with Maizuru is well known at least inside the household, so there’s no genuine secrecy around the topic. Makes sense that the wife would hate her guts.

Ahh yes the mother. Little is known about the mother, except that from Maizuru’s profile "Shuro’s mother can’t stand the sight of her, to the point where there are areas on the property Maizuru is forbidden to enter. Maizuru, however, is impressed by his wife’s strength of character." From this I glean that she does have enough power/respect in the house that she can make rules like where Maizuru is allowed to go. Also the implication that otherwise Mazuru would have access to EVERYWHERE in the house despite being only a (high-ranking) servant is a bit interesting. Wether the mother’s "strength of character" is overt and hot-headed or understated and cool-headed is unsure, but I imagine the latter more. I could see Maizuru’s angle in many ways, from being able to tolerate "that fool" aka the father both just in general and with knowing that he’s cheating on her, to knowing how hard it is to be respected as a woman and admiring her putting up with it all and still being able to have sway in the household. This is I think the only mention of the mother anywhere. Doesn’t seem like she is an important figure to Toshiro at all: in fact we hear about her on Maizuru’s profile, and seeing all of this we can see the importance of her in Maizuru’s backstory and life, moreso than Toshiro’s. I imagine she’s a bit of a recluse, which is part of why Maizuru not being allowed to roam the full house is important, because them running into each other at the house is high.

It’s unsure how much contact the parents have with their kids. What we know is that they left the principal tasks of raising the kids, or at least Toshiro, to servants. Toshiro’s profile says that he’s more attached to Maizuru than his parents, and that’s the phrasing. From the comic where their father summons the sons, it does seem like they’re more or less used to interacting, with the sons’ "This again?". So it’s not that they’ve only interacted with them few times enough to count on fingers, but how meaningful were those interactions? From Toshiro’s profile we know he has a complex where he thinks he’ll never get recognition from his father or be able to measure up to him… But is that more born out of secondhand gossip and expectations, or from direct interactions with him that made him feel that way? Likely a mix of both, especially since the father does seem to be very dismissive, uncaring and insulting with his sons. Oh, but it’s definitely notable that in the Hag monster tidbit (below in Maizuru’s section) six years old Toshiro runs to his father scared shitless for help against the shikigami, and his father casually helps him without batting an eye. Toshitsugu knows how to deal with Maizuru’s shikigamis, and he does so efficiently and without any sense of worry or urgency. Although the event traumatized Toshiro and he was very scared, it doesn’t seem like his father offered any comfort, beyond just helping getting rid of it and letting him cower behind him without comment. Toshitsugu gives hungover vibes in that one imo haha. It’s shown he was already training as a ninja, perhaps this event only reinforced Toshiro’s complex, seeing his father, the samurai the achieved man who has expectations for him, so unfazed and uncaring like that.

The Maizuru situation

Let’s establish a timeline first. It’s left vague how much time she’s served the Nakamoto family for, or how she came to be in their service. The central point is that "She was put in charge of raising their children at a young age". If straight from his birth, Maizuru started taking care of Toshiro when she was 15 years old. If from toddler age, then 16. It’s uncertain if when she stopped getting front-line espionage missions, but we know it’s late rather than early despite having kid raising duties. But well, since she’s also in charge of the ninjas she’s definitely has a multitasking role even now.

The dad prob has around 5-10 years more than Maizuru, I’d say. We only see half of his face and only a good few years in the past, around ~3 years ago probably with the shuro quest and a good 7 years with Izutsumi as a kid, but visually those are the vibes I’m getting. From Toshiro’s birth, it’s possible that the father was 15 when the baby was born too? But conception would have been closer to 14 years old then, and yeah I don’t think they marry and have kids that young. Toshiro is 26 years old in canon and is unmarried, and the heir hasn’t been officially picked, so marriage and kids don’t seem to be in the family’s priorities. Even if Maizuru do say that the father would love if Toshiro brought back a wife.

Now the elephant in the room: she has an on-and-off affair with the father and it has been si for many many years, at LEAST 7 years since that’s when we see that comic of him going into her chambers about Izutsumi, and in the comic above, Hien in that panel has an ambiguous age. Regardless it’s definitely implied that it’s a long, long-standing thing. Hien’s phrasing above makes it sound as if it’s not purely physical, as if feelings are involved, "he’s head over heels for his confidante", and who knows if this relationship is part of why Maizuru was chosen to be the governess, or even hired at all.

It’s in the feud with his father that we learn about maizuru’s affair and how after learning it he started shutting her out emotionally. It’s left vague when Toshiro learned about it, Hien made it sound as if everybody always more or less knew but I don’t think Toshiro started shutting her out when he was still pretty young. Regardless, the two are implied to be linked, his dislike of his father/complex and how he stopped getting along well with Maizuru/being emotionally open with her. Is it that he now feels as though Maizuru is actually on his father’s side and not his own, that after all if she had to choose she’d pick him over Toshiro too? Or is it that, because his father’s known to be a self-centered frivolous jerk, that knowing she lets it happen, "can’t seem to shake it", he respects her less? He has an irresponsible reputation and she does give off the vibe of needing to clean up his messes, so that wouldn’t be unplausible either.

On the flipside from her perspective, since he learned she was his dad’s mistress he emotionally shut her out, which can partly explain why she’s SO fussy with him and happy at the slightest hint of happiness or compliance, like when he listens to her and eats, or maybe even being happy that he lets her help him dress and keep tidy (imo this is supported by how they interact in the page showing him interacting with all his party members). She wants to regain that closeness they once had and for her baby chick to be alright as he’s slipping through her fingers. Man so sad to think about him rejecting her when he’s the only thing in her life. She’s raised him for 26 years, no wonder she’s so attached to him, the only thing in her life she feels true unconditional attachment for. Maizuru says that she thinks Toshiro’ll be a better head of the house than the father, too. The respect and care is somewhat onesided, given freely from her side but repressed from his end. When she cares for Toshiro is when her demeanor immediately and drastically softens. She gets easily carried away when it comes to him, rambling enthusiastically or smiling widely or tearing up. Her tendency to ramble or tell anecdotes about Toshiro is shown making Hien and Benichidori go "Here she goes again…" twice through canon.

With Izutsumi’s timeline we see Izutsumi was taken into the Nakamoto household at 10 yo, and since in the comic with Maizuru and the dad she’s shown as stinky and all I imagine she arrived there the same day, so Maizuru was in charge of her since she was first here. In fact if we assumed that it’s the same day as when he bought her at the circus show, then we could assume that buying her was a drunken whim like mentioned.

Since Izutsumi was taken in at 10 and she’s 17, this would mean that Maizuru is 34 years old here. She looks younger without makeup, but lower than that is mathematically impossible besides maybe 33 if Maizuru and Izutsumi’s birthdays line up just right.

Time for the second elephant in the room!!

Maizuru’s magic

Maizuru is the only person in the Nakamoto household, anyone from Wa really, who we see using magic, I doubt she’d be the only one who can use magic in the household but as the governess it wouldn’t be unplausible I suppose. From what we see, the magic is estimated by Marcille to be an "appropriation of gnomic magic" with an eastern script. For my analysis of written magic (though with only a brief glance over Maizuru’s magic), see this post.

If you scroll up and read the little section on Maizuru’s profile, Ninja art: babysitter: "One of the curses put on Izutsumi is Ninja Art: Babysitter, which manifests as a terrifying hag shikigami. Unless Maizuru touches the victim within a set time frame, this terrible curse makes a hag appear and chase them around with a carving knife. Maizuru originally created it in an attempt to keep Shuro from getting lost, but it ended up traumatizing him…"

From Izutsumi’s profile: "Maizuru, who was Shuro’s governess, is the one thing Izutsumi fears. […] Since Izutsumi refused to listen to her, Maizuru set a curse on her that would activate if Maizuru didn’t touch her within a set time frame: "Ninja Art: Babysitter." It was put on her when she was 12. Since Toshiro had it as a kid, presumably the curse can be lifted off rather easily, Marcille was confident on reverse engineering it as well. It’s unsaid what the time frame is, it’s kept vague everywhere and Izutsumi herself says "who knows" how long it is. Izutsumi ran away despite the very real risk of it killing her. Essentially, Maizuru can put people in a timebomb collar

… MAIZURU WHAT THE HELL

As we might have expected, Maizuru being given the task of rasing a child at 15 did not go perfectly. This, a babysitting technique??! This comic happens when Toshiro was 6 and so Maizuru was 21. Interesting to note that Toshiro didn’t even know it was Maizuru’s doing before this conversation during canon, and he doesn’t know how to bring it up or deal with it how it affected him. Maizuru seems surprisingly uncaring of Toshiro’s feelings on the matter here, oblivious to his conflict her and fondly recalling it all.

This curse is a shikigami. From her profile: "A shikigami user, Maizuru has a variety of shikigami that have been sealed in paper as her servants. Her favorite seems to be Gyuki, a bull ogre." Now don’t ask me when Gyuki appears, I do not remember it. But before we go into the cultural/historical basis for this practice, let’s take a second to recognize the parallel that Maizuru has servants she keeps sealed unless useful in the moment, even despite having enough "attachment" to have a favorite. She’s the governess in charge of the other servants, and she has shikigamis, which she has used on the heir and the runt at the bottom of the hierarchy alike.

Shikigami, in traditional japanese folklore, are conjured to exercise risky orders for their masters, such as spying, stealing and enemy tracking. Shikigami are said to be invisible most of the time, but they can be made visible by binding them into small, folded and artfully cut paper manikins.

Shikigamis are from onmyodo, onmyoji is a profession-legal title historically but it’s what you call a practitioner of onmyodo, and so I feel content in saying that Maizuru is an onmyoji, or based on it. Her outfit reminds me of a shinto priest. It’s interestingly closer to a shinto priest outfit than a miko/shrine maiden’s (in picture below, 2 instead of 5), and I feel like red being chosen for the inner sleeve is a very charged decision since the white & red color combo is the shinto clothes color combo. Especially white clothes with red inner sleeve. Shinto priests can be women nowadays but they’re rare, and onmyojis can be considered shinto priests though it’s a more complex than that. Image below as example, source. Now I don’t think Maizuru has the role or prestige of a priest at all- But the association with onmyodo and spirituality is definitely meant to be made I think. Onmyojis are usually clothed similarly to this.

The babysitter ninja art seems to be based off of the hannya yokai. "They were once human women who were consumed by jealousy and transformed into demonesses", twisted by anger and resentment. Interesting considering her being a mistress to a man whose wife hates her. Hannyas are associated with wisdom because of its name, but there is nothing positive about them. At its highest level of "demonic corruption" if I can call it that, their body tend to become serpentine, fun link to make with her name being from the snakeberry plant.

Other cultural ties or symbolism on Maizuru’s character could be found in the motif of cranes due to her sleeves, in the tales of the crane wife, origami cranes (called orizuru, from deformation of 鶴 "tsuru" aka "crane". All names are written in katakanas in Dungeon Meshi, but thus if we had had the kanjis it’s possible her name would have been written with the kanji for crane), tennyos, and japanese crane symbolism in general. I thought cranes might have been associated with motherhood, but seemingly not in japanese culture at least, I was thinking of storks haha.

Ok speaking of her name. Maizuru is the name of an existing japanese city (舞鶴), meaning "dancing crane". From @room-surprise’s work in progress research paper on Dungeon Meshi characters’ names: "Maizuru is her ninja code name, and comes from “maizurusou”, which is maianthemum dilatatum, the snakeberry plant/two-leaved Solomon's seal/false lily of the valley. Lily of the Valley is a plant associated with motherhood and virtue… So Maizuru being a false Lily of the Valley implies that she is a false, replacement mother, and also hints at the way that Toshiro became cold towards her when he realized she was his father’s mistress, and not a pure, virtuous mother-like figure that he thought she was. Also, lilies are toxic to cats, which makes sense since Maizuru and Izutsumi have an extremely bad relationship." For more details I’ll leave it up to Room when the paper is ready to be released. Edit: It’s out!! Click here! Incredible meta that goes into a ton of details not only about Maizuru.

So some big themes of her character are: (false) motherhood, spirituality/magic, control, cranes, woman’s jealousy.

The siblings

Alriight so besides Toshiro the eldest at 26 years old, there is Toshiyuki (Toshitsuge in one fantranslation) the middle son and Toshizane the youngest (Toshikage in one fantranslation). They were all said to be raised by Maizuru. "A strange level of distance" is interesting. Why strange? I feel like this implies they do interact regularly, and that they’re all rather civil wirh each other, but they still have little bond to speak of. That wouldn’t surprise me, especially since even inside the family etiquette and propriety and rules are enforced, the summoning by his father feels very formal and they all listen to him standing in silence despite having snappy inner thoughts. It’s unsure if they were largely raised together or apart, but since Maizuru was their (at least main) caretaker/governess it implies that they were imo. They were put in competition with each other for the title of heir to the house, though it’s unsure to what degree. It’s examplified by their family all having names that start with "Toshi" that the legacy is very important and thrust upon them, cogs in a machine almost. They all think the same thing when their father summons them and has a spiel, so they’re used to the same sort of treatment and they are indeed brothers for being on similar wavelengths haha.

Toshiyuki, as seen in the comic about his retainers, the poor soul sent into Darkest Dungeon, is brattish. Rude, selfish and rather lecherous, does not hesitate to be mean to his retainers and complain he wasn’t given women retainers. Visually he looks what, 14 years old top. I wonder if Maizuru stopped using her babysitter ninja art on the heirs after it traumatized Toshiro, and if so maybe that explains why Toshiyuki Knows No Fear In His Heart™️ and that’s why he can spout off stuff like that.

The retainers for the youngest brother, Toshizane, don’t seem to be as clad in ninja gear as the other two, seems like the priority is to take care of the very young young master there? Rather than truly go adventuring and dungeoneering, perhaps. Not that it’s ever said by anyone that their quest is to go into dungeons specifically, only to find something "interesting" to bring back, but both Toshiro and Toshiyuki are shown to have ended up drifting into dungeons. Toshizane looks young, I’d clock him 8 years old personally. He’s drawn looking rather innocent, especially the headshot doodle above and in the Toshitsuge complaining about his retainers comic. ALTHOUGH on the latter, interestingly as we see with Toshiro having a smug smirk in that same panel (or alternatively a smug indifferent/uncomfortable "i don’t care about this, even though you want it so much" look which at the very least is very exaggerated from how he emotes in reality), it’s Toshiyuki’s unreliable/exaggerated vision of his brothers and it doesn’t necessaeily reflect reality, though it’s still interesting to note that that’s the vision Toshiyuki has of his brothers/the impression Toshizane gives off. That can imply juicy dynamics for the brothers, for example if Toshiyuki feels as though he’s in competition with his brothers, feels superior to them, that instead of pushing the shitty family dynamic angst onto his father he puts the blame for it all onto Toshiro. Toshizane seems maybe too young to notice the tensions and seriousness around him, maybe more coddled… IS WHAT I WOULD SAY BUT in the comic where their father send them away he’s as well-behaved and serious as the others, so clearly he has a grasp on his role.

When talking about which retainers go with who, it’s said it was the father’s choice. I’d like to assume it wasn’t an airheaded/random choice. Maybe he knew that Toshiyuki would be weird about having women in his team of retainers? And wants to forge their character or protect them in the way they need. Though how Toshiro’s party only has women isn’t only pointed out and commented on by the comic with Toshitsuge but also in the main Dungeon Meshi story, both Marcille and Chilchuck going "his party is fully made up of women", one more loudly than the other haha. So it does feel like a somewhat pointed/purposeful decision, if not that the 4 girls were already a team like I mentioned.

The other retainers

Already made an analysis of Hien and Benichidori’s relationship (+ moment compilation) here. Honestly my juices are exhausted so quick rundown:

Hien’s parents both serve the Nakamotos, so she grew up with the family and was even a childhood friend of Toshiro. She assumed he and her might end up in a Maizuru-Toshitsugu situation ‘just because that’s how things are’/‘it’d be a natural development’ if we’re to believe Hien, ahh what growing up at the Nakamotos’ with those role models will make you believe is normal hah, and was surprised when it ended up not in that way at all. They grew more distant with time, in good part because of the professional nature of their roles in relation to each other (truly a reversal of the Maizuru-Toshitsugu situation). She’s the leader of their lil squad, under Maizuru, she’s very confident and she gets the perks, like getting the bedframe in the shared inn room. For all the details just read her page. She has two dots, showing her rank as a full fledged ninja. I made a more in depth more speculative reading of her in this post.

Benichidori was bought, by "the Nakamotos" so we don’t know who made the final decision. She’s perceptive and submissive, her specialty is implied to be disguise. She never had much contact with Toshiro before she became part of his party. She has facial dysmorphia where she fears the judgement of others if she doesn’t wear makeup and highly values beauty, in her extra her anxiety really shows and she ends up angrily snapping at Hien. Benichidori ends up taking a big liking to Hien and from there on they’re implied to be inseparable. She has two dots, showing her rank as a full fledged ninja.

Inutade is said to worship Toshitsugu because he "saved her" from her horrible life conditions, buying her personally from the sumo matches, she’s extremely grateful to the family and is happy to do any work they give her and is highly satisfied with her current living conditions. She seems to find Toshiro intimidating, though. She was separated from her parents from before she can remember and raised as a sumo wrestler in inhumane betting matches, where her front tooth broke. It seems she has very littke ambitions and dreams besides obeying orders day to day, but after Izutsumi fled away she was happy for her and mused that she’d love to go out and find her one day. They’re so besties Izutsumi gave her a dream of her own I’m sobbing… </3 She has one dot, showing she still has to be attributed her role and earn her stripes.

Their approval rating of their leader. The highest total score from all the parties.

Izutsumi

Sighh where to even begin. Her timeline was put in Maizuru’s section of this post but the rundown is "taken away from parents and turned into a beastkin" at 6 yo (the human half of her soul), "sent to a sideshow on the island of Wa" at 7 yo and bought by Toshitsugu at 10 yo when he took an interest in her when he visited the sideshow. Maizuru put the curse on Izutsumi at age 12, so from then on she always had to not stray much far from Maizuru or risk death, it’s unsure if Inutade’s extra is from before that time, before she was 12, so she could still attempt many many tries to run away. If that’s the case, then Maizuru’s curse was very much treated as a last resort, honestly beyond everything else I can see it being a pain that Maizuru would need to touch her every so often on Maizuru’s schedule as well. The alternative is that, not unlike Kabru who had no regrets dying in a dungeon rather than staying with Milsiril, she’d risk her life to get a taste of freedom. Besides, you know, being a slave and having a timebomb collar with Maizuru’s curse, her frustrations with her life with the Nakamotos is most concisely put in the comic just up above, Inutade’s extra.

She has no dot tattoo, meaning she’s at rock bottom of the hierarchy. It makes sense, since unlike Inutade she’s rebellious and needs threats to obey orders, and even then might try shifty business.

This last part where Izutsumi tries sleeping with Toshiro is most interesting to me. So she’s sought out contact with Toshiro before, she considers him "the stuck-up guy" but she doesn’t exactly hate him. I wonder if this comic is set in the inn on The Island or back at the Nakamoto household, because if that’s the latter it implies that she could get access to his room if she’s sneaky.

Oh oh also, this is fanon but since Toshiro’s weapon is one used usually on horseback, and with the steadfast and upright character of horses I associate Toshiro with horses a bit, though this is wild fanon. What’s interesting is that the plant Asebi was named after is a plant infamous for being toxic to horses. Hehe hehehe he wears a ponytail… Hm now that I think of it hairdos have importance for samurais, should look into that.

Toshiro

God. Ok. Everything was leading up to this guy. Need to split open his head like a geode and vibecheck his brain crystals. Let’s get some interesting details out of the way first.

His weapon is a tachi, not a katana. The wikipedia on tachis is more in depth if you want, but I consider the article I linked to be in deoth and digestible. Tachis are heavier and longer blades than katanas, and make for better horseback weapons than close combat. The way Toshiro uses one instead of a katakana shows that he’s extra strong… And does make sense, since most monsters won’t fight in as close quarters as human fighters. If katanas aren’t a thing in the world yet could make a difference, since tachis were invented first, and once the katana was invented and spread tachis became something more common in higher-ranking samurais. In the monster tidbit of the Hag, it’s shown that even at 6 years old Toshiro was training and learning ninja skills, his first instinct to the shikigami besides running being to fight.

Toshiro knew that Izutsumi wanted to leave, for sure. He may have been sympathetic, if his cryptic look back at her in the ‘Toshiro interacting with his party members’ page means anything. As seen below though, him being sympathetic doesn’t necessarily mean that much. Also, Toshiro had to have known about the curse on Izutsumi, where if Maizuru doesn’t touch her once in a while she’d die. "Asebi must have ran away, leave her" can be seen as subtle support for her to gain her freedom, but it could just as easily be seen as him leaving her behind to die. Because the outcome options are 1) she gets killed by Maizuru's curse, 2) she finds a way to break the spell, 3) she finds a way back to them.

He’s very conflict averse. Wether it be in relationships like with Laios or the status quo. Will not stand up for 99% things including himself. He obeys his father quietly despite his anger and dislike. This is the same guy who can't even get himself to speak up to correct the butchering of his name, the slippery slope that got him tangled in the Laios party seemingly without resistance. It’s very japanese etiquette from even nowadays, never saying a direct no to not be rude. ALSO THAT PANEL, has Toshiro beaten an ogre before?? Is that a brother of his?? Does seem in character for Toshiyuki the most, unless Toshiro was desperate to earn his father’s attention with feats. On the right I’d say the ones in the foreground are two of the brothers, maybe the third being the one to gesture to the ogre. It’s worth noting that inheritance laws during the Edo period often made the heir the son with "the most merit".

When with a goal that’s important to him he’s fine with even starving for it. Although what we see him be like that about in canon is Falin, aka self-admittedly in the post-canon proposal comic "the first person he has liked this much", which for him I feel is like admitting she’s one of the first things he has truly wanted for himself and fought for, soo… It’s more like an exceptional freaking out moment than something that would be recurring, most likely. How disheveled he got is a testament to how much he would forego propriety and rules for people of his status for the person he cares about most. Maizuru says the first personal request he’s (ever?) made was for them to help him rescue Falin.

Which ahh yes, his crush on Falin. I do think idealization plays into it, he doesn’t know Falin that well for sure, but it’s more complex than that too. Falin is pretty and can have an ethereal energy to her, she’s caring and gentle kinda motherly which Toshiro would find soothing I imagine, BUT MOST OF ALL. She’s weird!! She’s just weird enough to allow and be charmed by!! Shuro was fully shaped by his upbringing and environment of nobility, social etiquette and whatnot. Yeah she’s weird and quirky, but still quiet and sweet-mannered enough that he’s like "Yes, she wouldn’t bring shame on my family name". And why would he be charmed by her weirdness? Because all he’s ever known is rules!! Conformity, fitting in!! Unlike the others he knows, she is weird without being overbearing as well. "Woah she’s so different… She’s kind and soft and doesn’t care about fitting in… She is out of this world, she’s free, she shows me a world where tenderness and authenticity is possible…" She’s like his comfort character. MOREOVERRR I had totally forgotten about it, but Toshiro was shown watching a snail behind a bush and losing sight of everything else (like Maizuru calling him) as a kid in the Hag monster tidbit, the moment he fell in love with Falin it was when she looked enthralled at a caterpillar and he mentions how "most girls would have screamed or recoiled in disgust", and in the beach chibis page he’s crouching and collecting shells thinking about Falin… He likes bugs and crawly critters guys, he wishes he could be cottagecore too… It’s a genuine shared interest… . Someone pointed out that Toshiro & Falin’s relationship probaboy references this japanese folk tale, and I think that’s very interesting to note.

And Maizuru is like his mom but it’s a Thistle situation where they can’t just be a normal family and normal affectionate either- and when he learns about his father having a thing with her he feels weirded out. And like. Who knows how much he even got out of the mansion. He got homeschooled. He’s distant with his brothers. The family is in shambles

Shuro’s issue is that he was taught to be perfect and have the upmost respectable behavior, so if something annoys him he has to be righteous about it and that it’s the annoying thing’s fault or moral failing. Bro just let yourself be petty sometimes it’s healthier. With the feud with his father it’s explicitly stated that the pressure and expectations of the family name weigh on him a lot.

But then, that makes his beef with Laios so understandable doesn’t it. Not justified, but explained certainly.

Laios & Shuro and the whole mess coming to a head

I’ve made an analysis of the Laios-Shuro fight from Laios’ pov before, here. This is the Shuro pov analysis. Yes yes in The Fight, Shuro is dehydrated sleep-deprived and underate, he’s majorly off his rocker, BUT his frustration and the underlying issues are still things he felt on any day and it’s interesting to note.

Toshiro has been raised from his birth with the priority of propriety, nobility, etiquette, rules, conforming elegantly, appareances and reputation are everything. He’s modest, humble, quiet, stays in his lane and bottles all his feelings up. Wait who is this loud guy coming up to me being inconsiderate and loud af?? Does he not see me blinking in morse code that I’m not enjoying this and want him to leave?? Was he raised in a barn?? He’s overbearing and rude and way too friendly- He’s weird wtf! Not conforming to basic etiquette is illegal??! And people just… Let him do whateve he wants?? He lives well, no one stops him or kills him?? What the fuck, I’ve followed rules and etiquette thoroughly all my life, and it’s thankless work I get no recognition for, meanwhile he gets to be oblivious af and do whatever he wants without getting clapped?? Resentment, frustration, dislike, anger anger anger, jealousy.

Laios might even remind Toshuro of his dad in a way, because he SEEMS impulsive and like he does whatever he wants without a care to people around him, without thinking of how it might affect them. Doing things without thinking through the Implications. And interestingly this is a bit paralleled to to how Shuro is serious, strict, and big on the duties that come with having a leader role and the family dynamic it brings, like Laios’ own father, who Laios also dislikes… Dealing with his anger towards Laios, especially knowing that Laios doesn’t mean anything bad by it like Toshiro admits, is probably very healing to him. He stops repressing and thinks through his issues a bit, realizes what parts of his life he’s unhappy with and where all the negative feelings come from. I do think he bottles up his dislike for his father a bit, he has to at least for appearances. His beef with Laios is repackaged internalized anger for his father, but it’s ALSO repackaged frustration from his etiquette-bound lifestyle. He says it himself, when Laios is like "You never told Falin how you feel…? Alright, when I can I’ll tell her for you buddy!!", "that’s the part of you that I envy". Laios’ ability to just come out and say what he wants to, what he means. He wishes he could be free of all the rules more, that he had te courage to speak out, like with Inutade, or talking things out with Maizuru, or nit having to act like he’s not angry with his father. This narrative point of Toshiro envying Laios’ ability to say things freely and being frustrated by not being able to himself is ESPECIALLY examplified by their first interactions, the basis of their relationship: Laios enthusiastically befriending him, giving him a bad nickname and roping him into joining his party, with Toshiro never turning it all down despite wanting to, too hesitant to act possibly rude.

And now is time for the laishuro addendum… Because of personal experiences it’s a bit of a sensitive spot to me so while I see timelines in which I enjoy it I’m very picky… This is all further theorizing from me btw I’m not pushing my view here onto ppl as facts, but I think there’s more interesting bits and scenarios to bite into here. Laishuro has very cute and sweet potential. I personally don’t see the "Oh wait Laios is just girl Falin… 😳" angle because to me if anything that’d just make Shuro disillusioned with Falin lol, but like yes make Shuro learn that it’s ok to be weird with Laios 🥺 They DO have differences first of all, important ones, especially from Toshiro’s perspective. Laios is overwhelming, whereas Falin is soothing. Laios is loud and asks things of him where Falin is a calm, quiet presence. Laios pushes himself onto Toshiro, whereas Falin is content on just doing her own thing in her corner alone.

Hot take but the ultimate laishuro timeline is the one where he DOESN’T bring Laios back home, because he knows he’ll be seen as an oddity and clown by his father, and he doesn’t want Laios to be treated like the tapdancing monkey there to please and entertain his father the way he himself has always kind of been. Wouldn’t inflict that onto someone he loves. He can recognize when people are taken advantage of (mostly) like Inutade, and it doesn’t settle right with him. He might be especially sensitive to it in Inutade’s case because it’s about seeing his dad in a better light than he deserves, though. His father is his weak spot, THE weak spot.

It gets me so emotional thinking about it actually because seeing Laios played like a fiddle by his father, Laios so happy to find someone who’s enthusiastically listening to him ramble and engaging, would destroy Shuro emotionally I think. Like. On one hand being like "Oh of course my dad would find Laios fun, unlike me his boring son", super angry as coping mechanism for his intense sadness of not having positive parental attention, and then on the other he’d see Laios being treated as a clown and identify with it and that would remind him of how he gets treated similarly which he’s in denial about (more or less, but since he puts up with the family rules and follows along he hasn’t given up on getting recognition. He wants his father’s approval, and he couldn’t blame Laios for being happy with it despite how hurtful that attention truly is without Laios’ knowledge), which would be such an overwhelming conflicted mess of emotions and his worldview would shatter a bit because he has to repress it all even now, and he’d have a breakdown.

And similar deal but if he brought Falin home… Bc ok yes he idealizes her and doesn’t even know her all that well, but like I said imo what he sees in her is that "Woah she’s so different… She’s kind and soft and doesn’t care about fitting in… She is out of this world, she’s free, she shows me a world where tenderness and authenticity is possible…" So meanwhile with Laios he’d have mixed feelings on him getting treated like a clown and identify with it, bringing Falin home and having her be demeaned would be like having his perfect comfort character dunked on and he gets reminded that the world can’t have anything good actually. With both Toudens it’d make his resentment towards his father even worse, he might snap. I’m not the biggest on gendered analysis tbh but Kui evidently does like to do it to some degree, with the genderbending changing their life considerably and different fantasy cultures having different gender roles and all, but Shuro idealizing the Touden sister as something perfect he cannot attain while being jealous and frustrated at Laios for being something he cannot attain is like. So compelling actually. With Maizuru’s hannya of female rage weaponized there could be a theme of pushing the blame and responsibilities of things onto women too, the responsibility to raise and to manage and to dish out the work and to clean after mens’ reckless decisions. Anyways just a tangent.

Shuro on a bad family angst day is everything I love in a blorbo… He can be a lil shitty as a treat to make his healing arc more fulfilling. Toshiro snapping after he sees how they treat Laios/Falin and he gives up the family headship to LEAVE. Maizuru arc where she has to choose between loyalty to the clan and loyalty to Toshiro, will she stay with the boy she raised or go home… To me Maizuru is much less sympathetic than Shuro, but she is pretty tragic and her selfless love for Shuro is her one redeeming quality. Babygirl take no shit no more, but also better yourself and turn your life around please and thank you… She is so evidently taken advantage of but like. What else does she have? So she just takes care of and loves the boy she raised like her own kid and goes about her daily life in servitude and doesn’t think too much about it all.

Shuro is awful a nickname but also, I think Shiro would be a good nickname for Toshiro, because it gets rid of that ‘Toshi’ first part of his name that all the male members of his family share. It severes the link to his father and the tied pressure from his family.

Laishuro brotp turning slow burn romance would be so lovely. I think college au for laishuro would be peak actually… Shuro so is the repressed "I am so normal" guy who has a furry liberation identity crisis arc… I also quite like the potential he’d have with Namari, as both work-oriented misfit foreigners cast out of their homes, and she’s also bolder so it’d be good for him, and he could bring her stability… That’s a topic for another day tho. Even he and falin are sweet tbh, they could have traveled around together even if just as friends… Bc yeah she does value him as a friend at least somewhat, she says she’ll visit him~! Mostly I want Izutsumi-Toshiro brotp fancontent.

Conclusion

The household is very hierarchy oriented, and honestly the system doesn’t seem to make anyone happy, or at least not healthily so. Sighh feudalism.

Obviously their situation are very different, but still Toshiro and Izutsumi react to the same conflict in opposite ways: when a hierarchy and lifestyle of rules and duty is thrust upon them, Toshiro obeys and believes that it’s how things simply are, always having it been drilled into him since being a baby and being privileged enough to live ok with things as they are, meanwhile Izutsumi rages and eventually breaks free and never wants to submit herself to rules or hierarchy ever again, even if that perceived hierarchy is a mutually beneficial professional party dynamic or having a role inside a well-meaning team, like Laios’ party. WHICH IS WHY THEY SHOULD HANG OUT AND HAVE AN ARC TOGETHER. LET HER INFLUENCE HIM TO GET WILDER AND THINK OF HIMSELF MORE. FUCK INHERITING THE HEADSHIP. THE SIBLINGS NARRATIVE.

As always if I find more stuff to add i’ll edit it in. Rn I’m thinking that I’ll look into ninja & samurai feudal history and try to find specific terms that might fit their roles and situations more. I should reread try to cover Izutsumi’s end of the Toshiro-Izu dynamic as well.

I greatly recommend this paper for more excellent meta on all named Dunmeshi characters and their culture!

Ah yes yes, I forgot to talk about it but we don’t know what Toshiro’s retainers have been doing with their time on The Island, especially while he was dungeon diving with Laios and co. Although in the anime’s ed in this shot we see them "stealthily" follow him around, so presumably when he’s not in dungeons they’re tailing his moves.

Afterword here, it has summary charts about the power structure & relationships and complementary pages and artworks, couldn’t put them in here because SIGH 30 pictures per post limit.

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