#and everyone in dun meshi

[hampterguts]

im. so tired rn. i wanted to write out my comparison between scave/ngers rei/gn and dun/geon me/shi but it kinda just keeps coming down to dun/geon me/shi having no depth, feeling like it treats the reader like a child and everyone praises it for absent lesbianisms(look. i LOVE the resurrection scene and the bath scene. but its not enough. theyre still treated like "long-term bestieess >_<!! do NOT get in the way of a LONG TERM GIRL FRIENDSHIP" throughout EVERYTHING. am i the only one who finds it a little frustrating, i love the fans for playing yuri with it but. i feel like its the early 2000s all over again)

while scave/ngers rei/gn seems to actually respect the watchers and is willing to tackle concepts without looking at the camera and saying "we did it. this story is about X" and literally failing to do what they just claimed. scave/ngers rei/gn is willing to depict death. as a constant. as a thing that actively happens. at all. to the main cast. and the TWO masc women!!!! THE LESBIAN MAKEOUT SESSION?? THE WOMEN ARE ACTUALLY GAY HI ARE YOU LISTENING.

[fledbeast578]

Ya know when people were praising the ending of Dungeon Meshi I found it a bit annoying, but people were just happy about a good manga getting a good ending.

But ngl ever since the last episode every dun Meshi post I've seen is vague posting about how Dungeon Meshi is SERIOUS BUSINESS and that this is so SERIOUS has been so annoying. Most likely it's going to get worse until there's some contrarian push and dun Meshi is forgotten as a seasonal anime, as is tradition.

[yeepof]

Sorry to everyone that followed me for dun meshi and I’ve posted nothing but hedges and flash photography LOL

[gleeandshame]

I am a big Marcille girl liked only believer as of now, but I do see how ppl could ship her and the guy. But I think dun meshi is like, Brotp and found family central, excited to see how the relationships of everyone grows

[procrastinatingattorney]

getting emotional over the dun meshi bluray extras of laios imagining what would've happened if he was eaten by the dragon instead and even when he thinks everyone else would give up on him and that no one cares about that him that much, he knows that falin would still risk her life to save him anyway...

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

This is why i make myself cry every time i try and draw a relationship diagram. bc i see an opportunity for more complexity and rub my little hands together and cackle gleefully and take it.

noting down parings and thoughts for some prompts off this list and shout out to my decision to give Tesoro an unrequited love for Muro. Nothing more delicious than making dynamics even more complicated.

[nighttimetapestry]

Round two!!

List 5 things that make you happy! Again!

Okioki Round 2!

Again, in no definitive order, just numbered for ease! 1. I love hobbies! Like, this sounds basic at first lemme explain! I really enjoy the idea of hobbies, just little things to make you happy. I like to pick up new hobbies, or retread old hobbies, or engage in my current hobbies. I like seeing others talk about their niche hobbies or engage in them, and watching them like work on their hobbies! 2. I like passion media! Hobby media? Something like that. The type of media where the person making it is clearly writing or drawing or taking inspiration from their own delve into it! Manga about cooking, like dun meshi or blue period comes to mind! Same for Eizouken and the like! This may sound similar to the above I guess, and there's def overlap in why I enjoy it, but there's always this itch it scratches when a media delves into a niche topic that the creator felt passionate enough to learn and share! 3. I like personal progress. Like, I enjoy roguelites, I dwell on memories I find funny or cringe all the time, and I'm fine with slowly becoming better and stuff but I def have to note how much more fulfilled I feel when like. I can look at something I made and say for certain I have grown from a point in time in my mind. In the same vein when I think I haven't gotten anywhere that impostor syndrome can hit me suuuuper hard. I guess like, everyone wants to succeed at a thing they try, but it feels good to be able to like. Notch a milestone in your memory bank or something, idk 4. Helping to run and organize events for my friends! I don't do it as often lately, but it feels good to like, be approached by someone and fill the role they need. I like to help, even if I'm not always that good at what I do truth be told.

5. Hrmmm struggling to think of one I haven't touched on already. I enjoy trying out new TTRPGs on a whim? Something fun about avoiding weeks to months of planning and just rolling with it. My heart goes out to Rusty for the number of times I just nabbed them out of the blue and went, "Hey, we should do a TTRPG oneshot, okay? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧" Sorry Rusty, I will do it again.

[zzolton]

i love dun meshi so much that i watch it individually with everyone i care about. my mom hates it so i made a deal where everyttime i cuss we watch a period drama together and every time she cusses we watch an episode of dun meshi together. ive gotten her 1 time so far. other wise i have watxhed it by myself 3 times. its not even fully out. if laois was real i would date him. if falin was real i would date her. if chilchuck and i were the same age irl i would date him. same with senshi. i wouldnt date marcille because im too much like her in too many ways that matter and i dont like it

[readymades2002]

you can really tell which panels i worked harder on anyway i don’t know if this is as funny after rereading the comic but well i wanted to finish it. he makes me laugh

[nikster1111]

i think i posted about this before but also the blind trust marcille has for laios is so apparent!!! when she was incapacitated and they were feeding her she literally had no idea what they were giving her and still ate it. didn’t even question it too much.

from the first episode/chapter both chilchuck and marcille were the most outwardly loyal and patient out of all the characters with him 😭😭

i genuinely don’t think anyone in the dun meshi universe hates laios. maybe except for thistle (i’m not caught up rn) like bro even befriended orcs and talks about it like it’s normal.

if a character is written well, they won’t just be one way to a person the whole time. as the story progresses and the status quo shifts the character’s thoughts and opinions WILL reflect this…. with that being said yes it is normal to get mad at someone you love. yes it is normal for some people to be awkward with and still want to protect the person. yes it is normal to have conflicting opinions with people and still want to work with them.

but anywho i think this makes laios interesting because people know he’s weird and Not Normal but they don’t hate him for it or anything. like… a good way to make a protagonist that everyone loves but also make it so that not everyone likes him.

"(blank) hates laios!" WRONG WRONG WRONG. SHUT THE FUCK UP

shuro is just as awkward as laios and it is made So clear he considers him a friend and likes him. he defends him when the canaries start talking shit and actively readies himself to physically fight them so they dont get to him.

namari also likes laios. she respects him as a leader and also defends him and readies to fight the canaries.

ive not actually seen anyone claim izutsumi hates laios, but a lot of ppl Are weird abt them. izutsumi and laios' relationship was rocky at the beginning. he struggled to figure out how to interact with her. but by the end, she actively seeks him out to talk with during the lead up to the feast. she hides behind him when falin wakes up. she has already realized shecan do what she wants and does not need to stick around, yet she does. she sleeps near him on the windowsill, waiting with him and marcille for falin to wake up. she has accepted him as part of her life and wants to keep him in it.

marcille does not hate laios. let me say this again.

Marcille Donato Does Not Hate Laios Touden.

marcille Loves him. in a platonic, familial sense. laios returns this just as readily. she yells at him. she whacks him. she tells him whats on her mind. she uses healing magic to ease his pain during the parasite fiasco. she reattaches his leg when he loses it. she teaches him magic. she lays her head on his corpse and cries before reviving him. she launches herself at him two times, when the canaries interrogate them and when he talks her down in the tower. he is a comforting presence to her. she trusts him, she cares about him, she worries about him, she imagines him as a big fluffy dog that loves and protects her. laios is her rock when falin is taken from them time and time again. and she tries to be his as well. she whole-heartedly, unconditionally, loves and trusts laios.

chilchuck does not hate laios. laios pays him his rates, no questions asked. laios trusts and respects chilchuck's job as a lockpick. laios does not see him as a child (at least, i cant think of an instance where he does so). chilchuck states, outright, he sees him as a friend and doesnt want to see him hurt. he actively worries about him as the falin situation gets worse. chilchuck respects laios. he shows almost 0 hesitation in helping get falin back, nor eating her by the end. he does not think of leaving him once, until he realizes he could lose him. chilchuck is cowardly with emotions and prefers to bottle things, so his first instinct was to bolt. he was angry because he was scared of watching someone he cares about destroy himself. laios is his Friend.

and holy shit. holy Fucking shit. kabru DOES NOT hate laios. kabru has the rockiest start known to man with him, and he Still helps him by occupying the canaries. he warns him about them. he hides the black magic from them just as shuro does. his whole Thing is trusting laios despite himself. kabru has his own baggage regarding other people, just like laios, yet he tries so hard to believe and trust this man. he Wants to. kabru is not very hopeful, but laios makes him Want to be. he states like 3 times he wants to be close to him and sees him as a friend. he stays through the entire feast!! the man who hates monsters, whose biggest trigger is monsters, actively, consciously, Willingly stayed through the entire monster meat feast. all to help his friend get his sister back. he could've left!! the feast was like an entire week!! yet he was there for every single day. he was one of the closest people to the door when falin awoke!! after reuniting with her brother, her friends, the people who knew her the most (plus senshi and izutsumi), the first person she greets is kabru!! he wants to be close to laios, he likes laios, laios is his friend and he cares for him, he wants to meet his sister!!! kabru fucking stays on the island with him as one of his closest, most trusted advisors when he becomes king!!!!! he wants to help him succeed!!!! he wants him to be happy!!!! laios is his friend!!!!!!!!

im just. people like laios!! laios is a nice guy! he is friendly and cares about people! he is weird, he doesn't understand most social cues, he oversteps boundaries, but they stay beside him, because they like him and he is their friend. he is their friend!!!!! friendship is not all sunshine and rainbows, relationships in general are not sunshine and rainbows. you will upset people, people will upset you, you will get into arguments, things will happen, but at the end of the day, the people close to you like you! they love you! they care for you! they want to work it out and get through it because they love you, but they will feel those emotions first! human relationships are complex and messy and life is complicated. even shows for toddlers know this.

if you truly believe any of these characters hate laios you are worse than a toddler. watch some fucking oobi or something. god. fuck.

take this

thanks

[obstinaterixatrix]

Hi! Do you have any recommendations for webnovels and/or manga/visual novels in fantasy or sci-fi settings? I've gone through SO MUCH of your #recs tag and they're all!! so good!!! Your taste in female characters is A++++, and congrats for finding the ONLY romances that I actually enjoy? (other than your own writing on AO3 lol)

ahahaha flattery will get you everywhere. it’ll help to know a bit more about what you’re currently reading, what you’ve read and enjoyed, what you’ve read and haven’t enjoyed, but here’s a random list of stuff that comes to mind

so, for things I haven’t put in my rec tag, this literally isn’t any of those but whenever fantasy comes up I think of Un Lun Dun by China Mieville, I read it a while ago but I trust past me’s taste. it’s a good YA novel that subverts a lot of the ‘chosen one must save magical fantasy world’ tropes.

serre is a very cute 20-30 minute visual novel about a girl and a giant bee alien! they’re cute, the creator hits some solid Vibes. the artbook also has cute extra comics ^^

if otome transmigration counts as fantasy, I Want to Pursue the Mean Side Character! is another short & sweet visual novel (also 20-30 min). I feel like it’s pretty self explanatory, what you see is what you get.

homunculus by joe sparrow is a short comic about AI that’s sci-fi and a little heartbreaking

I haven’t read it myself but I *know* the murderbot diaries by martha wells is good, it’s been on my to-read but the waitlist at my library is super long (lol), it starts with all systems red

dungeon meshi (delicious in the dungeon) is pretty mainstream so you’ve probably seen it around but it is VERY good, takes the worldbuilding in interesting directions, super endearing characters, lots of stupidity and lots of sincerity and lots of gutpunches. definitely fantasy I appreciate.

Where is Our Agreement to be Each Other’s Arch-Rivals? is a xianxia transmigration that I got so invested in after the first three chapters I actually plugged the raws into google translate to read the rest of it LOL. it’s such a blur now. the tl team is chugging along though. the main character is... it’s just very charming how earnest he is in fulfilling the villain role and how that gets misconstrued by everyone around him. for this one I will say that--again, this was through mtl so my grasp is kind of shaky--there’s background references to the possibility of sexual assault but I don’t think it’s ever acted on or in-scene. there’s probably some other warnings that are in the same vein, but again, I binged the mtl in a frenzied fugue state months ago so That Is The Warning.

[sevenspadesagain]

Most of the races in dun meshi are called "humans". The people we would call humans are called tallmen. Kabru is good at killing and manipulating everyone.

you people dont understand! Kabru didn't pull out that backstory because of 'main character syndrome'! it was a manipulation tactic and it WORKED.

he knew that if the Canaries were left to their devices, the tragedy of Utaya would be repeated, as the Western Elves don't care about the losses among other races (and other than Marcille, there is only one other elf in the dungeon as far as we know), their only concern is the destruction of the dungeon. he needed to make himself heard and trustworthy, and the Canaries obviously weren't going to just listen to a random tallman off the street. and elves already see short-lived races as illogical and infantile, so he played it up, as if he's emotional. and he found a way to mention that he has a personal connection to an old and respected Canary vice captain, without outright saying 'i'm Milsril's adopted son', allowing them to infer it for themselves. and he added in a detail of 'oh as a kid i really wanted to join' (oh i really respect and admire you guys!/childish). so now they trust what he's saying.

[britcision]

Oh you’re 1000% right OP, but I am also gonna highlight something for you;

The style Milsiril taught Kabru is heavily focused on striking weak points

That’s why he goes after Falin the way he does, precisely targetting and naming every point he wants to hit… which doesn’t work because she’s a chimera now, but tells Laios a lot of valuable information

(I think it’s also specified somewhere else in the Adventurer’s Bible but I’m not going looking for that)

There’s also this panel, from after his murder spree which says the same thing; he’s all about targeting weak points

And this actually fucking perfectly highlights the difference between him and Laios that makes Laios much more successful in the dungeon!

Because Laios does know the weaknesses of almost every monster in the dungeon, and can target them just as efficiently as Kabru can on humans

(the usual Dun Meshi meaning of human, including elves, dwarves, gnomes, half-foots, etc.

……. Holy shit the qualifier for being counted as human is “Kabru can murder you”)

But because Laios was taught a much more generic fighting style of forms and generalised strikes to apply as needed (and we… don’t know how much formal training he finished), he can confidently and flexibly apply those strikes pretty much anywhere he wants to

He knows where the weak points are, but doesn’t target them exclusively

Kabru, on the other hand, is much more comfortable with assassination style fighting; he removes his armour to attack Falin, fully confident he can finish the fight before he needs it or just sure it’ll get in his way and make him less effective

(And mayyyybe a little too used to dying)

He’s textbook over-prepared; the way he thinks about fighting is extremely rigid and solely focused on taking the opponent down as fast as possible with calculated strikes to vitals

On any human, he knows exactly where those vitals are, how to hit them, and he can do it with terrifying accuracy

On anything else, he stalls out trying to guess where the vitals are and freezes up, 1000% influenced by both his own trauma and his own inflexibility of thinking

(This is also on the Kabru Is Autistic pinboard, because getting stuck in rigid rules and being unable to really act effectively unless you’re doing things In Order is absolutely on the diagnostic criteria)

Now, since Laios has effectively proven that you can memorise detailed weaknesses from every monster in the dungeon, why hasn’t Kabru when he’s the king of over preparation?

This is another one that’s probably two-fold, the first part being his trauma. Kabru doesn’t even like to look at monsters; he doesn’t want to be in the dungeon but sadly for him, everyone else is worthless 🙄

Studying each one in enough detail to learn all their various weak points is… not exactly gonna be high on his to do list, especially when he still gets hit with a freeze response when he sees them

(Which, frankly, should have been the first thing they trained out of him, so it probably used to be a lot worse

Of course, Milsiril also probably didn’t have much access to actual monsters)

The second part is actually purely logistical; there are So Many types of monsters, and while they can be broadly categorised, their physiology is diverse enough even within those categories that for Kabru and Milsiril’s very precise, vitals-focused technique…

Well, it’d take a really, really long time, and frankly wouldn’t exactly be efficient

Milsiril rose to commander of the Canaries and worked in dungeons without dying once for decades; her own application of those skills are probably much more broad than Kabru’s, starting from basic body shape, building with the lived experience of fighting various monsters, and ending flexibly enough that she has several steps planned out after that first blinding strike

Kabru, on the other hand, tends to either one-shot or go down after his first attack

(There is a non-zero possibility that Milsiril intentionally underprepared Kabru to fight monsters specifically as a last ditch attempt to discourage him; as we can see above, she explicitly tells Kabru she’s going to give him the harshest training possible until he gives up

He thought she was gonna kill him directly at several points, so while she does want him to be safe, her primary goal was to persuade him to never go near a dungeon again

Per the dungeon guide:

This does initially sound counterintuitive given that the Canaries are explicitly dungeon delvers… until you remember who the lords of the dungeon always are

Kabru’s been trained specifically to kill dungeon lords, so he needs to build a party that can get him to one, or branch out and work on his monster skills

Given that Milsiril also lived and actively fought through Utaya, she’s probably got a couple buckets of her own trauma that should have been unpacked at some stage)

Kabru’s only 22; he trained under one of the best (although his sword is clearly not his favourite, given how often he drops it for the dagger in a serious fight), and he’s brutally efficient and extremely skilled… so long as he knows what to aim for

Given that he first formed his party at 20, he’s only been dungeon delving for 2 years at this point; given the preparations required in between dives and his favourite hobby of following people around on the surface, he’s probably not done a whole lot of dives

Lived experience might help him get a little better at the monster fighting over time, but at the moment he’s still extremely green (his party got wiped on the third floor and had never done the fourth before, they’re barely past walking mushrooms) despite his extensive training and skill

Fighting Thistle, I’d agree that Kabru’s one of the best characters in the story to beat and break the dungeon in a classic story

As a combo, should Kabru actually start listening to the monster lectures, Laios and Kabru would be a force to be reckoned with

(But frankly the only reason Mithrun didn’t finish the dungeon in five minutes flat was Kabru’s interference, the Canaries - Milsiril’s contemporaries and former coworkers - are put in the story explicitly to be the best people to break the dungeon

Even Kabru swings back and forth on this multiple times and his objection is never their technical skill or that they couldn’t break this thing wide open, it’s that he doesn’t like what comes after that

They even know how to actually seal it after killing the dungeon lord, which Kabru doesn’t

All his plans are for becoming a replacement dungeon lord, which is not in fact part of the sealing process Milsiril what the hell the boy asked for one thing)

I think about how Kabru, who's taught swordsmanship by Milsiril, a very experienced and skilled swordsperson, to the point that Kabru can like take down a group of people with no sweat or no hesitation but finds difficulty when it comes to monsters and think --

Why is it that?

I don't think it's a lack of Milsiril's training. Her training should've covered how to fight monsters. And, I'm not like a swordfighter or anything, but the basics of sword fighting - whether it's against another swordsman or a monster - are the same.

It's also not like she was soft on him, either. You'd think that she would be, since she really doesn't want Kabru anywhere near a dungeon (or a meter away from her side), but it would be much better, and much safer, for Kabru if she trained him seriously. So in case he was stuck in a situation where he needs to fight, he can fight back and win.

And for the most part, Kabru fights well against most monsters.

He's honestly so skilled it's scary. If this was just a standard let's conquer the dungeon and defeat the evil magician! type of story he's the best candidate out of all the characters in the story (yes, even including Laios).

So I find it interesting that we are shown moments where he struggles:

It's not like the other characters didn't struggle against the same monsters. Laios almost didn't make it to some of these monster encounters. And, not to invalidate his achievements thanks to his quick thinking and understanding of monsters (i know he hates his time in the military, but training there really paid off here), but some degree of luck (and perhaps demonic intervention) helped him in little ways.

But Kabru's struggles against monsters are perfectly summed up in this panel:

He's scared.

Yes, he has the skills. Yes, he has the intellect. Yes, he has the experience. But even then, he freezes up in front of some of these monters because of the memory of Utaya. And I think that's such an important detail to his character, really.

At the beginning we get introduced to this Kabru who is confident, all smiles, can do everything.

But deep inside, the nightmare of Utaya haunts him.