#i'm watching what's happening to dungeon meshi in real time

[thegempage]

on one hand, i really enjoy poll for initiative: bedlam* and would love to get more people into it, if at the very least as a VOD watch to enjoy the story

on the other, today while i was in the shower i had the image of a tiktok screenshot of someone saying that adding cassandra was clearly pandering and that they shouldn't be so loudly in love pop into my head and it was a goddamn horror story

*mostly only specified bcus eventually act 5 will come out and i have my suspicions that act 5 will be the last one and thus the second season will begin... eventually

[crystalelemental]

We have finished the Dungeon Meshi anime. I'll type out thoughts, but I feel like I can easily summarize as "It's really good, you should watch it." I was also asked to talk about favorite characters so like. Get ready for that one.

As a whole, Dungeon Meshi is excellent. My wife has an anecdote she likes to tell about it, where before we even watched it, I told her about the general premise and that people were talking about it and it sounded neat and I wanted to pick it up if she'd like to watch. And as happens sometimes, I get the response of "I'll probably look at my phone and just watch it in the background," which is usually "I'm not too interested but put on what you want to put on." And after the first episode she was completely invested. The show is really charming really fast.

Thing is, for as fun adventure as it starts, it does a lot seriously that lands spectacularly well. The first instance of "oh wow, this show is for real" is the well-documented living armor bit. The biology that goes into these monsters is amazing. My personal favorite is still the treasure bugs and mimics interaction, which is just incredible to me, but every time they talk about monster biology and their function it's a treat.

Exploration stuff is also really cool. There's another great post that went around talking about how this party really is more of an old-school dungeon crawler party, where skills for survival like Chilchuck's are essentially the most valuable, rather than combat ability. It does really have that feel, and it's great. I also just love how some of the magic works. Things like mana sickness are cool, but resurrection is my personal favorite. They make a big deal about the black magic kind being forbidden, but watching it in action, it functions just like the stuff that's on the level; blood pools and congeals back in the body, the black magic just involved reconstructing flesh. Marcille's point about black magic not being inherently bad is fair; it doesn't seem all that different. But perceptions are really different regarding it.

They haven't delved too far into it yet, but there are tensions between the fantasy races, and plenty of biases going around. Some are a bit more obvious, like Marcille really not trusting the orcs, while others are more like Shuro's one party member who just refers to the dwarves as just "dwarf," even as she's praising Senshi's cooking. Kabru's got his own hangups regarding how the elves handle things with the dungeons, and openly admits to the imbalance in power between races and how that negatively impacts everyone. I imagine this starts to be more prominent in the second half now that all the establishing stuff is done.

As for cast...they're really strong. Laios' group is all great, I loved them all. Marcille is my favorite, personally, because of course she is. From silly magic elf girl, to oh she's actually super smart, to oh she's super smart in ancient criminal magic fuck yeah girl. Marcille's a delight. Chilchuck was the easy least favorite of the group starting out, but he's really grown on me. Izutsumi is peak cat. Laios is really interesting as a protagonist, I like him a lot. I think the conflicts he gets into are...very real, in a way. Like, he has amazing strengths that make him great at what he's doing, but the flaws in his character inform what struggles they encounter in a really believable way. I like him a lot. Senshi is cool. Falin needs more time, and you have no idea how bummed I am that the season ended with a little snapshot that Chimera Falin and Thistle are having hijinks off-screen, I need that spinoff.

The other groups are less developed, but I'm sure Aera will be happy to hear this: god damn do I love Kabru. This dude rules. I saw people talk about him on Tumblr so I recognized him the instant he showed up, but his first "proper" introduction is stupendous, showing his general people-reading and ability to gather information, and his adherence to a sense of justice that's just as much about meting out punishment as anything else. Him killing those dudes was great, loved that. And the barely concealed excitement over black magic is hilarious. Then he gets to show off that he's basically an assassin class, knowing where to strike for instant kills, has a whole chat with Shuro about recognizing the racial discrepancy in the world at large, and tries to play an entire room full of elves. I dunno, like the guy a lot. He's shrewd, and he's got moxie. I do admit that, while I get the fandom is really attached to Laios and Kabru as a ship, I...have no strong feelings about it. I do, oddly, like him and Rin. Their dynamic in the show was fairly cute, and admittedly some supplemental material I saw posted really got me invested in her. The rest of his party...I have no particular feelings about. It's just him and Rin to me for now.

Shuro's party is even less interesting. I do like Shuro, I think he's a really neat character. But his group hasn't done anything all that interesting to me yet. They kinda showed up to get bodied by Chimera Falin and drive tension as the group that first knows about black magic.

Similar deal with Namari's group? If anything I think the old gnome dude is in the running for general least favorite character. I don't hate the guy, but he's done nothing to endear himself. I have no strong perspectives yet.

For characters that need more time in the oven, there is the question of the Canaries. I've seen a tidbit about them, but my general assumption of them is the whole "Canary in the coalmine," they're the frontliners for dungeons that are sent in and risk death to assess the threat level. Which is neat, would like to know what that deal is. But #1 most invested in learning more about is Thistle. Love that design, love the general vibe he puts out, but also the reveal that he was hired as the court jester who happened to also become the most powerful mage of the kingdom is really, really good. That's both hilarious and awesome. I don't even know this guy and I think he's the shit.

I am wildly invested in season 2, and if it weren't for me working for a school and going through summer months unpaid, I'd probably be buying the entire manga like right now. As it stands I'll have to wait a bit for that, but it's probably happening. I've seen plenty of commentary about things the anime couldn't fit in that are hilarious or interesting, and it feels like one I'd like to read as well, even if I plan to fully go through the anime. Huge fan, glad we got an immediate announcement of season 2, really looking forward to more.

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Chapter 12

Lore!

We're dealing with living pictures this chapter. Just like the zombies and ghosts, no explanation about how they exist is given. It's just a "They exist. It's magic. Don't worry about it" type of thing. Still, it appears that only the pictures of a person looking at you are aware of the outside world. And you have to actually look at the painting for it to attack you.

When Laios jumped into paintings of scenes, the people in the painting acted like he was supposed to be there (with one notable exception). If he'd jumped into the portrait painting, would the person have been aware he was from outside and attacked him? I think the threat of a living painting has more to do with being trapped in the painting rather than whatever might be inside it.

So now Laios decides to dive into various paintings to try eating the food in the paintings. If he lived in the real world, Laios would be one of those biologists who would eagerly volunteer to explore the most terrifying areas just because there might be new critters to discover. He would totally hop in a small submarine to observe deep-sea creatures. And he'd totally try catching and eating a hagfish.

I want to point out that the elf girl isn't part of the first painting. The king and queen are also dressed differently from what they were wearing in the actual scene Laios saw.

I'm going to guess the world in the painting is the exact event depicted in the painting regardless of what the painting shows. Laios witnessed the actual birth and naming of the future king Delgal exactly as it happened.

That lady mistaking Laios for a guard because of his sword reintroduces all my questions about Living Armor that I thought had been answered. If Kensuke looks exactly like a sword the guards would use, then the Living Armors all may have looked like the armor the kingdom guards wore. So I'm going to guess Living Armor colonies are mimicking human armor.

The lion-head Living Armor was probably mimicking a suit of armor for a prominent member of the kingdom's military, maybe it was the king's personal armor. If so, then the kingdom probably used something like a winged lion as either a guardian deity or a symbol of the kingdom.

When Laios jumped into the second portrait, he landed on the table right in front of future king Delgal.

That short interaction between Laios and Delgal instantly endeared me to the future king. He's a kindly person who doesn't anger easily. He's easygoing enough that he won't let Laios's shenanigans bother him. I can't say whether or not he'd be a competent king, but he's definitely a king the people can love.

There's a great dissonance between what the painting depicts and the event within it. The painting is a scene from prince Delgal's wedding and overall seems to be a merry occasion. But then it turns out that someone had attempted to assassinate him and successfully assassinated the king on that day. Whoever commissioned it may have just wanted to skip over the tragedy of that day.

Living Paintings cannot solve world hunger. You cannot take anything out of them.

The third painting depicts Delgal's coronation. I think it takes place in the very hallway the party was in during this chapter.

No one questioned why a guy in armor was sitting at the table. No one except the elf girl who Laios has seen in all the other portraits.

During Delgal's birth, there was a particular moment where she may or may not have been looking at Laios. However, she was far more interested in celebrating Delgal's birth than keeping an eye on the strange man in armor.

During the wedding, she was definitely watching Laios until the king was killed. She was also holding a flute.

Speculation time: I think she may be the magician who cursed the kingdom. Something probably happened to Delgal and she cast some spell that turned the kingdom into a dungeon. Since souls are trapped in the dungeon, maybe her goal is to resurrect Delgal to have him lead the Golden Kingdom once more. That line he said during the coronation gave me some shivers about how things may have led to the kingdom becoming what it is.

But then who was the person from chapter 1 who told the world about the situation? I kind of think he looks more like Delgal's father (probably because an old man looks more like a dried corpse), but if that was actually Delgal, then he understandably is against whatever the elf girl is doing.

Assuming Living Pictures can be made non-hostile and there's a way to pull people out of them, they could make for an effective way to learn about history or uncover various mysteries. Like I said earlier, it seems that the world in the painting is the actual events the painting represents rather than an artistic interpretation.

If someone wanted to experience a historical event, they could get a painting of the event made, cast whatever spell turns it into a living picture, then jump in and experience it firsthand.

And I think that might be something the elf girl is doing. If her actions are out of genuine love for the kingdom/Delgal, maybe she's using the living pictures to relive her cherished memories with Delgal, hence why she's aware of Laios traveling through the paintings.

Alternatively - and I am just throwing this out as an impossible crackpot idea that I want to share - Laios actually time traveled when he jumped into the paintings. So he was actually historically there during Delgal's birth, wedding, and coronation. And the elf girl can tell he's not supposed to be there, either because he's a stranger or she can tell he's traveling through time. And there's a non-zero chance she might think Laios was responsible for the king's assassination in that case.

She did correctly pin Laios as someone after the throne. If that is the magician speaking to him, then she wants to kill Laios because he will interfere with whatever she is doing to preserve the kingdom in its current state. If that is her from the moment Delgal was crowned king, then she has mistakenly concluded Laios is plotting to kill Delgal and destroy the kingdom before whatever ruination eventually befalls it.

The third floor of the dungeon lacks any living monsters. It is just a maze-like passageway. Maybe this floor held precious memories for the magician and she decided to seal everything away so neither monsters nor adventurers would defile those places. And the high number of undead is because of people getting lost in the maze, dying, and never being found.

back

[dollopheadedmerlin]

Started watching Dungeon Meshi and I'm into it, it's cool, it's fun

HOWEVER It truly feels like there are NO STAKES.

I can accept the fact that there is a curse on the dungeon so that if you die there, resurrection magic can bring you back to life. Like okay cool I guess. There's lore behind it. You do still need a magic user to succeed. Maybe if you die real deep in the dungeon your body will never be recovered and you'll be trapped there forever. Neat.

But the tension, the time crunch of the whole first plot is that they have to save Falin before she is digested, and then we get there, she IS digested, and they're like ah no worries we can just do it anyway.

WHAT

And yes I know, they used dark magic and dragon meat and that is likely going to lead to some drama and some cool weird powers, but it just kinda made the whole "we gotta hurry before she is digested!" Feel like fabricated haste, especially since they do tend to take their sweet time moving through the dungeon anyhow.

But what REALLY annoyed me, was when Laios goes to attack the dragon, and he does this EPIC last ditch effort strategy where he LETS the dragon bite his leg so that he can DANGLE upside down and stap the soft spot from ITS MOUTH and then the dragon reflexively bites down and SEVERES HIS LEG

It was such an epic scene and the expressions on Laios's face were really engaging and the whole thing was just really cool and artfully done

ONLY FOR HIS LEG TO BE SLAPPED BACK ON WITHIN TWO MINUTES LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!? WHAT WAS ALL THAT DRAMA FOR?? YA KNEE YOU WERE GETTING YOUR LEG BACK! THAT'S WO CHEAP! TAKE HIS LEG, LET HIM HAVE ONE LEG!!! LET THE ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES PLEASE NONE OF THIS HEEHEE HAHA LEMME FIX YOU UP RQ LIKE NOTHING EVER HAPPENED WHAT

otherwise it's a pretty bangin show

[room-surprise]

Delicious in Dungeon Anime Season 1, Episode 2 Review

Spoilers for season 1, episode 2 below the cut! There may also be mild manga spoilers so proceed with caution.

This episode was great! I think it was a big improvement on the first. Honestly no real complaints... I do kind of wish both Marcille and Chilchuck could have had stand-alone episodes dedicated to their character development, to allow for a deeper focus, but I understand why they didn't do it, and the pacing was still excellent. I do still sometimes feel like the show is in fast-forward at times, because with 3 meals in one episode, it feels like the characters finish eating, and we jump cut to them saying that they're hungry again, without anything to help really impress upon viewers that time has passed. Makes it feel a bit like we're reading a collection of short 4-panel gag comics instead of a continuing story… which, early Dungeon Meshi DOES have that as part of it's format, but it changes with time, as we get into longer individual stories.

During the Basilisk/Doni and FIonil section, I really do miss some of the dry humor from the manga. ("Hurry, he's getting cold!" "Move him closer to the fire!") The hilarity of slowly preparing a meal while someone is dying of poison has unfortunately been lost, which makes Doni and Fionil much less memorable characters…. But it benefits the other 2 stories in the ep to have more time so I think it was the right choice to make. It also gives people something to go back and read the manga for, since it's a little different! If you're reading this and you're an anime only, consider reading the manga while you watch the anime! I promise it's worth it. I'm excited about next week because I think they'll devote the entire episode to Laios and the living armors, which is me and my spouse's favorite early DM storyline, and the part where we both said "Oh, I LOVE this manga..." and got really invested. It's 2 chapters in the manga so it could be an entire episode…. which also would make sense, if that's why they needed to crunch 3 chapters into episode 2. Just like the first episode, animation was fantastic, and as usual the weakest points are when characters are just walking or talking and not doing much. Everything more dynamic is just bouncy and adorable and full of life. Very rarely is anything animated in a dull or flat way. They're doing their best to use "move a drawing around" or "zoom on a drawing" for comic effect and I think it's working well so far. There's some great animal animation in this episode, the bat flying around and the basilisk chasing Marcille in particular. Translation was better this time around, no dumb modern or game references in the dub ("newbs" "as if" etc.) … But there are differences between the subtitles and the dub script that change how easy it is to understand what's happening. When Senshi tells Chilchuck to cut up the giant bat, the subtitles make it hard to understand what he's telling him to do, and the dub makes it a lot clearer. In the subs when Senshi calls Chilchuck a half-foot child, the subtitles say "I'm not a child" and the dub says "I hate it when people call me 'kid'"… The latter is more interesting for keeping the mystery going for things that happen later in the story. If the show continues like this, I think the English dub may be the more satisfying way to watch it (even though the Japanese performances are great), mostly because the subs are very literal and sometimes miss things that the English dub somehow manages to include. And for some reason Netflix isn't including translation of Japanese signs on-screen during the subtitles, but they DO provide them when you watch the English dub. A lot of Dungeon Meshi's humor is sometimes in those background signs so completely missing out on them sucks. Anyway those are my thoughts for this episode! See you next week Meshiheads.

[spiribia]

Spiribia I love you always. Would you personally suggest someone to watch dungeon meshi or read dungeon meshi

i'm very biased toward the manga currently which is something i should put out on the table first, my experience with the anime is filtered through the lens of "do i like how they did this part from this manga", so my expectations for the anime at this point are "can it do justice to the source material" rather than Will it be better, which i think is probably the philosophy for fans behind a lot of adaptations. i don't think the anime adapts the manga poorly or unfaithfully, but because of its task of fitting an existing story into a limited amount of fully animated episodes of uniform length coming out at a specific schedule the pacing can feel a little bit jankier to me at times. i enjoy dungeon meshis worldbuilding and it has a lot of little interesting factoids and diagrams that you can take time as a reader to dwell on as tangents in the manga that they may gloss over very quickly if at all in the anime in the interest of time. this also might just be my overall impression because the anime hasn't adapted far enough that i've seen the transition where the plot really kicks in or some of the parts where dungeon meshi gets super compelling to me - i dont know yet how the anime will handle my most 'youve GOT to see dungeon meshi' parts of the manga. the rest is just more preferential stuff on my behalf. the anime can hit pretty 1:1 notes scriptwise to what is written, and while i dont personally feel the majority of the visual animation itself lends something life-altering to this story most of the time, i do think some of the full animation sequences are a real treat to look at, and i enjoy what they did with chilchuck in particular for some reason. i dont think youd 'err' too badly as a viewer by going the anime route if that's what clicks best with you. also in the anime english dub if you happen to watch that senshi seems to say stuff like 'work that sucker' multiple times and i just want to tell you thats not ttrue.

[scyphosunny]

finally ( and not in time ) , vargastober day 2 !! let's talk about it !!!!!

holy shit . where do i even start

okay . sso . my sister does this thing where she books rooms in random pretty hotels just for me and my family to spend time there ? idk not like we travel a lot . so yknow just to enjoy the hotel experience for once . she's done this three times now , and i realized that i don't like it because they get me all stressed and because i don't like being in the same room with the rest of my family for more than four hours lolz

what about this . she booked the room on tuesday , of course . october first . so i had to make the first piece on monday instead ! that's why i did post that one on time XP

we had to go back on wednesday , and doing so always gets me all grumpy and depressed for some reason . I DON'T WANT TO GO TO ANY MORE HOTELS PLEASE I HAVE EVERYTHING I WANT AND NEED AT HOME . so i get home from the hotel , carrying a million things because my mom asked me to and well . god . i'm just stressed , lonely , depressed and overall unmotivated for a reason . HAPPENS EVERY . TIME . I SWEAR . CAN I GET A MOMENT OF PEACE

then my aunt comes by to leave some stuff for my mom . i look like a mess i was literally asleep five seconds ago . she gives me the talk again ( the talk is " oohhh you can't just not do anything you need to do something with your life i'm currently taking a break from school cause of my mental health so yeah the same thing , over and over again . I KNOW I'M USELESS AND WORTHLESS AND WILL DIE BUT CAN YOU LET ME ENJOY THIS PLEASE I REALLY DON'T WANT TO KILL MYSELF ) CAN I JUST DRAW MY MENTALLY ILL MEN PLEASE I HAVE A VARGASTOBER PIECE I NEED TO TAKE CARE OF

she leaves . still not feeling any motivation at all time to watch code lyoko with my sister ! we finished the series a week ago , so now we're watching code lyoko evolution . like many fans , i have opinions . about evo . but i'm also content starved ( and william starved ) so i decided to watch a part of it anyway . so now i'm also watching it with my sister ! if i don't finish it on my own , we'll probably finish it together . . .

then , hanging out with friends ! we're watching dungeon meshi together . i really enjoy the anime , to be honest ! lol every time we finished watching it i would just forget about it for a whole week or until we watched it again . but . . . .. this time . . . ... . i need MORE

into the actual drawing . . . okay this one was hard , which is funny since it's a relatively easy prompt . what about just some fluff . everyone loves fluff . but i was also thinking . . . i wasn't sure if i wanted to make real comfort or FAKE COMFORT !!!!!! i like thinking about these escenarios . edgar being tired sad and vulnerable , he needs someone SO BAD and scri gives him that fake comfort to take advantage of him in some way . something like chapter 18 . i still think about that one so much .

a year ago i made this piece for a video and YES THIS IS WHAT I MEAN , THAT LIFELESS LOOK ON EDGAR AND SCRI JUST GOING TO TRY AND FIX EDGAR IN HIS OWN TWISTED WAY . they're so deliciously painful .

at the end , you don't really need to take the prompts literally ! but still . i decided to go with real comfort this time . or . well . with a little plot twist .

have you read " and you , you can't live like this " ? i also think about this one so much . that last part , where the two of them are just . so absolutely in love with each other . edgar can't understand the warmth he feels when he sees scriabin and decides not to think about it . i mean , i know they're in love with each other already , but GOD this . this is DIFFERENT for SOME REASON .

( nodding silently

okay , what about this . . . i wanted to draw a little scene , maybe just edgar waking up , the realizing scri is like CLINGING ONTO HIM STILL ASLEEP and he just gets these jolts of warmth he described already . IT IS COMFORTING . HE JUST ISN'T AWARE OF IT . i had this incredibly specific reference i wanted to work with . . . i was just a bit worried because i never drew anything in that angle before . and man , as much as i draw there's still LOTS of things i'm still not able to draw ! like certain face angles , poses without a reference . . . i'm getting at least a bit better at the poses maybe but IT'S MOSTLY FACES . i just can't get certain angles to look right ugh

this is the reference i wanted to use ! i found it on pinterest , and the author wasn't credited . . . searched a bit more and someone said it was this person called " black1cherry1 " on twitter . i don't even know if that's the actual artist , but if it is , credits to them . . ?

okay well . i tried ! and failed . i couldn't get the angle to look right . FRUSTRATING

so i changed ideas ! found another reference

( made by the same artist , i think !

a little bit less meaning to it . . . maybe scriabin doing that thing he did on chapter 29 i think ? of feeling edgar's heartbeat while sleeping . uh-huh . great excuse to cuddle , scri .

tried again ! AND FAILED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tried harder EVEN . last reference i used i literally just put it on the canvas , scribbled on it a little , got a small sketch and then ditched it . way to go sunny .

so at this point i was like . well . random fluff , then

russlan made a chapter 20/21 piece ! and you know wwhat i think about chapters 20/21 . ( looking at you

got a random reference . . . funny how the drawing just started losing more and more meaning to it as i got new references . I'M SO LAME AND I'M SORRY I'LL TRY TO BE BETTER

didn't even try to work with this one ! wasn't feeling like it . . . so just to make myself feel more productive , i opened a blank canvas and started putting a bunch of ideas together for the rest of the prompts . while doing so , i found a drawing that just went SO INCREDIBLY HARD and i was thinking . should i . should i . should i . sssshhhould i

the piece was a drawing of someone hugging like . a robot . with a bunch of wires connected to it . AND HERE'S WWHERE I GET THE FEEL OF MAKING SOMETHING MORE OBSCURE

imagine , like . . edgar hugging that weird skeleton he found at the start of chapter 28 ( that scene still haunts me at night ) . hugging him because that thing IS scriabin , he needs scriabin and would and DID EVERYTHING HE COULD TO STAY WITH HIM EVEN AFTER KNOWING THE TRUTH AND AFTER ALL THEY WENT THROUGH doesn't it sound yummy and tragic

but then i just had to draw the skeleton and figure out what the fuck he looked like ( i re-read that one part and got chills just thinking about it ) . i'm sure someone already make a drawing of it before but i couldn't find it . so nnope i gave up right after starting . POINTLESS FLUFF IT'LL BE .

so yeah , i still kept on getting ideas together and stuff . I WAS GENUINELY SO EXCITED BY IT , GOT SOME GREAT REFERENCES AND I CAN'T WAIT TO USE THEM ( half of them are horror themed . people on twt are like " oh i love your art , it's so soothing " and i'm like . . . . .. rn ( annd once it was past three am i was like okay whatever i should go to sleep early so i can wake up before fucking 1PM and work on both pieces today ( yes , 3AM wwould be early for me ) so i close csp , get that random window of like , " there's some unsaved canvases do you want to save them " and i was like nuh-uh not like i drew anything , really aside from the fucking list of ideas

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ( i lost everything

what makes me a bit less worried is that i saved the references on pinterest to credit the original artists if i did use them ! so maybe i can just go ahead and do the whole thing again but god . i wasted SO MUCH TIME FOR NOTHING . i was frustrated so i just went to sleep .

( quick thing , i always like to send a good night tweet so hawker sees it and says good night to me . i wwas way too sleepy to write one yesterday .

THURSDAY . woke up at ten , got breakfast , played a bit of geometry dash , TIME TO WORK

just did some research . . . found the pic i used as a reference and it's apparently made by mamefuk on twt ! i searched on their profile and i found the post .

i was just having fun and taking my time with scri's face . sometimes the things i draw look bad because i rush them too much . NEVER A GOOD THING

pretty clothes once again . . . i wanted to put a pretty overall on him but i just couldn't get it to look right :/// which is a shame because it'd look super cute on him .

i used the brush i worked with on the last piece i made , and i kinda regret it because my art is already hard to see ? and once it's colored it kinda just made it worse . . .

TOOK ONE OF YAELOKRE'S DRAWING AS A REFERENCE , the patches on the pants just looked way too cute . ( i wish i could wear clothes like that irl . . . which is kinda funny because my style rn is actually pretty dark

( lolol kinda looks like scri is patting keath's head

guys , i won't lie to yyou . just drawing the line took so incredibly long . i'm really the world's slowest artist .

i got them all nice and pretty by 5:30 . i always struggle choosing clothes for them i want to make them look pretty .

I DID ADD THE YARN ON HIS HAIR THIS TIME

made my colors even MORE saturated because i wanted to give that vibe , sort of . i did have to make them a little less saturated because it looked kinda odd . . . there's something so funny about me STILL listening to the subdigitals three hours later . THEIR SONGS ARE JUST SO GOOD , I SWEAR . I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO THEM MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY .

i swear to god i'd do a whole section here talking about every song they have but it would be like an ad lol

also drew them with socks because i RRRREFUSE to draw feet . no thank you

well , 7PM . you know what that means ? CODE LYOKO TIME

today they aired sabotage , and i'm honestly kind of surprised they aired that one in the first place ? i mean , this scene where yumi gets trapped by vines and . well the scene is kinda weird . but well the only chapter they've skipped so far is cold war . then , we just watched two more episodes of evo . we made jokes and it was fun ! sister finally got to know laura . that fucker .

well , then just GOT BACK TO THE THING rendering rendering rendering

scriabin's shirt was a different color ! idk it just didn't look right . well it kinda does nnnow but

10PM . . . unreal to know that i started working on this at 1 . HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO SPEND 10 HOURS ( with small breaks ) ON SOMETHING

i was getting super distracted too , out of nowhere i just started doing a bunch of these stupid videos

( don't even ask the context of that drawing please

11 , ALMOST 12AM . FINISHED IT . JUST WANTED TO CHANGE THE BG'S COLOR because i didn't want them to be in my usual purple void . maybe a brown void would suit him better .

oh , i was watching an undertale theory video !! something about the true lab and who really wrote the entries we read . it was SUPER INTERESTING and like two hours long . before that , i was watching youtuber drama videos and listening to the subdigitals lol

did the scribbly thing on edgar's pants and well it's fine i think

i want these to look more polished so i'm not rendering hair the way i used to . . . maybe i should go back to the old way

and we have our finished piece ! late , but it's there and finished !

with and without the filter i added . nothing too noticeable . . . just a small amount of blur and something to make the colors a tiny bit more saturated .

look ! a comparison of every pretty drawing i've made of them .

i feel like the only things that changed is the colors and the fact that now i do draw their noses properly

overall . this one was impossible to work with . i still need to make the piece for void but instead i spent an hour and a half rambling

i am also kinda sleepy . . . ugh . it might go away if i draw something i like .

ALSO someone pqrted my post 12 times interesting

this entry wasn't really interesting . . . i'm sleepy . bye

edit : i fell asleep on my desk for a second . yeah i'll try to get yesterday's piece when I wake up

[merrikiwi]

What we got up to in July 2024

Writing this blog post is an idea I came up with because it is fun but also because it forces us to reflect on the month and what we did. We've been trying (badly) to keep track of all the things we watched in the year so we can do an end-of-the-year retrospective of all the media we enjoyed so heeeeeeere we go.

July, July, July, what a busy month we've had. From L getting a new job to us running our first convention stall selling our art. We have truly been busy, but that has not stopped us from having fun with all kinds of media. Whether to relax or to research we watched a lot last month so lets talk about it.

Movies Movies are a good place to start. I've been trying to keep track of the movies we watched on Letterbox like I do with anime on MAL. I just like having a big list of all the things I've seen I can't help it XD. 

For my birthday we did a Gentleman-themed movie night. First, we watched The Gentleman a film I've been trying to get L to watch for ages and my birthday seemed like a great opportunity. And guess what she loved it. It's Guy Richie so you know the cinematography and editing are going to be fun a least. I didn't remember how homoerotic it was but I'm all for it. I think the gangsters should kiss. 

We also watched The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare... Also Guy Richie. It even had Henry Cavill but they couldn't save this story from being kinda meh. It sucks because I was looking forward to it but It just felt a little all over the place. You never really get to know any of the characters and the action felt excessive considering the real-life versions of these people managed to do this operation with only one injury. 

The last movie I can remember watching was Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. Our hopes going in were so low but it was actually really awesome. The world and story are just so interesting and well-made. It feels like a passion project from the director. It's just plain fun times. 

TV

For the small screen, we watched The 8 show, A tv adaptation of two Manhwa Pie game and Money game. The show chose elements from both  to create a kind of mish mash of the ideas from both. I hadn't read them but L had so I got to turn and go "Omg did that happen in the Manhwa". I wouldn't want to spoil anything but if you're a fan of death games its very compelling. 

My main criticism of the show as a whole was that the violence in the latter half was actually really hard to watch. It felt excessive and unrealistic. You will watch a character get their head bashed in with a baseball bat multiple times and will be fine the next day. It gives it this kind of unrealistic uneasiness where you're real-world perception of how much damage the human body can take is confused for the sake of plot convenience and shock. 

L: It made some interesting adaptations and outright changes that were mostly good but it is very different to both manhwa. Which is a good thing. I've read it already so show me something cool you can do with the idea!

Anime

Anime was a large part of what we watched as usual. We have completely stepped off the seasonal train and as a result have been enjoying anime from all over... anyway we watched Dungeon Meshi. If you have seen our most recent video you know we love this show. It's genuinely a 10/10 and I can't wait for the next season. I don't want to be basic and make more videos on it but I kinda do. 

Shangri-La Frontier was another anime we brought up in the last video as it was just overflowing with passion and skill. We still haven't finished it with 2 episodes to go.

I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability; was also fun but for very silly reasons. I can't sit here and claim it's inherently good but it was fun and easy to watch. Sometimes that's ok.

Lastly, for anime, we have Black Butler. omg, it's so fun. we're only 10 episodes into our rewatch at the moment but it's been about 10 years since I last watched it. The English accents in the dub are particularly awful I love it. 

Its interesting to look back on the anime we watched and see exactly how we went from watching these to writing the Passion and Skill video. I can see what elements of each show inspired what elements of the video. This is cool and fun and nice. 

Games

Don't worry we are nerds of the highest order so we played some games too. I've been playing a few in the last week or so. Star Ocean Divine Force, Orks Must Die 3 and Circus Electrique just to name a few. I've been ping-ponging back and forth between all of them. 

The big game of this month however has to be Spellforce 2. I played 3 and really enjoyed it but the jump back to 2006 graphics was a hurdle I had to vault and I'm glad I did. The game has a lot of interesting elements that they stripped out for the sequel. Unsurprising considering the game changed hands multiple times between the 2 games. It really feels like a classic CRPG with strategy elements instead of a bunch of strategy maps with some RPG-style quests for good measure. It was fun and just as I thought I was finishing it the game kept going. I have no idea where it's going to go next.

L has been playing the Demo for Blue Prince pretty religiously. I don't think ill see her again once the full game comes out but I won't say too much because I think there's a little video/strategy guide on the horizon. You should see the spreadsheet. 

L: Spreadsheet :3c 

Conc

If I could conclude this rambling blog post for July in one word I would say Expanding. Because our tastes are changing and expanding. I'm excited to see what I get to enjoy next month. 

Anyway, this blog post is more for us to store thoughts than anything substantial at the moment but if you enjoyed reading it let us know. If you want better-worded thoughts check out our YouTube videos and if I actually stick to this new idea see you next month.

[carrotsnake]

dungeon meshi fandom rant

i usually stay away from fictional autism headcanons or indulging in them wholesale because i'm more on the 'characters are constructs' side of things. some may exhibit traits we relate to but placing real-world diagnostic labels on walking metaphors makes things too nebulous. however laios touden is an exception to me since autism allegories (despite no authorial intent) are pretty hard-wired into both his arc and dungeon meshi's core themes about being an outsider. so for once the fandom autism memes feel genuine to me lol. it doesn't feel as fanon-heavy or platitudinous, actually it's pretty uplifting. i appreciate the positivity.

that being said the most dogshit dunmesh take i've seen lately is the assertion that laios and falin show us autistic men are villified for things autistic women are accepted for. the fuck are you people smoking? some rebranded MRA-pilled bullshit? log off tumblr and go outside, then point and show me where this is the truth. i don't know if you guys are all living in a feminist utopia that i'm not privy too, but if so send me the address because things couldn't be less like that everywhere i've ever been.

countless times i've been told 'oh you're exactly like a female copy of [socially anxious male friend/co-worker/family member who shares my personality] and then i gotta watch them get special treatment as i get left behind and scolded for not being normal enough. him being blunt is rebellious & brutally honest, me being blunt is just being a b*tch with no filter. how many times do you see autistic women reaching high positions of power and being revered as a misunderstood genius.

how about everyone reminding us to 'be nice' to the supposedly harmless awkward guy who keeps making sexual comments & invading our boundaries because he can't help it apparently. but strangely enough, i have gone my whole life without creeping on others. only to be called creepy and off-putting by these same social equality preachers for not applying makeup or styling my hair right. autistic women are more likely to be sexually harrassed and/or abused than neurotypical women and no one gaf (let's b real they don't care when it happens to neurotypical women either if the man has a good enough sob story.) shit like walking strangely, having a speech impediment and talking too much about esoteric topics was enough to be outcasted for us. once more, with feeling: what are you people smoking?

and critically, falin is pretty. she's conventionally pure, self-sacrificial, beautiful with hollywood curves, soft-spoken, and never questions anyone nor asserts herself over others when her needs aren't being met. her dislikes in the adventurer's bible are 'nothing in particular', she never spoke out against her village's bullying even when she had it worse than laios, quickly forgives her parents for exiling her, and never shows any opinion on marcille's use of dark magic. she's a paragon of femininity. anything less than that, and she would probably invoke similar if not more disgust from her peers than laios through the audacity of not conforming to gender expectations. but she likes holding bugs or whatever so...whoa! she's so feral and subversive amiright guys. but crucially she looks cute while doing it so we're not too uncomfortable to stan.

i love laios so much, he's in my newest blorbo collection for sure but calling the female characters who don't like him judgemental is not a good look. we as the readers who have been inside the main chara's head know he's a good guy - but in the context of dungeon meshi's world, where sexism is as prevalent as stranger danger, it's fair for them to assume bad intent and keep their distance. they're looking out for their own safety and you're mad about that because, what, it makes your 2D nigel sad? cry about it.

so quit using anime characters as fodder for your thinly-veiled 'everyday men milk themselves' preaches. the touden siblings are not a good example of this. if you unironically agree with that take: it's time to go talk to some real women broski.

[outeremissary]

4 & 5 for Dungeon Meshi? (I'm assuming you've been asked PF related questions)

DUNGEON MESHI IN THE INBOX?! This is THRILLING

From this prompt list.

4. what is your favorite CANON ship?

So a funny thing about Dungeon Meshi is that there are uhhh. Zero canon ships I think. Unless you count Chilchuck the middle aged halfling getting left by his wife or any of the several very one-sided crushes scattered among the side characters. I think that there is actually no romance that happens onscreen, the only mentioned romance is in one guy's backstory and was his brother marrying his crush. So I guess I don't have a favorite canon ship??? I'm just going to show you the most divorced halfling in fiction instead.

I think his adult children have also stopped talking to him but it's too late at night for me to fact check that one

5. who is your favorite character (and maybe why?)

Oh it is ALWAYS so hard because there are so many fantastic characters in this series and I'm going to do two anyway because I can't help myself. But seriously there's not a single bad one, everyone is so delightful down to the most minor side characters. but anyway!!!

First of all, Mithrun!

Mithrun is the captain of the squad of elvish scouts sent to the island, and is a relatively late arriving character (the Canaries arriving is a foreshadowed sign of the central conflict escalating to something serious). Mithrun is a terrible, lethal warrior with singular drive who strikes fear into most characters who meet him- he uses taunts so cruel they cause one of the main villains to despair, he's quick to suggest assassination as a solution to problems, and his creative use of teleportation has grisly, torturous effects on foes. He's also severely disabled. Without significant support, he struggles to function in daily life due to an inability to translate his body's needs into actions tending them. His life is managed with a combination of strict routine managing basic tasks and aid from comrades who ensure that he eats, sleeps, and carries out other essential physical behaviors. In social situations he's also blunt and generally opaque in his behavior, usually cutting straight to the point and often excluding others from his reasoning. Despite that, he's someone who has a certain charisma: his comrades consider him an inspirational leader and feel strong affection and loyalty towards him, and he's willing to take risks and extend trust towards others. He also still possesses a certain cunning that makes him very fun to watch. This has all been a lot of exposition to try to explain things, hahh...

Here's his cover by the way. All the covers are composed to be comedic and often aren't based in any real event, but you can see that teleportation at work!

Anyway, I'm fond of Mithrun because I enjoy seeing a character who's very, very ND-coded who's good at a job that isn't "inventor" or "knowledge guy," which I think is a niche that a lot of characters like that tend to fall into. He's badass, he's cool, and even though he's straightforward he's never naive. He's incredibly competent and strategic. He's also got a very dramatic, tragic backstory that's deeply intertwined with the plot and gives him a lot of really fun interactions with major villains- those are also the scenes that tend to draw a lot of high emotion out of him, and I love high emotion and drama! And yet despite the development of his condition being a central point of his tragic backstory, there's still never any lingering on "curing" or "fixing" him, which is... really nice, honestly. He has close, supportive friends and a life he's content with, and in some extra comics suggests that he doesn't like the person he used to be, even if to other people that was the time when he was full of potential. Both the persistence through significant trauma and the rejection of the telling of his life story as a pure tragedy are things I really enjoy.

But yeah another thing I love about Mithrun is that he's canonically just a little nasty and is drawn with these perpetually fucking chapped lips. He's jsut like me fr

Also you are being spared so many Mithrun Images by the late hour but I do happen to have this just at hand on my phone. I know this doesn't mean fucking anything without context but I want to look at this image so now we all have to look at it together. It's so so late

ANYWAY. There's also a SORCERER in Dungeon Meshi! This one. This little cunt. A fun fact about me is that there's a folder on my computer devoted entirely to images of this guy, whose name is either Thistle or Sissel depending on which translation you're reading. According to the guidebook, which is currently in my hand, Sissel is official so we'll just go with that for the rest of the post.

I fucking love Sissel. I love Sissel so bad. There's something so wrong with this little (4'3"/130 cm) guy. Look at that image. You already know why I love Sissel. It's because he's got a rancid, unstable little megalomaniac personality and he thinks he knows better than everyone about everything.

Just look at him. My little guy. I love a bitch who meant well once but has become lost in his darkest obsessions.

But like, more coherently, I also really enjoy Sissel as a villain who starts out as this legendary figure of fear- the "Mad Sorcerer" who's presumed to be immortal and all powerful- who's then gradually revealed to be deeply, deeply pathetic. He's so lost in his obsessive protection of those he loves that he hurts them and then throws a fit when they won't forgive him. His power lies in being a master of monsters, but he's so aggressively uninterested in the creatures at his command that they're constantly dying on him and the main character turns them on him just by knowing basic ecology. He has literally infinite power at his fingertips and he's so aggressively unimaginative that he can't do anything wit hit except react to what he thinks are threats. He's built up as a final boss character and Mithrun nearly kills him in less than a minute. He whines about someone cleaning his room. My pathetic meow meow. My cringe and fail sorcerer. I fucking love this guy. He spends a whole chapter carried around as a backpack and used as a human shield. The main character forces him to eat a homecooked meal. He's so!!! Lame!!!!

Anyway it would be a literal crime for me to end a Dungeon Meshi post without any mention of women. Look at my meme boy. Look at the monster wife.

I spent. More time than I intended. Looking for the page where she tore off her shirt. This isn't nsfw this is fine this is fine

Anyway very sexy of Falin to not only haunt the narrative but come back wrong as that.

[queenofcarrotflowers-s]

9 people you want to know better tag!

I was tagged by @snowpetrichor (tysm for the tag!!)

and I'm tagging:

@theroseunblown @charmandabear @fireheartedpup

@suitetarts @remornia @recents @stars-in-stones

@seldarinestrumpet @avemakuta– if you would like to do it! feel free to ignore if not.

Three ships I enjoy: Solavellan, Astarion x Dark Urge, Marcille x Falin are my current ship obsessions/interests (@whispering-depths is my fandom blog where I post about these)

First ship: probably Luna Lovegood x Neville Longbottom tbh lol. and then Edward x Bella from Twilight. HP and Twilight were my first real forays into fandom culture (but fuck JK Rowling we don't fuck with her anymore)

Last song: Cinderella by Remi Wolf – I'm going to see her live next month and I'm so fuckin excited for the show!

Last movie: I slept over a friend's house last night and we watched A Simple Favor (2018) starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively and. wow that movie was insane and I have no idea what happened. had a good time tho

Currently reading: Dragon Age: The World of Thedas: Volume 2 because I just can't get enough of Dragon Age lore rn.

Currently watching: honestly I've been watching a lot of DropoutTV recently (Game Changer, Make Some Noise, etc.) and most recently finished watching Dungeon Meshi. I'm thinking of rewatching BEASTARS soon because it's been too long.

Currently eating: I just had the most delicious sausage egg and cheese handpie for breakfast!

Currently craving: cheesecake, tbh. and thankfully I have one defrosting in the fridge rn because the best thing about being an adult is getting to buy the frozen Trader Joe's cheesecake and having no one to tell me not to :')

[fategoflatass]

First Impressions on Winter 2024

Welcome back to the section where I offer to you, dear readers, my opinions on the series I'm watching this season. Opinions that no one asked for, right to your doorstep—and for free!

Be aware that these are based on the first three to four episodes and thus my opinions might change in the future.

If you wish to read my opinions on last season's anime, click here.

Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu 2nd Season

Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆☆

Watching the fourth episode as I write this! Despite its first season starting with the wrong foot, it's proven to many just how heartwarming and relatable it can be. This is one of those few series where I feel like the characters could be real teenagers. Yes, they can be cringey and immature and unbereable at times, but that's just what adolescence is about. Their romances are awkward and they constantly give one step foward and two back, but isn't it sweet to witness two inexperienced teens dealing with their first not-official-yet-not-unofficial relationship?

BUCCHIGIRI?!

Action, Supernatural // ☆☆☆½

I began watching this one only because of its creator—the same person behind SK8, a series I absolutely loved from the get go. Sadly, I can't say the same about her newest anime. I don't know if it's the plot itself or the characters that don't fully convince me just yet, but there's something that keeps me from fully enjoying it. Not like it's bad, but I feel like it could ceirtainly be better. We're only on episode three though, so there's still room for improvement!

Dungeon Meshi

Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy // ☆☆☆¾

The comedy show of the season! The moment I saw certain mutual posting nonstop about it, I knew I had to give it a watch—and damn, I was right! Is such an entertaining show and its characters and their dynamics are straight up hilarious! Their constant misadventures that always end up with seemingly impossible and/or disgusting dishes are some of the biggest highlights from this season in my opinion. And from what I've seen, it might take a rather... dramatic? Dark? A turn, and I can't wait for it to happen!

Gekai Elise

Comedy, Fantasy, Romance // ☆☆☆

From this one, I wasn't expecting much. Is a rather chill isekai with a protagonist who's super nice and dedicated with two guys going after her. Wouldn't say that once you've seen one you've seen all, but it's true they all tend to follow the same path. If you wish to watch something more chill yet not quite enough to become a comfort show, then it might be for you.

HIGH CARD season 2

Action, Fantasy // ☆☆☆¼

Yes, I'm watching the second season. No, not much has changed or happened for that matter. I guess there's some conflict going on, although it has yet to fully develop. They've also introduced this character that says random spanish words—and no, he's not even a Latino nor Spanish. It also feels less entertaining than the first one? The difference's not that noticeable, though.

Hime-sama, "Goumon" no Jikan desu

Comedy, Fantasy // ☆☆☆¼

To be honest, I gave it a chance thinking that it would be similar to «Maou-jou de Oyasumi» and honestly? I think they are quite similar, specially in the way both of them bored me in their first halves. There are cute moments and some small laughs, but nothing more than that. I'll give it a chance and keep on watching.

Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san

Comedy, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆½

The season's comfort show alongside «Yubisaki to Renren»! Every episode evokes in me those fuzzy feelings that I need to go through the eternal hell that are argentinian summers (no less than 30ºC/86ºF every day). There's also not much that I can say about it since it doesn't have a plot per se, but I can tell you two things: first, the protagonist is one of the most relatable characters this season. And second, his dynamic with his "sworn enemy" warms my heart in such a way.

Majo to Yajuu

Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy // ☆☆☆

Of all the shows I've watched this season, this one had the worst first episode. It felt messy, long, and it overexplained basic concepts or obvious matter. Now, things got better. Not much better—it keeps on repeating itself and there are time where it doesn't make much sense—, but enough for it to be, at least, bearable. Hope I don't end up dropping it.

Metallic Rouge

Action, Mecha, Sci-Fi // ☆☆☆

Can you call something a letdown if you weren't even hyped from the start? I don't know, this one is just boring. I keep on watching with the excuse of giving it just one more chance, but with every new episode it just keeps on losing my interest. The characters are not that big of a deal and the conflicts between humans and... androids? It doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table. Anyway.

Ore daka Level Up na Ken

Action, Adventure, Fantasy // ☆☆¾

Solo Leveling, the show everyone was waiting for. The anime so many people were dying to watch. The hype almost made it feel like it was the second coming of Christ, only to be the entire opposite. It's just another power fantasy where real life and RPG dynamics coexist. A protagonist who's weak ends up being part of a oh-so-weird sort of program where he can level up, with is supposed to be impossible. Then he goes from being this awkward weakling to a powerful badass, yada yada yada—you know how it goes. I'll let you know if its future episodes change my mind.

Yubisaki to Renren

Romance, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆¾

Goddamn, I was so hyped up for this one! I've been reading the manga for some time, and finally seeing it animated is such a bliss! All my problems fade away in the presence of these two cinammon rolls who are so in love with each other. The secondary characters have their depth as well which is something to be grateful for, and the art! Man, I was in such need of a good full-on romance show and it's finally here!

Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern

Action, Mecha // ☆☆☆¼

Mother's Basement convinced me to give it a try, and I kinda don't regret it? Sure, it can be cringey at times but it's also a parody on mecha shows which can be, in some way or another, kinda cringey themselves so the cringe kinda negates? And it's not even bad, only that it focuses more on ridiculous scenarious and references to otaku culture. The protagonists are... pretty good pals, yeah.

[alexanderwales]

Hey Alexander wales do you like anime and manga.

Uh ... generally speaking, yes. I don't follow anime in the same way that other people seem to, and usually have no idea what's hot or not in the current season, but I think compared to people who don't watch anime, I've watched a lot of it.

Anime does tend to have some tropes that aren't to my taste, especially around panty shots and teenage boys accidentally pressing their faces into boobs or whatever else, and it always comes as a bit of unpleasant shock, maybe just because I'm a normie or because of Western sensibilities or because it's not a thing that happens in real life. So sometimes I'll be watching anime and just cringe at that kind of thing, especially when it happens infrequently enough that I can't just get inured to it or accept it as part of the grammar of the show. I'm more fine with an anime just being horny all the time than with an anime that has a single spike of insane horniness every fifth episode.

I would say that I'm broadly familiar with anime as a whole, and have seen at least half of the stuff that people have said I absolutely have to watch. (The most recent things I've watched were Dungeon Meshi, Frieren, and Solo Leveling.)

I'm a little less well-versed in manga, and have probably only read a dozen series or so. Off the top of my head ... Prince of Tennis, Princess Jellyfish, Love is War, The Promised Neverland, Death Note, One Punch Man, Chainsaw Man ... probably some others. I have a bad habit of binging things and getting up to current and then not actually finishing up whenever it's finished, a problem that gets much worse with manga for whatever reason.

[stary-night]

Dungeon Meshi Episode 16 reaction

I'm at episode 16 where they're calling out Toshuro and also me:

"Eating a good meal and getting rest is really important"

"Shuro you shouldn't just eat food when you have the time, to have the energy to do what you wanna do, you need to eat and sleep when your body tells you that you need it."

Also Kabru trying to charm Laois and him not picking up on it is a mood.

Also Laois can see ghosts like his sister! Kinda interested in an AU where Laois also grows up learning magic.

Chilchuck trying to figure out which social situation to help with xkamsm I think Laois will be fine especially since Kabru is there and he could help mediate (or he might just be there to watch the drama... literal royalty and mysterious guy you keep running into who defeated a red dragon).

Kabru like... so you guys have something going on but anyway let's talk about lore and and I love that because I also want to know the lore. The world building in this show is so interesting! Like the cleaner beetles... love how this show mirrors real life biology/ecology.

Shuro: "Laois, I have something to ask you too... were you eating a brick earlier?" crying

Everyone in the room is a hater smh

Kabru fighting the "I also don't want to eat monster food but I do want to talk to this guy and his party"

I love Kabru and Laois dynamic but he ought to talk to Marcielle to learn Dungeon Lore TM.

The fact that not only are the orcs framed as enemies but adventurers are supposed to kill them?!? No wonder they're pissed off

"I think telling Shuro won't be a problem" Oh it definitely will

"You put in a little ingredient called love" Senshi ily

Was joking about Shuro and Laois being in a fight and that's exactly what happened.

Everyone else: Black magic?!?!

Kabru: "Black Magic 👀". He looks so hyped to hear the tea.

Falin looks so cool- I mean evil.

So I know spoilers about Shuro due to being on this site but so far from this episode it seems like he just has a very black and white sense of morality and is worried about being seen as honorable above all else. Shuro wants to be seen as "good" (probably because he's a prince/heir?) and is conflicted between wanting to save Falin (which he sees as noble) and enforcing the laws/moral customs of the world (also seen as noble).

From his perspective, Laois being like "this won't leave the dungeon" probably sounds like a form of thinly veiled threat although I think it was more like a plead to protect Marcielle.

[room-surprise]

Dungeon Meshi Anime Season 1, Episode 1 Review

Spoilers for season 1, episode 1 of the anime below the cut!

I watched both the English sub with Japanese audio, and the English dub, on Netflix.

I think overall it's very good, has a good tempo and doesn't mess with the pacing or characterization in any major way, very faithful to the manga. I think there could have been SOME improvements or adjustments made, but I'm not at all surprised that it didn't happen, making 1:1 extremely faithful manga adaptations seems to have become the norm lately.

On the plus side, that means that if this current level of quality continues, that the anime will always be at least as good as the manga... which is already very good! So that's great.

But on the negative side, that means it won't ever be better than the manga, and that makes me a little sad, because I think an anime adaptation of Dungeon Meshi could absolutely surpass the manga, if they were willing to take some risks, and with Ryoko Kui's guiding hand. Anyway.

Love the OP song, love it's old timey tavern feel and that it's not a straight up jpop or jrock song. Soundtrack music was really nice. Animation was great.

Love that they show a closeup of Falin's open eyes in the OP so we'll know.... ;3 later

Things that I didn't like as much:

Almost all the background text is in Japanese when it wasn't in the manga. Kui often used glyphs or scribbles to indicate that things aren't in English or Japanese.... but they're just using Japanese as far as I can tell.

Netflix America doesn't translate most of it either. They also don't put in the English logo on the opening even though they have it on the show homepage... Don't know if they'll fix it later.

Personally, I think it would also be fine if all the releases had the background in-universe text appear in the target language so the implication is "this is in the viewer's language, whatever that is, but that isn't the actual fantasy language being used in-universe". But I doubt this will happen.

And there is SOME text in glyphs! The dungeon gourmet book isn't in a real language when it's shown... I think it's just laziness. I would honestly very much prefer nonsense text in a variety of languages than this.

In the Japanese I genuinely thought Laios was providing the narration, so I was totally taken aback when there was a different narrator in English.... and I honestly liked it a LOT better when I thought Laios was narrating, it felt really natural and good! So sad that it isn't actually what's happening. Don't really like the slightly snarky David Attenborough style nature commentary narrator. Feels weird and jarring at times.

Subtitles are fine, but there's some things that are randomly different for no good reason, subs say Senshi means "researcher" and dub says "seeker" and.... Senshi doesn't have a mouth, you don't need to match his dialogue to mouth-flaps, you can make him say ANYTHING you want so why have it be different?

There's some dub script choices I REALLY hated and am probably going to die mad about lmao:

Marcille saying that their "inventory" was wiped out, like they're in a video game, calling the scared adventurers "newbs" like they're in a video game, saying "as if" like she's a 90's California girl.

Senshi saying "delish" instead of "delicious" . There's no mouth flaps, why shorten it to a modern slang term that feels unnatural?

Laios also says "geez" which is short for "jesus" so they could have picked literally anything else for him to say, I'm sure the Japanese was probably "mattaku" which just means "Really?" (too lazy to confirm this lol)

Chilchuck says "god" and you could just have him... not say that. Or say "gods" because there's multiple gods in Dungeon Meshi.

Those were my major thoughts so far. Overall thought it was great and I enjoyed it! Looking forward to more!

It's not perfect, but I have seen much, much, MUCH worse adaptations lmao so I'm excited for when they get to some of the more dynamic action scenes in the second half of the manga.

[cash4bees]

I watched To Your Eternity and so should you

Usually, when I consume a piece of media and enjoy it enough to widely recommend it, one of two things is true:

The work in question is already widely-praised, often to the point that there's nobody else to recommend it to. That's not to say I exclusively enjoy stuff because it's popular, just that with how polarized something's quality can end up, I really only have time to consume anime/TV shows/movies that come widely recommended.

It's something that is esoteric, and that I wouldn't really recommend to folks who don't have the same taste as me. This is true of the vast majority of video games, novels, and miscellaneous hobbies I have like tabletop games.

To Your Eternity (Fumetsu no Anata E) is maybe the biggest exception I've encountered in recent memory. (NOTE: This is longer than I would typically make a post, so be warned. The short version is that you should either read or watch it, but I found the voice/animation direction of the subbed anime added a ton to the experience. It's frequently very sad, but rarely 'traumatic'. It deals a LOT with death, but death is not a senseless thing. You'll cry, but it won't shock you)

By now, I don't recommend games or books unless I already know that the person I'm recommending it to is exactly like me and would enjoy something like Monster Hunter or Into the Breach. Those kinds of media are very headspace-specific, and stuff like a TV show is able to get you into its ideal headspace through its direction. This is why stuff like Prestige TV is so easy to recommend to people. With almost no effort on your part, it gets you into the right 'mode' for enjoyment. But, as stated above, I don't recommend TV/anime unless the person is very new to the space and haven't seen a top-5 series like Better Call Saul for live-action TV, or Mob Psycho 100 for anime, or unless the series is actively releasing, like with Dungeon Meshi recently.

I can, without hesitation, recommend season 1 of To Your Eternity to the same degree of confidence that I would recommend Hunter x Hunter or Dungeon Meshi. It is on 'the list', those recommendations that normally have enough buzz that they go without saying.

As to why I like it so much, I think it would be best summarized by saying that the series is straightforward and understandable in its philosophy and thesis, but delivers a kind of worldbuilding and characterization that feels comfortable, natural, and 'discovery-like'. It's able to set its own stakes pretty plainly, and continually innovates on those stakes without ever feeling like it has pulled something out of its ass, or changed the rules; it only ever feels like it's revealing a larger piece of the puzzle. It wastes absolutely nothing. No plot threads get dropped, and similarly no plot threads get given undue importance later on such that you couldn't have imagined them doing so. Plenty of series do this already, and just as well, but the thing I found so charming about TYE is that it surprises you, even when you can probably tell exactly what is about to happen. It doesn't shirk standard storytelling tropes in an attempt to defy your expectations, it just knows that your expectations are there for a reason, and is able to consistently invent new ways to meet those expectations. It does its job as a piece of fiction in an extremely mature, grown-up way. It doesn't underestimate the audience. If anything, I feel like the series LOVES its audience, and dedicates real effort into making the viewer feel connected to the intricacies of the setting. It doesn't need to explain itself, it just gives you the tools you need to understand it and TRUSTS YOU. It isn't obsessed with outsmarting the viewer, or providing them with a 'I gave you all the clues mr. policeman' thrill.

To explain it briefly: To Your Eternity possesses a setting that could work for any number of genre fiction staples: it could have become a shonen battle manga, it could have become a shocking trauma-drama, it could have become a sort-of isekai. It rejects core elements of each of those genres in the interest of telling a very human story. It isn't trying to be a deconstruction or iteration on something tried-and-true. It is using the techniques of innovation that those genres rely on, and making them a part of itself, becoming something entirely unique.

But the part of all this that really beggars belief on my end is that nobody else seems to have To Your Eternity on their 'list'. It came and went, for two seasons. It's still actively getting published as a manga and its 3rd animated season is on the way, but.... nobody's saying shit? It can't just be that it flew under the radar, it was one of the most popular animes of its season when it first released. According to MAL, it was one of the highest-ranked at the time, as well.

But from a long-term impact perspective, it kinda just got treated as a flavor-of-the-month seasonal release? Nobody really lists it as a favorite, even though me and my watchgroup pretty universally agree that it's favorite-material for all of us, and we tend to agree on things that achieve major success like CSM, MP100, Dungeon Meshi, etc.

If you haven't seen it, please do. If you have seen it, please tell me how you felt about it, and maybe bring me closer to understanding why me and my watchgroup fell so head-over-heels for this series when it seemed to make very little impact elsewhere...