#interesting character traits - especially in Dungeon Meshi

[identityarchitect]

Also, it's interesting to me that there was never really any hint of Izutsumi being swayed by the demon. She seems pretty resistant to it, actually.

With Marcille there are plenty of signs on reread that she could become a dungeon lord, and of course Laios' desires have been rather plainative from the start.

But Izutsumi's desires are complicated. As we see in the succubus chapter, she has the desires of both a beast and a tallman. She has those conflicting desires as a result of her nature as a beastkin, but she also has complicated desires as an individual. There's that one panel near the end where she's looking despondent and thinking "If I only do what I like, I won't be able to see the people I like, or eat the food I want. Worse, if I only do what I like, I won't be able to eat at all."

Izutsumi has never been in conflict with her desires. She satisfies herself endlessly and without patience. But her desires are complex enough that she finds herself frustrated in her attempts to achieve them, both by her own emotions (like when Inutade gets injured clearing the roof when Izutsumi was meant to do it) and by others (like... basically 90% of her early interactions with Laios' party.)

She seems like a perfect target for a dungeon lord: I even think she has a strong contender for that "all-consuming" desire the demon tends to go for (Marcille's desire to make everyone live to the same age, Laios' desire to become a monster, Thistle's desire to find Delgal and protect the Golden Kingdom, etc) in wanting to become fully human again. I don't know if the demon can grant that to her, but it would certainly promise so.

And yet, Izutsumi has always been resistant to having her desires being preyed on. Like I mentioned earlier, there's the succubus chapter, but there's also after Laios talks to the demon. Izutsumi acts near instantly, killing Laios before the others even have a chance to figure out what's going on. And I don't think this is Izutsumi-typical flippantness either. We know she cares about Laios & the party by this point in the story, that's why she came with them to fight the demon in the first place. She'd never do anything she didn't want to.

I don't really have a point to this. It's just neat.

[tuliprambles]

An aspect of Dungeon Meshi I hope more and more anime (or shows in general) take inspiration from is how it handles autistic characters. Laios and Falin aren't just the usual autistic rep you see in media where they're socially inept, incapable of taking things seriously, and you're supposed to laugh at them.

Laios has his strengths. He's one to quietly observe and plan. He saves the party's asses time and time again with his knowledge of monsters, because they're his special interest. He does struggle to pick up on social cues, and he often words his thoughts in a terrible way, but he's not stupid. He's a lovable goof.

Falin is very similar, but rather than trying and failing to take part in social situations, she keeps to herself. Both her and Laios were outcasted where they grew up for being "weird," but whereas Laios actively looked for somewhere to fit in, Falin suffered in silence. It's a big deal when she starts hitting it off with Marcille. She has someone to spend time with and share her interests with, and Marcille is another magic user!

The show isn't shy about the fact that because Falin keeps quiet and acts like a lady is "supposed to," she isn't seen as bad as Laios is. When both of them come to this new place to start fresh, Laios tries and tries to fit in with others, but Falin doesn't. That makes her desirable to others, especially in a more medieval setting like this one. Shuro lashes out at Laios for being unable to pick up on any hints that he doesn't like him, and all the supposedly terrible traits he lists off are also traits Falin has. Shuro is in love with Falin though, which is telling.

The show does all of this so well, and at no point is it preachy. There is no point where the show stops to explain that 'this character has autism' or tell the audience how autism works. It expects the audience to see how these characters are treated and come to conclusions on their own. There are people out there who deny that any of this subtext exists, because the word autism is never outright said in the show or manga, but...come on.

[fumifooms]

do you happen to have that page that talks about the beauty standards of each race?

Yeah sure. While scavenging pics for this I found this neat reddit compilation & chart & theory talk too. I had um, way more to say than I anticipated (I know you only wanted the one page. I have nothing to say for myself. Like most topics in Dunmeshi things snowball because they’re so interconnected. Mercy…) so, many races and observations are only mentioned near the bottom.

Beauty standards and race in Dungeon Meshi

Not pictured there’s also how elven society is harsh on visibly disabled people, and how the demon took away Mithrun’s silver eyes and ears to take away his pride. There’s also how Senshi might have fit in with the orcs more easily because of the dwarven wide body shape, and how they tend to have more body hair too I suppose. In the extra on orcs we see Senshi living with the orcs and he gets judged because of the hierarchy rather than his looks.

What is fashionable also differs from culture to culture, and there’s how tattoos only seem common with elves, though dwarves and others do also sometimes have some. They seem to not raise much brows, which makes sense since for many essentially they’re for professional (magical) purposes especially with elves. Gender roles also differ in type and importance, but generally they are similar to irl ones for the races we see. Elven society seems to be the least gendered, which would be an unsurprising logical outcome of having lesser sexual dimorphism aka they look more androgynous. Comparing fashions and gender roles and how they affect beauty standards would be a whole other compilation and conversation. Kui has great worldbuilding partially because she’s got such a good grasp on sociopolitics and geopolitics. History affects cultures and beauty standards greatly. Kui’s oneshot Distant Utopia was very eye opening on her way to worldbuild and the consideration she gives these things, I do really recommend reading it.

Out of the big 5, we know the least about gnomes, but their sheet does say both culture and region are similar to dwarves’ and they end up being confused together often, so we can imagine the beauty standards are similar to dwarves’ as well.

I wanted to touch on this in a post eventually, but how one daydream hour page said half-foots tended to be curvaceous like in the artwork below puzzled me for a long time, all the half-foot characters we see during canon are rather slender and lanky after all, Chil’s succubi also being more curvy than plump. Economics are for sure a factor in that I imagine, the half-foots characters we see are all implied to be some flavor of poor or malnourished, as are half-foots depicted as empoverished oppressed minorities in general. Even comparing the artwork with the half-foot sheet’s depicted average half-foot, the ones on the left seem bigger. Wouldn’t it make sense though, if unlike dwarves half-foots don’t have similar naturally wide bodies, yet due to idolizing dwarves they work towards having a similar body shape/type to emulate them?

It’s said half-foots tend to stick to pretty ethnically homogeneous regions (aka half-foots-only communities) unless they move to the big city with ambition to try and make it big (like Chilchuck and his wife & kids did), and that’s interesting imo because then that would mean that in a ton of half-foot communities, they rarely see or interact with dwarves whom they try to emulate. Of course, one thing about beauty standards is that when they get adopted, at one point it stops being "this is how dwarves look and so this is how half-foots should look" and just becomes "this is how half-foots should look", most people feel as though beauty standards aren’t learned but innate, so I figure the half-foots wouldn’t have any problem still seeking dwarvish traits when there are no dwarves around.

There’s also stuff you can glean here and there if you want to extrapolate more. Like how in the race swap artworks, Mickbell is only smiling in the dwarf portrait, and Rin’s elven portrait looks very close to her elven one- Rin who is stated to be beautiful in her profile blurb. Benichidori’s extra does teach us tallmen can definitely have harsh beauty standards, but also since the text portrays her as very dysmorphic that’s likely reflected in her thoughts to a much more intense degree than is common, not an accurate strict baseline to go off. Ah, Kabru’s blue eyes are also why he and his mother lived a rough life in Kabru’s hometown, but that seems to be regional. Good post here on the topic of Kabru’s blue eyes and ties to irl history. There’s a lot to be said about Kabru being a man that in many ways is close to elven beauty standards, and how that might have affected or been affected by his upbringing with elves + his persona as someone that can effortlessly charm most people. Marcille’s section here in this essay also goes into Marcille’s struggles to fit in with the ideal image of an elf.

Looking human

Also notable are beastkins and demihumans: Demihumans are all dehumanized which makes people treat them worse. So if you differ from the visual idea of "human" (an in-world subjective categorization just as much as demihuman is) most people do judge you negatively. Elves and dwarves get to fight about which type of human is considered the prettiest, but demihumans are below tallmen and half-foots, they are considered as simply below the beauty contest, incompatible with it.

Onis are perhaps the demihuman people we know of with the least cultural influence on the dunmeshi world, and with the least intensely different appearance than other demihumans—they seem to be technically categorized as human to people not from the eastern archipelago?— but even them are treated as lesser than human, treated as beasts to slain for reputation points or useful strength to have around and command. It’s said their "magnificient horns" and fangs are often shaven off when the oni lives in tallman towns, so you could easily make the argument that onis are denied the right to have their own beauty standards, having to conform to other people’s and going through mutilation to take away features they might otherwise have taken pride in. Inutade was bought by the Nakamotos from a dangerous sumo fighting ring that got one of Inutade’s tooth broken on her first and only fight, and kept as a low ranking servant ever since. Remember when I said different fashions existed in dunmeshi and how those could also affect beauty standards? Like the elves, if you look at the portraits pages which include a lot of characters that aren’t in the story you can see distinct cultures within the same races, for example one young elf is bald which is in sharp contrast with the usual elven long luscious hairstyles, and that’s especially true for onis I think. Maybe not only from different regions but different eras as well… They have a bit of population in the very north of the western continent, so I like to think some of the ogres live in very cold, maybe even subarctic or arctic conditions. The point I’m getting at here is that within a race, culture/ethnicity like with Kabru will also influence them it isn’t just tallmen as a whole, different communities will have differing beauty standards. The oni history blurb and third row first collumn portrait remind me of Mongolia (which historically was a lot of different nomadic communities with different cultural identities as well. Something something, the oni empire experienced a decline and then tallmen overpowered them, and now they’re governed and split apart by stronger social classes & slavers and the richness of culture was hurt for it especially if they have no real community left of their own), but obviously many of them are dressed and look rather japanese, makes sense considering living in/close to Wa, and first row second collumn portrait reminds me of ainus which again would be logical considering geographical placement, though I’m far from an expert. Interestingly, ainus are indigenous people both in Japan and Russia- Perhaps the northern western continent ogres are meant to be closer to Russia than Canada like I imagined? Ok tangent over.

The kobold sheet says they’re especially sought after as slaves because they’re "adorable", but locally in the western continent they’re repeatedly said to be seen more as ferocious and dangerous. The dehumanization is most apparent in the first comic below. The language barrier and conflicts no doubt worsen this by a lot, but I think it’d be hard to deny that their canine appearance makes the dehumanization worse. "They’re ferocious beasts, they’re demihumans, they can’t be communicated with". Most characters in Dungeon Meshi’s world are desensitized to slavery and most characters are prejudiced one way or another. Point being, kobolds are fully removed from human beauty standards, but no doubt for kobolds, other kobolds are more beautiful than humans are. They’re assumed to be an uncivilized bunch, but just like any other people they like to adorn themselves with nice clothes and jewelry and keep themselves clean and groomed; they too take care of their appearance and take pride in it.

And the orcs! This one we have the most contact with in canon, with not only there being foreigner characters from the ethnicity or hearsay of their homelands and culture but full on contact with a community. We get to see up close what they’re like and what they think, and of course in turn they’re our introduction to how demihumans are harshly looked down upon and seen as inferior, less human and thus less worth valuing and less dignified. It’s text that orcs are ugly to most humans and humans are ugly to most orcs. Since I judged they didn’t need accompanying explanation the pictures showing this are in the pictures dump at the top.

God forbid you sell vegetables to orcs my god- but then again they do basically mandate adventurers to kill any orcs they come across so yeah the world isn’t above that even a little bit.

So yes, my main point here is simply that orcs are yet another evidence of the physical ideal of "human" being an important beauty standard for human societies globally.

Izutsumi is our glimpse at how beastkins are treated in the world, and in Wa at least that’s ending up being caged and mistreated as part of a freak show. Izutsumi hates her appearance and wishes she could leave the feline part of herself behind to only be human. Interestingly, not that we have a lot of info on them so this is very much a take with a grain of salt situation, but there seems to be less stigma around artificial beastmen, those who can shapeshift at will. The main difference is of course appearance, that most of the time they simply look like average tattooed humans. Artificially creating humans is an illegal practice, and no doubt it’s not well regarded, but being able to hide that makes them less likely to be discriminated at any moment, or even just discriminated less intensely. Again, looking human is important, not only for belonging but for safety’s sake. Beauty standards rule the world with harsh hands.

Mermaids and fishmen

Ok we’re done now right? Right-! But wait… Wait…! Mermaids and fishmen are said to be demihumans too, special separate cases to the main three demihuman species however, which is also represented by how mermaids and fishmen both are in the Adventurer’s Bible chapter Monsters meanwhile ogres, kobolds and orcs are in the chapter World. They’re an interesting topic because they directly tackle this topic, not only in a meta way for the readers but also making characters themselves struggle to quantify their humanity with the goal of knowing wether they should be eaten or not, especially Chilchuck. Chilchuck’s "is it really just a matter of feelings?" mini arc.

The party asking themselves "Should we eat this?" is very common, and often they end up playing a little loose on morality, like eating the red dragon’s meat despite it having digested Falin. Not unsimilarly Marcille freaks out a little over the vegetables they harvested having been grown with fertilizer, aka largely human poo. Half of the motivation of "should we eat this perhaps sentient creature" is out of consideration and compassion, but more strongly and more often, the characters struggle with a sense of taboo at eating something too closely related to humans. Even, feel uncomfortable because of the deepseated impression that eating it would dirty them in some way. Cannibalism is an interesting and relevant topic in many ways, but what I want to mention is how there’s the more or less universal belief that committing cannibalism inherently taints you as a person and turns you more monstrous, morally but also literally depending on some myths such as w*ndigos and onis in some cases, like in Touge Oni. Marcille and Izutsumi both express a fear of eating monsters turning them monstrous. Maybe this is part of what Laios was hoping for, honestly. There are two fears here, if eating a demihuman monster constitutes as cannibalism or not, and so, will eating it taint you because it’s a human, or will eating it taint you because it’s a monster? You are what you eat, until it’s a little too literal. You morally are the means by which you get your food, and you physically are the result of your nutrition. Dungeon meshi manages to mix an exploration of humanity with the theme of food because our relationship to food is very deep and complex, psychological as much as physiological.

In the end, the characters sort of shrug and accept that they’ll never quite understand the world of mermaids and fishmen and how they operate, and what that means about them. Laios is the one always challenging these notions other characters take for granted, it’s not obvious to Laios why people are softer on mammals than other animals and plants, it’s not obvious to Laios why people would be afraid of eating a monster just because it’s a monster, it’s not obvious to Laios why some food is gross to Marcille but not fish testicles, it’s not obvious to Laios why you should immediately regard orcs and kobolds badly.

"Cows are probably closer to humans [aka closer to being human] than fishmen, though they’re clearly intelligent", dehumanization to lessen empathy towards them to be able to eat them. Meanwhile, mermaids seemingly have a less noticeable "civilization" or intelligence, they hunt in groups like fishmen, but they don’t use tools and such, they feel more primal and similarly instinct driven, and yet… Do they attract sympathy more? Mammals, humans, is it because of their nature or because of their appearance?

Both the nature and appearance of fish are ones people don’t typically sympathize with. "Fish don’t feel pain", "goldfish only have 5 seconds of memory", "it’s okay to keep fish in completely empty bowls too small for them until they die from it", so many lies and misconceptions exist that make people less considerate of them. The average lifespan of a goldfish is 10-15 years, the record is 43, but they’re not seen as lives that really matter, so a lot of goldfish die in a few weeks of bad aquarium conditions. There’s a lot of research on animals evolving to look cute and appealing to make some predators want to kill them less and parents want to care for them more, including humans. First good google research result gave me this credible short article on the topic. In Chilchuck’s weighing wether a fishman is far enough from being human or not to eat, "face is 100% fish" is his biggest argument for it being more acceptable. The face, the most important thing for empathy and recognition. The face, the decapitated fishman one that falls into his hands next chapter.

To quote @room-surprise: "Chilchuck can't explain why it's wrong to eat the merpeople, even though it's NOT complicated. But the problem is Chilchuck would have to accept and acknowledge that the merpeople might be people? And that's outside of the worldview he passively believes, so he can't just say that, because he doesn't think that's true. But that IS why he "feels" it's wrong. And it's all you'd need to say for Laios to understand! But it would require acknowledging that maybe the way they're treating and talking about the merpeople is wrong."

The idea of Chil not being able to grapple with how maybe some monsters are more humans than they seem, him who had been an advocate of half-foots rights, half-foots who get undermined and treated as inconsequential sacrifices… Grappling with how he could relate to the merpeople’s situation almost, and pulling away because it’s so existentially horrifying. I do not want to see myself into an hostile fish-faced warrior I can’t communicate with. In a way this also relates to Chilchuck being the only party member who doesn’t see Izutsumi as a cat in the relationship chart, the only one to treat her with full human dignity. He knows the struggle to be taken seriously, he knows being infantilized and he knows what it’s like to be treated as less than human.

Below, you will see Chilchuck draws the line of where they become not okay to eat as when "they already look like mermaids". Above, there’s speculation that the algae hair is partly to mimic "the mermaids’ beautiful female form". Is it because mermaids are their enemies and the ambiguity might give them extra seconds to attack or flee? Is it to trick adventurers instead? It’s striking to me that this is what works, with the adventurers. Sure the fishmen are intelligent, but explicitly here, what makes them no longer acceptable prey to Chilchuck is that they look close enough to a mermaid, close enough to human. Mermaids who of course themselves have this form to entice and seduce and charm the adventurers they prey on. Chilchuck considers the intelligence due to the tridents, but most of his internal debate centers around their appearance, and the image of a fishman skewered sickens him. The power of mimicry… Mimic being a beautiful human woman. Mimic being cute, babies being wired to make us feel protective and softened. Half-foots, sometimes pretending to be children for scams or help or avoiding trouble.

The mermaids are only concerned by their differences and not their similarities, and have no trouble treating the fishmen as food rather than peers. To an outside perspective like us, the audience, all these categorization of "more human" and "less human" between onis and orcs and elves and tallmen etc seem stupid and unfounded, but to the people living in Dungeon Meshi’s world, elves may as well be mermaids while onis are fishmen, not alike at all, unworthy of empathy and thus fine to eat.

Ultimately, Dungeon Meshi promotes unity. It’s about seeking to understand the unknown and the misunderstood, the dehumanized and the inhuman. It shows the good that comes from seeking to understand what you do not, even when that’s one another.

[bloodsbane]

It's on my mind so I must take the opportunity to express that one of my absolute favorite aspects of Dungeon Meshi is that Falin is interested in the same things as Laius (arguably to the same degree) and it's a character trait of her's that is repeatedly reinforced almost every time we get an extended scene with her.

I think it could've been so easy to make Falin a bit more like Marcille, especially since a big element of her character in terms of the overall narrative if that she is broadly liked and dearly loved by those close to her, while a huge part of Laius' character is that his passions and social ineptitudes make him off-putting and often times disliked or untrusted, even by his few actual friends. Making Falin more different from her brother by emphasizing a disinterest in what he fixates on or showing her verbally attempt to reign him in or gloss over his behavior in social situations could have been a route that would act in service of demonstrating why Falin is more "likeable" than he is; I'm REALLY happy that's NOT the case, because it makes her character (and their relationship as siblings) so much more interesting!!

And I think, in an unspoken but definitely implied sort of way, it really helps us understand why Laius is so close to Falin and so intent on saving her in a meaningful way that goes behind "well she's his sister so of course he cares", y'know what I mean? Even though we really only get a handful of scenes with Laius and Falin together, there is no doubt that they're siblings and we understand that they like each other and care about each other a lot, and part of that is because they have a lot in common!

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Girls Finale

SUBMISSION PROPAGANDA:

Asa -

"one of the first things that shows up when you search up 'asa mitaka' on google is 'autistic' which is a good start.

some notable traits is applying herself to rules when it's not needed, when she waited to walk the street at a red light even when there was absolutely no cars, she doesn't fit in well with her peers, notoriously awkward (and a bit of a klutz), she doesn't seem to have an acknowledgment of her own tone or volume when talking to people (she feels okay just yelling out loud to her devil hallucination in public..), and of course.. her idea of a date is setting up a timed-out plan, with her telling many sea creature facts without pause. she does NOT wanna deviate from this plan. She very much bores her date, but she thought it would win him over instantly.

all in all Asa is a very relatable character to a lot of autistic people, especially autistic girls and autistic teenagers. a lot of her character and arc is centered around social isolation and trying to connect with people, and how that also interacts with self worth. personally i think she should win."

Izutsumi -

"Izutsumi is a picky eater and she has sensory touch issues as well plus as a catgirl she automatically gets autism because all cats have autism by human standards."

Richeh -

"her life's purpose is to live her life according to her own rules, regardless of society's rules that don't make sense to her. and she does that by wholeheartedly embracing her special interests of making delicate magic of crystally stuff and shiny ribbons! she's also prone to making lil puns with her name and the names of the other witches in her atelier, and nobody really gets them aside from the people in her found family <3

also (CONTAINS SPOILERS) her brother once told her that he loved her magic just as it was and that he hoped she never stopped making it and being herself (paraphrased cuz i don't remember the actual quote!) and she took that literally to mean that she shouldn't make magic that wasn't the kind of magic that was hers- i.e. shiny, small, ornate, and detailed magic. Being forced to change how she made her magic in order to "do things the proper way" during her original apprenticeship caused her intense distress, and she'd often refuse to do so and would instead think up her own magic to solve problems instead of doing things by the book. Doing that subjected her to harassment and abuse from her original professor, leading to her eventually needing to leave her 'traditional' witch apprenticeship and get her apprenticeship done at Qifrey's atelier, a place far removed from the main witch cities that accommodates her and allows her to grow the way she wants to."

[room-surprise]

IS LAIOS A FURRY? AN ANALYSIS.

(Laios imagining himself transforming into a wolf in Marcille's mindscape.)

(SPOILER WARNING FOR THE ENTIRE MANGA! This is an excerpt and elaboration from The Essay about cultural and linguistic references in Dungeon Meshi)

WHAT IS A FURRY?

The furry fandom is a subculture interested in anthropomorphic animal characters. Some examples of anthropomorphic attributes can include human intelligence and facial expressions, speaking, walking on two legs, and wearing clothes, but not all of these traits must be present at the same time. Warrior Cats, The Lion King, Zootopia and Sonic the Hedgehog all have huge furry fandoms, to give a few examples.

Many furry fans feel a deep connection to these characters and desire to “become” one through designing their fantasy alter-egos (a furry persona, or fursona), making artwork, role-playing, and if they can afford it, building and wearing costumes called fursuits that allow them to dress up as their fursona in real life.

(Laios' ultimate monster design, you could argue this is his fursona that he's been dreaming about, and refining since childhood.)

Ryoko Kui self-identified as a furry on her blog a long time ago, saying that she “was a furry in high school.” I’ve been unable to track down the original artwork or blog post that states this in order to cite it properly, but I think by looking at Kui’s extensive history, interest, and skill in drawing animals, monsters, and anthropomorphic characters, one can clearly see the “furry” influence.

She has a very clear interest in the intersection between humans and animals, several of her characters are furry characters, and a lot of her work appeals strongly to furry fans in ways that work made by non-furries often does not. She even makes an extremely specific joke about the Japanese furry subculture in a comic about Lycion and Laios arguing about authenticity, which I will get to in a moment.

But whether or not Kui has ever considered herself a furry, I think it’s safe to say that she’s on the internet enough that she must be aware of the subculture, and so it’s possible that she wrote Laios with that in mind.

Laios’ intense desire to become a monster, the way he repeatedly fantasizes about being a dog or wolf, his fascination with all animals (but especially monsters), his skill at drawing animals (and lack of skill in drawing people, or anything else), his interest in becoming a beast-man, and his desire to visit a kobold country because they look like dog-people, all paint a very vivid picture of his interests, and his experiences match up astonishingly well with the experiences of many people who identify as furries.

Western fans often call Laios as a “furry,” or a “monster fucker” mostly as a joke, however I think this should be taken as seriously as interpreting him as asexual or autistic, which are other labels fandom commonly applies to him in a more serious manner… And, incidentally, there is a great deal of overlap between the autistic, asexual and furry communities, so if Laios is one of these things, it’s also very possible that he’s some of the others, too… Even if Kui didn’t intend it, and simply modeled Laios after “some people she’s known” without realizing they were furries, autistic, or asexual, or any combination of the three. This happens frequently in fiction.

I think the most accurate broad labels for Laios would be “therian” and “monster fetishist,” because I believe these two terms encompass the canonical behavior we see from him in the manga and extra materials in a way that I think “furry” and “monster fucker” do not.

JAPANESE FURRY FANDOM: KEMONO VS. KEMONOMIMI

Japanese furries use the terms kemonā (ケモナー) to describe themselves, or kemono (ケモノ) to describe the characters they create and love. Both words mean “furry,” as in, covered in fur.

In the What-If comic where Lycion and Laios meet, Laios awkwardly says that Lycion isn’t a real furry because turning into a beast-man didn’t change him into a wolf on the inside.

“Isn’t that just like wearing a pair of animal ears on a headband and saying you’re a beast-man?” Laios asks, to which Lycion derisively tells Laios that he is just a “beast-man wannabe” or “poseur.”

This is a direct reference to one of the major conflicts in the Japanese Kemono fandom: are characters who are mostly human, but have animal ears and tails really kemono, or do they not count? The general consensus in the fandom is that ears and tail alone are insufficient; these characters are called kemonomimi, literally “beast ears”, like the headband Laios references. Most “cat-girl” characters fall into this category.

A real kemono character includes a muzzle instead of a normal human face and/or an animal-like appearance on the body surface, such as fur, scales, or feathers. According to researcher Inokuchi Tomohiro, this is due to the recognition that "disconnection from humans" is a crucial factor that distinguishes between kemono and non-kemono. He then defines kemono as "an animal that is depicted as a non-human being, but with the potential for mutual understanding/communication with humans.”

By this definition, Izutsumi in Dungeon Meshi is a kemono (furry) and not a kemonomimi (cat-girl), since her body is covered in fur, and she doesn’t have human breasts, but a more beast-like torso. The Winged Lion, the Goat, Kuro the kobold, and possibly the orcs are all kemono (anthropomorphic animal) characters as well.

IS LAIOS A THERIAN?

Though the terminology is very modern, and wouldn’t exist in the Dungeon Meshi setting, it’s possible that if Laios existed in the modern world he might identify as a type of Otherkin known as a Therian. Otherkin and Therians are sometimes part of the Furry fandom, but the two subcultures do not overlap completely.

Otherkin are a subculture of people who identify as nonhuman. Some Otherkin believe their identity derives from spiritual phenomena (such as possessing a nonhuman soul, reincarnation, or the will of God), ancestry, symbolism, or metaphor. Others attribute it to unusual psychology or neurodivergence and do not hold spiritual beliefs on the subject.

Therian refers to people who identify specifically as a real animal of the natural world. The species of animal a therian identifies as is called a theriotype. Therians mainly attribute their experiences of therianthropy to either spirituality or psychology, and often use the term "species dysphoria" to describe their feelings of disconnect from their human bodies and their underlying desire to live as their theriotype. The identity "trans species" is used by some.

Therians may seek out opportunities to perform species-affirming acts like wearing costumes, adopting animal-like behaviors such as making species-specific noises, eating species-specific foods, or moving/performing actions that their theriotype would do.

For example, someone with a horse theriotype may experience joy from snorting and neighing, pulling a cart, stomping their feet, or having a vegetarian diet. Someone with a shark theriotype may want to swim every chance they get, or enjoy eating a lot of raw fish. They may have special accessories they like to wear that make them feel connected to their theriotype, like animal ears on a headband, an actual animal’s tail or a symbolic tail hanging from their belt, an animal tooth necklace, or even just a t-shirt that has an image of their theriotype on it.

In Laios’ case, we know that he likes to imagine himself as a wolf, and in the real world he enjoys/is proud of his ability to bark and move like a dog. He’s practiced and performed this dog impression so often and so well that Falin thinks it’s his most noteworthy and amazing skill. He clearly holds hunting dogs in high esteem and admires them, and says that he learned many important life lessons from spending time with them. He enjoys playing with leftovers from monsters they kill (bones, skin, seeds, fur, etc.) and sometimes tries to collect them for either practical or sentimental reasons… And at the end of the manga he takes the pelt of his ultimate monster form and chooses to wear it as a cape, something that he continues to do for the rest of his life, possibly just because he likes to wear it, or because wearing it eases the pain of no longer being the ultimate monster.

It’s also possible that he’s only wearing it because he thinks it is a pragmatic, politically expedient move, but I think Kui very clearly communicates to us that Laios likes his monster cape, and it is the one thing he immediately thinks of when he wants to try and be king “on his own terms.” He’s willing to accept being king… if he can wear his monster cape. Whether or not it’s a good idea to wear it is secondary to the fact that he wants to do it.

Otherkin and Therian are of course both modern names for this phenomenon, but the concept of people strongly identifying with and being fascinated by animals is as old as humankind itself, so it isn’t impossible that Laios may feel this way, since so much of his behavior overlaps with things a Therian might do or feel.

MONSTER FETISHISM

In English, the word fetish originally described an object believed to have supernatural powers. Fetishes are often used in a spiritual or religious context. However, over time the word fetish has been used so frequently as a euphemism to describe a type of unconventional sexual interest that “sexual fetish” has become the primary meaning of “fetish” in English.

Fetishism is a sexual fixation on an activity, inanimate object, living thing, or human body part that is not normally involved in sex. The object of this interest is called the fetish; the person who has a fetish for that object is a fetishist. The current medical consensus is that sexual fetishes are very common, and as long as they do not negatively impact a person’s life, they are harmless.

Like the English word fetish, the Japanese word 趣味 (shumi), has multiple meanings, such as “hobby”, “interests/tastes”, but it is also used euphemistically to refer to “sexual taste, vice, or fetish.” What meaning is intended must be intuited by the context surrounding the word. I believe the other words used to discuss fetishes are the loan words フェティッシュ (fetisshu) or フェチ (fechi), but these are extremely blunt and direct, and shumi is preferred in situations where polite euphemism, ambiguity or plausible deniability is desired, or is perhaps even necessary in order to make a joke.

Shumi is used throughout Dungeon Meshi to describe various people’s interests, including Laios’ interest in monsters.

Meanwhile Namari’s interest in race-specific weapons and gear is never explicitly identified as shumi as far as I’m aware, but she is called 武器マニア (weapon maniac) in the World Guide, and in the Bicorn chapter, Chilchuck labels her as 武具フェチ (armor/weapon fetishist), and uses the English loan word フェチ (fechi) which is very unambiguously “fetish.”

(The official English translation from Yen Press changed this to “armor fiend.”)

It seems odd to me that Namari’s interest in weapons and gear is identified by most readers (though not Yen Press) as a fetish, but Laios’ interest in monsters isn’t always, when their behavior around their special interest is shown to be the same in the manga:

Both Namari and Laios blush while talking about their respective interests, and get embarrassed and/or excited about the subject. In the post-canon comics, Laios blushes, hides his face, and has to be prodded to confess to Yaad, Kabru and Marcille that he wants to have his body eaten by monsters when he dies. He obviously finds the idea embarrassing and titillating somehow, and is too shy to admit it out loud until they force him to do it. He also blushes on several other occasions in the manga while thinking or talking about monsters.

I think this is because having a “weapons fetish” is normalized: many people have a fetish for weapons or armor and find it sexy. However the idea of a monster fetish makes people uncomfortable because in a story were monsters exist and are a type of animal, they assume Laios having a monster fetish must mean he wants to participate in bestiality.

This is not necessarily true. A fetish of this nature can (and most often does, for reasons of morality and safety) exist entirely in the realm of imagination, and the sexual fixation may not even involve the act of having sex with the fetish object.

WHAT IS A MONSTER FETISH?

In a world where monsters exist, a monster fetish could involve a sexual interest in the sight, smell, sound and feeling of a monster (looking at or creating artwork of monsters, observing monsters in the wild, wearing a monster costume, or owning monster pelts or body parts that can be safely touched, smelled, etc.), the experience of hunting monsters, eating monsters, the fantasy of being a monster, or the fantasy of performing sexual acts with or as a monster.

The fantasy element could be Laios simply wanting to be a monster, and that giving him sexual gratification without any further scenario being necessary, or it could be imagining himself as a human having sex with a monster, imagining himself as a monster having sex with another monster, or imagining himself as a monster having sex with a human.

All of these possible scenarios would fit under the “monster fetish” umbrella. We know Laios canonically does at least six out of these eight things, but we don’t know whether or not he derives sexual pleasure from them… However, we do know that talking or thinking about monsters makes Laios blush in a way that interacting with other human beings does not, and blushing is often a sign of intense emotion or sexual arousal. Kui’s meaning is intentionally ambiguous, but both meanings should be acknowledged: Laios might be emotionally excited, or he might be sexually excited and Kui is leaving it up to us to decide which it is.

This is, specifically, why I think “monster fucker” isn’t an accurate label. We don’t have enough evidence to assume Laios wants to have sex with monsters, or for monsters to have sex with him. All we can tell is that he becomes excited by the subject of monsters, and often times it is specifically the idea of eating them or being eaten by them that gets him the most excited.

VORAREPHILIA

Because so much of Laios' interest in monsters revolves around eating them and being eaten by them, and Dungeon Meshi's plot revolves around the very concept of eating and being eaten, let me make a brief side-bar to discuss the extremely popular, but niche furry sub-culture of vorarephilia.

Vorarephilia is often used as the butt of jokes on the internet, and very poorly understood by most people, so I felt taking a moment to explain it would be beneficial. Most people are probably not even aware that a fetish like this exists, and therefore aren't able to identify that the things Laios is interested in are something he shares with an entire subculture of real people.

Vorarephilia is a fetish that revolves around the fantasy of devouring or being devoured by another person or creature. The prey can either be swallowed whole and alive, or killed and then eaten... But the former is vastly more popular, and most fetishists imagine themselves as the prey, not the predator.

The fantasy of being eaten or eating someone else is just an extreme form of power exchange. Since vore is an impossible fetish in the real world, it exists entirely as artwork, writing, or verbal role play.

Like in most sex practices, the majority of people want to be the submissive partner, and have someone else do the work of pleasing them. You could compare the "predator" in a vorarephilia roleplay session to a "dom" and the "prey" to a "sub" in BDSM. Incidentally, most predators identify as women, and the vast majority of prey identify as men.

Kui's personal work seems to involve some themes that are similar to vorarephillic art.

And Dungeon Meshi features a lot of content which appeals to vorarephiles.

Meanwhile, the many tiny Laioses being eaten by the Ultimate Monster is a classic example of Macro/Micro, another niche furry sub-culture that sometimes overlaps with vore... A giant monster eating mouthful after mouthful of tiny humans is a classic theme.

The vore fandom is extremely diverse, some of them are furries, others are not, and the exact element of devouring and being devoured that appeals to every one of them can be totally different.

What the demon does to Mithrun and Thistle, and Laios does to the demon, is specifically a fetish called "soul vore", where someone's personhood/soul/awareness is eaten and (usually) destroyed by the predator via some kind of "digestion"... Often while the prey is conscious and aware of the process.

For many, the fear and pain the prey experiences while dying is essential to their enjoyment... And remember, most people want to imagine themselves as the prey!

The art on these pages is indistinguishable from things you would pay thousands of dollars for if you hired a furry artist to draw them.

It's also very important to note that on the other end of the spectrum, some vore fantasies revolve around the prey wanting to be loved by someone so much that they would devour them completely, so that they can absorb the prey and keep them with them forever.

Sometimes it's about wanting to become part of something greater that the prey admires or idealizes… the way Laios admires monsters. He explicitly states that when he dies, he wants to become a part of the food chain… While blushing furiously.

And although it isn't about Laios, I think it's important to note that Mithrun's desire was for the demon to finish eating him. A key part of his depression is the fact that he felt he wasn't good enough to consume, that the demon didn't love him enough to want to eat all of him.

I won't go further into vore or macro/micro, because I want to keep this post as simple as possible, and it's already quite long... But if one wanted to dig even deeper into what specifically Laios' interests are, beyond the very broad umbrella of "monster fetishism", I think vorarephelia would be worth considering.

DO OTHER CHARACTERS THINK LAIOS HAS A FETISH?

Characters frequently notice that Laios gets very excited when he’s talking about monsters: he talks louder and faster, his pupils dilate, he blushes, and he forgets what he’s doing, where he is, and what the appropriate behavior for his situation is. This behavior almost universally causes other characters to react with intense scorn, disgust and disapproval.

I don’t think it makes sense for everyone in the manga to react as negatively as they do to Laios’ behavior unless they think there is something off-putting, unsavory, or creepy about it. Their reactions mean they must think Laios’ interest isn’t innocent. It isn’t just a hobby, but of course none of them will say this explicitly, it would be much too direct and rude, and also it wouldn’t be funny if they started accusing Laios of wanting to participate in something as horrible as bestiality.

Part of the joke Kui is frequently making is that nobody says what they’re thinking out loud. For example, at the end of the manga, Kabru gives Laios a disgusted look and warns him to “not talk about your hobby (shumi)” while addressing the participants of the feast. I think we can intuit that hobby/shumi in this instance is probably meant as a euphemism for fetish, otherwise why would Kabru have such a disgusted look on his face? If he just meant hobby, his expression would probably be much more relaxed. Shumi being a euphemism is the joke.

Another example is the fact that Chilchuck frequently calls Laios a psychopath, sick in the head, etc. Those are extremely harsh things to say if he thinks Laios has a completely innocent interest in monsters. He doesn’t call Senshi a psychopath, even though Senshi is equally interested in eating monsters… Because Senshi doesn’t engage in any of the other, suspect behavior that Laios does. Senshi’s interest in monsters is perceived as innocent, while Laios’ is not.

For clarity’s sake: I am not arguing that Laios’ interest in monsters is canonically a sexual fetish, I am only arguing that there is evidence that it is, and that other characters in the story perceive it to be a sexual fetish, whether it actually is or not.

DOES LAIOS THINK HE HAS A FETISH?

People who have fetishes, especially extreme fetishes that are not normalized, often try to hide them. They do this out of fear of social disapproval, and feelings of shame, because they feel guilty for having abnormal desires. This is true even though the majority of fetishes are completely harmless, and morally neutral.

Most people also know that things which provoke sexual excitement are supposed to be kept private, and it’s not acceptable to express those feelings in public spaces, so even if they see something related to their fetish while in public, they will repress their sexual feelings about it.

Laios, who has difficulty understanding social rules and nuance, is aware that his interest in monsters is socially unacceptable, even though there are many other social things he is not aware of.

Laios has spent most of his life hiding his interest in monsters as much as he can, and it is only during the events of the manga that he starts to express himself openly, because his monster knowledge has become useful for their survival, because Senshi encourages him, and because Falin isn’t there to act as a social buffer for him.

But Laios knows people won’t approve, he knows something about his interest in monsters and the way he expresses it will cause people to react negatively, like in the post-canon comic where he doesn’t want to tell his friends about his desire for his corpse to be eaten by monsters, and the part of the finale where he is hiding in the woods, too ashamed to let people see him because they now know that his greatest desire was to become a monster, and not reviving Falin, which he thinks is the "correct" desire that he should have had.

(This of course ignores the fact that the desires the demon preys on are unconscious, and cannot be controlled by the victim.)

This likely means that Laios has encountered negative reactions to his interest in monsters so frequently, and they have been so intensely negative, that it has trained him to conceal his feelings. It is one of the social rules that he has learned.

Laios thinks there is something shameful, wrong, and inappropriate about his desires related to monsters so he thinks it is something he needs to hide.

IS ANIMAL/MONSTER FETISHISM ANACHRONISTIC?

Some may feel that being a furry, a monster fucker or a monster fetishist is something only modern people do, and therefore anachronistic for Dungeon Meshi’s setting. However humans have been admiring, dressing up as and pretending to be animals for rituals (including fertility rituals) since the dawn of civilization, and continue to do so in the modern era every time someone dresses up in a “sexy cat” costume for Halloween, or wears a multi-thousand dollar fursuit to a furry convention.

There are many instances throughout history of people wearing pelts, masks and tails in order to “become” animals, poetry and art of people fantasizing about either becoming a beast/monster (modern werewolf erotica), or having a beast/monster ravish them (the many, many times artists choose to depict Zeus turning into an animal to have sex with women), or coming of age rites that involve animal sacrifice and the adoption of an animal-like persona as part of the process of becoming an adult.

The stigmatization of this behavior, where “sexy cat costume” is normal and “fursuit” is weird, most likely originates from the disappearance of religious and social context for it. In the past, the admiration, imitation and idealization of animals by humans was part of many cultures, but the modern dominance of religions that forbid the worship of anything other than one, immaterial god has left no room for such things, and so society can only view it as the deranged behavior of abnormal people, who have something “wrong” with them, rather than a harmless, common human impulse to admire, fantasize about, and imagine themselves as animals.

[catalinemorosetheblog]

Theory on Opal (HSR Spoilers)

SO.

The new myriad celestial trailer just dropped, and it revealed a lot of information about the stone hearts, specifically their names, some of their designs, and little glimpses of their personalities.

One stoneheart in particular, Opal, seems to be very important.

And smaller than people expected.

The first reaction is that he's a child. Now, this in itself is fascinating because it raises the question of how a young child became what is implied to be one of the most important stone hearts, at least from the way the trailer framed him, but it also ignores the more logical conclusion:

Opal isn't a child.

He's a Pepeshi:

Look at this shot of Opal from the trailer:

In general, we know very little about him, but he was the one who selected Aventurine for the Penacony mission, and Aventurine's fourth character story, it is implied Opal's tactics were deemed to not unlikely to be find a peaceful solution to Penacony by Diamond. And given that he's the only stoneheart holding a weapon in this image:

It's not unreasonable to guess why.

But this image also shows another thing I realized.

We never see the top of Opal's head.

And if you've played through Penacony at all, you would remember the very specific trait Pepeshi have beyond just resembling children.

Their little puffball.

In the trailer, Opal is wearing a hat. In the jade image, the top of his head is cut off. (Also, now that I'm looking more closely, he does look very young in the second photo).

This fact matches his voice in the trailer, er, at least for the English dub. (His voice is deeper than in the CN and JP dubs). But since Pepeshi are similar to half-foots in Dungeon Meshi (been shorter naturally but still having matured minds, at least as far as I can tell), and deeper, older voice makes sense for a grown member of the Pepeshi.

There's also the fact that in that same character story, Opal said that "it was meant to be him" who would go to Penacony, which is a strange choice of words. It almost implies Penacony was Opal's right. And if Opal was a species native to Penacony, that would make more sense. Especially with how he literally holds Penacony in the palm of his hand.

What is also interesting is that Opal seems to be in direct contact with Diamond, who is still very mysterious. It's unclear how close each stoneheart is to the Emanator of Preservation, but given how the trailer placed Opal as the one sharing Diamond's opinion of Aventurine (which also strange, since it was said that Diamond wasn't happy with the cornerstone breaking) I would say pretty close.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hi! I was talking to some friends at work about possibly, some time in the future starting an RPG group with them. I asked what kind game they wanted and they asked for a game based on food and puzzles, influenced by currently popular media.

I’m not familiar with a game that is centered around both puzzles AND food. Can you offer any suggestions?

Thanks!

THEME: Food and Puzzles!

Hello friend, so I have a Dungeon Meshi recommendation post that was very poorly tagged, but I’ve fixed it now!

Not everything in this post is beginner friendly, but I’ve talked about these kinds of games a lot before, so I definitely recommend checking out the other links I have in this list, especially Cook & Hero and Wilderfeast. Now, on to the recommendations!

FOODIE’S, by Sam Bullock.

The world has ended. Only psychotic people are left limping through the devastation, trying to scrape by on whatever prepackaged and shelf stable food they can find picking through the wreckage. You are sick to death of eating this shit. You are a Foodie, and your tastes will be satisfied even if it kills you (and it probably will).

Become crazy wasteland chefs willing to fight and die for their next insane culinary creation. Kill raiders, hunt radfauna and escape the endless cycle of mediocre food.

This is a game that’s meant to be as radioactive and shocking as the apocalypse it’s set in. Use whatever you can around you to cook horrifying meals in an effort to make something more than edible. The game uses a system that adds and subtracts dice from your pool depending on traits that you (and your food) might have that make things slightly easier to do or less appealing to cook with. If you want a game that’s stomach-churning but only a few pages to read, maybe check out Foodie’s.

Forager’s Feast, by FUNONEGames.

Your old adventuring group retired, but you couldn't keep yourselves out of the action. And so, you opened a fine-dining establishment where you serve only the finest monster, locally caught and immaculately presented.

Each week after serving your exclusive clientele, you sit down to eat from the menu and tell tales.  Before long, reliving current and past adventures has you sharing deeply with your comrades.  

Roll on a series of d12 roll tables to determine what kind of adventurer you were, and what your role is within the restaurant that the group of you run together. Players take turns selecting a dish from the provided menu, and telling a story about how the group found the related monsters, the process of putting the dish together, and what heavy price they had to pay: an experience from their adventure that left a mark on who they are as a person.

Forager’s Feast is definitely the least focused on stats and mechanics, and more focused on storytelling happening within turns. You are provided with prompts and then asked to jump right in - great for groups who are really interested in storytelling, and much less focused on things like character abilities or hit points.

No Picnics in the Dungeon!, by Biscuit Fund Games.

Classic adventuring through megadungeons and catacombs distilled down to an easy-to-follow recipe: the comfort food of dungeon crawlers! 

Built on the robust Powered By the Apocalypse engine, No Picnics in the Dungeon! is an accessible, rewarding dungeon-crawling experience that’s easy to run and even easier to play. Create an adventuring party in minutes and descend through dungeons requiring a minimum of preparation. Find rare ingredients from the monsters you battle and the flora you find, and cobble them together into beneficial potions or hearty meals. Track down rare Curios, negotiate with the dungeon’s denizens, and come up with a recipe for a fantastic adventure.

The dungeons hide many secrets and many more delicacies within their walls for you and your friends to discover. Ah, dungeon picnics… there's truly nothing like them.

Combine your class and background to put together an adventurer right out of Dungeon Meshi. Powered by the Apocalypse games are very different from what you may expect in D&D, but I think they can be easier to learn because each character works similarly, and doing things is boiled down into moves, which typically involve rolling 2d6 and interpreting the results as either success, failure, or mixed. If you want to learn more about the PbtA school of games, you can check out my system overview, as well this advice on resources when learning how to play.

Death Cap Sauté, by Junk Food Games.

It’s the year 23XX and our world is now The Wasteland. The legendary, reclusive Shroomp Lord is hosting a new cooking competition and your restaurant has received an invitation! Can you survive through the challenges and cook your way to the top?

Death Cap Sauté is a GM-less TTRPG and dice game for 2 to 5 players and is meant to be played in a single session. Each player takes the role of 3 culinary team members representing their restaurant that has entered a deadly cooking competition. Make the best dishes and impress the judges to earn Shroomps. The restaurant with the most Shroomps at the end wins! 

Because Death Cap Sauté is GM-less, it requires everyone around the table to have some understanding of the rules; which means you could teach it as if you were teaching a board-game. The pdf includes a bunch of roll-tables for the competition, as well as hazards that show up in your attempts to make the best dish at the competition. Your characters each have mutations that lend them special powers, allowing you to do things like add or subtract values to your dice, or re-roll certain dice. This is also designed to be a one-shot, so if you want a goofy game that is low-commitment, this might be the game for you!

Delicious in Torchbearer, by Games by Corey.

Delicious in Torchbearer is a Delicious in Dungeon inspired supplement that adds a variety of cooking centred options to Torchbearer 2E. Ideally meant for use at character creation, these rules extend and increase the focus on cooking in the game.

This game is meant to be an add-on for Torchbearer, so I’d only recommend it for your first group if you really want to get up to your neck in the amount of game that’s here. Torchbearer uses a system called Burning Wheel, and much of its mechanics involve making tough decisions regarding your resources, in the hopes that you will be able to outlast your enemies. If you want puzzles, this game can definitely provide them; many of your choices will require your characters to think carefully about their resources and the best way to go about solving problems. Character progression is slow and painstaking; perfect for groups that are in it for the long haul, but for your first game, maybe not so much.

You might also want to check out…

The Laughing Kobold, by therabidbanana.

Bug Dish: Amouse Bouche, by Ryan Khan.

Spirited Cafe, by A Couple of Drakes.

Stewpot: Tales From A Fantasy Tavern, by Takuma Okada.

Consuming A God Recommendations

My Monster Recycling Rec Post

[dippable]

autism and media. spoilers for criminal minds, my hero academia, and dungeon meshi.

okay so, i'm an autistic person, and i've seen portrayals of autism (both implied and explicit) and they've had.. a range of quality overall.

in explicit examples, i've seen only a few. spencer reid comes to mind first- the autistic savant with an eidetic memory and a penchant for seeming robotic. i, personally, was heavily influenced by this guy- i did (and kind of still do) enjoy criminal minds after all. however, spencer's existence as one of the first explicitly autistic characters that was seen by a wider audience. the show was insanely popular, but in the later seasons (mainly after he was sent to prison) many of his autistic traits seem to fade away. of course, he is a traumatized man who was on high alert for a WHILE, but one would expect he wouldn't lose many of his core personality traits. personally, i think these were written out since his traits weren't seen as "popular", since autistic people can offend those they love or say the wrong thing on accident and it seemed too weird.

second, my hero academia. i don't think any of these characters are explicitly autistic, but i haven't watched in a while. mainly, i see deku and tamaki as autistic (although bakugo, aizawa, and shigaraki are.... suspicious) and i believe my views on these two are mainly influenced by the rest of the fandom, so here goes. overall, i think the characterization of these two lends itself directly to their emotional or anxious nature. most media i see with one or both of them severely dumbs them down to these traits, with tamaki getting the brunt of this treatment. most don't seem to remember that both of them are strong for their age, smart, and have faith in their quirks. even if tamaki might seem pessimistic about fights, he's just that- pessimistic. he's much more inclined to believe he'll lose because if he does, he's prepared to do what he can to help whoever comes after. deku is emotional, yes, but who wouldn't be? he's a teenager who's been told over and over again that he's a failure and he'll never achieve his dream, and suddenly, he's being helped by the #1 hero to become the person that he thought was unattainable. i think horikoshi's representation of them is alright, it's just mainly the fandom that compresses them into "uwu anxious cinnamon rolls too sweet for this earth" instead of remembering they're multifaceted characters, and damaging their own interpretations of real people in the process.

in dungeon meshi, i don't know if they're explicitly autistic (however laios and falin are HEAVILY HINTED AT so.) but the representation of autism here is incredible. in the series, we see laios fuck up with shuro (and, notably, we see the fandom sweep it under the rug because laios is white) while he has real, genuinely close relationships with others (marcille is like a sister to him, and chilchuck's his best friend) so we know he is a multifaceted character. he's also tied to the tendency of autistic people to be interested in fringe interests, or alterhuman circles. he thinks (like many others) that he's weird enough to people, so he throws all caution to the wind and goes all-in on being weird. i know that when i realized i was "too weird" for others, i just stopped caring, and that's how i got into many of my favorite things- like OFF, house of leaves, etc etc. if they thought i was weird then, i don't really want to know what they think i am now, especially since i'm out here playing obscure meta rpgs or reading books that require me to flip them around.

overall, i think the representations of autistic people in media have a long way to go. there is still a critical shortage of autistic poc in media, and many representations of autism are still influenced by the savant stereotype we see with spencer reid (see: the good doctor) and there's still a variety of symptoms that haven't been shown accurately yet. i'm very proud of where we've come, though- now, i can see an incredibly accurate portrayal of myself in laios, but there's still many autistic people who haven't seen someone they can relate to on the silver screen.

[daistea]

thrun is not the submissive one. He might bottom here and there, but that's a position, not a role. I also don't like this shit because I see it with basically every character I like. They're a bit feminine. Okay, sure. But then every edge on them is sanded off until they're disgusting smooth. It's like this gross contradiction of excess fragility. It skeeves me the hell out because it takes a lot of the cool traits and feminizes them totally and basically says "Hey! Being feminine isn't cool or complex or edgy. It's soft." Like. Hey. Hey. That is so fucked? Do you not realize that?

Feminization literally so often takes away what is so interesting and meaningful to a character for the sake of shipping and I've been dealing with it since L fucking Lawliet. And I'm tired. I don't care. Make the guy the bottom if you want. But when people get rid of traits and characterization and change the guy to do it, it's like... ???? I don't know.

Maybe just do it because you want to instead of making it some gender thing? It's weird when people go "femme = bottom". You are remaking gender roles! At that point, I dunno, why are we not writing straight sex?

And honestly, I have lots of thoughts about sexuality and dominance and I think there are so many interesting ways to play it out other than physical strength, which, by the way, if you're going off of that, it's Mithrun!

There's coercion. There's mental dominance. There are so many interesting ways to be dominated beyond pure strength that it seems silly that conquest would come down to only that. You've got this guy, knife-sharp, which is to say smart, and incredibly blunt. He's ruthless, relentless, single-minded. And you're making him the fucking submissive? Like. Okay. Sure. Maybe sometimes. But I also think he's impatient, actually. I think you push him too much when he wants and he decides it's his turn now, and God help you.

There are so many interesting ways to explore the dynamic and the feelings and him as a person. He's a stubborn menace. And it's so neat to make the dom a brat, too! Ugh. The bicker. The banter.

I agree with all u said, here’s a Yeah

I know a lot of it is just societal. We’re trained to assign roles, and when we do that our brains go okay here are the traits associated with those roles :)

I feel like a lot of modern fandom should’ve moved on from that by now, though?? And with dunmeshi especially, you’ve got bearded manly-looking men who cook and garden and sympathize/care for everyone he meets— traditionally feminine traits. You’ve got dwarf women who are stronger than the main character— Namari. Youve got a whole race of characters who look and dress generally feminine, but the main elf is ruthless, he disregards others’ feelings and lives, he’s blunt, he kills people and he does it in a skirt LOL

(I know it’s not technically a skirt but the concept remains ✌️)

Mithrun’s traits are traditionally associated with masculinity. (Women are like that too, though, and actually I want to see more women written like that!) Anyway, despite that, he still gestures in a feminine way sometimes. He’s like if a man and a woman had a baby. Mithrun isn’t necessarily defined by specific roles, which is a consequence of his backstory. That’s how he’s written. He has the capacity to both submit and to dominate— which uh, most real people do, I think. To an extent. I don’t mean sexually, I mean in a relationship. Most emotionally developed people sometimes submit, sometimes grow more dominant, depending on the situation. But what do I know? The world constantly surprises and corrects me.

If ya wanna make Mithrun the bottom in physical moments, go for it. But just because that is considered a traditionally feminine role does not mean he has to be feminine. His characterization/personality does not have to morph and change to fit what sex position you want him in.

Anyway sorry for the rambling, what I’m trying to say is that dungeon meshi has nuanced characters. And I feel like assigning gender roles + the traditional traits of those roles to these characters erases the many dimensions they were written with.

On a physical note, I believe it also subconsciously stems from who’s smaller— another societal norm. I like a good size difference, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think size necessarily equals role. Just bc Mithrun is shorter and can be easily manhandled does not mean he’s an uwu sub softboy who needs coddling. (I think for him, specifically, it also plays into how his disabilities are subconsciously viewed. But that’s a whole other can of worms to snack on.)

If you insist on giving roles, I think it’s actually more fun to give the little guy the more dominant role!

And I do understand why some people gravitate towards dom/sub top/bottom roles. There’s nothing wrong with that. All I would like to see is some brain power behind the characterization and portrayal.

There’s a lot I can but will not say about shipping in fandom. I adore shipping, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just very funny about Mithrun.

In the end, creativity is about fulfillment and joy and expression! If you wanna use these characters to portray your fantasy/tastes then go ahead. But if you want to portray them in canon-accurate ways, with real relationship dynamics, then all I recommend is to not put as much importance/significance into roles. Look at the characters on their own. Canon is your reference, not fanon.

eepy

[toxycodone]

Another Idelle thing, separate ask bc I’m sending a pic: any thoughts on her design?? I know elves are pretty much exclusively light-haired, but she 100% learned how to dye her hair with magic bc she likes the attention. Her staff was bought at a night market bc she’s really into reptiles and thinks snakes are just awesome

Hello! I’d love some input on my character in progress. Her name is Idelle, she’s an elf mage. She was raised in a very tallman-heavy area and was adopted by tallman family friends after losing her parents. It led to a very convoluted situation with her tallman parents dying before she reached maturity and her basically being passed down to her siblings to finish raising. Due to that whole clusterfuck, she’s developed a cold demeanor towards short-lived races and thinks getting involved with them brings trouble. The only magic user in her small town used gnomish magic, so she is more experienced in that than traditional elf magic. Specializes in offensive spells and knows Jack Shit about revival magic. She associates with Kabru’s party even though they’re mostly short-lived, because her life’s goal is to Fuck That Gnome

*AGGRESSIVELY BANGS MY HANDS ON THE TABLE*

YES….YESSSSSSS

I’m sorry I will FULLY admit I am biased towards evil/mean women I will always. Fully support them. Like Idelle doesn’t fully seem like an evil/mean person but, cold women too. They will always rub me the right way ma’am please. Ignore me.

BUT I LOVE HER JOINING KABRUS PARTY JUST TO GET TO HOLM THATS SO FUCKING REAL (this motive is too good for me omfg like. I love a basic ass motive in characters just as much as complicated ones). But also can I say I love the fact she dyes her hair dark too and likes snakes. Those are like really interesting traits. Also as someone who sucks hard at character costume design I wanna say I LOVE. IDELLES. It’s dungeon meshi but still alternatively fashionable if that makes sense.

My questions to you are as follows….if you wanna build Idelle up I would suggest answering these

How does learning a gnomish style of combat affect her being an offensive magic user? Gnomish style magic doesn’t compel spirits like elvish magic does, so what happens if the spirits refuse to listen or don’t do exactly as she wants? ESPECIALLY in the heat of battle?

^To add onto this I want to say this is why Holm uses familiars, specifically ones he raised himself. They’re more likely to listen to him completely and without issue. Do Idelle and Holm start to bond over this? Does he teach her to raise/create familiars? (Or does she perhaps already have one? Or maybe one she’s “working on”?)

How does she feel about Kabru’s party over time? Do they start to grow on her?

How is she with Rin? Rin’s also an offensive attacker (I think??). Is Idelle better or worse than her at magic? Does Idelle care about this fact or just not pay her any mind since she’s a tallman? I think there’s like. A really good thing here party dynamic wise. (I also want to say like. Kabru probably doesn’t like the idea of making his party bigger but after talking to Idelle and seeing her reactions he adds her to the party out of genuine curiosity on how it affects Rin and Holm LMFAO.)

How does she react to Marcille’s “condition”? (Don’t wanna spoil anyone jic)

Lastly, about her past as being raised by tallman, is she cold to them as like a means of avoiding the pain when it comes to losing them? (Just making sure I got this right). I know elves reach adulthood at 80 so. It’s kinda sad imagining her like, losing her kid teeth at 30-40 and just becoming a true young child (like. Probably the equivalent of a ten year old) and her tallman parents are just. Grandparent age. Or don’t even witness it AGHH THAT SUCKS….i love it

[tomyo]

It's been sitting in the back of my head a while so I gotta say it; I don't really like the animation treatment of DandaDan.

I remember worrying about the same feeling earlier this year with Dungeon Meshi as it was also being animated by a studio with a sleek style only to be impressed when the final product did come out and the amount of trigger-isms were very limited moments (exaggerated off model animation with cartoonier proportions). I want it to be heard that I love Studio Trigger's signature traits (And science saru's) but that doesn't always make the best adaptation. I was really amazed with the switch up from them that the quality of DDD's trailer didn't make me worry too much.

To be real I felt like they only showed the best slices. I even feel a little lied to by the quality of the trailer and opening. The first scene we get from the entire series has the ex bf look awkwardly undetailed and outside of the kick, everyone is moving so stiffly.

The other detail I've noticed is how bizarrely empty the backgrounds look. It's not that there isn't detail in the line work but there's a flatness to the texture and a need for things like flyers in the background. I think about anime like Too Many Losing Heroines who beyond everything made an insanely interesting location; lots of rust and small little locations. But the skies lack clouds and the trees behind Okarun are solid shapes. Part of me in terms on this aspect is under the impression that composting was rushed because there are scenes, even repeating scenes later in the episode use better detailing of these aspects. Anything starting from the point of the abductions has significantly better detailing and to the level I'd suspect of this series.

My final complaint is the character designs. The manga is especially detailed with the faces being the most notable. But the pitfall is while they're capturing that facial detail, the bodily detail doesn't match and creates an unbalanced design. It also struck me that then they're fighting with each other that Okarun has a longer sleeker shape for reminiscent of their original works. He even stands taller than her at one point and it's details like those that really set me off since a major aspect is how he stands at her height or even a little shorter due to his hunch. The character designs in general are also kinda thick and have a chunky look to them which just felt overlooked.

I want to point out that I also went to the theaters for the early viewing and it's not a problem of just the first episode. I really want to believe in the adaptation but I'm feeling like science saru struggled to move past its own design philosophy.

[cooking-mama-meshi]

(Sorry in advance op I ment to write a small response to the comments/tags of this funny post and ended up writing abit of an essay)

Man the Shuro hate I’m seeing here is really unfortunate- and is kinda rubbing me the wrong way. I’m not even a huge Shuro fan, but I feel like there is some simplification and reduction happening here.

Obviously ppl are allowed to like and dislike characters as they please- I’m not policing anyone’s personal opinion on a fictional character. However it feels like a lot of ppl are demonizing him, therefore ignoring one of the main themes of the entire story. There are no “bad guys” and “good guys” in dungeon meshi. Most ppl don’t deliberately want to harm others. Even the main antagonist, the Winged Lion, is simply acting on the base desire of *hunger*. However it’s by persuing their desires, people are put in positions of conflict. They have to make difficult choices, and miscommunication happens.

Over all, miscommunication is a very difficult trope to pull off in writing, and can often be very frustrating for an audience if not done well. But when miscommunication and misunderstanding happens in Dungeon Meshi, it’s my favorite parts. Because it feels so human.

The way Ryoko Kui writes makes the world of dungeon meshi feel *incredibly* life like and relatable in a way not many pieces of media are able to capture. I feel like it is a disservice to Ryoko Kui’s effective and deliberate writing to reduce Shuro to “Neurotypical + bad.”

I understand the impulse, especially as someone who is Neurodivergent. The big fight between Shuro and Laios hit very close to home and is very relatable as someone who was often on Laios’s side of the argument. But it’s also probably one of my favorite moments in the entire series. Because it’s written *so* well. While yes, Shuro should’ve voiced his growing frustration with Laois before it boiled over- it’s hard to communicate!! Especially when you know said person isnt trying to be rude (and racist)! Especially if that person is ur coworker! Especially if that person is the brother of the girl you love! And *especially* if you’ve been raised in a royal court where every interaction has more weight and meaning. It’s hard!!! It’s a very real and human interaction and to call Shuro a bad person because of it is kinda reductive.

Next, I want to discuss shuro’s proposal to Falin. A lot of ppl in the tags dislike him for proposing/ “getting in the way” of Farcille. I am a huge farcille shipper, I love their dynamic- I could write a book about those lesbians. BUT, I actually really like that Shuro proposed to Falin. It shows how different his culture is, compared to the Toudens. It also is an example of how Falin’s autistic traits are seen by others vs Laios’s traits. It’s really interesting!! Plus he’s not getting ‘in the way’ of farcille, because Falin literally isn’t interested in the slightest. And I love that! I think it’s a really interesting story beat for Falin, who is a huge people pleaser, being put in a position where she has to voice her own wants!!

TLDR; I just think there is a lot more depth to Shuro than general fandom wants to acknowledge- and every character Ryoko Kui writes.

The funniest part about seeing a bunch of Marcille x Falin on tumblr and then reading the manga is you get absolutely whiplashed by the fact that apparently there's a man who's desperately in love with Falin and is also trying to rescue her. A man that literally no one in the fandom ever mentions lol

[llycaons]

🔥 dungeon meshi

I don't dislike the gay or bi kabru headcanons obvi but I actually do think he's a straight guy and I think he's cute with rin. also this won't be unpopular w my mutuals but shipping him w laios is dumb and shipping him w mithrun is extremely weird

my more controversial take is that I really don't think he's autistic. he's extremely perceptive to other characters' mental states, and very good at manipulating and steering the direction of conversation. maybe you could read it in a like 'I studied this/it's my hyperfixation' but he doesn't appear to exhibit any other signs of autism, never masks in the way I recognize it, and seems to pick up on other characters extremely intuitively (except laios, but that's bc of HIS social ineptitude). I think people see he has a strongly analytical mind and an intense interest in something and immediately assume autism, but I just think he's a very intelligent character who genuinely loves political drama and interpersonal relationships, driven by desperation related to his extremely traumatic past. like could he be? there's an argument for it, and I don't dislike that reading. I just personally don't see it, and I especially think it's stupid when ppl try to ship him and laios on that basis. those two are...not compatible. not in that way

alsoooo ikyk but saying farlyn is 'doomed by the narrative' is dumb lol she literally is the opposite of that the narrative loves and cherishes her and celebrates her just as her friends and family does 🥰🥰🥰 I love lesbian farlyn actually and all the tgirl farlyn readings have got me thinking. I like that a LOT. also it's an important character trait that marcille is conservative and sucks a bit!!! stop trying to sanitize her!!!

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

-A Sign of Affection (Anime) - A cute little romance anime about a deaf girl falling for multi-lingual backpacker. There's not really a lot to talk about or analyze with this one, I'd call it quaint, adorable, and a little unmemorable. For the things I did like, it's great that the characters were all in college with pretty grounded non-anime personalities, I liked the art and fashion quite a bit, and it had a lot of moments that make you go "aww that's so sweet, you're so cute!". The protagonist especially is very cute both in design and personality, honestly she should be more popular with boys. There was also a surprising twist in that quite a few of the main characters notably dye their hair - like everyone has normal genetics and you see their natural hair colors either in flashbacks or in the roots as they grow out, they just choose to dye their hair anime colors, very charming. I also like that the love interest travels frequently and it's implied that the protagonist will start to travel with him soon as well, would love to see just an animated travel blog of different Asian countries. For the negatives I'd say that as of the first season there just hasn't been a lot of interesting development. The main couple is actually dating which is nice, but their pretty quick to say their in love rather than they have a crush, and we don't see them together too much as the focus shifts to 2 other side couples (one cute but kinda bland in presentation and the other fine as individuals but kind of frustrating together) + the second obviously going to fail love interest who's pretty unlikable. There's cute moments but nothing I'd really feel the need to rewatch. Finally while I liked a lot of the characters designs, personality wise, most of them where a little too grounded and archetypal to be interesting. I liked most of them while they were on screen well enough, but afterwards I couldn't tell you their names or 3+ character traits. All that being said I did enjoy it, it was a cute down to earth romance with some good disabled rep and cute visuals.

-The Silence of the Lambs (Movie) - Hey did you guys know that The Silence of the Lambs is a good movie? It's a good movie guys.

- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury (Anime) - Okay fine tumblr, I'll watch the lesbian robot anime. Not too far in yet, I like the music and Suletta as a protagonist. I also appreciate the variety of skin tones and body types present, really helps it feel like a realistic globalized future. Not super into the chemistry of the main couple yet (I actually like Suletta more with the simping jerk jock), but they have plenty of time to grow on me and have a good foundation to develop from.

- Dungeon Meshi (Anime) - More elves are here, they seem fun! I'm always delighted to see what the monster of the week will be, the speculative biology and environments are so well done here.

- Shadow's House (Anime) - yup yup, cute cute.

- Vineland Saga (Anime) - We've been watching this for quite a bit now at anime night, though I haven't included it here as I don't really have much to say. The animation and environments are great and I appreciate the mature storytelling, but honestly the slow pacing, similar character designs, and lack of interest in the majority of the characters has me zoning a good amount of the time. Anime Tywin Lannister is kinda the only character I'm invested in right now and it feels like his days are numbered. Still there's quite a bit left to go, and I do like the thematic direction the story is going so I'll give it time to impress me.

-Mashle: Magic and Muscles (Anime) - New comedy anime to watch with my sister. I like it well enough so far so far, nothing amazing but it is hilarious how blatantly they rip off Harry Potter (good lol).

- One Piece (Anime/TV) - Yeah One Piece is probably gonna keep this spot basically the whole year. We have caught up with the anime and are now rewatching the live action, which still impresses me in how good it managed to be. Now that I have knowledge of the whole series under my belt, I'll say that the Live Action cutting Don Kreig, setting up the parallels between Koby and Luffy (Justice vs Freedom) early on, turning up Sanji's charm and down his women-obsession, and including Nami in the initial episode were all smart decisions that made a tighter and easier to watch story. I hope to see similar things in Season 2 which I'm psyched about. Anyway I am begging them to keep the anime edition of Ace in Alabasta, please please please.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Finished most of the Sumeru Archon quest which has some pretty neat lore drops. I still have a lot of exploring in the desert so I won't head to Fontain yet though.

Listening To: Hope by Akano, Tounges & Teeth and Metaphor by The Crane Wives, HateKiller by WON, Dream Girl Evil by Florence + The Machine, Imu’s Theme from One Piece OST, White Wedding by Billy Idol, GUY.exe by Superfruit, Promiseland by MIKA, All the Boys by Panic! At The Disco, Bonjour Au Revoir by Joyce Jonathan, Fences by Paramore, Little Numbers by Boy, Crazy by Walk off the Earth.

[mitsubinyuri]

Mitsuba propaganda here, coming from a fan of both series:

Alright, I love Milsiril. I love her! She's great. It kind of comes along with being a Kabru fan. She's a very interesting and honestly pretty unique character and I wish we knew more about her, but that's exactly what I'm going to lead into my next point with.

We just know a lot more about Mitsuba than we know about Milsiril. We've had more of a chance to see Mitsuba in action. Much of what we know about Milsiril is from the Adventurer's Guide or from Kabru and/or the Canaries talking about her. I agree she can be considered morally questionable, but I just don't think she compares to Mitsuba in either the morally grey element or the just... being better element.

Mitsuba is complex. Milsiril is too, of course, but we see it more from Mitsuba. There's so much about her that Araki never bothered telling us straight out, but is easy to see through her actions in the story and the things she says, like her struggles with internalized misogyny due to having worked as a model and feeling like she needs to turn heads or it's "all over" for her. She has an entire arc dedicated to characterizing her, and then continues to be an important part of the story from then onward.

She is active in the narrative, and her close relationship to the primary antagonist of the part makes both her and her husband (the antagonist) more interesting. Her conflicts with him are especially compelling, because I would definitely consider both of them morally questionable, but even Mitsuba has her limits compared to Jobin. As a couple, they make each other more interesting, becoming a "morally questionable MILF & DILF duo" which is really cool. Neither of them are downright evil, but they value different things. Mitsuba's morally questionable-ness more comes down to a shallowness and desire for comfort and a tendency to place herself before others, whereas her husband's stems from his relentless ambition and desires to make his family rise to even greater heights. They share traits, but also contrast each other interestingly, shown perfectly when things come to a head at the Higashikata House. But I'm not going to be spoiling anything from JoJolion.

I know Dungeon Meshi is very popular right now, but at least think about voting for Mitsuba. She deserves a win.

Morally Questionable Anime Milfs Side A Round 2 Match 4

Mitsuba -

"She is definitely not a good person, but I wouldn't necessarily call her a very bad person either!! She is fiercely protective of her family!!! She sneakily attacked another mom for slandering her son (then that mom tried to fuck with her family so her husband who is actually a way worse person killed her and also her boyfriend), but secretly she was kind of worried her son had actually done something wrong. She teams up with another girlboss for an arc but then her husband tries to kill that other girlboss and she is like nooo stop then he explains why he's doing it (basically because he didn't want outsiders in the family's business), and she helps for the sake of her son. She also took the risk to sacrifice something very important to her (her appearance) to save her unborn second child from being forcefully aborted. She's awesome but maybe she'd be disqualified because the JoJo part she's from hasn't been animated yet? Please think about it though. 🙏"

Milsiril -

"she adopts orphan children of other races (she is an elf (elves live to be around 400 years old), she adopts tall-men, halflings, etc (races which live to be ~60 years old)), and raises them and teaches them whatever they desire. she means well and has good intentions but she doesn't understand her children's backgrounds/cultures. as a member of a long lived race, she will always think of her adoptive children from shorter lived races as... well... children. they will always be young kids to her, even if they are fully grown and mature. this leads her to smother them and be overprotective of them. And she refuses to see their perspective and desire to be treated as grown adults. But she does genuinely love them, and her adoptive son who we see in the story is fond and grateful to her, even if he is extremely frustrated with how she treats him like a child. its a complicated relationship."