#laios's goals were never that lofty. not until they HAD to be because the situation demanded it of him | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

chimerafeathers · 6 months ago

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there's an essay jumbled up in my brain about dunmeshi's beginning and how clever and deceptive it is as a sleight-of-hand trick that distracts the audience from the depth and scope of the worldbuilding and foreshadowing that's being set up the entire time by dangling zany characters and wacky dishes and biology fun facts in front of us, and how that serves to catch invested viewers off guard when those elements come to the forefront, but also how it works against it with other viewers wanting "more" and not seeing it because the plot bait isn't laid out up front

how people getting frustrated with the characters "not taking things seriously" is mirrored and refuted in the confrontation between Laios and Shuro. how the characters' attitudes aren't just a result of shallow low-stakes "comedy rules" where nothing matters, but are an extension of their personalities (Laios's nonstandard expression of emotions being offputting even to people he knows) and the world and social environment (adventurers being desensitized to death and injury because resurrection magic is commonplace). the way the party refers to "saving Falin" instead of "retrieving Falin's corpse," indicating that they still see her with full personhood, and how that phrasing leads to some readers/viewers believing that Falin is alive in the dragon's stomach, conscious of being slowly digested while the party carelessly fucks around "wasting time." how the weird tonal dissonance makes sense in-universe and yet is deliberately challenged more and more the deeper the party goes

all the character building and pieces of lore slowly weaving together the shape of the larger world, laying the groundwork for the major themes that will surface later. so much is right there in the "low-stakes" early episodes if you know what you're looking for (or pass the perception checks).

it can be so satisfying to see new viewers/readers pick up on the clues even in the earliest "simple" episodes, or notice new things and make connections yourself....and it can also be frustrating to see people dismiss oddities and dissonance as shallow or bad writing because they don't expect a "cooking anime" to have depth like that. why try to question and understand and peel back the layers when you don't expect there to be any layers?

why can't laios take things seriously for once?

#mypost #i'm majorly out of practice for doing any real critical cohesive writing lol #trying to put this into coherent words has been such a mess so here's a vague gesture at my thought process about it #it's both my favorite and the most frustrating thing to see #because i've seen SO MANY people say they dropped the show after a couple eps thinking they know what it's about and where it's going #a cute but ultimately unsustainable gimmick #people for whom the characters and the food/biology infodumping weren't enough of a hook #but i wouldn't change anything about the structure to put a more obvious plot hook in the beginning #because it would give the game away TOO much #i LOVE how the audience has to acclimate to the characters' attitudes about death #only for our assumption that it's all normal and fine in this world to be thrown back in our faces #how we're left to notice the winged lion appearing in statues and carvings and coins and armor in the background #long long before it's ever brought up as a real entity by the plot #the history of the kingdom laid out in plain view but nevermind that. magic painting food!#i've seen the language around falin and her resurrection cause so much confusion #but of COURSE the characters involved wouldn't directly say 'we need to get her corpse to revive it'#bc pragmatically they already understand that as their goal. it doesn't need to be stated out loud; it's just how this process works.#but also they don't SEE her as an object. a dead body.#they need to 'save her before she's digested.' 'the spell couldn't reach her in the dragon's stomach.' 'hang in there falin'#death isn't real to them. not really. and so it doesn't quite feel real to the audience either #not until they find her skull and that realization slams home #like......i keep comparing it to gravity falls #which is episodic and goofy in the beginning but also has a much more obvious plot hook to keep people interested #(a main character entering a secret bunker indicating that he's lying about his ignorance of the town's mysteries)#the main characters in gravity falls are AWARE that there is a mystery to be solved and are trying to find more information #but i don't think that approach would work as well for dm!#laios's goals were never that lofty. not until they HAD to be because the situation demanded it of him #it's the characters trying to solve one personal problem and finding themselves entrenched in something vast and dramatic #that they weren't even fully AWARE of when they set out. and we the audience are on that journey with them!#it's SUCH a good structure i wouldn't trade it for anything. but also. tragic to see people give up and dismiss it so fast.

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