#the most important relationships in dungeon meshi are platonical

[allegorism]

dungeon meshi teaches a very valuable lesson in life: yuri shippers can be just as annoying as yaoi shippers.

[possamble]

realizing im kind of a weirdo about laios and marcille

[awarmbowlofhomemadesoup]

What I love about Dungeon Meshi is that it writes platonic relationships with the same weight romantic stories would normally be written.

The Character that Got Their Heart Broken Too Many Times

Humanity broke Laois' heart. This is taken advantage later on by the Wingled Lion, but I digress.

Laois got bullied in all-boys school to the point that he ran away to become a soldier. Heartbreak #1.

He got harrassed in the training camp to the point that he became a deserter. Heartbreak #2.

The combination of these events were so bad, his lack of basic self-care can be a sign of a depressive state. If Falin hadn't joined him, who knows what would've happened to him.

Laois was so happy when he became friends with Shuro and felt so betrayed when Toshiro said he couldn't stand him. Not exactly a heartbreak #3 but it hurt all the same. They got past it but Laois remembers.

And when Kabru, for once in his life, stopped playing poker and laid down his cards, Laois wasn't going to let his heart be hurt for the fourth time.

The biggest thing that stands out to me in this manner is how Kabru's blurted confession of wanting to be friends with Laois was treated as much as a big revelation as a romantic one. Because the weight of that confession is Kabru's character development.

The Character Whose Sincerity Doesn't Come Easy for Him

This guy grew up being infantilized and not taken seriously by the elves for being a short-lived race. So, he honed diplomacy as sharp as his assassin's blade.

He knows the right things to say and when to say them, making him well-liked by everyone (much to his team's chagrin over their loved ones). And yet his personal cause puts a distance between him and his trusted teammates (including his childhood friend).

To say his true feelings and thoughts would end up with long-lived races dismissing him for being unwise and irrational.

So he keeps his cards to himself and works with subtlety throughout the manga, until things got worse, and he couldn't make Laois stay.

And he was left with nothing but to be sincere.

Right from the start, he said he wanted the Touden siblings to be unmasked. But in the end, he unmasked himself, much to his horror.

Addition edit: Kabru has been keeping his cards close to himself for so long, I don't think he realized what he really feels until he blurted it out. He chased after Laois throughout the dungeon because Laois might defeat the mad sorcerer. But for a guy who wants to understand everyone, he never understands what he feels about Laois and what that feeling means until his brain catches up with his mouth.

After decking Laois for not believing him, Kabru elaborated in his confession. He has developed a platonic crush (plush for short) or desire to be friends with Laois because:

1. Kabru wants to understand how Laois could love the very thing Kabru hates. Hate is just another face of fear. We fear what we don't understand. To understand Laois is to understand monsters. I think Kabru finds it admirable that Laois could admire monsters when everyone just view them as a threat.

2. He wants Laois to care about the same thing he does, which is saving humanity. Laois and co. are willing to side with the demon to protect Marcille from the Canaries. By asking to be Laois friend, Kabru becomes Laois' link to humanity that whatever they would do from there with the demon, please don't forget how it might affect other people outside his friends. And by gods, this is important to Kabru's development because he has never asked for help for his cause nor asked anyone to care because he's too used to the self-serving nature of all races. And yet, he chose to believe in Laois. Because if Laois could go that for his sister and elven friend, what more if he could do the same for what Kabru cares the most?

However, it was only in the end that they were able to talk after things had settled down. And they are so different and so alike at the same time.

Source

In this scene, there are two differing thoughts:

Laois, who experienced social rejection growing up: Do you still mean it?

Kabru, who had to deal with those of higher power: Are you testing me?

But they're still thinking the same thing: Is this real?

Like, all of their motivations have the weight often molded into romantic plots in any other story. A character who got their heart broken too many times and another character whose honesty does not come easy for them. But it's not a romantic story, but a start of a beautiful friendship.

There are more examples out there, but this is what came to my mind. Feel free to add more.

[tagasaing]

i have to get this out of the way, re: dungeon meshi discussions

major spoilers ahead, obviously.

you know for a series that focuses so much on platonic and familial relationships it’s weird that dungeon meshi has attracted so much useless ship wars though. the most important driving force in the story is two sibling relationships (laios’s search for falin, thistle’s search for delgal) and one of the central themes is how loving others way too much can lead to your downfall (thistle’s desperate attempt to keep his loved ones leads to his mental state deteriorating so much he starts torturing people he claims to protect, marcille’s fear of losing her friends leads to her being easily manipulated by the main antagonist)

even with regards to falin. thistle wants to bring the ‘brother’ he raised back at all costs, he saw a young human woman as nothing more than a dragon, his tool. marcille wants to bring falin back at all costs, she didn’t care about the repercussions of using monster meat instead of animal meat even though she was an expert at ancient magic and should know why it’s such a dangerous practice.

each and every single one of the major characters has some form of tragedy with their family one way or another: the toudens, marcille and her dad. chilchuck and his wife. senshi’s entire backstory. izutsumi’s hidden desire for a mother. namari’s father. shuro and his family. kabru and his mother(both tallman and elf). mithrun and his brother. thistle and the melinis.

even some of the minor characters: flamela and her dead twin sister. the twins and the floke couple. kuro being the closest mickbell has to a family. etc etc

as someone who has reread this manga several times by now, i wonder if people just… read it once as fast as they could and act like they’re some sort of authority on fan discussion. i’ve seen people brag about reading the entire thing in one sitting as if it’s something to be proud of. this manga isn’t meant to be read that fast, that’s how you get people claiming that laios doesn’t reaaally love falin as much as marcille does.

to these people, laios just gets in the way, as if it wasn’t his idea to go down the dungeon in the first place, it wasn’t him who said his pain doesn’t matter because falin suffered more than him, it wasn’t him who felt immense guilt for leaving falin behind, it wasn’t him who found her skull, it wasn’t him who killed her to save her from her chimera form. i feel like people forget about the ‘too’ part when marcille said “i miss falin too”

marcille knows how much falin and laios love each other. that’s why she asked him if she’s allowed to resurrect her and didn’t act on her own. that’s why when both times a shapeshifting monster copied marcille to trick laios, it was what she looked like at the time she was reviving falin.

as someone who DOES ship farcille, none of the romance is canon. this isn’t meant to be anti-farcille. one of the post-canon comics is about falin gently turning down shuro because she wants to travel the world, “you can’t tie a dragon down” after all. she wants to travel the world and find herself because she doesn’t know who she is outside of marcille and laios. even marcille, who was hoping she’d reject him, tears up because of how beautiful and tragic it was.

there are a lot of ship teases because what author doesn’t like a good ship tease. but to say that dungeon meshi is a romantic love more than it is a story about family(both real and found) is a great misinterpretation of the text.

[erros429]

now, you’re pretty obviously a farcille shipper (and tbh who isn’t lol). but i’m curious. do you think it’s the most important relationship in dungeon meshi?

i don’t think comparing relationships is really how someone should view a narrative at all. farcille is my favorite relationship in dungeon meshi, yes, but i don’t think it’s the most important. sure, i’m a big shipper and i’m open to the fact; i’m also not blind enough to the plot to know that fundamentally the story is about laios and his sister.

yea, almost none of the plot would have happened if marcille wasn’t so devoted to falin. but also none of it would have happened if laios wasn’t equally devoted to saving falin. both can be true at the same time.

i’d even argue that falin and marcille’s relationship is equally as important as laios and marcille’s relationship. though i read the former as romantic and the latter as platonic, that doesn’t mean the romantic one has more value.

almost all of marcille and falin’s relationship is only seen in flashbacks and in their respective motivations as characters (like how marcille’s greatest desire is to keep her loved ones alive longer. and how falin was very ready to let people die if it meant her loved ones would live). on the other hand, marcille and laios’s relationship is at the forefront of the story and actively develops with the plot. again, they’re both just completely different dynamics.

and if we’re REALLY talking about the importance of relationships in dungeon meshi, i could even argue more abstractly that laios’s relationship with monsters and food is the most important driving force for the story. but i don’t think you had the abstract route in mind, so i won’t digress further.

TLDR no dynamic is similar enough to justify comparison. they’re all equally impactful, and the story would not be the masterpiece that it is if these relationships didn’t work in tandem with each other.

[sauntervaguelydown]

Normally I just tune it out but I think because the source material is so GOOD at giving friendship its own weight, I’m really annoyed by the Dungeon Meshi fics I’m finding where romance is treated as the default most important and advanced relationship type.

This is the autism and platonic relationship manga, can you at least put a little effort into deconstructing what you think romance IS? Please?

And stop acting like being “friends” is somehow a mutually exclusive thing from dating!! It’s normal to be friends with your romantic partner!!

[ishgard]

Tag ppl you want to get to know better

Tagged by @myreia - thank you!!!

LAST SONG: so I meant to go to my history to figure out what it was but forgot and by the time I did it changed so uh, haha 'Hozier - 'Francesca'

CURRENTLY WATCHING: Sousou no Frieren, Dungeon Meshi

THREE SHIPS: Ohboyokay let's see. Obviously I have a ton, but three.

Mana & Belial: These two are everything to me. This is me and the besties pandemic ship, we started text RPing with them while I was up north in 2019 and then everything spiraled. They were originally GBF characters but they've jumped to so many different universes and become full blown OCs by this point. They're enemies-to-lovers, they're 'I'll find you in every life time', they're unapologetically horny, they give me so much joy and happiness I could vomit rainbows.

Ahru & Deryk: This is probably pretty obvious if you've been following me at all. Ahru has a lot of ships I could ramble about for an age but this is the one I'm rotating in my brain 24/7 these days. I love how they fit together, I love how they get to experience the world all fresh and new, free of their burdens, together. aughghghg anyway. (Holds up boombox blasting 'Francesca' by Hozier)

Ahru & Arshadaya: This is like, my sleeper ship. Like Thanahru it's kinda present in every Ahru verse, but more. They're platonic, they're romantic, they're inextricably linked in ways that should be concerning and even questionable but it works for them. Arsh wanted to meld with Ahru's soul ('to save Nyx') before he inevitably accepted her as herself instead of 'Azem's Shard' and swore that same loyalty and devotion to her that he did Nyx. To the extent that when she got chopped up by the Servants of Light he sacrificed a good portion of himself to restore her, only adding to the 'inextricably linked in concerning questionable ways'. As a result he's in like a magical coma that could last gods knows how long but he maintains a link with Ahru continuing to protect and watch over her even now. They've basically fused into one being but he sleeps on the sidelines because her happiness and continued existence is the most important thing to him. :''')

FAVORITE COLOR: Light Pinks, Red

CURRENTLY CONSUMING: Just had a brownie 😌

FIRST SHIP: Geez... I mean probably Sailor Moon/Tuxedo Mask. Hilariously I feel like I've been a self-shipper + ocxfandom shipper from a young age because I remember my little saiyan oc I shipped with Trunks way back when. 🤣

PLACE OF BIRTH: USA

CURRENT LOCATION: Nope. 😘 (Seconded)

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single

LAST MOVIE: Geez I can't remember... I honestly have such a hard time watching movies. I watched a few parts of 'When Harry Met Sally' when mom had it on T.V. a few days ago???

CURRENTLY WORKING ON:

I Will Share Your Road - Ahru x Deryk screens set about their journey around Eorzea post-Myths of the Realm

The Road Ahead - tentative name for a fic of the same scenario above. Mostly a lot of all over the place drabbles at the moment.

Miqomarch X'D I'm trying to get ahead a bit for when I'm away on vacation.

[name pending] original work about faeries and shit, inspired by the Elfhame series by Holly Black. Has been put grievously on the back burner because of XIV brainworms.

Tagging: @icehearts, @eorzeanflowers, @uldahstreetrat, @twelveswood (i know you but i'm tagging you anyway teehee) - no pressure though and if you've already done it please ignore me 😂

[loriache]

i hope new followers are also ok! B and H for the ask meme

ask game

Yes absolutely : ) doesnt matter how new you are! Welcome! Let’s chat!

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Right now, that’s gotta be Rin/Marcille! I love Farcille, of course, and came out of the comic shipping that hard. But I also love poly, multi-shipping, drama… and I think it was this post by @malewifesband that got me thinking about the possibility of Rincille. Good girl honour student x self-taught bitter traumatised mage yuri. Rin needs someone else than kabru to care about! I love rin/kabru (i even made a comic about it) but it’s a bad bad bad idea. Rin/Marcille might be very messy but I think it’d do them both some good!

If that intrigues you then what cemented it for me is this fic. transfem laios, labru, but the rin subplot made me feral and it’s rincille with background open relationship farcille.

H- What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

This is a tricky question. I guess anime and manga? Western comics too. I love books and I have been in plenty of book fandoms, but I’m more likely to come out of a film or book feeling satisfied with what I got, without that fannish urge. But then again I was big into Star Wars for a while. the most important thing is to feel that sort of dangling urge where things weren’t tied up, which longer, less polished things will give me more often. Dungeon Meshi is rare because stuff that leaves me with a “wow, what a work of art” feeling rarely also prompt me to engage fannishly. It’s the way it paints a broad and consistent picture of the world and the characters without filling every part in, and the great potential of the post-canon setting that gets me, I think.

Mostly I don’t watch as much TV (of any sort, live action even less than animation) because I struggle to focus on it if I’m not watching with somebody. Oh, though I am watching Interview with the Vampire with my sibling at the moment and I can tell once I’m far enough to not be avoiding spoilers I’ll want to check out the fandom.

So yeah. Not really films, I guess, except very occasionally. Anything else is fair game if it has interesting loose ends, themes, and characters (or the potential for those things).

Thank you for the ask! ☺️☀️

ask game

[poundfooolish]

in like 99% of fandoms and stories I get into, I do not give a Singular Serious Shit about Shipping, it's just not important to me, I don't really get much out of it-

Except Dungeon Meshi, a story with no fully front facing romance (Falin and Marcille are so heavily coded it's not funny but it's still not like. If you really wanted to be pedantic about it they are not 'confirmed official', but that's also As Close As We Get, the trials of romance are just not a part of Dungeon Meshi's storyline, Desire and Obsession are so that's the aspect of their relationship that shines through the most) has me absolutely going insane over the Specific Romantic Dynamics of basically every fucking character alongside their platonic ones. I've got a ship for everyone.

I gesture wildly at my red string corkboard 'for once I have opinions and how convenient that they are correct and right'

[hot-lesbian-knight]

And there's also the platonic love between Laios and Marcille!

Laios loves Falin so much in the way only siblings can, and Marcille loves Falin so much in the way only real romantic love makes you feel, but very importantly Laios and Marcille also love each other so much in the way only deep platonic friends can.

Like Laios trusts Marcille implicitly, Marcille puts her faith in Laios, they both care so much about each other they will do anything to save each other and it's all so platonic. There's not a hint of Romance between them and yet I'd argue it's one of, if not the most, important relationships in the story.

Dungeon Meshi is about Love. Between siblings, between lovers, or between friends, it doesn't put any one type about any other, all that matters is the depth of the love not it's type. Ryoko Kui put so much care into showing that loving someone with a fierceness that makes you want to kill and eat god rather than give up on them isn't because of the kind of relationship you have with the person is more important than other relationships, but instead just a result of how much you love that person regardless of the type of love you feel for them.

It's frankly astounding how well she managed to craft a story that makes sure to put all those types of love on equal ground with none being framed as "better" or "more important". Love is Love, whether it's romantic, familial, or platonic, and Ryoko Kui goes to great lengths to show the depth of all those types of love in Dungeon Meshi and I think it's so rad

Dungeon Meshi is the ultimate takedown of “there is no platonic explanation for this” off re: the level of love someone has

Both Marcille and Laios are willing to go to extreme lengths to bring Falin back to life. Laios is willing to walk into the dungeon alone and unaided to certain death for her; Marcille is willing to follow him and face everything she fears and hates for her. Marcille uses forbidden magic that would cost her life and her place in society to save Falin; Laios casts his lot in with her and brings the sentence upon his own head for the same reason. Laios plans to replace the dungeon lord make a deal with a demon to save Falin; Marcille is the one who actually strikes that deal.

One is sibling love and one is queer romantic love.

Neither is elevated above the other, and the choices and sacrifices along the way constantly echo each other. But the *flavor* of it, the nature of their affection, is written so differently. “There is no platonic explanation for this” is more for Marcille getting flustered at what she will be wearing when Falin is resurrected, than loving Falin more than ‘just a friend’ could. THAT is the way to differentiate something as romantic, rather than putting nonromantic love on some lower tier that could never reach the same heights or extremes.

[gallus-rising]

for p1: current favorite ship/first favorite ship and p2 current favorite character/first favorite character. also top 5 pokemon for 3

i'm afraid i can't give you first fav ship/character since my memory is terrible and also i'm probably over thinking it and trying to go too far back 😔 first fav character was assuredly someone from Digimon tho lol

ok under the cut because it got longish lol

current favorite ship: currently suffering from ekumob brainrot 😔

when I started shipping it if I did:

ok their friendship was already very important to me but when the broccoil arc was animated?? idk for some reason that Activated something in me..... there was also this one popular fanartist on twt who's since moved on from mp100 that def contributed. no idea where they are now but i hope they're doing well 🙏

my thoughts:

oh god we'll be here all day. they r. Good

What makes me happy about them:

hhhng human/monster ships always make me happy just because (´ ∀ ` *) but something specific to them is the slowbuild trust between them?? most of my ships are built on canon friendship stuff and mp100's platonic relationships are particularly good. i wouldn't be able to properly describe it w/o going into full series meta lol but this is a good place to start probably

What makes me sad about them:

we all know that mortal/immortal pairings never end well :']

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

there isn't enough fic for them for this to rly be applicable :''']

things I look for in fanfic:

thing i'm desperate for in both fic and art is ghost Dimple. get that claw guy outta here he is a mere means to an end

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

ekurei is always fun but Mob is aro to me u-u i'm shipping him in an aro way. i promise it makes since in my head

My happily ever after for them:

just very chill living together. Mob seemingly lives alone and his normal friends feel a lil bad for him and try to set him up w someone every once and a while but Mob always politely declines. when Mob is busy Dimple spends time with the extended S&S crew because those are his fwiends 🥺 sometimes Dimple is gone for a few days but he always comes back home <3

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

depends on whether Dimple is in Big Ghost mode or Little Ghost mode lol but i feel like they both equally enjoy either role

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Mob astral projecting so Dimple can possess his body and do the sorts of normal human things he misses. just. small ghost Mob hanging out while Dimple goes on a walk or has dinner or takes a bath or w/e. also. small ghost cuddles 🥺 tiny ghost Mob and tiny ghost Dimple snuggling 🥺🥺 Mob's unconscious body is about 5 feet away ig

current favorite character: bouncing around between various Dungeon Meshi characters atm but let's go with Laois

How I feel about this character:

autism to autism communication

All the people I ship romantically with this character: 

no one. he is aroace to me u-u

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

i don't say this lightly but the Touden party is the found family of all time oh my GOD

My unpopular opinion about this character: 

as an autistic/autistic-coded characters he is ofc subject to Pure Sunshine Syndrome UwU so most of my unpopular opinions are just canon facts lmao. he's very smart and a capable leader, charisma is just his dump stat

also i know someone wrote a meta post explaining this way better but Laios is just so angry. the post was mostly about how in most media the character who is autistic misreads the social situation is always in the wrong. the character must always realize they've committed a horrible social taboo and eventually apologize to everyone for their bad behavior. but Dugeon Meshi lets Laios be angry. like yeah!! why didn't ppl just explain things to him?? he gets mad when other ppl pretend to get along w him but actually dislike him and are waiting for him to get a clue. so yeah, Laios is a chill guy but underneath that he is just so angry at the world all the time. he's pissed off ppl treat him like a freak for acting sincerely, he's pissed off ppl treat his sister like a freak for her natural talents, and Kabru is super valid and right for assuming that Laios hates humanity bc he kinda does a lil (tho not to the extent that Kabru thought ofc)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

let him have fangs and glowly cat eyes and all that. he needs to live out his furry/otherkin dreams.

my OTP:

N/A

my cross over ship:

you know what???? Venom.

a headcanon fact:

ALMOST ALL DUNGEON MESHI CHARACTERS HAVE SOME KIND OF DISCORDED EATING IN THIS ESSAY I WILL--

top 5 favorite pokemon: hhhhng picking just 5 is v difficult so consider this incomplete. listed in no particular order because i'm bad at that 😔

turtwig line. i yelled when the Big Torts appeared in Detective Pikachu

porygon line. split line evo where you can evolve proygon2 into porygon3 which is stated for Sp. Def vs porygon-z's Sp. Atk WHEN!!!!

pidove line. fav regional bird. unfezant is Peak bird design

smugleaf snivy line. it's a skink that evolves into a legless lizard what's not to love??

klefki. L + Ratio + Prankster + Thunder Wave + Spikes + Dual Screens + Light Clay. Taunt users DNI