#laios dungeon mesh

[meatm0th]

marcille and the autistic creature

[savaralyn2]

Dungeon Meshi - Concept Ending Sketches (1/2)

[toadallyspice]

[chocomaomao]

Just wanted to fill a page with dumeshi heh

[legalownerofufoemoji]

Wow Laios is actually severely autistic

I am not saying that as an insult, as I read this he isn't even just coded as such, he just is. It's actually really relatable (currently hes being yelled at for not being able to "read between the lines", poor guy)

I'm so fucking excited to see this animated actually, I wonder if they'll keep it true to the source material

[multiver-s]

erm, dungeon food

(original without filter under the cut)

[random-group-of-crows]

Dungeon meshi au where Marcelle woke up while Falin and Laios were talking in the middle of the night, but she couldn't convince Falin to stay at the academy with her so she went with Falin and Laios instead

[embarkationofmars]

Dungeon Meshi Spoilers

HE’S STIMMING GUYS, THINKING WITH HIS HANDS. I DO THIS, HE’S SO INTO IT, THE HEAD SWAYING IS ON POINT. THE CLASSICAL MUSIC?? I LOVE IT.

[nulli-bug]

sneak peak of cat's backstory

(semi-proof read)

The troop walked ahead of her , laughing and chatting about their past couple days. Cat stared  ahead, instrument strapped to her back. Her feet ache from walking, she should be used to this by now. She's been doing this song and dance for months; find a town, perform, stay in town a few days, and then set off again. She liked playing music, she really did. She would play and dance with the others as the people cheered. For a while that was enough but now seeing the rest of them so happy so connected it was starting to ebb away at her. It wasn't because she hated the others. It was because she wanted to be laughing and chatting with them. She never knew what to say. She didn't even know if they liked her.

The girls who started this group were from cat’s home town and they offered for her to join so that should mean something. They were about to enter their next town. They'd have to secure a room for the night when they enter. That was usually Imra's job. Imra was their self appointed ,you could not stress self enough, leader. While she did get things done, it seemed to Cat that Imra hated her guts.

She could see Imra now, her neatly braided blonde hair and her red dress. They all wore red dresses because Imra said it’d make them look “cohesive”. The closest to Imra was Leane and Bronwen. Cat had no specific opinion on Bronwen but Leane was ,at least to cat, her best friend. Cat speeds up to catch up with the rest of the girls. 

“Imra! Are we close to the town?” Cat said, craning her neck up to look at the elf. Imra looked down at the gnome, her nose scrunching up at being interrupted. 

“Only a couple minutes I think” Imra mumbled. Cat nodded in response but Imra had already returned to her conversation. Cat cringed internally, she should have been more polite. 

She sighed looking up to see the town coming into view. She was relieved, the worst part of this job was the traveling bit. They didn't have enough money for multiple horses or a caravan so walking was their only option. Cat’s shoes were so worn at that point she could almost feel the gravel as she stepped.

They entered the town, Imra went off to talk to the owner of the local inn to secure a place to stay.the girls set up their instruments. Leane leaned over to Cat as she turned her lute “say cat, did you see that giant mansion near the edge of town”. 

Cat turns “oh I think so”. 

“I wonder who lives there,” Leane wondered out loud. 

“Probably someone loaded,” Imra says, walking up to the group. Leane nodded in agreement. Imra had secured a room for at least a couple nights with the innkeeper. 

Since Imra was there they could start playing. Cat picked up her fiddle getting ready. Imra counted off and then they began. The music danced through the streets of the small town making people gather. Children dragged their parents over to watch, couples got together and danced, and some even gave them money. The crowd clapped in sync with the beat as the group played.

Cat felt alive as she played. She twirled and swayed along to the tune. Her face scrunched in focus. Her eyes glanced over the crowd. She was a little gnome girl dancing with her father, an older dwarf woman softly smiling as she bobbed her head, and even a scraggly looking tall-man clapping along with the song. The earlier loneliness was gone and replaced with overwhelming joy. She was making these people so happy and it felt good.

[meatm0th]

just a silly doodle that i made with 🐀

[xenodile]

"Shuro loves Falin for the same reasons he hates Laios" Completely and utterly wrong, could not be further off base.

I get the impression a lot of people watching Dungeon Meshi as it airs, or are a bit removed from its original manga run, have forgotten that Laios and Falin being monster freaks wasn't actually apparent until the events of the story. The only person that knew Falin loved monsters as much as Laios was Marcille because they were best friends at school.

Once Laios and Falin were in an adventuring party together, they both had public facing personas because they had both learned through their separate upbringings that being super interested in monsters and dungeons wasn't normal. Laios is the blunt but well meaning, outspoken and opinionated guy we all know, but Falin was way more withdrawn and soft-spoken, non-confrontational, easy to get along with. Everyone that interacted with Falin would say she's a sweet, gentle girl that everyone likes. Because she was, frankly, kind of a doormat.

The whole thing with Toshiro's infatuation with Falin is he doesn't actually know her. She is outwardly very polite and reserved, and that appeals to Toshiro because it meshes with his cultural sensibilities and how he was taught people are supposed to behave. Then he sees her marveling at a caterpillar in a private moment and decides on the spot that she's the ideal woman and proposes without actually talking to or getting to know her.

And his lack of understanding of Falin as a person is brought to the forefront in every action he takes after she gets eaten. He leaves the party and makes no attempt to contact the two people that Falin loves the most. Whether it's a matter of him just not knowing how much Falin cares about her brother and Marcille, or actively avoiding Laios to rescue Falin himself, he's demonstrating that he doesn't actually know what's important to her or understand how she feels.

Then when he meets Laios's party on the lower floors and they go over what happened, it's made even more blatant that Toshiro's affection is shallow and half-baked. He came into the dungeon a week too late and neglected his health the whole way down, so he was in no state to actually try and save Falin when he got there. When Laios talks about eating monsters, something Falin was thrilled about, Toshiro is disgusted. He threatens to kill Laios and turn Marcille in, which would never fly with Falin. His anger at the use of black magic is entirely based in his selfish idea of Falin being tainted and blaming Laios and Marcille for "ruining" his attempt to rescue her, as Kabru points out that Toshiro would have done the exact same thing in their shoes and that he's being a hypocrite. To say nothing of how he'd rather kill Falin after she's been transformed and "put her to rest" rather than put any effort into saving her, because that would require further involvement from Laios and Marcille and methods that Toshiro doesn't approve of.

And there's the fight he has with Laios, and Toshiro's subsequent confession that he had hoped to just take Falin home with him. He at no point gives consideration to what Falin feels or what she might want, only what he has decided about her based on the most surface level observation. Just like how his problem with Laios arises from his refusal to just talk to him about his boundaries, he has no actual connection with the woman he claims to love because he just wouldn't actually talk to her.

Like it's not a coincidence that every time his attraction to Falin is brought up, another character goes "yeah he's being weird about it".

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Chapter 78

They've forged a path with the meals they've eaten and touched hearts with the meals they've shared.

Seems like no one hanging around the underground graveyard expects to deal with combat seeing as how no one seems to have a weapon they can use. It's probably a general policy that you bring a weapon only if you intend to explore the dungeon.

The Canaries seem to be following that policy to the letter. Everyone in Mithrun's team either doesn't have a weapon (Mithrun, Lycion, Otta), can summon a weapon (Pattadol), or uses an unconventional skill that doesn't require a normal weapon (Fleki, Cithis).

To add to how disfunctional Shuro's makeshift team was, he didn't have his weapon when he fell down the pit. That sword he's using looks like the kind Flamela summons so he probably had to borrow it from her.

The more I see how Flamela operates, the more I don't like her. Pattadol is an uptight by-the-books follow-the-rules bureaucratic type but that means she's not going to arbitrarily decide she has license to do whatever she deems is necessary to get the job done.

It's that scumbag gold peeler! Kick him into the pit!

I'm charmed by these three.

They have unclipped ears so they're nobles who joined the Canaries as a civic duty. The rightmost one was one of the people staring curiously at Tade so they might not have much experience about the world.

This is probably their first assignment ever and they're realizing that they've ended up in a situation just like the nightmare scenario that was Utaya.

They're not even thinking of fleeing. They just want to say their goodbyes before they go to die in the line of duty.

I REALLY don't like how Flamela operates.

I wish we got a proper account of what happened in Utaya, but at this point we probably never will. Since everyone's comparing this situation to it, I'm going to guess that the Utaya dungeon also got a new lord who wished for something that necessitated the dungeon expanding into the world.

Kabru recounted in chapter 45 that the dead turned into monsters that attacked the living. Maybe the Utaya lord was what the Canaries think Laios is - a monster obsessed nutcase who wanted to turn everyone into monsters.

This is the one accusation about Laios as a dungeon lord I'm going to have to agree with. He definitely would try making new monsters for fun.

This elf has a fairy familiar so she is a guard.

As if I didn't need more reason to not like Flamela. She should have just let him die.

Our heroes everyone.

At this point, this plot thread has overtaken where we left off with Laios's party.

Back in MMT4, Laios said humans and orcs have different numbers of fingers and toes. Their hands clearly had the same number of fingers but there were never any good foot shots to confirm how many toes they have.

Well now I can confirm what Laios said. They have pig-like feet.

We're beginning to see Kabru's statement come to life. In chapter 32, he said "When all those separate actions are meshed together, it becomes a historic event involving lots and lots of people."

In chapter 3, Laios's party saved Doni and Fionil from a basilisk and cured Doni's poison. They could have just given him an antitoxin herb and been on their way, but they instead sat down to share a meal with the two and give them advice on how to improve themselves. This left such a strong impression that Doni was willing to stand up in Laios's defense when the only others willing to do that was the orcs.

If Doni hadn't spoken up, no one else might have. And the Canaries could just use the orcs' support for Laios as additional proof that he needs to be killed; they could argue he despises human society to the point that he would associate with orcs.

But now the Tansu and Shuro parties have decided to throw their hat in with Laios. Whoever conquers the dungeon inherits the Golden Kingdom. And everyone is deciding they'll make sure Laios is the one who does it.

I want to draw special attention to Fionil. During all this, she never said a word. All she did was stand by Doni and lower her hood. But that action said everything she needed to say.

She is showing the elves that she is a half-elf. She is saying "Look at me. I am a half-elf. I am someone who you look down upon as inferior. I am someone you think wishes was like you. I oppose you and your desires."

Behold the Joestar family's secret technique!!

back

[ellaphnt]

Saw ur Toshiro post, and I absolutely agree that Toshiro's outburst will be a stepping stone for both um an Laios to grow and that the buildup was because Shuro didn't want to ruin situation he was still trying to figure out. But the funniest thing is, afaik, Laios and Falin are *also Foreigners* for quite far away. Their country is simply Scandinavian/northern Europe themed. I don't think we see any long-lived races in their flash backs (baring the dead man buying a ring of elves?). And both Falin and Laois definitly are the equivalent of nobility/Local chiefs kids. But instead of being send out with all their assistants and guards, Laios ran away and suffered in the army and then on his own in a caravan , and Falin was send to a Magial School full of other races and people. They both had time to 'adjust' to the wider world (and still carry a bit of home-grown uh...prejudice (mountain people)). So when they met Shuro both of them were well used to meeting people not from their Country. Toshiro not being either from the tiny Island or the nearby lands simply didn't mesh with how they had adapted to behave. Plus, obviously, Laios textual Autism. But I feel like Laios could totally have figured it out if he had met people from Shuros island before who would have told him, he does after all know how to behave around Dwarves and such, who also have quite diffrent culturual norms. Sorry for the ramble xD Good Toshiro post!

Hi hi! I’m really glad you’re adding onto my silly brain thoughts hehe - I’m super happy to hear yours, especially since they make me think more! Warning this is going to be long, talking about dungeon meshi is just a lot of fun.

When I said foreigner, I should have clarified that that I meant he’s a stranger to the CULTURE. A good chunk of the people in the island are not native to it! But culturally, they have the social background to fit in. They didn’t all come from the same place, yes, but they grew up in European-esque cultures and interacted to some extent with other races. Even Kabru and Rin are not foreign to this type of culture because they grew up with Western/European socialization.

Gonna elaborate bc I think it’s fascinating: From what we know about the Eastern islands, the worldview is very very different. In the Adventurer’s Bible where Kabru talks to Hien, they talk about how the East defines “humans” as “tallmen”, and oni/ogres were the only “other”. In the post-canon snippet where Toshiro talks to Falin, he even refers to Eastern thinking as “backward” due to the lack of long-lived races. Because of his delayed exposure to other races, and because the worldview is far more different than the one the Toudens experienced, that’s where I make the statement that he had more to adjust to.

I’ll also note, the fact that the Toudens are subjectively more adjusted to seeing and accommodating other races makes Laios’ statement that Toshiro “had an odd appearance” an even more bizarre thing to say. And although we can assume Toshiro also has his biases, we don’t see them highlighted like other characters have had (to my knowledge). So it makes it seem like he was more thoughtful/careful towards other races from the get-go, despite his lack of knowledge. His main issues were always with other tallmen, just like Laios.

It’s good to point out that the Toudens are outcasts in their own right. Both of them went through a really hard time, and it changed them. Laios’ cycle of failures and giving up and being bullied are especially important to characterizing his relationship with his sister and his disinterest in humanity and lack of close friends. Falin at least had Marcille. Both Laios and Toshiro have reasons they’re inexperienced in friendship, but one of them stated it in the story and the other didn’t. There’s more misconception about Toshiro’s character than Laios’. So my post was to talk about that one a bit.

ALSO OOO I COMPLETELY FORGOT but I WAS going to mention how both the Toudens and Toshiro came from families of influence! Thank you for bringing it up! Laios and Toshiro diverge from that upbringing, while making Toshiro and Falin a little more similar. This goes into another whole thing where Laios and Toshiro parallel (and foils?) each other but that’s too long of a discussion. Just as long is how this divergence distinguishes the Touden siblings (too many people have said their only difference is gender..)

Lastly, yes, Laios does need more exposure to Eastern people and Eastern culture to get a grasp on it. He really wants to learn! It’s just that Shuro isn’t his encyclopedia and until he gets that chance, he will make ignorant takes. I can think of two more that will occur in the main narrative alone. (but like Toshiro said, Laios has no malicious intent, that’s what makes it all the more complicated)

While there’s good conversation to be had about the fight from a ND vs NT POV, I’ve seen SO much discussion about Toshiro possibly being read as autistic too, and neurodivergent individuals who can relate to his experience. Often it comes as an intersection between both being autistic and being a poc. I think it brings even more nuance to the narrative. Plus I’m just glad there’s people who can relate to him. He’s meant to be relatable! His problem with Laios is just as much a character flaw as it is human.

Hope this post was a thoughtful response to yours, I tried to tackle everything you mentioned! Thank you sm for the ask :D

Edit: for the sake of context, here’s the og post that’s being referred to!

[vanish-lou]

Marius is the chilchuck to my Laios, I love him and it makes me giggle when he’s sick of my shit

People complaining that Marius is unfriendly and mean wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

[ahordeofmandrills]

People are unfortunately so yuri poisoned that they cannot see the ideal dungeon mesh pairing is marcille/falin/liaos. She’s so deep into friendship with both of them she doesn’t realize she’s in love with them both because they’re like each other and if she ever realized she’s have several panic attacks before she pulled Laios aside and he says some shit like “ it’s not unusual for some species to have multiple mates. If anything I think it would make our team stronger in the dungeon” and it would all work out

[f4rfields]

i definitely do understand where people are coming from when they really feel for laios during his conflict with toshiro, but i am not looking forward to the social media posts about how he's the worst and bad forever. i got Thoughts on this.

because laios is definitely not free of blame in this conflict. even if it was on accident, he was doing a lot of racist microaggressions towards toshiro almost immediately (assuming his name is "shuro" and introducing everyone to him this way, talking about his looks being "strange", grilling him constantly for information for 5 hours about his home despite him wanting to leave after the first few seconds of their interaction), and his difficulties with reading social situations was making him uncomfortable regularly. and while laios perhaps didn't know the harm of what he was doing and thought it was just them being pals, that doesn't change how laios made toshiro feel.

but toshiro even recognizes that laios isn't doing this out of malice, which makes being upset at him the way he is even more frustrating. even with the aspect of cultural differences making communicating directly difficult, direct communication in any cultural setting seems to be one of toshiro's weak points, and he's aware of it. but having some guy decide that you're besties despite you not really doing much to reciprocate that feeling, having this guy touch you when you are not accustomed to it, having him say shit that is incredibly insensitive, and having him invite himself along to things is understandably shit that would be unbearable after a while.

the world doesn't revolve around laios, and toshiro is not required to sit down and educate him on social cues/the entirety of his culture's social norms/how not to be doing casual racism just because they came in contact with each other. a lot of this built up resentment probably wouldn't have festered were he to have said "we're not close in the way you think we are, so stop it" when shit first started getting out of hand, but toshiro didn't say that and acted according to the norms of his own culture to strongly imply it. he wasn't "wrong" for making the choice to do that, but it went over laios' head.

while the way in which everything exploded between them was terrible and honestly a nightmare scenario for anyone who is neurodivergent, it's kind of a perfect storm situation. while laios had one awful big reveal, toshiro was dealing with being made uncomfortable by laios for the entire time they've known each other. like that sucks to know that not only did someone you thought you were pals with didn't feel the same, you learned that your presence/behavior was bothersome, insensitive, harmful, invasive, or even outright bigoted. he didn't intend for it to be bad, but it was bad for toshiro. that sucks to find out.

him being frustrated that toshiro never told him otherwise feels more like laios is both saying that to toshiro, but also low-key is misdirecting anger he has for himself for not "getting it". laios seems to be a really extroverted guy who wants to make friends but often dislikes that people don't "get" him and that he doesn't "get" them either. it sucks to be shown that yet again, you didn't read the room right.

i don't think that toshiro hates laios as a person (given that he did seem concerned about their well-being before he left them to continue through the dungeon and gave him the bell, as well as their hug moment in the end), but he sure hated how laios was treating him. but even if toshiro would never come to like laios and even if he does hate him, i don't think that makes him a bad guy. some people just don't mesh, and let's be real - laios' first interaction with him was "hey you look weird let me get your name wrong and introduce you to all my buddies after trapping you in this tavern for 5 hours" which is an awful thing to do.

neurodivergence does not make you immune to perpetuating racism, or make people who find you unpleasant immediately ableist. i think toshiro's anger and frustration were, to a large degree, understandable. it sucks how badly it hurt laios to realize that his feelings of friendship were one-sided though, but toshiro was not doing this out of malice either. it was frustration that built up over the entire time they knew each other, and also feeling misunderstood by laios.

laios deserves love and friendship, but he is not owed it from toshiro just because he thought he was being nice and friendly towards him.