#Exploring the Bible

[mybeautifulpoland]

Our Lady of Tourists Catholic Wayside Shrine, Gorce Mountains, Poland by Jerzy Górecki

[selfloathingextraordinaire]

Yo....I can't get over the Izutsumi reveal, and how it's in a side comic. Like, she was never human. She's a cat with part of a human soul put into her. That's probably why she acts so cat instinctively. Just.....fjdhdhdh what...wow...

[dr-cruces]

Close-ups under cut. ;P

Text: Oh Son of God so powerful yet, cannot escape the gentle fanning of Hypnos' wings.

[fallloverfic]

I know not everyone has read the Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible, but there's an interesting section I think even some folks who did missed when it comes specifically to Mithrun and what he can and cannot do in re: taking care of himself. Spoilers for the manga. (And obviously to each their own headcanon, but I'm just looking at what's in the canon text)

On p.73 of the Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible, there's this bit of text in Mithrun's character section, "Even though he has no desires, he still has routine habits, so he can handle everyday life on his own. However, when he's in a dungeon, he tends to neglect things like eating and sleeping." Nowhere in there does it say anything about him needing help to bathe or go to the bathroom. We know Cithis is assigned to look after him (so that he "doesn't collapse during missions." (p.82)). We know from Daydream Hour that he at least seemingly needed help to bathe while he was recovering. It's possible he's since gotten over this and can do it on his own (one targeted focus of Milsiril helping him was to get him to keep himself clean).

Another note is that while Cithis does kind of leave things vague when asking Kabru to "see to his needs" (p.144, Volume 9, Chapter 61), the only thing she specifically tells Kabru to do is make sure Mithrun eats. Kabru is the one who takes it a lot farther. And while, yes, carrying Mithrun to safety and making sure he rests properly is a lot more than feeding him, it's also not "make sure he goes to the bathroom regularly". You could argue Cithis was just being delicate or they didn't have time... But still. Cithis didn't say this. She just says, "Until we do, we'd like you to see to his needs. Food in particular! Three meals a day. If you feed him properly... ...we'll overlook this incident." And this matches what the Adventurer's Bible says. In the Cithis comic in the Adventurer's Bible, the only things we see Cithis telling Kabru to do are: eat, sleep, and switch out his clothes. While the clothes thing is kind of a question mark (and probably a joke), again: the only things we really see him having an issue/getting help with are really eating and sleeping properly. Principally, while it's clear he does need more help than just someone to feed him... the things we see Kabru do are adjacent to his eating and sleeping properly. Mithrun doesn't register a need to rest or eat, so he doesn't sleep or ask for food until he collapses. He's unable to sleep without aid (and a foot massage, to my knowledge, does not solve "uncomfortable but ignored need to go the bathroom"). And he generally tends to overuse his magic until he collapses. He doesn't like... collapse because he just forgot to go to the bathroom for too long. Nor does Kabru seemingly indicate that he smells.

Additionally, what does Cithis say when Mithrun is using his magic a lot on floor one: "We'll have to make sure Captain Mithrun eats soon. Once we're finished here, let's get some food in town." (p.146, Volume 8, Chapter 55). Again... all roads lead back to: he forgets to eat and sleep properly at least some of the time, and his comrades have to keep an eye on him for that. But that seems to kind of be it.

Where I think folks might be getting confused is in trusting Kabru's estimation of things a bit too much, and I do understand why. After all, he's the massage feet guy! He kept them alive (with Mithrun's help)! He helped Mithrun choose to live on! He knows his stuff!

...But that doesn't mean that Kabru is always right. In fact, he's not right a number of times in the manga (e.g., when he's describing Past!Mithrun in the Adventurer's Bible, or when he's trying to convince Laios to wait without explaining what happened to Marcille).

But let's start at the beginning: the one set of panels where it's left sort of open-ended whether or not Mithrun needs help to remember to go to the bathroom:

(I personally imagine Mithrun just going along with it in the end might be due to the fact he's exhausted to the point of collapse, and just generally goes along with what other people want in these situations so long as it doesn't endanger his mission, such as with Cithis and Fleki)

I just think it's interesting it never seems to come up anywhere else that I'm aware of (even Daydream Hour doesn't show the caretakers going to that level of care, though I imagine he would at least need help getting out of his bonds to go to the bathroom), nor do we see how this specific scenario - Kabru literally dragging Mithrun out of bed to go to the bathroom while Mithrun protests he's doesn't need to go - turned out. The scene literally fades to black while they're running; not that I'd expect Kui to draw Mithrun doing his business or Kabru forcefully encouraging him to, but it does still leave it more open-ended than clear-cut. You could argue that because bathroom stuff grosses people out a lot (though I've seen shounen mangaka draw it so it's not like it's unheard of), bringing it up once and only once and solely for a gag works, but also only showing this much and not bringing it up again makes sense as well, so the fact that it isn't clear-cut + isn't brought up again doesn't necessarily mean that Kabru was wrong in his belief that Mithrun needed this help, so much as it's practical storytelling...

But also it still leaves open the idea that Kabru was wrong. Because while Kabru is often right about things, he isn't right all the time (especially when he panics). And one of the notable times he was panicking about something, Mithrun was the one who slapped him to his senses.

(I mean part of it was probably revenge for Kabru knocking him out at Sissel's home earlier but the point still stands). This isn't even the first time Mithrun calls out Kabru's wild imagination: it's technically the second/third.

Also as astroloquacious pointed out in the notes: Kabru's role model for caretaking was Milsiril, who was notably overbearing. Specifically before he is thrust into working with and then looking after Mithrun, he recalls a memory of Milsiril being overbearing in her caretaking of Kabru, and how he would rather stay in Merini with its dangers than return to that life. He probably internalized some of the stuff he disliked about her. And if Milsiril, who is a lot older than Kabru, can get stuff wrong about his needs, then who's to say that Kabru doesn't get stuff wrong about Mithrun's needs?

tldr; Believe what you want about this aspect of Mithrun's lifestyle. Not showing a thing doesn't make a heavily implied thing untrue. But I think the Adventurer's Bible is pretty clear. Also, according to the complete Adventurer's Bible, it seems Pattadol is still helping him a little post-Merini, and he's clearly not averse to having a helper (e.g., Fleki). I just don't think it's necessarily factual that Kabru is right in that Mithrun needs this level of care/attention in this particular area, particularly outside a dungeon.

[coockie8]

"You can't create fiction about X problematic thing without explicitly condemning it otherwise your readers/viewers will think it's okay to do irl!"

Okay see well I was under the impression that since I'm not creating fiction for literal 5-year-olds that my readers/viewers would already be aware of the fact it's not okay to rape, torture, and murder people in real life without me spoon-feeding that to them like they're toddlers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If you're over the age of 10 and still don't know that it's bad to hurt people in real life without a fairy tale telling you so, then that is 100% a you problem, like I don't know what to tell you here :/

[shutterandsentence]

How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!

--Proverbs 16:16

Photo: Cape Coral, Florida

[onesunofagun]

This is probably a wildly unpopular thing to say, but I see chatter and takes concerning Hyrule and the Hylians and Hylia where the fandom dissects them as white European, or more often British coded. I've seen it be argued that this is because of surface level European (like Greco-Roman and Celtic) aesthetics are commonly used for them, though these are pretty shallow wrapping paper at best in game. Not that similarities can't be drawn! I'm saying this with all my Irish distaste for Britain! But it seems to be more of a symptom of ignorance or unfamiliarity with Japanese culture and history, and its own tilt at Imperialism.

Which I get! The average Western Fan's closest touchstone to Imperialism is likely Britain.

But Hyrule represents Japan. It's narrative is deeply rooted in Japanese Shinto beliefs regarding the relationship between man, nature and spirits-- including spiritual purity and impurity-- as derived from Buddhist concepts. Hylians are a fantasy race of elves who are Japanese coded, their Royal Family and Imperial structure and attitudes reflect a Japanese Nationalism that is deeply tied to Shinto. Hylia reflects aspects of the Goddess Amaterasu and her role as a progenitor of Emperors in Japanese myth.

I fully understand that many criticisms that apply also pertain to British Imperialism and their own Divine Hegemony, which is valid. But I think it's also falling short to critique and dissect the meta and intention behind this franchise without bothering to have the context of Japanese beliefs and history, and without bothering to really seek it out.

JP Imperialism formed as a response to the Western encroach and their subsequent focus on forced unification of the east in order to defend against it is deeply reflected in how Hyrule operates. The localisation of games like SkSw and TotK have wildly missed their mark in the impression that they give of certain concepts to especially the North American audience, and entire concepts and references to cultural beliefs and history (and what they might imply within game) are simply invisible to many who do not have that context to connect back to.

And I'm not trying to say that what anybody takes from the story they personally received isn't a valid impression based on their own experience with the games and media around them. There are many interpretations and themes that you can take away and play with.

But I don't think that saying Hylians are just white people coded or following Christianised themes or 'basically Britain' and calling it a day is quite good enough if you want to meaningfully and accurately discuss and dissect the narrative and intent of the Zelda franchise. Being able to critically read it with both external and Japanese context is really important in having the full conversation about what it reflects on real world history, religiosity and nuance.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

The Primo Bee Thing is so. perplexing to me. just absolute peak Fandom Defined Personality Trait. sorry. He does say a bee dances "beautifully" in the sub in the one (1) time he ever brings it up in show but I get the impression it's coming from a place of irony and fiendish gleeful superiority moreso than a place of "bees are his favorite animal and he's obsessed with them."

This concept of like "look at this beautiful act this insignificant creature performs, it doesnt even know it's at the mercy of predetermined events, ha!" To Primo bees are these little dancing circus animals, a novelty, a perfect example of how another strain of life so insignificant in the wake of fate (humanity) should behave.

^ [ love that this view is also seen arguably even more clearly in the dub--where Primo called Yusei a bee that's lost its stinger, and talks about how stingerless bees will wander aimlessly until they die, helpless to the laws of nature. There's such an implied undercurrent of....hopelessness, to that <:,) ]

Just this idea that I trip over Once A Week At Least that Primo really likes bees is so funny. Like... No, Not Really. Aside from the novelty of their infinite dance he kind of DGAF about them. When Primo talks about insects in general it's clear he doesn't really think very highly of them at best, and at worst is Actively Dripping Rage and Disdain About the Sheer Concept Of Them (especially since he equates them with humans.</3)

Literally one of his Win Duel voice lines in Duel Links is "You're nothing more than a worm crawling on the ground." 🥴 Bugs are so far beneath him in his often documented opinion!! Bees aren't even Primo's motif or symbolic animal or anything, they're a symbol of humans in all takes on this scene!! Yusei's the one gettin compared to a bee around here!!!!

tl;dr "Primo loves bees and this is one of his personality traits" is literally just straight up wrong and it drives me a little insane and I needed to talk about it. I think about it Often. No more Homogeneous Fandom Decided Personality Traits Based Off of One (1) Comment Made By a Character society has moved past Homogeneous Fandom Decided Personality Traits Based Off of One (1) Comment Made By a Character!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

absolute DEARTH of dungeon meshi fanfics on ao3. in many ways but particularly gen fics that are over 2000 words and focused on adventure, magical shenanigans, fluff/angst, or some combination of those

[tragedykery]

you know what? to be completely fair to dr victor hoppe, if that had happened to me, I, too would develop a complicated (read: fucked up) relationship with like. Everything

[mybeautifulpoland]

Transfiguration of the Lord Catholic Church, Paszkówka, Poland by sopthedrone

[misspoetree]

You know what I've been thinking about? How we never see Vegas sleep during the entire show, not even in the hospital scene at the end.

We see him wear various outfits themed around ✨sleep✨ - from the obligatory sexy silky Theerapanyakul robe*TM over comfy shirt and pajama pants combinations to the good old birthday suit. We see him sitting on beds, fu...kneeling on beds, lying in beds, we see him knocked out cold on the floor, bleeding out next to the swimming pool. But never actually just...sleep.

And I keep coming back to this observation because it seems to me that that's another brilliant detail of the show, another brilliant show-don't-tell-way to characterise Vegas.

I mean look at Kinn: he feels like he's carrying his father's expectations, the family business, the whole world on his shoulders. He is paranoid and has massive trust issues and yet...he's still able to sleep. Okay, he's sleeping with a gun at first and with his literal bodyguard later (double meaning intended) - but that's beside the point.

We even see Kim sleep. Hell, if we didn't have the scene of him and Porchay dozing on the couch, I would have wholeheartedly believed that he's running on spite, barely contained violence and aesthetics alone. Plotting and sleuthing 24/7, writing music in between. And yet, and yet.

They show us Kinn and Kim and so many of the other characters (Porsche...mostly Porsche 😂) sleep. But not Vegas. Never Vegas.

And I feel like this is a perfectly subtle way to underline how restless Vegas actually is. How he's always trying to catch up with his father's expectations, with Kinn. Always scheming, conniving, conspiring, always trying to proof his worth, to make his father proud. Running desperately after things that remain unreachable. Feeling stuck in his position, failing again and again, feeling useless. Trying even harder. Restless, restless, restless.

A bit like a tiger in a safe house cage, a bit like a dog racing after a fake lure.

So...how could Vegas ever just sleep like a normal person?

[aye-of-newt]

despite seeing it flood my dash for years I really only knew about two plot points of good omens but have nevertheless been convinced to pick up a copy of the book and damn these homos really are just raising a kid together full adversaries to partners to lovers style huh

[danny-chase]

dc has so much wasted potential it kills me

[daveandmia]

"Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17 ESV 🔥♥💪🍎