#and laios goes But thats not-

[lokh]

WAIT SHUROS DAD SAID HE WANTED HIM TO BRING SOMETHING BACK INTERESTING.... AND WHO IS MORE INTERESTING THAN LAIOS....

[pointsfortrying]

Ah lads here we go again. Chat, who's going to tell them

[rubysparx]

Honestly I don't think I'm qualified to make this post, I just don't know if I can make coherent enough words man. But the thoughts are in there and I will try to articulate them. This is probably going to be mostly images though. anyway yeah KABRU POST.

A couple nights ago (at approximately 2:30am, lasting a little over half an hour) I had a bit of a moment about Kabru. That, too, was mostly images- most of what you see in this more concise post were presented then as well. I think my main points of the "moment" were about Kabru's trauma + self hatred, his autism and/or general otherness, and also a little labru if you'd like..

I think something easy to start with is I wanna point out Kabru's constant back and forth and conflicting opinions of demihumans and how, I believe, thats a reflection of how he goes back and forth on what he believes his purpose of living is- and the general worth of his own life. I've said it before and i've just kinda shown it in images; Kabru is "i think im a monster and it disgusts me" where Laios is "I know im a human and it disgusts me" (i could go more into the latter on another post)

the above are both from the world bible, with the left being from the section on kobolds and the right being from the section on Kuro specifically. Utaya was very near to the desert where most of the kobold population is, this is likely why Kabru is able to speak Kuro's language- he grew up around demihumans. (chapter 48 cover, kobold chapter in the world bible) I won't try to speak for how his mother or the rest of utaya felt about the kobolds but I can say that Kabru was very much othered as a child, as was his mother, purely for the way her son's (kabru) eyes looked.

I feel like its fair enough to say that both kabru and the kobolds were othered, and possibly for similar reasons (villager's seeing them as nonhuman, as monsters) and the fact that Kabru learned their language probably didn't help his case. I think his perception of kobolds (and all demihumans, subsequently himself, as he probably still views himself as nonhuman or not human enough.. deep down) was damaged by the Utaya incident. at 2:30am when I first started this ramble my main comment was that "had the utaya incident not happened kabru would have little reason to feel ashamed for his connection to monsters. and may have ended up similar to laios in that he couldve had otherkin swag" which is just a sort of silly way of saying Kabru could've learned to love the thought that he is possibly nonhuman or at least not hated himself so much for it.

in the original ramble I said, and quote, "he has been STALKING laios. laios is his hyperfixation to learn how he can ever be loved. he keeps going back and forth so harshly on wether or not he wants to kill Laios and he clearly sees his survival from utaya not as an unfortunate trauma [*] but as a necessary, deserved fate. a punishment for his mother's witchy sins, and for his sin of being non-human. to atone for it all, to apologize for being alive, he tries to better the lives of all humanity. He was set on his way to dethrone the governor of the island . do you understand? im going insane" *i also said somethings about the way he processes other people's traumas and not his own. He's able to understand and even help some people, but he struggles to process his own issues and see himself as worthy of love and life.

^some examples of Kabru being understanding of or helping others who have suffered greatly. I think its also worth mentioning that with Rin (called "Lynn" in that translation) he says "I wish there was a way to get her out of this" though he's insisted and pushed for himself to go into a dungeon;

In chapter 94, Mithrun says "The desire I had left wasn't revenge. All I wanted.. was for it to finish devouring me." and I don't feel like it's a stretch to say Kabru was in a similar situation. Mithrun sought out the demon with no plan on how to kill something like that because deep down he wanted it to end his (Mithrun's) own life, to finish the trauma it caused and kill him. I think Kabru went into the dungeon in part with the hopes that it'd kill him. That the same thing that destroyed Utaya and caused him so much trauma would just.. finish him.

I just think Kabru is a beautifully complex character, I have a lotta thoughts on him and I don't see nearly as many analysis posts for him than I do Laios (despite labru being such a popular ship)

there is no tldr for this post idk how to summarize it. do what you will with this collection of images. have fun. go crazy

fun fact the woman in the bottom left corner is his mother, she is labeled here as "witch"

[alphaketoglutaricacid]

shuro notes

upon rereading some of dungeon meshi, I got a better grasp on his role in the story and why hes in the main supporting cast along w kabru (main protag of the suporting cast), namari, and mithrun (main antag of the supp cast) . Contrary to most of the characters disliking eating monsters, he seems to dislike eating, period. In his first appearance he refuses to eat maizurus cooking (with maybe some mermaid eggs sprinkled in..?). His refusal to eat ties into his extreme passivity. He seems to dislike how his father does what he pleases with no regard to how it affects others, and his fear of doing the same seems to play a huge role in how he lets other ppl walk all over him. He ignores his own desires, including his own hunger, because consuming means taking another life. To live means something else has to die, so to desire is to want to take from others. To try to live up to the image of an impassive leader he tries to not participate in this process at all! But bc hes a human being he has to eat, so instead of never taking from others, he starves.

With Falin, I think he realizes there is a way forward where he could be himself and face the ugly realities of what it means to want. To be unabashedly yourself while not hurting everyone in your life. His love comes from a deep place of admiration! I think part of the reason why he's so dead set on saving her is bc he wants to be her equal—she saved him from his nightmares without a second thought, and part of it is to repay her kindness and to be able to reciprocate it. I think he foils nicely w marcille bc he proposes to her (asks her to choose her future) while marcille doesnt want her to move on from the time they were both children. I think this plays a huge part in why marcille hates him, bc its a reminder of how the time will pass and also he aims to take falin away from her. Interestingly, she also became fairly distant and withdrawn after falin left and they both formed their relationship w her bc dirt and bugs r cool. They both are the party members in Laios squad that fly off the handle the most. Socioeconomically, they both seem to be in the least dire straits and kinda prissy abt things as a result. On re-read something else clicked into place.

After his fight w laios that starts w legit grievances and devolves into him hitting all of laios’ insecurities like a game of whack-a-mole, shuro says he’s returning to his home country and after that he would never see any of these ppl again. Even before falin got eaten, he knew he was going to have to leave the party but couldnt bring himself to tell them. The way the convo goes, it seems part of the reason why he proposed to her so suddenly is bc he wants to take a part of his time on the island back home with him—i.e. that hes not ready to say goodbye. That the prospect was taken from him so suddenly is why this is the first thing hes asked for or wanted for himself. Interesting parallels to how marcille is not ready to live the rest of her 1000 year life without her friends now, and how falins death is a catalyst that brings her fear to the surface—that for both of them, theyll live the rest of their lives never seeing the ppl they love from this island again. I think part of the reason he is so nasty to laios in particular is bc his entire worldview falls apart at laios' actions

Both desire wise and literally, Shuro is starving. And like a starving person getting his first meal in a long time, I think he gets a little greedy—when he gives Laios the bell, he says if the party somehow makes it past thistle, to ring it so they can all escape to the East--where he's headed. Likewise marcilles solution is to bring everyone with her to the 1000 year lifespan. Thats surprisingly childish of both of them! Also not a solution to the problem that suits anyone but themselves. Theres so many solutions to this. He could write. He could call. He could communicate view morse code using that bell instead of attempting to blink in morse code to communicate to laios how he doesnt want to be here. Falin voice: I’ll go visit you, okay? He could set foot on the island again. Honestly. This is so embarrassing for him.

But I think it gets at a core theme of the work. Marcille, Laios, and Shuro all say their greatest desire is to save Falin, but once u get down to it, theyre pretty basic-to not be left alone, to be w monsters who u feel a kinship with, to not have to leave. Namari says she left bc of money but later on goes u must never let go of your fear. Kabru says he wants to get to know laios to prevent utaya from happening again but its much simpler-he wants to be his friend. Our base desires are petty, but they are what keep us going day to day, just like how every living being has to hunger and eat to achieve the goals they set out for.

Lets talk abt his relationship w his retainers.

Hein- theyre childhood friends that have drifted apart in adulthood. By the familiar way she talks about him when hes not around, I think she wants to be close to him again. I think the distance between them is probably intentionally imposed by Shuro bc hes afraid theyll turn out like maizuru and his father. She thinks hes unreliable in a way i think u can only rlly get when u know someone for that long. I wonder if some of that I thought wed always end up together and I want him to like me even tho I dont like him back is wanting that closeness in friendship again

Maizuru- Good god whats happening here. she loves him but also treats him like a child even tho hes a 26 year old man. I think its got fun connections to how kabrus adoptive mom treats him like a child, how marcilles not ready to see falin n herself as adults, thistles relationship w degal. Now these are all relationships where differences in lifespan come into play, but w maizuru n shuro i think u see something real banal in why these elves cant let the ppl in their lives go. She coddles him bc she loves him and tells him at the end he doesn't have to eat the dragon if he doesn't want to, but he rebukes her and says he has to eat it to accept his own failures. So like he doesn't need to be coddled he needs ppl in his life to challenge him so he can grow. And at the end he realizes it tastes good--that even tho his journey had so much conflict and in the end he failed to save falin he made friends! He grew as a person! He starts reaching out to his retainers again! He got to harrass the elf cops and give them migraines! Ties a lot into laios speech to marcille that if falin didnt die they wouldn't have met all these ppl and gotten to eat all this food.

Its wild she put that hag curse on him. Poor kid cant even take a shit in peace. Actually the fact that he couldnt even have that time for himself n grew up constantly feeling watched explains a lot. I think the fact his father nonchalently burnt it and then roasted mochi over it without giving him any explaination made him think oh this is just what everyone goes through and im the weird one for being frightened. And it takes him 20 years to find out that no, its not normal to be haunted by a ghost that chases you with a knife. Pretty apt metaphor for how rules have defined his life without him fully understanding why they're in place. I'll give it a crack tho--it seems like the time period his homelands based on the sengoku period bc its a period of heavy civil war where ppl below upsurped the ppl above them. The strict hierarchy is probably an attempt to exercise social control in an extremely precarious situation.

Also side note: kinda impressive he can do magic when he was six. Probs a combination of maizuru being a talented teacher and his own skill. The fire cast… close but no cigar. Also interesting is how the magic he casts seems more elf-y in nature vs maizurus gnomic spirit magic. I wonder if hes his partys black mage- the occupation his party is pointedly missing vs the toudens missing their white mage and kabrus party being well rounded at all points. If so thats hilarious that when the toudens lost their previous mage and everyone was panicking he was like well… im just not gonna say anything #OnBrand. I do wonder if the bell he gives laios is his own magic tho.

Also shuros mother is mad at maizuru for being shuros dads mistress but gives her her children to raise…. Lets unpack this contradiction. Incidentally my tin foil hat theory is Shuros a bastard child. maizuru n his dad have been fucking since 4ever -> one of these children is not legitiment -> probs the one w a strange distance from the rest -> whys shuro succeeding his dad so up in the air when his competitions a 14 and an 8 year old. It's not important tho.

izutsumi + inutade: the fact that he doesnt speak up is his defining moment of moral cowardice. Its tied to his passivity! Hes scared of saying or doing the wrong thing bc hes afraid of hurting others, and he does basically attempt to torch his relationship w laios like it was contaminated w anthrax. Like the first time he tries to be active it went horribly, but his involvement moves the plot forward enormously—with him kabru would not have run into Laios, izutsumi would probably not have been able to run away, he raises the stakes of the journey by indicating they probs cant return to the surface so they have to keep going. And even tho its messy, ugly, and embarassing, he can still pick up the pieces afterwards. Nothing he does is as harmful as his passivity on inutade and izutsumis situations which unequivically, he knows is wrong.

Also w all the references to buying people, I looked it up bc i was like.... like slavery...? it seems to be a reference to retainership as a social caste where people buy your services and as a result you owe the estate your service. You get paid and you have rights, but it seems like you are bound to your station, but depending on the time period japan is supposed to reference, some ppl took on these positions for the sake of social advancement. Regardless, it seems the caste system is also less rigid than stated and ppl can move amongst the positions. There doesn't seem to be an exact cultural equivelent to this, but I think the closest concept is like, being a vassal. I was like if this is slavery this narrative portrays izutsumis time w the nakamotos too ambivenlently and hien going don't you feel any gratefulness for them taking you in makes no sense. But I still think theres something pretty rotten going on here.

Allegedly, as a ninja, you ascend the ranks based on your skill. And yet izutsumi and inutade are at the bottom, and hien, the person that was born into this role, is at the top! Izutsumi and Inutade aren't even considered human in the island of wa--this distinction is given to tall-men only. Theyre both from positions where I feel like the other characters are like they should be grateful they got from one horrible situation to this one thats a system based on merit and skill, but like out of everyone, theyre in the least position of power to say no, to even appreciate what other options there are for them in the world. Like its deeply coercive and wrong. Whats up w shuros father collecting ppl like theyre trophies man. So we can see a system allegedy based on merit is not one at all. Also I feel theres undertones of japanese imperialism with izutsumi being from the equivelent of central asia and having a soul of a child stuffed into her like some kinda of science experiment. Maizurus constantly trying to "civilize" her by teaching her ettiquite such as using your chopsticks. Like the rhetoric of the elves ape pretty directly to imperialistic sentiments, it would not surprise me if theres intentional commentary about japanese imperialism in how izutsumis treated bc japans kinda known in the east for their imperialism... theyve just done it so many times like my parents were like we left our families, our culture, everything we knew behind to go to america.... but we kept our death grudge against japan tho!! #lmfao. Honestly fair. anyways i think theres intentional parallels between how izutsumi is treated as both as a child and a feral animal by maizuru and how the elves treate other races as children that need toys taken away from them. But also how fundementaly, maizurus unsuited to take care of izutsumi bc the tools she has are not suited to izutsumis needs! She has no understanding of izutsumis life. Her hag curse turns from a highly questionable child rearing tactic on shuro to outright a slave collar on izutsumi. Teaching shuro ettiquate and being able to fight gives him the tools to survive in the postion he was born in but is erasing the culture izutsumi grew up in and has been taken away from before she even knew what it meant. Bc she was treated like a circus freak she never got to choose for herself! Tho providing the basic comforts to shuro is a privilage, it's not to izutsumi bc shes never been able to choose what she wants in life. It's why shes set up as shuros narrative foil like so:

This is his pensive look btw its a consistant tic that he lookes like hes glaring when hes deep in thought. Maizurus is both these people's strange mother figure who feeds them in liu of their actual mother. She smothers shuro in love and doesn't let him face actual challenges in life while she intensely disciplines izutsumi. Shuro reacts to this by aquiessing and never making demands of his own while izutsumi constantly refuses to conform. This is probably why he doens't get her.

In the early points of the story, shuro either says leave izutsumi for dead or leave her so she can pursue her freedom. The ambiguity is intentional, because i think in this part of the story we are not supposed to have a good read on him. But it's also because because of his passivity he doesn't do shit for her! So he loses out on having any type of relationship w her even tho they were tormented by the same curse. But crucially he may have learned from this w inutade, who he explicitly aknowledges how her situation is fucked up and her worship of his father is due to an insane power imbalance even tho he has no clue how to talk to her about this. And at the very end of the manga, he gets into an eating contest with her at her prodding as equals. So maybe there's hope he can do better. But I think its important that his relationship w izutsumi is non-existent as a consequence of his passivity despite the things they have in common bc theres no excuse for it. Thier relationship probs deserves its own post.

benichidori - very funny amongst all these complicated relationships these two just straight up dont know each other n r too shy to do so. Is what I was going to say but then I realized benichidori has taken shuros place as hiens closet friend and I wonder if theres any jealousy abt that. But also she shares a lot of traits w shuro and isnt that just interesting:

but even more interesting is her comic:

this is beat for beat shuros conflict w laios.

We only care about one thing: the crushing opinion of everyone in the universe.

I didnt get this on my first read even tho laios was like hes smart but he is incredibly sharp. Hes good at making useful deductions when things dont add up. It rlly reminds u hes trained in espionage.

He keeps kabru on his toes! interesting for such a smooth talker.

He gets kabru to open up about his motivations here and how it affected him and kabru actually shares some of his own feelings on the manner when usually hes holding ppl at arms length. I think him getting a chance to recite this helps prep him to talk to the caneries where notably, hes a lot more clinical about it.

Its nice all three of these ppl can challenge each other and support each other. I think it would be funny if kabru hits em up in the future like do u wanna start some shit for old times sake

able to tell chilchuck was not a child

is afraid of marcille which tbh fantastic call

Everyone else horrified marcille just killed a man but he's like yeah #tracks.

Other things that reminded me hes basically a fixer:

Spends his screentime evading the elf cops.

Refuses to talk to the canaries even under threat of being interegated for 50 years despite threatening laios party multiple times that hes gonna tell on them. instead spends his time going tbh i've never known anything in my life. I'm stupid like that :pensive emoji:

Incredible bit of manipulation on his part-he pretends to be thinking out loud to cast doubt on the canaries judgement to appeal to the ppl in the dungeon that are not motivated by the goodness of their hearts. Reminds me of namaris relatively selfish reasons for leaving the party--needing to get paid, which is a need she was ignoring for far too long and also laios was also not paying proper attn too when namaris in dire straits, and how she says she left the party after the dragon bc she remembered to never forget your fear. That selfishness must also drive you forward. Then he uses that doubt to twist the situation to say all their information could be false so maaaybe the situation is not as dire as they claim and they have other motives (social control). And he pretends hes talking to the caneries but this is directed to everyone else. He and namari pretend to pick a fight so the leader's distracted and everyone else uses this opening to scatter, which causes enough chaos that it breaks the control the elves have. Which is wild bc shuro knows the dungeon is dangerous bc kabru told him about utaya. He also knows laios party can be dangerous w the amount of collateral they cause w the dragon. He puts a lot of ppl in danger that do not need to be even though multiple times he worries about people getting hurt. At his core, tho, I think he wants to see laios and his party again and that selfish desire trumps everything else in this moment. Namari and shuro are so ride or die TBH.

He never shares any of this when not prompted. Except notably at the end he interrupts when ppl think laios might be dead. Which as an aside I think its interesting his biggest contribution to saving falin is not thru his fighting prowess, but through the simple fact he reached out to laios. His compassions his greatest strength. Laios frestrautes him and kabru, and they both punch him and complain that theyll never understand him, but I think they dont have to. Love requires compromise—it requires eating things you really dont want to, you clash and you hurt each other, but what matters most is that you keep reaching out to one another, that you keep on trying to understand each other. Living requires you to hurt and be hurt, to give and take.

Once again stuck in the middle of an insane and ancient beef

low key funny that he remembered the last time he was here and he was like u know what.... ill just sit this one out....

If my son told me he spent the last week pissing off the elf cops, Id be like yeah thats what the nakamotos are all about TBH

Theres pretty juicy stuff abt how laios is interested in shuro because hes exotic like a monster and his own relationship with being othered by ppl and the fact that shuro is constantly referred to as a foreighner even to ppl hes known and has risked his life for for two years + how to laios monsterhood is a type of freedom while being othered is a type of dehumanization for shuro + how hes trying to show some kind of solidarity to shuro but hes microagressing him thru his attemps + how laios just is being explicitly saying the racist beliefs everyone else implicitly holds just like how mithrun says other races are inferior races which horrifies the rest of the elves but its honestly what they believe but I'm tired and need to think abt it a bit more.

Why do shuro and his party from an island primarily composed of humans and other ppl sometimes not classified as humans but have similair lifespan bc of sociopolitical reasons imitate so many interracial dynamics despite being of the same race? It's to show how marcilles wrong about how the inequality between races exists bc of lifespan differences. Her own fears due to fantastical reasons of being a half-elf and unable to relate any of her insecurities to other ppl are not exclusive to her! Tall-men - Tall-men relationships run along the same lines and have the same conflicts. All the things she fears are things that make her human, that other people have also felt.

in conclusion:

think abt the messiest person u know. Its a man

jk its marcille #feminism

[dunmeshi-darlings]

I know the race bios say ages of maturity but is that actually when they arw adults or is that just when they can do things on there own?

that is a valid question, and one im happy to answer. MAJOR DUNGEON MESHI SPOILERS AHEAD! PLEASE DO NOT LOOK IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS Lets use half-foots for example

Here we see that the half foot age of maturity is 14 years old, Now like you said this could just be when they can start being responsible like adults. However i am going to point towards this scene in the daydream hour which takes place after the end of the manga

Here we see Chilchucks daughters wanting to preparefor the dinner party marcille invites them too once laios has become king. Here his daughter Flertom says "but won't it embarass you, dad? To have Three adult daughters who are unmarried?"

She specifically uses the word adult when referencing her and her sisters. The sisters ages are as follow from left to right

Puckpatti is the youngest at 14 Flertom is the middle child at 16 And finally meijack who is also 16, however she must be older than flertom as she is refered to as "big sis". Even at there youngest we see puckpatti, who is 14, is called an adult. Because thats what the age of maturity is in the bios, this is when they are considered adults for there race. If a half foot at 14 is an adult who can pursue romantic and sexual relationships (unless your chilchuck in which case its 13), than it stands to reason the same goes for all the races? We also see them planning to try and romance laios, showing that they are able and willing to pursue romantic and sexual relationship with other races (specifically laios who is 26 and possibly older at this time) . Because they are adults, at 14 half foots are fully grown adults. Just like how at 14 Orcs are fully grown adults for their race. its sad seeing people attack each other because they cant understand that because a character is 14 doesnt mean they are a child, because in the story that is fully grown adult for their kind. But people just arnt realizing it, its why i answer asks like these and make posts like these because people dont seem to understand that there ages arnt the same as us because they arnt humans in the real world. Ive also seen People argue that the tallmen are humans so their aging goes the same way as ours in the real world, and while i do understand that mindset it just isnt right. If we look in the average lifespan slot of the races we see (human, and either short-lived race or long-lived race)

Because human is a classification of the races that arnt demihuman, even the ogre's fall under the "human" umbrella. If the tallmen race was meant to represent humans like me and you, they would just be called humans. Its not like kui wouldnt call them humans if they are the same as you and me. Also if tallmen are just humans than the other non demihuman races wouldnt be in the "human" category with how large the differences are.

So yes, Age of maturity in dungeon meshi is when an individual of the race is considered a full grown adult and no, tallmen arnt just "human but fantasy", they are distinct and different than a regular human.

[triptrippy]

For the character game: Gortash from BG3, Laois from Dungeon Meshi, and Feferi from Homestuck! 👀👀👀

HEH ok my closest Gortash is probably my little gnomish WaltDisney villain who just goes by The Collector, hes manipulative, power hungry, trafficker, an inventor?!?!(probably stole that tech in the first place) and has a fair amount of influence in the city he operates. fuck that guy! i dont have a character thats like Laios dungeonmeshi and it still hurts my feelings LOL so you can have a picture of him from something im working on that will probably wont even look this way when i finish it. im tryyying to remember as much I can about Feferi, as far as i can recall shes very bubbly and cute and excited! and has good intention ideas and just wants peace and love on planet earth. or alternia. and a cool relationship with eldritch monsters but i think i cant carry that one over this time so im gonna settle on choosing Canna

[spidermanifested]

ive thought a little more about devils nest dungeon meshi au (demons nest?) and here is the idea i was bouncing around in my head. id love for some kind of lore compliance check because i havent really gone back over the manga since i finished it, or sought out any kind of supplemental material, and i like the challenge of fitting these kinds of things into the boundaries of the source (once again DUNGEON MESHI SPOILERS. for people who havent read the manga at all)

so you have this demon (in a dungeon) (granting desires and eating them) (getting stronger) (hoping someday he can get out of the dungeon). and hes been in there a while and boy does he love watching humans get their greatest wishes granted, but the part where they gradually go mad with power or get disenchanted with the results and also he has to eat their desires anyway eventually kind of blows. he wishes he could only have the good part where he gets to make people happy forever is that too much to ask. maybe when he gets out of the dungeon he can do something about that. love to get out of the dungeon

anyway fast forward a while and this guy comes in. some teenage prince from a tallman country thats wracked with internal conflict and what HE wants is to become immortal, because that way when he takes the throne his reign will be eternal and the different clans will stop fighting over the right of succession. thats so specific. the demon loves it. he can just give him a peaceful united empire here, in the dungeon, which he can rule eternally-- no he wants the one at home. well. the problem with that is that the demon is here, in the dungeon, and not out there.

HELP WANTED NOTICE: i dont remember what the exact plan was vis a vis the winged lion getting up to the surface in the manga and i know it Had to be simpler than "just walk out of there" because why would it have had to steal laios' body about it. WOULD a sufficiently dedicated dungeon lord be able to get back up to the surface with their respective demon in tow.

ADDITIONAL HELP WANTED NOTICE: if a demon WAS freed from the dungeon without being powerful enough to get out under its own strength, how much magic would it be able to perform out there? would it be able to make somebody immortal without the big magic-insulation box. i feel like this changes a lot if greed Can grant ling immortality vs if now that hes out of the dungeon he cant really do shit.

either way now that hes out he does not technically need to eat this kids desires specifically anymore. if the immortality thing is a bust, maybe hes shaken by the experience of not being able to fulfill somebodys wish for the first time. but HIS wish has been fulfilled instead? complicated! maybe ling drags him back to his kingdom to help him gain the throne, or maybe he gets mad and leaves and greed never finds out what happens to him, but whatever goes down it changes his worldview and hes starting to develop a sense of personhood separate from the rest of the Demon Conglomerate, and also desires that are unique to Him

but he still wants to help people realize their own desires and maybe thats even strengthened by the fact that now he personally knows how much it owns (funny) to want something so bad and finally get it. so im thinking eventually he goes back to his old dungeon, now way smaller, and he sets up shop, and just waits for people to come by so he can help them in a less exploitative way. like he graduates from Addiction Metaphor to Healthy Coping Mechanism Metaphor. and the chimeras all find their way there eventually and he wins their trust one at a time until they are forced to admit this weird overly genuine dungeon guy kind of rules. his personality is laios basically he has the exact same type of autistic swag

but. if the elves heard about a demon who was just fucking going up to people floor 1 like hi im a demon welcome to my dungeon. they would shit bricks. so the raid also has to happen at some point. and i Am putting ling in there albeit as backstory so im open to suggestions as to how the rest of the cast of fma can fit into this (father and the homunculi as other more typical demons obviously) (no clue about anybody else) (come and play toys with me)

[psychoetheric]

"when youre autistic people will hate you for literally no reason" is an underlying theme of dunmeshi that goes kinda unnoticed i think

obv theres the dramatic scene with shuro, and thats a very obvious expression of the theme, but marcille and kabru's "hater" behaviour should not be discounted here. like i mentioned in a prev post, marcille basically only acts like that in relation to laios, and to "gross things" generally. in her other interactions with characters she is generally good-natured, polite, even charming in certain cases. kabru is even more like this - early dialogue actively establishes him as extremely charming and a "lady killer" (verbatim to the trans. i read anyway), and the only things other than laios he expresses any negativity towards are things established as enemies to him (monsters, the canaries). this is not to say that they are evil or abusive or whatever -- they are just complex characters. but i do think these complexities serve to reinforce the aforementioned theme.

[tbh, this and the other manga ryoko kui did with an explicitly autistic character kind of makes me wonder if shes autistic herself - the aspect of being autistic where people randomly hate you is something a lot of people dont realise, so if shes not autistic she researched autism very well or is just generally a perceptive person.]

[chilpilled]

i lost the plot so severely laios is licking armpit now. but thats okay. because deep in my soul i think he would. he probably goes yayyy yum yum 😋😋😋 yippee yummyyyy yay yippee yum 😋😋😋😋😋

[non-fantasy]

ok i have sone words now

the way i blindly trusted laios even when it looked like he had lost then i thought oh he planned all of this (<- foolish assumption, no precedent for me to believe this, his plans often fail) and when things worked out i was so proud of him and everyone is like WOAH I CANT BELIEVE LAIOS PLANNED ALL THIS!! and kabru asked "omg laios did you plan all this from the start?" and laios face became a loading screen like. mf was just so into his special interest (monster) he accidentally succeeded at doing the impossible and saved the world....

the way marcille's lil gay ass was still able to be saved because saving falin was more important to her than her biggest desires and her life goal. pointing at her entire arc. just all of it i dont have words to describe my thoughts theres so many.

izutsumis lil chapter as her fumbass figures out only after everything that she stayed w the group this whole time because she actually does care about them. the way senshi is like a father to her. She ate the pie w vegetables in it so she can be healthy and live longer and see marcille. she was sad about not being able to hang out w her friends immediately after saying those arent her friends. Girl theyre ur besties. The way she got said when yaad thought he was gonna die cause she wanted to go on adventures together... shes so full of love and she doesnt even realize it....

chilchuck wanting to help the other halflings before he goes on to start his shop because making sure his people arent hungry means so much to him its ok bestie laios will never let anyone be hungry in his kingdom the halflings r safe u can go reconnect w ur family and ur grown ass daughters.

senshi just. Actually everything about senshi tbh. i dont have words to express my undying live for senshi. The man of all time. Peak performance.

Thistle. Thats the whole sentence.

Falin!!!! Falin who we get to see so little of but whos so important to the entire plot. Façin ehos full of love and compassion and curiosity and admiration for her friends and her brother even tho shes incredibly powerful on her own!! Falin who is so happy about her fuzzy feathery legs and shes so loved.

The way everyone worked together to eat all that meat. Even if they didnt like the idea at first.

MITHRUN!!!! MITHRUN REALIZING HE HAS WORTH EVEN LEFTOVER VEGETABLES HAVE WORTH MITHRUN WHO REALIZES HE CAN FIND NEW REASONS TO LIVE!!! KABRU AND THE ELVES GIVING HIM IDEAS TO HELP HIM MOVE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

ough my heart.......

OUUGHHHH YEAH RIGHT YOU ARE HITTING ALL THE NAILS ON ALL THE HEADS YOUR BRAIN IS SOOOO HUGE ILU UUUUWAAA

[paintedhyenadogs]

I love Laios so much, he just like me fr fr (weird perverted monster enjoyer)!!

That aside, I love thinking about how much Laios just knows about monsters, he probably read so many beastiaries as a kid. Like thats a incredible skill for an adventurer. I don't think we see much of that acknowledged in the manga (or maybe Im misremembering because I have a horrible memory). Honestly, it makes me relate to him a lot more.

(Laios kinnie goes off under the cut)

While now Im very lucky to have my friends and my boyfriend who love me and love my stupid silly rambles and questions, even if they call these thoughts stupid or "insane", there isn't any malice behind those words, and Im happy to have people who like to listen. But when I was younger, I didn't really have that. I was the weirdo, while I have a far better family than Laios does, I never felt like I fit in, especially with my interests and my queerness. I liked drawing gore, I liked creating creatures my family would and have very well deemed demonic, then imploring me to stop drawing these things (I never did ofc). Not to mention school wasn't a safe haven at all.

So, I get Laios a lot, especially that brewing dislike towards humans. Even the friends I had not genuinely liking me was genuinely relatable (this is more so a recent addition). The feeling of being acknowledged for your interests, people genuinely listening and also finding your stupid little bundle of ideas bouncing around your brain entertaining, and knowing that you aren't being too much and people don't hate you for being you. It's a great feeling.

Anyways thanks for reading my Laios Kin application!!/j

[augustameretrix]

here's a little rant about some elements of the incubi + succubi marcille adventures taken as a combo which no one asked for

in the encounter with the incubi the story sets up marcilles deepest fear: death as something she has no control over and which comes for all her loved ones first. the events in the chapter consist in a good ol' nightmare: teeny tiny child marcille tries running from the unrelenting, ugly monster with a doll thats not quite her best friend anymore because she failed a spell. But with the help of her faithful companion laios/the dog she boinks the monster with the newly obtained super powerful and awesome rare arcane spellbook. At the end of the chapter marcille recalls only the aftermath of the nightmare, that is only the good dream: marcille herself still a kid, having a fun adventure looking for a treasure with her dog, her doll and her book. at some point theres a castle. the resolution and aftermath look like a sterotypical fairy tale, a fantasy that is childish and joyful and carefree. we start to see that marcille's own frames of reference for something as foundational as overcoming her deepest fear are pretty much literary, if not romantic (in the broad sense), all stuff shes lifted from the vast amount of fiction shes read.

now, this isnt good analysis etiquette, since this bit is technically not part of the story itself, but it's relevant: in the supplementary gag about the incubi at the end of the volume, the steaming incubi show some more of marcilles' older dreams which consist in a seemingly endless soap opera which just goes on and on and on - so much so even marcille loses interest - and in which mr dashing elf guy with the eyepatch makes his first appearance. again, marcille dreams of romantic drama which no dobut shes paraphrased from her books.

we see marcille consciously applying a romantic and literary scheme to the real world in the bicorn chapter, when she guesses chilchuck's marital situation based off a couple of sentences, random gossip she's heard and books.

finally, her experience with the succubus: this monster goes digging in the subconscious looking for something that attracts you irresistibly. now, its not explicitly stated that this something must be your deepest desire, and looking at chilchuck's and marcille's succubi you would think that's not necessairily the case: they just seem like random sexual and/or romantic fantasies. however, you can easily make the case that laios' succubus touches on something extremely essential to laios' life experience thus far by pointing out he wants to be something other than human. so, if they cant go the horny route, they can go for a form thats still intimate and close to ones heart - which I don't want to call "deepest desire" for reasons, but it's close to it - and if theres sexual connotations to it thats even better. well, I argue that despite being played for laughs, the latter is the case for marcille, too, and depending on how much youre willing to read into it, it sheds a darker light on the scene.

ok, so, the succubus takes the form of - you guessed it - mr dashing elf with the eyepatch from the incubi afterword, who is now blonde, riding on a white horse and surrounded by vfx of roses and sparkles. he dismounts, chides "princess" marcille for "running away from the castle again" and holds out his hand so that he may kiss hers - read, so that the succubus may suck marcilles life energy. this is, once again, marcille's corny books coming to define what kind of fantasies she's into, and chilchuck, recognizing it for what it is, rofls because it is embarrassing and it is cheesy etc. that is all true and its ridiculous, marcille is ridiculous for finding this in any way attractive.

however, theres two interesting details about mr dashing elf guy which feel out of place: the eyepatch and the gorget + cape thing. lets start with the last one: the gorget is the only piece of metal on the guy, the style looks the same as the dullahan bringer of death that comes up in the previous chapter*. as for the cape, it has a floral print on it, but its edges are all torn. like the dullahan. this might just be there to convey the feel of a charming yet adventurous spirit who isnt afraid to get his hands dirty. but he wears gloves over his delicate hands and his boots and white pants are spotless. and then of course we have-

-the eyepatch. it is cool and it covers a scar thats designed to be as cool as possible, it looks like lightning, but its still a pretty ugly scar that takes half of the otherwise beautiful face of mr dashing. but whats of interest is the word thats sewn on the patch: "death". again, it might just be a trashy detail on a pile of trashy archetypes, but given that marcille has a pretty intimate relationship with it, I personally feel safe betting that mr dashing is death itself. a lame bishonen version of it, but still death.

this means in the succubi chapter, the incubi chapter is called back not only via the character of mr dashing elf guy with the eyepatch, but also through the reference to marcille's fears in the context of *checks notes* her sexy fantasies. ooh now that's good. this means that in her subconscious marcille sublimates and exorcises her anxieties about losing her loved ones through a cringey power and sexual fantasy ripped straight off melodramatic romantic novels in which she, as the princess of death, is in the position to command it as she pleases and in which yet death chooses to pursue her specifically because she cant help but escape the castle. and this pursue is gratifying to her, maybe because death is thus excluding to pursue... everyone else. marcille kinda gets off on the thought of having all the power of (life and) death in her hands so that it serves her and her only and never goes after those she cares about, even if she's aware of the element of danger involved in this. and she does so in her usual, dorky, way, even subconsciously: through the lens of her beloved cheesy romances. everyone may make fun of her for it, but how else is a girl gonna cope with the inevitability of losing her loved ones, huh?

*which coincidentally ALSO deals with marcille's "dream" which as we know is tied to her fear of death rapidly coming for her friends and family. "it's all coming together" <- something you could say about anything any time after volume 3 of dunmeshi tbh

[masonsystem]

dunmesh spoilers rambling

its actually so clever but also crazy that marcille loses her desire to take care of her hair like brooo cuz throughout the series her various hairstyles are such a fun thing to look out for and at the very end its like oh. thats gone forever now... like Ok 🥲 but literally so clever and impactful cuz wow you'd never expect something like that to be something that can be "taken" from w character yknow

also just in general the ending is fucking crazyyy like its not super emphasized how fucked up it is but the fact that laios can never feel full again ever in his life is fucked up crazy. like that is torturous. yes he can keep on living but like O_O and also not being able to go near monsters again like very poetic and clever but also sad to a degree like thats his passion and love like... he meant this quote for real!!!

like he ate that fucking lion but in turn that lion ate the fuck out of him. yo wait

bro.... but also yeah he had to fucking KILL falin in order to "save" her. "save" in quotation marks bc i think falin is dead af (will make a post abt that later (hopefully) (inshallah)) but yeah he had to give up so much of himself to "save" falin like he ate so much and so much of himself was devoured like damn..

also since im rambling anyways since im a Tragic Siblings Enjoyer its crazy how tragic these siblings are! like they are unhealthily dependent on one another then one day laios just cuts her away and Leaves and its just sad and lonely falin eating meals by herself, but when she sees him again she goes with him despite there likely being a much better life for her if she stuck to her own path. but like thats her brother who she wants to go with she cant just let him go

and then when one day she does the same to him and leaves him, and gets eaten, he finds that he cant let go of her anymore. after leaving the village and realizing he cant fit in anywhere outside of the village either, he realizes he'll actually do anything to get falin back. like for so long they only had each other.. also omg falin couldnt fit in anywhere outside of the village either. even tho she made it to magic school she was also ostracized there and only befriended marcille. oh marcille. shes the link between the two....

back to the siblings. but like yeah they only had each other and couldnt let the other one go, and it cost them so much like laios can never be satiated food-wise and also monster-wise, and falin is likely just a demonically made copy of herself and not even the real thing anymore, with a body thats been altered into a chimera.. like had they let either of themselves go at any point then it wouldnt have come to this. and how this echoes thistle who couldnt let the golden kingdom go and it ended up like That. their love is cannibalizing and monstrous. but also beautiful but also sad. like damnnnn

[nailgunstigmata]

unfortunately im still haunted by todays dunmeshi episode. grown man that has to get up on his tippy toes to lean over a railing…..need to grind him into dust and bake the dust into bread and put that bread into the oven but i accidentally fall asleep and when i wake up my whimsical forest cottage has burnt down and im dead and all the forest critters are mourning me. and in the ashes? a single loaf of bread, somehow baked to perfection. laios appears from behind a tree and takes a bite and goes whoah! and then he turns into the camera and gives a huge thumbs up and all the forest critters starts whooping and cheering and then senshi appears from behind another tree and immediately starts hunting the critters down but in a way thats careful not to upset natures balance yet very gory and the animals all scream and then marcille and izutsumi appear from bushes and senshi cooks a delicious meal to go with the loaf of bread laios found and theyre all sitting around the fire laughing and then marcille takes a bite of bread and is like hm. i wish our good friend chilchuck was here. i wonder what happened to him? and then a laugh track plays

[alphaketoglutaricacid]

when toshiro got on laios ass for being inconsiderate and never thinking about how his actions affect others like he was mean abt it but hes not wrong. Thats a pretty major character flaw and a pattern of behavior for laios — w not choosing jobs that made money for namari who is in a pretty dire financial situation where she cant even get off the island and has to go adventuring in the dungeon to get out of debt, who even explicitly brought this up, eating marcilles familiar immediately even tho she was attached to it, kidnapping shuro into his party and putting him in life threatening situations without like really checking he wanted to be there…?, wanting to see if izutsumi has more than one set of nipples when dehumanization is a HUGE huge issue for her the list goes on and on and on. Like when a friend does this to you its just kinda annoying but when ur the leader u really should be checking if everyones needs r met without them telling u. Like the autism plays a factor for sure, his cultural upbringing plays a factor for sure, but as ppl regardless I think u gotta step up to meet the needs of ppl in the moment or realize u shouldnt be calling the shots. just bc its influenced by factors out of ur control does not make it not a serious character flaw. And its written as such in the story.

[oswednesday]

and its like if long lived people should be in charge then it should be someone like marcille who will live for a millennium likely? shouldnt half elves always be in charge? like a long lived parent and a short lived parent? but thats not how society is structured and then its like nothing can make senshi like a Respectable dwarf he has no interest in that and nothing can remove the prejudice halflings face not in the sense of like a single king of a tiny nation its like a speck in a global of problems, but if he becomes king marcille can be on his court and protect her from the elves, he can enshrine rights for halflings and give senshi a place in society where he is cared for, it becomes a non-option of course, and we get this like everyone is thinking of the next step of the meal where he is sitting thinking of the next step of like, his life? of how people will react if this doesnt work and what he should do? but he isnt like, kabru, he does not actually care about anything that benefits humans he isnt this hero that kabru is, and where is thistle? where is thistle who was the real last king of the golden city, he puts his hand in marcille's, what does that mean? was he passing the rights on to her? or was he only seeking comfort, like she goes on to become the lord not laios, that was after her, so what does that mean?