#i think also the pastel-ish colors aren't to everyone's tastes maybe? i mean i'm not particularly partial to desaturated colors myself

[chimerafeathers]

genuinely baffled by the comments i've seen saying op 2 is somehow less tonally appropriate than op 1

like. yes, the story DOES get more intense, layered, emotional, and at times gruesome. it also continues to be joyful, loving, goofy, and comedic. it's cute! it's FUN! even when dark shit is happening, the lightness is what makes those moments hit harder!

imo they really nailed the imagery and characterization, especially with Laios "waking up" from his blissful dream of all his friends smiling and happy to be eating monsters on this adventure with him. there are a lot of things that felt directly inspired by specific images/concepts straight from the manga, not even counting the whole "dissolving into mana" thing.

considering that they didn't go lighthearted for op 1 (where it would have been the most appropriate) and how MUCH more intense things will become in the second season as the Canaries truly enter the game, this was kind of our only chance to get a fully silly and joyous op. i'm hoping for a balance of intensity & comedy in the remaining ops whenever s2 is animated, kind of like the Beastars op 1 that swings back and forth between the "romance" and the "horror" aspects of the story. i wouldn't mind a fully "intense" op for the end, but if they go that direction then i'm even happier we got a fully "fun" op here, bc this series does BOTH very very well and i wanted to see that represented.

to me it feels VERY much like the way Kui does worldbuilding where a bunch of details that seem like cutesy, comedic one-offs or throwaway comments become way more relevant and powerful later. dissolving into colorful pretty lights in a white void being ominous foreshadowing for those in the know. the party ending up in a cooking pot seeming like a very obvious "eat or be eaten" thing, but also connecting to the dungeon's cycles of consumption & how they're not ONLY under threat because of monsters but because of their own desires.

anyway, i think it's great and i'm excited to spend the rest of the season enjoying the fun expressions and little details of personality and whimsy in every frame