#laios's party are like all insanely skilled

[dungeonmessy]

labru timeskip talk :-)

honestly i could talk forever about timeskipped labru. specifically how after the events of dungeon meshi i feel like laios’ party would definitely be thrown in elven prison, but specifically im thinking laios gets put in prison and marcille is made into a canary while chilchuck + senshi are pardoned on the grounds that Well i dont know what else i’d have in store for them.....also izutsumi runs away before anyone can even consider imprisoning her. kabru is turned into some sort of folk hero for humanity by being the one that stops laios + subsequently plays a huge role in defeating the winged lion. and well when the winged lion was defeated all of the desires he’s slowly devoured leak out of him and are returned to their owners (mithrun and thistle get their shit back. thistle becomes a canary as well) and for this mithrun feels indebted to kabru. so kabru is like “please free laios” and mithrun is like “I dont know buddy give me a couple of years i’ll see what i can do” and a couple years ensue and laios is freed BUT.... only if kabru watches over him and proves laios isn’t gonna stumble off into another dungeon to become its lord and destroy humanity. and at this point kabru has waited and waited and waited to see laios again and when he finally does everything spills out and they talk and then something gay happens The end

[yuri-puppies]

Shape-shifters, face-blindness, and "paying attention to others"

The shapeshifter is one of my favourite "monster of the week" episodes because it showcases how differently Laios processes social information than the rest of the party. It reminds me a lot of the strategies I, faceblind name-forgetter and eye-contact avoider, use to recognize people and learn things about them.

We see Laios clearly fail at recognizing the doubles through "standard" social cues that are perceived as "easy to tell", such as their clothes. This makes the team (unfairly, but understandably) weary of his ability to tell the fakes apart and even worried that he'd prefer the monster versions* over them. Nonetheless, he gives it a try!

...And is immediately overwhelmed. His lack of attention to social cues works a bit in his favor, though, as it makes it harder for him to fall for stereotypes that fool the rest of the group.

Instead, he chooses to rely on his strengths and use his investigation and animal handling skills to distract the shapeshifters, lure out the monster, and roll the most insane balls-to-the-wall intimidation check of all time.

If it had ended there it still would have been a great episode that showcases Laios' strategic mind and his strengths as a leader. He doesn't have the social skills necessary for the task, but he is clever and creative enough to use the skills he does have proficiency in to solve the problem*.

However, what makes this episode so dear and near to my faceblind heart is the revelation that Laios was able to recognize the real party members after all.

Laios is fantastic representation of how special interests actually work for a monotropic interest system. Having a special interest is not just about how much you like it and the need to know everything about it, it's a way of processing and filtering information. Laios' special interest is monsters: his skills as a dungeoneer and party leader are acquired for and informed by his desire to interact with monsters, as is his interest in eating them. He actually brings this up himself when comparing his interest in cooking to Senshi's.

And in this episode, we see that this also extends to his friends. Laios hacks one of the most difficult types of information for him to process by routing it through the lens of the special interest. And, because it's not something most people would notice, it works. He knows that Chilchuck wouldn't let his guard down around a potential mimic, that Senshi values a balanced ecosystem, that (my favourite) Marcille just isn't as thoughtful about monsters as he is.

It might not be what was expected, but it did the trick! And what's more, the narrative validates his way of thinking (even if Chilchuck doesn't).

[bowl-of-brain-worms]

im so deep in the dungeon meshi sludge man. im having those late night thoughts you should NOT listen to yknow? but im finding more and more parallels between myself and laios and Bro. I Dont Want That.

not because i hate him, i love that guy. hes so sweet and good and silly. but like. real talk. the way fandom treats him drives me insane and i think its BECAUSE of his relatability.

fans treat laios like hes dumb. "he doesnt know what sex is! hes so oblivious to everything around him! hes a drop out! hes a baby!" My Brother In Christ, he is a biologist. hes explicitly talks about the possible mating habits of living armor. the way he tied thistle to his back definitely aint the way you tie a christmas ham if you know what im saying. he dropped out - not because hes stupid - but because he didnt have the correct accomadations and honestly pretty dogshit coping mechanisms.

does he have trouble with recognizing the feelings of people around him? absolutely! but that doesnt make him dumb!! hes constantly shown to be able to think on his feet and come up with clever solutions to the problems he and the party faces. hes impulsive and doesnt think things through all the time, sure (eating raw parasite for example) but it geniunely pisses me off that people immedietly write off all the intelligent decisions he makes beyond that.

being a drop out doesnt make you stupid. being bad at talking doesnt make you stupid. needing help in certain aspects of your life (in laios' case, social skills) does not make you stupid. its something that i have to tell myself too often and seeing the fandom fall into the same unconcious cruelty of believing someone to be stupid against all contrary evidence is. idk. disheartening i guess. but also maddening.

on a lighter note, i dont think laios is a monsterfucker. hes just a furry. i will not be taking questions.

[dailynoodlezz24]

Ok, i had the thought (since i love werewolves and vampire stuff, liches, all that-- I blame Skyrim and its unhealthy amount of beautiful mods-- and Dungeon Meshi just seems so perfect about it with its races and stuff) what if Marcille's a dhampir, basically a human vampire crossbreed, who seeks to become fully vampiric in order to be able to sire in lieu of the dungeon lord/universal longevity plot. (Spoilers: she still doesn't get it in the end lmao) Falin is a longtime friend of hers through a backstory I still haven't made up yet, and Marcille's introduced as a new addition to the main cast, who are a party of hikers (or for some sort of venturing activity). Month in, Falin's gone and had herself eaten by some weird dog described in only folklore, which Laios would later excitedly incite as a "lycanthrope". (They tried to call emergencies for a missing person, but they came up with nothing. Everyone thinks Laios is going insane when he concludes that the sight they saw after Falin became officially missing, blood trails and offly wolfish tracks fading off to somewhere, was the work of a wolfman, or a werewolf, and suggested going to search for Falin themselves. Namari and Toshiro leave promptly) Chillchuck and Marcille stay with him, one determined with his navigational skills and the other fully believing in this supernatural theory. They decide it's best they start camping in the forest, deeper and closer to the wilderness, prompting them the idea: hunt for their share. Which may or may not be illegal :shrug They meet Senshi, one hell of a wildchef man. (Marcille's total disgust with the idea of eating out in the wild stems from the fact she doesn't want to survive off of squirrels again. But this food is pretty good, and she's eating other animals than small rodents this time. Chillchuck just doesn't want to hear about the weird ass facts about how skinwalkers might be related to humans and their horrific hunting tendencies while eating.) The deeper they go, the more strange and bizarre this forest becomes. First normal, unassuming, then the ravens start speaking and the rabbits have horns. And if you peer into it close enough, your eyes might just find company in where the campfire doesn't reach. So on and so on, they find Falin's bones in the corpse of the creature, and suddenly there's a little guy with white hair and crazed, purple eyes(thistle), who beats them all off with a stick(not actually lmao). Last they see is Falin's remains being reanimated with the dripping blood of the stranger. (Marcille had tried in desperate attempt to revive Falin with her own blood/bite, but to no avail, revealing herself in the process. The only thing she can note is the awful taste of something doglike, aka the lycanthrope disease circulating in Falin's bones-- since they were chomped before she died RIP.) Now they're against a highly aggressive abomination under the servitude of someone out to get them. And the opps are on them(canaries) Now I'm just thinking abt whether or not to make Marcille also a werepyre? Considering it would make sense for her to also get her human-half infected into something "full-fledged" in the way she hadn't intended, and still come up without the ability to sire(she wants to make a cauldron for company, a cauldron being like a vampire made family, due to the same motives of keeping her loved ones). Thank you for reading my ramblings, I am brimming with ideas for this AU.

[chilschuck]

Can I maybe get a platonic thing where reader is dating one of Chilchucks daughters (probably flertom) but is also an adventurer themselves and join the party hoping to get their girlfriends dad to like them?

`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹ hi anon!!! ofc you can! <33 i hope this turned out okay, i wrote it in between clients at work, LOL. it’s short but sweet, and i had fun imagining chil being protective!

— CHILCHUCK (& FLERTOM): platonic!chil x gn!reader hcs.

꒰ warnings: ꒱ none! sfw + chil being protective dad, lol.

꒰ wc: ꒱ 627

✦ going insane bc tumblr deleted it right as i was about to post it. sobs. but i hope you enjoy it!! (;;w;;)

✦ When you first joined the party, it was under the guise that you just needed a group to help you get to the lower levels. Laios being who he is, was more than happy to get your help with the rest of the members.

✦ You had an ulterior motive, one you wouldn’t be revealing so soon: the goal to get your girlfriend’s dad to approve of you. Flertom had told you before that it was totally fine, and that you shouldn’t worry yourself too much over it. She loved you, and that’s all that should matter. Yet, you found yourself unhappy to know that not only did he not know of your existence in her life, but that he hadn’t given you his blessing.

✦ Making sure not to let too much slip, you did your absolute best to get the man to like you. Whether it be staying out of his way while he worked or by showing your own worth, you worked extremely hard to get on his good side.

✦ Occasionally you’d talk about your girlfriend, mainly how much you adored her and that she made you really content. Chilchuck would hum, mulling over everything you said. It never occurred to him that you’d be talking about his daughter of all people, but he’d give you advice once in a while about certain things.

✦ Chilchuck thought you were a good asset. You stayed in your own lane yet brought about your own skills, something he valued. Your interest in his work made him a little happy as well, and it was nice to have someone around his daughters’ age in the party. It made him miss his own kids a lot.

✦ It had been a good while of you being in the party, and you felt it was finally time to show your true motive. You waited until Chilchuck was relaxed, enjoying a drink as everyone made camp.

“You know, there’s something I haven’t told you about myself,” you began, a tinge of nervousness in your voice. You had worked so hard to build up the reputation you had with him, and didn’t want to tear it all down in one sitting.

Chilchuck raised an eyebrow at you, taking a sip of his drink. His silence was a push to keep talking.

“I’m… My girlfriend is Flertom.” The words weren’t rushed, in fact they left you in an exhale of relief that they finally were spoken. Meanwhile, you felt the fear return to your chest when Chilchuck choked on his drink.

After his coughing fit, the half-foot banged on his chest, turning to look at you incredulously. “My daughter is your girlfriend? This whole time, it’s been her?!”

✦ After that talk, he didn’t speak to you for a little while. It was discouraging, but you tried your best to give him the space he needed. When you seemed down more than usual one day, he turned his attention to you and sighed.

✦ “You know, I’ve been thinking… I guess if you’re the one with her, it’s not too bad… You’re an okay kid.” You immediately perked up at his words, before he stuck out an accusatory finger at you.

✦ “But! If you hurt her, or break her heart, or anything like that, you’re gonna have to go through me. Got it?” His voice came out in a tone that had you glued to the floor, but you nodded as quickly as you could. You’ll definitely keep that in mind.

✦ Chilchuck thought back to the letter he had received, with how happy Fler had seemed with you. Well… He guesses that if it stays the way it is now… He’d be fine with it.

✦ For now.

[problemstarchild]

chapter 17 was LITERALLY SOOOOO AMAZINGGGG

The pottery in the beginning <33333

kabru gladly wanting to tell stories to thistle to Understand him more

When laios basically tells kabru "not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined you"

Big BIG fan of the way kabru just drops trying to read laios for a second and he just Asks him outright how he feels

The feeelsss awwww the build up to this was insanely amazing ‼️‼️

One of my favorite Laiosms that I'm sooooo happy is pretty common in Labru fic is when Laios just says something utterly sincere and from the heart and like, somebody else would have thought really hard about how to word it in a way that delivers maximum impact, but he kind of just... says exactly what he thinks or how he's feeling? And how Kabru, who's always trying to run datasets to understand what Laios is thinking about, is just blindsided by it every single time.

One of my top Dungeon Meshi moments has to be this one.

He just looooooves His People so so much, so unabashedly and honestly. He admires them, he loves lifting them up and acknowledging their strengths. (I wish they weren't all chewing at the same time here, because this is another of those times where I feel like Laios is intensely complimentary of his party and very grateful for them, and doesn't get to experience any sort of reciprocity. He's not expecting it, obviously, but I want to see him loved and appreciated...)

I feel like Kabru gets a lot of platitudes, and kind of has his whole life -- Milsiril certainly loves him, but she also definitely treated him like an idealized, babified version of himself. Kabru's party trust him and think he's extremely capable -- but even Kabru acknowledges, indirectly, that their faith in his skill is misplaced because he simply doesn't have the skill or experience to do the thing he set out to do.

I have a lot of fun with the Laios and Kabru dynamic because Kabru is so used to hearing and reflecting bullshit all of the time. He's very capable of wielding the truth as a weapon -- I love how he reshapes his backstory to make certain features more prominent depending on who he's talking to, for example -- but given his ties with the Shadow Governor and his very... espionage/assassination-type skillset, I love the idea of him just getting blindsided by Laios being genuine.

I think it's great when they are just upfront with each other. I had a moment like that in Ch.15 Karkadann, as well, though reversed...

“No, I…” Laios tilts his head a little, he looks like he’s really thinking. “You don’t always tell me when something is wrong, and I don’t always notice on my own. I thought maybe… they noticed something I didn’t? Or maybe you aren’t feeling well. I thought maybe if I asked you, you would tell me.”

Clear and intentional communication, my beloved...

Anyway SORRY for the babbling, thank you so much for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed!

[littlelosthings]

Wait wait wait, the dadchuck au is amazing!

Now I'm wondering if falin and laois know they're siblings (if they still are in this au) and how they find out. I can imagine how the two would infodump to eachother about eachothers interests and everything.

Also with chilchuck being the one eaten- the angst of Falin wanting her dad back ;-; ooooh I love that, maybe Falin and Laois know they're siblings by that point and laois is determined to make his sister feel better.

Anyway I will happily continue eating this au up cause I love it

(HI THERE!!!! first of all, i’m so glad you like my au— it means a whole lot! i’m insane about chil & falin in specific and so something with them as the sole focus was clearly overdue……….)

Second of all, Falin and Laios do eventually figure out that they’re siblings, yes. This is where it gets a little bit confusing tbh LOL.

Falin still attends Magic School when she’s old enough to be on her own (around 15ish up until around like, 19?) albeit it’s not a result of her parents forcing her out because she’s off-putting and not good for social standing, but rather that Chilchuck + Chilchuck Wife encourage her to pursue her talents because they think it could lead to a successful career/stable life for herself in the future. (That and because they’re good parents. However during Falin’s time at school this is when Chil & his wife end up Separating LOL)

During Falin’s time at Magic School, Laios passes through because he’s working for the caravan. Coincidentally, the two run into each other (and they totally geek out about the authentic naturally-formed dungeon nearby…) and in typical Touden nature the two go “wow! we look super alike! isn’t that neat. would be weird if we were siblings or something lol”. but anyway. the two hit it off and falin learns of his plans to traverse to Melini.

(this intrigues her especially because of the dungeon that’s said to exist there and, in this AU, there’s some Haha Uh Oh! between Marcille + Falin because with a traditionally shorter lived race as a father Falin is way more apt towards Marcille’s “i need all the races to live as long as me” plan.)

So falin leaves with laios (tells marcille she’s going on a research-based expedition) and white boy has a lightbulb moment when he remembers that he apparently had a sibling who was said by his parents to have been taken away at a young age. in typical touden fashion AGAIN they have an “omg… maybe we’re long lost siblings…” moment.

This is also how Chilchuck joins the party because a few years down the line his daughter writes a letter to him basically saying “Dad! I found a guy who might be my long lost sibling! We’re going into a highly dangerous dungeon together with little to no skill! With love, Your Daughter” and he has a heart attack on the spot and goes My Alcoholism can wait i will NOT let my daughter be scammed into poor finance-based decision making. And literally writes back going “DON’T GO ANYWHERE I’M COMING.” and shows up to Melini like the next day. (He has especial beef with Laios in this AU for a hot minute)

[caracoloco]

i was gonna do like a long thing with all of my thoughts and favorite interactions of labru but im back in school and also doing social service and barely have any time for myself so this is not getting finished lol. anyways here are some my labru thoughts which honestly is not anything that anyone hasnt said already lol

shit my mom just showed me a video of boneless wings im sooo hungry.

there's something about narrative foils that just makes my head explode sometimes bc it's like two characters whose fundamental flaws perfectly complement each other and therefore you can see how they both develop after interacting with each other and imo that very easily leads into them developing deep respect and affection (at least in the labru case, bc in other cases it can lead to vicious hatred which is also great for me).

so what i mean by this is that kabru is the opposite of laios in several aspects:

-laios is obsessed with monsters/ hates humans despite what he may think, on the contrary kabru is obsessed with people/ hates monsters. and the noticable thing is that they both have the same intensity but due to kabru's charisma it is not seen as repulsive unlike with laios. that leads to the next point.

-kabru has like op levels of charisma and the skills to manipulate people to always get what he wants, on the contrary laios does not understand others and constantly makes mistakes bc he assumes goodwill out of others or is just unable to read the room which in turn makes him public enemy #1.

-another thing which is not as pointed imo is that kabru has as much skill in human combat as laios has with monsters. in the story this is the very reason why kabru finds it necessary (despite his annoyance) to support him as he realizes he is the most capable of defeating the mad sorcerer. then on the sidelines kabru did a lot of work in preventing him from getting killed by other people who saw him as insane which allowed him to get that far in the first place.

-laios is a very honest person, being a terrible liar and always saying what he thinks even if it makes the situation worse (like when he was trying to comfort senshi in the griffin chapter). again, opposite to that kabru constantly lies and carefully chooses his words to best fit the situation (and the person he is talking to) even if it is not a high-stakes situation. the one person who i'd say he is the most honest to is rin but even then i don't think he is the most vulnerable even with her.

-other not as relevant point which i noticed is that laios is actually really tidy compared to kabru. when you look at their rooms in the adventurer's bible laios has a lot more organization than kabru whose room looks like my room on bad week. that combined with the fact that the bar owner cleans the room for him makes me think that kabru is a lot less self sufficient than he appears, unlike laios that was living pretty alright since the return of his sister.

So i think those are their main parallels that stem from their central character trait of being obsessed with humans/monsters. which is interesting bc when kabru was first introduced he looked like the idealized version of a party leader with all of the traits laios lacked, but as the manga develops you realize that they really are two sides of the same coin and their interests are what makes them grow into very different people. (well their interests and their traumas/upbringing)

moving on to the story. the most interesting part in my opinion is the way that kabru's relationship and feelings towards laios go from interest to hatred to respect to friendship.

<not finished>

[roydeezed]

Dungeon Meshi Thoughts 04

It took a lot of will power because I wanted to come here and write things multiple times but I finally reached and finished Chapter 50. Which is what I wanted to do before writing another one of these. Somebody said on my last post that they couldn’t imagine stopping every once in a while to write down my thoughts and I have to say it’s really hard not to binge the whole thing. That’s usually how I consume most manga and comic books but trying it out this way has been pretty fulfilling. I also get a vicarious joy everytime I follow along with a friend's journey with One Piece so I thought this might provide similar entertainment to Dungeon Meshi fans. Especially the wrong guesses! So this round of thoughts is covering chapters 37-50. So, for my fiftieth post I’ll talk about Dungeon Meshi up till Chapter 50. I’ll go into more in-depth past the “Keep reading” so check it out!

Wow! Everytime I think I know what’s going to happen I’m pleasantly surprised by how nuanced the actual events are. This whole ideological conflict between Shuro and Laios doesn’t devolve to a full on conflict, not if you don’t count their little catfight, but instead ends with a third option I hadn’t even considered, with Shuro planning on leaving the island. That’s such a great out to not having to resort to fighting someone or stooping to, as Shuro sees it, their level. And of course the narrative still keeps Shuro in the narrative through actual plot developments even after he makes up his mind but I’m getting ahead of myself. First of all, reading back on my past thoughts, I am so happy I predicted some of these things right! Like most of the case with the mad sorcerer. Thank you One Piece community for your insane-ass theories and break weeks. But that really speaks to how well this manga is laid out. A lot of the mistakes I made were in assuming this manga’s tone and not respecting that it could have such a nuanced plot and characters. 

Let’s get going on a chronological recap/breakdown before I get distracted and lose my mind over how much I love Kabru. The answer is a lot and that will come at the end. Leaving off in Chapter 36, Laios had just told Shuro that they’d used dark magic to resurrect her, causing him to fly off the handle and point his blade at Laios. Kabru, being the little bastard(affectionate) that he is, highlights to Shuro that he would’ve done the exact same thing by exaggerating his side of things while at the same time showing Laios how serious his actions were. At the time I was reading this I wasn’t sure if Kabru had somehow luckily stumbled upon the right answer but now knowing him better, this shows his skill in social situations. This is the first major instance of him finding a third option and laying the groundwork for a peaceful solution and for everyone to also find their third option. I kind of see Kabru as synonymous with the number three. Third option and third prominent party leader after Laios and Shoru. I feel like it will be an important part of his character.

After that tense exchange Chilchuck comes in to warn them about the impending attack and learns about Laios telling Shoru and loses it. I sympathize with Chilchuck so much. In a party of complete weirdos(again affectionate) he’s the only one with a level head. We’ve also only had Laios interacting with his fellow party members who understand him and put up with him so it wasn’t until he talked with Shoru, a person who actively despised him, that it was apparent how bad he is at social interactions and reading people. He is so much purer than I thought. He really is a monster loving freak. Bless his precious heart.

He sees Falin’s new form and the first thing he thinks is how cool she is. He really does have his priorities straight. I can’t blame him though, she really does look super cool. 

There’s also a great moment where Chilchuck makes Shoru and Laios command people. It’s such a great peek into the realism that’s pumped into this series as deciding on how commands are issued would be a vital part of dungeon fighting as you wouldn’t want conflicting orders. Here we also get Inutade trying to follow Shoru’s batshit insane order of holding down a griffon creature 5 times bigger than her without hurting it.  I love Inutade in all the small glimpses of her we get. She’s simply adorable and I hope we get more of her. But this moment also contributes to Shoru’s decision to leave as his conflict of interest gets so many people hurt and killed.

I love how the author uses the battle to show off strong character moments such as Kabru’s no-nonsense policy towards monsters and his skill at killing humanoids or Chilchuck saving the younger halfling.

Laios accepts the fact that though he loves monsters and he loves his sister, they still are monsters.

But before he goes in for the kill, Falin shows a sign of sentience that prompts him to remember a third option just as he saves Kabru. As the sorcerer came the last time they killed the dragon there’s a chance that he would come again so they have to drive her back. But I feel like there’s going to come a moment of reckoning for Laios. Where he’ll have to firmly put a stake in the ground between monsters and not, and because this story might just do it, I worry that it will be with his sister. 

They drive Falin away and revive everyone and Shoru comes to the decision that he’s gonna tell on them like a tattle tale. A snitch. A narc. We don’t like those here. Not with my boi Chilchuck around. But they also come to the conclusion that Falin’s soul was mixed in with the dragon's, making her a hybrid. And this is where Laios’s resolve to defeat the mad sorcerer becomes solidified. He’s been eating three meals a day, of course he’s serious now… fucking dork. I love my socially unaware boy. 

I feel so bad though. Because he believed so earnestly that Shoru was his first real friend.

And that’s why his friendship with Senshi feels so real, because even though they don’t dive deep into Senshi’s backstory until a little bit later they still have an inherent understanding of each other. 

I get it though Shoru, it makes sense. 

The detail of Soru proposing to Falin without dating or expressing his feelings was also a nice touch as it showed the disconnect between cultures, especially with Chilchuck educating the younger halfling on it. It’s little things like this that build out the world so organically. Kabru evaluates Laios and finds that he could probably defeat the mad sorcerer but wonders if he’d be able to make the hard decision to seal away the dungeon. And I think he would if he had to. We’ve seen time and time again, that when presented with a solid argument, Laios, as a leader, seriously considers it and even acts on it, like trying to go back to the surface or killing Monster Falin, only being stopped by new information and outside factors.

We get a small glimpse of Kabru’s backstory and he eats monster to earn Laios’s trust. (MUST RESIST TALKING ABOUT KABRU UNTIL WE GET TO HIS PART). The party continues to lower floors and Laios casually lore drops and it makes me wonder what the chances are they can actually talk to the sorcerer. I’ll save that discussion for when they get pulled in by the citizens. But for now, we get a small little mystery where the characters get doppelgangers based on each other’s perception of them that Laios not only helps solve but he also resolves by once again being a dork. I can never say enough how much I love him. The  dopplegangers tell us a lot of fun things about each person’s perception but the thing I want to focus on is that Laios definitely sees Senshi as superhot. That’s all my peabrain can fixate on from this sequence. 

We also meet our newest party member not soon after! I love Izutsumi. Honestly, I love all of the party members. They all feel essential and after they introduced or a new dynamic or piece of information is unveiled it leaves me wondering how I was getting along fine without it. But Izutsumi’s messiness paired with her being a picky eater is such a fun and adorable combo. And while each member sparked off of each other and came in conflict with each other Senshi always felt like an outsider. I thought it was because he wasn’t an original part of the group but it was really because no one would directly challenge him, usually only going through Laios. With Izutsumi joining we get these moments that make them both feel like they’re a part of the team as they clash but also have wholesome and adorable moments together.

With increasing frequency I see Laios’s desire and willingness to turn animalistic and monstrous and I wonder if that payoff is that he himself turns into a monster or takes Falin’s place? Or is he only able to appreciate the difference between him and monsters because he’s a human. 

I also appreciate this added depth we get into Marcille, that she’s afraid of seeing the ones she loves passing on before her. And I wonder if at the end of the dungeon she might not be the most dangerous one? We already saw she was willing to break rules to keep the ones she loves around, but with the sorcerer knowing about immortality it could tempt her. Even her wishing for his grimoire could be foreshadowing. It would be consistent with Marcille’s character arc and in the end might not even be a bad thing in context as this manga often has a habit of flipping the context on its head.

Izutsumi becoming a part of the squad not only helped Senshi feel more cohesive but her combative nature also makes things more dynamic with every other member, including fighting with Chilchuck and Marcille and making up after the fact and in the process showing off all of their best qualities. Marseille’s explanation on why she’s capitulated to a lot of Laios’s weirder whims helps me understand her a lot better as well, as she sees denying opportunities as veering further from her goal, flipping the context from it being a loss of her beliefs into a strengthening of her conviction. 

OKOKOK Kabru time! Through the guise of elven negotiations we learn a lot about Kabru. One of the main things that always stood out to me about him was that despite his age and apparent lack of skill fighting monsters, he was always shrewd. And seeing how the Elves storm in like magical FBI and take over dungeons without telling anyone what happens and the fact that he was raised by them, not only makes me believe that elves behave in a much more machiavellian way but that he learnt it all from them. It’s nurture not nature and his whole motivation is quite noble. He’s such an interesting character because he can go in so many directions now. He’s helping the progress of our party and could one day be a valuable advisor to Laios, someone who respects that, but could also just as equally succumb to the power and manipulate Laios. I don’t think he will now that I’ve seen his motivation but each scene with him is so interesting. He’s got the most bird’s eye view overview of the situation and I love how he collects his information. It scratches that very specific itch of characters that are like Light from Death Note but not complete d-bags, like Shiroe from Log Horizon. And so much of how Kabru has interacted with the world makes sense now. I can’t wait to see him outmaneuver the elves because they might actually be a match for him, being equally manipulative.

Okay, I don’t know about yall but this visit into the village stuck in time seemed way off to me. A little too grimm’s fairy tales like if you know what I mean. So we know the jist already. Thistle, the mad sorcerer, was hired as a jester by Derghal’s dad. Raised alongside Derghal, he got them industry connects to become a magician and learnt magic, became mad and cast an immortality curse on the country. But being asked what drove him mad, Yaado, Derghal’s grandson says he doesn’t know. Feels a bit too clean to me. For a thousand years how can they be content not knowing. I feel like they know but are too ashamed to admit it because they drove him to madness. Then again, is it even madness? It’s love for Derghal for sure, but there could be more too. Why’s he only looking for Derghal after six years? Of course it could be that six years barely counts as time passed to Thistle but the clues feel too significant to ignore. Anyways, I wanted to bring it up before I continued, even though I don’t have a proper answer to what they could’ve done. 

Next, we get another thing I’ve waited for, Senshi’s backstory! And some more information on Chilchuck. Before we dive into Senshi’s past I want to talk about Chilchuck. Since Senshi was basically a baby when he went into the dungeon, does that make Chilchuck comparatively the oldest as not only did the other halfling call him an elder at 29 years of age, but he also has a wife and child! That he can’t see for some reason. I can’t wait to see his tragic backstory. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that he’s always seemed the most guarded. It seemed like a really big leap of faith for Chilchuck to share about himself like that. 

But then we learn about Senshi. He came into the dungeon when he was a kid and lost his whole party and believed he had eaten them because of the way things played out. It’s also why he avoided forming attachments. Laios eventually helps him figure out that he did not in fact canniablize his fellow dwarves and they walk away happily before becoming changed. But with this, the character who facilitated this entire premise, of cooking monsters you kill in a dungeon, also become the character we know the most about, knowing most of his motivations and reasons over the last ten years. It’s a really confident move and I’m curious to see how it affects the dynamics going forwards because it’s such a 180 from the past 48 chapter as we knew next to nothing about Senshi until now. One thing I do wonder is that if Senshi's desire to not have eaten his companions was so strong, could it have manilpualted the meat to make it seem like he did eat hippogriffs before? Because this time th meat was only transformed after being cut so the mushrooms could have changed it to dwarf meat to go along with Senshi's desires. It's probably not that dark but I couldn't help theorizing. With them having been changed by the mushrooms we’ve caught up with chapter 50 and I’ll leave it here as it’s getting quite long. See ya’ll next time!

[how2bake]

Laios really abandoned falin all those years ago and believes most likely she's the only good thing out of that family (including himself considering how reckless and little care for his own life he has). His lifelong obsession with monsters? Born out of a need to escape and oppose the people in the village he grew in. He's very adept at fighting and using his sword yet got kicked out of the army for not being fit for it? I'm brainstorming everything about him. He's an awful leader and the only reason his party didn't disband was marcille and falin holding it together with THEIR social skills, is considered almost universally to be somewhat crazy and insane despite being very logical in his way of thinking and being the party's strategist. Even in the bunny fight when he was dead the reason they succeeded was thanks to laios getting an armor considered kinda frivolous by his party members because he prepared for something that was close to a myth or urban legend. And even in THAT fight laios style of reckless abandon for his own life and wellbeing was TRAUMATIZING for Marcille to go through like one time Marcille was on laios shoes she was truly shocked and laios didn't realize how fucked up that was until he saw her after being revived. MAN