#laois touden -core

[juiceastronaut]

Ik the episode was full of "Fellas is it gay to--" moments with Kabru and Laois BUT THE FACT THAT Kabru was studying Laois close enough to tell that Laois pupils were dialated???????? Holy shit???? Fellas is it gay to be so locked into your hyperfocus of a man crush that you can immediately tell that his pupils are dialated and why all while intently listening to him ramble about his special interest?

[rosenbergamot]

mister laios dungeon meshi…. as an autistic person, i dont think ive ever related more to a character before.

like laios being so disinterested by the human world around him, unable to understand it and growing bitter towards humans because of how much and how easily they hurt. with monsters theres a Reason for what they do — its all survival, and that makes sense. humans, however, hurt just to hurt. all the suffering that he and falin went through have been because of humans. why would he like them? why would he ever be interested in them? he and falin have Never been afforded being seen as humans.

i feel like, with laios, he likes who he likes, and he doesnt really think about people he doesnt like. sure they exist, and he knows and acknowledges this, but theyre not his. the only humans that really matter to him are the ones that hes grown attached to. hes very compassionate but thats because its in his nature. if he wasnt a kind person at heart, i dont think he’d bother with people at all. that kindness is such a core part of him.

if he were in the modern world i just KNOW that guy wouldnt care about a career or school or even all these supposedly human aspirations that people have-- these long term goals, these big lofty ideals. he would just care about the day to day. working to ensure theres a roof over his head and food on the table. reading about monsters. having dinner with his friends. making sure his loved ones are all doing okay. and i can just imagine people being like "but dont you want... more?" and laios being so confused. why WOULD you ever want more? why would he ever want to give himself to the rat race? be exhausted constantly? work towards a goal that only other people view as worthy? why, when what he has right here is exactly what he wanted!! laios doesnt have these "human" desires and thats a core part of why he feels so alienated from other people. so different. like a monster himself. and as someone who is autistic, let me just say.….. me too buddy.

[xinanigans]

He ate it

[variksel]

on ep 2 of dungeon meshi.

i can now see why everyone is calling laois autistic

[mango-macaron]

Thinking about Laois and Kabru, two sides of the same coin...

Kabru, obsessed with humans, studying social cues but terrible at slaying monsters even though he is good at fighting.

Laois, obsessed with monsters, studying their way of life and seeing them like normal food (how peoole eat chicken, beef, lamb, etc. Viewing them like normal meat) but terrible at social cues even though he can analyse people close to him very easily (the shapeshifter ep. Where his copies of the party were the most accurate, seeing little details about them too).

Both are viewed highly around the dungeon/town (the Touden siblings being mysterious and good adventurers, Kabru having a way with words and people).

Both somewhat drawn to one another to complete their own selves. (Kabru more than Laois, but on a subconscious side Laois envious of Kabru sorting out problems with ease. Kabru obsessed over Laois due to his reputation being with a good yet small party.)

They're just so... intertwined with one another. Two sides of the same coin. One shell of a clam, their core being the same: to be understood, to be liked.

[dungeon-brain-rot200]

Delicious in dungeon spoilers ahead:

I think I kept you waiting for too long now. So, everybody, why do you think that Winged lion is so masculine? Well, as I mentioned in my previous post it seems to be able to get information by monsters in the dungeon. (It learned about Marcille's fear of mortality and Laois isolation from humanity by nightmares.) We also know that the winged lion was a figure of worship in the ancient kingdom before the dungeon. The demon took that form cause Thisle needed a protector for his kingdom, so it became the guardian god of the kingdom. Now rolling back it is a fact that the ideal of a hero is masculine body. When our culture says hero it 9/10 times will be tall, slim dude with abs with other traits showing off his masculenity. But why did it take that form after meeting the Touden party? Well I think it arrived at it in a really stupid way kinda. The demon already showed itself to be the winged lion, it was the core of its manipulation so it could not drop it, but what Laios and Marcille needed the most at that moment was a hero. They were run into the corner by the Canaries, the jix was up, they knew about dark magic, they knew Marcille did it. If they arrest them now then Falin is gone forever. They could not defeat Canaries in a fight so in desperation, Marcille reached out to the one thing she believed would make her defeat death itself. (When Marcille mentioned if she had that book Thisle had/lion's seal, she would be on equal footing with him). And lucky for her the hero answered. So yeah I think that british gay lion is so jacked is because it is trying to play the role that other expect of it, and when it has to be a hero it represents the society expectations to how hero should look like (which is also funny because Laios breaks those norms not only by his personality, but also by his body.)

[isthatmanahimbo]

Today by request of @lost-disco-gay, we bring you Laios Touden!

Laois Touden is a main character and party member of the manga series Dungeon Meshi, first released in 2014 in Harta magazine. Dungeon Meshi is a fantasy seinen series that riffs off of common dungeon crawler RPG tropes, such as having adventuring parties comprised of different races of people in different combat classes fighting against monsters, collecting treasure, and resting in inns and pubs – the conceit of the series takes the life of an RPG protagonist and takes it a step further, begging the question "what do you eat when you spend months underground?" and answering with the delightfully Darwinian "oh you know ; )"

Laios is the human armored unit of his adventuring party, taking place at the front-line of battles with fellow party member Senshi, the dwarf barbarian. Together, the two serve as the main muscle of the group, as well as sometimes caretakers and monster-nomming advocates to the more squeamish Marcille and Chilchuck. It is Laios's curiosity and monster know-how which introduces the party to Senshi and to monsters-as-meals as a whole, and his role as the enterprising academic of the group is emphasized often and loudly.

As the knight-adjacent character in the group, Laios can be easily spotted amongst his adventuring party, standing head-and-shoulders above his dwarf, elf, and halfling compatriots, and filling the panels with his frame. This author would not necessarily categorize him as Beefy, especially when compared with the stature of characters such as Senshi or other races such as orcs, it must be mentioned that he is of above-average size for his race compared to other human adventurers that we've seen. While undoubtedly much of this bulk can be attributed to the armor, we would be remiss if we did not mention the core-shreddedness a man would need to heft around 80+ pounds of plate armor (not to mention supplies) every day for his entire life. The art style of Dungeon Meshi leans more cartoon-y, but we can imagine Laios's pecs and the planes of his back are a sight to behold.

Far and away, Laios's most impeccable himbo qualities are his kindness and, more importantly, his respect for the women around him. The story begins when Laios's sister is devoured by a red dragon, and he rallies the party to retrieve her immediately – as anyone would, but he never misses an opportunity to talk about how Falyn would have handled this-or-that situation with expertise and kindness, and often laments that he wishes he had been taken instead. And in his dealings with elf mage Marcille, Laios defers to and advocates her expertise (sometimes even in opposition to his curiosity regarding what a certain monster will taste like). Though it can be easy to mistake Laios as the leader of the party and primary protagonist, Laios rather more often seeks the approval of Marcille for larger decisions. And his respect for women doesn't just extend to the women he knows – in an end-of-volume short, Laios, while a captive of orcs, discusses how the two races are not so different, and his orc captor mentions that the women are nothing alike. Laios quickly disagrees, and begins listing off positive qualities of the orc women nearby, humorously backtracking when his orc captor begins to get the wrong idea that Laios is attracted to his wife.

But it is here that we must discuss Laios's himbo-detractors. Ever well-meaning, Laios unfortunately does not have the social acumen to navigate such interactions with anything resembling expertise. His mouth is frequent residency to one or another of his feet, and he stumbles over his words upon the realization that something he said might be misconstrued (which is with fair frequency). At some points, this is to the detriment of only his comfort, but at other times it leaves strangers and friends with a bad taste in their mouths. In one instance quite early on, Marcille is captured by a man-eating plant, and once she is released Laios puts his scientist cap on and asks her if the monster's mouth was comfortable (something he once read in a book). He does not live the comment down quickly. In another situation, attempting to recover from the existential gloom of wishing he had been eaten by the dragon instead of his sister, he light-heartedly comments that if she had not been eaten the party would not have gotten to eat a delicious spirit sorbet – to which the party promptly shuts him down. Affable in his buffoonery to us the audience, poor Laios does not have the makings of a Chad even amongst his loved ones (let alone the swerve required for a high Slut ranking).

And last but not least, his true defining characteristic: Laios is a sharp dude. Not only book-smart, which we see at least once a chapter wherein Laios lists off statistical facts regarding the monster-of-the-week (and the practical application of that knowledge, intellectually far beyond rote memorization), but we also regularly see Laios exercise a keen investigative mind, notably early on in the instance of discovering how the Living Armor moves and functions as an organism, and his sharp intuition moving forward regarding his new pet sword Kensuke. Another instance shows Laios and Chilchuck encountering mermaids, and before the sirens can ensnare the two Laios begins singing awkwardly and off-key, intuiting that someone who sings well would not want to be accompanied by someone who sings poorly – he's right, and in her disgust the mermaid swims away. Although socially awkward, it can sometimes be easy to miss that Laios contributes to the brains of the group, as well as the physical brawn.

We've plundered these depths, and unfortunately, that man is not a himbo.

Total Himbo Score: 15

[mango-macaron]

Tragedy? In Dunmeshi? Yeah it's there alright.

Kabru, an orphan, raised by a high elf who views his species as infants. Who hates monsters because his home town was massacred by a dungeon being overrun.

Laois, alone for his childhood years, floating around and only finding direction in his sister. Wanting to save her because he doesn't know what to do or where to go without her.

Falin, sneaking out of school to see her brother, only in the magic school because of helping one spirit and being outcast by the village that saw her save him. Using her last amount of energy to save her party, knowing she would die.

Marcille, tied to the hip with Falin. Her best friend, follows her and they teach one another. Uses dark magic to resurrect her crush to see it crumble in front of her eyes as her best friend turns into a monster, something she hates.

Senshi, not feeling the same interests as his race is associated with. Treats monsters with delicacy, how he wants to be treated. Saw his olders die from a monster he didn't know, slowly starved in front of him as he barely got enough to survive. Makes sure they don't feel the same hunger he did.

Chilchuck, divorced. The one love he had separating from him, barely seeing his kids. Union worker, has seen first hand how his race has been treated and strives to make them protected as workers.

Izustumi, unable to be wholly human. Part monster, feels pitied on by Shuro's family, can't accept the Touden party's affection since she's not used to the feeling. Craves parental love more than anything, but can't break down the wall she's made of herself. Afraid to get hurt.

Toshiro, alienated from his family much like Laois was with the army. His culture is part of him, engraved into his core, but no one on the island understands. Not even he understands sometimes.

They're all my favourites because I, too, make really depressing oc lore./j