#mithrun discourse

[saitoakirachan-fangirls]

I 90% blame the few la/bru BNF (Big name fans, aka fandom accounts with a big following) for the way Mithrun is being talked about in the fandom right now. Prior to the airing of the anime, and before those accounts were made/got popular, Mithrun was seen as a tragic but still intimidating and funny character. Or a babygirl, depending.

Now, he's an ugly senile dog with permanent eye stains who is too old and decrepit to function.

Making fun of his eyes is insanely ableist. No need to elaborate tbh.

He is unable to function because of severe trauma, not because of his age. He is the elven equivalent of 37, not 79. If we calculate the half-foot/tallmen age according to their average lifespan, then Chilchuck is about 35. Literally nobody treats Chilchuck like a grandpa, because he is not dysfunctional. Because he is not disabled.

He is incredibly competent at his job. He needs assistance to live, but he is one of, if not the, strongest fighters in the whole series. Reducing him to his disabilities while simultaneously degrading said disabilities is incredibly telling of the posters' character.

Mithrun is being dehumanized and people are uncritically repeating these jokes because it's funny in the moment. It's one thing to poke fun at your faves, it's another to be so unbelievably callous about a character's trauma by reducing it to only jokes.

Chief, I'm gonna level with ya; I'm not going to believe you actually like him when all you ever do is call him a dog that needs to be put down, or act super excited when someone agree with you on how ugly he is, or say that he's fundamentally unsuited for relationships because his disability will always burden his partner.

Just be honest and say you hate him

[faggoatquixote]

not so friendly reminder that “grandpa mithrun” is ableist anti ship propaganda by bnf labru shippers on twitter and mithrun is in the same age range as chilchuck and senshi he is simply disabled and is constantly dehumanized by both fandom and characters in the story

[dunmeshistash]

Do we have some hint about Mithrun and Kabru as partners (to lovers or smth, anytime). I know it's hard because of Mithrun and his lack of desire… but… I read all and the extras but I can't not see maybe they would be a cool couple (more than they were on the dungeon)

I am being tempted..... I must stay strong and maintain my I don't talk about ships stance. (My one advice is that you don't need canon evidence to ship)

But speaking of canon partnership I think Mithrun and Kabru worked well in the week they had to stay as a duo, although it had lots of bumps along the way they managed to survive a lot that Laios party (with 3 people more) had trouble with.

I think it speaks a lot to how strong Mithrun is, but if Kabru wasn't so observant and caring Mithrun probably wouldn't have survived so well with his glossy hair.

Also, although Mithrun is described as having no desires we know it's possible to create new desires and Mithrun shows preferences in his own way even during the time he's in the dungeon, like how he tries to reason with the dungeon lords before going to harsher means or how he doesn't let Kabru hand feed him, so although forming meaningful relationships might be hard for him I don't think it's that much of an impossibility.

I'm working at the office today (home office I miss u...) so I don't have my supply of neatly organized dunmeshi chapters to add screenshots here but you can always reread chapter 61 and 62 to see them working together.

I'll stop here and hopefully this helps

[theflirtmeister]

"ewwww mithrun is the same age as kabru's adopted mom" yeah and he's going to fuck that old man

[marmorafarms]

The difference between how Mithrun is treated on twitter vs. tumblr is wild. Over there people are calling him ugly and old looking. And we all know why.

It's because of his eye.

I guarantee if he still looked like the below pic, nobody would be saying that. Not impressed.

[cyanrendipity]

Not to be dramatic but sometimes I feel like I need to put a disclaimer whenever I post one of the more "you should think about this for more than two seconds" extras

Currently dying at everyone calling Mithrun a racist grandpa, some of which apparently have only seen the anime?

Is this how mischaracterizations gets spread?

Worse is that once again there's no nuance on fandom, either he's perfect or he sucks

Maybe I should start muting posts

[daistea]

the extra comics always serve a purpose in developing the world and characters, and im like 90% sure the canaries racism comic is formulated to get two main things across

- establishing elven attitudes towards race-related social issues: certain topics are taboo and there is existing social justice discourse in place, which has changed significantly in the past few decades

- establishing the repercussions of the main aspect of mithrun's desireless character, that he's out of touch from 1. no longer having the desire to keep up with changing norms and 2. the fact that he was literally in recovery for 20 years with no contact from society. and 3. that he simply doesn't have a filter anymore and very likely no longer has a place in mainstream elf society because of it

so like. the way people read that comic and ALL they get out of it is "mithrun racist" instead of all the worldbuilding implications and character implications of all the canaries as well (fleki's attitude towards this is also really interesting because you wouldn't expect her to be a keyboard warrior but it makes sense given her age?), is insane to me. ryoko kui literally wrote a background comic which establishes that you can almost exactly parallel her universe's equivalent of racism to current-day social discourse and y'all are dodging the point just to continue oversimplifying one of the most complex and intricately written side characters in the franchise

FOR REAL!!!!

there’s lots of sides to this discussion. Because I am sleepy, I can’t really describe it other than “some people do be silly” and ya know, jokes going too far, jokes becoming truth in some minds, and so on. As my friends know, I am enjoying the word ‘flanderization’ as of late. Am I using it accurately? Not sure. I just like the word.

Mithrun is fascinating honestly. I won’t claim to be an expert, but I do not understand how some don’t want to pick him apart and put him back together again like a Lego set. Yea sure take Mithrun at face value…… yeah sure walk right past the Sistine Chapel without a care in the world…. whatever

But anyway, yeah. Congrats! You have earned a Yeah

My final say on the subject (for now) is that fandom is made up of a lot of different personalities, and they’re never going to do exactly what’s accurate/right/preferable. I know that’s obvious, but idk it helps me a lot when dealing with bad takes. Make and enjoy your content, speak your truth, and use the block button liberally 👍

[circuitcircus]

in defense of kabumisu……..

addressing things I see people say about why kabru being shipped w mithrun is ‘bad’ or why their canon relationship ‘doesn’t mean anything’ while also clearing up misconceptions of the characters some fans have

listen it keeps popping up and I just gotta do this or my brain will melt (if you don’t see it around then god I wish that were me) there’s an age gap!- erm there’s also an age gap in farcille (ily), the most popular ship in the series...also chilchuck looks like a kid but a lot of fans recognize him as a dilf because of his relative age, so there should be no age gap discourse among adult characters because it feels so conditional tbh

kabru taking care of mithrun is racist!- marcille likes to take care of others as well. is that sexist, or just an aspect of her character?

kabru isn’t treated like a servant, waiting on mithrun hand and foot…I mean he gives mithrun a foot massage but no one told him to do all that lmfao

he's also not the only one to care for mithrun. pattadol is shown to worry for him and milsril was the one to start taking care mithrun in the first place after he…...y’know. speaking of which-

they probably met when kabru was a kid!- neither of them showed signs of recognizing each other the entire time mithrun was introduced nor when they were together. and im pretty sure KABRU of all people would show some kind of recognition if they'd met before. it's kabru!!! the people person!!! mr. "i-noted-down-50+-characters-in-this-dude's-backstory-for-fun-and-actually-enjoy-social-gatherings"

you would think some kind of memory would come back to him especially after hearing mithrun’s backstory if milsril had even told kabru about him as a kid. but nope. it’s just fan speculation unless there's a side comic suggesting otherwise that i haven't seen

mithrun doesn't care about kabru, his shapeshift double looked like shit!- it's obviously because of mithrun's (then) lack of desires that it looked like that, but they really grow on each other

i think it's safe to assume it'd look more like kabru after they spent so much time together (also laios can barely even remember kabru's name..also saw his face multiple times and didn’t recognize him when they talked for the first time)

mithrun is racist!- he’s actually the least likely character to be racist since he lost his desires and that includes a desire for superiority over others. he even calls his past self out on that part of himself. the other elves in that side comic were being just as racist to shorter lived races but just didn’t use ‘outdated slurs’

(unfortunately literally every main character in dunmeshi is at least a lil prejudiced, but I believe it’s worldbuilding and a sign of the times rather than a reason ryoko kui is giving to hate each character)

taking care of others is a pain in the ass!- saying this as a reason kabru and mithrun shouldn't be together is basically saying disabled people shouldn't be allowed to have romantic relationships because they're a "burden"...if someone is actually willing to put in the work, then let them be.

that's not even all of their relationship, mithrun is the fighter of their duo and kabru would've been killed by the shapeshifter or something if he'd fallen down the hole on his own since he sucks at fighting monsters. mithrun helps collect ingredients for cooking every time, too (barometz fruits and griffin egg). he pulls his weight and then some!! i feel like people forget that part of mithrun a lot somehow.

+senshi literally cooks for everyone all time. it's kind of an important aspect of the narrative.

+also, while it is a popular fan thing I see around that kabru handfeeds mithrun, he literally never does lol this is mithrun using his own hands to eat:

also here we have him washing his own body

just saying because people like to treat mithrun like a baby even though the narrative respects him as a capable adult who also has special needs because of an accident. he’s captain for a reason

kabru hates taking care of mithrun!- not exactly, he was initially surprised and put off but got used to it quickly. i’m sure he’s grateful for all the times mithrun saved him from a monster and teleported them out of danger as well

he even starts doing “unnecessary” things for mithrun’s comfort and safety like when mithrun pushes himself too hard fighting, even after his mission to take care of him was complete when the canaries came back

here is even kabru resting while mithrun keeps watch (mithrun let him sleep for 5 hours before waking him up from the nightmare earlier, too):

there's nothing more to their relationship!- they actually have had a very tight and consistent dynamic since they met and they incite the most change within each other by the end. kabru is the one who inspires mithrun to create new desires so he doesn't waste away, and mithrun is the first person we see kabru being genuine with and it leads him to be more honest with others by the end instead of tiptoeing around everyone all the time (that mask was also the reason some ppl initially disliked kabru…)

kabru’s relationship with mithrun is honestly so important for his character and vice versa, but it’s often disregarded because of one over exaggerated aspect of it (an aspect that isn’t even the first way they interact with each other) or because people want to just straight up ignore it for some reason 🥲🥲

kui dedicates many panels to them that don't particularly serve the narrative as a whole in order to demonstrate this and i think that's pretty significant

you're taking this too seriously!- as if i'm the first person in the world to be crazy about a ship or the characters 😭 i love analyzing text and it's upsetting to see them mischaracterized when kui lays out the characters so clearly and deliberately

also they end up touching each other like all the time and have the kind of canon validation most ppl can only dream of lol i feel so insane look at this:

and this is just when they're first getting to know each other cuz there's a fuckload more

kinda hard to explain how i don't actually need them to get married or whatever but i'd die on this hill for them and i enjoy their dynamic immensely

haha you thought you were reading ship discourse but it was actually a character analysis 🤪🤪🤪

also don’t somehow take this to mean I think anyone has to ship them, I just need everyone to understand these accusations kind of don’t make sense especially when they can also apply to other pairs or characters

bonus kabru just looking at mithrun:

[blackered]

hello friends, have some VERY loose and low-quality sketches of Mithrun, I'm trying to get used to drawing his face and stuff.

been greatly inspired by his tallman form that Kui sensei drew on one of the daydream hour books because preferences

(+ some commentary under the cut)

the commentary part is nothing big or really important, I just think it's weird that some ppl draw/write/whatever him as a super fragile uwu soft boy that can't do anything on his own.

this may even be old discourse that I'm reviving and I'm sorry if that's the case lol, but it would be interesting to get other ppl's opinions on this.

I think most of the fandom knows that he's a grown ass man that can manage on his own just fine (when he's not inside a dungeon) so that's why I said it's not important commentary at all.

it's good to have headcanons and it also keeps the fandom up and running, but some of this shit rubs me the wrong way and if you're nitpicky enough you can find some ableism hidden there as well.

[saitoakirachan-fangirls]

anticipating the discourse surrounding kabumisu so we all have time to gain immunity first:

Mithrun is literally 185 years old while Kabru is only 22!!! That's such a huge age gap it's basically pedophilia

Mithrun is disabled and Kabru is his caretaker. Since there's a power dynamic, it's abuse, specifically medical abuse. Just because real disabled people's partners often act as caretakers out of necessity, doesn't make it okay in fiction

Mithrun is an elf and Kabru is a tallman. This racial dynamic is sooo uncomfortable. If you ship them, you support imperialism/colonialism/racism.

Milsiril and Mithrun were in the same squad and she took care of him. Kabru's mom knows Mithrun, which means he's basically Kabru's uncle. This is so grooming coded. I bet you abuse minors

[froggypunpun]

This is the last thing... i will never post about ship discourse in dunmeshi from this point forward. But i needed to get this off of my chest.

Stop blaming fandom wide issues on ppl who like ships you don't like.

If you see a labru shipper call mithrun a burden and a dog, it's not because they like labru. It's because they're albeist.

If you see a kabumisu shipper push kabru to the backburner in favor of centering a white character, it's not because of kabumisu, it's because they're racist.

If a farcille shipper treats Toshiro like hes a disgusting predatory perv who Falin hates, it's not because they like farcille. It's because they're racist.

"Labru shippers call mithrun a burden and an old racist dog!!" No joke ive literally seen kabumisu shippers do the same thing

"Kabumisu shippers get pissy whenever kabru and laios are shown together in official art!!" Labru shippers do the same thing when kabru and mithrun are together

Ive seen shippers from all groups treat Kabru like he's a "sociopathic horrible person" (real words from dunmeshi fans). Ive seen Labru shippers admit that they only like labru so they treat Kabru like a sex object. Ive seen him be bastardized as "downbad" and horny 24/7 from both labru and kabumisu shippers, completely ignoring the intricacies of why he acts the way he does around Laios and Mithrun and instead dumbing it down to sex.

Ive seen yall all act funny about Shiro. Making him out to be a despicable person bc he said something bad while starving and tired. Calling him shallow for liking Falin as if they weren't literally friends. Acting like a guy in like, the fucking middle ages immediately going to proposal rather than dating is some horrible shocking thing for that time period. Villainizing him for traits that are present in pretty much every character as well.

None of these problems are limited to specific ships. Racism and albeism is a huge problem in this fandom and im gonna need yall to get that in ur heads instead of starting stupid shit. And just bc a shipper does something dumb and petty like getting mad when two characters from the ship they don't like are together, it doesn't mean that entire ship is the issue. Every fandom has stupid ppl who take shit too seriously. Some ppl who like your ship are bound to be like that too. Shut up pls omg

[dunmeshistash]

Hello!

I'm Cyan (or anything you wanna call me) this blog started as just a stash for Dungeon Meshi extras and worldbuilding details but expanded as people asked questions and I did my best to answer! Hope you find it as useful as I do. I try my best to categorize my posts so they're easy to find but sometimes I forget.

If you'd like to share something you compiled yourself feel free to send it to me and I'll reblog it! You can also send a submission if you'd prefer. The main goal is to share Dungeon Meshi information :3

Consider checking the FAQ before sending an ask!

Spoilers are tagged as "Dungeon Meshi Spoilers"

Please support the author by purchasing the manga if available in your region.

TERFs and other bigots aren't welcome

Icon and Banner

Ryoko Kui's Blog

Tag list under the cut

Types of post

For referencing - Canon things and other information you might want to go back to.

Compilation - Posts where I compile lots of canon art/sketches about a specific subject.

Dunmeshi thoughts - My own non canon thoughts. I also use the tag speculation when relevant

Dunmeshi complaint - Tag for more negative subjects/discourse in case you wanna block that. I usually go back and delete the ones that don't seem productive

Asks - Since I post quite a lot of asks I decided to divide them into some tags so they're easier to filter: Lore ask | Character ask | Meta ask | About Cyan

Parties

Laio's Party: Laios Touden | Marcille Donato | Chilchuck Tims | Senshi of Izganda | Izutsumi | Falin Touden

Kabru's Party: Kabru of Utaya, Diamond of Sadena, Mickbell Tomas, Kuro, Rinsha Fana, Holm Kranom

Tansu's Party: Tansu Floke, Yarn Floke, Kiki Floke, Kaka Floke, Namari of Kahka Brud

Shuro's Party: Shuro (Toshiro Nakamoto), Hien, Benichidori, Maizuro, Inutade

Canaries: Mithrun, Pattadol, Lycion, Fleki, Otta, Cithis

Races:

Tallman

Dwarf

Elf

Gnome

Half-Foot

Ogre

Demi humans

Orc

Kobold

Sources (<- check this if you're confused where the extras come from):

Adventurers Bible

Daydream Hour

Monster Tidbits

Bluray

Resources:

Oc reference

Art reference

Cosplay reference

Other tags:

Worldbuilding

Maps

Magic System

Post Canon (Extras about the story after the story)

Clothing (Details about character's clothes and in world fashion)

Dunmeshi Extra (extra comics that aren't in the main story)

Rooms

Modern Clothing

Dunmeshi anime vs manga (comparisons or panels missing from the anime)

Monsters:

Red Dragon

Chimera Falin

Mermaid

Fairies

I'll be updating as I add posts/figure out how to tag stuff

About me: Cyan - Adult - She/He - Brazilian

[dungeon-meshi-tournament]

It's near Valentine's Day again, which means it's time for the

Seaworthiest Ship in the Dungeon Tournament 2025

This is the masterpost for the tournament. I'll pin it and update it with every new round, so you'll be able to find all polls easily.

The rules are very simple: You just vote for whichever ship you like better, for whichever reason. The ship with the most votes advances to the next round.

Propaganda is encouraged! Please put it in the body of the post so I can reblog it. I don't reblog propaganda from tags or replies.

Spoiler warning: This tournament contains material up to the end of the manga. If you haven't caught up yet, you may be spoiled.

I will not engage with pro-ship / anti-ship discourse. If you are very annoying with this discourse, I may block you.

Finally, I would like to thank Tumblr users Pulim-v and Takemyadvice-dontlistentome for helping with finding images from the series to use, Amaianita and Miscellaneousrenaissant for editing together new images, and Octy-in-boots for drawing art to use in this tournament.

Finale:

Izutsumi by herself vs Kikimari (Izutsumi by herself won)

Battle for the bronze:

Farcille vs The Canaries' ship (Farcille won)

Previous rounds under the cut

Semi-finals:

Farcille vs Izutsumi by herself (Izutsumi by herself won)

The Canaries' ship vs Kikimari (Kikimari won)

Quarter finals:

Farcille vs Kakimari (Farcille won)

Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi vs The Canaries' ship (The Canaries' ship won)

Izutsumi by herself vs Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille (Izutsumi by herself won)

Kikimari vs Chilshi (Kikimari won)

Round 4:

Farcille vs Holmbru (Farcille won)

Fleki x Cithis vs Kakimari (Kakimari won)

Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi vs Labrumisu (Tie, Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi advances)

Canary polycule vs The Canaries' ship (The Canaries' ship won, with one vote difference)

Izutsumi by herself vs Zon x his Orc wives (Izutsumi by herself won)

Flycion vs Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille (Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille won)

Kikimari vs Kakamari (Kikimari won)

Chilshi vs Mithril (Chilshi won)

Round 3, part 2:

Izutsumi by herself vs Farinsha (Izutsumi by herself won)

Otta x Chilchuck's wife vs Zon x his Orc wives (Zon x his Orc wives won)

Cithidol vs Fleki x Lycion (Flycion won)

Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille vs Fleki x Otta (Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille won)

Kikimari vs Maizuru x Toshiro's mom (Kikimari won)

Zon x Senshi vs Kakamari (Kakamari won)

Chilshi vs Milf polycule (Chilshi won)

Lycion x Mithrun vs Mithril (Mithril won)

Round 3, part 1:

Farcille vs Hienichidori (Farcille won)

Toshiro x Namari vs Holmbru (Holmbru won)

The Flokes vs Fleki x Cithis (Fleki x Cithis won)

Laishuro vs Kakimari (Kakimari won)

Yuri Kabumisu vs Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi (Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi won)

Labrumisu vs Fionil x Doni (Labrumisu won)

Yuri Labru vs Canary polycule (Canary polycule won)

The Canaries' ship vs Laios x Lycion (The Canaries' ship won)

Round 2, part 4:

Kikimari vs Jackmari (Kikimari won)

Marchil vs Maizuru x Toshiro's mom (Maizuru x Toshiro's mom won)

Zon x Laios vs Zon x Senshi (Zon x Senshi won)

Headless Bicorn x Anne the Kelpie vs Kakamari (Kakamari won)

Chilshi vs Marcille's parents (Chilshi won)

Falin x Namari vs Milf polycule (Milf polycule won)

Lycion x Mithrun vs Kabro (Lycion x Mithrun won)

Mithril vs Laios x Thistle (Mithril won)

Round 2, part 3:

Izutsumi by herself vs Izutade (Izutsumi by herself won)

Island governor x Shadow governor vs Farinsha (Farinsha won)

Otta x Chilchuck's wife vs Kabru's party x Touden party (Otta x Chilchuck's wife won)

Zon x his Orc wives vs Kabru x Laios x Marcille (Zon x his Orc wives won)

Cithidol vs Cithis x Mithrun (Cithidol won)

Fleki x Lycion vs Falin x Toshiro (Fleki x Lycion won)

Winged Lion x Laios vs Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille (Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille won)

Fleki x Otta vs The Dryads (Fleki x Otta won)

Round 2, part 2:

Yuri Kabumisu vs Marcitsumi (Yuri Kabumisu won)

Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi vs Senshi x Chilchuck's wife (Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi won)

Chaios / Chilaios vs Labrumisu (Labrumisu won)

Fionil x Doni vs Marios / Laimar (Fionil x Doni won)

Labru vs Yuri Labru (Yuri Labru won)

Canary polycule vs Leed x Chilchuck (Canary polycule won)

The Canaries' ship vs Senshi x Maizuru (The Canaries' ship won)

Laios x Kensuke vs Laios x Lycion (Laios x Lycion won)

Round 2, part 1:

Farcille vs Falin x Marcille x Mayjack (Farcille won)

Hienichidori vs Helsiril (Hienichidori won)

Toshiro x Namari vs Toshiro x Rin (Toshiro x Namari won)

Delgal x Thistle vs Holmbru (Holmbru won)

The Flokes vs Rin x Falin x Marcille (The Flokes won)

Namarcille vs Fleki x Cithis (Fleki x Cithis won)

Yuri Laishuro vs Laishuro (Laishuro won)

Namari x Kaka & Kiki vs Marcille x Touden siblings / Laifarcille (Kakimari won)

[solibrie]

something has been bothering me ever since the discourse regarding marcille being conservative ir2 gender started rolling around. it doesn't bother me that it was said; it's obviously true based on the shapeshifters chapters. but people trace it back to her elvish background, and i think this is a sort of misunderstanding of elvish gender?

elves see themselves as androgynous and are interpreted as feminine by Everyone Else. there doesn't seem to be a very strict "feminine" or "masculine" presentation that elves must adhere to- mithrun is a manly ass elf. otta is a masc elf lady. lycion is a fem elf dude. the only thing i can imagine would possibly gender their presentation is their hair length (and boobs i guess? notably cithis and marcille are the only elves i can remember that really have a rack. anyways). this is a gender role in it of itself- androgyny without flexibility can and will be its own shackle. BUT this isn't the gender conformity that marcille reinforces!

marcille's childhood was incredibly lonely, and her closest friends for like 30 years were her parents. her parents, of whom were her tallman father and her elvish mother. her elvish mother who left elvish society to be a court mage for a tallman. her elvish mother who in ALL of her appearances is doing Housewife Things.

as an aside, don't you think it's interesting that falin considered accepting a proposal from someone she didn't even love because she feared it would be the only shot she had at getting married, implying that being married would make her more desirable? don't you think it's interesting how in laios' nightmare, his mother is pressuring him to have children? don't you think it's interesting how it's gender roles that are familiar to us are the gender roles that marcille seems to be trapped between?

marcille's problem is that she's applying that good ol' fashioned elvish superiority to tall-men gender roles.

[wisteriawater]

All this labru vs kabumisu discourse is making me scerd to write my both? both? both. Both is good heir fic. I mean, it aint gonna stop me. I have big plans for dad!mithrun, you can pry him from my cold dead greasy rat fingers.

[yusiyomogi]

one of the funniest things i've ever seen in "mithrun was designed to look feminine/androgynous" discourse was a post that was just a picture of him and the caption was like "i mean guys come on"

i mean guys come on.

no one really knows what ryoko kui's true intentions were, but. it definitely feels like she had the same struggle as many artists in this fandom lol.

anyway, a lot of discourse surrounding mithrun is just ridiculous at this point. no one should question this in real life, when a person who looks cute is also tough as nails. and a person who looks cool and muscular is also silly and awkward. mithrun's character design has a lot of layers to it, it's supposed to constantly play with our expectations, right until the last chapter with him. and i thinks it's awesome and we should respect that!