#save me kabru save me

[cowboythewizard726]

woah-ho-ho-dude don't mean to alarm you or anything but has anyone ever told you that you've got some pretty beautiful majestic gorgeous eyes right there just a pair of completely absolutely striking ocular organs you've got in there man like jesus those are some pretty stunning irises dude like wow man

[guy-with-a-redslushie]

Died and then came back to life solely to draw these two fucking freaks. Shit is actually wild.

[deletedelight]

it's always so funny when people show kabru as a nagging wife or something like that because he WAS shown as a toxic girlfriend in that one genderbend omake

like it's canon

[die-mitri]

Doodles from my sketchbook!! BEACH EPISODE MODE!!

The Kabru thing is based on real life... Sorry IRL friends for acting like a cornered and injured animal whenever you try to look after me. I will not stop ❤️

But yeah Kabru is super uncomfortable when he's doted on. I can imagine him reacting poorly when someone tells him how to take care of himself. He's usually so good at keeping his true feelings inside but I think a couple things would make him break character.

[taitavva]

*dungeonmeshis your persona* *personas your dungeonmeshi*

[rikouto]

[frogseasons]

ryoko kui really said let me just leave absolutely integral character details. in the supplemental material.

[musturd-artposts]

this is my only contribution to the labru community

og under the cut

[kenmaiii]

after two years i finally draw the favorite

[millierollsaseven]

[milkbreadtoast]

[totally-original-artist]

Me when I see Kabru

i love Marcelle so much lol and Laios and honestly the whole gang, haven't gotten so into an anime is so long

[ambrosiagourmet]

Hello! Thought I'd say THANK YOU for your laios-marcille posts and rts, they might be one of my favorite dynamics in the series (or in any series) *because* of the layers it has, there is so much going on and I love how it's shown. And I'm glad I found ppl who see it in a similar way. They mean the world to me and ch 96 makes my heart all warm bc they CARE so much! They all know each other so well. This whole party is a family!! And found family has complex dynamics, it's not clear cut and with easy labels. That goes for them too.

Ahem, sorry for the ramble lol I'm just happy

YOU ARE SO WELCOME I obviously love them a lot too and I'm very glad I can occasionally manage to condense the "!!!!!!" emotions in my brain into coherent enough words to talk about it. They care SO much T.T

[technicolorxsn]

kabru is so fascinating to me.... girl what is wrong with u

[gigginox]

louder than evwryone on the planet KABRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU HIIIIII

[tofixtheshadows]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how Kabru deprives himself.

Kabru as a character is intertwined with the idea that sometimes we have to sacrifice the needs of the few for the good of the many. He ultimately subverts this first by sabotaging the Canaries and then by letting Laios go, but in practice he's already been living a life of self-sacrifice.

Saving people, and learning the secrets of the dungeons to seal them, are what's important. Not his own comforts. Not his own desires. He forces them down until he doesn't know they're there, until one of them has to come spilling out during the confession in chapter 76.

Specifically, I think it's very significant, in a story about food and all that it entails, that Kabru is rarely shown eating. He's the deuteragonist of Dungeon Meshi, the cooking manga, but while meals are the anchoring points of Laios's journey, given loving focus, for Kabru, they're ... not.

I'm sure he eats during dungeon expeditions, in the routine way that adventurers must when they sit down to camp. But on the surface, you get the idea that Kabru spends most of his time doing his self-assigned dungeon-related tasks: meeting with people, studying them, putting together that evidence board, researching the dungeon, god knows what else. Feeding himself is secondary.

He's introduced during a meal, eating at a restaurant, just to set up the contrast between his party and Laios's. And it's the last normal meal we see him eating until the communal ending feast (if you consider Falin's dragon parts normal).

First, we get this:

Kabru's response here is such a non-answer, it strongly implies to me that he wasn't thinking about it until Rin brought it up. That he might not even be feeling the hunger signals that he logically knew he should.

They sit down to eat, but Kabru is never drawn reaching for food or eating it like the rest of his party. He only drinks.

It's possible this means nothing, that we can just assume he's putting food in his mouth off-panel, but again, this entire manga is about food. Cooking it, eating it, appreciating it, taking pleasure in it, grounding yourself in the necessary routine of it and affirming your right to live by consuming it. It's given such a huge focus.

We don't see him eat again until the harpy egg.

What a significant question for the protagonist to ask his foil in this story about eating! Aren't you hungry? Aren't you, Kabru?

He was revived only minutes ago after a violent encounter. And then he chokes down food that causes him further harm by triggering him, all because he's so determined to stay in Laios's good graces.

In his flashback, we see Milsiril trying to spoon-feed young Kabru cake that we know he doesn't like. He doesn't want to eat: he wants to be training.

Then with Mithrun, we see him eating the least-monstery monster food he can get his hands on, for the sake of survival- walking mushroom, barometz, an egg. The barometz is his first chance to make something like an a real meal, and he actually seems excited about it because he wants to replicate a lamb dish his mother used to make him!

...but he doesn't get to enjoy it like he wanted to.

Then, when all the Canaries are eating field rations ... Kabru still isn't shown eating. He's only shown giving food to Mithrun.

And of course the next time he eats is the bavarois, which for his sake is at least plant based ... but he still has to use a coping mechanism to get through it.

I don't think Kabru does this all on purpose. I think Kui does this all on purpose. Kabru's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be understood as informing his character just as much as Laios's autism informs his. It's another way that Kabru and Laios act as foils: where Laios takes pleasure in meals and approaches food with the excitement of discovery, Kabru's experiences with eating are tainted by his trauma. Laios indulges; Kabru denies himself. Laios is shown enjoying food, Kabru is shown struggling with it.

And I can very easily imagine a reason why Kabru might have a subconscious aversion towards eating.

Meals are the privilege of the living.