Dungeon Meshi - Ending 2 Illustrations (part 1/2)

i feel like a lot of people do not realize the full implication of the fact that laios and mithrun didn't interact until the last few chapters of the manga. this right here was their first interaction.

i don't think it was a coincidence. there were plenty of situations where they were in a one "room" together, but never had an opportunity to talk: the narrative always made them miss a conversation, one of them was either unconscious or dead or something distracted them etc. the main reason for it is to create tension in the plot, of course, because the inability to properly communicate between two people who work for two different but ultimately reasonable goals is a reliable way to create conflict in your story.

but the other reason why it was written like this is hidden in character development and only becomes obvious when they finally talk. because mithrun doesn't know laios, he barely has an idea of what kind of person he is, he's just some random young tallman to him. but out of the blue he trusts him with literally the most important thing in his life. why? because he knows that kabru trusts laios. and mithrun trusts kabru's judgement.

and like, mithrun is still very pissed at kabru at that point, because kabru forcefully stopped him from going after the demon, but when i'm saying that at this point in the story their conflict is a lot more personal than ideological, that's what i mean. he's angry but he still trusts kabru the most, he's on his side, even if he didn't fully realize it until this point (and he's stubborn as hell).

this is also why kabru is such an integral character to the plot, it's not that he simply helped laios along the way, he is the one who connects people. he was the reason why the good ending was even possible.

this is also what makes the slap scene even more hilarious. because just like the fistfight scene with toshiro and laios was the moment of weakness for both of them, this scene is not only kabru's (and marcille's) moment of weakness and panic, but mithrun's too! i bet his thoughts right there were: "maybe it is your fault actually, you stopped me and you trusted this guy and i listened to you and now the world is ending". and kabru didn't even understand what's happening, because this is the first time mithrun spoke to him in hours.

thistle got tired of craning his neck to talk to laios. can you really treat the king this way, though...?

I wanted to ask you if there were any notable differences with Mithrun's dialogue in a few specific scenes, or anything of note when he says "Free yourself" to Thistle, the scene with Marcille where he says, "Do you have any idea how empty that will leave you", generally speaking, when he's trying to show care and compassion and empathy, like the therapy scene, and what he says to Marcille there about love, too. I guess I'm wondering if there's any difference with how they're displayed, because, for instance, I've seen people say that he's cruel to Thistle, and I see the ruthlessness easy, but I can also read the autistic sense of justice, which, although people laud this as a "good" thing, it can be really single-minded and actually pretty unconcerned with "right" or "wrong".

It sort of has a way, to me, as an autistic person, of mirroring Laios wanting Senshi to eat the griffin—to know and be free because that's the only way forward, just. Harsher.

Also, um. His interaction with Kabru, too! When he goes on to ask him what he wants to do, or really just that panel. Their interaction. And... um? When he says about Falin, "If she wants to, she will."

Anyway, besides that, it also screams "meltdown", on a further look. He's very restless and distressed and that seems clear. I think he's kind of trying to rush out the conclusion he wants, maybe mistakenly believing he's more cool-headed than he is, and people trust him, I think, because he seems capable, I see a lot of, "he just doesn't care", but he's not very tuned into his emotions, and I think not really caring about the consequences if he can get what he really wants. Some people see malice, but I think his care is genuine, though I sort of believe he's also wanting his conclusion to happen as fast as possible—trying to force it out, and really not as stable as he may seem.

People will say "He doesn't care at all", but then I feel like...? Why try, if you don't care? And I was wondering about that, I guess.

Sorry if this is a big ask. I have Thoughts™️.

if you're asking me about japanese version, i'm sorry to tell you that i'm not that good at it :D. the only noticeable difference i see from his usual way of talking is that mithrun puts a lot of emphasis in his speech when he's trying to persuade other dungeon lords (he ends almost every sentence with [だ], which is usually a sign on emotional speech). but it's already pretty obvious from the meaning of what he says. the one that looks interesting to me is this panel, his pleading face and the way he says [お前になわからないか] "don't you understand?" works so well, it feels like he's truly empathetic here.

when people say that he acted cruel and violent, i say: yeah, and that's the point! mithrun, while being in many ways a unique character, is also an example of very old and very very common character archetype: he's a desperate and angry broken person who wants revenge and literally destroys himself in the process. it's almost impossible to write a character like that without them being cruel or cold or uncaring to other people, would any kind of redemption and healing even be interesting to see if they were perfectly nice, well-adjusted person?

the only reason to even talk about this is to analyze the cycle of cruelty traumatized people often find themselves in. to see how horrible the impact truly is, because kui does a great job portraying this. mithrun didn't even start as a good person, he was already at a pretty bad place mentally before his trauma. and guess what, any form of mental illness and trauma doesn't usually make you a better person, even if it changes you. when you have no desires, it's already kinda difficult to have any love, patience or care for people. what kind of person anyone would be when they don't wanna have friends, to love, to be loved, to live, to do literally anything? while also being constantly dehumanized by everyone, even people who technically care about them? actually, we know, because it happens in real life all the time.

but here's a thing. surprisingly, mithrun tries to care. he tries to care about civilians, he doesn't even kill people who wanted to kill him (kabru did, for example. don't know why people forget about this, pretty easy comparison to make). he tries to care about his squad: he always does the most dangerous job himself. he tries to care about other dungeon lords, because he feels compassion towards them, so he always gives them a choice.

but i love that kui makes him stay true to his character: he's an asshole, he doesn't have desires anymore, he's depressed, but he tries to care... and he fails and gives up. all the time. and he ends up hurting people because he gave up. idk, i find it incredibly relatable. and i think it's kinda weird to "criticize" mithrun for that, he's just a character that we're clearly supposed to empathize with, and we all one day or another find ourselves in similarly dark place in life. and there's something hopeful in his story, he didn't ask to be loved, but people loved him anyway – and he learned to accept this love. doesn’t happen as often in real life, unfortunately.

I'm loving Dungeon Meshi's mix of quasi-probable speculative magical biology and "It's magic fuck you."

Red dragons swallow their prey whole and use the undigestible remains as fuel for their fire breath, which is lit by creating a spark with their tongue. Living armors are colonies of mollusks who expand and contract to mimic muscle movement. Actually "man-eating" plants is a misnomer, they catch small animals with a filament that retracts when touched and they use their decomposing prey as compost.

These mushrooms can turn you into a gnome. It's magic fuck you.

Chilchuck is definitely the kind of dad that scared his kids with the boogie man, he has that kind of humor

and probably ended up having them sleep on his bed bc he scared them too much too

kabru that laios remembers

vs actual kabru

this shit is so funny kabru i'm so happy you suceeded in gaslighting the autistic man

Today’s Thistle is: Combin’ out his hair

template was made by @/dunmesh!!

recently finished dungeon meshi and god i have a lot to say. i want to take my time and share my thoughts in a somewhat thought out post tho, so for now heres this...

thought this looked familiar

Before I watch the new episode everyone promise to be normal