Also I really do appreciate the "eating AND resting" part because in stories and irl we always see like, driving yourself to the brink of exhaustion running on barely any sleep as almost...noble? Or aspirational, I guess? It's SO normalized to give everything all the time and never rest until your goals are achived, to run yourself ragged helping others, to put your needs dead last...but Dungeon Meshi just says "you need to put your oxygen mask on before you can help anyone else with theirs" and spends the majority of the narrative proving it true. Toshiro could not have saved Falin for a lot of reasons but the primary one was that he's the type to kill himself trying to save someone else. He isn't eating or sleeping, he's weak and exhausted and not thinking straight, he can't stand a chance against Laois in a fight, he's ignoring the people begging him to just take a break for a second, that is not sustainable and it makes him more of a liability than an asset.
And like I'm not Japanese but I do know about how bad Japanese Work Culture is and I don't think Toshiro was picked to be the one made an example of in this way by chance, Ryoko Kui's work does seem to be coming from a perspective that is very informed by her background and she's clearly not afraid of putting social commentary and critique into her stories. But even aside from that I know as an American we also get that "kill yourself for your job I'll sleep when I'm dead hustle culture" shit poured into our brains from day one, so legit having a story be like "hey bro actually you refusing to take care of yourself in the pursuit of this goal is kneecapping your ability to actually reach it and you need to take a nap and eat some bread" is also pretty fantastic.
Plus, in a lot of activist circles these days I see a lot of people convinced that you must always be on all the time regardless of how badly it's hurting you, which is so toxic because again, if you are traumatizing and exhausting yourself you CAN'T HELP PEOPLE. Exposing yourself to hell 24/7 so you're a good ally is making you a worse one. You cannot help people with their oxygen masks until you put on your own, you need to rest and take care of yourself so you can help others.
Also like, as a disabled person it's also nice to see rest being treated as necessary. Disabled people get so much flack for being "lazy" and it's very easy to internalize the idea that you must be productive to be worthy of life, but Dungeon Meshi is very pro "you can't do anything if you aren't giving yourself breaks and rest when you need it" and it's really validating!
All around the focus put in rest and nourishment being necessary not just for life but for being a force of positive action in the world is something I think a lot of us could use to hear from media. I love a good "you're beaten and bloody and exhausted but you're gonna keep fighting even if it kills you" dramatic moment as much as the next person but there is still so much to explore in a story that tells you to calm the fuck down and eat something so you can actually do the work that needs doing. It's compassionate and reassuring but also a bit of a wake up call.
Dungeon Meshi wants you to help others by helping yourself, and that's honestly fantastic.
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