I don't understand people who refuse to use summons in Elden Ring solely because they see it as cheating, weak, giving up, etc. Summons are a single mercy granted to us by the devs in an otherwise unforgiving and often cruel world. Let's take ibuprofen together.
One of my biggest Dungeon Meshi fandom controversial opinions is that I don't like fan art depicting Chilchuck with a tail and other animal characteristics. Can't really dissect why beyond personal taste, and the way I think it’s really funny and weird that Chilchuck (the straight man of the series) was singled out to receive this treatment when Laios is right there. Laios, who is the only character in the series canonically confirmed to desire beastly traits. I think if he discovered that everyone skipped him over to instead make drawings of Chilchuck with a cool tail and mouse ears he'd be really jealous, confused, and disappointed.
This rambling began as a reply to the above but started to run too long/researched so I've moved over to an actual post.
It's not even so much this to me. In-universe, the debate surrounding what constitutes a 'human' is ongoing and deeply rooted in societal views/values, prejudice, and racism more than biology. In the dialogue you're referencing, Hien tells Kabru that eastern tall-men don't even consider elves and dwarves to be human, and ogres are called 'oni' and therefore are also distinct from humans, while Kabru points out that ogres technically have the same number of bones as tall-men. Counting the number of bones an individual has is one method used in-universe to distinguish 'demihuman' from 'human,' but I don't think just because the information is coming from a liked character (Kabru) that it means it isn't a pseudoscience; he's just regurgitating what he's learned because he hasn't given it deeper thought, has limited life experience, and has prejudices of his own.
He also describes desert kobalds as unknowable, aggressive, and cruel, and chalks this up to them being demihuman, but becomes very uncomfortable when Laios and Falin relate the story of cruel kobalds to a neighboring race or clan of tall-men they refer to as savage 'mountain people' (because the Toudin's are also not immune to fantasy racism) who were killed on sight by the people of their own village. Meanwhile, the kobald Kuro is shown to be bilingual (if limited in the common tongue) and highly intelligent; the orcs have their own unique perspective and justifications concerning their own history and the Toudin party all come to realize they are a fully realized, intelligent culture who are able to be empathized with. Izutsumi exists. And half-foots don't need to have animal-like characteristics to already be very discriminated against in-universe. So the question to me is less about what constitutes a demihuman and more why it even matters in the first place. What does it matter when what we feel, what we need, at our core, is the same? Nothing exemplifies this in the story more than the last panels of the manga, in which Laios takes a knee to speak to a kobald child and orc child, who are free to grow and prosper in his kingdom.
So to summarize, I don't really care that giving him a tail would make Chilchuck not 'human' because the line separating 'human' and 'demihuman' is blurry at best, and a key message in Dungeon Meshi is letting go of preconceived notions (surrounding food, people).
From a lore/narrative perspective, my dislike for tailed Chilchuck probably mostly stems from the above points; certain people and cultures may use 'demihuman' status as justification for prejudice, but discrimination against half-foots (and between the other 'human' races, for that matter) is one part of the world building that demonstrates you can find any reason to be hateful if you just want to be.
Without getting too into it, I do also feel like having Chilchuck run around with a tail for no particular reason kind of just invalidates Izutsumi's character and her struggles as an artificial beastman, or the idea would lessen the impact of her backstory. Above all, I just really like Chilchuck's original design, it already suits his personality perfectly!
In the end, if you really wanted to examine the point of tailed Chilchuck in fan spaces (on Tumblr) I don't think anyone is engaging with the idea on a level where they're seriously examining how Chilchuck having a tail would impact the narrative. The point is that tailed Chilchuck is cute. It's not to my taste but what do I care? I still have Dungeon Meshi.
Everything you said is correct.
I believe this "mouse-hobbit" thing came from the Tolkien fandom here, since someone a while ago said they imagined hobbits as mouse people. People just applied it to Chilchuck. It's just what happens with fandom, honestly.
One of my biggest Dungeon Meshi fandom controversial opinions is that I don't like fan art depicting Chilchuck with a tail and other animal characteristics. Can't really dissect why beyond personal taste, and the way I think it’s really funny and weird that Chilchuck (the straight man of the series) was singled out to receive this treatment when Laios is right there. Laios, who is the only character in the series canonically confirmed to desire beastly traits. I think if he discovered that everyone skipped him over to instead make drawings of Chilchuck with a cool tail and mouse ears he'd be really jealous, confused, and disappointed.
This rambling began as a reply to the above but started to run too long/researched so I've moved over to an actual post.
It's not even so much this to me. In-universe, the debate surrounding what constitutes a 'human' is ongoing and deeply rooted in societal views/values, prejudice, and racism more than biology. In the dialogue you're referencing, Hien tells Kabru that eastern tall-men don't even consider elves and dwarves to be human, and ogres are called 'oni' and therefore are also distinct from humans, while Kabru points out that ogres technically have the same number of bones as tall-men. Counting the number of bones an individual has is one method used in-universe to distinguish 'demihuman' from 'human,' but I don't think just because the information is coming from a liked character (Kabru) that it means it isn't a pseudoscience; he's just regurgitating what he's learned because he hasn't given it deeper thought, has limited life experience, and has prejudices of his own.
He also describes desert kobalds as unknowable, aggressive, and cruel, and chalks this up to them being demihuman, but becomes very uncomfortable when Laios and Falin relate the story of cruel kobalds to a neighboring race or clan of tall-men they refer to as savage 'mountain people' (because the Touden's are also not immune to fantasy racism) who were killed on sight by the people of their own village. Meanwhile, the kobald Kuro is shown to be bilingual (if limited in the common tongue) and highly intelligent; the orcs have their own unique perspective and justifications concerning their own history and the Touden party all come to understand they are a fully realized, intelligent culture who are able to be empathized with. Izutsumi exists. And half-foots don't need to have animal-like characteristics to already be very discriminated against in-universe. So the question to me is less about what constitutes a demihuman and more why it even matters in the first place. What does it matter when what we feel, what we need, at our core, is the same? Nothing exemplifies this in the story more than the last panels of the manga, in which Laios takes a knee to speak to a kobald child and orc child, who are free to grow and prosper in his kingdom.
So to summarize, I don't really care that giving him a tail would make Chilchuck not 'human' because the line separating 'human' and 'demihuman' is blurry at best, and a key message in Dungeon Meshi is letting go of preconceived notions (surrounding food, people).
From a lore/narrative perspective, my dislike for tailed Chilchuck probably mostly stems from the above points; certain people and cultures may use 'demihuman' status as justification for prejudice, but discrimination against half-foots (and between the other 'human' races, for that matter) is one part of the world building that demonstrates you can find any reason to be hateful if you just want to be.
Without getting too into it, I do also feel like having Chilchuck run around with a tail for no particular reason kind of just invalidates Izutsumi's character and her struggles as an artificial beastman, or the idea would lessen the impact of her backstory. Above all, I just really like Chilchuck's original design, it already suits his personality perfectly!
In the end, if you really wanted to examine the point of tailed Chilchuck in fan spaces (on Tumblr) I don't think anyone is engaging with the idea on a level where they're seriously examining how Chilchuck having a tail would impact the narrative. The point is that tailed Chilchuck is cute. It's not to my taste but what do I care? I still have Dungeon Meshi.
One of my biggest Dungeon Meshi fandom controversial opinions is that I don't like fan art depicting Chilchuck with a tail and other animal characteristics. Can't really dissect why beyond personal taste, and the way I think it’s really funny and weird that Chilchuck (the straight man of the series) was singled out to receive this treatment when Laios is right there. Laios, who is the only character in the series canonically confirmed to desire beastly traits. I think if he discovered that everyone skipped him over to instead make drawings of Chilchuck with a cool tail and mouse ears he'd be really jealous, confused, and disappointed.
Now that MGS Delta is out I'm seeing a lot of fan art for Naked Snake's torture by Volgin feat. Ocelot as if that formative moment is being passed on to a newer generation like a homoerotic cultural rite.