your dreams or my reality?

*.· 🥀 .· 18+ ONLY!! Minors Dont Interact! °.🥀*.· || ✨️ Name's Chi ✨️|| queerplatonic multi-shipper 👭🏽 aroace sapphic black woman || 22yo || she/they || ☆soulaani☆ 🫶🏾💕 || autistic || blerd || comics || feral devotion, floriography, and world building are my roman empires

[nosongunsung11]

collection of posts for a very specific dynamic

[isan0rt]

I'm doing my first reread of the back half of Dunmeshi, having forgotten a lot of the details of what happened because I read it all so fast (three days for the whole manga from start to finish) and damn. This panel from chapter 54. This fucking panel.

I'm sure I'm late to the party here and someone else has already talked about this but this panel is just. This whole sequence is just such a stark illustration of who Kabru is when the chips are down. He's out of his element. His plan to get the people out of the dungeon safely failed catastrophically in a way he (naively) didn't predict, but the Canaries did, and planned ahead for in exactly the way that is the most upsetting to Kabru personally. He's being actively retraumatized at this very moment by the panic as people flee, as people get poisoned outside Pattadol's barrier.

And he still saves this man.

He doesn't know this guy! He had never seen him before in his life. Everyone else in that crowd was already too late to save. But this guy wasn't! This guy wasn't, and Kabru put his neck on the line to rescue him without hesitation. His first thought was for identifying the person still trapped so he could be rescued. He didn't think for an instant about his own safety. The instant concern is not an act! Look at his face!

He didn't have to save this man... Except that he did, because of who he is as a person. There is no innocent human life that is disposable to Kabru, despite what the red herring of his reaction to the thieves at the beginning was. This is who Kabru is.

[papercrrane]

something i really like about witch hat atelier is how much time things are allowed to take. like coco mentions how she hasn't returned agott's sylph shoes yet in chapter 5 and then it takes until chapter 15 for that to actually happen.

similarly she tries buying a pen in chapter 5, tartar offers to make her one that truly fitts in chapter 17 and then it isn't until chapter 50 that he actually gives it to her.

it shows how the craft takes time and imo also makes the gifts more meaningful because you get a feeling for how much time and effort went into them!

idk maybe it's just because i've watched a lot of somewhat episodic cartoons but i feel like a lot of the time a problem is introduced at the beginning of an episode so that the characters can solve it and have learned something by the end of it so i just really appreciate that it's not like that in wha even for "smaller things".

[tayasui-mono]

I think my favourite concept in Dunmeshi is that... There is an urgency in most of us to sacrifice our peace of mind when push comes to shove. Perhaps to worry means that you care about the emergency at hand (whatever level of emergency that is subjectively) and we pinpoint focus on the task and everything else disappears. Our sleep and diet patterns change even though these activities are pivotal for our dopamine systems and functionally make us feel healthier and help us think clearer. It's self-punishing, the "grind" so to speak: to persevere we have to forget the self and think solely of the object.

But Dunmeshi doesn't let you get away with that. These people's friend is captive in a monster's body, their world is literally ending, and still they sit down to eat. To eat is to live. Only living things eat and it is the privilege of the living. Yes, there is a crisis. Yes they are upset and heartbroken and distressed. But they still focus on the food: the very thing that sustains you and gives you energy to think, to move, to keep going. A moment of gratitude offered to life by actually, consciously indulging in it. They aren't bad people for eating while Falin's suffering, no. It is simply unfeasible to give parts of yourself to a situation while hoping to gain twice as much back. Just take the time to make food, think about how delicious it looks, and eat. Even if you fail, you need to eat. Even if you succeed, you need to eat. You need to live life no matter what. You need to enjoy it no matter what. It is never "inappropriate" to just live your life.

[mayjunenov]

I know this might not make sense, but I'll try and say it anyways. I've always had to pick out scraps of neurodivergency from the characters I read about in books or saw in movies. And when they did say, yes this ones (autistic, adhd, bipolar, anxious)! Like you! It was always this caricature of the part of me that I knew was different.

And then I read Dungeon Meshi and suddenly Laios was just there. He was disliked by people for something unnameable, something intangible that was just there. And he talked and people listened like they were being tortured, even when he had this happiness that comes from real interest and love for something. Other people found him weird, unsettling, gross. For what? For loving?

He was such a reflection of the things inside me that I have to push down and hide away, it felt like seeing something real for the first time in my life. Suddenly I knew there really were people out there that understood what it was like to be different. Laios was the first time I looked into a character and found myself staring back. So this is a thank you to Ryoko Kui, and a letter to every single person who has ever felt known.

[envymeshi]

mithrun makes me insane in many senses but one that's particularly depressing to me is how he is stripped of his agency, not only in the narrative, but by the audience as well. he shows time and time again how strong, capable, and independent he can be with just a little support from others, and yet his family, the canaries, and the fandom treat him as if he can't even chew food by himself. on one hand, it's impressive work by kui, she can tell which biases surround her characters and she weaves them into the narrative to have us think more deeply about them; on the other hand its sad that it kinda flies over people's heads and people fall exactly into the very same things she criticises. Though it honestly makes it even more powerful when characters go against all that to truly, deeply respect him and his independence, and I also love seeing how Mithrun interacts with the other dungeon lords with the compassion he was never given in his situation--

[lastoneout]

can you imagine what being saved from the dragon must have been emotionally from Falin's perspective? waking up and realizing what was done to save you, not just killing the monster and the black magic, but the unbelievably difficult and frustrating and overwhelmingly intimate task of piecing your bloody skeleton together bit by bit?? I'd be embarrassed a bit, being so bare in front of my loved ones, asking so much of them, but knowing they didn't shy away?? that every flex of your hand and bend of your spine is undeinable proof of how deeply, profoundly you are truly loved???

[vis4victory]

I watched Dunmeshi S1 last summer and every time the characters were shown to be saving food from previous meals I was super impressed. For a mostly episodic show that area of continuity was the tightest of any show I'd seen.

Like Senshi goes "Then we'll use this barley we picked up last episode" and I'm like "THE BARLEY YOU PICKED UP LAST EPISODE HOLY SHIT YOU DID PICK UP BARLEY LAST EPISODE THAT'S SO COOL!" And you wanna know the even crazier part? Close to the Red Dragon arc I was starting to wonder about all the seasonings used on the food, because they'd been so consistent about keeping track of all the food and how it gets used up and replenished and I'd noticed that they weren't doing the same for, like, the salt and various spices Senshi while cooking. And then in the Red Dragon arc part of the reason they decide to head back to the surface is because Senshi is running out of spices and I'm like "YO THEY ADDRESSED IT! THEY ACTUALLY ADDRESSED THE FACT THAT SENSHI DOESN'T HAVE INFINITE SALT! THAT'S SO COOL!"

Anyway that show was such a fun watch, I want to write resource coordination that good, and I want other shows to pay this much attention to characters' resources

[garbean]

I love dunmeshi for the like.. built in horror of consumption. Like they eat to survive, they eat to honor their prey, they eat to possibly mourn someone. Laios eats monsters because he wants to learn more about the things he loves, Senshi eats monsters to feel included in the ecosystem because he didn't fit in with the outside and with most creatures in general, Chilchuck DOESN'T eat as much as he could because eating too much could kill all the party members, Marcille eats monsters and hates it but she still does it because she'll die before she could save Falin.

[randomenby0ntumbir]

I love how farcille art is either "the girlies in the bath!!! uwu" or "two eldritch beings licking blood off each other's faces" and there's no inbetween

[mollymerula]

there is A Lot in dunmeshi that hits hard in various ways but for me, one of the top things of all time is the outfit laios chooses when he becomes king. you know his whole life he's probably tried to be more like other people so he fits in, putting on the Human Façade i'm so familiar with putting on myself. and when he becomes king he instead wraps himself in a literal monster skin, made from his own monster form which is his true idealized form. do you see? when he puzzled out "how can i make them take me seriously," his ultimate answer is to stop masking completely and appear more as himself than he ever has. for me that is such a powerful character growth moment and i really really love it.

[catlaila]

justice for kabru. they put my man in the wrong genre. bro was meant to be playing psychological games with light yagami and instead he’s playing yaoi mind tennis with a blonde himbo

[pivotttt]

The miracle of a sailor ascending (or descending) from their boat's bounds (sea or starry sky) to bestow a gift

(WHA Episode 3 and Manga Spoilers)

hope this is anything, im so washed bc of schoolwork

[anodymalion]

[magicmetalblog]

Queer fantasy about art, education, accessibility, social mobility, kyriarchy, and how we fail to protect children? Magic as an allegory for art? The perception of art as natural talent instead of labour and struggle by non-artists? The possibility of saving or destroying the world hinging on design? Morally grey protagonists? Heavy messaging on how what is legal isn't always right and what is right isn't always legal? The poverty to criminality pipeline? Resentment brewing hatred? Sexual abuse being treated as a crime instead of a joke? Disability and neurodiversity being represented with accuracy and sensitivity? Some of the most beautiful art in the entire global comics industry?

Go read it. Go read it now.

[neo--queen--serenity]

Marcille is actually one of the biggest reasons it took so long to pinpoint which Chilchuck was the imposter in today’s episode.

The Senshi and Marcille imposters had their own reasons for being hard to decipher, but that was a joint effort on the party’s part. Chilchuck was the only example where a single member’s bias actually swayed the others so strongly that it made them all doubt themselves.

Ryouko Kui did an excellent job of giving us a rich background on how different races interact, and how they may descriminate against each other. Each of the races in this series struggles with these prejudices. Our main characters are not exempt from this, and we see it clearly in the way the shapeshifter manifested as each party member, showing us how the others percieve them.

Marcille knows Chilchuck well, and cares deeply for him as a friend. But she’s not immune to assumptions and biases that come from her elven background. The Chilchuck imposter we are faced with, when it’s down to two of them left, is Marcille’s memory of Chilchuck, Marcille’s perception of how he behaves.

One of the first manifestations of this bias occurs when shapeshifter Chilchuck can’t get a jar open.

The real Chilchuck knows that this would never happen—at least not in this way. Chilchuck is proud, yes, but he asks for Laios’ help all the time. Laios is actually one of the party members he is the most likely to ask help from, given how long they’ve known each other, and how much mutual trust exists between them.

However, the whole scenario isn’t right. Chilchuck wouldn’t give up so easily on opening something; his whole job is opening and unlocking things. He would never quit an attempt like this within 5 seconds, then run to Laios so that “big strong adult tall-man” can open it for him.

Marcille is the one who asks, “Huh? Why do you say that?” because Marcille is partially right. Chilchuck does rely on Laios, and Marcille knows this to be true. But she fails to realize how he relies on Laios.

Chilchuck respects many of Laios’ talents, but the most important ones are his combat skills, his emotional fortitude, and his quick thinking when delegating tasks. He trusts Laios as someone he is comfortable following (he literally said to him and Shuro in the last episode: “Laios!! Tell us what do!! Give us orders!!” when chimera Falin was quickly overpowering them).

So while Marcille almost understands Chilchuck’s confidence in Laios, she tends to accidentally infantilize him in the process.

She immediately believes that Chilchuck B (the imposter, who is specifically using her own memory as its base for Chilchuck’s personality) is the real one, and says so, because she’s blinded by her perception of him as being childlike and adorable because of the very common racial prejudices that half-foots deal with all the time.

She dotes on the imposter, and is open with her affections, as usual (again, her care for him is clear), but doubles down on that bias, on her own assumptions of Chilchuck’s behavior shown through her own lens.

And ultimately, Laios was able to tell the difference, but only because he watched how the Chilchucks handled other minute tasks. Marcille’s stance on which Chilchuck was real truly did throw the others for a loop, at least until the threat passed. And honestly, that’s part of what makes the shapeshifter so terrifying. Its strategy almost worked.

[neo--queen--serenity]

There’s just something extremely touching about watching Izutsumi work through a wide range of emotions when she sees Marcille cry for the first time.

She’s sleeping on Marcille’s lap when it happens—something she hadn’t willingly done since her human consciousness was subdued in the Golden Country.

Izutsumi was initially very embarrassed when she remembered showing Marcille such unbridled affection when her monster (cat) side had full control in Melini. But now, shortly after, she did it again without any fuss, seemingly over this embarrassment.

But when she notices Marcille crying—not crying expressive tears over a situation with low stakes, but tears of real sorrow and loss—Izutsumi physically recoils.

She reacts with the childlike fear and panic that one feels when someone they heavily rely on and trust (like a parent or teacher) shows vulnerability, doubt, or weakness. She lashes out, trying to use words of reproach to get Marcille to stop crying. Or, in childlike terms, to try to force Marcille’s pain go away.

When that doesn’t work, we see her physically struggle as she tries to sit by and wait it out. But Izutsumi can’t do it.

Marcille’s pain causes her so much intense distress that Izutsumi immediately offers physical affection as a response—something she has not done for anyone up to this point.

When Senshi told the party about his traumatic backstory, Izutsumi did not touch him. She did support him, tried to offer words of comfort, but she did not embrace him like the others did. Maybe she didn’t know how; maybe she didn’t have a proper example on what comforting someone looked like. But she saw all three of them reach for Senshi, she saw them hold him in their arms, and anchor him as he cried.

This is the first time another party member has cried out of sadness since that moment. It’s possible that she saw how the others helped Senshi, and maybe, subconsciously, she saw that it worked. That it made him feel better.

She is clearly unused to it, and has her own rollercoaster of emotions as Marcille gratefully accepts the comfort Izutsumi is offering her. But it helps. It helps Marcille immediately, and Izutsumi knows this.

These acts of vulnerability are foreign to her, and thus make her feel uncomfortable, but she lets Marcille lean on her afterwards anyway. She wanted Marcille to be okay, wanted it so badly, that she accidentally overcame an emotional obstacle she never even knew she had.