Manga Bookclub - Dungeon Meshi (Jan 28th)
Added 2024-01-21 20:39:31 +0000 UTCHere's the stream link for our next book club meeting. People have asked for some discussion questions like we had at the end of One Piece last time. It'll be a little harder to come up with questions for a one-sitting book club, but I'll do my best.
Some discussion questions for you to bring to the club meeting!
1. If you were translating this series into English, what would you call it instead of the objectively terrible Delicious in Dungeon?
2. Which monster was your favorite and why?
3. Which party member ended up being your favorite and why?
4. Were there any characters you didn't like? Why not?
5. Were there any moments where the story or a character's actions surprised you? If so, why were you surprised? What did the author do in the narrative to set your expectations up one way before subverting them?
See you at the club!
Comments
I really thought that Laios would like teach Kabru to appreciate life more and then he would become the king of the Golden Country. Maybe that’s just because I thought he was the deuteragonist but I really thought he would do more.
Kiran Nguyen
2024-04-19 03:16:15 +0000 UTCSo not canon so it doesnt really matter but someone on tumblr has been posting au comics of senshi meeting izumi as a kid instead of a teen and they have a guardian/ward relationship pre-laios party and it does fix the dynamic somewhat. Like its fluff but if we push it further and izumi WAS a kid i think her worst traits would be easier to sit through both for the readers and senshi (also the rest of the party is weirdly ambivalent) and you could work in the single parent fluff if u wanted It also makes izumi's relationship with shuro's party make more sense, and her assassin role more tragic instead of being TOLD she was living that way for years SEEING it before she breaks off to force marcielle to break her binding curse. I also think it wouldve been a more fun dynamic with the party as a whole. Also Kabru shouldve been the one to decapitate Laios 100% wouldve been a better end to his arc
dollqueen
2024-02-17 17:41:06 +0000 UTC1. Delicious Dungeon would be a nice simple name! 2. We love the found family with gruff sort dad figure, tall autistic boi, mage lil lady,and sort lil tricky guy>:3 3. I wish they did a more interesting story with Izu! 4. God's I LOVE the artistry! The artist does such a good job with anatomy and giving thing depth and weight!! 5. I hope you doing well Jello, there's alot of drama going around with Lovely Complex but you guys did a great job and I hope everything turns out well!:)
The_Weird_Thingyyy
2024-02-17 05:35:55 +0000 UTCOkay so like, I just read a Dungeon Meshi extra that explains that Izutsumi isn't actually a girl who got turned into a cat by adding in cat soul, but she's a cat who got turned into a girl by adding in dead girl soul! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RYOKU KUI THAT'S SUCH AN INTERESTING THING TO DO WITH IZUTSUMI WHY IS THIS NOT IN THE MANGA. Oooohhhh okay I'm like, if I hadn't already been made to acknowledge how Izutsumi ended up being underutilized this would be my joker moment. I'm just.... Ryoko Kui.... You're telling me Izutsumi's entire deal about wanting to go back to normal to just get to be a human person like she thinks she started as has THIS as a twist and it's just not in the manga???? I'm like actually mad. This could have been so cool to see explored I'm like not convinced that this isn't something Ryoko Kui came up with after the fact because otherwise how do you not do anything with that. I wish patreon comments would allow me to link the image because it's... Ryoko Kui.... is a master at using worldbuilding to make her story less interesting the more she worldbuilds lmao. It really is starting to look like there's just a whole bunch of ideas that she really should have put IN the manga that have for some reason ended up in the extras instead.
BreadBunny
2024-02-10 20:43:17 +0000 UTC1. Honestly, just "Delicious Dungeon," sounds good to me. 2. I adore the Walking Mushrooms. They are small and adorable, i don't really have much more to say about them. Just looking at them brings me joy. 3. Marcille is hands down my favorite character. I enjoy the little details, such as her perfectly making talismans with people even mentioning that it "looks straight out of a textbook," her enjoyment of cute things and romance, and the fact that she named her staff. However, i do also love the bigger parts of her character like how she is a perfect example of a "Straight A student" that doesn't want to leave her comfort zone, but then she's like "I know the Ancient Magic that is forbidden by law." Its a nice little subversion of my expectations. And to top things off I actually really enjoyed her motivation, out living literately everyone around you would be a terrifying thing. From the moment your born you are cursed with the fact that you will have to see people you grow old and die around- even the longer living races; it's no wonder someone like this is so obsessed with dungeons and "Dark Arts." They may hold the answer to changing things and granting longer life to your friends and family. It's such a fascinating topic to consider. 4. It would probably be the Canaries. They don't really do much in the story besides the captain, who is actually a character with a backstory and a reason to be there. Though some of the canaries have some interesting powers, they only really get used like 2 or 3 times max. The only thing i really loved about them was the moment when they realized that things were serious and immediate breakdown and go "I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to my family. I"M GOING TO DIE!" That part was great. 5. A few moments surprised me, but they were usually small things. The biggest surprise I faced was actually growing to like Laois. For most of the story i found him either annoying or boring. Honestly, I respect the "people dumb, but hyper fixation smart" characters, but I personally feel tired of seeing the trope everywhere, especially in main characters. He had interesting moments like learning some magic, but I personally started liking his character in the final stretch of the story. I do still find that I enjoy most of the other main party members a bit more, but he has jumped up to a decent spot in my mind. Loved the part where he was excited to choose with dragon would finish him off.
Xal Lord
2024-01-30 21:03:37 +0000 UTCJust finished listening to the book club. I'm sad I had to miss it but here are my general thoughts: They should have just gone with Dungeon Food for the title. Dungeons and Dinners if they really wanted that DnD title shorten, but Dungeon Food is such a solid pun so like come the fuck on. Bo is so fucking right, the Winged Lion is hot and I get butterflies in my stomach thinking about how hot he is. It's ridiculous, and something something the art is phenomenal. Legitimately felt like I was looking at some neoclassical tapestries. I definitely agree with the general dunking on Izutsumi as a character. She could have had potential, but she was really underdeveloped and under utilized throughout the story, so she ends up sticking out like a sore thumb. Like, I get you guys saying that Kabru could have been the one to instantly kill Lion-Laios, but I like that his major flaw and defining trait is his inability to act quickly. He analyzes and overthinks everything, and while in a different version, his character arc could have seen him overcoming that, I like that he stays that way. I genuinely like that he's kind of pathetic considering how self-important he makes himself. Instead, I wish that Izutsumi was developed in a way where her character leaned into that quick-action since that's her best, most defining moment, but she desperately needs at least another layer to her. Like, lean more into how a cat watches everyone closely and cares, but not in the obvious ways a dog (or Laios) does. I think Izutsumi should have acted even more like a stray cat at introduction and make her motivation literally like a stray cat finding warmth and comfort for the first time in her life. Tie it in with an abuse survivor finding people that treat them like a real person, and make her desires and motivations tied to wanting to keep these people safe. That said, I truly love that Dungeon Meshi exists as it does. It's such a great read and has honestly become one of my favorites. Problems notwithstanding, the themes of needing to desire, the power of food, the love of consumption, are presented in such a powerful, earnest way that I can overlook its faults. This is a story told with love and passion, and it's SUCH a breath of fresh air after the (useless) poison of One Piece.
WoofTree
2024-01-29 19:31:54 +0000 UTCI just want to say thank you for doing book club I had a wonderful time reading this series and talking through it and hearing your thoughts really helped me process the series for me for me. I hope to do this again for Pluto if I have the time I may need to go back and watch those One Piece book clubs while I'm work on other things if they're more comedy like. I skipped them due to a mix of being very bust during that time and not having much interest in One Piece
Lily the Happy Sheep
2024-01-29 10:49:48 +0000 UTCIf the Straw Hat dynamics were as good as fans make them One Piece would be like a 10/10 series
JelloApocalypse
2024-01-29 07:48:21 +0000 UTCGlad y'all will read Pluto next, a very good read. If you want something genre-busting but also ongoing, Dandadan Is quite fun and seems right up your alley
Arika
2024-01-29 06:27:10 +0000 UTC*Accidentally posted too early* Okay let's do this. Went to go see Godzilla. I'm recharged. First of all, while it was my ultimate doom, I loved reading this (mostly) all physical. Localization hiccups aside, the volumes are really nice, and the way they're broken up is pretty good for pacing. I never read more than one or two volumes in a day, and while I forgot to read the last 12 chapters on the last day, I still felt like my pace was good. Second, it's SO nice to read a shorter story and I think overall, the tightness of the narrative and focus makes the story really work. I was also honestly just culture-shocked coming from One Piece that individual chapters could actually mean something? And god, monthly makes the art so much better and by the end there are even 30-40 page chapters. So good on you Ryoko Kui! 1. If you were translating this series into English, what would you call it instead of the objectively terrible Delicious in Dungeon? I think I'd probably go with "Dungeon Meal" ("Dungeon Meals?") or maybe a cute cookbook title? Like "How to Cook in a Dungeon" or something. I don't know, I'm not in charge of it. 2. Which monster was your favorite and why? I'm surprised that this seems to be a popular take but guess what? It just proves me right. Living Armor is awesome and the first chapter to really make me go "hell yeah" on the concept. I do like a fucked up mollusk actually! Other highlights for me were the Hippogriffs/Griffins because of the connection with Senshi, the Queztlcoatl (because it's Marcille's sky fish, lmfao), and honestly most of the others. 3. Which party member ended up being your favorite and why? I think either Marcille or Laios, honestly. Yes, they're the ones that get the most focus, but they're both SO interesting and deserve to get that focus. They're both ALWAYS cute in their gags and emotional moments and both of them have really good dynamics with the rest of the party. Laios' fucked up autism is so good. Also, I haven't read Frieren but I wonder how Marcille's whole race lifespan thing compares to that, because to my understanding it's doing something similar... That said, I do have one issue with Marcille and I think it was my biggest issue with the whole series, which is that while I like all the concepts going into her becoming the dungeon lord, the string of chapters starting from Sissel's house up until the party saves her is a bit too rushed? I get the whole manga is neat but I just wish a.) Marcille's desires were brought more into the focus before the dungeon rabbits chapter and b.) the action was clearer--I said this on stream but the chapter where the elves are chasing Marcille was almost Oda levels of unfollowable for me. Doesn't help that Mithrun teleports all over the place. I just think that the 20 or so chapters before they get to Sissel's house (the midsection of the series basically) is really good at building the tension of the impending bad choice you know the party is going to make while everyone up top is learning about the danger they're in, and it just explodes in a way that doesn't feel as neat as it should. I should be more affected when Marcille makes her choice, her desperation in that moment wasn't sold enough for me. 4. Were there any characters you didn't like? Why not? I don't think I really disliked any of the characters honestly. I do however think some of them were unused to the degree I would have liked. a.) too many elves, or at least a lot that I didn't bother learning the names of b.) I kind of wish Shuro and Namari were focused on more in the non-party scenes in the second half of the series. Their dynamics with the party are arguably more important than most of the other side characters. Shuro's fight with Laios is on my list of moments that stuck out to me, the drama there is so good and each comment feels so visceral. Maybe it's just because I've been in both their shoes before. c.) Izutsumi is missed potential (spoken about quite a bit on stream). I have no issue with her being there, I just wish she and Senshi's dynamic was used a lot more. It might just be a symptom of the second half pivoting away from the smaller-scale stuff. d.) Sissel is kind of unused as well, and while I know he was always going to go down to make space for Winged Lion (who is an amazing character) I kind of wish they had fleshed him out more. 5. Were there any moments where the story or a character's actions surprised you? If so, why were you surprised? What did the author do in the narrative to set your expectations up one way before subverting them? Honestly, the concept of the dungeon and the demons surprised me--but it's so good. Bringing in the theme of desire and fullness throughout the whole of the series is so cool and the Winged Lion is so chilling. One time where it subverted me in a way I didn't like was that I was hoping Kabru would be more of a direct antagonist to Laios. We spend a lot of chapters with him later but by then he's already turning to our side. His dynamic with Laios outside of the food gag was so intriguing to me when I got to it (him declaring Laios a danger to the world for the first time ends a volume, so it really stuck out to me!) That said, I like his dynamic with Mithrun, it's just a lesser fate for a character I was interested in. I've mentioned the list of "moments that stuck out to me" a few times now, so here is what I have (I added to it as I was reading) -living armor -resurrecting falin with black magic using the DRAGON?? -kabru reveals he’s a little psycho -shuro and laios fighting (immense psychic damage to me) -griffin + senshi backstory -kabru sends him and mithrun into the pit -mithrun explains the demons (uh oh winged lion is starting to make me a little skeptical!!) -winged lion rises out of the book (HOLY SHIT) -almost completely wordless chapter of falin smelling the meal and eating it (made me sob) -winged lion eats sissel's desires -marcille becomes the lord -winged lion buttshots -party saves marcille -laios eats the lion, basically all of the gory eating stuff in the final confrontation -mithrun decides to live even though he's vegetable scraps -basically all of the ending I haven't really mentioned Chilchuk or Senshi, but they're both great. The core party is really good and I love how they're balanced early on in the monster of the week chapters. So yeah, I love Dungeon Meshi. Been watching the anime with a friend as it airs weekly as well, and they're doing a nice job. This one's gonna stick in my mind for a while, it's really up my alley. Rating: First half of the series (up to the hippogriff soup/changelings) (9/10) Second half of the series (8/10) Overall: Good Thanks for the fun, Bo, and see y'all in the Pluto book club! Maybe I'll finish it on time this time!
Foxowl
2024-01-29 03:58:17 +0000 UTCDang I missed it, oh well
Vanilla Snow Golem
2024-01-29 01:27:10 +0000 UTCShame I missed the stream after all. Recently IRL a bookclub I'm in read the first two volumes and someone pointed out how similar Laios is to Fred from ScoobyDoo, and I hope someone on the stream made a similar comparison.
FLCL rox
2024-01-29 00:41:40 +0000 UTCthere is nothing wrong with liking a character for those reasons tho! thats why fan content for OP is bussin 🫡
Aloha
2024-01-29 00:28:19 +0000 UTCComing here immediately from the stream to say, yeah I unfortunately fell for the incredibly easy to fall in trap that is seeing what could have been with Izutsumi and praising the story for me imagining how it could have been done. A trap Jello has talked about extensively in One Piece and I honestly though I was looking out for. Kind of a shame but ah well.
BreadBunny
2024-01-29 00:15:00 +0000 UTC1. I definitely like the name Dungeon Dishes. I've heard other good suggestions, but with how the meals can be hit or miss for the party I think "dishes" is a better term than delights or delicacies. 2. The Dungeon Rabbits are definitely a monster that sticks out for me. Reminds me of the Killer Rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but done Dungeon Meshi's own style. 3. By the end of the story it was definitely Laios. I don't gravitate toward main characters too often, but Laios was just so straight forward and had some nice moments of character growth. However, even at the end of the story its clear that he went on this whole journey just to satisfy his monster obsession which was a great bookmark for the end of the story. 4. I didn't really like Kabru, I get he's supposed to contrast from Laios as well as being the series straight man to everything going on in the story. He felt like a character that was supposed to be used for one off jokes of "ways you can die in the dungeon" but gave Kabru more purpose while separating him from his party of seemingly devote followers. 5. So many times! Namari not joining her original party after meeting up with them again. Reaching the floor with the Dragon by chapter 21, I was just shocked and said "Already?!". I figured that would have been the halfway point of the story. And of course Izutsumi being the 5th party member and sticking with them all the way to the end.
Zayn Ryzen
2024-01-28 22:13:38 +0000 UTCIn extremely silly circumstances I slept too late today and thus have only read the official volumes (up to 12). I was planning to finish the last 12 chapters before the stream today but I think I need to do that now, so I’ll probably be a little late. My post answering the discussion questions will reply here.
Foxowl
2024-01-28 21:48:32 +0000 UTCQ1: Honestly, I genuinely think I can’t come up with anything better than ‘Delicious in Dungeon’ which makes me disappointed. In myself. I did come up with ‘Dungeon Delicacy’ or ‘Delicacy Dungeon’ but those are honestly pretty awful. Sorry. Q2: The shapeshifter, solely because this is probably one of, if not my favorite portrayals of shapeshifters in general: making false illusions instead of having the creature itself shifting its form? The psychological aspect of having the clones being based off of how others perceive you? The connection to Japanese mythology of it having both tanuki and kitsune elements? Genius. …Designwise? Chimera Falin. I’m a sucker for avian themes, and with Kui’s impressive skill in both human and animal anatomy, she pulls off the fusion flawlessly to make a design that is both awe inspiring in its power, but so majestic as well. She really is Sissel’s homegrown guardian angel… Dragon. Q3: Probably Laois, which surprised me- I generally find a lot of main characters in seinen/shonen anime/manga quite bland (and they’re supposed to be, really- or maybe I’m reading the wrong anime/manga which is… Also very likely as I don’t consume too much in the first place)- when it comes to picking favorites, I just generally find myself more drawn to the ‘quirkier’ characters in general. But with Laois, there’s something so earnest to his world view and genuine passion and hyperfixation on something that the rest of the world finds odd or vile, even that makes him compelling: simply put, he’s pretty easy to read as autistic or some flavor of neurodivergent. And what I enjoy about that is he’s openly sympathetic and genuine in his portrayal. (A disclaimer that I’m neurodivergent myself) what helps make his characterization so appealing me is the fact that he straight up reads as neurodivergent: he has issues communicating and understanding others (and this is a plot point), he finds the company of animals (and monsters) much easier, has an incredible wealth of information on his specific special interest, and in a series about desires, his desires are often demonized and ostracized by so much of the cast because of all of these traits. A lot of other seinen/shonen protagonists’ issues are defined by external factors unrelated to their personalities, ‘my mother was killed and I must avenge them’ or ‘my mentor is dead and it’s MY fault’. Laois’s primary issue is none of these circumstantial issues- instead, his issue is that the world itself sees him as off, awkward, and strange: like his interests, he is just as monstrous and horrible as what he loves, and that in itself is so fascinating to me, especially for the main protagonist. What helps too is unlike so many popular media portrayals of neurodivergent characters, we, the audience, see the plot and world through his perspective: we are invited to openly sympathize with his love of monsters, understand his worldview, and see why it’s useful. We’re openly invited to get excited when he does, indulge in his own fantasies, and see why he loves monsters so much. We, the audience, are invited and encouraged to sympathize with him, relate to him, root for him. And pretty quickly into the manga, I was doing all three. He’s the world’s best quirked up white boy. I love them all, though! Dungeon Meshi’s really great in that all of the main characters are so genuinely likable to me. Q4: There was a good post on Tumblr about Shuro that definitely resonated with me: https://www.tumblr.com/flimsy-roost/725913744365993984/falin-touden-is-an-example-of-the-manic-pixie And it’s honestly super true/easy to read Shuro with these lens: I don’t think he’s actually a bad character by any means, but as seen above as the Laois Touden enjoyer (I love Falin too), it puts a lot of their issues into perspective, especially the one gag manga Kui did where Shuro is gender swapped and is in love with Laois instead- it just makes me wonder how much he’s actually in love with her personality versus her looks, and thus, I guess I personally read it as pretty superficial. Adding to that, Falin’s own feelings (or lack thereof) for him, as well as her accepting his sudden proposal knowing that she has tendencies of being self-sacrificial and not wanting to hurt others just makes the entire thing feel… I don’t know. Off to me. I just keep asking ‘if he didn’t find her attractive, would he resent her as much as he does Laois’, and I don’t think that’s a good question to have in your head as the first question that comes to mind when you see the character. Sorry Shuro fans. I don’t know if you exist but you probably do. Q5: Considering the amount of foreshadowing, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, but Marcille being the one to become the dungeon lord post-Sissel: Kui does a fantastic job of both showing everyone that not only do the characters believe that Laois would become the dungeon lord, she then conveys why Laois himself would want to become the dungeon lord through his encounter with the winged lion itself. The way that she presents the winged lion and its method of speaking/persuasion is incredibly alluring: and with the altruistic, utopian way that it presents becoming the dungeon lord, it’s hard to not want to become a dungeon lord myself- so it’s incredibly easy to see why Laois would want to become the dungeon lord. And then, that all gets thrown on its head when Marcille steps up to become the dungeon lord. Even the other characters immediately assume that Laois has become the dungeon lord. Just like the reader, nobody really expected this. It’s a fantastic subversion to something that Kui has been setting up for such a long time, but it also makes so much sense why Marcille would become the dungeon lord: she’s just as troubled, if not more so than Laois, and equally, if not more so devoted to Falin, and with the winged lion’s aforementioned incredible persuasion… Of course Marcille would become the dungeon lord, a position of which has shown itself to appeal especially to those with incredibly strong desires and troubled personalities, and Marcille has those in spades. We also get to see Marcilleified monsters, too. I consider that a win! Thanks for reading this, and god, I hope it makes sense- I’m a little anxious about posting this since I’m not the best at articulating myself or even posting my thoughts publicly, but hey! I had a lot of fun reading this!
Synoicus
2024-01-28 21:46:51 +0000 UTCOK, you've helped win me over on Izutsumi's arc, which I felt so-so on. Her being an antithesis to the ongoing theme of desire in the story is great. (The idea of her stumping the winged lion is great, too, haha.) While I'm still disappointed that her arc essentially ends on a "what now" bit of contemplation, I guess it works with that being the point.
Pierre Chanliau
2024-01-28 18:19:05 +0000 UTCAnd I agree with that last part a lot, that is why I think the end isn't terrible, it is less good than it could be but I still like it a lot
Cherry
2024-01-28 16:34:42 +0000 UTCI'm happy you liked it but for me there was no tension. If they kill one character it is tense, if they kill every character then everyone is getting back to life no problem no worry
Cherry
2024-01-28 16:33:48 +0000 UTCI love how Falin is shown to be potentially as big a "weirdo" as her brother through that bit with the caterpillar, haha, "Oh, it's female." I feel the same; I wish we got to see more of her.
Pierre Chanliau
2024-01-28 15:43:54 +0000 UTCOh no, I never said I DISliked her! I just felt that she lacked a certain something, specifically with how her arc turned out, which I felt disappointed by. I like her a lot! She's just my least favorite party member since even Chilchuck felt more complex as a character. I agree wholeheartedly that she was absolutely necessary for the story, such as foreshadowing how Falin could still live a normal life with a dragon soul fused to her own (which ended up being the case). Plus, on reflection, maybe the fact that she only showed up halfway through the story and didn't get as much time to befriend the others allowed her the impartiality to kill Laios without hesitation.
Pierre Chanliau
2024-01-28 15:32:43 +0000 UTCyeah I can't say I actually dislike dislike Kabru because of the fact that he does play an important role and plays it well. But he's just kind of an asshole and I don't care for that lmao.
BreadBunny
2024-01-28 13:13:44 +0000 UTC(Oh also this goes without saying but obviously you aren’t “wrong” for disliking her, it’s an opinion and I totally get if for you her feeling separate to the rest of the party diminished your enjoyment. It’s just that to me because she was a loner this was fine so I’m defending her on some fronts. I came up with more but it’s 7am and I haven’t slept since 1pm yesterday so I’m gonna do both of us a favour and stop here)
PurpleIsDebeste
2024-01-28 07:18:05 +0000 UTCOh also if the reason big stakes are bad is because they’re unbelievable so the stakes go back to naught and there’s no tension, the story also has the smaller stakes at the same time to keep that tension up! You might not believe the world will end but it’s much easier to believe that marcille might stay a villain and not be redeemed. I for one found it very easy to believe that marcille might cry a little and it would make me sad :(
PurpleIsDebeste
2024-01-28 07:12:46 +0000 UTCOkay I was trying not to respond to people here because that’s what the book clubs for but I already did it on accident like twice already so I need to discuss how wrong you are about Izutsumi. “ she's just an extra pair of hands to help fight and another source of comic relief” Yeah in the section where all the fights suck and the tone is extremely dismal. And she has exclusively good choreography. Also her killing Laois is something none of the other party members could do because she fills her niche extremely well. There’s a bit of an overlap with her and chilchuck with him being a rogue archetype and her being a ninja archetype except oops, sorry, chilchuck has a bow now to fit his fighting into ranged combat so there’s no overlap now cus izut isnt allowed to be written badly at any point. I feel like izutsumi is one of the most necessary characters because while with most characters they add to the story by having cool arcs, you can rewrite the story to work without them (albeit with rather large rewrites for marcille and Laois). Izutsumi is the character you would miss the most if she wasn’t there, because she fills a bunch of holes in the writing that aren’t super obvious unless you noticed them prior to her appearance Anyway that’s my izutsumi essay. Glad I didn’t save it for book club cus I couldn’t express any of this in a YouTube chat lmao
PurpleIsDebeste
2024-01-28 06:50:25 +0000 UTCOkay but like they did kill every character though. Like they fixed it afterwards but that was a pretty significant thing that happened. They do in fact fail to save the world even though the stakes were so high, they just bandage their problem back up.
PurpleIsDebeste
2024-01-28 06:33:27 +0000 UTCWhile I agree that I liked when the manga was about cooking, I disagree that this was a problem after they reached the mad sorcerer’s house. Way before this point the cooking becomes sort of a formality that they stop tying into the actual story, which sucks but I’m glad they kept the story focused and stopped worrying about it because I like pretty much every chapter after reaching the mad sorcerer’s house. And hey, they tied it back in to save Falin! Twice! I think that was neat
PurpleIsDebeste
2024-01-28 06:28:52 +0000 UTCI do think after Thistle was defeated(?) the series started to struggle with the tone it wanted to have and end on (even as someone who liked that the last two dungeon arcs got kinda gritty).
Mags
2024-01-28 00:30:18 +0000 UTComg thank you so much, i was going crazy seeing all of these comments anti-izutsumi and going "WHAT DO YOU MEEAANNN" at all of them, its great seeing someone who understands! i will say i like how much kabru is a pathological-diplomat, its very funny, but i wont deny he was almost my pick for disliked character
PurpleIsDebeste
2024-01-27 23:54:03 +0000 UTCQUESTION 1 I'd just continue calling it Dungeon Meshi, like if you put a gun to my head Maybe Dungeon Mess as in mess hall though that would fly over a lot of people's heads so Dungeon Meals could work too, to keep the title sounding mostly the same. I'm not a big fan of translating names or titles if the original name works fine and Dungeon meshi is already half in English anyway. I'm also not entertaining the DnD style of renaming because I don't like DnD lmao. Question 2 It's hard to say which monster was my favorite because I liked seeing all the weird ways the series re-interprets monsters to fit this world, including how often a monster just turned out to be a mollusk, or insect. Though hey shout outs to the not-appearing-in-this-manga succubi who are actually demons as opposed to the succubi who are mosquito's. I did like the Kraken, especially because of how the water-walk spell was used to defeat it. That was a really creative solution that stuck with me because of how most monsters weren't overpowering enough to require such out of the box thinking. Oh also the Barometz, ten out of ten, I love the Barometz what a weird little freak-ass monster it's a really good pull because you're at least likely to have heard of all the other monsters before but the Barometz??? Damn I guess that's a thing huh. Question 3 It's a real shame Patreon comments don't support images because I'd be bombarding you with Izutsumi right now if I could. Yeah I love Izutsumi she's consistently the funniest character in the series and has just straight up the fullest character arc. To build up my argument for those statements, everyone else in the group Laois, Marcille, chilchuck, and Senshi are veteran adventurers right, they're all pretty set in their ways already, they all know what it is that they want to get out of this adventure. Izutsumi on the other hand, really doesn't. Sure she starts out wanting to be turned to normal and I avoid saying back to normal here because she was 6 when she was turned into a beastkin so she just doesn't have any memory of what normal was for her. And as a result of being a beastkin she's been treated like a circus freak, like a slave, and like a servant. When she parties up with the Dungeon Meshi crew that's the first time she's ever gotten treated like an equal, like someone normal, and she's 17 by the way, she's a moody abused teenager who is finally in an environment where she actually gets to choose what she wants for herself. And many of those choices especially when she's just joined up with the crew are kind of dumb and bad. She just walks away when the direwolves show up because she decided to interpret Chilchuck's "everyone in the party has a role" lesson in the worst way possible. And does for a time continue to be kind of a bastard. But that is honestly what I really like about her, because she is at her core someone with little to no desires, someone who just genuinely never got to want for things, either because she was an enslaved and caged circus freak or because she was a servant with her whole life stipulated out for her. Izutsumi is a character who spends the entirety of her run in the manga thinking about what it is that she wants to do once she gets her freedom and then in the end when she really does, she blanks. She has no idea what to do now that she can do anything. Sleep, eat, and play is an initial idea, but she's learned over the course of the adventure that doing whatever you want whenever you want is not possible, and that if you really do want for something you are going to have to do things you don't want to do as well. Izutsumi is someone who certainly thinks she knows what she wants, to be turned to normal, to get to eat whatever she likes, to not have people bother her for work, and to get to do whatever it is she feels like doing whenever she feels like doing it, eat, sleep, and play that sound good. But the thing is, are those her real desires? In much the same way that Sissle, and Marcille thought they could outplay the Winged Lion but ultimately found themselves at the mercy of their REAL deep down core desires, and in Laois' case who thought he knew what the curse was going to be but ultimately realized his true deepest desire was nowhere near that altruistic. Izutsumi is largely lying to herself when thinks that all she wants is eat, sleep, and play. But she is mostly lying to herself because she doesn't really have anything else that she actually wants to do. Turn to normal sure, but after the run-in with the succubi she finds a peace with the way she is now. Go beat up the wizard who did this to her sure. But that's not something you can do in the long term can you. In that way Izutsumi fascinates me, because everyone is here for a reason, except Izutsumi is here because she has to be and that's not just it, that's the base that her character arc moves on. She's here because she has to be, but what would she do if she didn't have to be anywhere anymore. And to Ryōko Kui's credit, Izutsumi doesn't really find an answer, by the end the most she's got is, hell why not go ask what the others are planning to do and she guesses she'll figure something out eventually. But for now at least she does have friends to count on, people to ask advice for, people who seems to know what they're doing. For better or worse Izutsumi does now have the freedom to decide where her life is going to go, and that is a big deal for someone who spent so much time locked up with no choice of her own. All this to say Izutsumi could have soloed the Winged Lion he would have found jack and shit to work with lmao. QUESTION 4 Kabru I guess, he was kind of a jackass in his first couple appearances, but then he goes on to have a good dynamic with Mithrun so while I don't particularly care for him I see why he's in the story and what role he serves, and also how he's made to contrast with Laois. Kabru being someone who is exceedingly at fighting and understanding people Vs Laois who is exceedingly good at fighting and understanding monsters. QUESTION 5 I can't say I remember if any moment super surprised me because this is a reread and so I already knew what to expect, and also when I first read Dungeon Meshi it was over the course of several years starting from like about the middle. So it's just been too long for me to remember if any particular moment surprised me. I did recently see how Ryōko Kui apparently for a long time thought it was likely for the story to have a bad end, wherein Laois becomes the demon king and Marcille his advisor and evil sorcerer. which doesn't so much surprise me as get me really interested because yeah that makes sense honestly. This story is about letting go and how both Marcille and Lois said "NO, I am not doing that" and all the consequences that come from refusing the way they do. So to hear that for a while the story was heading towards an ending wherein they make the whole world their enemies is unsurprising in the best way I can think of. I do love how badly Laois and Marcille refuse to give up, because like yeah Laois obviously refuses because that's his little sister, that's someone he feels like he failed before when he left the village and left her alone. So he can't let himself fail her again. And Marcille then, I'll be honest, Marcille and Falyn are like soulmates. Not necessarily in the romantic term, hell, it's unlikely to be in the romantic term. But Falyn is someone truly special to Marcille someone she's not likely to ever meet again over the thousand years she has to live. Of course Marcille would go through hell and high water for Falyn, because the time she has with Falyn is so precious, she can't let that time be cut any shorter than it already is. There's just no other answer for Marcille than to get Falyn back even if that isn't what Falyn wants or the world might want. In that sense I do like to think about what Marcille is going to do when Falyn eventually dies of old age, because best case scenario Marcille will have to do a Sousou no Freiren about it worst case scenario we're getting turbo evil wizard enemy of the whole wide world Marcille in the end anyway. Marcille is definitely going to coping out of her mind when Falyn dies. So let's hope for Marcille's sake that having been turned Dragonkin has given Falyn a couple extra decades or maybe a century or two, three, ten maybe. I can imagine Falyn would be non-concerned about it too. From what little we get to see of her, she's pretty strongly characterized as someone who is more than willing to let life lead her path. So I do hope they'll be happy together for as long as they get to. And Laois well... from the extras that have circulated on tumblr it's at least clear that he does have a good reign and lives his life to the fullest he'll ever get again, so 40 percent around about.
BreadBunny
2024-01-27 14:34:22 +0000 UTCQuick note the living armors don't infest already existing armor that is laying around, the armor is the carapace they grow around them as the colony matures. Which is honestly no less ridiculous but at least this way they don't need to find an armory first to be able to even just do anything.
BreadBunny
2024-01-27 13:51:33 +0000 UTCI've honestly been meaning to read through this for the longest time but I finally managed to sit down and read through the whole thing over the past week. Book club was that little push I needed to finally do so. I'm excited to to talk through it with you all tomorrow. 1. I've always been pretty bad at naming things I honestly like Delicious in Dungeon is a pretty good name all things considered but I'm not overly attached to it or anything. 2. Hands down Falin as a chimera. the design was wonderful a perfect blend of human dragon and beast with Falin still in there somewhere. I love the idea of humans becoming monsters and the creation of chimeras and mixed creatures. And honestly I loved the ideas of their souls being tangled up due to the ritual used to revive Falin using dragon parts. I also find the name Faligon both cute and creative 3. Going in I assumed Marcille would be my favorite and honestly she still is. I love characters that are a bit quiet and somewhat shy feeling at first but would do literally anything for their friends even if it could be the end of everything for them and she feels the most like that to me. Her pure desire to save Falin and her friends no matter the cost really resonated with me. But honestly I loved all of them. As someone who plays a lot of dungeons and dragons and reads a lot of fantasy it's rare for me to find a series that actually feels like a tabletop party, like I could see this exact group being a party my normal tabletop group making and the beats they went along with happening. It just felt real and natural ya know. 4. There's no one I really hated But I wish we could have got more interactions between Sissel and chimeric Falin to characterize them both more. While I get Falin being a little left out since she was dead half the manga I think seeing more of those two interacting would have helped a ton to give them both more character. The little interaction they had with some berries before heading to Sissel's house is a perfect example of what I'm taking about. 5. I was surprised at two points. The first was when I realized that the story with Kaburu was actually plot and not just a little side thing to give a break from the main stuff. It was really fun seeing a different group of characters every once and awhile actually advancing the story from a different perspective that are also well written and fun to read and not just short filler that barely matters if at all. The other thing that surprised me was how deep into the madness after becoming the dungeon lord towards the end which honestly was kinda nice. With how quick they fixed some other problems like having their races swapped I was worried that was going to last only a chapter and then be fixed super fast. I was also honestly surprised how insane it got towards the end but I kinda enjoyed it, just the craziness felt like the natural end of an adventure to me with everything going crazy before calming down. Overall I really enjoyed reading through this I think I need a bit more time to process everything but I liked it over all and I'm very happy I read through it.
Lily the Happy Sheep
2024-01-27 12:26:45 +0000 UTC1. Well, going with the theme of alliteration, I'd go with something like... "Dungeon Diners". As in "people who dine in a dungeon". Not to be confused with "dungeon dinners", which would work quite well for a D&D-themed brand of frozen meals or a late-night cooking show. 2. Discounting the Winged Lion, because they are technically not a monster, my favorite is the living armor. It is completely ridiculous as an actual creature, yes, but I just like the creativity of the armors not being enchanted, but instead moving because colonies of invertebrates are using them as their homes. And when I say "completely ridiculous", I'm talking about the whole "infesting armors to achieve locomotion"-thing. The rest feels like something a creature might be capable of in real life. 3. For the longest while, I thought it was going to be Senshi, but after they went into the Mad Sorcerer's house, I felt like he was almost forgotten about. So instead my favorite goes to Chilchuck, who at least feels like he's still there, even though he doesn't actually do that much towards the end. I like his cynicism, his pragmatism, and the fact that out of all the party members he's the only one that feels like he actually has a life outside of the dungeon. Everyone else has a backstory, but you don't really get the feeling that they live anywhere but the dungeon. Maybe it's because his is the only goal that lies explicitly outside of the dungeon... 4. Hrm... not really. I mean, there were certainly characters I liked less than others, and characters that felt unnecessary. Half of Shuro's and Kabru's respective parties, for example, felt like they didn't fill much purpose beyond just... being there. That doesn't mean I dislike them though, it just means if they were gone I wouldn't really care either way. I'd say the biggest reason I didn't have any characters I actively disliked would be because unlike, say, One Piece, Dungeon Meshi has a distinct lack of annoying sexpests, attention-hogging cyborgs, and creepy-ass swampmen who all deserve to be punted off the face of the earth. 5. I remember when I first read this series as it was coming out, I was surprised by Marcille turning into the Dungeon Lord. Back then it felt like her motivation kind of came out of nowhere, but when rereading it for this book club, I realized that it HAD been set up properly. It was just that it had happened so many chapters and months ago, that I'd simply forgotten. So that wasn't so much a subversion as it was my dumb ass having a memory like a leaking faucet. So for subversions, I'd instead like to point to the fight with the Mad Sorcerer. You think it's going to be the typical Heroes vs Bad Guy-battle, the big finale, they will all have a grand old fight, someone might even pull a superpower out of their ass, the heroes will prevail, wrap it all up, bada bing bada boom. That's how it usually goes. But instead the heroes are all wiped out unceremoniously, Laios is captured after attempting to parley, and the Mad Sorcerer is instead taken out by the Winged Lion, who up until that point hadn't done much of anything, going "hippity-hoppity, your desires are now my property". And then when that is all said and done the series is far from over because there's all this other stuff that needs to be dealt with too. Can I just say though... I feel like I preferred this series when it was more about encountering new monsters and cooking them? Towards the end, right about when they enter the Mad Sorcerer's house, all of that kind of goes away and it becomes more about the story and this whole "the world will end if the demon is let loose"-business. Which isn't to say that it's bad, it's still a good series all the way to the end, it just feels like it switches to a completely different genre towards last third... and I'm not sure I like it quite as much as the beginning parts. Maybe that's just me, though...
Moff Muppet
2024-01-27 09:38:36 +0000 UTC1. I think "Delicious Dungeon" would've been perfectly fine 2. I just like the walking mushroom because its one of the few monsters that aren't objectively terrifying creatures to interact with, and most of the other monsters in the manga have existed before in human culture in some form. 3. I liked Chilchuck because I like him being pretty consistently a straight man against the absolute madness of the rest of the party. I also like the joke of him just being 29 and having kids. 4. Stealing from Zo, I agree that there really didn't seem to be any point to the secret governor. He adds a minimal amount of flavor to show that the dungeons effects are far reaching enough that a society formed at the top of the dungeon, complete with a mafia, but besides that he's basically evil for no reason other than for the Canaries to be cool. 5. No characters' actions were particularly shocking because there wasn't really a case of someone acting wildly at odds with their motivation. One subversion I like is that the "prophecy" the party learns about the winged sword is just total BS made up by the lion to further trick everyone. I was afraid it would be a persistent thing and someone would have to pick up the sword to do something to maintain the prophecy, but it is completely forgotten. One thing that kind of bugged me is that after Laius battles the demon in the center of the mind, he just gets to turn back into a human without much justification. The way it was set up, I expected the tradeoff to be Laius becomes a monster, but they save his sister. I don't have a problem with him surviving, but I kinda just wanted a throwaway line like "something something he's still the dungeon master so why wouldn't he be able to turn back...". That's kind of just personal though, so whatever.
Arjun MK
2024-01-27 02:37:39 +0000 UTC1. Dungeons and diners, or All-You-Can-Eat Dungeon 2.Either the Faligon or the doppelgänger wolf thing, Faligon because it’s just such a good design for a monster and it’s so well drawn, and the doppelgänger wolf because that was a very fun encounter to read through, especially with all the little details in how they were drawn, especially when you could guess who’s interpretations they were based on (and Laios having the most obvious ones was a great bit) 3.Izutsumi, her whole arc of being so confused and lashing out at people she doesn’t understand, as a result of her own lack of understanding of herself and who she wants to be really struck a chord with me, and was the most interesting character for me to read, despite her being a late comer… I’m also a sucker for GNC designs and Izu is perfect in that sense. 4. I wasn’t a fan of the “secret governor” character, I get he’s supposed to be just a scumbag crime lord, but I found that characterization very boring and it made Kabru seem a bit too much like an idiot, just to make the Canaries seem cooler. Especially because of how in tune with people Kabru is supposed to be. 5. I think the demon’s character arc, of being such a manipulative character, such a deeply evil influence on others, was really a stand out in terms of the actions it took. It is so ingrained in the fabric of this world, that it is literally the dungeon itself, it knows things, it can go into your dreams, and it uses all that just to get what it wants, consumption of desire. It gets you to want so much that you fatten up and then takes everything away. This is where Kui’s subversion comes in though, because the Demon is such a normal creature, it’s easy to understand why it does what it does, and why these actions harm so many people, and how easy it is to fall prey to it. It’s such a real threat, the constant outside force to consume and fall prey to your desires for more, more food, more money, more consumption until your hollow and empty as it is only an object. It gives a face to the kind of hollowness of universal needs in a literal sense that it makes for one of the most compelling and threatening villains I’ve read in a manga.
Zo
2024-01-27 02:05:39 +0000 UTC1. I would personally just call it Dungeon Meshi, I think it's a good enough title. 2. In terms of creativity I really like the living armor and the golem but in terms of the monsters themselves I really like the undine, weird water orb that shoots beams, The winged lion, simply cool monster, and any dragon-like monster. 3. It's a tough choice between Marcille, Chilchuck, and Senshi. 4. I don't really dislike anyone in particular 5. the most surprising parts to me were the shift in tone that happened during the fight with the red dragon and Senshi's backstory. Also how dungeons work was really cool unique worldbuilding.
Vanilla Snow Golem
2024-01-26 03:48:14 +0000 UTC1. The Dungeon Gourmet Guide (I just think it would be so fun for it to take that in universe name, They could even have in universe laios doodles in the back!) 2. Maybe it's because of the general conclusions reached in their chapter but the dungeon cleaners were so cool to just tell us "Yeah the dungeon is more than an ecosystem it is borderline a living organism" 3. I love them all but i think Marcille, from the start of the story for her straightmaning all the food but beneath that the hints we get of her escalated fear and trauma over outliving everthing and everone she loves, shit she even experiences a little bit of that with the rabbits being made to watch as everyone dies around her. Also she went throug hso much BS in that dungeon like more incidents than the rest of the cast but she stuck it out through all of it. And seeing her lose and isolate herself in the last arc it was a brilliant show of how manipulative the lion was, like they so wonderfully showed the extent to which it can toy with a person. It made Sissel's descent make so much more sense in retrospect AND in the end where it's effect still lingers, the hair Marcille puts so much effort into suddenly meaning nothing ;-; (Honorable mention to Izutsumi because I mean just look at how she's drawn she is the most cat in every way and just no nonsense decapitation in that final moment) 4. I found pretty most characters pretty good, though we could probably do without half of shuro's party (but they barely took up space), and there were some suplerfuous faces throughout but i don't think any overstayed their welcome like the canaries came and served their purpose and went back to the background (Maybe not the sword canary). HOWEVER (and i know this is intentional) but the treatment of specifically kobolds was so uncomfortable every time it came up, they treat every on in the story like actual pets, that one guy chides Kabru for speaking to kuro in his own language and I think it's meant to be funny but it is just not? It's like the divide between good and bad "demi-humans" in this world is can we treat them like a pet. 5. Look I knew it was going to be something big whenn they kept Senshi's backstory untill the very las moment but MY GOD did they put thet man through the trauma mill. Seeing him for the first time try to avoid eating something was already alarming, but seeing what he had to go through in the same story as the silly sausage familiar was wild (also I fully thought they were just going to go full gnome cannibalism). Another moment obviously worth mentioning is the aftermath of the red dragon kill, Immediately after meeting our goal we're forced into a whole new set of rules and stakes and we go even deeper into the hell.
MASK THING
2024-01-25 11:39:43 +0000 UTC1. Dungeon Delicacies is the best I've heard. The manga plays alot with the idea of taboos and how there is tension between cultures and individual circumstance that shape how we view acceptable action. And of course 'delicacies' are notoriously...bad for the most part, but are valued for their cultural significance despite that. 2. Oh gosh. Ascetically: The mimics. The idea of awful coconut crab ass things hiding in crevices deliberately waiting to snatch you up is so much more threatening than the usual 'magic item shaped monster' interpretation. Like, if a brown recluse could just. take. your finger because you put it in a drawer. And it just might just. Run away. Because it's just an animal. Also, I like shellfish and they look tasty. Now, story-telling-wise I fucking LOVE the succubi. There's so much that Ryouko gets to explain about the cast through them. And she really does well making them feel physical by having so much sensoral information conveyed through her art. The fuckin milk. The comparisons to mosquitos. Anything to make you empathize with the character in frame. 3. Chilcuck. The fed-up straight man who just wants to do his best. And really his struggles with his resolve in following through on this quest makes him someone you're constantly thinking about as you read. Because even when he's resolved to his course of action, he's still thinking about whether or not he should change track. Normally that would make him a coward or worry-wart, but here it makes him careful and considerate because you see him not balk at the idea of risk itself. He is the representation of risk vs reward. 4. The human twins that were adopted by the gnome priest. It's not that they shouldn't exist, they're just more present than they need to be. 5. I didn't think the story was going to end with them actually eating her. From the way the story was going as they were entering Thistle's house and before the full reveal of the Winged Lion the story had done SO much about when to turn tail and when something is truly lost that I thought the story was going in a direction where Falin was just deader than ever and the party had to contend with the people coming after them for breaking all this taboos. I like the ending we got, fucking indulging in literal cannibalism. For good!
Squishlove
2024-01-25 05:40:26 +0000 UTC1.Dungeon Dishes. Simple, to the point, alliterative. 2. Probably the nightmares. Most of the monsters aren't actually that interesting as MONSTERS as opposed to as meals, but the nightmares I like being vaguely draconic because it reminds me of real scientific technicalities like horse legs being fingers. Being setup SO early makes them showing up in one of the finale encounters really rewarding. 3. Kabru. I love that his party kind of sucks, I love his general design, I love how he contrasts with Laios, and he works really great overall as the B plot protagonist. Him getting constantly snubbed always got a giggle out of me, and his relationship with the elves is about as interested as I got in the larger like, race relation stuff. 4. Not really? Izutsumi wasn't really needed (honestly none of the samurai retainers were {same with like half of Kabru's party}, but thats neither here nor there) but I still liked her. Instead, I think I want to complain about how Marcille is almost ALWAYS the buttmonkey, which kinda sucks. I was sort of expecting everyone in the Laios party to consistently learn lessons, but Senshi barely ever has to learn or change or anything, and Chilchuk is usually just the "easily won over" straight man whose acceptance of whatever weird shit the party does allows Marcille to finally be goaded into trying something new. Laios has a few moments, but basically all of his failings turn into the correct call (failing forward I guess). Meanwhile, Marcille gets pretty much all her ideas turned down frequently, is almost always the one being chided, and even when she wins, she tends to lose (the mandragora thing comes to mind). Even her place as party mage, she barely ever casts, even towards the end when she should be at her most useful. At least when she DOES cast its usually pretty impactful, but she's also really the only one with a dark streak at all (Senshi is damn near perfect, Chilchuk is an asshole sometimes but he isn't bad at all, and Laios is stupid and unobservant but not villainous). Its not THAT big a deal, I still really love everyone in the story and its really only a slight thing, but I really wish Marcille got a little more shine and a little less memeing on. 5. Ehhh, not really? I guess I wasn't expecting the status quo shift from "save Farlyn from being digested" to "beat the dungeon to save Farlyn" to happen as early as it did, but I think that's me just underestimating the story than it was the story actually doing something surprising in any intriguing way. I don't think that counts. If I want to shift in another direction, I was kind of expecting the orc racism thing to be a little more... anything at all? Considering how into racial politics the plot gets by the end, it kinda sucks that the orc racism element boils down to a really typical "both sides have a point, but everyone at this feast is one of the good ones" kinda thing. Like, the orcs were persecuted to the point of being pushed under ground with the dungeon, but the initial resolution to that when its brought up is "well the orcs did things too so everyone just get along without interrogating this at all" and the long term solution is "we serve Laios and are presumably treated well, but we aren't gonna analyze it anymore because the long/short lives racial conflict is more important than this one is." I was just kinda expecting a little more if they're gonna do it at all, especially since the orcs don't do anything important really so they could've just been removed and we'd have lost nothing at all, especially when the overarching long/short racial conflict is better written and central to the story.
Daniel
2024-01-25 00:25:16 +0000 UTC1) Dungeon Meals. Not everything needs to be a pun, and while it's not a fantastic title it sure is better then Delicious in Dungeon, plus it keeps the DM pun from the Japanese. 2) I think the living armour is my go to for like - showing other people how the manga can do fun and interesting things with its premise. But I have a soft spot for the Winged Lion and Dungeon Rabbits. 3) I love the entire main cast tbh, but if we're going for just the main 5 party members it's gotta be Chilchuck - he's just the right level of pragmatic and ride-or-die, and I think he has a nice grounding effect on the party - plus he's a union organiser. If we were to expand the question a bit - Falin's got my gender, I gotta give it to her, and I think her haunting of the narrative is super important to giving it depth. Also shout out to Namari and Kabru, I love bi people. 4) Mikbel, the half-foot from Kabru's party. He's anti-union and he mistreats his dog friend. 5) Maybe not a surprise, but since I was reading the manga as it came out there was a heavy tension on Falin's fate during those last chapters - everyone I knew who was reading it was reeling from the Winged Lion arc so we were unsure whether Falin's resurrection would work, since the story had a very clear narrative about being willing to accept death. So while Falin's revival working wasn't a massive surprise, it was tense.
Azelhia
2024-01-24 11:27:11 +0000 UTC1) Diners Dungeon Dive, althought everyone probably already beat me to the Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives pun 2) Living Armor, definitely the best reinterpretation of an existing monster in an interesting way. Second is probably the succubus mosquito for similar reason. 3) Marcille was the most entertaining, but Senshi is my favorite. His caring nature serves as both heartwarming and hilarious (he must feed the children!) and reflects back on his own experience. 4) From the main cast, I feel both Falin and Izutsumi both suffer from lack of time (the former WAY more than the latter), but no one is a "least favorite". Izutsumi mainly bugs me as a problem of missed potential. I imagine she is prickly and a problem 1. because Marcille chilled out and they need a new obstacle character and 2. because she was denied choice throughout her life, as a side-show and then as a basically slave who couldn't even use her name. Would have liked to get more from her, even her epilogue feels a little too vauge for me. 5) The events and escalation after Falin's initial save definitely surprised me on first read, since I had to read the first part of the story as "silly adventure" to ignore how poorly Falin's digestion works as a ticking clock for me tonally. The pace, setting, and initial scope definitely did not hint at the world ending alternate dimention threat, which I guess makes sense considering the long lived races were intentionally hiding it.
Flashcardman
2024-01-23 23:19:37 +0000 UTCOh my god. How did I miss Diners, Dungeons, and Dives
Violet DB
2024-01-22 20:51:19 +0000 UTCOh also, one more Falin detail, its really great how all the og party members (by which I mean Laois, Marcille, Chilchuck, Namari and Shuro) all have a relationship with her and it feels believable that they would want to save her, especially Laois and Marcille, they do such a good job showing her personality off even when she's offscreen and the guilt they both feel is really interesting!
PurpleIsDebeste
2024-01-22 18:02:08 +0000 UTCAlright time to try and answer early so I can be more prepped for book club: 1) I mean obviously just keep it Dungeon Meshi but if i have to... i mean honestly just "Delicious n' Dungeon" or "Dungeons and Delicacies" would be such big improvements, what is the word "in" doing in that name? Also shout out to "Dungeon Crawl" for being a bit too generic but a fun pub crawl reference! 2) The shapeshifter's lore wasn't actually that new or interesting but the way they allowed for a fun diplomacy chapter that gave us an insight into all of the characters with a detective-y puzzle element was really clever and is a highlight of the manga. Also shout out to the Succubi for similar insights as well as giving Izutsumi an excuse to do anything with a pretty good fight. Oh and dragons. dragons are cool. has yam read dungeon meshi? she should. 3) Arguably she doesn't count but: Falin and I'm not joking. She only has like 3 chapters of screentime plus some flashbacks but they do such a good job characterising her before you even get to meet her and she's really likeable. Can't go too in detail without this becoming bonkers long but shout out to her being really emotionally intelligent and socially adept and then we find out she's just as much of a freak as Laius, that was fun. I was honestly kind of mad that she wasn't around longer even though it would be really difficult to write her in, she's so likeable. And her backstory with Marcille is great. Also her eyes are usually closed~ 4) I liked Sissel alot cus he's a long haired jester who wears braids and I'm me, but he wasn't a super interesting character. He was so resistant to diplomacy (for good reason but it still bothered me) and his deal was revealed so slowly for something that doesn't really constitute a twist. I straight up still wouldn't like him if he didn't have stupid clown shoes with bells, he's lucky his outfits are good. Also he'd be hotter if he was a girl. That's not really relevant to his quality but its an opinion I had so it gets to go here now. 5) Not really, cus this manga builds up to all its big twists slowly (cus its good!) but i guess I'd just say the tone shift after the dragon arc was kind of a surprise. The stakes in the story get pretty bonkers but the tone always ramps up pretty slowly, like when it goes full Lorelai Blyndeff near the end I wasn't surpised at all. But for some reason after meeting Sissel the tone shifts from a fun slice of life-ish, light toned cooking manga to like... a slow and deadly march through trenches? does that make sense? no one is enjoying themselves anymore, not even Laois, and it sucks to read. Its also why I love Izutsumi because she gets to be interesting in that 10-20 chapter area where everyone else gets breadcrumbs. I feel like this is just a me thing, but I'm always right, so there! Anyway those are thoughts gone long! Yippee!!
PurpleIsDebeste
2024-01-22 17:54:26 +0000 UTC1.) Dungeons & Dragons & Dinners 2.) The living paintings or the demon, specifically the little puffball version. the living painting is more of a gag, but it makes the world feel bigger and scarier that there’s a boarder to the reality of the comic, and even though the reader gets a backstory for it the characters never do. 3.) From the main party, Senshi being an unabashedly good guy puts him just slightly ahead. Out of the whole cast though, Kabru has so much going on backstory wise and internally, also just massive blorbo energy for me personally. 4.) it might’ve been Pattadol when I first read the series but she has a one page backstory in the adventurers bible that made her interesting to me. 5.) Laios consistently caught me off guard at the end of the series. Going back i do think his actions/personality was set up, especially when we were shown his backstory sans Falin, but I think I got so comfortable with him being a goof who usually succeeded that when he made hard decisions or really seemed caught in a bad situation I was really like ‘wait no????’.
Mags
2024-01-22 12:12:34 +0000 UTC1. Obviously, the reference to D&D has to be kept, so how about... "Dine 'n Dungeon" or "Dungeon 'n Dash" 2. My favorite monster has to be the living armor. Not only because it's the first monster in the story with a truly unique twist in the fantasy genre, but it helps ground the ecology of the Dungeon in a semblance of fantasy realism. The fact that it's a bunch of mollusks controlling armor as its shell is just so simple and creative. 3. It's so hard to pick between them, but I have to go with Laios. I love how, even from the opening chapters, despite saving his sister being the obvious priority, there was a selfish desire (heh) to indulge in one of his long-time dreams (eating monsters). He's oblivious to obvious social cues and can make short-sighted decisions at the moment, but it's great to see his mind works and how Laios is actually really smart when it comes to monsters and fighting them. Man, his gauntlet fighting all those dragons to get to Thistle was legendary. Not to mention, every interaction he has with Kabru is gold. 4. Were there any characters you didn't like? Why not? I actually liked all the characters, no matter how big or small their roles, but if I had to pick one that didn't meet my expectations, sadly, it's Izutsumi (who, again, I DO like). I love her design, backstory (what little of it we get), and how she's a picky eater, which is perfect for a story like this, but it just feels like she's missing a certain...something. Her arc essentially ends with her realizing that she can't just freely do anything she wants and becomes less selfish, which was...fine. But she doesn't contribute too significantly to the plot, with the exception of the Succubi arc and following Laios' orders to kill him (which I thought was a great character moment for the both of them.) Otherwise, she's just an extra pair of hands to help fight and another source of comic relief. Both of which are still done very well. It really doesn't help that she's introduced halfway into the story, so she doesn't get as much time to gel with the party. 5. Despite every other screwed-up moment that happened up to this point, I was still shocked to see the painfully long scene of Laios suffocating his sister to death. I knew Ryōko Kui was a good writer, but I'm always nervous about authors following through on their characters doing morally questionable actions. For example, there was always the smallest fear in the back of my mind that the party would kill her together or another character would offer to kill her in his place to spare him the potential trauma. So it was amazing and satisfying to see the narrative set up Laios hesitating to strike and kill his sister and paying it off later when he followed through.
Pierre Chanliau
2024-01-22 07:48:48 +0000 UTCIt is not the investment in the characters per say, it is that there is actually no stakes on a save the world plot because the world is not going to end. When it is just a handful of people in danger anything can happen to them but when the world is at stake nothing bad will happen and there is no tension. And on top of that I can't conceptualize the world, so the danger goes from "these people you care about" to "some vague notion of a lot of people". Despite that I really like dungeon meshi but it would have been so much better if the world was never at stake
Cherry
2024-01-22 04:02:07 +0000 UTCJust call it dungeon dishes. Simple and to the point.
Ignis Astrorum
2024-01-21 23:10:26 +0000 UTC1. Dungeon Delicacies (Pretty basic but I think it's neat and I am not that creative!) or to be honest I would have just kept it as Dungeon Meshi we live in an age of information it's so easy to look up what Meshi means. 2. I love the silly walking mushrooms, but also the living Armour was so creative! But my actual favorite monster is a spoiler so all I'm going To say is dragon hybrid. 3. SENSHI! I honestly thought at first Marcille or Laios would be my favorite, but nope. 5. The tone shifts the story took after 20+ chapters, I really thought it was just a silly little adventure story, I really should've known when the entire thing was 90+ chapters! In conclusion can't wait for the book club!
Lazyday
2024-01-21 23:04:15 +0000 UTCI guess it's because Isutsumi was in chapter 0 that the author felt like she needed to include her. She also brings some conflict into a party that have been getting chummy with each other
Ziggy
2024-01-21 22:39:45 +0000 UTCI get how a world ending threat can disrupt your investment in the characters, but I feel that the way the threat was being slowly built up worked really well. First it was the Dungeon, then the Island and only after those threats had settled was the World at stake; because of the sheer size of the threat I was really invested on how they were going to fight it, and in the end I felt that the investment payed off
Kradolpher
2024-01-21 22:07:29 +0000 UTC5. I was pleasantly surprised how touching misrun was, just because the whole “eating desires” thing is unique and lead to an unexpected and charming resolution. I like that Marcille was the dungeon lord first, it was different from literally everyone saying “Laios is gonna do it!” and just made a refreshing penultimate challenge to finish out her arc. While the winged lion twist itself isn’t a surprise, I was surprised how god damn scary the WL managed to be, he’s a legitimate menacing presence every time he’s there and made for an awesome villain.
Violet DB
2024-01-21 21:59:56 +0000 UTC4. I don’t think Isutsumi should have been a party member. She had very little interesting going on, and especially when she came in, she kind of clashed with the tone of the story at that point. I do think her focus chapter was *fine* and they did an okay job writing her into the ending. On a different note, like, everyone apart from Misrun, Fabrus, one other Canary, and maaaaybe one of either the dwarf/shuro shouldve been cut, they did nothing.
Violet DB
2024-01-21 21:57:14 +0000 UTC3. I like Laios and Marcille evenly. Theyre both unique characters with interesting arcs, and were fun to root for throughout. I think L/M’s attachment to Falin and how successfully the story gets you to get invested in Falin’s fate makes the two of them way more compelling.
Violet DB
2024-01-21 21:53:49 +0000 UTC2. I liked the Living Armor and the Winged Lion, because while most monsters in the story are a classic monster-with-a-twist, these felt the most creative in their threat and how the party solved them. I appreciate how the author knew when to focus more on a complex monster vs when to pick a simpler one and focus on the character’s internal monologue while they solved the threat.
Violet DB
2024-01-21 21:51:54 +0000 UTC1. Dungeons and Dining
Violet DB
2024-01-21 21:47:43 +0000 UTCI won't answer all questions here but: Delicacies and Dungeons, Monster Meals, hell Yummy Dungeon would be less egregious lol My favorite monster even at the end was the Living Armor, it was the arc that really got me into it and what they do with them is so fucking cool and original. The Succubuses were also done neat.
PrettiestBeardedLady
2024-01-21 21:37:26 +0000 UTCOh, and more 5. Chilchuck being middle aged husband/dad
Ziggy
2024-01-21 21:14:42 +0000 UTCThats always been my favorite
nightstar6
2024-01-21 21:12:05 +0000 UTC2- I really like the winged lion/ the demon, it is compelling and interesting. I love how it works and that the villain of a food based anime is basically endless consumption. 3- Idk if he counts but Kabru, I love him so much I wrote fanfic for the first time in my life. 5- I was not expecting a world ending problem. I didn't think the story was building up to it and did not think it was needed at all, putting the whole world at stake felt off. I remember watching one of Red's videos (OSP) about saving the world plots and how they can lower the emotional stakes and this was the first time I felt that, I was so worried for the people of this island, for the characters I knew and then suddenly the whole world was at stake and my emotional investment dropped to 0.
Cherry
2024-01-21 21:11:08 +0000 UTC2. Cheating and combining here, the Griffin/Hippogriff and the Ring of Mushrooms. The Griffin had nice story relevancy and Mushrooms gave us the funny raceswap 3. Marcille. I think it's because she's a very flexible character, switching between being very reasonable and being the one at the end of a lot of jokes and slapstick. 4. Maybe the pointy nosed Canary, but she falls under "character who's ment to be a jerk" so it's not that bad 5. Black magic Marcille
Ziggy
2024-01-21 21:07:43 +0000 UTCPlease tell me y'all are gonna have cute cartoon icons like you did with One Piece Club
Arika
2024-01-21 21:05:08 +0000 UTCHappy birthday to me apparently!
Ol' Blue Hat
2024-01-21 20:55:28 +0000 UTCI loved seeing what they did with the living armor. It’s a funny work around that I would’ve never even considered!
Mauii V.
2024-01-21 20:46:41 +0000 UTC1 - The Spanish translation to the title is "Tragones y Mazmorras", which mimics "Dragones y mazmorras" (D&D) by changing the first word to what could be translated as "Gluttons". So my translation would be "Gluttons and Dragons" or "Dungeons and Gluttons" 2 - My favorite monster was the Griffin/Hippogriff. On its own it wasn't that interesting, but the way it was drawn and how a mythological creature that is so often overlooked became such an intimidating adversary was very enthralling to me. 3 - Laios is my absolute fave. We share a deep fascination with monsters and I love the way he weaponizes it, especially in the latter half of the series 4 - Not that I can think of, my only gripe is that there were some characters that I felt weren't given enough time, like Izutsumi. I wanted to love Izutsumi, I truly did, but because of when she is introduced into the story she gets a few sections in which she doesn't do much of anything (Golden country, Senshi's past, all of Mithrun and Kabru's parts, every single flashback...) and by the end I didn't feel like I new her like I knew the rest of the party 5 - The part that surprised me the most was the moment Dark Magic was revealed and how Marcille was able to use it. I felt that the series took a quick turn in that moment and became a series with a much darker undertone. That's what surprised me the most, I expected it to continue being lighthearted, but it became surprisingly grim
Kradolpher
2024-01-21 20:43:59 +0000 UTCCan’t wait, had a lot of fun reading it.
Evan McKee
2024-01-21 20:42:43 +0000 UTC
