Last weeks thread - 16 Comments
Dungeon Meshi is a well liked manga, and an adaptation by Studio Trigger is now airing. If you haven’t picked this one up, consider joining us. Both for fun and as a way of contributing to activity on Lemmy.
Episodes are available to stream on Netflix.
The cast grows by 5! Namari is back, for a short while at least… While Marcille isn’t too hot on seeing her again, it’s clear Namari isn’t as callous about leaving the party as Marcy might suspect.
Again, we learn many new details about the world, the Tansus are real experts on the dungeon and they share some tidbits on what makes the place so different to the outside world. Though both them and their adopted twins tend to look down on “normal” adventurers.
Marcille cooks up a stew, new relationships are formed over a meal, and an old friendship gets repaired.
Remember not to spoil anything if you’re a manga reader, but feel free to elaborate on tidbits of lore that may not be coming through in the adaptation.
Man, it is so nice to see a happy and healthy Marcy again. The whole episode felt different in tone after the stew. Here’s hoping that our intrepid group can proceed a bit smoother from here. If I remember correctly, they are just ~2 days away from where the dragon is. However, the anime viewer me knows that we are simply on episode 9/24, so there is a lot of story left to go.
Earlier today, I read through the latest production notes entry from Sakugablog about this series and I think it applies to this episode a lot. The basic premise was that Trigger has been smart and deliberate about what episodes/sequences they invest time/money into. This episode is one in which they could stay relatively restrained in their animation, and instead rely on the incredible voice talent to convey a lot of the emotion instead. Things like the barely concealed hostility in Marcy’s and Namari’s voices when they reunite for the first time make it obvious how they are feeling.
Speaking of Namari, her death really shocked me. It came out of nowhere so suddenly. I think that helped get across just how casually death is often perceived by adventurers in the dungeon. It was fortunate that there was somebody in the group that could heal Marcille though. So, you might have been a bit of a dick gnome-dude, but you were a bro when it counted.
Finally, I was happy to see some of the magical genius side of Marcille this episode. I get the impression that coming up with the idea of cooking/eating spirits to regain magic is not a standard thing that is done. So, she managed to connect several magical knowledge dots together to come up with a solution that allowed her to continue their quest. I work professionally in the sciences and this is what innovation looks like. Often, all the principles have existed for a while, it just needs the right connections to be drawn between them for a new discovery to be made and put to use.
Marcille is actually a lot more educated than she lets on. Being an elf she’s had time to hit the books for decades, before finally going into the field for real. But she has a lack of confidence in what she’s learned from literature, which started when she met Falin.
That’s why she’s so naive, yet knowledgeable, at the same time. She’s had time to read up, but not to gain confidence in applying all that she knows. But she knows a lot. Way more than Falin, despite Falin being the more skilled mage.
The difference between Marcy and the Tansus is likely just that she hasn’t spent 150 years on her own research yet.
That was not a cool way for Namari to die. The Tansus certainly don’t give off a good first impression. Ignoring Marcy’s injuries, straight up getting Namari killed when WARNED that the undine was dangerous.
We are now at three parties introduced. Laios, Kabru, and the Tansu couple. There’s also a mention of the other member to leave Laios party upon being returned to the surface by Falin, Shuro.
Namari is a bit taken aback by a dwarf who doesn’t know how to care for his weapon, nor realize that his cookware is made of the rarest and strongest metal there is! But she comes around to appreciating the kind of person he is.
And handsome, too! Senshi takes off his helmet for the first time, look at those eyebrows and sideburns! It’s a good thing he ran into Namari after Marcy made him wash his beard :D
I like her a lot. She’s competent, and while not self-sacrificially suicidal on the level of Falin, she still cares about others. She quickly recognizes the good in Senshi, and has long since learned to take Laios’s baseless hunches seriously. She doesn’t join the Tansus lightly, but fully intending to do more than “just the job”.
I’m so happy to see Marcille back in good health, and for her and Namari to let bygones be bygones despite their recency. She didn’t leave the party because she doesn’t care. Chilchuck already knew. Namari is trying to deal with a personal problem of her own, one which means she needs to be making money.
Also, the show has now revealed enough details about the dungeon that it’s possible to begin putting some things together. Mr. Tansu comments on the magical script of the dungeon being Elven in origin…
Man, helmet-less Senshi is something else. With his helmet on, he is such a goofy-looking character, but take that off and wow. I mean, just look at Namari’s reaction in that screenshot, she is just as shocked as I was.
He’s a total cutie with the helmet on.
And then he takes it off…
In defense of the Tansus he can resurrect a dead person. Having Namari die in his place makes sense. He can and did being her back to life. Had he died she probably could not resurrect him.
It wasn’t necessary to endanger her in the first place. He’d been warned of the undine and simply walked into danger knowing he could have a person die in his stead.
On her own, Namari likely could have pulled out of the undines range safely. She might even have been able to do it while protecting Tansu, had he given her a heads up on the plan instead of restricting her ability to act down to being little more than a meat shield. She can’t do her thing if he gets her killed in the first split second of a fight, and then he has the gall to accuse her of incompetence.
The Tansus don’t communicate, even their adopted kids aren’t let in on their leadership decisions, they just do what the Tansus tell them to do when told to do so.
They expect to do all the thinking, while the party acts like chess pieces that do not act on their own. They don’t even consider the possibility that Namari has the experience to think for herself and be co-operative, rather than simply subordinate.
Had Laios not been there to formulate a plan before acting to deal with the Tentacles, Tansu would have just thrown people at the monster until the party or the monster was dead. Instead, with Senshi and Laios there, Namari feels comfortable completely ignoring Tansus orders, while Kiki gets herself nearly killed following his instructions.
Mrs Tansu can cast the resurrection spell as well.
I feel like Tensus must pay them a lot to be so imperious with Nimari and others.
Senshi can’t keep a weapon properly, doesn’t care about ores, and uses adamantine as a cooking pot. He’s no dwarf! He’s a half-tallman,
quarter-foothalf-half-foot! The beard is just a disguise!Jokes aside this episode was great to flesh out the supporting cast - mostly Namari, but also the gnomes. I like how much depth it gives her; sure, she’ll do odd jobs for money to survive, but not everything, and she doesn’t mind helping out some friends (as she did by holding the adamantine cooking pot, even to the point that her hands were boiling). She’s pragmatic, not cold-hearted.
Poor Kensuke was almost cooked.
[Edit reason: my brain auto-correcting “Namari” into “Nanami”]
Next you’ll tell me his cooking knives aren’t normal, either!
How can he take care of those but not his axe??
Knives are different. A dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. They need maintenance. Axe though? Worst hypothesis he’s strong enough to cause blunt damage to the enemies, it doesn’t need that much maintenance, once in a few decades should be enough.
But if he knows how to maintain an edge on his knives, why not his axe? Though even if he doesn’t it’ll continue to deal damage as a club just fine, as you say.
But what if he has never learned how sharpen an edge… because he has never needed to? Again, what are those knives made of!
I can almost hear Namari screaming at the thought. Across the screen.
As usual Dungeon Meshi makes me hungry.
Funny how Senshi’s priorities make Namari recoil at first but she ended up going out of her way to capture the Undine.
It’s also nice to see Marcille back on her feet. She’s honestly my favourite character of the party.
Senshi looks pretty handsome ngl
I’ve been taking to cooking food, and only watching the show when I’m ready to eat.
For this episode it was cast iron pan pizza.
I had to postpone my viewing almost a week because I ate the food before I remembered that I have episode to watch.
I loved that scene. I love distorted faces in a blobs of water.
The gems and coins that they threw earlier sting much more as they could pay for help from other parties.
Chilchuck overly cautious with payment upfront and most real about how the money works.
P.S. I totally thought that Kiki’s twin bould be named Bouba
Yeah, cash would have been useful.
Chilchuck has seen some shit. It’s one of the reasons he even does consulting on employment contracts for fellow halflings, to try and help them to avoid getting screwed over.
Where can I stream this?
Netflix only.
There are other ways, of course.
Somehow I still have Netflix so that will work.
Awesome! See you in next week’s thread then, I hope. Feel free drop a comment in the favourite character thread once you get going even before then, if you like :D
Once you’ve caught up, search the community for posts with “World Guide” and “Monster Tidbits” in the title. I’ve been posting the character sheets, and bonus chapters with monster gags/lore, from the manga. That content hasn’t been adapted for the anime in any way, it seems.
So it makes for great companion content to further flesh out the world and characters.
Dungeon Meshi - episode 9
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