So, a case of good news, bad news…

The good news is that we found Falin. Yay! The bad news is that she is really, really good at killing us. I have played a fair amount of D&D and this is the kind of fight that would be tough for any boss monster to win just due to the sheer size of the party arrayed against it. So, our reliable author found creative ways to split the party and take them out one or two at a time. I just want to commend Falin on the strategies employed here.

First, there were the harpies that are relatively easy to defeat to lure out the ninja vanguard of the group while the rest of the party figured they were safe. After dispatching the ninja, Falin makes her appearance, causing the strategists (Laios and Shuro) to freeze up while she takes out a couple party members that are not frozen in shock (from Kabru’s party and Oni girl from Shuro’s party). Then, after the opposing party starts to get their act together, further disarm Laios by referring to him like Falin would. At this point more than half your opponents are already incapacitated in some way. Finally, when your opponents are getting themselves organized again and you took some damage from best boy Kabru, pop off a big AOE and escape. Really well done Falin. Other boss monsters should take note!

There were two parts of this whole sequence that I really enjoyed. First there was Laios’s initial reaction to seeing Falin. He finally sees the sister that he has gone through hell to try to get back only to start criticizing her monster form as too greedy for having feathers, scales, and human skin. Pick a lane Falin! The second part I really enjoyed was that through this whole thing of watching tons of people die around him, Senshi is still holding his plate of food. This is a man with priorities. Honorable mention to both Marcille and Shuro freaking out when Falin started ripping her shirt off.

The fight that resulted between Shuro and Laios is your classic “talk through your fists” kind of fight. I think they are both just incredibly frustrated with the situation with Falin…but since they can’t really do anything about that right now, let’s talk about some other shit that I have on my mind. They managed to part on good-ish(?) terms at least with Shuro handing over that bell (which is definitely going to be important later).

Speaking of things that are likely to be important later, there are two others that stand out to me. First is that one of the ninja (Asebi) is still in the dungeon with them. I expect them to show back up before too long. Second is that Kabru really made sure that Laios remembered his name. So, I don’t know what Kabru is after here, but he is the kind of guy that always has some kind of angle. I suspect that with the knowledge of events he has, he might get involved with some topside politics or scheming for a while. The elves have some kind of interest in the dungeon and Kabru knows more than almost anybody else on the surface what the current state of it is.

Oh. Uuuh. The Harpy’s didn’t have nipples in the manga. So that’s different.

We are getting more and more into the very meat of this story. Falin has been transformed into a chimeric beast to serve the Mad Sorcerer, and though she’s clearly still in there, she is not in control.

The adventurers get absolutely slaughtered. Both Laios and Shuro are completely frozen by the situation and Kabru of all people seemingly ends up saving the day.

And I can’t help gushing a bit about how much I love the fight between Laios and Shuro. It’s such a great character moment for both of them. Laios throws a slap without even thinking, when Shuro accuses him of not taking things seriously. Shuro himself hasn’t even been eating, and is falling apart because of it.

But Shuro is also right, Laios needs to have a plan, and he needs to be trying harder. They both learn something about each other, and Shuro realizes he doesn’t so much hate Laios, as envy his freedom and honesty. He’s shackled by responsibility and position in way where simple, honest relationships and enjoyment of life are out of reach. And for Laios it’s effortless.

I’m not sure Shuro could have allowed Falin to remain the person she is, the one he loves, if she’d agreed to share a life with him and gone home with him. It’s pretty clear to me that she’s the kind of person nobles clip the wings on and put in a box for safekeeping. It’s why Shuro loves her, and why being with him would destroy that about her.

The moment with the retainers going starry eyed at Shuro showing them care might seem funny at first… But it stops being funny pretty quickly when you realize he just left one of them for dead and that the reason they aren’t used to being apologized to, is that they are property to the Nakamoto family.

And yet again, we are down to four. This marks the end of what I’d consider the first “part” of the story. From here on out, our main group won’t be running into other people, they are too deep in the dungeon.

And boy… If you thought the character writing has been good so far… We’re about to get to the good part.

The rate of adaptation has solidly settled in on two chapters per episode. If the current pace continues, this run will end on chapter 51 out of 97. I’m not sure that’ll be the case, I could see some of these next chapters being a 3-per-episode or even a 1-per-episode deal, but I’m a little worried the season might end very in-the-middle-of-something. The manga doesn’t really have a clean halfway point.

So with some nice foreshadowing by the writer to have the harpies show up first, it is revealed that the Mad Sorceror has transformed Falin into a Falin dragon harpy chimera.

Nice job with the rain of falling harpy bodies being ignored by everyone, suddenly ending with the splat of one of Shuro’s retainers.

Not directly related to this episode, but an official AMV was released for the ED. I particularly love the cover art for the single:

Crunchyroll source.

The fight between Laios and Shuro left me speechless. Two men expressing anger in a healthy way. We know they won’t kill each other as they are professional monster slayers.

They love each other and they love the same woman albeit in a different way. They can’t stand seeing the other one throwing his life away for her. The Anger is eating at them and they can’t put it into their words. The slap is thrown and it changes the language of the exchange. Now they are talking with fists. Each punch has behind it, years of annoyance. The swollen face, maybe is left unhealed for petty reasons, but for them it’s necessary step to mend the heart that is ablaze with anger. It’s stark reminder the he heard him and he himself got heard by him.

I don’t think I have seen something like that ever in any media.

Marcy’s shout when Fallon started to pull her shirt made me LOL, this was a great episode! Glad to have the payoff to last week’s ominous cliffhanger so soon

Across the Rubicon.

Dungeon Meshi - episode 17

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