noob

I was about to climb into bed but I had to turn my computer back on to draw this real quick

It's easy to think "nobody in the whole wide world cares about me" on an empty stomach but try doing it while eating Vegetables and Rice. Seems less convincing now doesn't it? That's simply the power of Vegetables and Rice..

Fallen rocks?

I had a vision

Original: https://x.com/sweepswoop_/status/1829725202751611356?s=61

Hello skinny tgirl. Lately you've been complaining that your tits aren't growing. In front of you is a plate of food.

Unironically my tits grow faster for a few days every time I eat salmon

I should probably cook more salmon

Well yes salmon does have some fat in it! And it is good! Try and eat it with some carbs, like potatoes, or maybe blinis. Why not add some vegetables as well? Steamed brocolis, grilled leaks, roasted eggplant, and maybe some cream? That sounds delicious.

Idk who this man is but he is right. Eat girls

commas save lives,,, rip girls, you were delicious,

Girls can be eaten many times if you know what you’re doing.

No this is accurate

A tip for excellent writing I just learned: Don't introduce a character with their Dramatic Backstory. It makes readers go "oh alright this is the Dramatic Background Story Character" and establishes a baseline of Tragic, either for the story as a whole or this character in particular. With no contrast of light and dark, pure darkness isn't impactful, it just looks like the absence of anything to look at.

If you really want someone's dramatic backstory to hit the audience like a gut punch, let them get to know the character first. That way the dark backstory doesn't come off as a description of who they are, but an explanation to why they are the way they are. Bonus points for connecting it to something that's already been established as a part of the character - what a devastating blow to suddenly put together that hold on, that funny quirky thing that they always do is a fucking trauma response.

Saw someone describe Mithrun as a "Disabled right wing veteran who is convinced hes just as capable as he was in his prime" and also that he would "complain about immigrants" and I'm very confused.

Where did this type of interpretation for Mithrun came from? There's nothing about him that indicates he's "right wing" or any more racist than the average elf and due to his condition he literally isn't able to care about that.

The sentiment of "Mithrun is a racist grandpa" seems to have gone from an absurdist joke based on him saying a "slur" into a real interpretation of the character??

First of all he's 37 in tallman years he is not a grandpa, I know it was a joke based on him being rough and the fact he's an elf (185 years old) but I'm starting to think some people really think he's grandpa age? He isn't, he's about as old as Senshi and Chilchuck, Senshi is actually older than him being 47 in tallman years if he's a grandpa they are too, it's going from funny way to call him into ableist territory pretty fast.

Second he doesn't have the ability to be racist anymore, racism implies a sense of superiority compared to someone else from another race, which all the elves have. Let's go thru his anime appearance and what happens.

Kabru shows up and tries to speak to the elves and convince them to try his way. The elves think the short lived people are all ignorant and treat them condescendingly, even Tansu because they live more than any other race

Then they go from "Short lived people are too stupid to know anything" into "Oh my god this poor baby come on have some cake :)" which is ALSO condescending, nobody is taking Kabru or the governor seriously because they're short lived. These elves are RACIST they're treating Kabru like he's a confused kid "come eat some cake and let the adults talk"

Mithrun is the only authority figure that wants to listen to Kabru

He is a shell of who he used to be, right now he ONLY cares about defeating the demon, if there is a chance this kid (who has had experience with dungeons before) knows another way to get him what he wants he will listen to it, cause he *doesn't* have the capability of being like the other elves.

This doesn't mean he's anti-racist, it means he literally doesn't care, he lets the other elves mistreat Kabru in every other scene unless it has something to do with defeating the dungeon, cause he *doesn't* care. He's not gonna complain about immigrants cause he doesn't care he's not gonna treat short lived people like kids cause he doesn't care, he cannot care, he lost the ability to care.

Past Mithrun was the one that was both racist classicist and a bitch, but that part of him is basically dead.

He said the slur because they asked him not because he thinks is appropriate, the other elves aren't casual racists and him the *real* racist they are all just as bad he just doesn't have the "desire to be socially acceptable" I guess, they asked, he answered and that was it.

If it would make it easier try to think about it in terms of real life bigotry and how people keep going "you can't even say (...) because of the woke" they aren't any less racist they just worry about being socially acceptable racists.

Anyway, please don't just repeat what other people say as jokes as if they're true especially when you're saying it about a disabled character. Acting like he's worse than his peers because he doesn't have the capability of being socially aware is ableism, calling him a grandpa because he has had a rough life that made him look disheveled is ableism, saying he's past his prime is also ableist considering he learned how to fight *after* he became disabled.

Correct me if anything I said was wrong but I really got peeved after reading several people misinterpreting Mithrun as some sort of bigoted old man who must be taken to an asylum as if he just causes trouble for people who care for him.

The "Mithrun is a racist old-fashioned conservative" interpretation completely misunderstands his actual character and story, and shows people taking the opposite meaning from this comic than what Kui probably intended.

One of the punchlines of the comic is "someone who uses the most up-to-date, politically correct language might actually be a huge racist, but because they've learned how to insincerely use social justice vocabulary to their benefit, they can make themselves look good to people who care more about sounding good than actually doing good. Meanwhile an ally who is less up to date will be vilified for not knowing the "right" words, even if they are otherwise a huge help."

Like a lot of the things in Dungeon Meshi that deal with racism and other social issues, this comic is based on a real thing that happens, and is a commentary on it.

The joke hinges on knowledge of the evolution of respectful language in the real world, like negro vs. black vs. African-American, or gajin vs. gaikokujin, or mestizo vs. amarela vs. eurasian vs. hafu (half) vs. double. Sarcastically calling the short-lived races "those that live in a hurry" is the same as sarcastically calling a black person "endowed with excess melanin."

The other elves are mocking the short-lived races. They are not "less racist" than Mithrun because they know the "politically correct" words to use.

Another part of the punchline is that the other Canaries don't even realize how racist they are. They don't see anything wrong with making fun of the short-lived races for caring about what they're called, for desiring to be respected. To them, the very idea (short-lived races being respected) is inherently silly...

What does it matter what they're called? A pig is still a pig even if you put lipstick on it. Inferior people are still inferior even if you call them "sir" and "madam," and it's farcical that those inferior people make such a big deal about it. Why are they so offended all the time? Why are they always changing what they want to be called? Don't they know it doesn't actually change anything?

When the other elves hear Mithrun bluntly say the quiet part out loud (that the short-lived races are inferior), but without a polite filter on top of it, they are horrified. How could he say that? They don't even notice their own hypocrisy, that they have also been saying that the shorter-lived races are inferior. They thought they were doing good! They knew the right words to use! Isn't that all it takes to stop being racist? They don't think they're racist, just like most real world people don't think they're racist.

Thinking that this comic "proves" that Mithrun is racist, like some kind of "gotcha!" is also odd, because of course he is racist! Every character in Dungeon Meshi is racist! They live in a racist world! One cannot escape systematic racism that is embedded in society. Learning that Mithrun has knowledge of racist language is like learning he drinks water. Of course he does. The fact that he's willing to say it out loud is an unrelated issue that I'll get to in a moment.

It's like saying every American that knows the n-word exists is racist because if asked, they could say "N***** is a slur used against black people in America." Does that "prove" that they believe in calling black people slurs, or does it just show that they speak the language?

They are racist for other reasons, such as being a part of an inherently racist society, but being able to name a slur isn't proof that they believe it's correct to use it. That would be like saying Chilchuck is racist against half-foots (his own race) because he tells Laios they're sometimes called "goblins."

This tendency to call Mithrun a "racist old grandpa" is probably motivated by a desire to clearly label some characters as "bad" and others as "good." Because of this comic, they can label Mithrun an evil racist, and they now have an objective justification and moral imperative for disliking him, rather than it just being a matter of personal taste. That means they can also judge other people for liking him. If someone likes a racist character, they're also racist.

But Mithrun suffers from mental illness/trauma that makes him incapable of properly filtering himself, or moderating his behavior. He also doesn't say no when told to eat food out of a dog bowl on the floor. He has to be pushed pretty hard before he starts saying no to things, far beyond a normal person's limits.

This comic does not actually tell us whether or not Mithrun actually believes the shorter-lived races are inferior, all it tells us is that:

This implies that most elves probably call shorter-lived races something polite to their faces, and then in private they still call them inferior, or other rude things. It tells us a LOT about race relations... and very little about Mithrun's personal feelings or behavior.

This does not absolve Mithrun of racism of course, he lives in a racist society so of course he believes racist things. Just like Marcille about orcs, Laios about "mountain people", Senshi and Mr. Tansu about elves, and Kabru about kobolds.

But dismissing Mithrun as nothing more than a racist, bigoted character (and therefore a character that readers are morally obligated to hate, and who should be ignored and discarded by the fandom) also willfully ignores, and actually goes counter to everything Mithrun and Kabru's story is about: seeing past racial differences, helping yourself and helping others, and forging unlikely friendships and alliances.

Mithrun, because he has lost his elven ego, because he no longer likes (or never liked) the person he was before, is capable of listening to other people, including members of the short-lived races in a way that no other elf is.

From his very first appearance, he listens to Kabru when all the other elves instantly dismiss him. He listens to Kabru when they're trapped in the dungeon together. He asks what Kabru wants to do, and follows his lead, and it's a major turning point in the story. It shocks the other elves when it happens, too! Kui takes 3 pages to show it happening! It's a really, really big deal that Mithrun follows Kabru's lead!

More than anything else, this is the thing that makes Mithrun special, and aside from being a source of information (telling Kabru and the readers the truth about the dungeons), being different from other elves is one of the most important things about Mithrun and his role in the story.

Mithrun's presence during the dungeon crisis meant that other races had an opportunity to act. Because Mithrun let them act, and stopped Flamela and the other elves from interfering. Mithrun gave Laios a chance to try something risky, and it worked.

Kui chose to have it happen this way, and I think it's very intentional that Mithrun is the character that plays this role, because of his name.

Mithrun's name is Indian, derived from Sanskrit, and literally means "that which causes (things, people) to be bound together", and over time has come to mean "friendship", "alliance" or "pact."

The name Mithrun comes from the Vedic god Mitra, who is the patron of peace treaties and friendship, and Mithrun matches the god's myths and attributes in far too many ways for this to be a pure coincidence.

A man named Friendship arrives on the island and seems like a threat at first, but after spending a week with Kabru relying on each other for survival, he is changed from an enemy to an ally, and helps Laios, his party, and all the short-lived races in the end, by making it possible for them to create an independent kingdom where all races are equal, and nobody ever goes hungry.

Thanks for the addition It was a great read!

Mithrun has privilege due to the racist society but how he used that privilege was to give Laios and Kabru a chance rather than allow them to be shut down by the other elves.

I think Mithrun is on the path of becoming better too, and as I saw someone mentioning he's clearly trying to be better (how he tries to talk Thistle and Marcille out of it before resorting to killing them) and in the end he chooses to stay in the short lived kingdom instead of going back to the life of elf nobility.

But the worst part is that the sentiment I see isn't even that "Mithrun is racist and should be judged for it" isn't even that judgemental about it, it's an ableist sentiment of "He's a racist grandpa but what can you do" as if he doesn't have autonomy due to being somehow perceived as senile? The joke really went too far, it wasn't even only one comment like that I've seen, it was several people with several degrees from joking to actually seeming to believe what they said to be canon.

oh my goodness gracious

og: https://twitter.com/sweepswoop_/status/1829725202751611356

I'm caught up on dunmeshi!!

Congratulations to Marcille DungeonMeshi for achieving Pathetic Little Man status on tumblr, a hard glass ceiling for many female characters to break. I look forward to calling you my sopping wet beast and poor little meow meow for fandom days to come. Keep trucking babygirl, you'll bag Falin one day

shes joined the ranks of pearl in down so bad for a woman that she commits war crimes

i shared this fanart i found for my bestie and now i made this shitpost

@violetscribe

Idk why i made this

Whatever this is