I Dont Know Why Theres So Much Confusion And Discourse About The “age Of Maturity” In Dungeon Meshi

Dungeon Meshi Settei

what if vampires are like mosquitoes and only the ladies drink blood

I haven't touched this wip in FIREVER but this head is peak character design right here

Thinking about how the two children in dunmeshi were both sold into slavery and how their enslavement differed. 

Thistle was given to the Royal Family as a trophy, a sign of status because he was an elf. Although he was doted upon and “treated as a second son,” Thistle was clearly a different race, of different stature and ultimately a companion for Delgal.

Despite being a child for the entirety of their relationship, Delgal used Thistle to vent his anxieties and worries to him. Here is an uncomfortable and tragic scene where Delgal is absolutely distraught about the death of his father, with the kingdom being taken over. And it is Thistle, the child, who was supposedly seen as a son to the king too, is comforting Delgal.

This ultimately culminates in Delgal placing the responsibility of the Kingdom’s health on Thistle (who, again, was his elf child slave.)

Kui places obvious signs the mental toll it’s taking on him, and his anxieties and worries drive him to self harm and endless stress.

(We see how Falingan recognises him as a burdened baby and hugs him 😣 so cute…)

(EDIT: This is an edited panel of Thistle! Sorry, I should have mentioned that… I think it’s cute. The original says “His Majesty will return soon, when he does, let’s have a grand celebration.” Thank you to the commenter for pointing this out.)

Thus, Thistle was shaped into a child desperate for approval from his owners, to the point that his deepest wish was to ensure the safety of the Golden Kingdom, forever freezing himself and the citizens in time. It is only towards the end of the story where Delgal realises this all happened because of the mental burden he placed on Thistle.

I believe the The Lion keeping its hold on Thistle for so many years compared to the comparitively instantaneous period it kepts Marcille/Laios is partly because of Thistle’s youth. The other Dungeon Masters became mad, yes, but Thistle was unable to ever be convinced to relinquish the book, as he was too dogmatic, too vindictive, just like the child he is.

On the flip-side, Let’s compare Izutsumi. Like Thistle, she has no idea where she came from as she was sold into sorcery and slavery. While Thistle’s trauma came from the emotional abuse suffered by his owners, Izutsumi’s was very physical. She is part cat, part human, thus a beast man.

Izutsumi is even sold to Toshiro’s family as part of his all-female guard, and as a result of her escape attempts she is also cursed to never be able to escape them. Unlike Thistle, Izutsumi absolutely abhors the violation of her body, as well as her lack of freedom. She not only wants to escape slavery, but wants to lift her Beast-man curse and go back to being a human.

It makes it sadder when Izutsumi eventually discovers that it is impossible for her to life the curse. This is because she is a cat who had a child’s soul imbued into her, and removing the curse would remove her personality and revert her into an animal. This implies that the person who trafficked her murdered her human-child self to do so.

Despite this, Izutsumi is the complete opposite of Thistle. She is rebellious, unshakeable, and extremely self centred. All of this is a result of a life where she’s had to fend for herself. However, just like Thistle, she is still childish in her wants and needs and thoughts. While Thistle took on the responsibility the entire fate of the kingdom, Izutsumi wants nothing more than to do whatever she likes.

Whereas Thistle was a status trophy for the royal human family, Izutsumi was a sick science experiment for a trafficker.

Izutsumi is never able to remove the physical effects of what her traffickers did to her, and spent her life fending for her freedom, so she struggles to understand why anyone would take on unpleasant tasks or selfless responsibilities.

She’s also very inept at doing things like emotionally comforting her big sister figure (compare this scene to how Thistle comforts Derghal.) She hates emotional physicality, doesn’t crave approval, but like a cat, and like a child, she craves warmth of another when she sleeps (so cute!)

Meanwhile, Thistle is never able to shake off the emotional effects of what his traffickers did to him, and spent a millennia desperately clawing his way towards their demands to appease them, and struggles to ever stop for a moment and think, “I’m a child, why is this my responsibility?”

There is one thing that they have in common though — it’s that they entirely refuse to depend on others. That’s so tragic for two children to think. ☹️ This concludes my analysis of the two most prominent children in Dunmeshi.

(Sorry I didn’t put more Izutsumi panels, theres a ten photo limit..)

A bat drawing I'm making for a college class

beast

thank you izutsumi for showing exactly how it feels to deal with someone audibly crying/very emotional people, as someone who doesnt get it

still trying to comfort of course, these feelings are not invalid

Dungeon Meshi x Warrior Cats

Kibities :3

When I first saw the scene in Dungeon Meshi where Izutsumi comforts Marcille, I was a bit surprised. Izutzumi's grown a lot since the party picked her up, but she's clearly still uncomfortable with Marcille's emotional vulnerability despite being the one who reached out to offer comfort.

Izutsumi could have just sat there and done nothing while Marcille held her and cried her eyes out, but instead, she pushes aside her own discomfort and reaches out to pat Marcille on the back.

But reading the manga reminded me that this scene doesn't take place too long after their trip to the Golden City. The trip where Izutsumi spent the whole time acting more like a docile housecat than a person. The trip that traumatized her as soon as she had enough of herself back to realize what she'd done.

The trip where Marcille took it on herself to look after Izutsumi, even though Marcille herself expressed her own discomfort with the way Izutsumi was acting. The trip where Marcille had the village girls dress up Izutsumi alongside herself as if Izutsumi was still functioning like a person, even though they all probably could have just shoved her someplace warm and more or less ignored her. The trip where no one gave her grief for eating like a literal animal at the table, and they still included her at a more formal food table than the party generally gets to eat at.

All of this "having friends" and "building healthy bonds" and "looking out for others" might still be new to Izutsumi, but she saw what they all, especially Marcille, did for her when she was completely vulnerable and in no position to defend herself, and despite her stubborn nature and general discomfort with soft emotions, she's doing her best to pay their kindness back.

thinking about izutsumi bringing the party small dead monsters as gifts. marcille is horrified (mostly because izu is keeping the dead thing in her mouth and that has to be unhigenic), chilchuck is really not giving two shits, laios is really excited and bombarding izu with questions and senshi is just ^c^ dinner is here!