Regarding Marcille's race and her being a walking spoiler, one of my favorite aspects of that is how she is the reader's first introduction to elves. In her rounded ears being the first characteristic we see, it not only makes her seem like the "normal", but makes the canaries feel all the more alien and dangerous when they're introduced. Plus, given how few elves are on The Island naturally, it's no wonder that none of her companions even suspected she could be a half elf.
The artstyle at the beginning of Dungeon Meshi was quite round and soft so people familiar with the idea of "half-elf=rounder ear" wouldve thought that was a stylistic choice rather than a spoiler.
She's not very different from full-blooded elves either, in fact she's even more childish than they usually are, because mules like Marcille can even outlive elves.
It's not just Marcille's rounded ears that mark her as a half elf, and it's actually fascinating how well incorporated her heritage is in her design beyond that. Her body's proportions and the shape of her face and neck are much closer to that of a human's than an elf's, but her eyes are much bigger than any pure human character's, and of course her ears mean anyone's initial reaction to her would be "oh she's an elf"
Side note but Izutsumi has to be the best catgirl character ever. Ryoko Kui answers the age old question of "what if a girl was a cat?" with "then... she'd be a cat???" and it just... works.
Lot of people said the same thing about Reincarnated as a Sword. It's funny to me that catgirls are so popular in anime but so rarely used to their full potential.
@@tinyetoile5503 I like how even if you look at her head alone you can tell she’s more cat than girl (notice that the style overall mimics the head of a cat)
@@LimeyLassen Fran's cat-like personality features are described in the novel perfectly. Though at the same time she's a particular type of the person with a lot of past trauma and problems with communicating her thoughts.
As an artist, I am FLOORED by this artist's mastery of anatomy and body shapes, and the ease with which she can jump from one to another and blend characters races while still keeping them immediatly recognizable. Amazing.
@@droopy_eyesI'm not an artist but I disagree with you that it's average. Their character is good at least not just average when compared to some popular manga like rent a girlfriend
@_eyes I'd say her merit has more to do with her versatility to create original characters whose shapes make sense than the mastery of anatomy. You can tell a there's a difference between her and other mangakas who draw characters that look pretty much the same or that just look sloppy
Well, I have over 15+ years of professional work in graphic design and illustration, working with some big names in industries. I can tell you right off the bat Ryoko Kui's design work isn't average in any way and is a standout among the manga industry. If you're so insistence it's average, maybe you're missing something that could help yourself, too. There's a lot to be learnt from her.
I think the part where laios' build is attributed more to diet and lifestyle than genetic predisposition needs to be a little more cognizant that both he and Falin are Big, even for Tallmen/Humans. It's something I appreciate because a lot of the times artists default for showing a big stocky older brother but have their sister be a tiny waifish thing. Not to say it's unrealistic, but in dunmesh it's refreshing.
I really loved in the second arc of Vinland Saga when the malnutritioned short and nimble main character got to see his sister as an adult, and she's this giant of a lady who looks so much like her father too and not just her mother, and you really feel that this was what the main character would have been like as well (though probably a little taller and wider) had he stayed put and gotten all the nutrition he needed instead of constantly starving himself as a child for like over a decade.
Also the part where she mentions Laios' neckpiece representing how eating is a priority for him is wrong. It'a a bit of a background detail, but the dungeon has created an unhealthily utilitarian view of food in its adventurers. Food is bought in dried ration packs and haphazardly boiled into edibility, overly weighted towards carbs and fats because the focus is on base filling the stomach rather than balanced meals, something that Senshi dunks on several times. It's brought up several times that the "dungeon gourmet" book that Laios bought doesn't actually have very good information about cooking monsters, and that's because it was meant as a guide for criminals who couldn't freely buy supplies on the surface, simply dividing monsters between "if eating this will kill you or not". Laios is interested in eating monsters only as an extension of his hyperfixation on them, with the scorpion he just wants to cook it "the usual way" until Senshi shows up and he learns that monsters can be delicious, not just edible. He certainly didn't pick his armor design based on his love of food, because he didn't love food until after the manga starts.
IKR!! I feel like Falin is the only manga/anime character who is a big girl but not extremely fat or muscular, she's just.. big and a bit soft looking in a healthy balance. I love her she's so cute
I binged all the available episodes of the anime just last night and I was SO pleased with how the orcs were drawn and depicted. I’m so accustomed to anime orcs being either humans with pig heads or just muscular green humans, showing them as both highly intelligent and bestial was great to see. And the orc women, especially, were a refreshing departure from the norm in fantasy art.
I feel like the appeal of practical, natural, and realistic armor and outfits in medieval fantasy stories is massively underrated, especially in manga and anime. I really appreciate styles like this
Something that's always stayed with me is a guy that said he has a lazy eye, and that there's very few representations for them in fiction, so he really appreciates Mithrun for having one while still being cool and hot
when you see the author's notes between chapters you can see how she is very passionate about this manga dungeon meshi is getting an adaptation and I can't wait for it
I'm still blown away by Kui's design process, going so far as to make studies of eyes and noses (ref 6:42) so every character maximizes recognizability without extreme exaggeration or making them difficult to draw repeatedly on the page. The bonus art she does where characters are drawn in modern, or each others' clothes, or even as different races, really drives home how strong this careful selection of features is. It's a remarkable talent.
I've actually done the race swap exercise (wow that sounds bad) for learning how to draw my ocs quickly and maintaining recognizable characteristics. It's really fun, highly recommend
One of my favorite features about DunMeshi is that Marcille always has a different hair style. It had to have taken a lot of effort to have a different hair style each chapter, and I appreciate it so much.
Yasunori Mitsuda will make the composer of yhe series! He is the composer of some othe following gems: - Chrono Trigger - Chrono Cross - Xenosaga - Xenogears - Xenoblade Chronicles series - Sea of Stars
The fact that that Ryoko went into this much detail is crazy. The armor is crazy accurate, while also still keeping it fantasy. This is what we need more of. I'm gonn start reading the manga.
As an aspiring character designer this video is REALLY helpful, I myself noticed that a lot of my characters have similar body types, I will try to study a wider variety of body types to use for my designs now
Yeh i decided to start reading this manga. I was like eating monsters cant be that great of a concept right? But i gave it a shot cus I like DND. AND HOLY SHIT THE DETAILS OF THIS WOMAN's DRAWINGS character design! WORLD BUILDING! INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS! and the explorations of VARYING RACES AND BODY TYPES! It was so much fucking variety! Plus the in world explanations of why dungeons exist in the first place. This woman is genius and is talented in so many ways that it only leaves me with adoration and immeasurable envy!
Great way to expand on the thing we know about fantasy, like a Richard Darwin of fantasy everything happen in it place not in the adventure of the main characters
I like how the characters feel like they were come up with by earnest dnd players who just wanted to make them feel real. The tropes aren't adhered to or shunned overly, and the development and character moments come across as natural. Laos in particular. He reminds me of my little sister and to a lesser degree myself. Just thinking animals are neat, and weird, and kinda cool, despite the brutality that arises in nature. Maybe even because of how they engage with it.
As a Professor of Art at a University i am really glad you talked about diversity in design, especially as it refers to race. One way i teach it is, These are the basic proportions of the face, What makes a face unique and memorable are the ways it differs from this, not the idea that it fits this exactly. Great video all around and a great message given on design on top of that.
You gotta learn the rules before you break them, so teaching "standard proportions" is a necessary "evil". In art you simply have to average out what you see in the world before you understand it well enough to break it down into more unique but harder to learn concepts.
It's not even just face - When looking for actual references, celebrities most often have this standard of what they look like body-wise. I've noticed that there's a different standard for East Asian beauty standards versus the West, and admittedly the former has a less diverse beauty standard (which contextually makes sense, since there are countries in East Asia that are monolithic [don't know if that's the actual word], or mainly reproduce with their own nationalities, and thus almost look as if they don't have any more diverse beauty such as the West might have). I mean, even right now I can't find the exact body shape I have for one of my characters, which is a 5"7 Euro-Asian woman with a muscular appearance, but not muscular to the point of being a body-builder. Just enough to exceed Filipino beauty standards, and can be mistaken as a guy if you look far away enough. I can't find that. What I can though is look for women who're as tall as that, break down their proportions using my own style of proportions, and then adjust the proportions. So generally speaking, you should have your own idea of proportions in order to be able to adjust - And I say likewise to the face. It's fine to study the standard, so long as you plan to adjust the standard into the character you want. Although I guess this is more for stylized artstyles - For more realistic ones, then you REALLY gotta look for actual references that reaches the proportions you want rather than just essentially guessing what their proportions might be.
@@Пинагод(1 year+ late but re: “monolithic” the word you were looking for was “homogenous”! Hopefully this helps 😊 It always drives me up the wall when I can’t pinpoint the right word so wanted to reply in case you’re the same way lol)
I've fallen in love with this series. The realism, unique designs, simple but effective plot are excellent and excel. The incredibly effective usage of character design for storytelling is rarely seen at this level, and is so appreciated. I binged the series in 2 days, chapter after chapter. Excellent video, very well constructed, great editing. I know this wasn't a focus in the video, nor did it need to be considering the videos primary messge but I love additionally how Laois group isn't strong. They're not weak, but instead incredibly Capable. They're knowledge on Monsters (Which are amazing, never seen such well designed Monsters) and effective means of taking them down is fun to read, and causes many a hilarious or emotional moment A standout in terms of Monster Design, The living armour. They introduced, and I'm like how the hell are they gonna eat these? They're snails, mollusks or whatever is applicable. They GROW armour shaped bodies, They work together. Hermaphrodites, The best armour mates, the fact they hold hands, it's great So good, the ideas and design.
I loved a deep monsters desing ever since Monster Hunter. Capcom MH team used such care in the creation of monsters that they feel real, thats also why i loved Meshi. Same love given to all creatures
What really impress me the most is the author manage to not deviate from the main topic of the story which is food even when the characters are fighting the demons and saving the world.
I agree! I fell in love with the series too and binged it within a few days! Not only is Ryouko Kui's character design genius but also her world building and story-telling. I cannot describe how much I admire the detail put into the world that makes it lived in, she designed rooms for her characters and other aspects of their lives OUTSIDE of the main storyline. Heck even side characters are fleshed out. Where the heck do I even start with the story? What I expected was going to be DnD style cooking with monsters turned out to be.. WAY way more than that and explored other themes I did not know a cooking anime could go into. I also loved how it never left it's central theme of food or hunger and love. No matter how far the plot seemed to go in crazy ways, at the center of it all was hunger/desire and family/love. A little funfact but characters I never expected to relate so hard to was Marcille and Chilchuck, both in different ways.
Why is this so underwatched?? I’d never really thought about diversity in character design so this was really interesting for me! Also the amount of effort this must’ve taken…truly stupendous
It's actually top 2 in my all-time launches! RUclips might take its time for the algorithm to pick it up (if it does) but 10k in less than 5 days is super for me haha
I'd say the begining is rather weak along with not developed art in Vol 1. I once dropped this manga cause I couldn't get the joke nor the art is pleasing to my eyes. BUT THANK GOD for some unknown reason I picked this up again and loving it
As a blonde white lady, I'm not exactly from an underrepresented demographic in media, but Falin's design makes me really happy. She's a little on the tall side, has a stockier build, and she has droopy eyes, which are all very similar to me. The eyes especially make me happy since so many blonde characters have giant sparkly eyes, and I just don't.
I'm not a blonde white lady, but a black/white mixed woman. All of the designs make me happy. Short, tall, big, thin.. black skin, brown skin, white skin. Different eye shapes and face shapes. I love the diversity.
I’m a short Filipino woman and Falin makes me feel represented as well. She has curves. Falin is one of the best female characters I have seen in anime!
True. Though it seems that Dungeon Meshi is gaining traction. It didn't have a translation here in germany for a long time. But it was picked up at the end of '19. Which just makes me happy. Though I would have preferred if a different company picked it up. But that's another story.
this is such a good explanation of why the character designs are so appealing, and how much of an effort Ryoko Kui makes to have diversity. One thing that really stood out to me in terms of the diversity was the way that Laois, mr maincharacter heroguy, was a huge nerd about the creatures of the dungeon and has a genuine passion for the ecology and complexities of it. 99% of the time if the main character of a manga is male, his personality will be designed to be as relatable as possible to as many readers as possible, which always just leads to incredibly boring "im just your average guy" type characters. When Laois first gets excited about the creatures of the dungeon it made me so so happy because like, same dude!!!!!! Ecology is fascinating!!!!!! If magic was real the interactions between magic and the natural world would be even more fascinating and complex!!!!!! I totally get why he's excited
and also the fact that since we get many caracters from the beginning, Laois doesn't really have to be a blank "main caracter" he can have a great amount of personnality without compromising relatability.
The art style of Dungeon Meshi is perfect... It's fun, functional, intense, yet wholesome. I would give my left leg to see this to be the new standard for anime.
I would assume Marcille's sleeves are stitched so that she can store things inside and the stitching keeps them from falling out. Also I hope the upcoming anime adaptation respects and loves the diversity of body types just as much as the manga (I'm just thinking of how anime adaptations will slim down bodies when it comes to female characters).
Trigger have already shown their respect for the source material with the ad they did - hopefully that can translate across to a full series because they really seemed to get it.
Yes! I'm super worried about this as the most visible comparison I can think of immediately is bnha. Both in terms of body shapes and race but even in how the characters fashion presents themselves (at least to me in this aspect).
@@MrStath1986 Yup. I was really happy to see that in the ad, Senshi's knife has scratches, showing that he has little care for his tools, just like in the manga. Very small detail but they actually implement it.
@@hydrangeyes2170 Let's hope they'll do the body types justice unlike MHA. I'm not sure about the most recent 2 seasons, but I know they slimmed down the female characters a fair bit in the anime, which is unconfortable in all kinds of ways considering the setting
A neat worldbuilding detail that we can find in the doppelganger mini-arc (my personal favorite), it that beauty standard is different for most races : "Senshi has always been handsome." - Chilchuck
Yeah especially that one mini comic about the orc chief asking Laois if he finds his wife’s ugly and Laois points out the beauty standards are different / similar in aspects
I love that dungeon meshi doesn’t spend a lot of time on certain fantasy aspects that we already know. We all know what mana is, we all know the basics of the fantasy races and monsters in the show, we don’t need a refresher. Thus the story is able to focus on its specific take of the fantasy genre instead of explaining what an Elf is for the 100th time. I call it the Spiderman effect
I haven't been much into anime/manga for decades now, but I occasionally check out manga and when I read Dungeon Meshi I was FLOORED. The character sketches were a marvelous peek into the mangaka's worth ethic: character designs are a dime-a-dozen online, and high quality manga can trick readers into thinking it just "came out like that". Those "sketches" show so much love for the whole process of making a comic, bridging that gap. Since I read the manga casually, I enjoyed listening to this thorough examination. I liked the point about switching-clothes because it's a fun way to test one's own design stagnation. The concepts presented here are all practical ways to improve for any skill level through the lens of a fantastic manga. Really brilliant.
With regards to presentation and body types in this manga: I really love how much thought goes into standards of beauty with the characters and the races in the world of Dungeon Meshi. It's clear that Kui spent a lot of time thinking about that sort of thing.
Seeing those collections of the characters being drawn as each different species while still being clearly each individual character is so cool. As someone who follows League of Legends' characters very closely and gets worn out on their Same/Inconsistent Face Syndrome, it's so gratifying to see a cast of characters, particularly with many women, who have such clear diversity in even just their faces.
One thing I really love about the author acknowledging that Senshi is handsome is it isn't just done through the fanservice, but in universe too! Laios and Chilchuck both think he's rather handsome and I'm floored that it was acknowledged in-universe as well. Such a wide range of designs are rarely seen in media, let alone anime and manga! She really outdid herself with all their designs.
As an art student struggling with character design I find this video so incredibly useful, not only do you lay out so many brilliantl points so beautifully and easy to understand, I now have a great manga to go read and get inspired, thanks a lot ❤️❤️
Amazing video!! My addition: Chilchuck’s character being so focused on practicality but having a large part of his outfit be a sentimental gift from his daughter reveals that despite his tough exterior he has a heart of gold.
Definitely loved the informative tone of the video. Coming from a (somewhat) recent subscriber, this might sound a little superficial, but I'm genuinely thankful for the content you've made so far. As a person who is often lost in their tracks and needs to be constantly "inspired" on the creative front to feel alive, your videos are as comforting as they are inspiring :)
I'm an anime only normy but I knew I was witnessing greatness when watching that trap focused episode with Chilchuck disarming all the traps, then they deduce the oil must be olive oil since that area had them in spades, and the episode that just came out when we find out Senshi is an integral part of the dungeon's ecosystem! I knew female mangakas would bring a breath of fresh air to the community but Jujutsu Kaisen and now this? I can't wait for more!
I am so glad that this manga is getting some attention. The characters are so distinct an refreshing in comparison with most anime and manga where the faces and body designs serves as foundation, then drew with aesthetics. Delicious in Dungeon or Dungeon Meshi brings such a breathe air of character design. Doing it in a fantasy setting that involves with fantasy races including Elves, Dwarves, Halflings to even fantasy creatures, brings infinite potential designs and purpose to the world building. Even if you do it in a silhouette, you can tell which character are which. As for the world building and story, it's in depth and expansive on the functions of the dungeon to even the politics involved. For those that looks for a new manga, please read this and you will understand why this manga is such a breath of fresh air of character design, amazing world building and interesting story to follow.
There are RUclipsrs whose videos I dread watching when they come out because they are of such high quality that I feel inadequate by comparison. Dani is one of those creators. Absolutely amazing stuff.
Man I knew I loved the character design diversity in this manga for a long time I'm glad you made a video about it, and I even learned a lot of why I like it.
didn't expect to see someone talking about this manga today, but it's just so charming. I've always loved the way this manga depicts the asian dog-like kobolds in more detail. That was originally born from a mistranslation in dungeons and dragons, but since then they're occasionally given their own twist in games and manga.
Kobolds were dog like before they were dragon like in d&d, like how orcs were pig like in old d&d and many Japanese artists interpret their own orcs as sharing pig like characteristics.
Thank you for the beautiful essay. Ryoko Kui is amazing and the fact that while Character Design is such a fantastic part of her manga, it's not even the only aspect she excels at. I wish Ryoko Kui sees your video and can see the heartwarming appreciation from a fan.
Thank you for putting into how amazing I find this series and Kui's art, character design, and world building. I could never quite express all I love about her work but you did an amazing job!
I don't even read dungeon meshi but the way you presented the artist's work and your guiding voice throughout the entire video entranced me! I picked up a few chapters of it just to see these designs in action haha! Thank you for making this very cozy video, it was a big comfort on a long day :]
I remember reading dungeon meshi and to find my body type being represented in such a natural grounded way made me appreciate my physical self more. I love the vid!!!
@@notmyrealname977 but you seem to desire to feel superior to others in youtube comment sections, so clearly masturbatory narcissism isn't entirely alien to you
Love that this video reminded me of why I love Dungeon Meshi-- and I hope TRIGGER does the art and story justice when the animation rolls around. It's such a simultaneously cozy, yet thrilling manga with lovable & interesting characters with their own unique style & personality. Thanks for the video! Subbed!
What a treat to get a video from you about Dungeon Meshi! This manga (along with Houseki no kuni) revived my interest in manga after years of being tired of the sane stories. Thank you for yet another amazing video! P.D: just a small typo, but on 0:24, that frame is not from Dorohedoro but Dai Dark.
@@linesinmotion dont mention it! And now that we are talking about Q Hayashida, would love a video from you about her abrassive yet charming artstyle. Maybe one day? Thanks for your hard work!
i cant thank you enough for introducing dungeon meshi to so many people , since ur video has reached 200k views , there were alot of channels did to but havent been able to achieve such numbers , my thanks again for making dungeon meshi popular
I am incredibly delighted to see a video about Dungeon's meshi incredibly profound character design. Every tome is filled with sketches at the end of it representing attempts at character design, and I was baffled by the quality and how well we could recognize everyone despite changing so much about them. The lessons in it crosses any media, whether it's drawing, cinema, special effects, or animation, it's a testament to practice.
This video was the thing that got me interested in Dungeon Meshi! Read the whole thing and watched all of season 1 and man the final point of feeling represented is so incredibly true. I cosplayed Falin recently as someone who's not born a woman and it felt so perfect. She's an achievable goal. She'd broad shouldered and isn't incredibly skinny. Her body is natural, and imitating it and having people say I look like her was so incredibly freeing. Good diversity hits incredibly hard! Ryoko Kui has to be one of the best artists around.
I don't know why but I teared up while listening to you on this subject. Makes me emotional when people talk big about things I'm passionate about, linking to such important matters as representation and diversity. Fantastic video for an outstanding manga!
I really enjoyed your video editing as well as the dedication to deliver a multimedia essay with the top notes, source citations and also clarifications. Very "delicious" 🐉
This video got me reading the comic, Delicious in Dungeon. I've bought 5 volumes so far and I'm so excited for the anime, but will keep reading. Such a great work with strong character designs and world building.
ahhh, that's the best thing I can ever hear, so pumped you love it, too!!! Thank you for watching the video, and taking my words into consideration (enough to try the manga!) 😊😊
Dungeon Meshi is genuinely one of my favorite mangas, and I'm so happy more people are talking about it now! Initially I began reading it because I love food depictions in manga, but began growing an appreciation for the plot, worldbuilding, and character design the further I read. The worldbuilding was particularly distinctive to me because at the time I started reading, dungeon trawling/adventuring was a decently popular trope (usually isekai as well) and pretty much all of the dungeons I'd read about could have been copy pasted from one manga to the other. So going into Dungeon Meshi, I was absolutely blown away by how organic the dungeon and world was described. You can live, breathe, and feel the ecosystem of the dungeon in Dungeon Meshi, just by how it's shown to you on the page. I also loved reading the author's sketches and extras because I'd never before seen an author experiment so much with body types, races, and fashion as Ryoko Kui. It was great seeing cool characters with my body type and other body types that are seldom seen in manga, and it was even greater watching them all interact in a natural way. Thanks for covering Dungeon Meshi! This video has summarized everything everything I love about it.
Dungeon Meshi is one of my all time favorite fantasy works but an ineloquent pleb like me never really knew how to describe the charm the manga had until now. Its so refreshing to read a fantasy story that actually pays attention to the plethora of variety fantasy settings can allow, without it ever feeling too tropey or cliche, again.
watching this video after the manga has ended, and I have to say thanks for pointing the little details that I've never realized during my read through! Very insightful and makes me appreciate the manga even more, hope the adaptation can capture the essence of the manga as well
I love Ryoko Kui's attention to details and diversity in character design. I can easily tell apart each member of the canary squad, by their eyes or even hands only.
I just finished reading the manga and I'm so impressed with this video! I enjoyed your explanation and its definitely one of the biggest reasons why I knew I had to keep reading the series. each chapter you read you can feel how much the author cares about their characters and story and just was such a great read. It truly made me wish we can get more side stories just so I don't have to say goodbye to them just yet. This series also made me want to get the artbooks so I hope I can find them soon
My partner is really into this manga, and while I was initially a bit skeptical because there's just so many "foodie comfort fantasy" manga and anime out there right now I did eventually give it a try and it definitely distinguishes itself from the rest with a cute setup, a healthy bit of self awareness (but not so much that the whole thing feels cheap), good writing, and really immersing the foodie part of the manga into the world and story through detail and imaginative ideas. So many others with a similar on paper premise just resort to lazy izekai gimmicks that make the fantasy world itself feel sort of hollow but Dungeon Meshi really avoids that by making the food and why the party is seeking it out part of its world. But the character design is definitely another big factor why I like it a lot. The sheer variety of body types is so refreshing. You can really tell that Kui cut her artistic teeth on drawing real people and has continued to practice honing this, but she's also refined it all into a cute artstyle that avoids horrendously unflattering depictions of anything that deviates too far from the archetypical samey face/samey bodied anime character standard so many other artists kind of settle on. It's just nice to see a style that isn't terrified of bigger body types of all sorts. The extra mile given to the detail of the various fantasy worlds' racial traits is an added bonus that just helps the world feel so fun. I do agree definitely that the positive treatment of Senshi is especially refreshing, as well as the other dwarves. In some modern fantasy manga and/or anime with similar premises, the distinct details of the fantasy races can seem so phoned in at times that it makes me wonder why they bothered to set it in a fantasy world, so the design in this manga is such a welcome breath of fresh air. I'm really looking forward to the anime adaptation.
the art of dungeon meshi and ryoko kuis art in general is genuinely so inspirationally good. even when shes drawing simple things like modern outfits for the cast, you can feel all of the love and care she has for the cast and for making characters Feel different. Like, I love daydream hour so much just because of this and i really hope to see more from her in the future
Watching your videos is such a good experience because it encourages me to read the titles you've introduced but also educates me on certain disciplines in art! Plus! your edits are so entertaining I can't help but watch them again and again.
The "old man thirst" Senshi has unwittingly generated is absolutely staggering Dungeon meshi has done the world an invaluable service in spreading body diversity and body type appreciation to the masses
This is the first time ive every come across your channel and I just wanna say I love the way you narrate things and compose the visuals, it's very comfortable to me personally while still allowing so much information to be absorbed, thank you for making this video!
I find a lot of modern fantasy manga/anime strangely bland considering how heavily stylized characters often are. What sticks out to me about Dungeon Meshi (this is my first time seeing it) is how distinct the characters look from other modern fantasy manga, utilizing more simplistic, down to earth character design. I think it's in part Ryoko's hard work and talent as an artist, but it also just stands out simply by going against the grain. A person wearing neutral tones tends to stick out when everyone else is wearing bright neon!
I adore Dungeon Meshi's world, the art, the people, the humor, absolutely everything about it. Ryoko Kui's work is the only thing that has ever been able to me make cry by just witnessing it.
That's an insanely useful video about the intricacies of chara-design. I've been in the animation trade for close to 2 decades (I'm kind of a Jack of all trades, mostily formed to be director, but good at storyboard, animation, compositing and editing, alhtough I did my own movies chara-designs as well), and your vid still made me discover quite a few things I've never even thought about ! Great job !
HEY! Commenting because WTF this video is super good!!!!!!!!! Thank you for sharing about Ryoko Kui’s work, and for making this video with so such quality! I’m doing a study about this topic and this is 10/10!
I'VE BEEN SO EXCITED TO SEE A DUN MESHI VIDEO FROM YOU FOR SO LONG ;W; this video was so beautiful , Dun Mesh is such a good read and I hope more people can get into it especially since the anime announcement!
This video was amazing. Not only was your discussion comprehensive and thought-provoking, but the animation, presentation style and editing are topnotch. I often get tired of videos where it's simply narration over still and unedited photos (I get bored, click to another tab, and just let the video audio run in the background like a podcast) but there was so much movement and visual dynamicity that it made me stick around to actually watch the video. Animating panels and shots from the manga was a nice touch, and the colorful montage of different media in the beginning really drew me in. Consider me subscribed!
i'm so glad you made this video. im not much of a manga reader but dungeon meshi is one of the only mangas i've read through and through. i always thought the designs in this manga was so thoughtful and unique compared to almost every anime/manga designs i've seen and you conveyed that so eloquently in this video essay! :))
I never realized this. After watching this video and seeing just how much detail is given in everything, and all the very good points you made, it now comes as no surprise why I enjoyed this manga so much. I agree with you that every character feels so real and the world wonderfully fleshed out. Even characters who only appear in the background are all well designed. I'm not caught up in the manga as of currently, so I thank you for not delving too deep into spoilers, and I'll definitely keep an eye out for when I can get the next few volumes of Delicious in Dungeon. Also: You have earned yourself a new subscriber. Keep up the good work!
i read Dungeon Meshi after your recommendation of it in the first place, so it's really cool to see you digging in deeper, especially into such a triumphant aspect of its design. i particularly love the extra sketchbook pages, but i always enjoy when authors/artists do their own official "AUs" hahaha excellent video as always! a lovely in-depth look 👏👏👏 and omg Trigger's making the anime?? the hype is real
Thanks for covering this topic. 👍 I appreciate how you break down different aspects of manga and how they affect us as readers when done right. I haven't read this manga but I have heard great things about it and after seeing you cover it I am excited about Trigger's adaptation. 🙌
the character design in Dungeon Meshi are the main reason i wanted to start reading it, that and the art style. i never actually started it i kept getting busy or distracted by other things but after this video i'm definitely goin to read it. 💚
Your voice and accent are so soothing without being monotone, i loved this. I was watching while crocheting and it made me stop to fully listen and look at the details, this made me greatly interested in reading the manga too. Also I've gotta love those little edited animations they really add character to the panels. Overall outstanding video, i will try to look more into the author to inspire myself with some of my own characters. Thank you for this gem!
I JUST WATCHED 1st episode of this anime and was immediately blown away by character design and after watching it come to youtube to learn more about character design and i saw your video ABOUT THIS SHOW. Talking about right place right time right everything. Love the video and absolutely in love with this mastery of character design
I could literally listen to all of your videos all day long, you have the softest most soothing voice ever! The way you explains that are just amazing, no other way to put it
Ryoko Kui is such a huge inspiration to me as an artist tbh. I have already been attracted to realism in my art, and have always desired to make art that works and feels alive. Dungeon meshi is that, and it’s funny how because they need to eat all these monsters it means we need to learn about their biology and the greater dungeon ecology. As a biologist this instantly peaked my interest in the series and it continues throughout the entire thing exploring the connections between individuals and their environment be it monsters or humans. It’s such an inspiring series for everything it does and there’s nothing else like it, I could only wish to come close to what this series has done but that won’t stop me. Thank you for making this video also! It provided some more insight to this series for me and was great to see how kuis character design works so well!
I absolutely LOVE Dungeon Meshi and this videos makes me so happy. You talk about all the aspects I adore in Ryoko Kui style, even realizing a lot of things I haven't noticed until now. Your videos are amazing!
Excellent video. Only vaguely knew about the license, but you really made me interested in the artist's work. "I noticed I relied too much on the same body types" is the rare introspection that manga artists desperately needs.
in addition to the amazing style, the soft colours she uses (when she uses colour) are so pretty! Really inspires me, I hope to be able to draw in a similar manner at some point
As an anime-only viewer, I had no idea the mangaka had artbooks about her work! I need to check them out. I really love and appreciate her characters' diversity in form, height, muscle mass, skin color, etc. Thanks for this video, it was enlightening!
Now I really wanna start reading this manga and will be looking out for the anime! Body diversity in media is so rare to be shown in a positive and natural light, so I really love this!
As a former art teacher, I think if I was doing a lesson on character design, the things you mentioned here would be great as a foundation for younger students! You point things out in such a chill and casual way, it feels really nice.
This video is beautiful. It puts in to words so many things that I appreciate about dungeon meshi and beautifully articulates what sets it apart from other manga. It is truely special piece of art that is upheld by its attention to detail. Nothing feels out of place or like it is trying to fit some agenda, it all just makes sense and to me, it defines perfect world building. Ryoko Kui is a genius and I’m so glad that studio trigger were able to bring the characters and world to life. I watched the anime and have never been more inspired to retroactively read a manga. Comparing the written work to the animation, it is clear that so much love and attention were given to perfecting the execution. Dungeon Meshi is perhaps my favourite piece of media.
Regarding Marcille's race and her being a walking spoiler, one of my favorite aspects of that is how she is the reader's first introduction to elves. In her rounded ears being the first characteristic we see, it not only makes her seem like the "normal", but makes the canaries feel all the more alien and dangerous when they're introduced. Plus, given how few elves are on The Island naturally, it's no wonder that none of her companions even suspected she could be a half elf.
Oooh, a very good point!! Especially the last bit, that's a nice tidbit 🤯
The artstyle at the beginning of Dungeon Meshi was quite round and soft so people familiar with the idea of "half-elf=rounder ear" wouldve thought that was a stylistic choice rather than a spoiler.
She's not very different from full-blooded elves either, in fact she's even more childish than they usually are, because mules like Marcille can even outlive elves.
It's not just Marcille's rounded ears that mark her as a half elf, and it's actually fascinating how well incorporated her heritage is in her design beyond that. Her body's proportions and the shape of her face and neck are much closer to that of a human's than an elf's, but her eyes are much bigger than any pure human character's, and of course her ears mean anyone's initial reaction to her would be "oh she's an elf"
Not surprising by Elf standards she's considerated be "ugly" by own half-race
Side note but Izutsumi has to be the best catgirl character ever. Ryoko Kui answers the age old question of "what if a girl was a cat?" with "then... she'd be a cat???" and it just... works.
And she really got that "selfish cat" characteristic down
Lot of people said the same thing about Reincarnated as a Sword. It's funny to me that catgirls are so popular in anime but so rarely used to their full potential.
Yeah, what makes Izutsumi so incredible is that the author really nails down the actual feline behavior in her mannerisms.
@@tinyetoile5503 I like how even if you look at her head alone you can tell she’s more cat than girl (notice that the style overall mimics the head of a cat)
@@LimeyLassen Fran's cat-like personality features are described in the novel perfectly. Though at the same time she's a particular type of the person with a lot of past trauma and problems with communicating her thoughts.
As an artist, I am FLOORED by this artist's mastery of anatomy and body shapes, and the ease with which she can jump from one to another and blend characters races while still keeping them immediatly recognizable. Amazing.
Ryoko Kui is an unsung virtuoso. I hope the anime coming out gets people to pay more attention.
"oh you want to know more about female dwarven bodies? Here's a 40 page color reference sheet"
Yes.
@@droopy_eyesI'm not an artist but I disagree with you that it's average. Their character is good at least not just average when compared to some popular manga like rent a girlfriend
@_eyes I'd say her merit has more to do with her versatility to create original characters whose shapes make sense than the mastery of anatomy. You can tell a there's a difference between her and other mangakas who draw characters that look pretty much the same or that just look sloppy
Well, I have over 15+ years of professional work in graphic design and illustration, working with some big names in industries.
I can tell you right off the bat Ryoko Kui's design work isn't average in any way and is a standout among the manga industry. If you're so insistence it's average, maybe you're missing something that could help yourself, too. There's a lot to be learnt from her.
I think the part where laios' build is attributed more to diet and lifestyle than genetic predisposition needs to be a little more cognizant that both he and Falin are Big, even for Tallmen/Humans. It's something I appreciate because a lot of the times artists default for showing a big stocky older brother but have their sister be a tiny waifish thing. Not to say it's unrealistic, but in dunmesh it's refreshing.
I really loved in the second arc of Vinland Saga when the malnutritioned short and nimble main character got to see his sister as an adult, and she's this giant of a lady who looks so much like her father too and not just her mother, and you really feel that this was what the main character would have been like as well (though probably a little taller and wider) had he stayed put and gotten all the nutrition he needed instead of constantly starving himself as a child for like over a decade.
honestly seein chuby/more squared build for laios+falin in fanart is neat
:3
Also the part where she mentions Laios' neckpiece representing how eating is a priority for him is wrong. It'a a bit of a background detail, but the dungeon has created an unhealthily utilitarian view of food in its adventurers. Food is bought in dried ration packs and haphazardly boiled into edibility, overly weighted towards carbs and fats because the focus is on base filling the stomach rather than balanced meals, something that Senshi dunks on several times. It's brought up several times that the "dungeon gourmet" book that Laios bought doesn't actually have very good information about cooking monsters, and that's because it was meant as a guide for criminals who couldn't freely buy supplies on the surface, simply dividing monsters between "if eating this will kill you or not".
Laios is interested in eating monsters only as an extension of his hyperfixation on them, with the scorpion he just wants to cook it "the usual way" until Senshi shows up and he learns that monsters can be delicious, not just edible. He certainly didn't pick his armor design based on his love of food, because he didn't love food until after the manga starts.
@@Call-me-Al this alone has convinced me to watch vinland saga
IKR!! I feel like Falin is the only manga/anime character who is a big girl but not extremely fat or muscular, she's just.. big and a bit soft looking in a healthy balance. I love her she's so cute
"Orcs aren't conventionally attractive"
Yes, but they are absolutely the cutest to me
"I would make a cute orc!" Was my 1st thought when we got to them in the manga 😂
I binged all the available episodes of the anime just last night and I was SO pleased with how the orcs were drawn and depicted. I’m so accustomed to anime orcs being either humans with pig heads or just muscular green humans, showing them as both highly intelligent and bestial was great to see. And the orc women, especially, were a refreshing departure from the norm in fantasy art.
yes but there's a certain type of person who's really into orcs and laios is absolutely that guy
Right!! I really liked the blue eyed orc girl, her design is the cutest
My daughter loved the orcs!
I didn't realize how many fanservice moments of Senshi there were until the anime fans started calling it out.
to be fair it’s a lot easier to see in the anime
bc it ain't fanservice. It's just some fans who see it from that weird ahh perspective
@@JoJoboiWavidk about you but those planets at 20:20 are alarming 😮💨😮💨
I feel like the appeal of practical, natural, and realistic armor and outfits in medieval fantasy stories is massively underrated, especially in manga and anime. I really appreciate styles like this
In my opinion we needed even more Senshi fan service shots
Real.
he is so hot
To be fair, we got plenty
Senshi is for The People!
@@ejam4345but not enough!
Something that's always stayed with me is a guy that said he has a lazy eye, and that there's very few representations for them in fiction, so he really appreciates Mithrun for having one while still being cool and hot
I actually have a lazy eye myself! Definitely not to the extent of Mithrun, but it's really nice to see on a character design
Columbo is another iconic character that comes to mind (though technically it's a glass eye).
I think that "lazy eye" is actually a prosthetic eye, since Mithrun got that eye gouged by his demon
My first exposure to lazy eyes was in Fievel Goes West, where they made having one seem like a superpower.
my lazy eye is a big sense of shame for me so seeing a cool sexy guy not being derpy with a lazy eye made me cry
when you see the author's notes between chapters you can see how she is very passionate about this manga
dungeon meshi is getting an adaptation and I can't wait for it
Hi! how did you like the anime adaptation now that it’s out?
I'm still blown away by Kui's design process, going so far as to make studies of eyes and noses (ref 6:42) so every character maximizes recognizability without extreme exaggeration or making them difficult to draw repeatedly on the page. The bonus art she does where characters are drawn in modern, or each others' clothes, or even as different races, really drives home how strong this careful selection of features is.
It's a remarkable talent.
The race swap portraits are awesome
I've actually done the race swap exercise (wow that sounds bad) for learning how to draw my ocs quickly and maintaining recognizable characteristics. It's really fun, highly recommend
One of my favorite features about DunMeshi is that Marcille always has a different hair style. It had to have taken a lot of effort to have a different hair style each chapter, and I appreciate it so much.
Dungeon meshi has always been groundbreaking in it's representation and character design. I'm so happy to see you talking about it!
Couldn't agree more, thank you for watching!
groundbreaking?? lmao
Meshi da meshi
@@Userdoesnotexit if I haven't read the manga, I wouldn't have known this is a spoiler lmao
Yasunori Mitsuda will make the composer of yhe series! He is the composer of some othe following gems:
- Chrono Trigger
- Chrono Cross
- Xenosaga
- Xenogears
- Xenoblade Chronicles series
- Sea of Stars
The fact that that Ryoko went into this much detail is crazy. The armor is crazy accurate, while also still keeping it fantasy. This is what we need more of. I'm gonn start reading the manga.
As an aspiring character designer this video is REALLY helpful, I myself noticed that a lot of my characters have similar body types, I will try to study a wider variety of body types to use for my designs now
Same
You know the author puts lots of effort in their characters if all their eyes/ nose shape/mouth/ cheek shape/ body shape look different.
Yeh i decided to start reading this manga.
I was like eating monsters cant be that great of a concept right?
But i gave it a shot cus I like DND.
AND HOLY SHIT THE DETAILS OF THIS WOMAN's DRAWINGS character design! WORLD BUILDING! INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS! and the explorations of VARYING RACES AND BODY TYPES!
It was so much fucking variety! Plus the in world explanations of why dungeons exist in the first place.
This woman is genius and is talented in so many ways that it only leaves me with adoration and immeasurable envy!
Great way to expand on the thing we know about fantasy, like a Richard Darwin of fantasy everything happen in it place not in the adventure of the main characters
I like how the characters feel like they were come up with by earnest dnd players who just wanted to make them feel real. The tropes aren't adhered to or shunned overly, and the development and character moments come across as natural. Laos in particular. He reminds me of my little sister and to a lesser degree myself. Just thinking animals are neat, and weird, and kinda cool, despite the brutality that arises in nature. Maybe even because of how they engage with it.
As a Professor of Art at a University i am really glad you talked about diversity in design, especially as it refers to race. One way i teach it is, These are the basic proportions of the face, What makes a face unique and memorable are the ways it differs from this, not the idea that it fits this exactly. Great video all around and a great message given on design on top of that.
Races don't exist
You gotta learn the rules before you break them, so teaching "standard proportions" is a necessary "evil". In art you simply have to average out what you see in the world before you understand it well enough to break it down into more unique but harder to learn concepts.
It's not even just face - When looking for actual references, celebrities most often have this standard of what they look like body-wise. I've noticed that there's a different standard for East Asian beauty standards versus the West, and admittedly the former has a less diverse beauty standard (which contextually makes sense, since there are countries in East Asia that are monolithic [don't know if that's the actual word], or mainly reproduce with their own nationalities, and thus almost look as if they don't have any more diverse beauty such as the West might have).
I mean, even right now I can't find the exact body shape I have for one of my characters, which is a 5"7 Euro-Asian woman with a muscular appearance, but not muscular to the point of being a body-builder. Just enough to exceed Filipino beauty standards, and can be mistaken as a guy if you look far away enough. I can't find that.
What I can though is look for women who're as tall as that, break down their proportions using my own style of proportions, and then adjust the proportions. So generally speaking, you should have your own idea of proportions in order to be able to adjust - And I say likewise to the face. It's fine to study the standard, so long as you plan to adjust the standard into the character you want. Although I guess this is more for stylized artstyles - For more realistic ones, then you REALLY gotta look for actual references that reaches the proportions you want rather than just essentially guessing what their proportions might be.
The word you were looking for was "homogeneous".@user-wn3wv5bx5e
@@Пинагод(1 year+ late but re: “monolithic” the word you were looking for was “homogenous”! Hopefully this helps 😊 It always drives me up the wall when I can’t pinpoint the right word so wanted to reply in case you’re the same way lol)
this must've taken a lot of work, and it's helped me appreciate the realism aspect of dungeon meshi even more
Omg, thank you so much!! 🥺🥹 I did take a lot of work, but all of your support has made it totally worth it 🙏
Agreed
I personally relate to Chilchuck because I too am short. This manga has taught me a lot about character design, can't wait to see the anime
ironically he is quite tall for a half foot,
and when the party got the changeling (race swap), tall man Chilchuck is an absolute lanky man
I've fallen in love with this series.
The realism, unique designs, simple but effective plot are excellent and excel.
The incredibly effective usage of character design for storytelling is rarely seen at this level, and is so appreciated.
I binged the series in 2 days, chapter after chapter. Excellent video, very well constructed, great editing.
I know this wasn't a focus in the video, nor did it need to be considering the videos primary messge
but I love additionally how Laois group isn't strong. They're not weak, but instead incredibly Capable.
They're knowledge on Monsters (Which are amazing, never seen such well designed Monsters) and effective means of taking them down is fun to read, and causes many a hilarious or emotional moment
A standout in terms of Monster Design, The living armour. They introduced, and I'm like how the hell are they gonna eat these?
They're snails, mollusks or whatever is applicable. They GROW armour shaped bodies, They work together. Hermaphrodites, The best armour mates, the fact they hold hands, it's great
So good, the ideas and design.
The "hand holding = mating" revelation is still a favorite meta joke.
I loved a deep monsters desing ever since Monster Hunter. Capcom MH team used such care in the creation of monsters that they feel real, thats also why i loved Meshi. Same love given to all creatures
What really impress me the most is the author manage to not deviate from the main topic of the story which is food even when the characters are fighting the demons and saving the world.
I agree! I fell in love with the series too and binged it within a few days! Not only is Ryouko Kui's character design genius but also her world building and story-telling.
I cannot describe how much I admire the detail put into the world that makes it lived in, she designed rooms for her characters and other aspects of their lives OUTSIDE of the main storyline. Heck even side characters are fleshed out.
Where the heck do I even start with the story? What I expected was going to be DnD style cooking with monsters turned out to be.. WAY way more than that and explored other themes I did not know a cooking anime could go into. I also loved how it never left it's central theme of food or hunger and love. No matter how far the plot seemed to go in crazy ways, at the center of it all was hunger/desire and family/love.
A little funfact but characters I never expected to relate so hard to was Marcille and Chilchuck, both in different ways.
Why is this so underwatched??
I’d never really thought about diversity in character design so this was really interesting for me!
Also the amount of effort this must’ve taken…truly stupendous
It's actually top 2 in my all-time launches! RUclips might take its time for the algorithm to pick it up (if it does) but 10k in less than 5 days is super for me haha
I'd say the begining is rather weak along with not developed art in Vol 1. I once dropped this manga cause I couldn't get the joke nor the art is pleasing to my eyes. BUT THANK GOD for some unknown reason I picked this up again and loving it
Its like if a twitter/tumbler artist became a comicbook artist and their work became super popular to warrant an animated adaptation.
Dungeon Meshi feels like a true DnD Campaign with fantastic DM and Wild but smart player
As a blonde white lady, I'm not exactly from an underrepresented demographic in media, but Falin's design makes me really happy. She's a little on the tall side, has a stockier build, and she has droopy eyes, which are all very similar to me. The eyes especially make me happy since so many blonde characters have giant sparkly eyes, and I just don't.
I'm not a blonde white lady, but a black/white mixed woman. All of the designs make me happy. Short, tall, big, thin.. black skin, brown skin, white skin. Different eye shapes and face shapes. I love the diversity.
This is hilarious because in fact blonde white women aren’t exactly the most casted demographics in Western media right now.
I’m a short Filipino woman and Falin makes me feel represented as well. She has curves. Falin is one of the best female characters I have seen in anime!
There is not enough content about dungeon meshi or Ryoko Kui, thanks for this video!
Still the best manga author for me
Gotta agree on the paucity of content. Who knows why. Anyway, the upcoming anime adaptation should rectify that. 🤞
True. Though it seems that Dungeon Meshi is gaining traction.
It didn't have a translation here in germany for a long time. But it was picked up at the end of '19. Which just makes me happy. Though I would have preferred if a different company picked it up. But that's another story.
this is such a good explanation of why the character designs are so appealing, and how much of an effort Ryoko Kui makes to have diversity. One thing that really stood out to me in terms of the diversity was the way that Laois, mr maincharacter heroguy, was a huge nerd about the creatures of the dungeon and has a genuine passion for the ecology and complexities of it. 99% of the time if the main character of a manga is male, his personality will be designed to be as relatable as possible to as many readers as possible, which always just leads to incredibly boring "im just your average guy" type characters. When Laois first gets excited about the creatures of the dungeon it made me so so happy because like, same dude!!!!!! Ecology is fascinating!!!!!! If magic was real the interactions between magic and the natural world would be even more fascinating and complex!!!!!! I totally get why he's excited
and also the fact that since we get many caracters from the beginning, Laois doesn't really have to be a blank "main caracter" he can have a great amount of personnality without compromising relatability.
The art style of Dungeon Meshi is perfect... It's fun, functional, intense, yet wholesome. I would give my left leg to see this to be the new standard for anime.
I would assume Marcille's sleeves are stitched so that she can store things inside and the stitching keeps them from falling out.
Also I hope the upcoming anime adaptation respects and loves the diversity of body types just as much as the manga (I'm just thinking of how anime adaptations will slim down bodies when it comes to female characters).
Trigger have already shown their respect for the source material with the ad they did - hopefully that can translate across to a full series because they really seemed to get it.
@@MrStath1986 wait, Trigger's doing this!?
Yes! I'm super worried about this as the most visible comparison I can think of immediately is bnha. Both in terms of body shapes and race but even in how the characters fashion presents themselves (at least to me in this aspect).
@@MrStath1986 Yup. I was really happy to see that in the ad, Senshi's knife has scratches, showing that he has little care for his tools, just like in the manga. Very small detail but they actually implement it.
@@hydrangeyes2170 Let's hope they'll do the body types justice unlike MHA. I'm not sure about the most recent 2 seasons, but I know they slimmed down the female characters a fair bit in the anime, which is unconfortable in all kinds of ways considering the setting
A neat worldbuilding detail that we can find in the doppelganger mini-arc (my personal favorite), it that beauty standard is different for most races :
"Senshi has always been handsome."
- Chilchuck
Yeah especially that one mini comic about the orc chief asking Laois if he finds his wife’s ugly and Laois points out the beauty standards are different / similar in aspects
I love that dungeon meshi doesn’t spend a lot of time on certain fantasy aspects that we already know. We all know what mana is, we all know the basics of the fantasy races and monsters in the show, we don’t need a refresher. Thus the story is able to focus on its specific take of the fantasy genre instead of explaining what an Elf is for the 100th time. I call it the Spiderman effect
I haven't been much into anime/manga for decades now, but I occasionally check out manga and when I read Dungeon Meshi I was FLOORED. The character sketches were a marvelous peek into the mangaka's worth ethic: character designs are a dime-a-dozen online, and high quality manga can trick readers into thinking it just "came out like that". Those "sketches" show so much love for the whole process of making a comic, bridging that gap.
Since I read the manga casually, I enjoyed listening to this thorough examination. I liked the point about switching-clothes because it's a fun way to test one's own design stagnation. The concepts presented here are all practical ways to improve for any skill level through the lens of a fantastic manga. Really brilliant.
With regards to presentation and body types in this manga: I really love how much thought goes into standards of beauty with the characters and the races in the world of Dungeon Meshi. It's clear that Kui spent a lot of time thinking about that sort of thing.
Seeing those collections of the characters being drawn as each different species while still being clearly each individual character is so cool. As someone who follows League of Legends' characters very closely and gets worn out on their Same/Inconsistent Face Syndrome, it's so gratifying to see a cast of characters, particularly with many women, who have such clear diversity in even just their faces.
One thing I really love about the author acknowledging that Senshi is handsome is it isn't just done through the fanservice, but in universe too! Laios and Chilchuck both think he's rather handsome and I'm floored that it was acknowledged in-universe as well. Such a wide range of designs are rarely seen in media, let alone anime and manga! She really outdid herself with all their designs.
As an art student struggling with character design I find this video so incredibly useful, not only do you lay out so many brilliantl points so beautifully and easy to understand, I now have a great manga to go read and get inspired, thanks a lot ❤️❤️
Amazing video!! My addition: Chilchuck’s character being so focused on practicality but having a large part of his outfit be a sentimental gift from his daughter reveals that despite his tough exterior he has a heart of gold.
Definitely loved the informative tone of the video.
Coming from a (somewhat) recent subscriber, this might sound a little superficial, but I'm genuinely thankful for the content you've made so far.
As a person who is often lost in their tracks and needs to be constantly "inspired" on the creative front to feel alive, your videos are as comforting as they are inspiring :)
I'm an anime only normy but I knew I was witnessing greatness when watching that trap focused episode with Chilchuck disarming all the traps, then they deduce the oil must be olive oil since that area had them in spades, and the episode that just came out when we find out Senshi is an integral part of the dungeon's ecosystem!
I knew female mangakas would bring a breath of fresh air to the community but Jujutsu Kaisen and now this? I can't wait for more!
Ok, I can agree that Dungeon Meshi is somewhat good, but Jujutsu is trash
@@Keima_Katsuragi. why do you think that?
@@Hanible because it's a cringe cliched Shonen
Jjk manga author is not female
Female mangaka has always been a thing tho.
I am so glad that this manga is getting some attention. The characters are so distinct an refreshing in comparison with most anime and manga where the faces and body designs serves as foundation, then drew with aesthetics. Delicious in Dungeon or Dungeon Meshi brings such a breathe air of character design. Doing it in a fantasy setting that involves with fantasy races including Elves, Dwarves, Halflings to even fantasy creatures, brings infinite potential designs and purpose to the world building. Even if you do it in a silhouette, you can tell which character are which. As for the world building and story, it's in depth and expansive on the functions of the dungeon to even the politics involved.
For those that looks for a new manga, please read this and you will understand why this manga is such a breath of fresh air of character design, amazing world building and interesting story to follow.
There are RUclipsrs whose videos I dread watching when they come out because they are of such high quality that I feel inadequate by comparison. Dani is one of those creators. Absolutely amazing stuff.
Man, this editing is amazing! It makes all of these still images have the same amount of life as if they were fully animated.
Man I knew I loved the character design diversity in this manga for a long time I'm glad you made a video about it, and I even learned a lot of why I like it.
didn't expect to see someone talking about this manga today, but it's just so charming. I've always loved the way this manga depicts the asian dog-like kobolds in more detail. That was originally born from a mistranslation in dungeons and dragons, but since then they're occasionally given their own twist in games and manga.
Kobolds were dog like before they were dragon like in d&d, like how orcs were pig like in old d&d and many Japanese artists interpret their own orcs as sharing pig like characteristics.
Thank you for the beautiful essay. Ryoko Kui is amazing and the fact that while Character Design is such a fantastic part of her manga, it's not even the only aspect she excels at. I wish Ryoko Kui sees your video and can see the heartwarming appreciation from a fan.
Thank you for putting into how amazing I find this series and Kui's art, character design, and world building. I could never quite express all I love about her work but you did an amazing job!
I don't even read dungeon meshi but the way you presented the artist's work and your guiding voice throughout the entire video entranced me! I picked up a few chapters of it just to see these designs in action haha! Thank you for making this very cozy video, it was a big comfort on a long day :]
Also, as an artist, this video is a super useful reference for body types!
Read it
I remember reading dungeon meshi and to find my body type being represented in such a natural grounded way made me appreciate my physical self more. I love the vid!!!
Same here, really appreciate Ryoko Kui for that 🥹 And thank you!
@@notmyrealname977 but you seem to desire to feel superior to others in youtube comment sections, so clearly masturbatory narcissism isn't entirely alien to you
Love that this video reminded me of why I love Dungeon Meshi-- and I hope TRIGGER does the art and story justice when the animation rolls around. It's such a simultaneously cozy, yet thrilling manga with lovable & interesting characters with their own unique style & personality. Thanks for the video! Subbed!
What a treat to get a video from you about Dungeon Meshi! This manga (along with Houseki no kuni) revived my interest in manga after years of being tired of the sane stories. Thank you for yet another amazing video!
P.D: just a small typo, but on 0:24, that frame is not from Dorohedoro but Dai Dark.
omg you're 100% correct, I can't believe I let that typo slip pass me!!! 😒 but tysm!
@@linesinmotion dont mention it! And now that we are talking about Q Hayashida, would love a video from you about her abrassive yet charming artstyle. Maybe one day? Thanks for your hard work!
@@DanielBadosa I do *really* want to make a dorohedoro video!
i cant thank you enough for introducing dungeon meshi to so many people , since ur video has reached 200k views , there were alot of channels did to but havent been able to achieve such numbers , my thanks again for making dungeon meshi popular
Ryoko Kui is really talented, some pages of her manga can even evoke the same feelings berseker evoked in me.
I am incredibly delighted to see a video about Dungeon's meshi incredibly profound character design. Every tome is filled with sketches at the end of it representing attempts at character design, and I was baffled by the quality and how well we could recognize everyone despite changing so much about them.
The lessons in it crosses any media, whether it's drawing, cinema, special effects, or animation, it's a testament to practice.
This manga is absolutely fantastic and its character design is among my faves, love this video!!
Thank you Arthur!! fellow dm/wha supporter 🤝
I am always in awe of Ryoko Kui's character designs, they are so specific and real. Great video!
Check out her one shots
Dungeon Meshi is such a good little manga. I also loved all the variant doodles the author made of her characters in the bonus books. Good video
This video was the thing that got me interested in Dungeon Meshi! Read the whole thing and watched all of season 1 and man the final point of feeling represented is so incredibly true. I cosplayed Falin recently as someone who's not born a woman and it felt so perfect. She's an achievable goal. She'd broad shouldered and isn't incredibly skinny. Her body is natural, and imitating it and having people say I look like her was so incredibly freeing. Good diversity hits incredibly hard!
Ryoko Kui has to be one of the best artists around.
I don't know why but I teared up while listening to you on this subject. Makes me emotional when people talk big about things I'm passionate about, linking to such important matters as representation and diversity. Fantastic video for an outstanding manga!
🥹🥹 thank you, that's so heartening to hear, I'm glad you liked it so much 🫰
Same, I don't even know why
I really enjoyed your video editing as well as the dedication to deliver a multimedia essay with the top notes, source citations and also clarifications. Very "delicious" 🐉
Thank you so much!! 🥹
This video got me reading the comic, Delicious in Dungeon. I've bought 5 volumes so far and I'm so excited for the anime, but will keep reading.
Such a great work with strong character designs and world building.
ahhh, that's the best thing I can ever hear, so pumped you love it, too!!! Thank you for watching the video, and taking my words into consideration (enough to try the manga!) 😊😊
Dungeon Meshi is genuinely one of my favorite mangas, and I'm so happy more people are talking about it now! Initially I began reading it because I love food depictions in manga, but began growing an appreciation for the plot, worldbuilding, and character design the further I read.
The worldbuilding was particularly distinctive to me because at the time I started reading, dungeon trawling/adventuring was a decently popular trope (usually isekai as well) and pretty much all of the dungeons I'd read about could have been copy pasted from one manga to the other. So going into Dungeon Meshi, I was absolutely blown away by how organic the dungeon and world was described. You can live, breathe, and feel the ecosystem of the dungeon in Dungeon Meshi, just by how it's shown to you on the page.
I also loved reading the author's sketches and extras because I'd never before seen an author experiment so much with body types, races, and fashion as Ryoko Kui. It was great seeing cool characters with my body type and other body types that are seldom seen in manga, and it was even greater watching them all interact in a natural way.
Thanks for covering Dungeon Meshi! This video has summarized everything everything I love about it.
Dungeon Meshi is one of my all time favorite fantasy works but an ineloquent pleb like me never really knew how to describe the charm the manga had until now. Its so refreshing to read a fantasy story that actually pays attention to the plethora of variety fantasy settings can allow, without it ever feeling too tropey or cliche, again.
This has been such a favorite of mine and I enjoyed this retrospective immensely. Thank you!
Omg, thank you so much, you didn't have to do that 😭 But I'm super glad you enjoyed the video, ry!
watching this video after the manga has ended, and I have to say thanks for pointing the little details that I've never realized during my read through! Very insightful and makes me appreciate the manga even more, hope the adaptation can capture the essence of the manga as well
I love Ryoko Kui's attention to details and diversity in character design. I can easily tell apart each member of the canary squad, by their eyes or even hands only.
I am constantly floored by the quality of your videos.
Really glad to see a video this good on one of my favorite manga
I was curious about this comic. I'll give it a try. Thank you for the heads-up!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!! ☺️☺️
I just finished reading the manga and I'm so impressed with this video! I enjoyed your explanation and its definitely one of the biggest reasons why I knew I had to keep reading the series. each chapter you read you can feel how much the author cares about their characters and story and just was such a great read. It truly made me wish we can get more side stories just so I don't have to say goodbye to them just yet. This series also made me want to get the artbooks so I hope I can find them soon
My partner is really into this manga, and while I was initially a bit skeptical because there's just so many "foodie comfort fantasy" manga and anime out there right now I did eventually give it a try and it definitely distinguishes itself from the rest with a cute setup, a healthy bit of self awareness (but not so much that the whole thing feels cheap), good writing, and really immersing the foodie part of the manga into the world and story through detail and imaginative ideas. So many others with a similar on paper premise just resort to lazy izekai gimmicks that make the fantasy world itself feel sort of hollow but Dungeon Meshi really avoids that by making the food and why the party is seeking it out part of its world.
But the character design is definitely another big factor why I like it a lot. The sheer variety of body types is so refreshing. You can really tell that Kui cut her artistic teeth on drawing real people and has continued to practice honing this, but she's also refined it all into a cute artstyle that avoids horrendously unflattering depictions of anything that deviates too far from the archetypical samey face/samey bodied anime character standard so many other artists kind of settle on. It's just nice to see a style that isn't terrified of bigger body types of all sorts. The extra mile given to the detail of the various fantasy worlds' racial traits is an added bonus that just helps the world feel so fun. I do agree definitely that the positive treatment of Senshi is especially refreshing, as well as the other dwarves. In some modern fantasy manga and/or anime with similar premises, the distinct details of the fantasy races can seem so phoned in at times that it makes me wonder why they bothered to set it in a fantasy world, so the design in this manga is such a welcome breath of fresh air. I'm really looking forward to the anime adaptation.
the art of dungeon meshi and ryoko kuis art in general is genuinely so inspirationally good. even when shes drawing simple things like modern outfits for the cast, you can feel all of the love and care she has for the cast and for making characters Feel different. Like, I love daydream hour so much just because of this and i really hope to see more from her in the future
Watching your videos is such a good experience because it encourages me to read the titles you've introduced but also educates me on certain disciplines in art! Plus! your edits are so entertaining I can't help but watch them again and again.
The "old man thirst" Senshi has unwittingly generated is absolutely staggering
Dungeon meshi has done the world an invaluable service in spreading body diversity and body type appreciation to the masses
The editing here is so wildly good, and the points are no less great.
This is the first time ive every come across your channel and I just wanna say I love the way you narrate things and compose the visuals, it's very comfortable to me personally while still allowing so much information to be absorbed, thank you for making this video!
I find a lot of modern fantasy manga/anime strangely bland considering how heavily stylized characters often are. What sticks out to me about Dungeon Meshi (this is my first time seeing it) is how distinct the characters look from other modern fantasy manga, utilizing more simplistic, down to earth character design. I think it's in part Ryoko's hard work and talent as an artist, but it also just stands out simply by going against the grain. A person wearing neutral tones tends to stick out when everyone else is wearing bright neon!
I like both styles honestly. The stylized and the different
I adore Dungeon Meshi's world, the art, the people, the humor, absolutely everything about it. Ryoko Kui's work is the only thing that has ever been able to me make cry by just witnessing it.
your video singlehandedly convinced me to go read the manga. I think i'll love this series tbh, it looks so interesting!!
That's an insanely useful video about the intricacies of chara-design.
I've been in the animation trade for close to 2 decades (I'm kind of a Jack of all trades, mostily formed to be director, but good at storyboard, animation, compositing and editing, alhtough I did my own movies chara-designs as well), and your vid still made me discover quite a few things I've never even thought about !
Great job !
HEY! Commenting because WTF this video is super good!!!!!!!!! Thank you for sharing about Ryoko Kui’s work, and for making this video with so such quality! I’m doing a study about this topic and this is 10/10!
I'VE BEEN SO EXCITED TO SEE A DUN MESHI VIDEO FROM YOU FOR SO LONG ;W; this video was so beautiful , Dun Mesh is such a good read and I hope more people can get into it especially since the anime announcement!
Beautifully described. Thank you so much for this video - Ryoko Kui is a generational talent, and you really captured her thoughtfulness.
This video was amazing. Not only was your discussion comprehensive and thought-provoking, but the animation, presentation style and editing are topnotch. I often get tired of videos where it's simply narration over still and unedited photos (I get bored, click to another tab, and just let the video audio run in the background like a podcast) but there was so much movement and visual dynamicity that it made me stick around to actually watch the video. Animating panels and shots from the manga was a nice touch, and the colorful montage of different media in the beginning really drew me in. Consider me subscribed!
i'm so glad you made this video. im not much of a manga reader but dungeon meshi is one of the only mangas i've read through and through. i always thought the designs in this manga was so thoughtful and unique compared to almost every anime/manga designs i've seen and you conveyed that so eloquently in this video essay! :))
I never realized this. After watching this video and seeing just how much detail is given in everything, and all the very good points you made, it now comes as no surprise why I enjoyed this manga so much. I agree with you that every character feels so real and the world wonderfully fleshed out. Even characters who only appear in the background are all well designed. I'm not caught up in the manga as of currently, so I thank you for not delving too deep into spoilers, and I'll definitely keep an eye out for when I can get the next few volumes of Delicious in Dungeon.
Also: You have earned yourself a new subscriber. Keep up the good work!
i read Dungeon Meshi after your recommendation of it in the first place, so it's really cool to see you digging in deeper, especially into such a triumphant aspect of its design. i particularly love the extra sketchbook pages, but i always enjoy when authors/artists do their own official "AUs" hahaha
excellent video as always! a lovely in-depth look 👏👏👏 and omg Trigger's making the anime?? the hype is real
Thanks for covering this topic. 👍 I appreciate how you break down different aspects of manga and how they affect us as readers when done right.
I haven't read this manga but I have heard great things about it and after seeing you cover it I am excited about Trigger's adaptation. 🙌
the character design in Dungeon Meshi are the main reason i wanted to start reading it, that and the art style. i never actually started it i kept getting busy or distracted by other things but after this video i'm definitely goin to read it. 💚
Your voice and accent are so soothing without being monotone, i loved this. I was watching while crocheting and it made me stop to fully listen and look at the details, this made me greatly interested in reading the manga too. Also I've gotta love those little edited animations they really add character to the panels. Overall outstanding video, i will try to look more into the author to inspire myself with some of my own characters. Thank you for this gem!
I JUST WATCHED 1st episode of this anime and was immediately blown away by character design and after watching it come to youtube to learn more about character design and i saw your video ABOUT THIS SHOW. Talking about right place right time right everything. Love the video and absolutely in love with this mastery of character design
I could literally listen to all of your videos all day long, you have the softest most soothing voice ever! The way you explains that are just amazing, no other way to put it
Ryoko Kui is such a huge inspiration to me as an artist tbh. I have already been attracted to realism in my art, and have always desired to make art that works and feels alive. Dungeon meshi is that, and it’s funny how because they need to eat all these monsters it means we need to learn about their biology and the greater dungeon ecology. As a biologist this instantly peaked my interest in the series and it continues throughout the entire thing exploring the connections between individuals and their environment be it monsters or humans. It’s such an inspiring series for everything it does and there’s nothing else like it, I could only wish to come close to what this series has done but that won’t stop me. Thank you for making this video also! It provided some more insight to this series for me and was great to see how kuis character design works so well!
I can't imagine the time it took to do the editing, it's an excellent video. The text is also great and I love the subject. Awesome work !
I absolutely LOVE Dungeon Meshi and this videos makes me so happy. You talk about all the aspects I adore in Ryoko Kui style, even realizing a lot of things I haven't noticed until now. Your videos are amazing!
Excellent video. Only vaguely knew about the license, but you really made me interested in the artist's work. "I noticed I relied too much on the same body types" is the rare introspection that manga artists desperately needs.
in addition to the amazing style, the soft colours she uses (when she uses colour) are so pretty! Really inspires me, I hope to be able to draw in a similar manner at some point
As an anime-only viewer, I had no idea the mangaka had artbooks about her work! I need to check them out. I really love and appreciate her characters' diversity in form, height, muscle mass, skin color, etc. Thanks for this video, it was enlightening!
Now I really wanna start reading this manga and will be looking out for the anime!
Body diversity in media is so rare to be shown in a positive and natural light, so I really love this!
As a former art teacher, I think if I was doing a lesson on character design, the things you mentioned here would be great as a foundation for younger students! You point things out in such a chill and casual way, it feels really nice.
Btw I wanted to say I LOVE the animated slides of your video!! It’s a small touch but it adds so much! Such a high quality vid !!
This video is beautiful. It puts in to words so many things that I appreciate about dungeon meshi and beautifully articulates what sets it apart from other manga. It is truely special piece of art that is upheld by its attention to detail. Nothing feels out of place or like it is trying to fit some agenda, it all just makes sense and to me, it defines perfect world building. Ryoko Kui is a genius and I’m so glad that studio trigger were able to bring the characters and world to life. I watched the anime and have never been more inspired to retroactively read a manga. Comparing the written work to the animation, it is clear that so much love and attention were given to perfecting the execution. Dungeon Meshi is perhaps my favourite piece of media.
Ryoko Kui’s art and character design is the reason why I got into Dungeon Meshi. I really wanna reread it from the start now lol