Holm nation... I have a heartbreaking announcement to make.
We didn't get to see this panels animated.
(I wanted to see Laios helping him, this one isn't the one this post is all about)
I feel it's important to his character enough that Kui decided to dedicate three panels about how he aproaches and resurrects Kabru.
He is used to resurrecting people, his party sucks at keeping themselves alive. He walks up to Kabru's corpse with a worried look on his face. Then he kneels besides him and takes a second to process what he is seeing. He is seeing a young man, Kabru, dead. It makes him feel unseasy, a bit of shock that he can't take the luxury of process at the moment. He doesn't want to look, so he closes his eyes and focuses on his spell. He is realizing he is the only one alive from his party (he doesn't know where Mick is or how he is). He is the last one standing. The reality of it all slaps him in the face.
The panel of him just... looking at the mess Kabru's corpse is was just... It was important. It talked about him as a character. "I'm not doing this because I want to, but because I have to". He doesn't has time for emotions. He has a job to do.
It's just three panels. But they provide lots of context between the ones that came before and after.
He doesn't just rubs Kabru's head because he's being afective. He does it because he cares. He does it out of relief. "As long as I'm here, any of you'll be dying soon. And I'll always be here. Don't worry." He is far from being OK after all this. Marillier died, Daya died, Kuro died, Kabru died, Rin died, Mick probably died too (but he doesn't saw it). He... By the time he was the only one standing, the fight was over, and he could alredy resurrect them. He wants to feel sad. To worry, to be concerned, to mourn. But he can't. It isn't necessary.
He is a cleric. He for sure has a notion of dead way different than anyone and feels a certain way about resurrection. "Dying is dying, even if you resurrect." It's a bug at the corner of his mind, he doesn't pay it any attention. He gets resurrected multiple times, he is gratefull he is alive. But seeing all his friends dead? And the most of them mutilated? Covered in their own blood? He has this desire to mourn. To cry the loss. To panic. "They are all dead."
He knows they'll come back. He has to make them come back. So he does. And they are alive. But they weren't a few seconds ago. And he just plays it off, he puts his calm face on as soon as there is another party member alive that could ask him what happened that it disturbed him so much. He throws all those sad feelings under the rug and focuses at the task at hand.
They're going to be ok, he just has to do his job: bring them back from death. They shouldn't even be dead. But they are. And he's going to fix it. No point on feeling sad about them dying if they can be alive soon!
I think the concern that the anime puts here it's something that could come close to what he feels inside. Those seconds are the only ones we see him looking something akin to worried for his friends.
But then...
His worry vanishes in seconds. The moment Kabru revives, he does it in such a "Kabru" way, that he tells himself: "This is fine, they're going to be back soon, nothing to worry about, I just have to hurry". He wants them all back to live. We know for sure that in his priority list there wasn't any "reviving Toshiro's party members first". He was going to make sure all his party, all his friends, were alive before even thinking of resurrecting other people if he still had the magic.
Those three panels they didn't animate are something that was there for a reason. To give depth to Holm. This last episode is definitely the one in wich he shines the most. He isn't the main character at all this episode, but he does the most important stuff on the background. He revives them all. This all lack of something if you don't show what Kuy drew on those panels.
Here he just... goes to work. He says: "lemme handle it" and he does. No concern, no worry, no, nothing. He just does. No thoughts.
It makes me sad. Those panels were important. :(
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I love how much more complexity is added to the way Chilchuck acts when you realize he's a dad.
For example, his fear around being caught up with black magic. He's definitely the most worried out of everyone and it makes sense. Not only is he the most grounded in terms of thinkinh about the consequences of things, but he has the most at risk if they get arrested by elves. They explain that elves can take decades just to interrogate their prisoners. Dude's middle-aged and from the shortest lived race, he doesn't have decades.
But add on the fact that he's a dad. Of course he's the most worried! Not only will his arrest be bad for him, it would be bad for his kids! They'd probably never know what happened to him and would lose a parent at a young age (they're adults, but they're young adults. If Chil is 29, then Patti's only 14).
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So it's been brought to my attention that my western lens on media between any sort of relationship with two men is clouding my view point on if the Kabru and Laios scene will go over well. Y'all know the one I mean. I least i hope you do.
Because it's not explicitly romantic, I have been told that Japanese media does an amazing job with male friendships and my expectations should not be on the floor. I guess in most anime, male friendships are celebrated and done very well? And that most of the time the friendships are turned more into "fan service" than anything?
I will say that this is not the case in western media. We're very "'five feet apart in the hot tub cause we're not gay" in our shows. So, with this new information, I've decided to raise my expectations. I've decided to just assume things are going to go well!
So Dungeon Meshi--I'm gonna assume you're gonna take the Kabru Laios emotional friendship admission scene thing and do it well. My expectations are now through the roof. Clearly I did not know what I was talking about. I may still now also not know what I'm talking about. But I'm more hopeful now.
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