Dungeon Meshi - Spelunking On the Spectrum

Dungeon Meshi was my favorite show of the previous season, with its extreme attention to detail, and fun take on dungeon delving through a culinary and ecological lens. But did you know... that a great deal of main characters in the show... are autistic (positive)? Completely seperate from the sales pitch of the show, DM is ALSO a really nuanced and full depiction of multiple types of autism, and this is a video exploring the autistic representation found within the show. It simply blew me away when I was watching it, and hopefully you'll either agree or find something new to appreciate within the depths of the King's Dungeon.

!!!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!!
Oftentimes, neurodivergent research has an ideological bend to it, which causes an implicit bias in the research, writer, or recipient of the research. Some people see autism as a disease, others a disability, and yet others just a neurological condition, and each of these statements comes with loads of assumed meaning. I tried to vet the sources of information to make sure they weren't "bad" (in my opinion), but I am not perfect. If a source is anti-autistic peoples or has some problematic beliefs, kindly let me know, or email me, or assume that someone before you likely already did so, given how MANY people are on YouTube. Again, I am one man, doing my best, and I really did try, I promise.
Anyway:
Writings Referenced in the Video

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:01 Dungeon Meshi
03:55 Laios is autistic
06:38 A stereotypical, but empathetic depiction of autism
09:04 Kabru is autistic, too
12:23 Masking
16:23 The fist fight
17:54 Culture and Neurodivergency
19:10 A Common Autistic L
21:07 Representation
22:54 Falin is autistic also
24:55 Gender and Neurodivergency
26:59 Conclusion

My lovely patrons:
Gavin Davis
Mushroom-Bagel-Bites
coffeeee
mercymain
Geneva
Da Chowda
Big Cheddar
Rowan Ellis
dingga
gerberli
Autogyro
Bonus Jonas
Michal
Lexa Rider
Eli
Lazar
DSCota
Ian Fisch
Dakota-Mangum-Turner

[moviesfilmsandmotionpictur]

to quote a tumblr user whose username I don't remember, 'Kabru is trying to play 5D mind chess with a guy whose hobby is barking like a dog'

[tuiteyfruity]

Falin being autistic was solidified for me when she was depicted showing up with random bugs and plants and barging in on Marcille without any explanation. She had no conception of the social rules for making friends and interacting with friends.

Just because she wants to hang out with Marcille. but she cannot express this and Marcille didn’t pick up on it either.

She and Laios also understand each other and can translate their autism to their friends! We see Laios explain Falin’s actions to Marcille and we know Falin supported Laios in his interactions.

[amdete]

“Her autism doesn’t deprive her of social capital, though”
Maybe not with her party, but… the majority of people in the world dungeon meshi don’t like Falin. She was ostracized by her village growing up, and then ostracized by her classmates.
She was also a social pariah, it’s just that her party is full of those.

[a_raichub]

In the manga (probably later), it's pointed out that Laios used to not be "himself" until Falin got eaten by the dragon. In other words, what we see in the present is Laios with his '"mask" off...that's why his party was surprised about his special interest in monsters.

[Hallasammal]

In addition to the Falin part: imo it's not as simple as "everyone likes Falin" - sure, we're following a bunch of people who care about her a LOT. But when Kabru was talking about Laios being "indifferent to people", he said the same thing about Falin too. It's likely many people outside her own party do find her strange just like Laios. And we're shown that she was a very lonely child who struggled socially and academically, both while living at home and later in school. It's only after she made her first friend, Marcille, that she opens up more. Laios says in the last episode something along the lines of "Falin was a lot tougher than me mentally." It's likely they were both ostracized since they were children, they just dealt with it differently

[blank_]

I cried when liaos said " why did you expect me to not be exited when i got my first freind on the island." 😭😭😭

[dexo_]

Saw someone describe Kabru as minmaxing social interaction and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since lmao

[doodskull]

I saw a post that said "Kabru is playing 3 dimensional mind chess with a man who barks like a dog and he's losing." And I think that is a VERY accurate summarization of those two character's interactions.

[MathMasterism]

For me, the point where Laios went from "He just like me, fr, fr" to "Okay, I think this guy is ACTUALLY autistic" was when a friend so me a bonus panel of the manga that explained whose mind created each of doppelgangers and why they perceived that person that way. The way Laios's brain consistently missed obvious and sometimes iconic physical details, was not only very relatable, but all but said that Laios's mind just works differently than everyone else's.

Also, that bit where we hear Laios's parents say "How do you expect to survive in the real world?" hit so close to home that I could hear it knocking at the door.

Lastly, I'm so glad Delicious in Dungeon gets that an autistic hyperfocus is a compulsion and not a superpower. Laios's "fun facts" can be useful, but can just as well be barely relevant (and we know this is intentional since Senshi does not have this problem).

[aspergianstoryteller]

When Laios was saying that if Falin hadn't been eaten, he never would have gotten to experience eating monsters, I immediately knew he meant it in a "every cloud has a silver lining" way. The sympathy hit me so hard then, like, dude, I know exactly what you mean.

[kekero]

I would also like to note historically. Romance between nobles in Japan was extremely complicated and autistic traits in women could easily be misinterpreted and seen as “overly feminine” before the Meiji period it was expected that a woman would only communicate via third parties before meeting their expected partner personally (sometimes even speaking to eachother through a paper screen.

So Falin’s non romantic autistic behavior could be seen as almost flirtatious and extremely attractive in a medieval Japanese context.

[sydneygorelick]

6:30 "you get five autistic people in a room, you're gonna hear seven opinions" I have never heard a more accurate statement in my life

[dee_river]

One point I don't fully agree with is that Laios never exhibits a mask...

He does not - NOW.

The way his party members react when they see him go all out about monsters, how they are surprised with things he says and ways he says them... you'd have thought that this is their first trip together.
Which it definitely was not.
You said it yourself, they've probably known each other for years.

Laios WAS masking by not being so overexcited about monsters. By not saying first thing that came to his mind. By not showing clearly and openly how deep his obsession with monsters goes.

Yes, from the societal point of view?
Even if he was limiting himself in his expression, and biting his tongue and was not openly gushing about his hyperfixation, he still would be perceived as a "weirdo".

But sucking at masking the way that is socially acceptable does not mean that someone does NOT mask.

So in general - yes, I do agree with your analysis of Kabru, and you actually put perfectly into words something I was not 100% sure about myself, due to myself having much more of Laios than Kabru form of autism 😉.

Which probably explains a lot why I feel so passionate about hearing the lack of mask mentioned when it comes to Laios.

People like Laios still do mask, we're just not too good at it 😉 despite feeling like we're doing a lot and enough and desperately trying to shove ourselves into neat little boxes we have no way of fitting in so we would finally belong and be accepted somewhere.

P.S. Senshi is another character in series I consider to be autistic 😀. But he gives much more of "autistic dad who never realised he was autistic before talking with his autistic child about autism" vibe 😀

[justas]

A little theory on Kabru and "manipulative tactics": The reason this behavior seems/is manipulative is because to an autistic person not innately privy to the rules of social interaction, any use of those rules, behaviors etc. is unnatural or a mask. You don't really use them in the semi-conscious way most do, almost all of it is a conscious decision.

I say this because of my own personal experiences. Sometimes I use certain behaviors because I know it will help me get out of situations and because I had to learn these things since they didn't come naturally, I get a sense of "I'm doing a thing to elicit the proper response", like a guilt for manipulating someone by saying I'm real busy when I'm not.

[ToozdaysChild]

"Maybe you should get better at reading the room, Laios!"
"HOW, Shuro?!"

These lines punched me in the gut. Laios literally asking "HOW?!" was decades of bullshit being validated. We don't always understand. We don't always pick up on cues. And that one 'how' made me feel understood.

I can't stress enough how great it feels to have a hero that feels like me. He's not some unattainable goal or a paragon of some lofty ideal. He's a dumbass trying to be a good person; not always succeeding but trying all the same.

[NixFaerie]

It's very funny being autistic and Laios comes on screen and its immediately like wow this is such an amazing, compassionate, complex character who loves so many people and things and is intelligent and passionate, willing to grow and make hard decisions, he's a strong leader, this is peak character writing that conveys so many things in literally every new scene. This is one of the best characters I've ever seen written.
And then you go online and find out everyone else thought Laios was a wet cardboard cutout of Generic Human Fighter that becomes a deconstruction of it halfway through the series when all those traits that have been there on full display from episode 1 finally culminate into be moments.

[trudivination]

“I’ve picked up on something no one is going into depth about”
Me:
“Except for the people on tumblr who really absolutely have”
Me: oh right I live there 😅

[astridmarie]

I also love that the voice actor for Laios (english) (Damian Haas) is autistic which just makes me happy

[necrofish]

I have to mention, Shuro's problem isn't STRICTLY cultural; it's that he's a Young Master in this culture, and also very shy. It's repeated in various moments and supplementary material that Shuro is like, very very unusually shy, even by Japanese standards. Literally everyone around him is brash and direct, even the extremely restrained Benichidori. His Japanese culture is not the issue, it's his privilege and innate timidity.

[ebrdsht]

OH MY GOD I AM SO GLAD YOU TALKED ABOUT KABRU ALSO BEING AUTISITIC. I relate to him so deeply!!! I have very similar manarisms; finding social situations I shouldn't find funny funny, my internal tree of relationships, the overly polite way of speaking, even the internalized anger problems when something doesn't line up with my understanding of social laws. Its so validating to see another autisic person bringing it up.

The conversation around masking is also very appreciated, ive had a hard time framing my own "emotional morphing" as anything other than manipulation. it can be a really hard line to ride when you know what to do to "win" social situations when i should be more balanced than that.