Falin, Chilchuck, and Kabru are still my favorites from the first half, but having read the whole thing, the character I'd pick up if I was going to make a new journal (not impending but a nice thought experiment) is definitely Mithrun.
When I pick up a character, it's usually because I have things to say about them that canon didn't, and the end of his storyline leaves lots of room for that. The big challenge with him would be balancing tags to give other players plenty to work with even when he's at his most unlikely to respond.
Also that teleportation fighting style. Yesssssssss.
Meanwhile, it's honestly aggravating (in the best way) how good the art is. The mangaka is methodical in ways I'm just not. Where I could draw an image as good as those she does once and then would have to draw something else, she could draw the same image consistently, over and over, with a huge range of small, meaningful variations.
This is vital in sequential art, not just for consistent backgrounds but for creating consistency in how characters move through the world: their gestures, the way they sit, the way they clothe themselves, details that repeat from day to day to underscore time passing for them as the story flows.
I like her practice of drawing full pages of characters' heads, mouths, and eyes side by side to ensure that each has uniquely recognizable features.
Ooooh 👀
I'm hoping the manga'll go on sale on Amazon soon 👀
!
Please plurk about it if/when you read it; I'd love to see!
<3! I definitely will! I'm looking forward to it! <3!
......also, having feelings about Mithrun being a terrible storyteller because he can't tell the difference between important and unimportant details, what parts will matter to or influence other individuals, or how to package it as a purposeful narrative
;;
this is probably the first thing the anime will cover in s2 and I can't wait
Reading the extra material and whoa, I knew all the Canary convicts were messed up in one way or another, but must have missed Lycion's body dysmorphia somehow. Maybe it's just only relevant as backstory.
A lot of them are unequivocably terrible people, tbh. Mithrun probably doesn't care except with regard to how their respective skillsets can contribute to his mission, but it must be rough on Pattadol.
Also interesting that Kabru's foster mother worked with Mithrun before the dungeon took him and was one of the ones who found him after he was injured, and only retired from the Canaries later after adopting Kabru. It puts her reluctance to see Kabru doing dungeon work in a different light, though it doesn't excuse her smothering demeanor.
(The song would also make a great-and-terrible Machineries of Empire vid with Kujen and Cheris fighting over Jedao but I digress)
...Hmmm. Now that I think about it, Mithrun's clipped ears haven't been visible in the anime yet, even though they were visible in the same scene in the manga. That piece of information is probably going to be folded into the more comprehensive intro for the Canaries as we go into s2.
Given how closely the anime has aligned with the manga, with only a few incidents shuffled around (like switching some chapters to make some sequences continuous because multiple chapters fit into one episode), it'll be really interesting to see how they deploy the exposition and the larger cast.
VERY IMPORTANT: in additional material, the author had all the characters do a secret-santa thing in which Falin gives Mithrun a water flask shaped like a walking mushroom, and then somewhere else Cithis gets Mithrun to carry it around in a baby sling.
Tbh it'd probably help him not to lose it (he used to carry a magic staff but doesn't anymore because he loses things too easily now)!
the additional material is fun
I had to look her up, but this is the bit-character elf whose adventuring partner was poisoned by the basilisk in the first or second episode
I opened this "which dunmeshi character will you get" quiz on a whim and was going to be amused when the pointer slowed to a near-stop on Mithrun but it just slooooooooooooowly slid across the name bit by bit and then
I was going to say it's more hilarious than it should be, but nah, it's just hilarious.
More extra material: awwwwwwww Namari and Chilchuck hang out!
you are correct
Mithrun would absolutely do this
using his teleportation powers for good
🤭💖 Hee! It's so delightful!