Dungeon Meshi – 12

「炎竜２」 (Reddo Doragon Ni)
“Red Dragon 2”

No question about it, Dungeon Meshi took a decidedly dark turn last week. I would say all the hints have been there, but it was amusing to see how taken aback a lot of new viewers seemed to be. One of the core elements that makes this series what it is (one could even argue the core element) is the contrast between the tone and the actual content (though both got pretty serious last time). I’m never totally sure if Kui Ryouko wants us just not to think about, or (more likely) to stop and think about it sometimes and be freaked out.

And we pick up right where we left off, with Laios holding Falin’s skull amidst a soup of blood and gore from the red dragon’s fuel tank. It’s Senshi who asks the obvious question – can she even be revived from that? And indeed, that seems to be very problematic. Laois is determined to gather up as much of his sister as possible and take her to the resurrection office, but Marcille cautions against it. With her body in that state, she says, Falin’s soul would be very loosely tethered to her body at best.

At this point Marcille drops quite the bomb. Her specialty, she says, is ancient “forbidden” magic. “Black magic”, Senshi – always the most magic-skeptical of the group – goes to immediately. And Marcille certainly doesn’t deny it. But it’s likely the only chance they have to get Falin back. There’s no question which way Marcille and Laios will choose – they’re the most emotionally invested, and the most reckless. Chichuck and Senshi have grave concerns, but this party isn’t really a democracy, truth be told. Certainly not where Falin is concerned.

Before anything else can happen, they have to assemble as much of Falin’s remains as they can, as a resurrection needs flesh and bones to latch the soul onto. The flesh, apparently, doesn’t have to belong to the person – it’s mentioned that animals like goats or sheep are often used. They have plenty of flesh to work with here of course, though whether dragon flesh is suitable is likely something no one has put to the test. They need as many bones in the right order as possible, however. And with two wargs also part of the dragon’s insides, it’s a grisly and difficult business (which Laios seems to be enjoying, freak that he is).

Marcille doesn’t go into detail about the sort of magic she’s using, and Laios pointedly doesn’t ask. It involves a sinister magic circle, a lot of chanting, and eventually Marcille passing out. Whatever this is, it’s clearly an invocation of something very powerful. And it works – Falin’s blood-drenched flesh does form in the middle of the circle. She’s disoriented and doesn’t remember the events leading to her situation, but she does recognize the others (apart from Senshi of course), and Laios is too overcome with relief to worry about the details. As is Marcille, when he rouses her from her slumber.

Marcille and Falin have some girl time, and Senshi almost blows everyone up lighting a fire in the vicinity of the dragon’s ruptured fuel pouch. But Falin – she seems not to know how – manages to cast a protection spell in an instant, with no verbal invocation (she also later heals the scar on her brother’s leg). Senshi puts together a true feast of pizza (Marcille makes him bathe while the dough rises), roast dragon, and dragon-tail soup. Fallin, as it happens, shares her brother’s attitude towards eating monsters (it must be in the genes), much to Marcille’s dismay. There are questions here that clearly needs to be answered, but in the moment no one seems keen on asking them.

As the group settles into one of the castle town houses to sleep (Fallin asks permission from a ghost no one else can see), Chilchuck reveals that he’s known about the parasitic armor in Laois’ sword for a while. And outside, someone vaguely familiar in a hood investigates the dragon corpse and magic circle, and appears none too pleased about it. Hopefully no one in the Laios party has seen Fullmetal Alchemist, but it’s clear that the repercussions of these events go well beyond Falin having returned to the living. And one way or another those questions will demand to be asked.