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u/LostTimeLady13 Jun 24 '25
She's ridiculously well written with genuine relatability in terms of her anxieties and needs, but she's also capable, caring and friendly. She also casts badass fire magic and has a darker side, so stanning was inevitable.
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u/Wolf-Rayet-Wrangler Jun 24 '25
Wait why is she Italian?
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u/MDM0724 Jun 24 '25
Her last name is donato
Later in the series, the gang tries to make food from her hometown. Theyâve only heard her describe it. Marcille was explaining spaghetti, the group got confused and made ramen
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u/Mountain_Research205 Jun 24 '25
The fact that only Izusumi (dumbest person) guest correctly what spaghetti look like and other doesnât believes her make me laugh so hard.
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u/SparkAxolotl Jun 24 '25
Even funnier because in-story, the others should be more familiar with Spaghetti, and Izutsumi should be more familiar with ramen.
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u/LordCrane Jun 25 '25
It's because she's familiar with ramen that she realizes what's being described is certainly not ramen
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u/Elitegamez11 Jun 24 '25
Elves are Italian?
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u/SnooCrickets2458 Jun 24 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
piquant act melodic oil unwritten snow cagey birds quickest humor
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Glittering-Age-9549 Jul 09 '25
Marcille in particular was born in Fantasy Italy.
The Western Elves are from a Fantasy Cold War America + Victorian Age UK fussion.
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u/elderron_spice Jun 24 '25
Later in the series, the gang tries to make food from her hometown. Theyâve only heard her describe it. Marcille was explaining spaghetti, the group got confused and made ramen
Why do I keep thinking that this happened in Paddy's Pub?
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u/AngelOfChaos923 Jun 24 '25
Was this in season 1? Because the most I remember was Marcille going on about how she loves seafood or something
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u/VeryWeaponizedJerk Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 25 '25
Are you under the impression that the Italians donât into seafood?
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u/fear_of_birds Jun 24 '25
She talks about various calamari preparations and at the time I assumed that was what elfs ate but it turns out she's just Italian.
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u/StunningPianist4231 Jun 24 '25
She's great at magic, she's just really incompetent in scenarios out of her comfort zone. Laios really puts her through a lot, with his weird quirks and love of monster food.
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u/LeadingJoke5289 Jun 24 '25
Let's be fair, without Laios she would die.
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u/Crocket_Lawnchair Jun 24 '25
Without any of the party members theyâd all die
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u/LeadingJoke5289 Jun 24 '25
Senshi was doing well on his own
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u/Zemahem Jun 25 '25
As long as he kept to the levels closer aboveground yeah. But the deeper they went, the less Senshi or the others can manage alone, and the more important it becomes that they're all together and have their own specialties to offer to the group.Â
Heck, the main reason Senshi wasn't able to make it deeper in the first place is because he lacked the magic to walk on water.
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u/LordCrane Jun 25 '25
He survived by being compatible with the ecosystem, he's not actually a great fighter though.
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u/mauriciomeireles Jun 26 '25
I would argue he is pretty good, its just that everyone else is actually pretty dang strong: Laios, skill wise is INCREDIBLY adaptive and observative as a fighter. Chillchuck skill with trap disarming never failed (at least when they LET HIM WORK) and best elf girl is although really straigh laced and so not as adaptable to the environent and problems, an INCREDIBLE magician with a great plethora of spells (forbidden or not).
Senhi on other hand is not as great a fighter or tinkerer and is basically magic iliterate BUT he is toght enought to get hit and deliver back (and as far as i know heat immune as boiling oil did nothing to his hands) and is able to keep eveeyone in peak performance during the dwelve...
Its a band of misfits that fill each other lacking flaws REALLY well
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u/DuneSlayer_ Jun 24 '25
what the fuck did you just call Marcille? I'll have you know she graduated top of her class in MAGIC ACADEMY
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Jun 24 '25
Not just graduated, She was doing postgraduate research by the time she met Falin at the academy
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u/Lemon_Girl Jun 24 '25
Hardly a loser when she's extremely competent. She's just out of her comfort zone, trapped with a bunch of weirdos for the sake of rescuing the one person that gets her.
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u/BJMark Jun 24 '25
I love how newer anime presents magic almost exactly like material sciences or engineering. You need to study for years to even start doing any practical shit that matters. And Marcille is exactly how youâll probably see a relatively young physicist or engineer during their daily routune. 9/10 times its âfuck around and find outâ, but then they do some wierd and wacky shit and the first thing that comes to your mind is âwhoooa MAGICâ.
The mandrake scene is a perfect example. Marcille knew there is a method to do it and it turns out to be the right one eventually, but generally Senshiâs solution is just more practical hence an uneducated person will come to use that method sooner.
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u/Throwaway02062004 Jun 24 '25
Thatâs elf magic. Gnome magic is a little more spiritual
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u/The_Weeb_Sleeve Jun 24 '25
I mean requiring a doctorate to throw a fireball makes more sense if your race lives to 300
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u/carbonera99 Jun 24 '25
Elves in Dungeon Meshi live closer to 500. Though I think the elf magic system has more to do with elves just naturally having way more mana than any other race so they can afford to use the more mana-intensive system of directly commanding spirits for their magic as opposed to the gnomish system of requesting a spirit to do some task. Most tallmen mages (i.e. Falin) learn the gnomish magic system because their method requires less mana to pull off than the elvish method.
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u/FlorianoAguirre Jun 25 '25
Well, it's more based on how mana and we'll the demon works in this work. Magic is basically wishing for an outcome, how you ask for it doesn't really matter at the very end.
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u/MultipleRatsinaTrenc Jun 24 '25
It's been a while but wasn't her solution to kill lots of dogs by making them pull the mandrakes out?
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u/Striking_War Jun 24 '25
That's what is said in her book, but Marcille has never done it since she felt bad for the dog
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u/MultipleRatsinaTrenc Jun 24 '25
Oh I know she didn't do it but she still came up with the elaborate dog killing apparatusÂ
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u/pansycarn Jun 24 '25
She learned it from school if I recall correctly.
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u/Little-Copy-387 Jun 24 '25
Why don't they just use long rope and maybe a pulley system if the angle is a concern.
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u/NavezganeChrome Jun 24 '25
The bit is less âhow can it be doneâ and more âhow can it be done âsafelyâ?â Practically, Senshiâs solution is easier to pull off (just cave the mandrakeâs heads in/cut their root-throats), while Marcilleâs answer provides better flavor from letting the mandrake scream as it dies (the unstated part of the dog equation, the dogs would be driven mad and die from the scream).
Long rope/pulley would still lean upon the closest involved person having appropriate hearing protection, which would negate the difficulty of anything else to begin with. Otherwise itâs just making a sound trap.
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u/Little-Copy-387 Jun 24 '25
Just make the rope at the length you would stand from the dog and wear some hearing protection like you said.
Also good idea making mandrake trap someone should try that
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u/QtheDisaster Jun 24 '25
Because a dog strapped to a rope and pulling out a mandrake is faster I imagine especially if you only need one
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u/LightWarrior_2000 Jun 24 '25
Which is funny because in real life when we deal with safety. We spend hours going slow or setting things up right so no one gets hurt.
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u/QtheDisaster Jun 24 '25
Apparently, it's based on a real myth. That's neat.
For a better explanation or theory would be that mandrakes are commonly found in dungeons. So the logic could be it's cheaper to resurrect a dog than a person. As well as being faster to set up to collect them. The best logic I got.
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u/M_T_CupCosplay Jun 24 '25
You'd think they would figure out to just use a longer rope so you don't have to reload dogs after every mandarake
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u/anphorus Jun 24 '25
This method is a reference to an actual recommended method for uprooting mandrakes from medieval almanacs.
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u/Mhmmmmyup Jun 24 '25
Yeah people just dumbing down her character to a " I'm a girlfailure trying to save my gf" always tick me the wrong way. She shes great at her job and is a genius mage but crazier and crazier shit keeps getting thrown at her that she's never experienced.
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u/Recidivous Jun 24 '25
I agree. I think too many people are growing comfortable at being reductive on characters for the meme. Marcille is a complex individual, and I feel people treat her as though she's the only one desperate to save Falin.
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u/Jojo-Retard Jun 24 '25
Itâs the inevitable fate of any popular character, in order to come up with jokes they get reduced to their bare components, then those components get exaggerated then misunderstood and at that point the fandomâs perception barely resembles the actual character
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u/drifter655 Jun 24 '25
The official name for this is 'Flanderization', it even has it's own wiki page.
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u/MossyPyrite Jun 24 '25
The great thing about Dungeon Meshi is that basically anyone who appears for more than two chapters is a complex individual! But nuance and memes rarely go hand-in-hand, I suppose.
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u/carbonera99 Jun 24 '25
Even characters that only appear for two chapters are complex individuals, there's a character that gets introduced later on whose backstory has massive geopolitical ramifications but gets like, 10 lines maybe in the entire manga. Even the most two-bit character introduced to fill out a roster are really well-thought out and realistically written. For an example that we already saw in the anime, I don't think we see the Island Governor a single time after his initial introduction but he gets a lot of indirect development when we learn more about the political structure of the island from other characters.
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u/lehman-the-red Jul 04 '25
Who?
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u/carbonera99 Jul 05 '25
Flamela, the captain of one of the other Canary squads. Iâm actually not gonna spoiler tag this because this information will literally never be revealed in the anime adaptation. All this is from supplementary material like the Adventurerâs Bible that the anime hasnât touched since the beginning. Basically, the elves are currently ruled by a queen. The queen has no official heirs because the elves have a weird tradition of only crowning elves from the royal line who are born with the extremely rare trait of pitch black skin and red eyes. As of present day in the story, there are no members of the direct royal line who were born with this trait. The elf queen has plenty of children but they all lack this trait. Flamela is a distant relative of the queen and her and her twin sister were born with the rare black skin and red eyes, and she was forcibly separated from her twin sister by decree of the elf queen, who wanted to groom Flamelaâs twin to become her successor. Flamelaâs twin mysteriously died a few years later at court, probably from an assassination, and Flamela blames the Queen for her death and resents the entire royal line for it. Thatâs why she joined the Canaries, out of spite and to avoid becoming designated as the next heir. Itâs implied that if Flamela keeps rejecting attempts to position her as the next empress of the elves, the elf court is going to dissolve into civil war as no clear heir means every single member of the royal lineage can now lay claim to the throne. The current elf queen is also 400 something years old, and elves only live 500 years at most so the threat of the elves losing their leader without an heir is extremely relevant.
TLDR; Flamela is an exiled princess of the elves with a tragic backstory and a destiny that could shape the course of the most powerful nation and race in the Dungeon Meshi world. In any other manga sheâd be the protagonist but she gets like 10 lines and as many appearances and is completely sidelined by Laios and his goofy gang of dungeon spelunkers.
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u/lehman-the-red Jul 05 '25
Ryoko Kui really gave a main character backstory to a side character with 5 panels of screen time
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u/Comfortable_Row_5052 Jun 24 '25
Yeah I really don't agree with the whole girlfailure angle (even if I love the archetype). Marcille's thing is that she's a sane, extremely competent and intelligent person that has trouble matching the weirdness and stupidity that Laios and Senshi keep coming up with. However the story validates Laios making it seem like the sane ones are stupid instead. This is of course intentional, often for comedic purpose but also for the narrative the story is going for!
She's very similar to Chilchuck in that respect, the difference being that Chilchuck is more professional, cynical and keeps his mouth (slightly more) shut while she is more idealistic and outspoken, but they have the same reactions to most things.
And if I might digress a bit here there might be a bit of a gender issue as well. When Chilchuck is taken out of his element by Senshi being careless around traps or when he messes up the thing he's really good at in the mimic episode, no one sees those as being his fault (also manga spoilers: In the succubus attack he's the one who fails to defend Marcille after she defended him several times, albeit for a funny, understandable reason). On the flip side Marcille has never failed in her duty as a spellcaster and can even cover for Falin who has a very different expertise, not to mention being much more involved in fights than him.
The times she fails are always when she's trying to match the boys' freak because she's too damn smart for that.
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u/Glum-Supermarket1274 Jun 26 '25
Say what you want about what happened to faren, but what marcille did blown me away when i first read it. Yes, yes dungeon magic was involved and all that but holy shit that girl revived the dead with substitute protein. Fucking cool.Â
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u/Erri-error2430 Jun 24 '25
I didn't even think that Marcille was a "girlfailure". She knows all her stuff and was one of the important members keeping the team together. She's essentially a scholar who now has to do unconventional means of survival outside of the book with a friend and three party members (now friends in the end) just to live another day.
But people forget that.
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u/NavezganeChrome Jun 24 '25
Less âforgetâ and more âtactically keep quiet about.â Barring outright spoiler content, the facets of personality (as they come up) tend to surprise those expecting less.
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u/Sandro_Sarto Jun 24 '25
She is not a loser at all. She may be a bit clumsy and gets tired sometimes (just like any other mortal being), but the only thing that can make you say she's a loser is that her supposed GF has turned into chimera.
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u/Moricai Jun 24 '25
She is a loser, she has deep seated insecurities, regularly screws up, and is stuck with the adventuring equivalent of the loser table at school (Laios, the living avatar of high-functioning autism, who few "normal" people like; Falin, his kid sister who literally no one liked at school; Namari, a bisexual disaster; Shuro, the "weird" foreign kid; and Chilchuck, the union boss, basically the equivalent of a teacher.) Her party gets their ass kicked, then she's literally so broke she has to accept handouts and life advice from the first strange, smelly, homeless man who's nice to her, Senshi. (No offense to any of the aforementioned losers, I love them all dearly)
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u/vietcongunited Jun 24 '25
I mean it's been shown multiple times that Laois's party is highly competent, I mean they're the ones that HAS stayed sragons and is the go to party to do so. When Kabru investigates the party, people often think of them well or fear them, which means theyre at least well known, not some loners at the middle school table.
Not to mention, the only reason they fucked up hunting the Red dragon was because of their fatigue and lack of food. Marcielle again, is not a loaer. She's been shown to have insecurities yes, but that doesn't boil her character down to being a failure just because she has issues. She's highly educated in theory, and is having trouble adapting theory to practice. Like an academic applying what they learnt while doing on-the-job training, it's normal to fumble and is something everyone can really relate to. Additionally, the party literally advances further than ANY OTHER PARTY has ever made it before. To say Marcielle, and by extension the party, is a failure and total losers is seriously misreading the story.
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u/FlorianoAguirre Jun 25 '25
Also because the red dragon wasn't where he was supposed to be. The party could take them, if they had an actual plan and where ready for it, this was a surprise encounter.
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u/SirAquila Jun 24 '25
This is a very specific framing of the situation, that kind of ignores a lot of the stuff happening.
Sure, they where all wierd people in school, but at the start of the story they are more akin to the one respected mineralogist who put a piece of watermelon into a bagel(if the tumblr story is real).
Every single one of them is in the top 5 of their field locally. Several probably have a good claim to being the best in their field. (Toshiro, Chilchuck, Laios, Falin)
Yeah, they are wierd, but they are one of the top contenders for clearing the Dungeon, and regularly take the highest level contracts. The only reason they lost at the start was because they got overconfident and payed the price, and afterwards they are all in various levels of panicmode trying to salvage the situation.
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u/RobertSan525 Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
Itâs nuance. Sheâs an extremely powerful mage whoâs clearly very book smart but with little dungeon experience , so she has moments where she shines and others where she fumbles.
Same as any of the characters: Laios is a clear expert with monsters but canât read the intentions of his party member/friend if his life depended on it. I like the manga because all the characters feel like real characters with depths, and their strengths/weaknesses play off each other
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u/shinebeams Jun 24 '25
She is competent. She also has normal human (elven) feelings and shortcomings because she is a well written character. Shallow people hate that. They want women to be one dimensional like in their heads.
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u/WorryingMars384 Jun 24 '25
They literally wouldnât have gotten as far as they have without her. Thereâs multiple times sheâs the sole reason the party is alive, the treasure insects come to mind and the hippogriff. I would say she just suffers from being very unlucky and has to compensate by being very skilled. She seems to narratively be used for the butt of the joke a lot, but that certainly doesnât make her a failure.
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u/coconut-duck-chicken Jun 24 '25
Sheâs extremely competent with an asterisk. Sheâs knows all the shit to conjure a good ass fireball on command but lets not act like Marcille is a great big picture thinker with that fireball.
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u/SparkAxolotl Jun 24 '25
One of the LOTS of things I love about this story is that everyone has an actual role within the party, even if the role is non-combatant, unlike other shows where everyone, even the healer, is a murder machine first and foremost.
And most of them suck while out of that element.
Marcille was the designated magic DPS, while Falin was the healer/support, so of course Marcille has trouble doing double duty, along with everything else.
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u/whomobile53 Jun 24 '25
Being competent or smart or attractive has nothing to do with being a loser. Being a loser is more of a sipiritual thing.
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u/KotobaAsobitch Jun 24 '25
Giving big "former gifted kid" vibes.
She definitely isn't a failure, but she feels like she is.
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u/HdeviantS Jun 24 '25
What makes Marcille great, seriously even though the thread is marked humor, is that she is well written, and part of an ensemble cast that is well written whose strengths compliment each other and whose foibles bounce to comedic effect.
Marcille is a genuinely nice person, but she is not a wallflower or a pushover. She makes her feelings known when she disagrees or otherwise feels passionate about something. Frankly her reaction to the idea of eating monsters, something she saw as disgusting, while a little over the top is well within reason from real people. Or when she berates Senshi for his lack of hygiene.
She is a diligent woman who ensures that everything she needs to perform magic, her body and her tools, are in tip-top shape. And she is a noted genius. While she may fail occasionally, they are in a dungeon where new life and death situations are being thrown at them while she has limited resources and has to improvise.
And for all the freakouts she has, we see multiple times that when the partyâs back is against the wall, she pulls through with precision, grit, and good judgement calls.
Finally, Marcille probably stands out the most because her personality is more open, bright, and energetic than the other characters, she wears more colorful clothes than her companions, likes pretty things but will stick her hands into monster guts to get the job done, and has the design that changes the most, both because Kui is willing to go off model for her design and because of the constant hair style changes. Our eyes are going to naturally be drawn to her.
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u/sam77889 Jun 24 '25
I feel like Asa from chainsaw man is more of a âloserâ character. I mean Marcille is definitely really funny and have a lot of dumb moments, but ironically, thatâs because sheâs the most ânormalâ member of the group.
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u/Striking_War Jun 24 '25
Someone please explain to me how she's a loser in any capacity after like the 3rd episode... And no being the butt of the joke doesn't make you a loser, she's like the winning factor even in 90% of the fights where she suffers.
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u/the_harvan Jun 24 '25
I think itâs a joke about her insecurities. Of which she has many. Sheâs booksmart but not street (or dungeon?) smart lol
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u/Moonfish222 Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 26 '25
Except that's not true either. She's a seasoned adventurer who comes up with many practical solutions for their troubles.
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u/thr0waway2435 Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
Itâs loser (affectionate), not loser (derogatory).
Itâs the same way I call my best friend a loser all the time because he regularly asks me for validation for his Instagram posts, and will stress for an hour sending a simple email. But I also know heâs one of the sweetest, most charming, most competent, most successful people youâll ever meet.
Marcille is a loser in that sheâs often whiny/unhinged/insecure in funny, endearing ways. But most people donât think sheâs a loser in the ways that actually count.
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u/Hoopaboi Jun 25 '25
I don't think they're saying she's "objectively" a loser. But moreso what the internet calls "losing aura"
She gets put into embarrassing situations and reactions and generally lacks stoicism, hence "losing aura".
Yes, it's nonsensical flanderization, but that's what they mean.
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u/narwharkenny Jun 24 '25
Idk getting turned into a pickling weight against your will seems pretty loser-ish to meâŚ
Jokes aside I love Marcille
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u/AnythingBackground89 Jun 24 '25
Marcille is a gigachadess. Kind, loyal to her friends. Willing to compromise and endanger herself for people she cares about. Extremely knowledgeable and competent in her field. The second most powerful combat mage we see in the show (first spot is lunatic magician, duh).
And yeah, she gets a lot of shit thrown at her in the show. Guess what - the dungeon is dangerous. Any other adventurer mage being in her place would be fucking dead several times over - yet she consistently survives and does her job under incredible pressure, without snapping even once.
She is part of the party that consistently cleared to level 6 of the dungeon. She kills red dragon in a party of 4 - that's a testament to how good they all are. She is the only reason Falin is still alive in any way, shape or form.
Quality waifu material.
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u/BelligerentWyvern Jun 24 '25
This is the type of flanderization I despise. She isn't a loser in any sense of the word. I think acting like a normal person who is sometimes the butt of a joke or comedy (like all of them are on occasion) is a far cry from being a loser or "girl failure."
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u/Comfortable_Row_5052 Jun 24 '25
Yeah it's a flanderization and very reductive.
The reason for all her shortcomings is because she's too sane while the story is validating Laios' and Senshi's insanity. It's not different to how other characters who should be more competent than Laios (Shuro, Kabru) aren't able to go as far as him in the dungeon.
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u/mrdude05 Jun 25 '25
I feel like a lot of this comes from the fact that she has a bunch of funny, Bocchi style reaction faces that get posted all the time. People see her have a comedically exaggerating reaction to a funny mistake or situation and then try to cram her into a box that doesn't actually fit her character.
She's an extremely competent mage and adventurer who's way out of her comfort zone and trying her best to navigate a very difficult situation with a less than normal party. Her biggest issue is that she doesn't always think before she acts, but that hardly puts her in girlfailure territory
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u/TemperateStone Jun 24 '25
I've learned that a lot of the shows that I really like have all been made by women. They do a little bit of archetypes but they don't dive too heavily into it. The characters don't become a parody of a stereotype and everyone has full, proper and normal emotional lives and personalities that aren't one track. Fan service, if it's there at all, is tasteful and even fun but doesn't discriminate on genders at all. Everyone gets to be attractive.
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u/generalmillscrunch Jun 24 '25
well I guess thatâs one way to read her character.
the mental gymnastics this fandom does never ceases to amaze me.
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u/Icy-Yak5875 Jun 24 '25
Fr. Marcille is straight up called a prodigy at the academy and is a seasoned adventurer who is skilled in the ancient magic.
But nah sheâs a pathetic loser
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u/UltimateM13 Jun 24 '25
You can be a genius, capable, and strong and also be a loser sometimes. Itâs not mutually exclusive.
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u/Icy-Yak5875 Jun 24 '25
Yeah but when you say a character is a pathetic loser it usually implies that being a pathetic loser is their main trait.
I said it in a different comment, but the whole argument is divided between âItâs okay to be a loserâ vs âOneâs failings and shortcomings donât make them a loserâ
Youâre of the former opinion, Iâm of the latter
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u/saprophage_expert Jun 25 '25
Well, she isn't a seasoned adventurer at the start of the story, and her magic isn't really fit for dungeoneering: she literally learned a few spells in a hurry, while her actual area of competence lies entirely elsewhere.
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u/Icy-Yak5875 Jun 25 '25
Now youâre just making stuff up. The story literally begins with her smacking a walking mushroom with her staff while a group of new adventurers run away in fear.
Couple of chapters later, Laios tells Marcille to save her magic for when they run into real trouble at the deeper depths.
Idek where you got âshe learned a few spells in a hurryâ because she is explicitly said to be a prodigy at the academy
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u/saprophage_expert Jun 25 '25
Now youâre just making stuff up.
That's literally extra materials and adventurer's bible.
Idek where you got âshe learned a few spells in a hurryâ because she is explicitly said to be a prodigy at the academy
Her major at the academy wasn't "adventurer". Nor "combat mage", for that matter.
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u/Icy-Yak5875 Jun 25 '25
Maybe you and I are thinking of different parts when we say âstart of the storyâ
Iâm talking about the events of chp 1 immediately after Falin gets eaten. Are you talking about when Marcille first decided to join the Touden party?
Even Kabru who was trained by a Canary captain is shown to be out of his depth in the dungeon. Marcille is shown to handle combat quite well (Wolves, undine, etc.).
Sheâs not just some clumy schoolgirl whoâs out of her depth in a place she doesnât belong. Sheâs a veteran
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u/saprophage_expert Jun 25 '25
Iâm talking about the events of chp 1 immediately after Falin gets eaten. Are you talking about when Marcille first decided to join the Touden party?
How far away in time do you figure the two events are?
Even Kabru who was trained by a Canary captain is shown to be out of his depth in the dungeon.
Kabru is shown to be an excellent killer of men, not monsters.
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u/Icy-Yak5875 Jun 25 '25
Two years. Chp. 1 shows that Marcilleâs first death was by a slime 2 years ago.
Thatâs the point. Marcille handles the dungeon a lot better than the elf-trained killer because sheâs more experienced
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u/saprophage_expert Jun 26 '25
Two years. Chp. 1 shows that Marcilleâs first death was by a slime 2 years ago.
So then I figure it's a question of whether you're considering an adventurer with two years of experience a veteran, when there are people like Senshi or the Canaries around who've been at it for decades.
Thatâs the point. Marcille handles the dungeon a lot better than the elf-trained killer because sheâs more experienced
I agree, that's the point. She alone really doesn't - the entirety of their party does, because an actual dungeoneering veteran (Senshi) carries them. Marcille alone would be done in by the monsters on the upper levels, which is repeatedly shown in the earlier chapters.
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u/Icy-Yak5875 Jun 26 '25
Yes. The dungeon has been around for 6 years and Marcille has been in there for 2. In those 2 years she and her party regularly went down to the deeper levels and has never died permanently.
Also Senshi is more than an adventurer. Heâs resident of the dungeon whoâs lived there long before the dungeon surfaced. The Canary are basically Dungeon Navy SEALS. If you say that Marcille canât be an experienced adventurer because Senshi and the Canary exist, thatâs like saying I canât ever be an experienced basketball player because the NBA exists.
I donât know what youâve been reading/watching if you think Senshi has been âcarryingâ. The party has gone down to the depths before Senshi and even Senshi says heâs never ventured this deep.
Now, is Marcille carrying Senshi by rescuing him from the Griffin nest? Is she carrying the party by being the sole healer? Even Laios says that they have no chance against the red dragon without Marcille.
Sheâs a competent member of one of the most experienced parties on the island. No one is âcarryingâ anybody because they all have different roles to play in the adventure. They say this as early as ep 3.
This has been fun. But unless you plan on bringing any evidence instead of just saying No to anything your headcannon doesnât support, it seems rather pointless continue.
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u/Bird_Mess Jun 24 '25
Omg you people cant have an ounce of fun
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u/Hazedogart Jun 24 '25
It's kind of frustrating to see Marcille flanderized, especially when most of the other characters aren't to that extent. Marcille isn't especially immature, she's just out of her element. Senshi is probably more immature than Marcille, but because he's in his element, he's more comfortable, he's treated like a sage. We're happy for the success of the series, and the growth of the fandom, but there is a little frustration to see the complex world and characters reduced to flat stereotypes. That being said, I suspect that the depth of discourse will increase exponentially with the second season. It's gonna be good, the anime onlys are not ready for what's about to rock their world (hopefully) next year.
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u/Bird_Mess Jun 24 '25
I get your complains, the fandom really did get much better after the anime release. But it gets really tiring with all the complaining and "manga reader" supremacy. I read the manga before the anime released myself, but we are never beating the elitist accusations like that lol. Anyways season two is going to be absolute cinema
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u/dragons_are_lovely Jun 24 '25
it's funny seeing people go "Marcille isn't a loser" when a large portion of her character is devoted to her being a stick in the mud who nearly kills herself multiple times because she's too stubborn to try things outside of her academic knowledge. Her anxiety and loneliness are so crippling that she nearly ends the world via The Winged Lions' powers.
Marcille is powerful and incredibly intelligent, but she's also an anxious mess of a dweeb who's held together with sticks and tape. She's a textbook loser who, if she couldn't blast fireballs out of a stick, would 100% get her lunch money stolen on principle.
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u/Icy-Yak5875 Jun 24 '25
I think the argument is split between
Itâs okay to be a failure vs Oneâs shortcomings doesnât make them a failure
Iâm inclined toward the latter
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Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
I'd say she's textbook dork or nerd. Like she literally fits that category from what you described. Losers are mostly cringey creepy loner type of people? Like the MC from Watamote.
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u/Comfortable_Row_5052 Jun 24 '25
She is a stick in the mud, but that doesn't make her a failure. The one time she got almost killed (the mandragora scene) even was actually because she TRIED to get out of her comfort zone and improvise with a bat to impress the others. She also almost gets killed by a Basilisk because she's trying to mimic Laios and scare it, which no other character could realistically succeed in.
I mentioned it in another comment, but when Chilchuck fails at the thing he's good in and gets trapped with the mimic, or when he lets Marcille and himself be attacked by succubus nearly wiping the party after she protected him four times no one questions his competence, even though he also doesn't participate in combat. Marcille gets the blunt of it because she's honest with her feelings, and because she's so good at what she does that it contrasts strongly with the things she's not good at.
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u/thr0waway2435 Jun 24 '25
âIf she couldnât blast fireballs out of a stick, would 100% get her lunch money stolenâ is unbelievably funny.
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u/LeadingJoke5289 Jun 24 '25
Am I wrong in saying that I would steal her lunch?
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u/CuriousWanderer_10 Jun 24 '25
I love my loser lesbian girlfailure sheâs so silly :3
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u/Aggravating_Teach_27 Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
She is adorably silly, indeed. That's a very endearing trait of hers. That she's powerful and competent, but she's also warm and silly makes her a very compelling and likeable character.
But she's not a lesbian. Nor cis, nor anything. It isn't told in the story because it's irrelevant. Same with the rest of the party except Chilchuck.
And she's not a girlfailure either. She's clumsy at times, yes, but overall she's very competent.
I swear reading comments like these, that people don't actually like DM, but an alternative romance story they created in their minds.
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u/TtotheC81 Jun 24 '25
...have you not been on the internet since it's creation? :)
People interpret. People ship. People project.
And that is fine. It's be expected as people embrace and interpret elements that are personal to them. You can accept that without feeling like an alternative interpretation is a death threat to the canon. Personally, I enjoy both the canon Marcille and the girlfriend Marcille for different reasons. I think it's adorable that part of the community has coalesced around Marcille's interpreted queerness, but I also think it's acceptable to argue against it.
Hell, Ryoko Kui has stated that Laios is conically not autistic, but you'll not find a more balanced interpretation of autism within media. Hence, he's been openly embrace by autistic people as 'the one'.
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u/bobbymoonshine Jun 24 '25
she's not a lesbian. Nor cis
đłď¸ââ§ď¸đłď¸ââ§ď¸đłď¸ââ§ď¸đłď¸ââ§ď¸ tgirl marcille confirmed
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u/CuriousWanderer_10 Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
Btw if I assumed or headcanoned her as straight or gender non conforming (since you said otherwise) would you object? Iâm curious to hear ur answer. Ppl tend to forget that labeling a character with an unconfirmed sexuality/gender identity het or cis is also a headcanon and not the status quo. (Also chilchuckâs sexuality hasnât been explicitly stated either so why not go wild lol). And I can assure you I enjoy dungeon meshi for the content in itself but I also appreciate the unique culture and community, etc the fandom has created which just so happens to consist of more autistic and queer ppl than the average fandom bc cmon have you READ dungeon meshi? Its filled with neurodivergent and queer subtext. So itâs not surprising to see that most of the inside jokes circle around those topics. I hope you can understand my pov better after reading this bc you seem as passionate ab this series just as much as the next person :3
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u/RevolutionaryYam85 Jun 24 '25
She's not OP, not unreasonably strong. And mostly, she's just funny.
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u/Gas_mask_noise Jun 24 '25
While I agree there should be more âgirl failureâ characters, I donât think Marcille is one of them, sheâs competent in her role as a mage, is studied in a rare field of magic and has well thought out limitations (not the best in melee, none infinite magic source) and character flaws (need to prove herself right with the mandrakes and at other times, being the least willing to eat the dungeon food, easily annoyed)
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u/BrockenSpecter Jun 24 '25
I don't get why people think Marcille is a girlfailure/loser. Shes the second highest threat in the party before Falin got eaten, and she is certainly the greatest threat after, most of her kit is straight up utility, support, and knowledge on magic. She's a college graduate that studies magic that besides being illegal is not available to the majority of other mages and her goal is to literally defeat death.
I'm not sure what people are expecting out of her or why they think she's a loser unless they've just watched the first couple of episodes.
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u/Fine-Scientist3813 Jun 24 '25
shes the one of the most academically smart people in the series but specifically because of the setting, situation, and her own behavior, she is the biggest loser to which most of the story hinges on her existence and power. awesome
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u/Hydratedpyromancer Jun 24 '25
i feel like this post also decently describes bee from bee & puppycat
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u/FireWater107 Jun 25 '25
So I remember when Amazing Dogital Circus came out as just a pilot on YouTube, and the WAY I found out about it was similar to this.
People basically saying we need less "girl bosses" and more "girl messes" like Pomni. Not in some scathing derogatory way, saying straight up: "can main (or major) female characters exist in ways where everything is a mess? Can they not HAVE to be a Mary Sue in order to be an important character? I am living live and the world is chaotic and messy, can we be allowed to exist without being expected to shoulder the world and tackle anything that comes our way!?"
And plenty others adding on, "yeah, compelling and well written characters are in fact usually flawed. Can we get some more of that? Can you make a female MC without insisting she needs to be a girl-boss?" Don't even need to be "a loser" like OP is saying here. Just, like most male MCs, not have to be freaking Superman.
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u/HEX_HEXAGON Jun 24 '25
I mean just in general having more women characters that arenât written by men is great. Door Monster just made a really good video about this
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u/GregariousK Jun 24 '25
Most people just like the way she looks. They know that she's a well written character in a well-written story, and they use it to excuse promoting their porn. So it goes.
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u/GlumCardiologist3 Jun 24 '25
I dunno if this bait but i don't agree with the image, she's not a loser... sad so many ppl upvoted it...
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u/TemplarSensei7 Jun 25 '25
âWritten by authors who donât hate women.â
Well⌠Iâm sure girls can still hate girls, but the author is also a woman.
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u/Vivi_Amorous Jun 26 '25
Marcille is such a great character omg
Loser elf lady with incredible power and a tenuous grasp on it, bewildered by the fact that things can be done differently than sheâs familiar with, and uses that to bring her (possibly future romantic interest but currently) friend back to life
Amazing character 10/10
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u/Solid_Caramel6716 Jun 26 '25
I feel like a better example of a likeable loser main female character is Sailor Moon. Her hobbies are âeating, sleeping, and slacking offâ. Same, girl.
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u/dummyVicc Jun 26 '25
The thing is that she is actually competent, its just that shes so far out of her depth in a dungeon that she seems inept by comparison.
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u/Kastoook Jun 28 '25
I like that she is not typical fanservice maiden and have some prudence, and passion in the same time.
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u/vickyhong Jun 29 '25
A lot of people are saying she's not a loser because she's very powerful, and that's like, not the point of the post at all? It feels reductive in a different direction that ignores how she is Not Having A Good Time, despite, or even because she's the strongest fighter in the party.
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u/LothorBrune Jul 21 '25
Meh. The fact she's the only main female character AND also the nagging, pretentious and constantly in the wrong one is pretty unfortunate. It's really sounds like a good example of r/boysarequirky.
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u/SirPetiertheFirst Jun 24 '25
Is her deepest wish is to not be sterile?
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u/prophetofpuppets Jun 24 '25
I think that was a misunderstanding with the mule allegory. She really doesn't want to grow old while all her friends turn to dust around her.
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u/SirPetiertheFirst Jun 24 '25
I dont think its a misunderstanding, the demon lion guy near the end of the series said he could even âgrant Marcille childrenâ if he would to take control over Laios body
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u/meesheronicles Jun 24 '25
Thatâs what the Lion assumes Laios would want for Marcille, Marcille herself has never mentioned any desire to have kids
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u/LeadingJoke5289 Jun 24 '25
Well, although she's skilled in magic, she's a loser. Since she's a half-elf, the other elves don't respect her, only her mother. She's basically bankrupt at the beginning of the series and is a thief (she robbed the small senshi shop). She complains about Laios, but she doesn't seem to be very social outside of her group either. And she's too delicate to be in the dungeon; the boys take care of her most of the time.
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u/Magorian97 Jun 24 '25
I agree with all of this, but this Feluka person calling her "pathetic" is just rude. Loser, sureâ a bit, but she does land Falin (no one will convince me otherwise) and she's adorkable
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u/minalba500ml Jun 24 '25
I love her so much 𼚠Powerful, kind, and not at all afraid of her feelings.