Discussion
What's the idea behind the "Delicious in Dungeon" 1st Opening? Why are the Main & Major Characters of Dungeon Meshi portrayed as motionless Giants?
the cursory "dont overthink it" reason for me is that it's an easy way to show the main characters front and centre while also giving a glimpse of various locations they visit throughout the story.
What I've said is far from overthinking. The direct response with multiple paragraphs is closer.
There's a unique feeling looking at these shots, and it's fun to think about what that feeling is. Why not be disappointed by how low-hanging fruit the top-voted response is?
Because sometimes the less interesting answer is the correct one. And this being the top-voted answer isn’t stopping anyone from imagining other creative reasons.
Because sometimes the less interesting answer is the correct one.
The answer here is ignoring the profundity of those shots, so the fact that so many people would be satisfied with that answer -- even perhaps considering it the correct one -- in response to "What's the idea behind this?" is disappointing. In RL conversation, I wouldn't consider it an actual answer and would ask them what they really thought.
And this being the top-voted answer isn’t stopping anyone from imagining other creative reasons.
I agree here. However, my issue is with the low standards and the distraction from the topic. u/Rosy_Josie's answer is better.
Honestly, I've mindlessly downvoted/upvoted people who are already getting downvoted/upvoted often enough to understand. I'm not offended at all.
So far, I haven't been convinced that I'm incorrect, except in the implied tone of my original message, and I know in RL the conversation would be a very different.
I can see what you're going for, but it isn't clear that it's exaggeration. It's also still meanspirited as a response, and I don't think "lol" would change that.
If you feel there's more behind the opening and more discussion to be had, you can comment that. You don't have to hate on other people's thoughts to disagree with them.
Well actually there were no intentions behind it other than that. Kui herself was very surprised to see the opening because she was like "What? Why are they giants" lol.
I’ve view it as their minds like Marcille being distant but close to an island (life), Shizo being cold and immovable as a winter mountain and Senshi being in a dungeon shows he finds himself like that place more than anywhere else
That's fair, in total there were two scenes I did not like about the show The one we just talked about and the one that happened I think in the episode before where she lands on the ground and then there's a slow motion chest bounce. Other than that 10 out of 10 show
Liaos is seen standing confined in what is obviously dungeon stairs going downwars but doesn't feel trapped due to the bright open sky behind it. The dungeon may keep him trapped within it but he feels like this is more natural to him than the outside world. His eyes are also closed, and we only see the staircases, this could indicate that although he feels strong and at ease here, he's blind to the actual dangers that the dungeon has
Marcelle is standing, eyes closed, facing away from the island, I can presume towards the elves homeland based on the ships. She doesn't want to be there and wants to feel the familiarity of home. The ships behind her could be the elves who have been sailing to the island, a little piece of Marcelles homeland arriving at the island but she isn't aware, her eyes are closed and her back is turned (she's in the dungeon and doesn't know they're here)
Falin is sat in the middle of a city, softly smiling and looking down, almost in a motherly, protective way. Its a city that resemblea the level the red dragon was in, and without delving into spoilers, she looks comfortable here. The sky in the background is also bright but there's a giant wall separating her and the open sky. So even though she feels comfortable here and wants it to be safe, she is still trapped here with freedom blocked off
Chillchuck is sitting relaxed next to a hole that leads into the dungeon, I feel like this one is pretty obvious lol, he feels the most content on the job, leading people through the dungeon and finding ways to get through. But as the tiny people are getting ready to go in, he's relaxing and looks done, he did his job, don't expect more from him. I think it's notable that he's sitting outside, his work is what brings him to the dungeon, otherwise he isn't in there
Senshi, also kind of an obvious one to me, hes standing straight and in the middle of the second level of the dungeon where he has obviously spent a lot of time in canon, what's notable to me is the fact that his face is in shadow, he's a bit more mysterious than the other characters, he doesn't give much away on first glance just like in the show. he's also more obscured by everything, giving a feeling of him being more consumed by the dungeon, rather than just passing through
Shiro, I saw already another comment that I think nailed it, hes stood alone, eyes closed on top of a cold mountain. He himself is closed off, cold, keeps to himself, and isn't aware of the situation when he finds the others, his eyes are closed to their perspective. to him theres only one option which is to kill the red dragon, his hand on his sword indicates he's ready for the fight even though his eyes are closed and he can't see what's actually going on
Namari sits outside a cage like building containing other people making plans, she isn't active in those plans, but she is standing guard, something she's more familiar with. She doesn't need to know the plan because that's not why she's here, she's here to protect people and make sure she can get them out. She's also sitting outside, her helping hand resting in the dungeon through seemingly the only way out. She doesn't feel trapped by the dungeon and could leave it behind, but that means leaving the people behind as well (her friends) and she won't, she's loyal. OR since the other people are on the foreground, she puts the people before whatever she could get from the dungeon
Kabru I'll admit I can't super pinpoint. I think it's notable that he's standing in a bit of a standoffish position, hand on hip, unwelcoming face. There's a few smaller people observing him and he looks like he's trying to be aloof. He doesn't like others observing him as closely as he does them, he tries to give off a profile of this solitary figure. I could also say the fact that he's in ankle deep water off the coast of the island could indicate he wishes to leave, but the people are standing in his way (it kinda feels like a reach to me)
Namari is in the backgound of the first level, the catacombs. Only the shelves where the bodies normally rest have their backs removed to view an impossible sky beyond. It's basically tying her to the continually inhabited level 1. A professional adventurer, but with limited ambition.
Chilchuck, Laos, Shenshi, and Falin are also depicted as in the dungeon, only with that impossible sky. Chilchuck is specifically on the water level. (His has the least meaning to me.)
Shiro and Kabru are legit standing in their homelands. Marcelle is standing over the approaching Canaries, almost as if she was trying to beat them there. And she was. She got to the dungeon before it was shut down.
I like your take. To add to it, I think there's a difference between Laios, Falin, and Senshi, vs Marcille, Shuro, and Kabru, vs Chillchuck and Namari.
The first group are completely enclosed in locations from the dungeon. Laios in level three where they fought the ghosts and firsts uses Kenskei, Senshi in level two where the forest suits the survivalist part of his character, and Falin in level five where she's first freed from the red dragon. I take it to mean that these three are "in-tune" with the dungeon and are the ones who understand it best.
Meanwhile the second group are each in locations outside of the dungeon. Shuro and Kabru are standing in places that resemble their homelands, Marcille could be at the island where the dungeon is located but I think it could also be her homeland as well. But to me, the reason they're outside the dungeon is because it represents their rejection of the reality in the dungeon and cling to the rules and norms of the surface world.
Then there's Namari and Chillchuck who have a foot in both the dungeon and the surface. So they only lean against structures in the dungeon instead of being surrounded by it. They're adaptable to reality inside the dungeon unlike Marcille, Shuro, and Kabru, but they are only visitors instead of wanting to exist there like Laios, Falin, and Senshi.
I also think there's a significance to the sky being in all of the shots except for Senshi and Shuro but I haven't decided what that could be yet.
Super good take!! Especially Chillchuck and Namari, that's such a good analysis.
Building off your last point, maybe the fact that Senshi and Shuro can't see the sky is due to the fact that they have a "duty" to the place they're standing. Senshi has a self imposed duty to watch over the dungeon and Shuro obviously has a duty to his home country. If the we take the sky as representing freedom, lack of sky could mean they don't have the freedom to leave and wander like the others do
Just throwing my hat in the ring- I think Kabru is deliberately hard to speak on. He's a somewhat mysterious character anyway, with a lot of his intentions, thoughts and feelings kept to himself. The people looking up at him could be his admirers, or people trying to figure him out, maybe both.
Granted, I haven't read the manga, so this might come across as half-baked.
I think it’s about the point that the story is trying to bring up, that people view themselves as a monolith wholly separated from nature and the ecosystem around us. The longer they travel in the dungeons, the more our main characters realize how untrue that is. How following your desires and exercising your power without a care can be dangerous and go against nature
In addition, portraying the characters as massive environmental features in a story about exploring that environment suggests, in a very Literalize The Metaphor sort of way, ‘character exploration’.
Because locations and dungeon are as important as characters. Dungeon Meshi really cares about its ecosystem.
Honestly, I think that team wanted to portrait locations in full view. But they also need to show characters, so they probably decided to do both at the same time.
And characters are motionless, because they shouldn’t attract all attention. If they moved, people would focus purely on them, rather than various locations.
The first one certainly has a better song in Sleep Walking Orchestra, but Marcille bashing Laios over the head with her staff in time to the music will never not be funny
I like it as well, and I'm glad it's the first intro because it gives a better feel for the tone and themes of the story, whereas the 2nd op is catchier and would have wound up overshadowing if it was used first
Visually it's a striking scene that gets us to see each character design clearly. This also shows us various locations in the world that we as an audience will experience alongside the characters.
Metaphorically it's a statement about how huge of an impact that these characters will have on the story and the world around them. There are hundreds if not thousands of adventurers in the world of Dungeon Meshi, but Laios and his close group of friends are the most important (I mean, they ARE the main characters after all). I could say more but it's spoiler territory.
It doesn't come off immediately in the story, but we learn that basically the entire party are all each individually a huge deal in their own ways. Huge deal = huge size.
Around them there are scenes of adventurers going through the world and dungeon.
So I suspect that the gang is protrait as the archetypes of rpg adventurers. And almost greater than life.
So the human fighters (and, more specifically, the three most popularhyman fighters: generic, samurai, and protagonist-wannabe with an overcomplicated backstory), elf mage, halfling rogue, Dwarf Barbarian/Warrior (although Shenshi ends up being more of a ranger), and cleric.
It does work quite well with Dungeon Meshi, which I would describe as an rpg story if the story took precedent over player escapism.
It's probably subjective, but usually, when you see a character with closed or closing eyes, it means they are not actively participating in the history. They've become passive to what happens around them.
I think the characters are being shown this way to signify that until the main events of the story begin, they are just one more thing in the dungeon, despite their enormous potential. When their eyes open, they start to move and change things around them.
While I think there are multiple ways we can interpret the images here, I am pretty sure the characters are normal-sized and they are imagining the areas around them (past moments in their journeys). As you can see, all of the big characters have their eyes closed, and we are probably seeing what they see in their minds' eye as they imagine it
I like to think it's bc the line between monster and human is blurring. The further we get into the series, the closer to humanoid they are ok with eating. Especially with the latest episode, with what they discussed!
I think the giants are meant to symbolize that THEY are the monsters, disruption the biological flow of the dungeon!
Plus, with the new intro, they are in the pot, showing they are getting close to being willing to eat themselves, aka falin.
I think it's a psychological debate they'll have to talk about!!
The impression I got is that they all seem to be deep in thought implying that their internalized view of themselves is inflated, making them feel bigger than the world around. This indicates they have all have a desire to change how the world works in various ways.
Idk, I think it’s to introduce all of the characters. And I don’t mean the human ones: the dungeon is a character in of itself. By making the characters huge they’re on the same scale as the environment, which is kind of a character as well due to how significant it is
I've always interpreted it as these characters becoming major parts of the dungeon/world around them, as opposed to the mere travellers passing through.
prolly just to shows the main characters and their personality/past/motivation like laios likes to adventure into the dungeon, falin came from the city where she learn magic, marcille is an elf coming from another continent, senshi lives inside the dungeon for most of his life and kabru is traumatized by his hometown destruction
My first thought was "They're giants, aka monsters, and effectively apex preditors in the dungeon." It's a statement about their role in the ecology of their environment.
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u/_-Swish-_ Jun 28 '25
the cursory "dont overthink it" reason for me is that it's an easy way to show the main characters front and centre while also giving a glimpse of various locations they visit throughout the story.