falinsbones

Sure. The way I see it, the corpse retrievers are a seriously dangerous group playing with other people's lives for profit. Kabru in particular sees this behavior as unforgivable, and looks down on people who treat the dungeon as a "money pit" and not as a deadly threat that needs to be neutralized as soon as possible.

I'll add some visual aid from the manga, since I'm not gonna go hunting for gifs, but I won't include anything past the point we're at in the anime.

This interaction was cut for time, but early in the manga (after the Tentacles chapter), Namari explains the hazards of resurrection to the twins (and the audience):

...which ups the stakes for us during the corpse retriever confrontation, when Kabru says this:

Which shows that the corpse retrievers aren't merely killing people to revive them for profit- already really fucked up- but doing so in such a reckless fashion that they could easily botch the job and end up with corpses unable to be revived. Imagine if this had been Marcille with her trigger-happy explosion spells? They would have bemoaned the lost payday, then probably just looted what was left.

And then their leader tries to rope Kabru in on their murder-for-money scheme, on the guy's own companions, just to get Kabru to keep quiet? Kabru clearly decided these people were too dangerous to live. Before this moment, all Kabru does is say that he's going to report them! He isn't the one who escalates the situation.

And with the threat to report them hanging over their heads like that, I don't think it would have boded well for Kabru's party if they had given the corpse retrievers a chance to be revived and come after them.

Even if they had miraculously decided not to hunt Kabru's party down (which they had already been doing this whole time), they were just going to keep preying on other adventurers, reducing the dungeon's own imported immune system meant to keep the ratio of monsters stable.

Which is not even as bad as it could be.

Making the choice to execute them is harsh, but honestly I can't judge Kabru that much, as a character in a story whose day-to-day includes life-or-death stakes.

In a storytelling sense, it's also helpful to see the way that Kabru is counterbalancing Laios's story: while Laios is journeying through a biological ecosystem and showing us the dungeon as an organism, Kabru shows the audience the human ecosystem that surrounds the dungeon, the political and social machinations working on it, and how these things are just as deadly as monsters. He's a big picture thinker.

More on that in ... a few episodes, probably?

On the off-chance you'd like to read it, the manga is easily accessible in its official translation here and is a very quick read. You can also see about checking it out through your local library; my roommate read it all on her e-reader that way!

Kabru as a character is intertwined with the idea that sometimes we have to sacrifice the needs of the few for the good of the many. He ultimately subverts this first by sabotaging the Canaries and then by letting Laios go, but in practice he's already been living a life of self-sacrifice.

Saving people, and learning the secrets of the dungeons to seal them, are what's important. Not his own comforts. Not his own desires. He forces them down until he doesn't know they're there, until one of them has to come spilling out during the confession in chapter 76.

Specifically, I think it's very significant, in a story about food and all that it entails, that Kabru is rarely shown eating. He's the deuteragonist of Dungeon Meshi, the cooking manga, but while meals are the anchoring points of Laios's journey, given loving focus, for Kabru, they're ... not.

I'm sure he eats during dungeon expeditions, in the routine way that adventurers must when they sit down to camp. But on the surface, you get the idea that Kabru spends most of his time doing his self-assigned dungeon-related tasks: meeting with people, studying them, putting together that evidence board, researching the dungeon, god knows what else. Feeding himself is secondary.

He's introduced during a meal, eating at a restaurant, just to set up the contrast between his party and Laios's. And it's the last normal meal we see him eating until the communal ending feast (if you consider Falin's dragon parts normal).

First, we get this:

Kabru's response here is such a non-answer, it strongly implies to me that he wasn't thinking about it until Rin brought it up. That he might not even be feeling the hunger signals that he logically knew he should.

They sit down to eat, but Kabru is never drawn reaching for food or eating it like the rest of his party. He only drinks.

It's possible this means nothing, that we can just assume he's putting food in his mouth off-panel, but again, this entire manga is about food. Cooking it, eating it, appreciating it, taking pleasure in it, grounding yourself in the necessary routine of it and affirming your right to live by consuming it. It's given such a huge focus.

We don't see him eat again until the harpy egg.

What a significant question for the protagonist to ask his foil in this story about eating! Aren't you hungry? Aren't you, Kabru?

He was revived only minutes ago after a violent encounter. And then he chokes down food that causes him further harm by triggering him, all because he's so determined to stay in Laios's good graces.

In his flashback, we see Milsiril trying to spoon-feed young Kabru cake that we know he doesn't like. He doesn't want to eat: he wants to be training.

Then with Mithrun, we see him eating the least-monstery monster food he can get his hands on, for the sake of survival- walking mushroom, barometz, an egg. The barometz is his first chance to make something like an a real meal, and he actually seems excited about it because he wants to replicate a lamb dish his mother used to make him!

...but he doesn't get to enjoy it like he wanted to.

Then, when all the Canaries are eating field rations ... Kabru still isn't shown eating. He's only shown giving food to Mithrun.

And of course the next time he eats is the bavarois, which for his sake is at least plant based ... but he still has to use a coping mechanism to get through it.

I don't think Kabru does this all on purpose. I think Kui does this all on purpose. Kabru's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be understood as informing his character just as much as Laios's autism informs his. It's another way that Kabru and Laios act as foils: where Laios takes pleasure in meals and approaches food with the excitement of discovery, Kabru's experiences with eating are tainted by his trauma. Laios indulges; Kabru denies himself. Laios is shown enjoying food, Kabru is shown struggling with it.

And I can very easily imagine a reason why Kabru might have a subconscious aversion towards eating.

Meals are the privilege of the living.

“He’s so fake” N-no he’s not! I say as they drag me into a patted room(he’s not I swear guys believe me plsplsplspls)

“He’s so boring!” BECAUSE YOURE IN SEASON ONE?

Bro’s raising his hand to speak 💀 bro thinks he in school 💀 (which he shouldn’t even think bc his ass was homeschooled) dork ass I’ll kiss him

Bro likes tomatoes as his favorite food 💀 that ain’t even a meal bruh that’s an ingredient 💀 ingredient lover 💀 malnourished ass 💀 fake food fan 💀 eat some proper meals bruh 💀 bro’s gonna eat tomatoes straight up like an apple and be like “yummy” 💀 I’d take him out to dinner

Bro’s special interests are people and politics 💀silly ass he’s so excited and cute 💀 what’s he being cute for 💀 cute ass 💀 what’s he got a gorgeous smile for 💀 bro’s having fun and enjoying himself how lovely I hope he has many good days and learns to love himself like with all that idolizing he does of other people he really doesn’t thhnkot himself and maybe he jus like hates himself yo what if that has to do with him lke thjnkjnh he’s like a monster in that one part like he hates monsters and he sees himself like that I mean I guess that’s not really profound idk what I’m sayin I’m kinda tired and k think mh phone is too it’s getting warm

He’s such a mess lmao like bro just drank some unknown quantity of glasses of alcohol and took his clothes off (unclear which one he did first) and passed out in his bed seemingly backwards what are you doing silly ass 💀 drinking to help with his insomnia smh silly Kabru you’re gonna die young that is not good for you 💀 unhealthy ass 💀 gorgeous ass man 💀 I want to study him under a microscope except I’m really bad at using microscopes in middle school they made me do this before you go into the lab test and I passed it so good but when I got to the lab and started using the microscope i could not see shit like I kept turning them knobs n stuff did not work lnao all blurry so if I was like “bro you an interesting critter I’m gonna study you under a microscope” what would happen is I would just go “hmmm hm hmmmmm” all inquisitively and just look at blurry ness for a few seconds then be like “I can’t see shit lol that was a busy wanna make out@ then I would kiss him on his face and I would play with his pretty hair

This could b me. I know how to touch boobs and one time when I was like 10 I watched a YouTube video on how to transform into a werewolf and I genuinely believe it was real and I started walking around my house on alll fours and barking and trying to feel my connection to the mooon and when my dad came home he got really mad ya me and he started yelling at me also I have a sister this could literally be me like that could be me I could be feeling Kabru bobs more like Kabroobies lmao I would lick him like a popsicle like his skin like a cat and I would draw little animals on his arms in different colored marker and all the animals say I love you hearttttt and they are all happy animals and I would tell him is ok if he wants to wash them off because they’re stupid little marker animals and it’s ok if he doesn’t like them

Fun fact I first saw this picture of Kabru like ten minutes before I went to go golfing with m dad and my grandpa and our neighbor Bill or something and so I had no time to process it and so every time during golfing which was like three hours or so btw I would keep thinking of him like this and also this was before k realized I thought he was handsome I was like he’s a cool character. But he’s not like hot lol but then I see this picture minutes before golfing and my heart gets pounding and I feel like I’m choking and suddenly it dawns on me he’s the most beustfil man I’ve ever seen in mh life meow but then I immediately had to go golfing and like ever time I blinked I would see his gorgeous face and I was like “wow man I’m hay” but I couldn’t do anything about it or like tell anybody because I was busy absolutely fucking up my short game lmal Nd itz kujs ahdn fbe chata teds are locked jn a room tkvwtehr kr somwrbinf ow my fingwr hhrt they just sgafted crampimg but anhways tehy realize they lkkr each other n stff yeah j tealkzed i liked him when i was out golfing as soon i vake baxk from glfijg j tbnk j went kn a cfazu tsnt to mh flose frkends and stuff yeab anhways he looks vrewg gorgeous meow melw man

He’s sooooo cute bruh that tuff of hair that sticks out from behin this ear makes me crazy what the fucj why do you look like that I love you 😭 it’s 1am rn and I love him I can’t sleep I’m comipoling a handful of my little pictures of him to tumblr because he’s making me crazy oh Man U love him him I want to hold his face in mh hands I want uh kiss him I want uhhhh man he is gorgeous and I like his personality he s like assionage he really into his goals he’s like a do whatever it takes guy but like he has limits and stuff he’s not like crazy nuts but he’s driven and accomplished and he’s a cute little charmer he so handsome wow!! And he’s so smart and he’s a quick thinker very smart good at improv and he’s a good leader and he cares about people what a cool guy and I love his nice smile awwwwwwwww man he’s hot meowza k can never be normal about him I don’t feelnormal so about him ever man I’m so sleepy bruh I don’t even remember a single word I just toed snit if I said”I alone Kabru “ somewhere than k agree with myself because yeah I love him and that’s yeah awesome guy him great splendid incredible enamoring effiseneg 100 stars out of 2 or just 50 because that’s fractions wait I can do 100 stars out if 1 stars and get 100 stars or I could just move the decimal pace and I could get even more stars yeah babgygirkl are you the space because stars are you the dirt b cause I would give you flowers z are you mini cooking videos that go “yummy!” And have old Macdonald playing the background because I can’t take my eyes off you are you beautiful because yes you are I am going to bed goodnight to Kabru and the orhwr peippe too i guess njy mksyly Kabru i hope everhd rike he sleleehe sleep well full 9 hoirs well resyed Miss Ryoko Kui please Kabru sleepinh good plewse also comic where he has good day please I wish the best for him

Milsiril was very reassuring with him and tried to raise him well. She absolutely did make an effort to be a good adoptive mother, but there's such a jarring disconnect between them because of the nature of the relationship. She did not understand his culture at all but also she could not understand him as a human. She babied him too long and the way she acted around him solidified the idea in his mind that there would never be mutual understanding between elves and humans. Like if you can't truly connect to a parent, what kind of impact would that have on a growing child? Even now she still treats him like a baby, how can you ever recover from trauma properly if you're never seen as anything but a crying child?

- mickbell and kuro

Okay so walk with me

There’s such a difference in the way they hold the contact fairy. Contact fairy’s have a pretty self explanatory name, they’re communicators.

Kabru feels pretty upset over the fairy and holds them as if they were an injured bird or something while Mithrun hold it the same way you’d grab a recorder or a phone. Not saying he gripped the fairy harshly or anything. but it’s pretty interesting to see how they both feel of the fairy. He also taps the fairy’s head as if trying to reconnect a signal. Found that pretty funny for a second after I realized he was doing it on a half dead fairy head </3

(Personally, to me fairy’s are still little tiny creatures so cmon treat them with kindness guys..)

It almost feels like mithrun seems them as what there for, a device which— I don’t blame him, that’s literally what they are and why they’re made. But with kabru there’s definitely a more human touch with the fairy if that makes sense. He looks very worried and treats it with care and seemed a little surprised when mithrun grabbed it like how he did

ID LIKE TO POINT SOMETHING OUT THATS A SMALL THEORY BUT