i do like farcille as a concept but in dungeon meshi it feels less of a relationship and more of an obsession. falin isnt really a character, just an object to use or an object to desire, and while we learn much about her through her absence through the story, she's barely a character when shes alive. the scenes between her and marcille when she was first revived are amazing and sweet, but its gone all too quickly, almost giving us a taste of what falin meant to everyone, but by the end... shes just a bystander of her own life.
we dont know how she felt about being a chimera, the lengths marcille went towards reviving her, she didnt seem to care about much that had changed (like the massave change in party layout) while she was dead. her character to me almost seems like projections marcille had about her, rather than a person with her own thoughts and feelings. most of what we know about falin is through marcilles eyes, and while she loves falin, its a biased view that only shows one side of her personhood
hell, when she was first revived i thought something was wrong because she seemed dazed and apathetic, she was warm to marcille but otherwise did not seem very interested in anything else.
the ending felt very rushed and in a way it feels like dungeon meshi is a story about marcille not having to deal with her insecurities or her fear of death. she revives her girlfriend twice after things that anyone would have deemed an unwinnable situation, and its unclear whether marcille suddenly got over her overarching fear of having all her friends die long before she does or her wish of everyone living the same lifetime came true and stayed true.
either way, it feels like... because marcille got falin, that dungeon meshi needed to be about reviving falin, it neglects other themes the manga was about.
accepting death. accepting the differences in other races. both of those themes are kind of ruined by 1. falin being successfully revived TWICE after 2 doomed situations and 2. marcille either entirely getting over the racial disparity in lifetimes suddenly or getting her wish for everyone to live as long as her.
and both serve to give falin and marcille especially a happy ending. but i think it comes at a cost, of dungeon meshis own themes and falins character.
but yeah, its a happy gay couple ending, so its good right?
