char array weirdness

[Jack Stouffer via Digitalmars-d-learn]

On Monday, 28 March 2016 at 22:43:26 UTC, Anon wrote:
> On Monday, 28 March 2016 at 22:34:31 UTC, Jack Stouffer wrote:
>> void main () {
>>     import std.range.primitives;
>>     char[] val = ['1', '0', 'h', '3', '6', 'm', '2', '8', 's'];
>>     pragma(msg, ElementEncodingType!(typeof(val)));
>>     pragma(msg, typeof(val.front));
>> }
>>
>> prints
>>
>>     char
>>     dchar
>>
>> Why?
>
> Unicode! `char` is UTF-8, which means a character can be from 1 
> to 4 bytes. val.front gives a `dchar` (UTF-32), consuming those 
> bytes and giving you a sensible value.

But the value fits into a char; a dchar is a waste of space. Why 
on Earth would a different type be given for the front value than 
the type of the elements themselves?