Note: This’ll contain spoilers for the Re:Zero Light Novel.
I just stopped watching Re:Zero’s first episode of its second season and I must say that this is boring beyond belief. The first episode just confirmed to me what I suspected when looking up Light Novel spoiler details and learning more about Re:Zero’s supposed lore. I was gravely disappointed and after giving the first episode of the second season a try . . . I think I’ll stop watching it from now on. Prior to this, I had watched and enjoyed the entirety of Re:Zero’s Season 1 back when the episodes were being newly released, but since then I wanted to learn more about its lore and where the story would go and I was deeply disappointed by what I learned. The initial appeal for Re:Zero for me was a main character who was aware of the tropes and used them to his advantage, but later got smacked down with reality when he confused his fantasy adventure for something that should conform to his selfish desires instead of seeing that these people have their own lives and problems. This initially appealed to me because it set-up and knocked down the gary stu-style tropes of most Isekai anime which essentially just become harems where the main character is the strongest and all the main cast of females eventually worship him. Re:Zero provided an alternative take that seemed to be fairly unique from this mold by showing an average person who held onto such beliefs about being the most important person in a fantasy world, but then dealt with the reality of having those delusions knocked flat and slowly becoming a better person. This seemed fine at first, but the flaws manifested almost immediately and Natsuki Subaru just isn’t interesting enough of a person to watch the journey of. I could see this type of anime appealing to self-loathing Otakus similar to Evangelion, but it seems like the narrative issues of Re:Zero are the opposite extreme of the generic Isekai harem anime.
What is the point of Subaru’s journey? That’s the crux of the issue for me. He’s no Edward Elric looking to get his body back, he’s no Goku trying to either get the Dragonballs or fight stronger opponents because he loves the challenge as a martial artist, he’s no Ryuko trying to learn the mystery of what happened to her father, he’s no Naruto trying to work hard to become the leader of his country, he’s no Luffy working to find the greatest treasure in the world while getting entangled in government conspiracies, and it no longer feels like any journey of self-discovery to find himself either. The main purpose of his life seems to revolve around Emilia and I’m sorry to say that I never found it convincing. He had one date with her and uses that as justification to literally get himself stabbed over and over to death. The purpose of his character feels so brittle and forced, but it was somewhat easy to ignore in the first Season. I had expected the Royal Succession arc to probe this deeper, but it never did. The extra material like the chibi show with worldbuilding didn’t help matters when Emilia and Puck mentioned that Subaru had told them that he had illegally entered the country. If Subaru is so in love with Emilia, what reason does he have to deliberately lie to her about coming from another world? His Return by Death conveniently requires him to never tell anyone or they’ll die for some completely unexplained reason by a woman who has supposedly been sealed away for hundreds of years, but absolutely nothing in the anime or extra anime content ever mentioned Subaru needing to keep the fact that he’s from another world quiet. Why lie to Emilia about it instead of trusting her with the truth, if he is so in love with her? It’s amazing how the narrative is trying to force this true love message between the two, but just swipes this very important fact under the rug without any self-reflection on what it means for the honesty of the relationship between the two.
The closest Subaru’s depicted motivations actually come to is Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach and that isn’t a good sign considering how Bleach declined. If Subaru’s motivation is reduced to simply protecting his friends, then an already formulaic story will be reduced to Subaru making dumb mistakes, then learning to ask others for help or use some basic investigative skills (like with protecting the village from hellhounds) to correct his mistake, and then everyone getting a more positive outcome. Rinse and repeat. The groundhog day formula similar to Steins;Gate and Higurashi will become even more formulaic because there’s barely any mystery emphasized, Natsuki Subaru’s relationships to the fantasy characters (the crux of any good groundhog day style story) seems very weak, the characters aren’t as intriguing in what is a generic fantasy setting unlike the latter two series, and as a result there’s no other intriguing elements like the village myth in Higurashi or the workings of Time Travel in Steins;Gate. Furude Rika and Okabe Rintaro are both fantastic characters with their own deeply personal motivations, journey of perseverance, and selfless love for their comrades. Rika and Rintaro are both in settings where we’ve firmly established that they knew the people around them for practically a lifetime, grow satisfying friendships or love for the new people in their lives throughout their respective story arcs (In Higurashi’s case, by having the main character be a newcomer in the first season to introduce us to the small-town), and they’re working selflessly to protect them. By contrast, the generic fantasy setting of Re:Zero is perhaps its biggest detriment to the groundhog style of storytelling; Subaru barely knows these people, he hasn’t built any long-term relationships with them, and their general disdain in many of his story arcs where he is brutally killed makes it hard for viewers to understand what the payoff of any of this suffering is. Subaru is willing to undergo horrifying amounts of suffering, but it seems like this story can’t answer the basic reason for any of these horrible deaths that he goes through: Why?
The “love” Subaru has for Emilia over one date that she probably won’t ever be able to remember feels like the author forced the character to behave this way. Subaru’s behavior mid-Season 1 where he made an ass of himself in front of the Royal Succession felt like forced plot stupidity. Perhaps it had good payoff in later episodes where Subaru probes deeper and admits his failings, but the initial conflict was still very forced on the character. I didn’t mind it too much then, but as the story stretches on and the same groundhog day set-up is bound to happen . . . what was the point? What was the payoff? Why should we as viewers care when his “love” for his “friends” is so brittle and barely established outside of maybe Rem? Sadly, it seems the swift kick in the pants that Subaru was given mid-Season 1 has only added more reasons why it is hard to believe that this character goes through so much for complete strangers. Even his solution to take down the White Whale consisted of people gaining personal rights to Roswaal’s territory to mine it for resources and not out of genuine compassion for innocent lives lost or to help Subaru out of any friendship. And just when did Subaru get the power to decide what portion of Roswaal’s territory can be mined by a political group that is opposed to Emilia’s Succession in favor of their own Succession candidate? I didn’t initially mind this, but the deeper the story goes, the less this house of cards makes any sense. Crusch’s lie detector ability just so happened to fail when Subaru outright lied about his cellphone’s abilities. All in all, it feels like the author breaks his own established rules to make the story progress and that isn’t a sign of good storytelling.
Memory problems. A major red flag for me about the Re:Zero story is when I read about memory alternation magic such as curses and partial memory wipes. Even if we discount full memory wipes like what the White Whale and other Witch Cultists do, I have to question why it is that one of the Witches hasn’t conquered the world yet since there doesn’t seem to be any defense against memory wipes. There seems to be no limits explained about these curses or magic abilities that wipe people’s memories and it makes me wonder how large city-styled societies like Re:Zero can even work when magic like that goes unchecked. Make no mistake, Re:Zero has failed to introduce any protections to memory wiping and this is a major problem. Not only does there seem to be no real costs to Witches using memory wipes that get rid of the memories of vast swathes of people, but . . . you could make any “revelations” into the story this way without the narrative really doing much to introduce it. That’s the other major problem with the plot of Re:Zero that really bothered me. Theoretically, the story becomes open enough that it could become anything without any build-up, because all that is necessary would be for Subaru to have been revealed to be memory wiped or partially memory wiped. Even events such as his understanding of coming from another world similar to ours could just be memory implants or false memories. Or he could have gone on journeys from thousands of years in the past of Re:Zero’s world and been randomly memory wiped to explain why he didn’t remember certain plot points. In short, everything could become so easily contrived and forced into the story by the author without any proper build-up to future plot twists in the story. Even worse, the author already seems to do this with small-scale material like Crusch’s lie detector and Subaru’s behavior during the Royal Candidate ceremony, so I’m skeptical if he won’t abuse this obvious plot convenience that opens-up far too many questions that he’s failed to address. The use of memory wipes and partial memory wipes opens-up so many plot holes that can be conveniently swept away with memory loss being the cause. It would ruin the tension and build-up for future moments of the story. Perhaps, I am being nitpicky, but his lack of explanation for the limits of the Witch’s magical abilities really doesn’t help matters. I don’t have any faith in the author to not misuse this for forced plot conveniences, when so much of the story already seems rife with it. That’s the major reason why I’ve lost interest in Re:Zero.
There are more reasons, but they seem less important than what I’ve already explained. If you enjoy Re:Zero, more power to you. But for me, I believe the story adds too much plot contrivance and fails to establish any set limits to the witch magic that can prevent abuse of certain crazy memory powers. It is to the point that certain plot holes can only be ignored through the author contrivance alone and it requires too much of a suspension of disbelief that I can no longer ignore. This is on top of Subaru’s tenuous relationships in the fantasy world and his lack of a motivation that doesn’t feel like the author forcing him to behave certain ways. The suspension of disbelief is too great for me to enjoy the anime any longer.
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I agree with you here. This show wants the audience to take itself seriously but you can’t just do it when the author can’t hide how forced and fake this show is. Aside from what you said, the dialogue is also very heavy-handed and its portrayal of mental illness and to a greater extent, PTSD, is clumsy. Subaru goes from being weak and deeply disturbed by the cause of his death in one life, then turns into an incredibly brave and confident person when faced with the same problem in then next like it was nothing at all. There were also a lot of times where he loses common sense for no reason just to die or be hated by everyone, so he gets this “character development” to be a very smart and perceptive person to deal with the problem, then goes back to his dumb and obnoxious self after the events have ended. For someone who’s been argued to be one of the most realistic MCs by most fans, he’s very unrealistic and definitely unbelievable.
Yeah, looking over it, what on earth is this plot really offering insofar as hooking readers to the story and the payoff?
I guess people just appreciate how dark the Isekai genre can be with all the gore and stuff and also how the MC is normal in almost everything contrary to overpowered protagonists we’ve been having so far. Maybe he’s that relatable to many, and having RBD is like having a second chance to do things right without the shame of his prior actions instilled in people’s minds. The problem though, is that his obnoxious and over-dramatic behaviour is the easiest and most important thing he could’ve fixed if he wants people to have a good impression of him, but nope, Subaru skips all the way and cheats through the auto-saving mechanic and so everybody treats him like a hero instantly. I admit though I would’ve liked this show back when I was a teen, but now I just see how immature and inaccurate this series is. People who are very needy and persistent to the point they’re intrusive are just disgusting, and Subaru is like that all the time. His lacklustre backstory after watching Season 2 doesn’t help at all, and is just about pandering to otakus and hikikomoris so they can self-insert.
It’s hard to think of Subaru’s actions and intentions as noble especially when it will never look that way in a realistic perspective. It baffles me the side characters are still allowing him to stay and willingly keep up with him despite of his antics. This is also the reason why I blame RBD for its terrible usage as a plot device: it makes relationships bloom unnaturally, and prevents characters from having real growth when the author can just reset it at any point in time especially when the save point is always placed conveniently for the plot. If there’s one thing the show is good though, it’s manipulating people to think it’s believable in the first place. But like you said, it really isn’t when everything is contrived when you look at the story continuously without the shenanigans since there’s no proper build-up.
not to mention, rbd has still so many unanswered questions. Like, why did it kill Emilia in episode 17 but not episode 7 or 13? Why does Subaru never bother to use it on a witch cultist arch bishop? I’ve been reading through the novels, but I don’t think I’ve seen an answer as to why.
the author can just reset it at any point in time especially when the save point is always placed conveniently for the plot.
This reigns true when subaru’s checkpoint in arc 3 updated after the white whale battle. Talk about convenient
My guess is killing all the witch cultists
Actually, scratch that last point. I think what this plot is offering to the viewer is an underdog protagonist trying to be humanity’s miracle worker
If that’s the purpose of the narrative, it gets completely muddled with his obsessive fixation over Emilia that just never comes off as anything but extremely forced and unconvincing.
Oh no. I 100% agree with you. I was just stating that as a possible reason. I just feel like his obsession with Emilia is just a way to move the plot along, which is not good writing. but extremely forced and unconvincing? Plus, when you really think about it, his relationship with Emilia has always been forced from the start. He meets a girl who saved him from thugs? I’m going to die multiple times and suffer just to save her? Everyone around him treating him like dirt except Emilia by backstabbing, belittling, and betraying him just to make Emilia look good. An entire episode focusing on a girl trying to push him back into the arms of Emilia and be rejected so the plot can progress. Yeah, he’s not going to ever break free of simping over Emilia.
What’s also weird about memories is Subaru is protected from not able to forget his loved ones, but in arc 6, his own memories of his adventures in this world get wiped clean from his mind.
I admit Subaru’s mental fortitude is unnatural when he just experienced something brutal from a previous loop and swoops back at the battlefield as if nothing happened. Well put yourself in his shoes. If you died, had your heart/soul touched by your 400 year old gf who is some dark entity and then popped back up and everything that happened is gone but you still remember, wouldn’t you be pretty messed up right? Especially if it happened time and time again. You remember the pain. The suffering. And any progress you made with people to become friends was just gone. You say things that you shouldn’t know and they instantly think you’re a stalker or a creep even though you remember these things but they don’t. Do note that the boy exhibits self-mutilation behavior as another symptom of his PTSD throughout his free time and even Beatrice notice this as part of his habit, And while he did manage to save everyone at the end of season 2 and became Emilia’s knight; that doesn’t make the nightmares go away and it certainly doesn’t make the mental and physical side effects disappear either. To elaborate on why Subaru’s self-mutilation to “relieve” pain: Psychological pain is something you generally have little control over without lots of therapy. Self-inflicted physical pain, you do have control over. By self-harming, you can distract from the uncontrolled pain and focus on a pain you do have control over, which can be a lot easier to cope with, he also does it because it allows him to tell if he RBD without knowing it. The very first loop in the mansion messed him up. The one where he died in his sleep. He doesn’t want to be caught in situation where he loops in his sleep and is unaware. That shit will do a real number on a teenager’s mental health. Normally this surprised fans that he actually kept it together and recovered mostly. He does and will have PTSD but he’s taking it in stride and trying to make the best of his situation which he’s finally getting some tangible results from his efforts in the way he wants them to be. Subaru built his relationship with the other cast and he even has a personal ranking of his friends and he would use Return By Death if one of them died. How did Subaru not go insane? The simple answer: He doesn’t. The more in depth one: He keeps up the farce of not being ‘insane’ by convincing himself that what he is doing is for a good cause, to “save people”. It’s stated multiple times throughout the series by Subaru himself that everything he is doing is for “their sake”. With the infinite chances of Return by Death he is aware that his desired outcomes will change to his favor if he just works hard enough.
True. Subaru is more idealistic than realistic. If he was realistic, then he wouldn’t have gotten so far.
also, can we really call him realistic when he values more about success rather than his personal health? Granted, there are people like him, but to the degree of shit that he goes through? Hell, even in episode 18, he doesn’t even mention once to Rem that he feels as if he’s losing his sanity, but he instead feels weak, powerless, unable to fix the situation that’s presented in front of him, his self hatred, etc. Meanwhile, in episode 17, when he was arguing with Emilia, he says, “I don’t want to cry and suffer anymore.” The fuck happened to that?
it workd
sorry, My original comment didn’t go through. I was making a joke about the show in a nutshell. Re Zero: Where being a simp will save humanity!
That’s pretty funny lol
thank you
you know, looking back at season 2 episode 1, how is Crusch still alive? Felix was crying on her motionless body, meaning she was dead, right? Subaru killed himself, but the checkpoint changed until after Rem was forgotten by the world and put in a coma. How was Crusch able to be saved then? The loop shows she has amnesia, but who saved her, and wasn’t her arm lopped off by Regulus? What happened?
Honestly, the story breaks its own established rules often enough with Crusch especially, that it seems like the author made someone they didn’t know what to do with and tried to sideline the character in the quickest way they could think of, without much explanation.
I got another one.
“Subaru is willing to undergo horrifying amounts of suffering, but it seems like this story can’t answer the basic reason for any of these horrible deaths that he goes through: Why?”
Because a sexy maid told him to.
Speaking of crusch: Her memory loss has no value or significance, (especially since she has no internal struggles like rem did), and she barely feels like a valuable goal even her circustances are similar to Rem’s. Sure, she doesn’t have an important/impactful role as rem, but it feels like that the character shouldn’t have had amnesia to begin with, especially since unlike Rem, it doesn’t have add any complications to her relationships with the people around her, nor does it add for any potential character growth. Why was she an amnesiac anyway?
Yeah. It feels like he really is inconsistent. It feels like teppei wants him to remain stagnant for some reason, but it feels like it damages subarus character
Crusch’s lie detector ability just so happened to fail when Subaru outright lied about his cellphone’s abilities.
I just had a fucking realization. This shit happened in episode 16 when crusch asked rem about ever suspecting Subaru. She fucking lied because before she fell in love with subaru, she looked at him with disgust and hatred, like to the point that she wanted to kill him.
Yup, the author keeps breaking his own rules…
Aside from what you said, the dialogue is also very heavy-handed and its portrayal of mental illness and to a greater extent, PTSD, is clumsy.
Because the themes of this story take precedence over trauma. If it didn’t, Subaru wouldn’t be able to recover, regardless of what support he has, whether it’s someone teaching him an important lesson or just bawling his eyes out on a lap.
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Why does Subaru have the authority to negotiate with Crusch and share the mining rights?
Originally that was Rem’s mission given to her by Roswaal. Roswaal does not allow Rem to tell Subaru about her real mission, unless Subaru finds it by himself. After that, Rem can give him the right of negotiation and follow Subaru’s instructions. How did Subaru found out? Subaru finally finds a question. Why Roswaal allows Rem staying with Subaru but not protecting Emilia in the mansion when the Witch Cult was gonna attack? Especially the defense power of Roswaal’s mansion is extremely low. Therefore, he concluded that Rem has another mission. There is a contract between Crusch and Emilia. Also, Subaru as a guest is treated in Crusch’s mansion, Rem may discuss with Crusch about something, most possible, forming alliance. Emilia’s camp from the beginning is trying to form alliance with Crusch. The bargaining chip given from Roswaal is right of mining of magic stone, but Crusch is not satisfied so the discussion faces difficulties and hence Subaru pulls out a big brain move that he knows Moby dick. In conclusion Subaru has been dancing on Roswaal’s palm the entire time.
Why didn’t Crusch lie detect ability didn’t work when Subaru pulled out his phone?
In the negotiation, Rem was just standing behind Subaru. When the phone appears, she just make a sound and Crusch notices it, then Crusch asked why she gave such a reaction and then Rem gave out the “answer”, Subaru explains when the White Whale is gonna appear, He never explained the abilities of his phone because he obviously knows about her ability and it would make him a liar. Their actions are all considered by Subaru to increase his credibility.
This is why I’m sick to death of “re:zero is Subaru’s character study” getting recycled to heaven by people who are taking a handful of anime youtubers’ words for the authors. It was never about him, even to a very simplistic level Tappei says Emilia is the focus of the plot/actual main character but Subaru’s who it follows more.
But it also doesn’t. You’re all going in treating the others as a wall for Subaru to stare at himself through and it was never intended that way, then people get surprised that a “side character” was really “great” and “you’d never have expected it!” as if the point isn’t to get invested in characters OTHER THAN Subaru omg 😭😭😭 re zero is long because of all of the characters whose goals and arcs have to progress, not just Subaru’s.
… But on that note Subaru is still the crux of it because you spend this long with him and people still don’t even understand his own goals. He loves Emilia, wants what’s best for her, that meant saving her life then securing alliances then learning why she’s seeking the throne and then(if you watch on) shit like getting Rem’s name/memories back(tracking gluttony down), Emilia getting political backing to compete with the others, making sure anything politically noteworthy(ie witch cult, any disaster which comes looking for them once defeated can win people over) is spread word of, and just being happy and surviving.
Plus you cannot talk “I read light novel Wiki pages for minutes and now I KNOW the worldbuilding is bad” like the novels aren’t hundreds of pages for each episode alone, never mind side stories. Witches and sin archbishops get their power from witch factors which are incredibly strong yes. Basically the entire point is they are mostly beaten by other authorities, ie what Subaru has, but that witch factors tend to give you powers which are liable to drive you mad(also, a con to their powers is that the literal magical system which regulates souls magic and blessings is supposed to counter them, blessings can be used to counter authorities, and people with witch factors can’t reincarnate with memories scrapped and seem more in some kind of purgatory or something when they die instead of getting to rest).
Emilia’s a terrible character though. She lacks any clear depth. Regardless of the author’s intent, he still focuses more on Subaru’s antics than anyone else. Moreover, I don’t think that this whole true love angle is actually love at all. Even just skimming some of the episodes when bored once, Roswaal telling Subaru how he has to keep secrets from Emilia to prove himself strikes me as neither person understanding what love even is. If you can’t be honest in a relationship, then is it love? Then again, what do I know?
Plus, he really dislikes the idea of showing any weakness towards Emilia. After the failed loop where he was swallowed up by the witch of envy, he started crying, and after Emilia comforted him, he felt embarrassed for showing her his weak side. If you’re in love with someone, then you should be more than willing than show your low points like he did with Rem. Hell, in the light novels, Beatrice knows about his self-harm, and she helps him cover them up from Emilia by healing his arms. Nobody else knows about this. A part of me feels like episode 13 seriously scarred Subaru for real, because after he showed Emilia his ugliness, she left him. He’s afraid if he does fall apart again, then she’ll leave him again. If you’re so afraid that the love of your life is going to toss you out that you have to fake it till you make it, how is that a relationship that anybody in universe and the audience can really rally for?
…Yeah, that’s a very salient point. I think that’s where the show started to really lose me, because his actions felt very forced when watching that portion of the story. Add that Emilia apparently has a child-like mentality and the whole relationship essentially falls apart. I think this reflects a weakness on the author’s understanding of an authentic and lasting relationship than anything else though. It doesn’t seem as if the story has any meaningful lesson or point when examining it holistically.
can’t argue with that
Subaru: I love Emilia. He’ll be honest about that, (kudos to him being honest i guess) but he barely shows her any honesty beyond that. It’s like the show has to constantly tell us this, yet it still feels like he’s full of shit. Hell, even in arc 2, Emilia had to force this man to rest on her lap and comfort him, which had it not been for that, Subaru wouldn’t have been able to overcome the mabeast incident. Subaru still makes the mistakes with his relationship with Emilia that he did back then.
Damn, it’s honesty amazing how we can just constantly rag on this dynamic. Shit, we can go about this for hours. I love Re zero, but the more I see people point things out, it makes me look back and think, “yeah, that’s a good point” then I see more glaring flaws.
The grotesque horror element of the show kind of distracts from thinking more critically about it. Also, add to the fact that we’d obviously feel bad about any half-decent person going through brutal deaths like what Subaru experiences, but once you step back from the empathy and examine his actions along the lines of logical inquiry, it stops making much sense. Obviously, none of us believe Subaru deserves any of that pain and torment, but once we distance ourselves from the emotional aspect, we begin to wonder what the point is. The grotesque horror aspect unfortunately seems to keep our attention away from asking more important questions about the broader narrative.
I disagree. I don’t think teppei doesn’t know how to write an authentic and lasting relationship, because imo, Subaru x Rem feels more authentic than Subaru x Emilia. Their relationship feels more romantic and has more build up (Rem treats him better and dies for him on 3 occasions), not to mention a huge portion of season 1 is focused on their dynamic (not to mention, after arc 2, Rem constantly has Subaru on her mind and is always talking about him). Plus, Teppei said, if Subaru was never teleported, he would be a married to a girl like Rem who would ”fall for his incompetence.” Not a girl like Emilia, but Rem. I feel like teppei is trying to make us prioritize a ship that fans aren’t on board with or rather has such little screen time for it to be believable.
Yeah, good point. The author’s decision doesn’t really make much sense. Having Rem effectively out of the picture might be another example of his very forced writing, if he created a ship and couldn’t think of a way to just have them break up, if he’s so gung-ho about Emilia and Subaru together.
“Having Rem effectively out of the picture might be another example of his very forced writing.”
Here’s the kicker. (Spoilers for arc 7) After Rem wakes up, she has none of her memories in tact. Idk if this is permanent (for all know, teppei could be developing her character just like how he did with Subaru in arc 6), but if it is, you can also make a claim of that being teppei’s forced writing when it comes to the Subaru x Emilia ship, since in the novels, Subaru agreed to let Rem be his second wife, but that possibility might be gone forever. Then again, this is something you should take with a grain of salt because there could be a chance that Rem might get her memories back before the story ends.
Also, this is a personal thing, but I feel like teppei wrote Rem to be Subaru’s personal wingman. Like, about what you said about episode 13, Rem knew Emilia’s orders was for Subaru to stay at the inn, yet she lets Subaru go to the royal selection anyway. Why? Cause she knows Subaru is in love with Emilia, and he would anything to protect her. (even though roswaal, her own master, who is vastly stronger than Subaru is there) In episode 14, Rem knew about Emilia’s orders about having Subaru’s gate being healed, yet she allows him to walk away anyway when the mansion is under attack. Hell, she states the “Subaru she loves” is the man that loves Emilia. Her love for Subaru is used as a tool for Subaru to continue to follow Emilia like a lovesick puppy, while she’s out of the picture so Subaru and Emilia could hook up, because God forbid we keep it a 3 way like the novels (at least up until arc 7). I hate that shit. If Rem’s love for Subaru is used in this way, then her love for Subaru is so wasted. She’s like those side characters is loving the MC, only to be given the finger because the MC and FMC have to hook up, even though their dynamic is shitty as fuck, but whatever.
Also, here’s something that also bothers me about episode 13, Emilia says something about ”I’m asking you to give me a reason to trust you, Subaru.” So apparently, getting her insignia back (which if she hadn’t gotten back would’ve gotten her disqualified from the royal selection), and nearly dying to save the villagers from mabeasts (which is what Emilia should’ve done since she’s vastly stronger than Subaru, but she doesn’t help Subaru and Rem) she doesn’t don’t qualify as reasons to trust Subaru. What’s even more fucked up is the fact there were people praising Subaru for sticking up for Emilia during the royal selection, she never thanked him for it, but she admonished him in front of everyone, adding more salt to the wound. So he sticks up for her when she gets bullied, but she treats him like shit. Yeah, this is a romantic ship in the making, folks!
Plus, Subaru’s morals are bizzare. Like, he surrounds himself with people who treat him like dogshit or kill him. I get that he has extreme self-hatred, but it almost feels a bit overkill. However, with people like Elsa or Betelguese, they deserve to die for some reason. I want to say his morality is based on first impressions, but even some of his friends like Felt abandon him right out of the gate when he first came to this world. If he believes in not judging a book by its cover and having the patience to understand people, what qualifies to him as people who deserve to be given a second chance? Why couldn’t someone like elsa have a shot then? What passes as forgiveable or unforgivable? If killing innocent people or people he cares about is it, then Garfiel already did that. Even if I were to make a case like he cares about people who can help him with his goals, then again I point to Elsa, (spoliers if you haven’t read the novels and arc 5) because in the greed if in the novels, Subaru actually hires her as his boss, and she helps quite a bit in arc 5 where a lot of members of the witch cult attack a city called Prestella.
I think the author was trying to portray Subaru as self-absorbed, but even that falls apart when – regardless of if they hate or love him – people act like his behavior and choices are the most important aspect of their lives. I think a much better example of what the author was attempting to go for would be in the anime series, Jobless Reincarnation / Mushoku Tensei, since Rudeus demonstrates from not contacting his family while in the Asura continent to his complete ignorance of what Nanahoshi is suffering throughout most of the days in which he attempts to help her complete summoning circles; he’s constantly ruminating on a trauma from a world that’s effectively dead to him instead of trying to understand and relate to the people around him who are literally suffering through things like slavery, torture, and massive family deaths. Since the people around him bring up their own suffering and point out more important and immediate problems are happening due to tragic world events, it slams home the message more effectively than some side character giving the main character a dark look as they watch him die slowly.
I haven’t watched the show, but that sounds a lot better than Subaru having to go through endless cycles to wonder why a person kills him or kills people they care about.
It’s a slow-burn series and some of it is definitely awkward since it uses ye olde Medieval European logic which includes child marriage, but the story manages to be engaging overall. I like how, even though Rudeus is very powerful in the story, it doesn’t automatically mean women fawn over him and he still has to work on growing from his own traumas and general ignorance. I think the viewers are meant to, and later the character himself slowly realizes, how self-centered his thinking really is. I think it does a good job of showing that just because a person gains super-powers, it doesn’t automatically fix either their psychological traumas or make them grow into a better person. He has to actually work on it himself.
actually, now i reacll, i did see a clip about how he nearly killed himself with a knife
are there any problems you have with re 0?
I honestly just sort of stopped watching because I came to the conclusion that I strongly dislike Emilia’s backstory and Subaru’s “love” always felt way too forced for me to really even care to watch his journey any further. But, thinking over it, I basically dislike how the author wrote the worldbuilding and I don’t understand why Subaru can’t just be honest with Emilia about things. The story just broke my suspension of disbelief too many times, I guess…
I’m curious, what do you dislike about Re 0’s the show’s world building?
The partial memory wipes make no sense as I fail to understand how they can even have functioning societies with powers like that able to be abused so constantly, some aspects of the worldbuilding seem strangely similar to this Yaoi anime about a reborn demon lord almost as if they were lifted from it, and the setting strangely feels underdeveloped in certain respects.
funny story, I’m a bit stupid. I just forgot that you were the one who wrote this article about re: zero, and we’ve been literally conversing with each other.
You might just be lacking sleep. That sort of situation tends to happen when people don’t get enough sleep.
yeah. But besides the fact, it was an interesting and well written article. I have another question, which one in your opinion is better: Steins Gate or Higurashi?
I can’t judge without playing Higurashi’s Visual Novel, like I have with Steins;Gate’s two main visual novels. I will say that I like the cast and plot of Steins;Gate more overall though.
Steins gate’s has two visual novels? Is the second one steins gate’s zero because I know that steins gate’s zero is an anime sequel to the original?
Yes, the second one is Steins;Gate Zero.
Who’s your favorite steins gate character?
…Too many to count. I loved the entire cast by the end. lol
I’ve seen you made a few other anime articles. Which anime that you reviewed was the worst?
Probably Pilot’s Love Song. Discounting trashy anime that is intended to be trashy; Tears to Tiara was the absolute worst anime – in terms of anime attempting to be quality – that I’ve watched. But, I don’t have enough to say about it for a review.
Another inconsistency i saw that was pointed out was in episode 3, Emilia had a flower that the little girl gave her in episode 1, even though it shouldn’t be possible because the little girl was scared of her. The only reason she got it was becasue of Subaru, right?
Oh, I didn’t even realize that one. Maybe that was an animation oversight and not the writer?
Could be. I just realized this because I saw a review of re zero that pointed this out. Then again, if could be what you said: just an animation oversight
It’s probably an animation oversight. It happens often enough by even the best animators. Take a look at this one from a One Piece filler episode, two Zoro’s lol: https://www.reddit.com/r/MemePiece/comments/wtc458/whats_wrong_with_this_image_episode_226/#lightbox
ngl, that made me laugh
One of the problems I personally have with this story is that its main theme of asking for help. In Arcs 3 and 4, Subaru asks for help from others, but they either tell him to fuck off, or they have their own agenda. It feels like the story only progresses because of process elimination. In arc 3, he had to ask Rem for help. In arc 4, he had to ask Otto for help. He doesn’t suffer because he doesn’t ask for help, but he suffers because the people he asks for help are shitty, manipulative pricks who have their own agenda, or people who will outright tell you to fuck off and not help you. Finding people who will help him out of the kind of their hearts are almost non-existent. So, the story sort of bites itself in the ass in a way when he asks for help but he doesn’t automatically get it.
Yeah, I think that was my main issue too, looking back. It really is a double-edged sword for Subaru and mixed messaging for the viewers.
Just curious, but did you see my reply to your omni man is correct argument?
I did. I didn’t really have much to add. I’m debating whether to make a continuation about how Alternate Universe Mark Greyson is correct. lol
I do agree a bit since humanity itself isn’t going to be fixed by humans. Hell, our human race might take a steadily decline. With a lot of lunatics and dangerously stupid people, (to the point where their stupidity can get people killed) the only way humanity would be better is if someone did it for us, sadly.
A lot of things are double edge swords in the story, which is a massive problem. It makes me question if I should see it as good or bad. The story says it bad but portrays it as good and things that are bad are portrayed as good
That’s not always bad for a story as sometimes there is a narrative purpose to it, but when they constantly do it with everything like Re:Zero, then it just becomes confusing.
I found a comment on an mal post that summarizes a huge chunk of problems in season 1
We don’t know anything:
And we find out very little along the way. Return by death is an interesting mechanic but we know nothing about it. Thus it turns into a black box where it feels the writer can do anything he wants.
We still don’t know what determines a checkpoint making them feel random and often just too convenient it’s just a “Because the writer wants you to be there” button.
The penalty about not being able to tell anyone is both interesting and frustrating at the same time. Subaru feels pain and even dies. We know this and it’s one of the few consistent mechanic that as viewer you have a grasp on. Until one episodes it decides to do something completely different and kill someone else because once again we know nothing and Subaru must suffer no matter the cost. The penalty just is what ever the plot desires it to be.
And then my biggest gripe: episodes 12 – 18:
Subaru goes from flawed but trying to giant douche in 10 seconds with no explanation. In my head i just wrote away as the trauma finally getting to him but the story spends no time on this.
Then he goes to several cycles of extreme suffering and we don’t find out why until season 2 which makes it just feel like shock value just for the shock value. The story mirrors Roswaal and Subaru for imposing their ideals unto the women they love which is a flaw. Only the punishment Subaru receives for it just seems disproportional.
In the middle he is so depressed that he is reduced to a plant and what gets him out of plant mode is not a realisation or character development but sheer rage? What? I thought this arc was about Subaru being flawed and Subaru being faced with that? Not him shounen MC-ing himself out of serious trauma.
The story proceeds to treat him like a piece of shit for being too desperate for help? Why again? (And then the story abandons this point by having Subaru use his power to manipulate them into helping him anyways) What the moral here? he should’ve just manipulated people better?
And then the grand finale the resolution of his character arc is Rem saying I love you no matter what and just don’t give up? So I watched all that suffering, pain, mystery , mental breakdowns just for the MC to be coddled and told there is nothing wrong with him. (And then proceeds on as usual business in pre episode 12 style Subaru).
I’m just utterly lost here on what the narrative/story wanted from Subaru here.
Not mention that the relationship between Rem and Subaru borders on toxic and has the same flaw that Subaru had in episode 12. Rem imposes her ideal hero onto Subaru not allowing him to give up? Double what. Weren’t you trying to tell us thats bad. I just don’t know
agree to disagree. Me personally? I hate the idea of toxic positivity being rewarded in stories, especially in re zero’s case, when it’s so egregious.
“All in all, it feels like the author breaks his own established rules to make the story progress and that isn’t a sign of good storytelling.”
This is just a me thing, (and i could be wrong in my interpretation) but i now feel like that’s a problem with rem in arc 3. like, when her habits with Ram like her extreme love, extreme adoration, and lack of self-value of her own life were passed down to Subaru, but it’s now in arc 3, it’s portrayed as wholesome and cute as opposed to arc 2 where her obsession, simping, idolization of Ram, and basing her entire existence off an individual is bad, unhealthy, and toxic.
Again, I could be wrong in how i interpret it, but it doesn’t help that teppei said he just used rem for subaru’s character development and took her out of the story because he didn’t know what to do with her. I enjoy episode 18 as much as the next guy, but it feels like her arc was mostly there to benefit subaru and nothing more. It feels like her character development in arc 7 is what arc 3 should’ve been in my opinion, but it’s not. It doesn’t help that most of her problems and flaws as a character were wiped away due to amnesia.
Also to add on to my point, it feels like the theme of re zero is learning to love yourself, but it feels like rem just learned to love subaru. Sure, subaru helped boost her self-esteem, helped with her inferiority complex, and past trauma, but even in arc 3, she still lacks value in her own life. Some of her dialogue throughout arc 3 before episode 18 is a blatant display of this like labeling subaru as her reason to die, and in episode 17, before she gets erased by the white whale, she said that she believes she was born just to die to protect subaru. That’s not really a person who learned or is learning to love herself
one of the major problems I have with re zero is that the story really tries too hard to have its cake and eat it as well. Like, the story points out things that aren’t bad, but they’re conveyed in a positive manner, or rather, the story shows more positive results then negative, like Subaru’s abnormal capacity for forgiveness, Ram calling subaru out in the novels for wanting to marry both rem and emilia instead of choosing one girl, subaru’s hero complex in arc 7 being called out, etc. I can buy the argument that these things are like a double edge sword or something, but it’s hard for me to give a rat’s ass when some of these issues garner more positive than negative results anyway. Like, if i use someone as a meat shield, it’s obviously detestable, right? However, say if the world is in danger, i fight a supervillain, i use a human being as a meat shield, which gives the opening i need to kill the villain and save the world. I used a horrible flaw and sacrificed an innocent life and used it for a positive to humanity. Why should anyone give a shit then? That’s how re:zero feels like sometimes
This is a thought I had, but why didn’t subaru kill himself after the whole incident?
I foegot to add the royal selection incident
Forced drama, would be my guess. Even when I first watched that scene, it felt like the author was using forced plot stupidity on Subaru to concoct artificial drama. I liked the introspection scene and Rem’s kind nature, but then I look back at it and wonder why he bothers at all. If anything, Emilia and Subaru barely knew each other by that point and time, even if he did help her on numerous occasions. I guess I just never liked the dynamic since it’s based on keeping secrets and lying to the supposed partner that Subaru supposedly loves so much.
“But then I look back at it and wonder why he bothers at all.”
I don’t think it helps the author wanted to tell a story about a protagonist who never gives up or keeps trying, which isn’t terrible on paper, but when you look at it from a certain perspective, (ignoring his abnormal mental fortitude) Subaru makes a lot of questionable choices that no normal person would make, and his reasons feel too much of a reach. Even with people who are desperate and hates themselves wouldn’t stick around with people who manipulate, torture, or even kill you. Even if you did, any normal human being would at least be uncomfortable or apprehensive towards them, even if you’re on better terms with them, you wouldn’t be so casual and chummy with them like Subaru is. It takes a time, a LONG ASS time, especially since we humans hold grudges for WAY less.
Yup, very true. It’s jarring that he continues to act so chummy with these people when they behave horribly and even kill him. It doesn’t make much sense overall.
“Yup, very true. It’s jarring that he continues to act so chummy with these people when they behave horribly and even kill him. It doesn’t make much sense overall.”
The fucked up thing is, the novels make these characters way worse than in the anime. Like legit, I read some of the backstories in the novels that the anime cut, and i’m like “these characters got redeemed. HOW?! ” The shit they do even excluding the things they do Subaru is beyond scuffed.
The older I get, the more I realize re zero relies a lot on drama. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but like you said with the royal selection incident, a lot of it comes off as forced. Yeah, there’s some payoff, but forced drama coes off as unnecessary and ridiculously egregious
I guess I just never liked the dynamic since it’s based on keeping secrets and lying to the supposed partner that Subaru supposedly loves so much.
Well… arc 7 spoilers, but Rem has amnesia, and subaru keeps secrets from her, which causes a lot of mistrust and tension
Definitely agree.
You made this post almost 5 years ago. You made it after you watched seaosn 2 episode 1, right? When did the first episode of season 2 aire?
you agree to who?
You, Earl. Lol
oops. my bad. I thought you were agreeing with anonymous
The closest Subaru’s depicted motivations actually come to is Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach and that isn’t a good sign considering how Bleach declined.
Bleach declined? Then again, i barely watch Bleach and haven’t seen it years
Something that i just realized in arc 3 is that the story tries to teach him a lesson about how you can’t handle everything on your own and to ask for help, right? Arc 3 is supposed to be Subaru’s reality check, but wasn’t his reality check in arc 1? Think about it: He thinks he’s some special guy (his isekai delusions), gets his ass slaughtered, and asks for guards to help him against thugs. Why did he have to learn that lesson in arc 3 when it was told in arc 1?
Even his solution to take down the White Whale consisted of people gaining personal rights to Roswaal’s territory to mine it for resources and not out of genuine compassion for innocent lives lost or to help Subaru out of any friendship.
Because characters need to made as disgusting pieces to make other characters look good… also we need Subaru to suffer in order for him to learn a lesson
teppei believes that subaru can’t be given a bone. He has to stratch, claw, bleed, and suffer to get the bare minimum of scraps thrown his way.
Because characters need to made as disgusting pieces of shit
Which is what arc 7 rem is. Hell, a lot of people think she’s just there just for the sole purpose to make Subaru suffer
What bothers me is that the narrative feeds me this idea that subaru isn’t special and is a human, yet teppei said he wanted to write a character who never gives up.
Ngl, arc 7 rem sucks. The only reason people would be hooting and hollering for her because she’s growing outside of her relationship with subaru. Except for two reasons why I don’t like her.
1. This only happens due to her amnesia (it would feel more impactful with her memories of subaru intact)
2. Her shitty treatment and mistrust with subaru happens AGAIN, and it DRAGS. Plus, it’s predictable since we know she won’t suffer the consequences for her actions, and it’ll be swept under the rug AGAIN.
Subaru’s behavior mid-Season 1 where he made an ass of himself in front of the Royal Succession felt like forced plot stupidity.
Not just that scene, but the scene beforehand where Emila asked Subaru to “give me a reason to trust you” which basically conveys how ungrateful and blind she is. He got her insignia back, nearly got gutted by elsa while pushing emilia out of the way, Helping with the mabeast incident by saving the children (something that’s more Emilia’s responsibility, especially since she’s stronger than Subaru), and she has the audacity to say something unbelievable like that? That screams forced
i just discussed this with someone, and a huge problem with re zero is Teppei’s bias towards Emilia. He even said he made the story of re zero because of her, and she’s his waifu, which is funny since she’s not even a huge reason as to why re zero managed to stick around and be as popular as it today. He’s too biased, and he barely hides it. Like people have good reasons to believe and have a theory that Teppei sabotaged rem because she got more popular than Emilia. Someone on reddit showed evidence that the novel sales had decreased even since rem’s amnesia arc came to pass. Hell, rem’s popularity also took a plummet after arc 7. Even said that Teppei ignores questions about rem in his q&a. Like, he tries way too hard to make Emilia likeable, but it fails since he pampers her too much. Someone describe her perfectly: a shounen female in a thriller/mystery who is only valuable because of her pretty face and body, and she has cool fight scenes. Her flaws in the series are rarely punished if ever (instead portrayed as pure and not forced to fix them, unlike most of the characters) she makes Subaru obnoxious and unbearable whenever he’s around her, and she’s not allowed to grow outside and be something more outside of arc 4.
also, i’m not adding anything new. I just wanted to be the one to leave the 100th on this article lol
Lol
This story loves to repeat plot points and characters, but try to put a unique spin to it in order to make it come off as different, like subaru asking for help for a few arc, speeches on why he shouldn’t give up by different people, and the subaru and rem in arc 7, which is just like season 1 with a bit more nuances like amnesia.
Also, the rebuilding of Subaru. The story tears him down to rebuild him, over and over and over again. Arcs 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. Jesus. How many times do you need to tear down the mc to build him back up better and ever? It’s kind of annoying
Not to mention, subaru suffers an ungodly amount of times. How many times does he need to watch his loved ones before he ends up like greed if. Hell, later arcs in the novel have him dying so many times that the author didn’t even keep count
Honestly, I predicted that’d be the outcome and I’m disappointed to know that I was right. lol
also, something else about this story bothers me is that the story is also working through your flaws, but the thing is: A lot of these characters have TOO MANY flaws, flaws that shouldn’t be excused or forgiven, (as in murder, sadistic/cold hearted behavior, pedophilia, attempted rape, etc.) and flaws that get rewarded or even ignored
god… there are like several instances where subaru get in a scenario where he dies in rapid succession
ngl, what also bothers me is that story seems to be hypocritical when it comes to genders. Like with regulus for example and the story with his wives. The wives and Emilia have a moment of catharsis as they help in defeat regulus for oppressing them and treating them like objects, which is fine… (hell, even Subaru gets called out by Emilia for treating her like she’s some doll) if it wasn’t for the fact that many females in the story treat Subaru like a lesser human being. Emilia, Ram, Rem, Priscilla, and many other females are guilty of this, yet the story never punishes them for it, and it’s even worse in the novels. Hell, I don’t even need to address all the horrible things Priscilla has done to al.
ngl, a huge problem with subaru is that his insecurities are portrayed as something he has to work through by suffering and dying. Hell, teppei said that if he had not been teleported to the world of re zero, Subaru’s father would’ve helped him out of his funk, meaning that Subaru’s issues wouldn’t need to be fixed with constant bullshit and his sacrificial mentality wouldn’t exist. It feels ironic that the story wants to tell a message about overcoming your flaws and growing from them, but for the story progresses BECAUSE of those same faults
plus the story has this warped idea where in order to grow from your faults, your sanity has to be crushed into almost nothing. Like there’s no alternative where you grow without having your sanity constantly pushed to your limits time and time
for a story that makes fun of isekai tropes, it sure as hell uses and rewards them. The only thing that’s portrayed as bad is subaru’s hikkimori behavior, and even then, it’s too over the top and portrays hikkimoris as a mortal sin.
Another theme that this story tackles is the dangers of having close minded world views being incredible sheltered and refusing to leave your comfort zone out of fear. It’s a good theme, but my biggest issue is how these characters are portrayed as psychotic, callous nutjobs who do heinous crimes and get away with it with reasons that are so stupid, you might as well say the only reasons they deserve a second chance are because:
1. plot purposes
2. (in universe) the mc likes them and has fond memories, which… somehow overwrites the bad and makes them worthy of a second chance, despite doing evil shit on par with the bad guys in the story, and somehow having less sympathetic backgrounds than said villains
i also want to bring up the character transformations as some characters only care for a few people to they care about everybody around them after the MC saves them. There’s no natural transition for that mentality to work, and that goes with the fact that a lot of characters turn a complete 180 from wanting to kill Subaru to devoting their entire existence to him. I understand their reasons and some of their mental issues/struggles that have plagued them for their entire lives, but it still doesn’t feel like enough to fully justify the quick change in behavior to someone they had no qualms with killing him, letting him die, and not giving a shit about his existence when he tried to get them to like him by trying to get to know them and be friends with him.
Yeah, honestly, that was a huge hurdle for me to connect back to the series because it made absolutely no sense to me. They let him die while gazing darkly at him in one instance, then devote their lives to him in another. What was suppose to be the takeaway from this? lol
I assume that you shouldn’t judge a person by what’s on the surface and look beyond what? That could work, if:
A: Characters commit fucking murder
B: The justifications of subaru saving them feel so brittle and weak that they don’t outweight the bad, yet the narrative acts like they do.
Granted, this isn’t new in anime, but at least with other anime, the crimes of the antagonists turned protagonists do 2 things that re zero doesn’t do.
1. Their actions are remembered by the heroes and are held accountable or reminded of their sins by the narrative, and they’re sins are not just swept under the rug (Vegeta from Dragon ball and Endeavour from my hero academia)
2. They have to work to become likable in the story. A good redemption arc doesn’t have the protagonists easily accept them.
Re zero doesn’t have them work for forgiveness because not only are their sins not remembered (except for Subaru), but most of the time, (roswaal is the only exception) Subaru shrugs off their crimes. He only criticizes them for their flaws and helps them with their internal issues, but that doesn’t even feel satisfying since their flaws are the BARE MINIMUM that he should be held accountable for.
Maybe the narrative is trying to convey the message of the ends justify the means, but it almost feels like you can make an argument that the story not only promotes Stockholm syndrome and portrays it as a good thing, but it also feels it’s telling you “you should stay and work hard help your abusers because if they do, they’ll become better and treat your with compassion.” Which… no. Granted, SOME people are like Subaru in the real world, but they don’t go through what he goes through (tortured by amputating limbs with magic, being murdered while also watching his loved ones get murdered), and it keeps getting worse, and it feels like he doesn’t learn from this because the author wants to tell about a protagonist who keeps trying. Even then, none of the characters even apologize for how they viewed in the successful loops (Rem never apologized for wanting to kill him and thinking he was evil, nor did Beatrice apologize for treating him so coldly when he was trying to help not feel lonely) After a certain degree, it’s not realistic, and it feels like you REALLY have to suspend your disbelief for the story to work. Hell, as much as i’m obsessed with re zero, i read the novels, which makes this story even MORE frustrating to the point where even now, i get a headache from how many leaps of logic this story has and the drama being more forced and dumb than it is in the anime.
Anyway: Happy Cinco de mayo
it’s just weird. There’s this disturbing one sided ideal where the author has the MC bust his ass to earn the trust of everyone trust around him. understand some relationships are like that in the real world, but here are two problems with this:
1. The narrative has him go through inhumane bullshit to the point where it makes the viewer wonder do the people around him even deserve to be treated with respect with how unreasonably stubborn and deranged they start off.
2. Most of the characters don’t have to earn the mc’s respect at all since he already cares enough about them to forgive and save them. Yeah, they devote themselves to helping him, but it’s not like the narrative paints it as a way for them to get into good graces with the mc after being a pain in his ass since the dude BARELY holds ANY animosity towards characters who hurt and his allies, unless you’re a part of the witch cult or some random case like with Elsa.
It’s honestly amazing how many holes in the plot we can find, the moment we separate from emotional attachment to the character’s trauma and just look at it logically. The story is far more incoherent than at first glance.
The story is far more incoherent than at first glance.
the worst part is these issues don’t get fixed. they get worse
Damn it! I forgot to add that my reply was the 115th comment while on may 5th (both of them ending in 5 was the joke)! Fuck!
Another thing that bothers me about the story is that it feels fluff. What do i mean? The glazing and deprecation. Like with Subaru “I love Emilia” “Emilia-tan” insert compliment. Rem talking about Ram and Subaru and how great they are nearly every sentence, like it’s her life’s purpose to do so. Hell, the novels make it worse. In the sloth if, I have to read “Rem’s amazing” “Rem is a good wife” “Rem is good at everything she does” rem uwu. Like, i understand there’s a reason and a point the story is making, but it gets fucking tiring. Can you have characters say ANYTHING else besides how wonderful or worthless someone? It’s just eye rolling, and it’s a bad trait that makes the characters come off as obnoxious and cringey. Yes Subaru, i know view yourself as a pathetic idiot. I heard you the first 47 times 2 chapters ago! This also ignores the MANY times Ram throws insults at people. Like, I swear to God, i think that’s 90% of her dialogue. No, seriously! It’s just that egregious.
not to mention, the story dabbles in mental illness, but it rewards it in the process as well, which begs the question if you want the characters to get healthy or stay mentally unwell. Like, the story thrives on characters being nutjobs or having mental issues, yet the story criticzes it, while STILL having them sacrificial tendencies (mostly subaru) in order to move the plot along. Another case of the story trying to have its cake and eat it, too.
re zero: where a morale boost not only causes you to instantly become a better, but it also overwrites your trauma, (or rather causes you to shrug it off)
Repeatedly! After being killed by people who “love” you. Honestly, the more we talk about it, the dumber the entire story seems. Lol
hell, the novels are worse. I can have a field day on that since the novels amplifies the flaws the story has, as opposed to the anime
Honestly, the more we talk about it, the dumber the entire story seems.
it doesn’t help that a huge chunk of the story consists of torturing the mc in ridiculous ways while trying to teach about growth, self love and heroism.
Growth via trauma isn’t abnormal, but the trauma subaru suffers is.
Self love but most of your relationships consists of you being a doormat to people who abuse and kill where they don’t have to win over yours. Not to mention valuing your life while indulging in a burden where you and your friends can die.
Self love but most of your relationships consists of you being a doormat to people who abuse and kill you, but they don’t have to win over your trust.
The story wants to teach you to love yourself, but you have to be a people pleaser.
i feel like the main issues with the story are the drama, and he never changes the format. The author amplifies the trauma Subaru suffers each arc to an abnormal degree. One arc, he’ll go through a lot of shit on arc, only for the next arc to turn the volume up by 1000. The format he has stays the same, and he doesn’t change it, which causes the story to never grow out of its flaws and makes the story drag to an absurd degree
it’s ironic that the story drags super slowly, yet the characters develop and change incredibly fast, practically unnaturally/unrealistically fast.
and then revert for the next arc lol
not to mention, making characters needlessly dumb and mean for prolonged drama
same thing with character relationships
here’s another problem. Rem’s coma happened in the beginning of arc 4. You would think the first thing the story would do is go and save her, but nope! We gotta spend 25 episodes NOT looking for her!
hell, there was a year long timeskip where the crew didn’t even look for gluttony… or rather, it was never mentioned that they did
it’s sad the if stories are more realistic than the main timeline. Not to mention, fanfictions
i actually learned something. The author said that some of what he writes in the main story reflect his views in real life which is… a bit terrifying
I just realized something that confused me. Subaru had a heroic mentality where people will notice and acknowlege him if he does something heroic. My issue isn’t that it’s not explained, but rather… it feels like thrusted upon randomly? Like, why the hell when he gets transported to the world of re zero is he like “oh yeah! I’m the isekai protagonist!” and that shit? Why did he never play the role when he was in his world? He was depressed cause he felt inferior to his dad and was always in his shadow, but if he had heroic obsession, why is it something that only blossoms in a fantasy world? Like, our world is dangerous. People are in danger all the time, and he didn’t do a damn thing then. He could’ve went out and randomly find danger somewhere. Not even that, just help someone who’s injured, or donate his time and effort to a fund raiser or something. Hell, his hero complex issue should’ve been delved deeper in his previous world. Like, he decided to step out of his father’s shadow, come into his own identity, and blossom into something more than he views himself to be by trying to save people, but he either failed, or there was nobody who needed saving.
Someone actually brought up a good point. The story tries to tell about a protagonist who never gives up, yet in arc 2, he commits suicide in order to succeed and save everyone, just like in arcs 7 and 8. In real life, suicide is the epitome of someone giving up, correct? I don’t want to say the author is promoting or enabling suicide in his story, (since we as the audience aren’t immortal like Subaru) but there’s a what if (wrath if) where he doesn’t commit suicide, and it’s wrong. Then in arc 4, he constantly commits suicide, which was bad and was told not to abuse return by death. Then in arcs 7-8, he commits suicide like crazy, (to the point where we can’t even count how many times he dies) and it’s seen as the right thing to do, or it’s used as a way to show how much pain he’ll endure for the sake of others. It makes you think: is suicide good in this story, or not? Granted, in real life, suicide is never the answer, but the story treats it good one moment and bad the next for the sake of plot.
re zero loses a lot of its credibility when it tries to be a deconstruction of isekai tropes by making fun of them, yet those same tropes are used and even rewarded.
teppei also loves to nerf subaru. Like he’s already weak, yet his abilites hinder him immensly. not to mention, his gate is a ticking time bomb. Why? he’s already an underdog and is always backed into a corner. We know we need his friends to save him.
I just thought of something. The story has this weird thing about shifting plotlines. In arc 3, we’re introduced to the royal selection campaign, then that plot is dropped for subaru dealing with an evil organization member trying to kill everyone he cares for. Arc 4, rem gets put into a coma, but instead of subaru chasing after her, he has to deal with some sanctuary, and the entire arc revolves on getting the hell out of here. That’s so weird. It’s like to story has no sense of direction. It’s like with family guy or spongebob having and a plot and a b plot, only difference is re zero is one continuing storyline, while family guy episodes change the plot into something completely while standing on its own merits (meaning whatever plot happens in that episode is finished in said episode and not carried over to the next one)
Ngl, the more i look back on the anime adapation of arc 3, the more i find it worse and overrated. Like, my major problem with it is that most of the characters look better than in the novels. In the royal selection in the novels, Julius was more of an elitist prick (and his reasons/intentions for hurting subaru weren’t to protect him) Roswwal was threatening to hit someone with a fireball, Emilia using Puck to threaten people at the royal selection (despite reinhard being there), etc. It just feels like the anime poorly adapted and made subaru look like the only person in the wrong. Hell, even in the aftermath of that scene (more after from zero), subaru never rejected rem. The novels have her propose the idea of being his second wife. Not to mention, after the white whale battle, Subaru thought she was dying, but she wasn’t. She faked it and manipulated subaru into thinking she was just to get an “i love you” out of him, which i find pointless since she could’ve just asked him (I doubt he would say no if she did ask considering he cared for her enough to have her be his second wife). Idk. I just feel like the anime kind of a bit of a piss poor job in some departments when it comes to adapting that arc.
one thing i hate about the novels is that like the anime, there’s still a lot of shit cut out. In the story, characters and their actions are explained inside stories, but if you don’t read them, you can easily misinterpret why a character is doing something, and it makes them look worse than they’re intended to be. My issue is, why should i read side content to understand what’s going on in the MAIN story? Why not explain it IN the main story? I don’t mind side stories as filler, but if this side content DIRECTLY explains something in the story, then that’s a problem since side content shouldn’t be mandatory to make your story more understandable.
arc 7 is one of the biggest defenders of this btw
Granblue Fantasy and FF15 also had this problem… I don’t like how normalized it’s becoming…
i don’t mind side stories for fun, (like with anime having beach episodes or ovas) but it’s really stupid for them to be intrical to the plot
Sadly, it seems the swift kick in the pants that Subaru was given mid-Season 1 has only added more reasons why it is hard to believe that this character goes through so much for complete strangers
Because according to the story, thinking about your physical and mental well health is wrong. Moral integrity (responsibilities of protecting people and perseverance matters more than prioritizing your deteriorating mental stable health, which can be fixed rather easily.
ngl, I don’t mind characters who are nutjobs, but re zero has this fetish with EVERYBODY being an absolute nutjob. Is there SERIOUSLY no character who is just sane for the sake of it? Why is the re zero universe filled to the brim with unstable lunatics
Damn… i keep finding complaints like crazy. I hate how this story CONSTANTLY gives Subaru a reality check… why? You’re still making him play the role of a hero anyway. If he’s going to be punished by his heroic delusions, then why have him keep going and continue to strive to be the hero that comes out on top?
Ngl, I HATE that there are characters who have the ability to determine who is lying or not. This ALONE destroys any weight or value ANY type of drama. What the fuck is the point of having characters with these abilities if the person that they used it on is still seen as bad? At this point, if you have a power like detecting malice or determining someone being a liar or honest, there’s no excuse for mistrust. It’s forced and makes no sense.
also it literally failed because Crusch was too stupid to know which question was asked, so it was a moot power anyway…
it doesn’t even work 100% of the time. The plot dictates when it works and when it doesn’t, just like how you mentioned when subaru lied about his cell phone abilities
not even that. what bothers me is that in episode 16. she literally asks “what’s in it for me?” Not “i’ll do it as long you abide by my commands.” At least with anastasia and priscilla, they listed their demands to subaru before doing anything (the former did while the latter’s was more of a test, which… even that the author butchered). It seems pretty convenient that Crusch is the ONLY CANDIDATE that didn’t list her demands for Subaru in order to help save the arlam village. No. Instead, we need to have it be a guessing game, which means more torture porn for our mc!
re zero doesn’t feel like a deconstruction of isekai. It’s your run of the mill anime that borrows tropes and cliches from other isekai, but a lot of anime genres like shonen. Hell, the if routes feel more like deconstruction rather than the main timeline
Someone actually made a good point
Subaru getting a job means he’s not a NEET anymore. So it’s like… why was he a NEET in the first place? Why didn’t he get a job if he felt like such a waste of space? He showed no hesitancy towards working in a huge mansion.
Why is it that subaru holds a grudge against Julius but not other characters? Yeah, julius insulted him, humiliated him in public, beat him half to death, and can arguably be seen as part of the reason a wedge between subaru and emilia was made, (although subaru and emilia are more to blame for that) but the dude doesn’t hold grudges towards the twins, (who tortured him and killed him), Beatrice who acted coldly towards him, (and sat there while letting Elsa kill subaru while subaru tried to protect her despite having the power to fight back against elsa which she doesn’t do for god knows why, but for some reason prevented subaru from killing himself) garfiel who slaughtered ram, and otto, patrasche, and several of the villagers protecting subaru, puck who killed him three, and the royal selection candidates who gave him the finger and refused to help him and rem with stopping the witch cult. These people have done WAY WORSE shit to him, but he doesn’t hold a grudge. Even after from zero, the guy still acts bitter and petty toward Julius to the point where Felix had to constantly push him to make up with Julius, which goes to show he probably wouldn’t have.
even if subaru was jealous of julius, that still doesn’t feel like a solid justification for holding a grudge against him despite people doing WAY WORSE shit to him and his loved ones. The ONLY character he hates from the main cast is Roswaal, but even that falls flat since Puck is arguably worse and more destructive to humanity than Roswaal could ever be.
but it seems like the narrative issues of Re:Zero are the opposite extreme of the generic Isekai harem anime.
that’s an understatement
I REALLY hate the idea of self love while someone’s mind is constantly deteriorating from constant one accumulates while continuing on their journey. How would that work in real life? Military veterans suffer massive trauma. I highly doubt they would be able to learn about self love and self-value if they were to somehow be thrown into constant danger constantly suffering immensely mind damaging trauma