Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu - Anime General Discussion (Archive)

[Dr.]

Is the WN being translated? Anyone have a link?

[DemonneoPT]

Episode 13:

I really liked what the author tried to do here. The key moment in the episode was Roswaal's vicious smile when Subaru got triggered by all the prejudice Emilia was suffering. Was Roswaal expecting him to shine or to doom himself? In other stories, the MC would give an epic speech defending his waifu and look badass but instead the guy was completely humiliated, took the word "cringe" to an whole new level, got beaten up by the knights (actually, by his "love rival"..lol), lost all of Emilia's respect/trust and in the end his frustration makes him snap by claiming ownership of Emilia like she is obligated to be offered to him as a reward for saving her. That was a total disaster and totally unexpected from a typicall MC. But Subaru is nothing like that and the reason why lies in his time loop ability and the inability to speak about it. Resetting time sounds good on paper but having to die countless times in the most horrific ways, having people forgetting about you, being alone in a strange alien world, being betrayed by the ones you want to save and showing their ugliest side (e.g. Rem) can really mess up someone's head if we want to be realistic here. Arc 2 already gave hints and actually shown Subaru breaking down severall times (for example, the lap scene with Emilia and when he discovers Rem is the killer). Of course this traits won't disappear in the current arc like Elestia said:

Originally Posted by Elestia

You make it sound like Subaru's PTSD is either in a state 100% or 0%. Truth be told, we do see it to some varying degrees throughout the two episodes. His inability to leave Emilia alone, the steps he takes to prevent being separated from her, or his outbursts are all pretty clear symptoms of his trauma.

Subaru is indeed fucked up and this episode portrayed it perfectly. He was in a total panick state when he realised how much he fucked up things. That together with his inability to explain to people (Emilia in this case) what is actually happening just makes it unbearable and therefore the guy snaps. From the previous arcs, we still know he is courageous even tho he has no OP combat ability. We know he actually cares for the girls even tho, to an extent, he is also doing it for himself. He is no saint and sometimes a idiot but he is definitely a better person than the one he showed today. We also saw Rem doing nasty things before and redeeming herself later. Given the right circunstances people can do some disgusting acts... humans are not perfect and even the ones we have high regards for, have flaws too. I really liked how brave the author was for doing it with his MC and risking losing viewers/readers for that (people nowadays drop titles because their ship couple is not going to happen..lol, so i dunno about this). I'm looking forward for Subaru's comeback.

[Harry Dresden]

Originally Posted by Dengar

See, this is what I mean. At least there's some people who view all this as the (very brutal) learning experience that it really is.

I think literally every single viewer can understand that this is the arc where Subaru messes up and has to get things right. This is not School Days. Subaru has to learn from this and has to somehow bounce back. We still have, what? 10 episodes left? It is obvious.

That does not make his behavior better, nor does it make the execution of it okay. That's the problem.

If we are to believe this is psychological issue, the directing and episode writing is not up to the level of quality it needs to be. It is not handled well and it feels like character regression. Which is especially glaring when we dragged an entire arc through whole last cour(and it was right decision in terms of pacing) on progressing the character.

The only question right now is whether the show handles the bouncing back well enough and whether it feels earned. And whether the show will stop making him act out of character now that the purpose of "messing things up" is over and done.

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by Harry Dresden

I think literally every single viewer can understand that this is the arc where Subaru messes up and has to get things right. This is not School Days. Subaru has to learn from this and has to somehow bounce back. We still have, what? 10 episodes left? It is obvious.

That does not make his behavior better, nor does it make the execution of it okay. That's the problem.

If we are to believe this is psychological issue, the directing and episode writing is not up to the level of quality it needs to be. It is not handled well and it feels like character regression. Which is especially glaring when we dragged an entire arc through whole last cour(and it was right decision in terms of pacing) on progressing the character.

The only question right now is whether the show handles the bouncing back well enough and whether it feels earned. And whether the show will stop making him act out of character now that the purpose of "messing things up" is over and done.

We have 12 episodes left. I doubt they plan to waste two eps on the beginning of the 4th arc or something anime-original.

[FlameSparkZ]

*sigh* ...Subaru really blew it this time, he unleashed all the frustration at the worst time: in front of Emilia.

But doesn't that make him more human? Don't we all do/say stupid things at times?

Imo, that's pretty much what happened to Subaru. All those negative emotions piled up and overwhelmed him, and he ended up saying things that shouldn't have been said...and ruined his relationship with Emilia.

Now his only hope is to either redeem himself...or die, go back to the "save point" and do things right.

[moridin84]

Originally Posted by Harry Dresden

I think literally every single viewer can understand that this is the arc where Subaru messes up and has to get things right. This is not School Days. Subaru has to learn from this and has to somehow bounce back. We still have, what? 10 episodes left? It is obvious.

That does not make his behavior better, nor does it make the execution of it okay. That's the problem.

If we are to believe this is psychological issue, the directing and episode writing is not up to the level of quality it needs to be. It is not handled well and it feels like character regression. Which is especially glaring when we dragged an entire arc through whole last cour(and it was right decision in terms of pacing) on progressing the character.

The only question right now is whether the show handles the bouncing back well enough and whether it feels earned. And whether the show will stop making him act out of character now that the purpose of "messing things up" is over and done.

Okay. Everyone understands your opinion about Subaru.

Can we drop it now?

[erneiz_hyde]

So the major difference between every stress that he's been through and what happened this episode is that Emilia rejected him. He could manage being killed over and over, and face contempt from other people, but being rejected by Emilia is the only thing he couldn't handle and he snapped. The stalker allusions was right on that part, even to how he self-destructs to Julius and lashed back at Emilia. Very reminiscent to how some obsessive idol fans react irl.

[SeaDoor]

One of the aspects of this story I continue to stumble over is that there are two different time frame perspectives running in parallel, Subaru's and everyone else. Plus with each death reset, the difference in the time frames increases.

Once again, this episode had to happen and was needed at this point, IMO.

[RX-78GP04G Gerbera]

Originally Posted by FlameSparkZ

*sigh* ...Subaru really blew it this time, he unleashed all the frustration at the worst time: in front of Emilia.

But doesn't that make him more human? Don't we all do/say stupid things at times?

Imo, that's pretty much what happened to Subaru. All those negative emotions piled up and overwhelmed him, and he ended up saying things that shouldn't have been said...and ruined his relationship with Emilia.

Now his only hope is to either redeem himself...or die, go back to the "save point" and do things right.

As some have said, I really hope they don't let him off the hook that easily by having him die and reset at such a convenient point because then winning back Emilia's trust wouldn't feel earned, but rigged and dishonest because it was achieved pretty much through cheating rather than sincerity, and I doubt the Subaru we know would want to do things like that either.

[Dengar]

Actually, if the writers are really clever, I wouldn't put it past them to make this point the reset point. That would be most sadistic.

EDIT: It'd be even worse if the reason he keeps dying is directly related to Emilia no longer trusting him.

[SuitUp]

Ok, 9 minutes in and I had to turn it off, too much akwardness on the screen, and now reading all the coments in here it seems Subaru only goes downhill from there... so ok, guess I'll just wait for the next ep or two to watch together with this one so as no to feel bad for the entire week waiting for the next one

[Dengar]

I'd also like to point out that forgiving someone's actions is not the same as saying their actions are okay.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Dengar

See, this is what I mean. At least there's some people who view all this as the (very brutal) learning experience that it really is.

Rather then a learning experience, it's more of a disappointing reform or remake.

The series is pretty blatant when it comes to fixing Subaru by first shattering him into tiny bits then gluing him back together. This is what, the third time it happens? Usually character reform is a good thing, since it takes some character traits and enhances them or flips them, but in Subaru's case it's almost like we get a new Subaru, with no transition or anything that can be called learning. He's also a bit worse in some regard then before every time. I guess this is mainly done for the sake of developing the other characters, and I admit the other characters get very good character development, but it hits Subaru's development too hard.

If I were to choose between the current Subaru and the Subaru at day0, I find the current Subaru is actually a much weaker character then day0 Subaru.

Everyone is free to disagree, but for me that's at the core of my frustration with him. The series has literally made him worse. His ideals are worse, his personality is worse, his values are worse, his thinking is worse, etc

IMO it's pretty terrible characterization to do this switcheroo every time we need to move the story forward. Yeah so the new version of Subaru can now fix the problem, big deal! Why did we even get the other Subaru till that point then? He's suppose to be the protagonist, but he sure isn't treated as one. It's a complete betrays of what little hope the viewers put on the character, especially for a character like Subaru that's an inter-dimensional traveler. The new Subaru is also by consequence of the process a complete mess.

Worse still, most of the Subaru personality changing events are extremely "explosive" so they could literally happen at any point and don't really involve any character development. As evident by how Subaru has had the issue of being defenseless since day0 yet making no progress until the story now conveniently decides to drop a bomb shell to fix it. Same for his relationship with Emilia if anything, the current Subaru has continuously strived in making his relationship worse then day0 Subaru: love at first sight to now pervert stalker. I sincerely hope the story won't drop a bomb shell to fix that too.

Getting back to the switcheroo problem, assuming there's another arc after this how does everyone feel about the next upcoming Subaru being already an obsolete defective product?

It's particularly annoying when the other side characters (it's hard to call Emillia a main character honestly) do get the calm and collected treatment and dont have this problem. Even the change in the last arc where for story convenience Subaru suddenly goes from seemingly being a character fearing death to when convenient fearless of death to suddenly fearful of death again, is quite jarring. Especially when, this is something that WAS already resolved in the first arc! From a certain angle it was copy-pasta story telling with regard to Subaru's development. it's only the Ram & Rem bits that made it good. And if Subaru at the moment is suppose to still be extremely broken inside it's clearly not emphasized or conveyed properly.

[Applehell]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

So the major difference between every stress that he's been through and what happened this episode is that Emilia rejected him. He could manage being killed over and over, and face contempt from other people, but being rejected by Emilia is the only thing he couldn't handle and he snapped. The stalker allusions was right on that part, even to how he self-destructs to Julius and lashed back at Emilia. Very reminiscent to how some obsessive idol fans react irl.

He's snapping had much to do with his inability to talk his situation with anyone as well as the fact he's having trouble reconciling the fact that Emilia doesn't share the various memories of other timelines where they were closer. This will always be problem that he's much closer to others than they are to him. He will always remember the things they don't, good or bad. Just like with twins and Betty in the 2nd arc.

Originally Posted by felix

It's particularly annoying when the other side characters (it's hard to call Emillia a main character honestly) do get the calm and collected treatment and dont have this problem. Even the change in the last arc where for story convenience Subaru suddenly goes from seemingly being a character fearing death to when convenient fearless of death to suddenly fearful of death again, is quite jarring. Especially when, this is something that WAS already resolved in the first arc! From a certain angle it was copy-pasta story telling with regard to Subaru's development. it's only the Ram & Rem bits that made it good. And if Subaru at the moment is suppose to still be extremely broken inside it's clearly not emphasized or conveyed properly.

I don't remeber any point where Subaru ever said or implied he never feared death, he only ever put aside his fear when felt he had something worth putting his life on line for, but never anything suggest he got used to it. In fact Betty asks him that very question 8n two different timelines and he would respond that ofcourse he's scared and did everything he could to hide that very fact from others.

[Harbinger]

It certainly not what I expected, but it was a logical outcome.

You don't fight against trained Knight as a regular human. You mustn't act like a moron in such an "important" event.

He had it coming for a long time. He clearly overestimated his abilities. He's no Rem or Ram.

[Eater of All]

Originally Posted by felix

Rather then a learning experience, it's more of a disappointing reform or remake.

I don't really think it's a reset of Subaru. Wandering Soul brought up a great point regarding Subaru's behavior this episode, which suggests that his actions are a logical consequence of his heroism in act 2:

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by Wandering Soul

I'd say if anything arc 2 reinforced his belief that he has to be a hero. Look at what happened in the one loop where he just stayed in a library with Betty. Rem died and the village children probably got kidnapped. Not to mention that the shaman was probably closing in on the mansion. Even if he's not a front line fighter, it was only thanks to him that everyone was saved. He also know has a better idea of the threats that exist in that world.

By arc 3 even if he knows that he can't fight, he thinks that he is pretty much the only one that can end things happily for Emilia and protect her, hence his obsession with staying by her side, even against her request. Not to mention that after dying for her a few times, he pretty much believes that he deserves to stand by her and is willing to escalate things with anyone that thinks otherwise. Subaru believed that the knights were questioning his resolve and his right to stand by her, hence why he was so willing to escalate things and get into fights.

I don't disagree that the show is doing a major character reform, but it's not a reset in my view. Subaru has been impulsive, emotional, and arrogant since the beginning, and while he's shown to be witty and clever occasionally, it doesn't change his core personality. If you feel that Subaru has become even worse than day 0 Subaru, it's because he is in certain respects: he was conditioned by all of reset loops to be extremely reckless, to take everything into his own hands to prevent people from dying, and to shove himself into the thick of things. In some situations, like act 2, this was essential to his goals (fighting the dogs, saving kids/rem, etc). But his conditioning backfires in act 3 because he's dealing with a completely different situation, with more characters who are tougher, smarter, and morally much less black-and-white.

It's funny what the show praised 2 episodes, when he desperately used his smoke to injure the dog shaman in a seeming feat of courage, is now shown in the most negative light possible in his fight against Julius, as a way of highlighting his powerlessness, recklessness, and cowardice. This is the same Subaru as before, but just against a different opponent, and therefore it's the wrong move. Arguably if Subaru is smart, he'd know what to do differently this time compared to last time, but IMO that would be expecting too much self-awareness from a character that's still developing.

Essentially, the stuff he will soon learn is actually stuff that he has sorely needed to learn since arc 1 and arc 2, just that doing so has never been essential for him to clear the previous stages, thus it never happened. Even so, he hasn't just been devolving this whole time: I think he understands a lot more about whom and what he finds important now, and has gained a stronger resolve to protect those things. He hasn't gained the wisdom or the maturity to do so in the right way, which hopefully this arc will eventually provide him.

[zero7090]

Originally Posted by felix

Rather then a learning experience, it's more of a disappointing reform or remake.



If I were to choose between the current Subaru and the Subaru at day0, I find the current Subaru is actually a much weaker character then day0 Subaru.

Everyone is free to disagree, but for me that's at the core of my frustration with him. The series has literally made him worse. His ideals are worse, his personality is worse, his values are worse, his thinking is worse, etc

IMO it's pretty terrible characterization to do this switcheroo every time we need to move the story forward. Yeah so the new version of Subaru can now fix the problem, big deal! Why did we even get the other Subaru till that point then? He's suppose to be the protagonist, but he sure isn't treated as one. It's a complete betrays of what little hope the viewers put on the character, especially for a character like Subaru that's an inter-dimensional traveler. The new Subaru is also by consequence of the process a complete mess.

Worse still, most of the Subaru personality changing events are extremely "explosive" so they could literally happen at any point and don't really involve any character development. As evident by how Subaru has had the issue of being defenseless since day0 yet making no progress until the story now conveniently decides to drop a bomb shell to fix it. Same for his relationship with Emilia if anything, the current Subaru has continuously strived in making his relationship worse then day0 Subaru: love at first sight to now pervert stalker. I sincerely hope the story won't drop a bomb shell to fix that too.

Yeah, it seems like all the character development in ep 7 is thrown into the trash bin. Really i feel the author deliberately repeated the same character flaws for some cheap drama.

[Harry Dresden]

Originally Posted by zero7090

Yeah, it seems like all the character development in ep 7 is thrown into the trash bin. Really i feel the author deliberately repeated the same character flaws for some cheap drama.

Actually isn't this literally a retread of previous arc? Just with less episodes and with worse justification/writing.

In Ep11 and Ep12 we:

• Had Subaru be out of place and socially awkward, making fool out of himself
• Have him realize he is not accepted and break down in front of Emilia playing the gratitude card
• Start to realize how real this is
• Be told, as well as admit that he is selfish idiot.

Now I am sure he will have to accept how selfish he is, do selfless things and earn back their trust.

That sounds familiar. OH RIGHT
Didn't Subaru:

• Spend Episode 4 being entirely out of place making a fool out of himself and garnering suspicion.
• Spend episode 6 realizing he is not being accepted and breaking down in Ep7 over them rejecting him and his nice guy savior attitude
• Spend the end of Episode 7 realizing he has been a selfish idiot and then throwing away his happy ending in order to save the maids life.
• Have a breakdown in Episode 8 over his realization of just how real everything is and how this is not a game but real life and he can't afford to mess up, which leads to him trying to fake his old behavior and eventually breaking down in front of Emilia over suffering.
• Spend Episode 9 and 10 putting his life on the line fully realizing its real and how expendable he is or how scary the situation is.
• Spend Episode 10 and 11 earning back everyone's trust.

Why are we repeating exact same things again? Same things he already supposedly learned.

We literally just spent like 9 episodes on all of this, so why is he re-learning those things AGAIN? Except this time it does not feel natural.

It will be outright hilarious if Arc4 is exact same thing again just with different characters delivering those lessons to Subaru...Let's have him act idotic around Felt now, till she slaps and rejects Subaru, leading him to learn that he has been selfi...well you get the gist.

[aliasxn]

Wtf was the last 2 episodes. Seriously, wtf.

[Cicili]

Originally Posted by AB079

Oh well, seems like the adaptation slowed down compared to the previous episode. Leaving aside how stupid Subaru was this time, I understand how Emilia feels about this situation and why she acted like that, Subaru proved thanks to his stupidity that he's not suitable to stay at Emilia's side... at least for now.

Priscilla a goddess as always, Felt got more screentime now, remember the last week where other users said that she was with a really weird face or even like she was brainwashed, well this proves she is still the same person.

Ahhh man the suffering is here right now and this is just the start.

Spoiler for Subaru and his most pathetic face.:

It probably feels like it slowed down because a lot of things about Priscilla, Crusch and Anatasia were cut to a single sentence.

Since you actually like Priscilla (despite her acting like a total bitch this episode), i recommend you take a look at the manga or LN version to see what they left out.

I would say it adds a lot to the characterization of the those 3 so it'll be worth it.