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[Haly]

Although it's annoying

Spoiler

Subaru won't just sit down and explain things or ask the right questions, it is somewhat understandable if you look at him as someone suffering from extreme PTSD. Even setting aside how many times he's died a gruesome death, he's also seen a lot of stuff that would've broken the psyches of grown men. He's basically a crazy raving hobo guy at the end of every reset, and when a crazy raving hobo guy grabs your arm and tells you to go with him, you don't ask him to explain what he means, you avert your eyes and try to move away.

 

[JulianImp]

Although it's annoying

Spoiler

Subaru won't just sit down and explain things or ask the right questions, it is somewhat understandable if you look at him as someone suffering from extreme PTSD. Even setting aside how many times he's died a gruesome death, he's also seen a lot of stuff that would've broken the psyches of grown men. He's basically a crazy raving hobo guy at the end of every reset, and when a crazy raving hobo guy grabs your arm and tells you to go with him, you don't ask him to explain what he means, you avert your eyes and try to move away.

Which is kind of why I'm getting pissed at the show, because it's detailing how unraveled Subaru's psyche has become as the plot keeps subjecting him to an endless trauma conga line that is getting downright vouyeuristic in doing everything for the sole sake of humilliating Subaru and making him suffer. While side characters get a bit fleshed out in each loop, what happens to them is ultimately done just to make Subaru himself suffer, and it's like the show doesn't even care about the side characters' feelings, but only about going all masochistic on our MC. Each arc going deeper and deeper down the pits of despair as he's slowly becoming a Cassandra feels bad because it's like his "character development" is eclipsing the overall plot and every other character's development as well.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Re:Zero

Wish we would go back to another restart,

Spoiler

if we somehow keep on on this path, I guess Emilia will awaken or something, but Rem will stay MIA/Forgotten.

Also Otto!

 

[ThatChairMan]

Active Raid S2 03

Oh god, this episode. This is the kind of campy shenanigans that I missed after the two previous episodes of semi-serious terrorist plots. The criminals this episode are literally otakus mad about a dubbing choice, using bombs that activate when it detects any voice that isn't their favorite idol. And then there's Unit 9, which is so dysfunctionally independent, moreso with Asami at their head.

And then, to top it all off, her plan ends up using Funasaka singing his favorite super-robot song to detonate most of the bombs beforehand, and them rushing in with voice modifications so her entire team sounds like that idol.

It was fun.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

It's pretty much set up for another restart.

 

[Lalalandia]

Re:Zero Ep17

Well at least we've established how quickly he needs to get to the mansion to pre-empt the attack. With regard to Rem

Spoiler

it's clear the white whale doesn't merely erase memories it erases the victim's existence. Subaru drags Ram to Rem's room presumably to point at her stuff to jog Ram's memory but it's completely bare and Ram says it has never been occupied.

I can see why the author of that blog post from a few pages back finds the way that the story brutalises the women around the MC as a tool for the MCs growth a turn off. The scene a the end of the episode where

Spoiler

Betelgeuse was presumably about to dismember Emilia's corpse

in front of Subaru because he wouldn't reset is a prime example. I'm not super happy with how the story does this as to be frank the women who are dying off are well written characters so I don't need the cheap crutch of brutality to elicit a response to them being killed (which is what I felt Mirai Nikkei tried to do). It's not interfering with my enjoyment of Re:Zero because for me the characters and plot are justifying the situations at least but I can see where they're coming from.

 

[Jarmel]

Now that you bring it up, I wonder if ReZero is too heavily dependent on the 'woman in a fridge' trope.

 

[Squishy3]

Always been like what?

I mean, the 1997 anime seems like an excellent adaptation from what I've watched, so it's not like Berserk has always been poorly handled in the anime realm.

Every adaptation has some form of something wrong with it, although not to the extent this one has.

In the 1997 anime it ends on a cliffhanger during the finale and then has an after-credits scene that doesn't actually explain anything, in addition to cutting out a character entirely.

In the movies, Guts' backstory isn't as fleshed out, but nothing significant is cut. (At least, that I can recall.) It shows the entirety of the climax of the Golden Age arc versus just ending in the middle of it and then skipping to an after-credits stinger.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Now that you bring it up, I wonder if ReZero is too heavily dependent on the 'woman in a fridge' trope.

To me that trope is more relying on a woman that you barely know being offed as motivation, like in the Street Fighter V story mode with Rashid's friend you don't even see the face of or hear her voice. In RE:Zero its characters that have been fleshed out. That's just me, though.

 

[Haly]

Now that you bring it up, I wonder if ReZero is too heavily dependent on the 'woman in a fridge' trope.

It's probably because Subaru was given a harem instead of regular friends so when things turn south it's usually the women who get it bad.

 

[Cornbread78]

Orange ep.4
Oh goodness, that ending! Naho finally broke out of her slump and

Spoiler

talked to Kakaru

, thanks to Suwa! I'm still not sure what this feeling is that I feel when watching this show, but it is this odd balance betwwen saddness and fear and happiness and hope. Either way, this was another great episode.

 

[phaze]

Re: Zero 17

Spoiler

Subaru is scum, he should have committed suicide instantly.

Spoiler

She will be back

Mark the spoilers clearly if you're talking about LN stuff.

I really find it impossible to sympathize with Subaru.

Spoiler

Not only he is vague about the upcoming tragedy, but he also tries to take Emilia by force, in a completely erratic manner. I don't get his behavior at all.

Yeah, people will say he's a raving lunatic at this point but he still makes some rational decisions here and there, just not in those spots.
Re Zero17

tfw your friend turned out to be wannabe rapist.

Seeing Rem relegated to this infatuated persona that has nothing on her mind but Subaru is pretty sad.

Subaru continues to act like ever reset leaves him with fewer brain cells.

The most interesting part was the small Beatrice scene but I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to take it.

Spoiler

Is she aware of time looping going on or even experienced it herself ?

The mystery thickens.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

Mark the spoilers clearly if you're talking about LN stuff.

But I wasn't....

 

[pelicansurf]

Man, Subaru's life sucks. It was frustrating to watch him freak out at Emilia instead of explaining the cultist raid. His mindset is a complete train wreck and any chance of it self-regulating ended with everyone forgetting about Rem. I was kind of sad when I saw the episode title before watching the ep, because I knew that the suffering was going to keep on coming.

I need Subaru to catch a break, please.

 

[Lalalandia]

Now that you bring it up, I wonder if ReZero is too heavily dependent on the 'woman in a fridge' trope.

This arc is very heavily dependent on it by design, if 1 & 2 were about Subaru saving his own skin, 3 is about saving his companions so failing at that means they have to die over and over. Whether they pull off all of these deaths for me will come down to what the answer to the loop is and if it's Subaru alone who grows from this loop.

Spoiler

In other words if the answer to saving Rem and Emilia is for Subaru to step back from his pride and trust them somehow so that they can save themselves I'd be say it's not a good example of the trope because it shows their importance in the story. If it's just people obey Subaru now so he can save both the damsels then I'll be very disappointed as yeah they will simply have died in gruesome ways to make Subaru stronger.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

Spoiler

Man, Subaru's life sucks. It was frustrating to watch him freak out at Emilia instead of explaining the cultist raid. His mindset is a complete train wreck and any chance of it self-regulating ended with everyone forgetting about Rem. I was kind of sad when I saw the episode title before watching the ep, because I knew that the suffering was going to keep on coming.

I need Subaru to catch a break, please.

Spoiler

Well I mean, up until that point, no one believed him about the Witch Cult.

 

[Hellwarden]

Regardless of its quality as a show, Re Zero does seem to drive discussions. One of, if not the most talked about show of the year.

Also I saw this.

 

[dimb]

Regardless of its quality as a show, Re Zero does seem to drive discussions. One of, if not the most talked about show of the year.

How do whales work? How does someone from a country known for its illegal and immoral whaling practices not know what a whale is? All great discussions.

 

[phaze]

But I wasn't....

Manga then ?

Spoiler

She was kaput as far as I could see at the end of this ep.

Unless it's just your speculation ...

 

[T-Rex.]

Subaru's definitely joining Guts, Archer, and Homura at the top of the all time anime suffering charts. Dude just cannot catch a break.

Spoiler

We still don't really know how the save points work, are they set points or do they change each time? It looks like they are set points since he's restarted from the apple merchant at two different points and if so, the bedroom must be another set point in which case it's GG for Rem.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

Manga then ?

Spoiler

She was kaput as far as I could see at the end of this ep.

Unless it's just your speculation ...

Spoiler

Well we have evidence of every event beyond a save point get negated if Subaru gets killed. We don't have any evidence that the White Whale's ability overrides Return to Death's reset

 

[EndlessSky]

Regarding the new ep of re:zero, is it just a plot hole that

Spoiler

people seem to remember about the master swordsman and the knights that died from the white whale? Most likely explanation is that they lived, but if they don't directly address this it'll bother me lol.

 

[Haly]

Regarding the new ep of re:zero, is it just a plot hole that

Spoiler

people seem to remember about the master swordsman and the knights that died from the white whale? Most likely explanation is that they lived, but if they don't directly address this it'll bother me lol.

Yeah that's the part that doesn't make sense.

Spoiler

I'm chalking it up to hearsay but a Master Swordsman dying along with a punitive Lagunica force isn't just something you make up on the spot.

Maybe they died but they weren't eaten. I also don't know why only Subaru remembers? I assume it has something to do with his save points seeing as how he remembers everything.

 

[NaDannMaGoGo]

Orange - 04

Either they've got some serious production issues or Hamasaki doesn't know what the fuck he's really doing. Maybe it's both.

That weirdly detailed CGI soft-ice machine sequence after the opening......what?!? Why?!?!? Then this bad montage plays while we get to listen to mostly pointless and random dialogue from our characters that doesn't match up with much of anything. And. what's with showing us these weird simplistic frog and fish drawings several times in an awkward manner throughout the episode?

There's also weirdly often a shot focus on background characters having completely unimportant background talk. It might be done to convey the idea that the school is indeed a lively place and whatnot but it didn't really work.

Some strange music choices, too.

Yeh and the drama is unfortunately getting less and less compelling. This episode was mostly Naho still not really talking to Kakeru no matter how much the letter emphasizes it. And I mean, thematically, it's alright and it's interesting that she points out how hard it is for her to actually do these things whereas her future self just had to write that stuff in hindsight. On the other hand though, all this drama is the result of people not communicating which usually gets tiring quickly.

At this point I'm also not sure if Naho would understand it if Kakeru got an "I love you Naho!" tattoo on his forehead. Like, really? He asks you to call him every morning and that you make lunch for him. That's either being a gigantic dick or somehow pretty obviously telling you he's interested in you. When that's otherwise evident, too, and he mentions how he has another person that this Ueda he's interested in and you still don't get the hint...well, fuck it. Whether that's realistic for her kind of character or not, it's simply not interesting to follow as a viewer.

Also, that she's someone that's usually petrified of even talking to Kakeru always has her changes of mind where she then doesn't just go to him but rather shouts across large distances for everyone to hear is really questionable and cliché too.

One more episode, if it doesn't offer anything of actual value by then I'm out.

 

[Taruranto]

Arslan Beach Episode #4

Damn, they work fast.

I'm glad this episode definitely confirmed Narsus is the actual main character, Arslan had like two lines!

 

[SliceSabre]

Re: Zero 17

Spoiler

You know I thought we were going to get a reset at some point in this episode but god damn it seems we haven't even fucking hit the bottom of the despair pit. I almost feel like the story/writer is reveling in torturing Subaru at point. Death would be a gift for him at this point yet circumstances in the show aren't allowing it. Never has he seemed so pathetic in the face of death as when the White Whale was upon him.

 

[nintendoman58]

Re: Zero 17

Spoiler

You know I thought we were going to get a reset at some point in this episode but god damn it seems we haven't even fucking hit the bottom of the despair pit. I almost feel like the story/writer is reveling in torturing Subaru at point. Death would be a gift for him at this point yet circumstances in the show aren't allowing it. Never has he seemed so pathetic in the face of death as when the White Whale was upon him.

Apparently the author of the LN said that he thinks Re:Zero is heartwarming.

Mawaru Penguindrum - 7

 

[EndlessSky]

Oh man, since we're going down a long suffering path, I just figured out the ultimate Suffaru. What if

Spoiler

he died by the white whale, and then on the restart he goes to Emilia and she's just like "Who are you?". That would truly break him.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Re:Zero 17

Meh. This is starting to go too much on a grimdark direction, and being unintentionally hilarious because of it. When you pile on disgraces upon disgraces isn't more tragic, at some point it starts becoming funny.

So not only he dies a bunch of times, he is totally misunderstood because he can't tell what he knows and he is powerless to change anything in this fantasy world, now they also

Spoiler

kill and 'erase' from reality the only person who loved him and somehow understood him. Additionally now if he tries to say the truth Emilia is instantaneously, automatically and magically killed, no way to avoid it. His opponent is fucking GOD here.

Orange 4

I think I'm going to drop this. At the end of the day it shares too many of the flaws of other shojos/joseis. There are so many things that make me roll my eyes.
From the new girlfriend who of course it's a bit of a bitch and clingy, so viewers can see her as antagonist, instead of being a normal girl who happens to also like the same guy; to Kakeru, the fucker who thought it was ok to make a girl function as his personal alarm clock and make her wake up at 05.00am instead of going and buying a real alarm; to the protagonist itself Naho, who stops talking to a friend the second he starts dating another girl, and she has the nerve of complaining of how hard is being a teenager and how she is trying her hardest when she only run away with head down. Despite counting the advantage of having letters from the future written by herself telling what she has to do! Maddening.

You see, "everything you can" was running and looking down

 

[Turin Turambar]

He's obviously broken down to his very core by now, gone mad from all the pain and suffering, but it's ridiculous just how stupid he is at not actually explaining things, and going for the worst possible way to try and convince others. "Come with me, or you'll regret it" is the worst possible way to explain there's an enemy force approaching to someone you supposedly care about, and the way he said "I'll explain it all" but start with the one line he supposedly shouldn't be saying is downright retarded.

I get that it's for the sake of drama and all that...

It's all that there is, it's just crappy writing where they make the character act super stupid so there can ben more drama and delay the part where they start solving the arc. Same as the super convenient magical curse that Subaru suffers.

 

[TUSR]

im certain we have reached the lowest of lows for subaru and suffering

 

[names2hard4you]

Orange - 04

Naho seems to finally have come to terms with the fact that she needs to act if she doesn't want things to go down the same lane as they did for her future self. Again, not sure where this is gonna go, since Suwa clearly also likes her.

 

[T-Rex.]

Regarding the new ep of re:zero, is it just a plot hole that

Spoiler

people seem to remember about the master swordsman and the knights that died from the white whale? Most likely explanation is that they lived, but if they don't directly address this it'll bother me lol.

It might be something like

Spoiler

people that are eaten by the whale get erased, but if they just get killed by it then they don't. Can't really think of any other explanation.

GilgaPuck at the end was pretty cool. That Gate of Babylon.

 

[nintendoman58]

Mawaru Penguindrum - 8

Ringo is an out of control delusional nutcase and somebody in this show needs to tell her to grit those teeth and tell her to face freaking reality already.

Seriously, with stalking, breaking-and-entering, and now

Spoiler

attempted rape

on her rap sheet, it's only a matter of time before she picks up a knife and goes full yandere.

Also,

Spoiler

this is the first time I've seen an anime where the car didn't immediately drive away after hitting somebody and driver actually stopped the car.

 

[Szadek]

It might be something like

Spoiler

people that are eaten by the whale get erased, but if they just get killed by it then they don't. Can't really think of any other explanation.

I suppose that make sense.

Spoiler

Would be hilarious if people assumed that the whale wasn't that dangerous .because they think that he never killed anyone.

 

[Mailbox]

Re:Zero episode 17

I noticed a lot of people hating on this episode, and i personally can't quite get why (I get that people aren't liking the despair and suffering stuff, but whatever.)

I found that episode 16 was a perfectly logical follow-up to episode 15 and this episode seems to continue that trend. We have new mysteries (why can Subaru remember people whose existence is erased? Whats the deal with the master swordsman? how much does Beatrice really know?)

I thought that

Spoiler

Emilia's death scene

was surprisingly effective, giving us more questions as to Subaru's ability

Spoiler

(the hand on the heart seems to suggest some sort of weird caressing love-death grip from the witch or something)

as well as giving us more stakes as to why he can't talk about it. Puck is looking scary, Betelgease looking crazy.

My only complaint is the way that Subaru tries to confront Emilia this episode. Honestly, he could have explained things the way that he did with Crusch and it would probably be way more effective, but instead he tries a (though toned down significantly and more desperate than angry) similar thing to the beginning of the arc. But I kinda found that to be a minor complaint since that specific conversation wasn't the focus of events in this episode.

Personally I really liked this episode. I get that people might be getting tired of Subaru's suffering, but I kind of expected this arc to go this way since it started, so i'm pretty okay with it.

We have 8 episodes left iirc, so expect more deaths, more suffering, and more questions, answers, and intrigue. I actually like how White Fox is handling this show, and at the end of this episode I couldn't help but want more.

Poor Rem.

 

[names2hard4you]

Re:Zero 17

This show!!! So many questions!!! Ahhhh, I am loving this lol.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Now that you bring it up, I wonder if ReZero is too heavily dependent on the 'woman in a fridge' trope.

To be completely honest, I'm incredibly surprised Re:Zero isn't on the TV Tropes page for this trope yet. If it uses it entirely too often is up for debate, but it definitely uses it sometimes at least.

---

Anyways, I think we've reached Sabura's lowest point and we're finally at the upturn however. I know some people have been hinting it'll all make a 'lot more sense' in the next episode or two. I think, not knowing anything, a big point of this arc is Sabura has been pushed to the absolute limitand been broken, it literally almost couldn't get any worse for him, but maybe such extreme situations is what he needs to face himself and become a much stronger human being, not just weak as has been emphasized in this series so far.

 

[nintendoman58]

Mawaru Penguindrum - 9

Absolutely fantastic episode with the library imagery and how it served as a backdrop for fleshing out Himari's character through the flashbacks.

I wasn't expecting those two idols on the train advertisements to actually be relevant to the story, though I'm not sure where their pieces will fall into place in this puzzle.

 

[Mailbox]

Now that you bring it up, I wonder if ReZero is too heavily dependent on the 'woman in a fridge' trope.

To be fair, that's only really true for this arc, and even then its used in interesting ways.

In the first arc, we had Subaru trying to survive and have the other parties potentially survive a murder. This was much more about himself than the other characters. (Though Emilia's deaths also is part of his motivations, the arc is very clear on its end goal of "survive")

The second arc had a similar usage in the beginning. Subaru wanted to survive dying, it wasn't until realizing that if he survives without effort that others would die that he tries to make things (as he sees it) "right".

Its not until until this arc with the mass murder and the love interest death and other (second love interest) death that we see this trope being played straight. The difference is that Subaru acts according to the trope, but because of how the world works, he isn't allowed to. He is punished because of how he becomes mad or motivated or frustrated. Episode 16 basically shits down his neck because of the anger and disconnect he has from reality due to this very trope.

Its definitely not what I'd consider a trope subversion, but I think its actually the rare usage that works.

 

[BGBW]

Happy Birthday to that lesbian girl who looks a bit like GAF-chan.

 

[Line_HTX]

Okada Gundam 07

Amida can punish me anytime.

I thought Lafter's name was spelled Laughter. I had to do a double take. So much sexual tension between her and Mikazuki before their fight was stopped I thought one of them was going to go overboard with a cheap shot, lmao

Need a little assistance there, Kudelia?

BIG mistake there by Maruba to admit there was a program of experimentation on the kids. I'm hoping that Orga or Mikazuki punch his lights out. Shooting him cold-blooded could be too easy unlike their previous superior officers back on Mars.

 

[Qurupeke]

Spoiler

Maybe they died but they weren't eaten. I also don't know why only Subaru remembers? I assume it has something to do with his save points seeing as how he remembers everything.

Spoiler

I'd say it's the connection between his power and the whale's origins. Both of them seem to come from the witch. This may explain why Subaru could see Beltegeuse's invisible hands, though I wonder why they weren't visible on episode 15. Not sure what changed, other than the encounter with the whale.

 

[names2hard4you]

Spoiler

I'd say it's the connection between his power and the whale's origins. Both of them seem to come from the witch. This may explain why Subaru could see Beltegeuse's invisible hands, though I wonder why they weren't visible on episode 15. Not sure what changed, other than the encounter with the whale.

Yeah you are right. On episode 15 we sorta just saw her floating. Also he really seemed to have lost his cool

Spoiler

(and by losing his cool I mean when he bit right into his own fingers breaking them and whatnot)

when he said he saw them. Could Subaru have "levelled up" in the

Spoiler

Witch's

rank?

 

[Mailbox]

Spoiler

I'd say it's the connection between his power and the whale's origins. Both of them seem to come from the witch. This may explain why Subaru could see Beltegeuse's invisible hands, though I wonder why they weren't visible on episode 15. Not sure what changed, other than the encounter with the whale.

Yeah you are right. On episode 15 we sorta just saw her floating. Also he really seemed to have lost his cool

Spoiler

(and by losing his cool I mean when he bit right into his own fingers breaking them and whatnot)

when he said he saw them. Could Subaru have "levelled up" in the

Spoiler

Witch's

rank?

Lets not forget that Subaru's "Witch stink" gets worse not only every time he dies, but every time he tries to talk about his ability.

So since the use of the

Spoiler

"arms"

happened before his last death and we also saw that the "death fear grip"

Spoiler

touched him in an odd way this episode (in a really awkwardly loving/ dominant way too....)

so it looks like he has become inadvertently closer to the witch now, so that's probably why he can see Betelgeuse's authority now.

 

[Qurupeke]

Lets not forget that Subaru's "Witch stink" gets worse not only every time he dies, but every time he tries to talk about his ability.

So since the use of the

Spoiler

"arms"

happened before his last death and we also saw that the "death fear grip"

Spoiler

touched him in an odd way this episode (in a really awkwardly loving/ dominant way too....)

so it looks like he has become inadvertently closer to the witch now, so that's probably why he can see Betelgeuse's authority now.

Spoiler

True, this seems like the more defining factor. Though, I wonder if it's actually simpler than that and it just has to do with Subaru's mental state.

 

[SliceSabre]

Lets not forget that Subaru's "Witch stink" gets worse not only every time he dies, but every time he tries to talk about his ability.

So since the use of the

Spoiler

"arms"

happened before his last death and we also saw that the "death fear grip"

Spoiler

touched him in an odd way this episode (in a really awkwardly loving/ dominant way too....)

so it looks like he has become inadvertently closer to the witch now, so that's probably why he can see Betelgeuse's authority now.

Yea I kind assumed since he activated the curse which then

Spoiler

resulted in Emilia's death

he gained the ability to see the hands.

 

[TUSR]

when can subaru start doing magic shit

 

[names2hard4you]

when can subaru start doing magic shit

But he does already! He explodes out some black smoke!

 

[Mailbox]

when can subaru start doing magic shit

1: he does, minor smoke (dark) magic
2: Revival from death
3:

Spoiler

After this arc, so we won't see shit this season, or so I've read....

take my word with a grain of salt