Last season I promised to release mini analyses of the running anime that piqued my interest/gave us stuff to talk about. Unfortunately life got in the way.

It's actually happening this time around. These threads will be updated regularly and may become essays.

RE:ZERO

What I can say about this show is limited, because it's a Bullshit no Yuusha show. I have very long and detailed thoughts about its strengths, weaknesses, thematic resonance and lack thereof, something something capitalism something, the works.

I'm not really a fan of gore or horror, so I guess I'm already biased against Re:Zero. But there are specific writing trends that really started to manifest towards the middle of the first season that stop me from thinking this show is as great as they say.

It feels like the author has ideas for scenes that he bends the plot around, and not drawing tension naturally from character interaction. A lot of the conflict in Re:Zero feels artificial. I think it was when 3 white whales appeared in S1 I realized the writing just pulls shit..

...out of its ass for shock value. Since then I haven't really been able to take the show's emotional beats seriously.

But the main problem setting Re:Zero back, and this is something I've written a ton about in work you haven't quite seen yet, is that the narrative is obsessed with Subaru.

He's not a Mary Sue, exactly. But he monopolizes screentime as if he were one.

Plot points happen for no other reason than to make Subaru suffer. Characters exist for 3 reasons: to make Subaru suffer, to tell Subaru he's a great person who shouldn't hate himself, to move Subaru to the next plot point where he will suffer more.

Everything feels shallow as a result, and Season 2 is already suffering because of it. This season really wants to focus on Subaru and Emilia's relationship, but we only ever see Emilia in the context of Subaru liking her.

Emilia's two defining qualities are "she's nice" and Subaru likes her. And her being nice is why Subaru likes her. So really her own defining quality is that Subaru likes her.

Emilia could be replaced with a very cute puppy and the story would stay the same.

Emilia is a candidate for the royal selection, but we've only ever seen what that means for Subaru. We know Subaru got jealous of Julius and Subaru wanted to help Emilia win, but we don't know anything about how Emilia sees herself in her own story.

We know she wants to be queen because she's "nice" and she wants "equality for everyone and stuff". Which is, again, another reason Subaru likes her.

So when Subaru risks his life to save Emilia at the end of Season 2 episode 3, am I supposed to feel anything? Are images like this supposed to be heart warming? When, after a full season I still know nothing about who this girl is?

Every single character in Re:Zero has this problem. It's especially bad with Emilia this season, but the same applies to Rem, Ram, Otto

FELT

Remember Felt? She goes "I'm going to destroy the system of exploitation that built this country", this making her the most interesting character in the whole show, and then she

never comes back

her last scene is someone saying she'll be back

Well that's because Felt has nothing to do with Subaru, so we drop her storyline. When she becomes useful to Subaru's story again I'm sure she'll be back. If the show wants to win me over someone other than Subaru needs to have... any sort of arc whatsoever

So it's midnight and I'm not even finished with the Re:Zero episode yet but it's SO BAD I have to tweet about it. I'm chortling right it's this is very funny.

This episode of Re:Zero is supposed to be "The Emilia Episode". The show makes a big stink about how it's not Subaru that'll save the day. It's Emilia. Because this show is PROGRESSIVE and it has STRONG, CAPABLE FEMALE LEADS.

The show really, really wants to write strong, independent female characters. It's trying everything. Everything!

Except

y'know

giving the female characters any agency whatsover

or a story

or something

The result is the most amount of cognitive dissonance I've seen in an anime for a while.

For example, Garfiel says he thinks Ram is hot because she's a strong and capable woman. But then in her VERY NEXT APPEARANCE she tells us she just does whatever her master says. She has no dignity or self respect, she just serves.

No one said these scenes had to be back to back! I didn't even have to build a case against this show it DOES IT TO ITSELF.

Not to mention

RAM IS A MAID

HER OUTFIT *SIGNIFIES* SERVITUDE

HOW IS SHE AN STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN????? HOW?????????

To be clear, not every character needs to be a girl boss. My issue is not that Ram exists, but that the show seems desperate for strong female characters but refuses to just...

write them. Into the story being told.

In the episode about how great Emilia is, we see none of it from her perspective. It's from Subaru's perspective. And then we learn that Lord Roswaal has been manipulating things behind Emilia's back. And he and Subaru are pulling the strings to make her successful

So in other words, in the episode that's supposed to be about how much agency Emilia has, we learn EMILIA HAS NO AGENCY

JUST MAKE THE EPISODE ABOUT EMILIA.

JUST ONE!

THAT'S ALL YOU HAD TO DO AND YET THIS IS TOO DIFFICULT FOR SOME REASON.

Because the show is obsessed with Subaru. Every single thing needs to rope back to him. I never thought the show would make it this hilariously clear.

Instead of being told this is hard on Emilia. You can just show us it being hard on Emilia. And you can show us how she handles that. On her own.

It's a crazy concept, I know. But when you're the writer it turns out you can just write things!

Strong independent woman right here. "I'm a fucking dumbass but I do what I'm supposed to"

What a fuckin pitch! I'm sold!

So we will continue this thread, I guess much to the chagrin of Re:Zero stans. Hopefully they're over themselves by now.

S2E6 is a perfect example of another recurring flaw with Re:Zero, something I'll call "artificial suspense".

A lot happens in this episode, but there's almost no context given to it. Emilia's still struggling with her past, but we don't see what that is. Big-booby slasher lady from S1E4ish is back, but we don't know why or who sent her. We're supposed to be learning about Witch Factors?

And I'm not stupid, okay. I get that at some point eventually, whether it's the next few episodes or a season 3, we'll learn what all these things are. I understand that the story is holding off on these answers for later.

What I want to know is: is this good writing?

Re:Zero is primarily a story about choices. Subaru and the people around him make XYZ choice, and it results in this or that doomed timeline. He resets, he makes different choices. It's how it works.

If that's the case...

How is the story made better if I don't actually know why anyone makes any choice when they are making them? Why is it a better writing decision that I learn after the fact?

This is why I'm calling this "artificial suspense". Because the story withholds random pieces of information and world-building in a vague promise for "later".

It thinks this information is valuable for it's own sake, when it's not. The suspense isn't real.

You can contrast this with something like The God of High School. TGOH doesn't dump all it's information on you at once, but you basically always know what every character in a scene wants. You know enough to be invested, and are given more info liberally and as needed.

We know Jin Mo-Ri wants to get stronger. We know Han Dae-Wi wants to pay his friend's medical bill. We know Yu Mi-Ra wants to succeed as the successor of her family's martial art's style. Information is never stochastically withheld with the promise of being revealed "later".

In an earlier episode we're told Han Dae-Wi's special move have 4 stages. But he beats an opponent using only 3. This is real suspense, as opposed to artificial, because we have enough context to understand what this special move means to him, and we're excited to see it in full.

Of course, we eventually do see it in the best way possible and it's already one of the best parts of any show to have come out this season.

Meanwhile, stuff in Re:Zero seems to happen as is convenient to the author and his desire to make everyone die painful deaths

There's a funny bit of dialogue at the beginning of episode 7 that may be worth pointing out.

This conversation basically boils down to Subaru asking Beatrice why she makes the decisions she does, and Beatrice responding she doesn't fucking know

We learn that Beatrice doesn't make her own decisions. She just does whatever this fucking book tells her to. Which is just another in a long line of Re:Zero's female characters not having agency, but whatever

It's revealed this book is the religious text of the Witch's Cult, and that Beatrice serves the whims of Mother. One problem: we don't really know what the Witch's Cult is, other than a Bad Group who did Bad Things.

We have no idea who the Mother is. The wiki says it's the Witch of Greed but we barely know her either. She's a Bad Witch who does Bad Things and also makes tea out of her pussy juice or whatever the fuck.

The music swells like this is some big betrayal, but Subaru doesn't really spend time with Beatrice unless he needs something. God when was the last time these two hung out? Early season 1? They don't have the deep friendship the show asserts is there.

Beatrice saves Subaru, and then immediately lets him die. Presumably because the book said so? This book makes no sense and, like, neither does she.

Anyway, Subraru gets himself locked in the basement because he smells bad and refuses to shower or change his tracksuit.

Otto comes to save him and we have a very similar scene, where Subaru asks "why" and he's like "cuz we're pals".

Subaru flips the fuck out

The scene is supposed to remind Subaru that he really does have allies he can trust. It's not a bad scene. It would be a better scene if the Beatrice scene at the beginning worked in any sort of capacity whatsoever.

Don't touch the rabbit. Don't touch the rabbit you piece of shit. The narrative has basically all but declared you're dead at this point. Everyone is dead. We all know you'll Return by Death at this point. Don't be a fucking dumbass and touch the rabbit

You motherfucker

I actually like this thread, despite the drama it causes every week, because Re:Zero, as much as I don't like it, *is* an interesting show. And there are so many different things you can talk about.

Plus the news out of Kenosha rn is pissing me off so this is how I cope.

I want to talk about Steins;Gate. But I'm not sure how many of you have seen Steins;Gate? So this might not work. I'll try anyway.

There's a bit in the middle of Steins;Gate where a lead character is fated to die at a certain point in time no matter what. And our protagonist travels back in time countless times to save her in vain.

Later, the protagonist, out of options, sits down and explains to the love interest what's actually going on. And we realize at that point that the couple are basically in love, and are stronger together than apart.

It's a really good scene!

And sometimes when I watch Re:Zero, I get the feeling that Re:Zero wants to be that show *all the time*. And who wouldn't? Steins;Gate is fuckin fantastic (minus the transphobia). But if Re:Zero *is* trying to imitate SG it seems not to understand what made that work.

For one, there's only one arc like that in Steins;Gate. Because it works once. And it took 13 episodes of build-up to make it work. It's not really a format made to be done 8 times a season.

But secondly and I think more importantly, in S;G there's a character lesson that the protag needs to learn to stop his friend from dying. In this case, he needs to learn that he has to work with is friends instead of alone if he wants to save anyone.

But in Re:Zero, it never really feels like Subaru has to change who he is as a person to "win" the time loop. In fact, a lot of the time, it feels like Subaru NEEDED to die to learn something that will be used on the next iteration.

S;G views each death as unnecessary. It even calls out the protag for almost being okay with his friend dying again and again, to suffer, as long as it allows him to time travel and mine for information.

In this episode, everyone Subaru knows and loves dies for like the third time this cycle. It's not because he's done anything wrong, but just because it turned out that way. Then he's randomly teleported to the snow, where he's eaten by rabbits because it's shocking I guess??

Why rabbits anyway? Or lemme guess that'll be explained someday too lol.

It's the frustration from this that allows him to luck his way into meeting Echinda again, who just so happens to be the only person in existence who he can tell Return by Death to.

All the aesthetic trappings of a good time warp puzzle are here. The gore. The death. The pain and hopelessness of the protagonist. But none of the substance that makes it good ever comes with it.

And Re:Zero just delivers this aesthetic again and again instead of writing.

Bonus points for introducing another woman who seemingly exists to be Subaru therapist. Because I guess going through the EXACT SAME THING w/ Emilia and Rem wasn't enough?

idk

It's time

So I was debating whether or not to say something good about the show this time around. After all, I have pretty much run through all my big criticisms of Re:Zero and it's not like this show is the WORST anime ever made (or this season, by a lot)

I genuinely understand why people like Re:Zero. The characters are likeable enough, the art is good, the emotional beats are pretty effective. It's decent horror.

Most importantly, for an isekai it's leagues and bounds ahead of the rest of the genre.

This thread is my longest seasonal anime thread and there's a reason for that.

However, I hated this episode as much as I hated all the others and mama didn't raise no liar so.... no. We're gonna tear it apart some more.

This is very fun for me.

Whhoooo caaaraeeess???

Re:Zero is lore heavy, and none of it is interesting. I'm still processing why this is myself. But for one thing, it often feels like "the lore" and "Subaru" as entities are too disconnected from each other to really care about.

A lot of the stuff Subaru learns about the lore is stuff no one else in this world knows but him. The information is basically always used to help Subaru out of a time-warp puzzle.

We never meet, like, average people from this world and we never get a sense of how all this talk of great mabeasts created 400 years ago affects day-to-day life.

It doesn't help that Subaru lives with the some of the most privileged people in society.

When I say Felt is best girl, it's not just because she's cute, but because, had we followed her, I'm convinced the world building would have mattered more. Because she feels the brunt of the systemic and societal issues in Lugnica.

Of course just following Felt around wouldn't be enough. You would have to focus on characters who are not Subaru for 5 fucking seconds, and generally set things up before revealing them like a normal writer. But it's a start.

As it is right now, the lore is just puzzle pieces that Subaru can use to "win".

Early parts of Re:Zero avoided this, actually. In fact, I think the first few episodes are generally well done on this issue?

Thing 2: when I first watched Re:Zero I was convinced the author only really added the witches because they'd heard of the 7 deadly sins and were like "heh that's cool".

Now that we're meeting them I can confirm...

that's 100% what happened lmao

The Witch of Wrath? She's, uh, an angry girl yup that's her. Get it?

The Witch of Pride? Proud little kid.

The Witch of Greed? Greedy. Greedy for BOOKS.

The Witch of Envy? Jealous ex-wife.

The Witch of Gluttony? Perpetually skipped breakfast.

The one character traits are in the name, you see.

And I'm sure someone's gonna tell me that if I read 200 chapters of the light novel I'd discover that they have more to their character but

whhhyyyyyy

Why can't it just be good?

Compare w/ Deca Dence, which is fantastic, and a show I will do a thread about tomorrow.

One of the reasons why it's fantastic is that you can tell what kind of person every character is after a few scenes.

We're not surprised when Kaburagi flips on the system and decides to become a bug. We know from the start that, although he followed the system, he had the potential to rebel. After all, he was the same person who refused to report Pipe to the system.

We know Natsume is insecure about her arm in the SECOND scene she's in. So it's not a surprise when she declares she fights not just to save the world, but because she wants self-confidence.

Fuck I could be watching Deca Dence right now!

But in Re:Zero, the women especially have this default personality trait where they're just generally motherly and helpful? I couldn't differentiate Rem from Emilia from Echidna from Frederica personality-wise.

Could you? Be honest.

Can you differentiate Julius from Garfiel? Really? They both have the generally standoffish but loyal male rival thing going on.

Ram is characterized. Felt is characterized. And surprise surprise I like them both! I think the show would be a lot better if they showed up more!

And maybe, in a hypothetical fourth season, these characters will be expanded on. But when there are so many shows that get this right, you'll forgive me for docking points here.

Thing 3 (last thing, this is long, sorry):

this

Some of you people argued that Emilia makes decisions on her own KNOWING that Subaru would just do the trial in her place and I'm pissed.

Fuck you.

Emilia doesn't get to do things. I know it, you know it. And let me tell you, they're doing a great disservice to our country.

It was really obvious actually. If Emilia was really going to do the trial, the story would have to focus on her. Treat her pain as a character trait to overcome and not just another piece of Subaru's puzzle.

The only scene I kinda liked was when we saw the Witch of Envy for the first time. Because, as the source of Return by Death it's kinda built up to?

But I still lack a lot of context to really appreciate this in any meaningful way.