#Anime Re:Zero Subaru Death | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

suffarustuffaru · 6 months

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If you don't mind me asking but when did you first get into re:zero

yeah i dont mind at all :o ig yallre gonna hear my full origin story now haah. its my—my… ok id say tragic backstory but i dont think this is really that tragic LMAO. my humorous backstory? silly backstory?

anyway i got into rezero in summer of 2020!! this was months before s2 started airing and by around this time there was just s1, s1 directors cut may or may not have been out?? i forgor :<, but then s2’s first teaser came out right about now.

it was quarantine…. i was bored one day and wanted smth new to watch… and by then id only really briefly seen rezero—like you know that s1 promo poster with subaru standing there while surrounded by some of the main girls in s1 (beatrice felt emilia rem ram)?? yeah id seen that. in the back of my mind i kinda assumed the show was just another one of those abt a dude surrounded by his harem of girls or smth?? :< but then i learned the Real Premise is the time travel. via death!!!! and ive always loveddd angst and whump so i was like “NO FUCKING WAY I HIT THE JACKPOT” and eagerly looked into rezero some more to see if it was worth watching. and then i saw all the shit reviews on rz that never seemed to agree on if it was good or not…… and then gigguk’s video…… and then i saw mother’s basement on youtube make a defense of rezero s1 and i was like!!! ok fuck it im watching this show. i want the angst i want the complex time travel shit. i think id spoiled myself on a couple of subarus deaths by this point trying to decide if i should commit to rezero and then i started binge watching s1!! esp when i was like ok this is a good time to get into it s2 was announced right??

anyway i got hooked on rezero fr 👍👍 the first s1 emisuba lap pillow had me quaking in my boots ;-;;; and i was already invested from ep1 bc i liked the characters a lot already!!! i am simply BUILT DIFFERENT i loved subaru from day one!!! by the royal selection episodes ofc i was dying of secondhand embarrassment but tbh i grew even more invested in rezero after that!! i was and still am super impressed that the narrative had the balls to have subaru fuck up sooo so so bad there. like seeing that emisuba argument and the julisuba duel for the first time was crazyyy. the conflict was really good and the latter s1 development…. woagh.

and then you know i finish s1 and i immediately get to researching how to read, i read arc 4’s wn and bawl my eyes out from the sheer amount of rollercoaster both the emotions and Long Ass Novel gave me (yes i was bawling my eyes out at parent and child) (yes i was bawling my eyes out at choose me) (yes i was bawling my eyes out for all the suffering loops) (yes i was bawling) (i have no clue how i read all those pages fr like that arc is massive), i speedrun arc 5, i accidentally spoil certain bits for myself (arc 6 stuff), i read most of arc 6 in spurts, tune in every week for s2 (and bawled my eyes out seeing the s2 part 1 op for the first time) etc etc!! one thing lead to another and now i am here…….. three yrs in this fandom… nearly (?) a yr being active on rezero tumblr… HAH

also i made a reddit account back inn…. 2020 or 2021 bc i wanted to be a tinyyy bit active in rezero reddit (this was half a mistake btw. i think i have more balls of steel now but my younger self was sooooo naive. shaking them by the shoulders. this is an anime fandom!!!!!! and this is reddit!!! whatre u expecting???? i am less shy now on the internet thats for sure!!). anyway im still a tiny bit active on rz reddit now after not touching it for like a year. now i use my reddit account for spreading otto propaganda and slander /lh …../hj

but anyway ive never been active in fandoms until rezero and thats bc id usually lurk and a lot of my past hyperfixation medias were :< big fandoms :<<< but then. ok im a fanfic enjoyer and i didnt write much fanfic or publish fic at all before this fandom but then in 2020 after watching s1 i checked rezero’s ao3 page and *sniffles* *sobs* thERE WAS ONLY LIKE 2 PAGES ON THERE MAN….. A WHOLE DESERT…. yes and then one thing lead to another and now there is more fic and also ig id be considered an english fic writer elder maybe…… i started posting in like fall/winter 2020? and maaaan im one of the only ppl from that era whos still posting i think!!! ive seen the entire english fanfic scene pop up!! ive participated in a bunch of community events… sooo wild to think about. i feel old guys!!!

but now i have gotten more and more active in the rz fandom yes :3 its been fun!! rezero is very important media to me and ive met lots of cool people in my time here :) when october 2024 rolls around itll be s3 time (AAAAA HYPE HYPE HYPE) and like four yrs of me being in this fandom?? its wild but my lifes genuinely changed a lot bc of me getting into rezero!! met lots of cool people… made pals… gotten my writing and art out there and improved on it via. large amounts of rezero fanart HAH.. became more unhinged.. etc etc :D even got to meet one of my buddies i met via rezero irl 👍👍 more irl crossover events will happen i swear.

also gigguk in my eyes redeemed himself for his old rezero skit vid by making a glowing review for rezero s2 with his pals. i can forgive him i suppose :<<<

in conclusion: idk if i count as a fandom elder but i sure have a lot of my own fandom lore pfft :<<<

#ask #suffaru post #people including english professors have told me theyre impressed with my writing but truth is ive just been writing a shit ton of anime #fanfic for the last three or so years LMFAO

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liquidstar · 1 year

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I've seen a lot of people in the Re:zero community hate puck with a passion and call him a hypocritical toxic father, and a good portion of them accuse him of deliberately mentally abusing Emilia so that she can be a naive pretty doll with no sense of independence and always obey him unconditionally.

How do you feel about that?

i dont think theyre wrong per say but i also do think puck genuinely loved emilia a lot- i dont think this is something up for debate. he will literally end the world if she dies. but is that what she would want??? i highly doubt it. emilia is a girl who would die for a world that has been nothing but cruel to her.

puck was never really meant to be a father, like, thats not what he was made for. hes the beast of the end not the beast of paternal love. but thats also something about him i find compelling, because he changed so much of himself because he loved this girl so much. his mentality is literally "if anything happens to her ill kill everyone in the world and then myself"

but he does baby her. extremely so. and he does treat her like a doll. remember part of their contract is literally that he does her hair, and thats why she chops off in greed:if as an act of rebellion (normal teen girl behavior honestly). he also literally never told her what sex is- shes 17 and she had no clue, and its played off as a joke at first, but subaru's "damn you puck" rings so true.

remember in wrath:if it was puck who pitched a deal with suabru to keep emilia trapped in the "princess room" away from all the danger. the whole princess room thing (in wrath:if and also in her childhood) is symbolic of her loss of autonomy in a lot of ways, especially when you remember she's NOT a princess. she's a candidate to be a KING!

and there are more damning things within their contract too, like how she literally wasnt allowed to SEE HER OWN FACE! its not made super clear in the anime, but whenever she looks at reflections she actually doesnt see anything back (not because she doesnt have one, but that she herself isnt perceiving it. and i think a lot of this also comes back to the self-recognition theme of the story, the whole reflections though eyes motif and all. remember how much of her we saw reflected only through subaru's eyes? she doesnt actually see her own reflection until she jumps inside the lake in the trial)

but i think thats also a big part of why he broke her contract with her to begin with. i think he knows she hasnt been allowed to grow up, that shes been overly babied, isolated, and kept away from things that might potentially make her feel bad. including her past, and even her present and future... breaking the contract off all at once isnt a good way to do this, i mean, her mental breakdown was so emblematic of that. but i think its important to look at what it all means for the meta narrative.

the latter half of arc 4 was absolutely emilia's arc, and a lot of it was her sort of growing up. i dont think cold turkey is a great way for a parental figure to do this to their child, but emilia was so incredibly dependent. and a lot of that was because puck MADE her dependent to begin with. for so much of her life she literally only had him... like. she was all alone in complete isolation in a frozen forest for as far back as she can remember, and everyone in the world hated her for reasons she didnt understand, and all she had was this little cat thing to be her friend. OF COURSE shes dependent on him, and of course she thinks she cant do stuff on her own (shes so fucking scared of being alone), and i think puck sort of depended on this mindset to keep her a "child" for as long as possible

but she had to grow up eventually. she's 18, maybe almost 19 by this point of the story (still unclear exactly which month we're in) and this is just as much her coming of age story as it is subaru's. (but speaking of subaru puck also guilt trips him quite a bit about emilia's deaths, even when he himself is "gone at the most important times" in emilia's words, which is not only hypocritical but also manipulative!)

all this being said i seriously love puck as a character because when he was first introduced i was like "oh god. annoying mascot character. boring" and then the beast of the end reveal happened and i was like "oh so this is going in the kyubey ripoff direction. i guess that makes sense for a dark fantasy but idrc" BUT THEN he actually ends up being like. an actual character w a lot of depth and nuance to him, a lot of it being how incredibly fucking sketchy he actually is but in a completely different way than just "evil twist mascot." between him and matsumoto from vivy, i love how tappei handles mascot characters- theyre a really hard thing to get right w/o being annoying LOL.

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hopeymchope · 5 months

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True confessions from an RE:Zero convert

This might be more of a ramble than my better-organized reviews, but I have a lot to get off my chest.

Personal Backstory: The stuff you skip when reading a recipe

For a long time, I avoided isekai stories. They were so pervasive in anime/manga that I found them quite annoying.

When I first caved, it was only for comedies. I figured that, hey, they're taking the piss out of the genre; that sounds up my alley. So I felt it was safe to enjoy Konosuba. After that, I fell in love with Trapped in a Dating Sim... and to my surprise, it wasn't solely engaging for its overarching comedy. There was more characterization and interpersonal relationship stuff that grabbed me in that one.

That's probably what made me feel more receptive when I saw a couple of people call out Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion as an underappreciated anime highlight of 2023. I gave it a shot one afternoon with only mild expectations for it, and guess what? I adored it.

Yet despite ALL THAT? My expectations for RE:Zero were close to the floor. Raeliana had opened the floodgates, leading me to try some other isekai stories... yet I repeatedly found the ones I tried quite lacking. Furthermore, almost everything I'd read about RE:Zero over the years had been resoundingly negative in spite of its seeming popularity — a real "Sword Art Online" situation, basically.

But eventually, I was curious enough about why some people are invested in these characters that I started giving it a watch. These low expectations left me perfectly disarmed when it began to weave its spell over me.

Storytelling and Worldbuilding: Returning by death

You can neatly divide the show into story arcs, each representing a unique event/hurdle that the protagonist has to get past using his unique power.

The first arc of the story is mostly just setup for some of the important characters and the basic conceit. Our freshly isekai'd Japanese protagonist, Subaru, meets and bonds with a half-elf girl named Emilia, only to soon get tragically murdered. However, he just restarts his life from roughly one day earlier. He can go back in time by dying, giving him a new chance to take new approaches to situations and to accumulate knowledge via loops. Eventually, his "save point" advances to a new point in time... but what causes that to happen is left unknown for now. Making matters even worse is that if he tries to tell anyone about this superpower/curse, he feels intense chest pain as though he's about to be killed... so he has to keep this under wraps. (Though I still wish he'd try to tell people that he can't tell them. We never see if that'd work.)

With Subaru and Emilia established, the second arc introduces the most important supporting characters — Beatrice, Roswaal, Rem and Ram — and also puts one of them through a significant stretch of development. And finally, the third arc takes up the bulk of the series' first season, dealing with... frankly, a LOT. There's a lot crammed into it. You could even argue that it's got multiple smaller arcs stacked inside of it, and that would make complete sense. The third arc definitely does the bulk of the world-building/stage-setting for the future of the series, but there are details and background provided all throughout to get you up to speed on how people think here, how the government works, some of the existing races, etc.

I was initially taken aback by now blasé Subaru is about being transported to another world. This isn't a "death and reincarnation" thing like I've seen in most isekai stories; Subaru just blinks, rubs his eyes, and suddenly he's in a fantasy world just like that. And he... is completely unconcerned and unimpressed by that? It's a weird choice. Combine that with a point late in the first arc where he literally talks to the camera, and I thought maybe we were getting some kind of Deadpool-esque comedic commentary on isekai conventions.

It's the severity of the violence and related agony that makes me take it more seriously than that. I still find animated blood and gore extremely affecting — moreso than fake blood in live-action. That's probably because I was raised on Western animation that contained little to no sign of such violence, whereas Western movies and TV are full of corn syrup and other blood stand-ins. I'm just saying that when the deaths/kills come around in RE:Zero, they hit hard and often quite intensely. They're not showing entrails hanging out (even if they talk about it), but you can expect to see snapping bones and arterial spray. It's still a minority of the time, though; this is NOT a gorefest, and it's better off for that fact. When you suddenly get two minutes of ultraviolence after four episodes of relative peace, that makes it feel all the more effective.

It's not lookin' good there, chief.

I'm an easy mark for this stuff. Some of my primary entry points into anime were horror anime, so playing up this kind of horror gets me to sit up and take notice. It's not going to be anywhere near enough to keep my attention, though. I've certainly watched AWFUL horror anime that had nothing to boast about beyond their gore levels. That's where the quality of RE:Zero's character writing really saves the day.

What's really important to understand is that, through the strength of its gradual buildup of intensity helped along by showing the repeated consequences of failure Re:Zero manages to make some of the big anime shōnen battles EXTREMELY hype! And yet, thanks to the great characterization? One of my favorite episodes in the whole show is an ep where two characters are just talking the entire time from a single location. THAT is the mark of something I love: If two characters holding a discussion for nearly half an hour has me COMPLETELY GLUED to it.

I've glossed over season two here because, although it still has some excellent moments, it's just not as good as the first. A big part of that is because it's just one giant-huge arc that covers all 26 episodes... and that's a LOT of time to spend on a single ongoing challenge/hurdle. It not only becomes exhausting and kind of boring to be confined to this problem/situation for so goddamn long, but it also makes it extremely obvious when Subaru is going to reach his final time loop and succeed. So once you piece together that the entire season is going to be stuck on this one arc, you realize you're stuck just waiting for him to get close enough to the season's end to finally achieve real progress. Once he does, though? It weirdly manages to feel like it's too soon -- like he didn't do enough to prepare all the problems at hand and somehow just won this time around because he tried super duper hard. There's also the fact that my favorite character from the first season is entirely sidelined (and apparently won't be in season 3 EITHER) — and nobody new manages to step into any similar shoes to pick up the slack.

Sounds like a good time to talk about that that character... as well as the rest.

Characters: The value of growth and change

One of the reasons I got into this so much is because the characters have flaws, go through changes, grow and develop. Rem is an early standout of this. As is apparently a common opinion, she quickly became my favorite character. Her shift from being suspicious and disdainful of Subaru to being 1000% supportive of him is EXTREMELY well-handled, and her sympathetic backstory is also one that we get before most other characters share their own. But when you get down to brass tacks, the main reason I think she's great is because she flips out and goes into violent combat mode whenever anyone she cares about is threatened. :D That's always a favorite archetype of mine. I love me a bloodstained hero or heroine who will march through hell and take any measure of punishment to save someone. Honestly, it makes it hard to understand why he'd so hooked on Emilia when Rem is so peak. And as I mentioned above, a big downside of season 2 is that Rem is completely absent past the first episode. In fact, she won't even be in the upcoming season 3!!! Alas, there is no "person who absolutely tears shit up and covers themselves in the enemy's blood to protect the ones they care about" character who steps in and picks up the slack, so I'm missing my favorite archetype after the first season. TSK.

She's not a princess (a lot of anger in it). Not your cutie girlfriend, oh no, don't you know?

I find it literally depressing that, to date, Rem is STILL not truly back in the cast of the source light novels - not in any way that matters. She makes her cameos via illusions or flashbacks or what-have-you, but she's not really there until she's physically AND mentally present once again. So until she returns to the team with all her memories (and therefore, her all-important character development) intact, I must legitimately ask: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, NAGATSUKI?!

Enough about Rem: We need to talk about the lead protagonist. Subaru is pretty brave throughout all this but really has to grow over the course of the first season and learn to be less self-serving and invest a lot harder into self-improvement. It's nice to see someone who clearly has blatant personal flaws but also is never a detestable person. I actually first saw him when I watched a few episodes of Isekai Quartet a couple years back, and frankly? I found him pretty loathesome over there. I was fully prepared for him to be a shitheel that I was inexplicably expected to like. I'm so glad that this isn't the case. In fact, I love having a character who wears his heart on his sleeve. He's not too manly to weep openly, and he's not afraid to act like a total doofus... or maybe he’s not smart enough sometimes to realize when he does. And although he may be frequently selfish and kind of stupid on multiple occasions, he never becomes one of those perverted male characters or too egotistical. Well... he gets a bit egotistical at times. Too much for someone like me, but... still not overmuch compared to many, many anime protags.

Panic! After Repeated Trauma

And yet... he does get a bit exasperating by the end of season two, imo. Partly because he doesn't grow too much in season two. At least he gets to confront his bottled-up feelings over leaving his homeworld behind, so that's nice. But otherwise, he's pretty much treated as this perfect man whose only major remaining flaw is a lack of combat skill. By the time you've got him convincing yet ANOTHER long-lived character to never give up and put all their faith into him personally just like he's done multiple times before, and it yet AGAIN works? The swelling music and the emotional reaction of the characters to him speechifying about how he'll always be there for them and needs them... that lands well maybe two times, but by this point — when he's talking to a character who has mostly treated him with disdain/avoidance and whom he's only hung out with maybe five or six times — it's pretty hard to swallow, honestly. But I'll try not to hold that against Subaru... I just want him to show some more flaws in future stories that go beyond just "He's not good at fighting." I want him to lose more arguments again. Besides, one of the best things in season two is when his mind starts to crack under the stress and pain of all the deaths he's endured. I think we should dig deeper into that.

I honestly love seeing a hero begin to crack under the pressure.

I kinda cheated by talking about Rem before Emilia. Emilia's the main female lead, after all, whereas Rem is a supporting player. The thing about Emilia, though, is that she's good and noble and pure-hearted from the start. She doesn't grow at all during season one, though at least she does show us a different side of herself when she questions Subaru's behavior during their argument. Season two sees her face her past and gain new inner strength, but she still undergoes far less change than Subaru or Rem in even just the first season. I'm glad they took the time to show her failing and then needing to learn in order to move forward, but Emilia's maybe just a little too perfect, y'know? One thing that garners her a lot of sympathy is that most everyone who meets her dislikes her just for being born a silver-haired half-elf. So many people associate that with one of the gravest threats to ever exist in this world that Emilia has to endure a lot of racism, and honestly? Confronting that racism is when the character is most engaging. So while Emilia is clearly likable and not totally uninteresting, she's not as interesting as a lot of the other players in the story. Most of the characters run deeper than her or have more mysterious goals. Compared to them, Emilia is an open book who rarely changes. The author of the books has said that Emilia is his favorite character, and maybe that's why he never sees much need to develop her. I think it does her a disservice.

On top of being beautiful and kind and intelligent, Emilia is also a powerful combatant. Because of course she is.

Her relationship with Subaru is a major focus, but it seems sort of hollow at first. Subaru admires her kindness/helpfulness and thinks she's beautiful, so he follows her around and dotes on her as much as he can. It's easy to see why he'd admire someone so good-hearted, but it starts to become a little cringe just how obsessively he dotes on her... and that cringiness peaks right around the moment when the two have a big argument and a falling out. It's an important scene that helps both characters, because it shows us Subaru's flaws on full display and also makes him confront just how cringey his devotion to Emilia can come off. Emilia, meanwhile, walks away to spend time without him for a while... though she never really rejects him, either. She really struggles with being independent. She keeps thinking about him and wishing he'd come back and make up with her. Clearly, she's gotten addicted to having a Hype Man around... and goddamn, I can't even blame her. Subaru looks at Emilia the way Stilgar looks at Paul Atreides. Who doesn't want that level of positive reinforcement available 24/7? By the end of season two, although both of them have grown, Subaru's still relentlessly hyping her up. He did criticize her (softly) in one major season two moment, but despite his claims otherwise, he still acts like she's an angel on Earth. And so, although he pool of their romance has grown deeper, it still feels like we've stepped out of the kiddie pool and into the shallow end. It means a lot more to see a character and their feelings grow and change over time, y'know? I suppose part of why we don't see that happening much is because Emilia is treated as so flawless to begin with.

Something I love in a long-running story is when a minor background character slowly starts to appear more frequently until - surprise! - they become a major cast member and full-time supporting player. Season two does this very successfully, and I love the character they expanded and brought into the cast. I feel like I shouldn't say too much about them for anyone who's a newcomer, because the gradual increase in their presence is so enjoyable. But it's a character who first appears in season one and has to wait numerous episodes of season two before they become important enough to get a front-row seat. It's very satisfying to watch them shift slowly from "fifth-tier supporting character who shows up for two scenes" into "major player."

Other characters? Ram is Rem's sister, and she's... not exactly a wealth of depth. Not yet, at least. She's mostly there to act tsundere. Her exact relationship with Roswaal remains hazy by the end of season 2, but she's clearly devoted to him and he's clearly doing... something for her? Roswaal and Beatrice both get by on acting mysterious. We learn a lot more about them in season two, and what we learn makes it hard to tear your eyes off Roswaal especially — he's a fascinating and weird bastard. Puck is a cat-like spirit with a lot of power and a very mischievious attitude. There's a surprising darkness lurking within him that keeps him from being some cute mascot-type. Season 2 also brings us some new characters whose long-term presence among the cast is still in question, but Echidna (not an Australian monotreme) is a standout. She really made me question everything I thought I understood about the moral good-and-evil situation in this reality.

Get those eyebrows under control. We ARE on television, y'know.

Serial Killin'

The series a whole is SO serialized and SO intense that it's really hard to watch it with gaps in-between episodes. Even taking one day off from the show mid-viewing proved too agonizing for me, so I was really grateful I could tear through seasons 1 and 2 in a rapid binge. I say this because... yeah, I don't see myself watching season 3 as it airs. Maybe I'll do a binge for each story arc it contains when they wrap up, or maybe I'll just wait for the whole season to conclude. But either way? This is something that demands to be binged in rapid succession.

I guess you get my point by now. I'm pretty hype about this series in spite of it holding some noteworthy flaws. I'm surprised I can still get so invested in something that dates back as far as 2016 that I haven't seen yet... and that gives me hope for what else I might discover going forward with my anime viewing.

#re:zero #re: zero #rezero #anime reviews #anime #isekai

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sweetcloverheart · 5 months

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Unpopular Opinion Time

Re:Zero Novel + General Arc 6 spoilers just FYI, so proceed with caution - especially if you're an Anime-only fan!

I kinda don't like it when Re:Zero fics that subscribe to Subaru=Flugel theory have Flugel just up and replace Subaru via Book Of The Dead or some other method to "restore" him because not only does it feel really disrespectful to Subaru's character to just have him retconed with his "original self" - the two are often treated as interchangeable in these scenario, which absolutely isn't the case. Even if they do share a soul/od, it's clear Subaru is his own person with obvious differences in his personality compared to Flugel, and with vastly different life experiences. If Subaru ever did get those memories back, I imagine it working more like him just gaining an extra set of memories or like he just marathoned an entire tv show in one sitting.

Also it's treated like an upgrade/"solution" when in context the entire situation should be considered straight up mind horror. Subaru is basically getting erased/supplanted by another personality - one that isn't even his own, or at least not the current him. By all count, this type of AU is (and frankly should be treated as) basically Subaru as a person being killed and replaced by a lookalike. Plus Books of the Dead are supposed to have the reader "experience" the life the person it's titled by up until their death (while feeling all the pain and suffering that occurred during), and Gluttony IF basically shows that trying to absorb that person's life like that would be absolutely bad for the reader's mental health (though granted, Gluttonybaru was already way off the deepend by that point). If Subaru did try to restore Flugel that way, he'd likely go insane from the conflict between both their memories, if not from having to deal with hallucination!Flugel all the time (Not to mention it would not do his imposter syndrome any favors).

And even if he avoids all that, Emilia and co are going to notice something's up because again - Subaru and Flugel are both different people with vastly different preferences and experiences. The moment he makes it clear he's not "their" original Subaru, they're either going to assume the worse, think it's a witch cult plot, or try and "cure him" so he'll go back to normal.

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scorpionatori · 2 years

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Top 5 Backstories in Anime/Manga

5. “Cushion of Grass” - Mushishi

“In this world, every person and place has a right to exist. It’s true for you, too. Nature itself allowed you to come back. The entire world as a whole is your home.”

Although Mushishi has a more "monster of the week" structure and isn't focused on developing fleshed out character arcs, the series still gives us two wonderful backstory episodes about our protagonist, Ginko. In "Cushion of Grass", an older mushi-shi comes across a young Ginko who's collapsed in the woods, surrounded by mushi. Ginko stays for a little while, but things take a turn for the worse when Ginko accidentally drops the egg of the unborn mountain lord, killing it.

While adult Ginko is a content and capable traveler and professional, child Ginko is a lonely outcast without a home or any place he can permanently stay, given he attracts mushi. It's even revealed that other mushi-shi would take advantage of him to attract mushi to different areas so he could get them jobs.

Ginko doesn't think someone like him belongs anywhere. And then he causes the death of the new mountain lord. But despite this, he's allowed to return to the world after getting pulled into the world of mushi. The man who had been looking after him tells him that, although he can't forgive him for what he did, he needs to remember that he belongs in this world. That every living thing has a right to exist, including him. The entire world is his home. This sets off Ginko's worldview we see throughout the series. He finds contentment in his lonely life of wandering and truly does seem to feel home wherever he is. He believes that humans and mushi both deserve to exist in the world.

"Cushion of Grass" is a beautifully written backstory, and the anime does an amazing job bringing it to life.

4. “Parent and Child” - Re:Zero

“‘I don’t love you.’ ‘I disown you.’ You are not… my son.’ I wished, you’d just say that to me, and throw me away. I wished, you’d give up on me.” - Natsuki Subaru

How Re:Zero fans watched this and still thought Subaru was just some whiny annoying protagonist who never learns his lessons is beyond me. In this, we truly see how much he has grown as he undergoes the Witch's trial in the Sanctuary.

Even with this series being full of truly tragic backstories, the story of Subaru's normal childhood still made me the most emotional.

Subaru is a very smart and talented kid with skills all around and a charismatic personality. He's good at school and sports and is very popular. His father is the same way, and he grows up constantly being compared to him. His identity ends up becoming wrapped up in the image of his father. Although this may seem harmless and although his father did nothing wrong, the constant comparisons give Subaru a highly idealized view of who he's supposed to be, and he eventually becomes incredibly burnt out by all the expectations placed on him to be as amazing as his father. He starts self-sabotaging, neglecting his studies and getting into trouble with the other kids. Eventually he stops going to school altogether and locks himself in his room all day.

Despite having people who care about him and growing up being praised, Subaru truly hates himself. He even admits he wishes his loving parents would beat him and get rid of him, because he thinks that's what he deserves. It feels devastating to him that someone as low as him would receive any form of love. He intentionally tries to make himself a lazy and worthless human being, hoping it will cause people to resent him the way he resents himself.

In the trial, he finally has to confront this aspect of himself and he does so with success.

3. Twilight’s backstory - Spy x Family

“I didn’t know anything. I never did. I didn’t know the real reason the war had started. I thought there wouldn’t be a war at all. I’d been convinced they’d all died in the bombing. I hated the enemy without knowing why. I picked up a gun without knowing why. I obeyed my country without knowing why. Ignorance isn’t bliss. Ignorance is weakness. Ignorance is a sin.” - Agent Twilight

Despite being a comedy manga, Spy x Family does not shy away from the horrors of war, especially when it gives us Agent Twilight’s backstory. The arc opens up on Twilight and his friends as children playing a game about war, and Twilight is by far the most into it. As we continue and see him talk about the political conflict and clash with his father, we find out he strongly glorifies war and demonizes the enemy, the country of Ostania. He’s been fed propaganda against the enemy, even to the point where he and all the children believe the Ostanians are literal monsters. But then a war completely breaks out and steals everything from him. His town is bombed, and then the town he and his mother escape to. His mother is killed in the second bombing and he becomes a homeless war orphan. When he’s older he joins the military, determined to crush the enemy. He becomes a very capable and destructive soldier.

His life changes after meeting his now friend Frankie, an enemy soldier who thinks the war is stupid and pointless. He’s disillusioned when Frankie tells him that the Ostanian’s were fed the exact same propaganda as the Westalian’s on Twilight’s side, and that both sides are just human beings fighting a pointless war. He realizes he’s been living a life of ignorance. This is how he becomes a spy and vows to prevent another war from every happening again.

Overall, this arc is one of my favorite pieces of anti-war media I’ve seen. It depicts how dangerous and evil propaganda and ignorance is, and how it turns people against each other only to feed a political agenda. The panels depicting the aftermath of the bombings are truly chilling, and Endo doesn’t sanitize how horrible the war is, even if this is normally just supposed to be a funny manga.

2. “A World Unbent” - Natsume Yuujinchou

“If I keep going, I might find out how to get rid of this thing. Without it, I won’t have to feel so irritated. I might be able to be a nicer person. Even to my family…” - Natori

“Maybe things look distorted because you try to see through these useless things.” - Matoba

The episode that solidified Natori Shuuichi as the best character in NatsuYuu for me. This backstory depicts Natori’s introduction to the world of exorcism. The plot itself is simple enough, but it’s such a beautiful character study of the character who's sadly received too much undue hate from the fandom. We see the big contrast between present day Natori and teenage Natori watching this. The former is friendly and charming and the latter is standoffish and irritable. It truly gives us a look into his inner turmoil and psyche that we don’t get to see as often in the present day.

Natori as a teen is shown to be very detached from people and surroundings, and he describes his world as “wavering”. He meets teenage Matoba, who is sure of himself and confident and never wavers. Natori immediately finds himself unable to deal with Matoba despite him being his first peer to share his abilities. He resists his assistance, fearing his accomplishments will mean nothing if they come with the help of someone more capable. We see that Natori is desperate to become strong and good enough by himself.

Contrary to how he acts present day, we see that Natori has a very low and fragile view of himself, even feeling that he’s a bad guy. He's an outcast both at home and at school, and has no one he can lean on. He's enticed to the world of exorcism, especially after meeting Takuma, who treats him with kindness. He wants to become a stronger person who helps people, and he looks for this in the exorcist community. He also hopes to one day find a way to get rid of the ominous lizard youkai that crawls around on his body. If he gets rid of it, he wonders if this will let him become a kinder person.

While present day Natori is someone who does not wear his heart on his sleeve, "A World Unbent" allows us to see deeper into him and his character in complete vulnerability. There's a beautiful aching to the narration of this episode which rivals the rest of a series full of beautiful aching narration. It makes it clear how deeply Natori is hurting, and how much he's longing to find something he can cling to in life and how much he yearns to be a kind person. It's just overall a beautiful backstory episode that provides so much depth to an already well written character.

1. “Dark Era” - Bungo Stray Dogs

“I joined the mafia because of an expectation I had. I thought if I was close to death and violence—close to people giving into their urges and desires, then I would be able to see the inner nature of humankind up close. I thought if I did that… I would be able to find something—a reason to live.” - Dazai

“Be on the side that saves people… if both sides are the same, choose to become a good person. Save the weak, protect the orphaned. You might not see a great difference between right and wrong, but… saving others is something just a bit more wonderful.” - Oda

Are my NatsuYuu followers surprised I ranked something even above "A World Unbent"? Long before I even watched the series my brother told me that this was the best backstory he’d ever seen. He was right. Dark Era follows the last few living days of Osamu Dazai’s friend Oda Sakunosuke, a character not introduced until this arc. Despite being best friends with the violent Port Mafia executive Dazai, Oda is a low ranking member who doesn’t kill people. His reason for not killing is that he wants to become a writer. A person who takes lives has no right to write about them. However, after getting caught in the plot of a foreign ex-military group whose boss desires the perfect person to kill him in battle, he’s driven to violently eradicate the group after they kill the orphans he’s been providing for.

Although he still has his goofy moments, we get to see how terrifying and dark Dazai was as a Port Mafia executive, ordering executions and beating and threatening his then subordinate, Akutagawa. Pointing a gun at Akutagawa’s head, he contrasts himself with Oda, a man who protects orphans and doesn’t kill people, saying the light of righteousness is not on his side. We see him at the very end of his mafia career, as Oda’s death drives him to leave.

Before he leaves to fight the group, Oda hears from Dazai that the reason he joined the mafia was because he wanted to be close to the violence and bloodshed and people giving in to human desires, hoping in it he’d find some meaning in living. While he’s dying, Oda tells Dazai he’ll never find that and he’ll never be able to fill the dark lonely hole inside of him. But he goes on to say that if neither a life of helping or a life of killing will be able to bring meaning to his existence, he should choose to become a better person and live his life saving people. That’s a more beautiful way to live.

Dazai follows his dying friend’s advice and leaves the violent Port Mafia to eventually join the Armed Detective Agency where he works now. Oda’s words were a beautiful way to approach someone as nihilistic as Dazai who saw no meaning in life and abandoned ideas of what’s good or evil. If there’s no meaning in a life of killing or a life of saving, it’s more beautiful to choose the side that saves people. Dazai's nihilistic worldview isn't argued with or challenged. Oda never tries to convince him that there will be meaning in his life if he keeps searching for it. Instead, he reminds him that beauty and good can exist in life, even if it is meaningless. Good and kindhearted Oda deeply cares for Dazai despite his friend's darkness and lack of morality, and in the end he's able to find the right thing to tell him that makes him change his lifestyle to become a better person.

Dark Era, in my opinion, is the masterpiece of Bungo Stray Dogs and is a beautiful story all on its own.

#bsd #natsume yuujinchou #spy x family #re zero #mushishi #bsd dazai #bsd odasaku #natori shuuichi #matoba seiji #loid forger #natsuki subaru #ginko

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whumpsday · 1 year

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Whumpmas in July #4

Share a TV show, movie, or any media that gives you the whumperflies! (Feel free to go off about your favorite episodes/moments!)

last year i shared the Black Mirror episode USS Callister for this prompt, which i recently rewatched, still highly recommend that!

so i'm actually a massive anime fan, and today i'm going to recommend TWO of my favorite whumpy anime! (because i couldn't decide which to go with lol)

The Case Study of Vanitas

i've mentioned this a few times before on this blog, but this vampire anime was a major inspiration for my series, Kane & Jim. Bellamy is heavily inspired by the main character Noè. The Case Study of Vanitas takes place in steampunk 1800s France, and it's about an unhinged human man, Vanitas, who acts as a doctor to cursed vampires: a curse that makes them go feral with bloodlust. as well as his partner Noè, a kind and idealistic vampire (pictured above).

this anime has a good balance of drama and comedy, but when it gets serious, it really gets serious. the whump and angst in here is off the charts. everyone has a tragic backstory, with Vanitas's involving being tortured as a human experiment. the vampires are certainly not exempt from this either. highly recommend this one if you want some good vampire whump! it's on hulu, crunchyroll, and funimation.

my favorite scene from this one is actually one of the less-whumpy ones. Noè is attacked by a vampire hunter, promptly kicks the hunter's ass, politely introduces himself, and asks to be friends. when the vampire hunter agrees, Noè starts crying from joy. he's so cute. my favorite vampire character of all time.

content warnings for the show: minor whump in a flashback episode about Vanitas's tragic past, heavily sexualized blood-drinking.

Re:Zero

this one is probably the whumpiest anime i know. it's an isekai, where our boy has been transported from the real world to a fantasy world. but instead of fun adventures, he gets heaps and heaps of trauma!

Subaru is a really interesting protagonist. he starts off like your typical isekai protag who thinks he's gonna be the hero and get the girl, but reality smacks him in the face and he really grows as a character. he has exactly one special ability, and it's a doozy: he can't die. every time he dies, he wakes up at some previous point before his death and gets a redo. this obviously results in countless violent deaths and immense amounts of psychological trauma. you can see him pictured above having a little breakdown about it. that happens a lot, especially considering he's also cursed to be unable to tell anyone.

the one thing i would say i dislike about this anime are the female character designs, which kind of suck. but the plot is great, character development is EXCELLENT, can't wait for season 3! Re:Zero is only available on crunchyroll and wherever you pirate anime.

my favorite scene is the one where subaru finally meets someone his curse will let him talk to about his immortality and he breaks down crying with relief. this is actually great to watch by itself even if you haven't seen the show, poor Subaru...

youtube

content warnings for the show: minor whump (Subaru is 17 in season 1 and several children die offscreen in doomed timelines), gore, multiple suicides (temporary due to the nature of Subaru's immortality)

@whumpmasinjuly

#whumpmasinjuly2023 #wij23day4

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ultraericthered · 1 year

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Anime Update V2 63

Vinland Saga S2 - Everything that happened to Thorfinn back in the first season finally gets addressed and brought up to Einar, who is understanding but direct with his friend and gives him some words of advice. Thorfinn's newfound humility and steady growth as a person is really reflected here. But then when Einar and Thorfinn find their wheat field has been completely razed, rendering all that hard, long work they put in meaningless, Einar flies into a fury and is quick to assume the farmhands who look down upon them were the culprits. When happening to run into the farmhands that night, Einar's rage forces Thorfinn's hand and he finds himself right back in the realm of violence and bloodshed he'd wanted to leave behind. At the end, his nightmare seems to be coming true: he's falling into Hell once more.

Hunter x Hunter - Gon fights Knuckles while Killua fights Shoot. At this point this plotline has wore out its welcome for me and I just want to move on already. Which we thankfully might be able to do soon since back at the hive, the King is about to hatch prematurely!

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works - Got some Caster focus at this time as she recalls how she'd initially been summoned for the Holy Grail War by a different mage who ran his own lab that extracted mana and thought he could treat her like garbage even though her magic control exceeded his own. She immolated him to death but got injured by a hit on her from Assassin that Kirei had arranged. She was saved by Kuzuki, who became her new Master. In the present day, Illya's manor is breached by Shinji and Gilgamesh, who uses his Noble Phantasm to kill Illya's homunculus maids. An enraged Illya calls upon Berserker to crush the intruders! It is ON!

Re:ZERO - Very scary and distressing shit in this season's eleventh episode! Beako reveals for just how long she'd been awaiting Subaru to arrive in this world and that she wants him to kill her so that she doesn't have to keep living a slave to her Tome with her spirit tethered to the library. Elsa attacks once again and we meet her co-conspirator, a child from the village named Meili who's a Mabeast controller and wants to kill Subaru and all her fellow villagers (which suggests she was behind the events of Arc 2). Beako gets killed by Elsa and dies in Subaru's arms, using Frederika's crystal to send him back to the Sanctuary, where he finds Emilia has gone mad from the trial's failure and is half possessed by Satella. Roswaal shows just how evil he really is by skewering Garfiel and Ram, and revealing himself to be in possession of the second Tome and that he has been aware of Subaru's Return By Death looping this entire time. And then the goddamn Great Rabbit attacks, kills Roswaal, and nearly kills Subaru again. Subaru dies from all his wounds in the arms of the envious witch, awaiting when it's his time to start over again. Damn.

Symphogear AXZ - I really didn't want to ever have this experience with this anime, but this one pushed it for me; I had to stop watching an episode and not finish it. And I was liking what I was getting up to that point - more cool moments from best girls Kirika and Shirabe, more HibiMiku tenderness, getting to meet the cold and cruel Fudou Kazanari in person, even a posthumous guest appearance by Dr. Ver, which at first I wasn't sure I was going to like but the man is so damn bombastic that he won me over in seconds. But the entire subplot of Maria and Elfnein delving deep into Maria's mind and memories culminated in something that's not just reminiscent of how badly GX botched the arc with Hibiki's father, but reminiscent of that fucking episode of Your Lie In April. Yeah, it pulled the exact same "whitewashing of child abuse" bullshit, insultingly having Maria realize that the physical abuse, experiments, and emotional torment Dr. Nastassja put her and other children through to shape them into child soldiers for a terrorist group wasn't really bad not only because "Mom" felt bad about doing it, but because raising her in a harsh environment made her stronger, ensured she was toughened up and fully ripened and not soft and are you fucking with me right now, Symphogear? Just like with Hibiki's dad, there was a conclusion the character should've been drawing here, one that would've much more interesting and appropriately nuanced and fair to Nastassja's character while still condemning her actions, yet the character is written like a dumbass who takes away the absolute wrong lesson and we're supposed to just be fine with that. Fuck off with that garbage, Symphogear! I expect better from you and am immensely disappointed, my enthusiasm for the rest of this season diminished.

Eureka Seven - Wait, it's fucking recap episode? With not just Renton recapping things but Stoner and Dominic??? Consider me immensely disappointed in you this week too, Eureka Seven!

#Anime Update #Anime Update V2

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madraleen · 1 year

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Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World anime Season 1 (Director’s Cut) + Memory Snow + Frozen Bonds commentary

-Subaru is very likable.

-”You lumps of EXP” hahahahahahaha.

-Eyyy, this is adorable and funny.

-I really like how the music sets the tone.

-This is so interesting. And how does everyone have instant chemistry with everyone, I don’t understand

-I like Emilia.

-Remmm, the reason I know of this animeee (the Rem figures. They’re everywhere).

-I really like Subaru.

-Look at lil Oni Rem go.

-I’m not crying at Baby Ram protecting Baby Rem, YOU’RE crying!

-I’m not crying about Subaru and Rem’s relationship, YOU are!

-How does that cell phone still have battery, they ain’t making them like that these days

-Bless you, Emilia, for putting Subaru in his place, that was cringe. I would have kicked his ass back to the village the moment he entered the Royal Selection with Priscilla.

-I like Crusch as a presence.

-That’s Puck’s voice, right? That keeps killing Subaru?

-Dude, this is fifty shades of tragedy!

-I have to say, the fact that the deaths are reversible lowers the stakes.

-Rem dominates the anime now, ngl.

-Ngl, getting a little tired, things feel a little repetitive, a little drawn-out.

-That’s a cool fight with the White Whale. Very cool.

-Loving Crusch.

-Subaru and Julius apology, yay!

-What?! WTH?! Why is Rem forgotten?!

-Let’s not talk about Frozen Bonds, let’s just say it did not hold my interest.

-Alright, this was fun, but I’ll need a breather before s2, a little space.

#re:zero -starting life in another world #Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World anime #anime #anime commentary #re: zero anime

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anime-infos · 7 months

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Top 20 Anime auf Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll ist eine der führenden Plattformen für Anime-Streaming, und Anime-Fans weltweit vertrauen darauf, um ihre Lieblingsserien zu sehen. In diesem Beitrag werden die Top 20 Anime auf Crunchyroll vorgestellt, die du nicht verpassen solltest. Von epischen Abenteuern über herzzerreißende Dramen bis hin zu actiongeladenen Thrillern bietet diese Liste eine breite Palette von Genres für jeden Anime-Enthusiasten. 1. Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) Diese Serie hat die Anime-Welt im Sturm erobert. Mit einer fesselnden Handlung, tiefgründigen Charakteren und atemberaubender Animation verdient Attack on Titan definitiv seinen Platz in den Top 20 Anime auf Crunchyroll. 2. Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) Der Erfolg von Demon Slayer ist unübertroffen. Die fantastische Animation und die emotionale Tiefe der Geschichte haben es zu einem Muss für jeden Anime-Fan gemacht. 3. My Hero Academia Diese Serie bietet eine einzigartige Perspektive auf Superhelden und hat eine riesige Fangemeinde aufgebaut. Verfolge die Reise von Izuku Midoriya, während er versucht, ein Held zu werden. 4. Jujutsu Kaisen Mit intensiven Kämpfen und einer packenden Handlung hat sich Jujutsu Kaisen schnell zu einem der beliebtesten Anime entwickelt. Die Charaktere und ihre Entwicklung tragen dazu bei, die Zuschauer zu fesseln. 5. Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World Tauche ein in eine Welt der Magie und fantastischen Wesen mit Subaru Natsuki, der in dieser faszinierenden Serie sein Schicksal herausfordert. 6. One Piece Begleite Monkey D. Ruffy und seine Crew auf der Suche nach dem legendären Schatz, dem One Piece. Mit einer epischen Welt und faszinierenden Charakteren ist dies eine der langlebigsten und beliebtesten Anime-Serien. 7. The Rising of the Shield Hero Ein Isekai-Anime, der die Geschichte von Naofumi Iwatani erzählt, der in eine fantastische Welt gerufen wird und zum Schildhelden wird. Intrigen, Abenteuer und eine einzigartige Charakterentwicklung machen diesen Anime besonders. 8. Vinland Saga Basierend auf historischen Ereignissen, erzählt Vinland Saga die Geschichte des jungen Wikingers Thorfinn und seiner Suche nach Rache. Die eindringliche Handlung und die beeindruckende Animation machen diesen Anime zu einem Highlight. 9. Black Clover Ein mitreißender Shonen-Anime, der die Geschichte von Asta erzählt, einem Jungen ohne magische Kräfte, der dennoch entschlossen ist, König der Magier zu werden. Action, Freundschaft und epische Kämpfe stehen im Mittelpunkt dieser Serie. 10. Haikyuu!! Für Sportanime-Liebhaber ist Haikyuu!! ein Muss. Begleite das Volleyballteam der Karasuno High School auf ihrem Weg zu den Nationals. Mit packenden Matches und charismatischen Charakteren ist dieser Anime ein emotionaler Höhepunkt. 11. Steins;Gate Eine fesselnde Science-Fiction-Geschichte, die sich mit Zeitreisen und den Konsequenzen von Entscheidungen auseinandersetzt. Die tiefgründige Handlung und die gut ausgearbeiteten Charaktere machen Steins;Gate zu einem Meisterwerk. 12. Death Note Die Geschichte von Light Yagami, der ein mysteriöses Notizbuch findet, das den Tod von Menschen steuert. Death Note ist bekannt für seine Intelligenz, Spannung und moralischen Dilemmata. 13. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Diese Serie erzählt die bewegende Geschichte der Brüder Edward und Alphonse Elric, die nach der ultimativen Alchemie suchen, um ihre verlorenen Körperteile zurückzugewinnen. Mit einer tiefgründigen Handlung und moralischen Fragen ist dieser Anime ein Klassiker. 14. Sword Art Online Begib dich in die virtuelle Welt von Sword Art Online, wo Spieler ums Überleben kämpfen müssen. Mit spannenden Kämpfen und einer faszinierenden Mischung aus Realität und Virtualität ist dieser Anime ein Publikumsliebling. 15. One Punch Man Saitama, der One Punch Man, kann seine Gegner mit nur einem Schlag besiegen, was zu einer humorvollen und gleichzeitig actiongeladenen Serie führt. Ein Muss für alle, die nach einer einzigartigen Herangehensweise an das Superhelden-Genre suchen. 16. Your Lie in April Eine berührende Geschichte über Musik, Liebe und persönliches Wachstum. Dieser Anime erzählt die Geschichte von Kousei Arima, einem brillanten Pianisten, der durch die Ankunft einer geheimnisvollen Violinistin sein Leben verändert. 17. Tokyo Ghoul Tauche ein in die düstere Welt von Tokyo Ghoul, in der Menschen von gefährlichen Ghulen gejagt werden. Dieser Anime bietet eine faszinierende Mischung aus Horror, Action und psychologischem Drama. 18. Hunter x Hunter Die Abenteuer von Gon Freecss auf seiner Suche nach seinem verschollenen Vater machen Hunter x Hunter zu einem packenden Shonen-Anime mit tiefgehenden Charakteren und anspruchsvollen Handlungssträngen. 19. Noragami Begleite den Gott Yato auf seinen Abenteuern in der Welt der Götter und Geister. Noragami bietet eine einzigartige Mischung aus Action, Humor und übernatürlichen Elementen. 20. Neon Genesis Evangelion Ein Meilenstein im Mecha-Genre, der sich mit existenziellen Fragen und den psychologischen Belastungen der Piloten auseinandersetzt. Neon Genesis Evangelion hat einen nachhaltigen Einfluss auf die Anime-Kultur. Schlusswort - Top 20 Anime auf Crunchyroll Diese Auswahl der Top 20 Anime auf Crunchyroll repräsentiert nur einen kleinen Ausschnitt aus der Fülle der hochwertigen Anime, die auf Crunchyroll verfügbar sind. Egal, ob du auf der Suche nach Action, Drama, Fantasy oder Science Fiction bist, Crunchyroll bietet eine breite Palette von Genres, um deine Vorlieben zu befriedigen. Tauche ein in die faszinierende Welt des Anime und erlebe unvergessliche Geschichten auf Crunchyroll! Lesen Sie den ganzen Artikel

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