#also: reinhard’s 2 girlfriends

[blueiight]

reinhard’s like they had to put up two bitches(sorry for this word) to be equal to 1 sieg

[suffarustuffaru]

hiii i made another rezero spotify playlist again.

so this goes through subarus Entire character arc from arc 1 all the way roughly to arc 8!! gonna put notes under the cut.

theres a few repeat songs from my other playlists, mainly from the emilia playlist and the other subaru playlist i made, but i keep it to a minimum!! these songs are important okay.

i use several rezero songs because. well a lot of official rezero songs are from subaru's pov if you look at the lyrics + play in certain crucial moments. and also theyre bops and this is my playlist so i do what i want HAH

also in general i wanted to choose a blend of. more depressing songs. but also more upbeat ones. and a mixture of both of those. subaru has a rollercoaster of an arc hah i had to get a specific Tone here.

the first three songs are the intro songs!! the ones that summarize subarus entire character <3 okay also i know "the whole being dead thing" is an absolutely hilarious choice for a subaru playlist. even in just the song title alone. but LMAO i stand by that choice. 1000%.

"waving through a window" is like. just a bit pre-arc 1, then "connect" is the arc 1 to arc 2 transition

"relive" and "peace and love on the planet earth" mark memory snow and the end of arc 2 overall. "all i've ever known" is in this section because of remsuba growing close together. "ceilings" and "same boat" are in this section because i think they kind of fit the specific kind of Yearning subaru has. just in the sense that rbd undos time hes spent with the others; he loves them, but do they love him back? he knows them, but they dont know him. that sort of thing. i had to acknowledge it ;-;;;

"wrecking ball" (yes i know its a very fitting song title aljsldf) to "mr loverman" are arc 3!! also yes i know theres a lot of songs from the show crazy ex-girlfriend in this section but like. hear me out okay those songs fit. i think it's easy to tell what theyre referring to with the song titles alone also alksdjfljksfd

(and yes "what is this feeling?" is referencing subaru and julius's unfortunate first meeting. i couldnt resist.)

"realize" (this is specifically the cover that subarus va did!!) to "hopes and dreams" is arc 4. "look whos inside again" and "this is me trying" can be seen as references to subaru's first trial also.

"haven't you noticed (i'm a star" to "fightsong" are the transition from arc 4 to arc 5. and yes i had to include the song "boy bi".

"theater D" to "zero to hero" is the rest of arc 5. and yes theater D is an extremely good song okay it deserves to be in this playlist twice. the second time just represents sirius fucking shit up <3 "i see stars" is supposed to represent subaru's heroic speech to the entire city!! "immortals" is also in reference to subaru learning reinhard can Also die and come back.

"soldier, poet, king" is the transition into arc 6. you can also see the "soldier, poet, king" as julius, subaru, and emilia.

"demons" to "soap" is the rest of arc 6 <3 and if you so desire it you can see "at my back" and "what else can i do?" as julisuba (platonic or otherwise) songs.

"collusion" and "malachite's theme" are the transition into arc 7-8 and the rest of the songs that follow after are the rest of arc 7-8!! "run boy run" marks the start of the child subaru arc yes.

"your reality" is the finale song... i know it's like a pretty calming choice for a subaru playlist aljsdlf but i feel like the lyrics are fitting for the entirety of his character arc and the possible direction it might take yes!!

[logh-icebergs]

Episode 13: When the Rain of Grief Comes

August 22, 796/487. Kesler travels to a small frontier planet to implement the sinister Oberstein’s Reinhard’s odious plan for weakening the invading Alliance forces: Collect food and supplies from civilians on the frontier so that the invading Alliance, which calls themselves a “liberation force,” will be forced to use their own food, supplies, and money to replenish the depleted stocks. The moral pitfalls of this course of action are explored while Kesler wistfully reunites with an old flame from his youth. Kircheis tries a new tactic for coping with Reinhard’s newfound Machiavellianism, after which the two of them spend a long night together.

Heterosexuality

Recent studies done among adults aged 18-65 in the Galactic Empire have shown that as many as 1 out of every 10 are likely straight. Wow! And yes, just like the average Empire citizen, even Reinhard von Lohengramm knows at least one heterosexual personally. The more you know.

Until this point, there’s been no reason to discuss straight romance in LoGH except to point out that ostensibly hetero situations have been characterized by awkwardness, discomfort, reluctance, and embarrassment. In fact, Rebecca talked early on about how this show uses social awkwardness surrounding straight encounters as one of the weapons in its arsenal of heteronormative “passing” techniques. However, we’ve still consistently been giving consideration to the heteronormative surface readings for many of these scenes—without a point of comparison, there’s been no way to be sure that the LoGH anime team isn’t trying (albeit not very successfully) to write straight romance. Well, our first point of comparison has finally arrived!

After assigning subordinates to take care of Reinhard’s directives on other frontier planets, Extremely Good Boy Ulrich Kesler decides to go himself to Kleingelt, where, it quickly becomes apparent, he grew up. We learn this via a series of interactions between Kesler and Vier, the widowed daughter-in-law of the region’s benevolent ruler, Viscount Kleingelt. It turns out that Vier and Kesler have known each other for a long time, though it’s been a while since they’ve actually seen one another. Through a series of short flashbacks, we learn that the two were, if not boyfriend and girlfriend, at least intending to get together eventually when their progress was interrupted by Kesler enlisting in the military. While Kesler was away, Vier met and married a different man, who was killed after also joining the military, leaving Vier behind with her son and father-in-law.

Kesler and Vier’s story, contained as it is to one episode (and entirely original to the anime), is straightforward and, though touching, honestly not particularly interesting on its face: A young man and woman had feelings for each other; war intervened (by the man’s choice); now it’s too late for them to overcome the years of distance; war separates them again (this time by the woman’s choice). But it’s the very fact of how simple and direct this story is that makes it hold more significance in the context of LoGH’s approach to romance as a whole than it might at first appear to do.

Given that relying on shortcuts gets us nowhere in LoGH, how can we tell this is romantic? The lighting, the subject of conversation, and the fade into a flashback at the end are all indicators.

What episode 13 begins to prove is that the creators of LoGH are perfectly capable of writing clear, unequivocal romance between a man and a woman. In other words, the muddled and confusing straight romance-like scenarios scattered throughout LoGH are not the result of poor writing or directing, but of an intentionality to convey something other than heterosexual romantic love.

Again as Rebecca mentioned in her episode 6 post, awkwardness and authentic romance are not mutually exclusive, and of course plenty of people in mature, healthy, requited relationships experience insecurity, embarrassment, and so on. But the levels of negativity on display whenever most of LoGH’s presumptive hetero couples are on screen together aren’t indicative of the normal stress associated with crushes or the early stages of a relationship—they’re indicative of genuine unhappiness. Kesler and Vier’s relationship is fraught: In the past, he chose the life of a soldier over a life at home with her; in the present, there’s too much history and distance between them even to consider giving it another go. But the question of their attraction to one another is not what complicates their relationship; that question has already been answered, and is not up for debate.

There’s no ambiguity here: Vier and Kesler are both smiling; their body language is open, enthusiastic, and comfortable; this is two people flirting with each other not because of external pressure or to cloak a queer romance from a homophobic audience, but because it’s an expression of how they feel.

It’s not necessary for the show’s creators (or characters) to code straight romance, so when LoGH shows us an unambiguously interested hetero couple, they can use explicit cues (like marriage-related language in the above gif) to tell us point blank that’s what they’re doing, while using implicit cues (body language, camera movement, etc) to reinforce and deepen the viewer’s understanding of the relationship. Queer romances, on the other hand, don’t have the luxury of being conveyed with anything other than implicit cues.

As a result, the presence of uncomplicated straight romance in LoGH is something like a decoder key: We can take the implicit language used to portray both hetero and queer relationships, and use it to extrapolate the corresponding explicit language that can only be used for straight relationships onto queer relationships.

For example, the visual and contextual similarities between this moment from episode 4 and Ulrich’s playful chasing of Vier in episode 13 are striking.

In this way, with a little help from its rare straight characters, LoGH does away with the need for overt explanations of queer romances while still making them perfectly easy to find and interpret as long as you’re paying attention. And speaking of queer romance...

Reinhard and Kircheis

After sharing his controversial “starve them out” plan with his admiralty, Reinhard looks to Kircheis for his thoughts and finds his gaze studiously averted.

For the last few Empire-side episodes, we’ve been blissfully distant from the high-level strategic machinations that are driving a wedge between Reinhard and Kircheis. Episode 13, while it doesn’t address the issue as directly as, say, episode 8, brings the growing Oberstein-related tension between Reinhard and Kircheis back into sharp focus.

After his attempts to dissuade Reinhard from hiring and listening to Oberstein were unsuccessful, Kircheis seems to have decided to deal with the situation by trying to ignore it, which might work if Reinhard weren’t accustomed to getting Kircheis’s input on every little thing. As the situation stands, Kircheis’s silence is noticeable in the extreme, and adds strain to their interactions... at least at first.

This whole conversation illustrates how on different pages Reinhard and Kircheis are right now, but the setting and composition of the scene are still romantic as hell, starting with the door Kircheis evidently closed behind him...

...and ending with the camera’s slow pan to the stars, leaving Reinhard and Kircheis safely out of our field of vision as they decide how to spend the “long night.”

When next we see our heroes, the mood has changed. It’s morning, the sun is streaming through the clouds, and dew glistens on the flowers outside Reinhard’s window—the same window at which the two were standing the night before. In fact it’s implied that they haven’t left the room: The door behind Kircheis is still closed, and when he appears, it’s from off to the side; they’ve been there together all night.

We’ve already given straightwashing more time than it deserves, but it keeps happening so we’ll keep calling it out: Above, the word Kircheis uses is neither “sentimental” (fansubs on the left) or “womanish” (official subs on the right); what he says is memeshii (女々しい), which means “effeminate.”

As is obvious from that exchange alone, the vibe between Reinhard and Kircheis has changed as much as their surroundings—they’re both softer, more playful. Reinhard smiles as he affectionately teases Kircheis, who averts his eyes bashfully (a dramatic contrast to his stiff cold shoulder earlier on in the episode) while very romantic music swells in the background. Smiling, he then responds unequivocally with a relatably self-deprecating comment about how gay he is. LoGH is making it absolutely crystal clear how exactly Reinhard and Kircheis managed to relieve all that tension between them in the span of a single night.

Stray Tidbits

Kesler’s shock here at seeing the alphabet typed out in order on a computer screen is a gift.

Vier's husband said he joined the military and died, but it’s obvious from this hair shot that he actually ran away to become a romance novel cover model.

I’m glad we now know for sure that Kesler canonically sleeps in 1. his belt and 2. his shoes.