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spiegelgestalt · 4 months

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I was looking through your re zero reblogs and a tag stood out to me. What do you mean you think Otto is a manifestation of Satella? I’m really intrigued by the concept

Ohh! Thank you for the question. So this is a pet theory of mine which is probably wrong but I find incredibly entertaining. Beware this is going to be long and rambley. The TL;DR is probably: the only person who is as obsessed with Subaru as Otto is, is Satella It tries to explain several things that I find weird about Otto (some of these things might be explained in the LN but Tappeis writing style doesn't click with me and so i'm really slow with reading them) :

a) Ottos sudden entry in Subarus story (and the fact that Subaru always meets him no matter what he does) the first time he meets Otto at a pub because Otto made a financial mistake and drank his sadness away. This one's fairly unsuspicious. The second time is stranger. Subaru is going back to the mansion alone in the darkness and meets Otto on the road. Not only that. Otto is standing near the light and waves. Like he was expecting him. Why? Does he do that often - wave to travelers who are just passing by? But the most suspicious entry is his last/permanent entry to the story - his getting saved from the witch cult. Why did the witch cult kidnapp him an no one else? Why did they plan to sacrifice him? Why wasn't he with the rest of the merchants? Suuuuus!!! This at least hints that Otto might have connections/significance to the witch cult

2) why does the whale eat him and not Subaru? Subaru should have smelled tastier so why did it chose Otto? Maybe because Otto smelled of the witch? And if Otto knew that the Mabeast would go after him it would paint his pushing Subaru of the cart in a different light.

3) he's not in roswaals gospel which even has Subaru in it. How/why? Is it really just because he's so insignificant?

So these things make Otto suspicious but they don't link him to Satella necessarily. So here comes my reason for that

3) Otto's behavior in Season 2 don't make sense. Not only is he ride or die for Subaru very very fast while the other is basically nothing but rude to him. He explains this with Subaru saving him but technically that were the iron fang people and Otto isn't thankful to them at all. And even if that were the case - why is Otto so sure that Subaru needs help? As far as I remember he offers Subaru help in every single time loop, even in the ones where Subaru still believes himself to be on top of things (and shouldn't send sadboy pleas help me vibes)

4) And than there is the speech which will save Subaru. And I find it quite suspicious: a) this speech is suspiciously parallel to Satellas speech in the witches tea party it kinda feels like a continuation of it

b) Otto says that he understands that Subaru wants to be strong in front of the girl he likes and in front of the girl that likes him but he shouldn't have to be strong in front of his friend. So the girl Subaru likes is obv. Emilia but why talk about another girl who likes Subaru... who is that supposed to be? Otto doesn't know about Rem. Does he mean Emilia again? But why say it that strangely - or was he just covering his bases. IDK for me it kinda made sense as a Emilia/Satella distinction (or if Otto DOES know about Rem that makes him really suspicious again)

C) Otto takes it very personally that Subaru didn't ask HIM for help. But why should Subaru do that. He technically knows him for what, a few days?

D) Subaru notes that this kind of speech is usually reserved for the heroine (something he also mentioned about being summoned to another world and we know that was Satella - so is that the case here too?)

5) Otto has a lot of parallels to Subaru/Satella has a lot of parallels to Subaru

So all of this could hint to the fact that Otto is a time traveler and/or has some connection to one of the witches (either Pandora or Satella)

But I like my theory of Otto being a manifestation of Satella because it fits neatly into the theme of the parallels between Satella/ Subaru, it is something Satella would do, the thought that Satella sees Subaru dying over and over again and just says: okay have to do everything myself. If he won't accept help if I'm a woman I gotta go in as a guy is extremely funny to me, I believe that being kinda pathetic is an important property of being associated with envy AND Otto is next to Satella the person who most obsesses over Subaru and only Subaru

And Satella could rewrite history if she needed to (that would explain Otto's memories)

#Re:zero #Speculation #Ottosuba #OTP: the witch and her archbishop #Satella #otto suwen #natsuki subaru #Spoilers #unhinged theory

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megashadowdragon · 2 years

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curiouscat posts on gourmet of gluttonys account for re zero ( spoilers for web novel and light novel) regarding their opinionso n various topics in re zero

how is reinhard childish Reinhard has been directly described as “more of a child than Felt in many ways” in various sources. It also fits with his underdeveloped social skills, his struggle to comprehend his own emotions, and his discomfort with anything related to sex as shown in Riot in Flanders.

Is Reinhard really as kind as people claim him to be? Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 4 days ago Reinhard is a person who is kind to a self-destructive extent. You really don’t need to look farther than the Volume 1 epilogue to see that. He does bad things every now and then, but they are usually either necessary or due to a lack of forethought such as with Felt.

Do you think Emilia's obsession with promises will change in the story? Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 14 Jul Not really. Promises are a much bigger thing in the Re: Zero universe, to the point that even the archbishops would keep them according to Tappei:

Q: The archbishops are called filthy filth, but they all come in openly and introduce themselves. Aren’t they actually unusually forthright? Perhaps they’re the type that are unusually good at keeping promises?

A: Oh, they’ll keep promises. When they meet someone, they’ll greet them and give their names. That’s always been the way of filth. They’ll keep a promise, and if they don’t feel like keeping it, they wouldn’t make it in the first place. They just do what they’ve done. If what they want to do is a sneaky action, they’ll be sneaky, and if what they want to do can only be done by being open, they’ll be open. They’re scum.

It’s even more sacred to Spirit Arts users, and it’s not even a character flaw so…yeah, I don’t see that changing.

what is the evidence for the roswaal is anneroses father theory Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 14 Jul She’s confirmed to be Roswaal’s next vessel, Roswaal and Grace have a lot of dialogue that seems to imply a deeper relationship between them, and her physical appearance matches many aspects of Roswaal’s appearance.

I think if emillia camp found out roswaal was possessed his descendants for 400 years they wouldn’t really care they would just shrug and sigh For that’s what they expected from him Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 14 Jul No??????

It’s child murder at best and horribly mangling their soul into a horrific amalgam of him and them at worst (depending on which you believe is more accurate to the way Roswaal transfers bodies). It’s utterly disgusting and Beatrice, someone who isn’t exactly a moral paragon in addition to being someone unbelievably close to Roswaal, only didn’t hate him because she saw that’s what he wanted her to do. That certainly doesn’t apply to people like Garf who hated him even before such a revelation.

Whether they could act on their anger is more arguable.

how would emillia and the rest of the camp like frederica react if they knew roswaal was possesssing his descendants and is actually roswaal a mathers ( do they already know) Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 14 Jul Outside of Ram, negatively of course. It’s a fucking evil thing to do.

Out of the main Emilia camp members, only Beatrice knows. She’s not exactly a moral paragon and has a much closer relationship with Ros when it comes to anyone alive except maybe Ram, so her reaction is probably a horrible one to judge from.

What if the archbishop of gluttony ate willhelms name instead of Julius let’s say after Theresa was taken down how would this effect the characters how would this effect Reinhard and heinkel what would a meeting between willhelm and Reid be like if he does go with the group Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 25 Jul Fuck, that’s a good question.

Rein and Heinkel’s relationship would quickly repair itself, which would be the ultimate fuck you to Wilhelm. Imagine how damaging it would be to one’s mental state to find out the relationship of your son and grandson is better off without you ever existing. Calling it devastating would be underselling it.

As for Wilhelm meeting Reid…well, I doubt Wilhelm has the same hero worship as Julius for him. I also don’t think Reid would really care that he’s the grandfather of the current Sword Saint considering his reaction to learning about Reinhard. Reid would just curbstomp Wilhelm, mock him, and do his best to humiliate him similar to what he did to Julius. The main difference is that Wilhelm doesn’t have a mechanism to gain the same level of power-up Julius did, so he would likely be unable to hold back Reid in the finale. Even if he did somehow, I doubt it would help his mental state much other than make him feel more at ease with being Subaru’s ally.

Quite frankly, Reid is designed pretty purposefully to be a fool to Julius and Reinhard. It’s unlikely anyone but them would receive significant development from interacting with him since his character relates directly to their main issues.

what if willhelms name was eaten by gluttony after theresias defeat how would that impact things and effect characters relationships Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 29 Sep We’d probably get a similar scenario to Pride IF in regards to Heinkel and Reinhard. Wilhelm being gone seems to make it easier for the two to grow closer again based on Tappei’s notes in Pride IF. I’d expect immense turmoil from Wilhelm following such a revelation.

Considering Subaru would be the only one who would remember him, it is quite likely Wilhelm will grow even closer to him similar to what happened with Julius. There’s also a debate to be had on if he would join the Emilia camp or try to rejoin the Crusch camp considering Crusch and Felix would no longer have any idea who he was. Wilhelm is such an honorable person he may rejoin them on principle, but there is an argument to be made that the shock and trauma from being erased will make him more rash and desperate to stay by someone who remembers him.

How would carol and grimm react if they learned the truth about roswaal considering their relationship with julia Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 21 Sep Upset of course. Wouldn’t you be upset if you found out your best friend’s death, a major cause of guilt for you, didn’t actually result in their “death”? Wouldn’t you be upset and humiliated if you carried that with you for decades only to find out they were fine? Wouldn’t you feel disgusted with yourself for being so close to someone who has revealed themselves to be so inhuman that even their children are used as tools?

Can you maybe clarify how Reinhard would be able to beat Ainz's time stop, some sort of sealing, teleportation, True Death, copying abilities ( someone said this I'm not sure how accurate it is ) or any of the other versatile hax abilities he has? Ainz likely would use them out of paranoia/cautiousness if he sees Reinhard as a threat. I honestly can't see how Ainz wouldn't win even in a 1v1 due to the sheer difference in versatility. Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 4 Sep Little known fact: I am actually very into Overlord. So let me deconstruct the common arguments:

1. Teleportation. Teleportation doesn’t matter if the speed difference is so great that you never get to use it. Ainz has to actually cast the spell after all. Overlord has awful speed scaling, their best feat being not far above supersonic (Albedo moving faster than some soldiers can see and Shalltear significantly heating up air from her movements) while characters like Julius are above lightning speed. Lowballing Rein puts him in a much higher speed tier than Ainz, but if we factor in Reid easily outspeeding light…yeah, Ainz is WAAAAY slower.

2. Time Stop. Time Stop is so overrated. There are so many countermeasures in Overlord alone and semi-canon side material indicates there are plenty of characters in other franchises who would override it. Reinhard being able to literally negate the majority of magic used on him makes it highly likely time stop will do little. Even if it somehow does stop him though, we get to the biggest problem…

3. Rein’s mana absorption. As demonstrated in the literal first volume of the LN, Rein drains all magic from both the atmosphere and those around him. Emilia, the character with the biggest mana pool in the series, was feeling sick in seconds and Felt was instantly knocked out when he did it to her. Not only does that prevent magic from being used against him as any mana will be absorbed before it can even be cast, but all of that magic buffs him EVEN FURTHER making that ridiculous speed gap even larger. This also doesn’t account for Rein’s base DPs that would negate most of any magic that Ainz could use against him even if Ainz somehow got around it.

4. True Death, even if it somehow was used despite the numerous anti-magic Hax Rein has, only negates “low-level” resurrection as stated by the LN itself. Reinhard is being granted infinite resurrections by the literal soul of the world. Arguing that said resurrections are “low-level” seems incredibly hard to believe.

5. Ainz does not have copying abilities, I have no idea where this is from.

6. Wish Upon a Star is outright stated to have many limits upon it. It can also outright just not work, as shown in the Evileye side story where Ainz uses up all his excess XP and gets no answer to his question on how to help Evileye.

7. Most other hax are useless fra.

So…what we have here is a supersonic+ character who mainly relies on Hax and magic vs an FTL character who can constantly negate hax and prevent magic casting. Even ignoring the Destructive Potential difference…yeah, Ainz ain’t winning.

In the Julius was the illegitimate child of roswaal k mathers and a juulikus woman and being raised by his uncle how would roswaal l mathers dying and possessing Julius effect things how would the changes effect the camps as well as Felix and Reinhard. Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 17 Aug Crusch camp and Felt camp might legitimately cut all ties with the Emilia camp if they don’t kick out Roswaal, and even then their relationship would be strained. Felix and Reinhard really care about Julius and the death of Julius as they know him would likely be something neither would ever be able to overlook.

I doubt there’s any chance Ana would be anything other than an enemy to Emilia as well considering her and Julius are really close.

you know Yorna’s leadership and city were to what Emilia was hoping to achieve One of the major issues with Emilia is her lack of leadership skills or experience vincent and Pricilla’s personalities and leadership styles contrast too much with Emilia for her to be taught by them Plus Yorna has a major soft-spot for persecuted Demi-Humans which Emilia can fill. Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 26 May That’s a good point I haven’t really thought of. Would be interesting to see at the very least.

I think willhelm would be understanding to roswaal given willhelms treatment of his son and grandson due to theresia Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 12 May I doubt it. Wilhelm treats Heinkel and Rein badly, but that’s mainly due to him heavily misinterpreting both of their actions. There’s really no ambiguity when it comes to the awful shit Roswaal did.

Out of the 5 candidates for the throne and their members who would be willing to overlook roswaals possessing his descendants if he was part of their camp Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 26 May None of them. Something like that opposes all their moral views (yes, even Priscilla since I know people have this idea that she is amoral, something shown several times to not be the case).

How would emillia and co react if they found out about how roswaal possesses his descendants for 400 years and the possibility of annerose being roswaals daughter Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 2 Jun Disgust for Roswaal.

Fear for Annerose considering his track record.

how would willhelm react if he learnt about roswaal possessing his descendants Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 29 Apr If I had to guess? Disgust, anger, betrayal, etc.

Knowing a friend like Julia did such awful acts would make anyone angry.

this reminds me of subaru I just realized both heinkel and subaru both have feelings of inferiority to their parents (which caused subaru to be a neet) heinkel is nowhere near his parents strength and felt the weight of his parents legacywhile subaru felt inferior to his father and is burdened with being called kenichis sondo you think that this will play a part /factor in subarus relationship/interaction with heinkel

was aldebarans use of his authority to try and convince priscilla to change her mind manipulating her Anonymous Gluttony_Bishop 15 Apr I guess you could call it that, but that removes the context of the situation. As Al points out, Priscilla’s life is very much in danger if she continues being in the Royal Selection. We’ve also already seen that Priscilla can and has been killed by assassins before based off Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies. Priscilla is not invincible despite her immense power and luck, and Al is not omniscient. If Priscilla gets poisoned or killed in her sleep, it’s not a guarantee he can always be there to bail her out even with her insane luck.

Priscilla herself also points out her pride and duty to finish what she started is pretty much the only things keeping her in the Selection, something Al would never fathom dying over considering his distinct lack of belief in things like that.

You can argue about the morality of trying to force Priscilla to change her choice to save her life, but Al has never been the most moral person. He believes in saving the skins of himself and those around him at all costs. If he has to humiliate himself or resort to cheap tactics, he will do so without hesitation to save those he cares about and himself.

#re zero #re:zero #re:zero − starting life in another world #re zero meta #re zero spoilers

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aros001 · 3 years

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First time read through light novel vol. 6. Random thoughts.

Hey, can you guess what my favorite episode of the anime is? Here's a hint: it's one apparently a lot of other Subarem shippers hate. I say f**k that! Episode 18 and this book made me love the idea of them as a couple even more! But we'll get to that in a minute.

“By conducting these negotiations, you bear Emilia’s fate on your shoulders. Naturally, everything you say affects her, and it carries the same weight as Emilia’s words. This is not a decision you should make lightly, nor are the words you say easily taken back.”

“...Ah, uh...”

“Moreover, I ask again—should you owe me in this matter, it will mean the defeat of the Emilia camp. Are you truly fine with this?”

It really brings into the focus the problem of Subaru calling himself Emilia's knight without thinking and why the actual knights took such offence to it. At best it was a gimmick with no actual meaning to him and at worst he wanted all the rewards that came with being a knight (or at least what he perceived as the rewards) and not any of the responsibility. That's basically the reality Crusch is making Subaru face; the true burden that is on the one who claims to be Emilia's representative. Being a knight isn't just a game or a fancy title. Whatever he does will heavily impact his lady's future and he never once considered that.

“You hate the Witch Cult. That’s the reason you approached Emilia, is it not?”

Damn.

“—You have not said, ‘I want to save Emilia,’ even once.”

Daaaamn. Obviously, we know the witch cult has nothing to do with why Subaru wanted to hang around Emilia, but it's really telling of his current state that that's what it looks like from the outside. His hatred for Petelgeuse is stronger than his love for Emilia.

The fact that Roswaal has twice now been absent during events that his presence could easily have prevented tragedy is incredibly suspicious. Especially during the mansion arc, where he only left the mansion during the loop Subaru had made a lot of progress in finding the shaman and thus, unlike the previous loops, could have warned him about what was about to happen. It feels like Roswaal is intentionally removing himself as to invite disaster upon his house and Emilia, likely to manipulate her and Subaru.

Priscilla is an oddity to me, because she really feels like someone I should dislike more than I do, as I tend to have an instant dislike for very bratty, entitled, and/or spoiled characters. I'm not sure what it is specifically that's lifting her up so much for me. It's not just the looks, because I've seen attractive female characters I've hated because of their brattiness (I think she and Bitch princess from Shield Hero share the same english voice actor, in fact). I think that, one, there is just this sense of fun and amusement when Priscilla's around, like I just want to see whatever she does next, and two, despite her attitude, I'm not really getting a feeling of shallowness from her. She doesn't feel like she's putting people down just to prop herself up. There is actual strength and depth to her.

Rem followed behind both of them, and he could hear noises coming from her nose every so often. Rem had a keen sense of smell, and she’d apparently picked up some kind of unsavory scent, staring at the back of the iron helm as they walked along.

Well, Al is from another world like Subaru, so it wouldn't be surprising if he also had the witch's scent attached to him, assuming his situation is anything like Subaru's.

“Don’t be silly. You’re Ram, right?”

“I am Rem... Forgive my rudeness, but where have you met Sister, Master Al?”

Rem explained how he’d mistaken her for her nearly identical older sister as she posed the question. However, Al made no reply. He raised up his one arm and touched his helm, busily poking the metal.

“What the hell’s goin’ on here...?”

Al sounded nervous, seemingly unable to process the information. The increasingly rapid tapping offered further proof.

“So you’re Rem...and your sister is Ram?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“This might be a weird thing to ask but...is your older sister alive?”

“...? I do not understand the meaning of your question. Sister is alive, as she should be.”

The instant Rem gave that answer, Subaru, who had been listening to the conversation in silence, felt goose bumps all over his flesh.

“—This ain’t funny.”

Well...that got a lot of theory wheels turning in my head. I was already wondering if Al had his own Return By Death ability, so it's certainly possible he'd met Ram before a restart, though why he'd mix up her and Rem, I'm not sure. Another possibility is that he's maybe experienced Subaru's own RBDs, so while he can't trigger the ability himself he retains his memories from the original timelines. We've seen timelines where Ram has died but also one back at the mansion where only Rem died. Of course, there's also the possibility this story is going to go full Futurama: Bender's Big Score and Al is going to turn out to be a future version of Subaru sent back to the past.

That damn whale is like something out of a horror movie. I don't tend to care for gory horror but I do like movies with unique monsters and killers, so I could easily see myself getting into a movie about a giant flying whale that appears in a dark fog and basically consumes the entire existence of whatever it eats, including its past presence in the world. It's not just memories being erased. The person themselves never was.

You can tell the story is doing a good job of connecting when I know full well that Subaru's going to have another RBD and that everything's going to be fine and I'm still tearing up over Rem basically sacrificing herself to hold off the whale and Subaru is realizing he's allowed her to die four times over.

Huge difference between the books and the anime, as I'm pretty sure in the anime Puck just killed Subaru in the room Emilia died in. There was no bringing her to the witch cult's hidden cave like there was here.

“Unable to even pass a single trial, not even facing a single Deadly Sin, bearing great expectations only to stumble over the first stone in her path...”

The madman looked down at the sleeping Emilia, sighing.

“—Ahh, you were lazy!”

Curious as to what he meant by all that. Now that I think about it, I don't think it's been revealed yet the specific reason the witch cult went after Emilia. Yes, she looks like the Witch of Envy but it that a bad thing or a good thing to the cult? Do these "trials" she was supposed to face have to do with the dragon and royal selection or the witch?

I don't think they said why Subaru can now see Petelgeuse's previously unseen hands. I think I saw a theory about how Subaru's connection with the witch grows stronger with each RBD, beyond just the scent, so he might simply has just accumulated enough EXP to finally level up into seeing them. Then again, I did love Subaru's mocking line to Petelgeuse that the witch has been "cheating" on him with Subaru, so it's certainly possible he just has more of Satella's affection than Petelgeuse and thus he gets more special perks from her.

And finally, we get to the talk between Subaru and Rem at the end. Funny thing, when I first started watching the anime, someone I knew who'd seen it before me told me that, one, it's very different from Isekai Quartet, which introduced me to the characters, so don't go in expecting a comedy, and two, that episode 18 has a Subaru moment that a lot of people hate. Given how the arc had been since before that episode and how Subaru kept falling further and further, I had no idea what was going to happen or what was worse than what he'd already done that'd get people to hate him so much.

And it turns out it's just because of a shipping war. I'm still not sure if I should feel relieved or annoyed. Yeah, I ship Subaru and Rem over Subaru and Emilia, but hating this part of the story just because he still loves Emilia? I feel like everything else except for that one line gets ignored (the line I'm avoiding saying because I don't want a bot to flag this post) and that the lack of all context except Subaru loving Emilia while Rem loves him destroys a lot of why the scene works.

There's just so much to talk about with why I love this part between Subaru and Rem. I'm a big fan of superhero stories and a classic trope I love is when things get dark and everything is brought to its lowest point...only for the hero to make a comeback. And Subaru... The man is broken. He's given up. Not only has he experienced death, failure, and futility multiple times, he's seen the people he cares about be completely slaughtered, with Rem dying, being mutilated, and even erased to protect him and Emilia, the woman he loves, dying directly because of him. He's powerless to change anything, or at least everything he does change seems to just make things worse. He sees himself as selfish, greedy, and arrogant; that he never actually cared about anyone other than himself. He's just spewing all this very justified self-hatred...and Rem counters it perfectly, not saying a single thing that isn't true about what she loves about him. Last volume had her imagining running away with Subaru, so the possible life with him she talks about isn't just something she's pulled out of the air. It's something she's considered and wants, which means it has actual weight when she turns him down.

I think another reason Rem connects to Subaru so much is because she's no stranger to self-hatred. She's also seen her own existence as a blight on everyone and everything around her. That she's selfish and terrible. And the person who helped pull her out of that state, at least somewhat, and get her to start liking herself was Subaru, which is what she's doing for him now. It's what I love so much about the relationship between these two. It's not just that they've saved each others' lives. They've helped each other in incredibly personal ways, despite the fact that neither fully knows what the source of the other's pain is. Subaru doesn't know what Rem felt as she watched Ram's horn get cut off. Rem doesn't know about Subaru's RBD and constant failures. They didn't need to. They simply knew the other needed help and they gave it, with no strings attached. It's why, despite me shipping them together, I'm not upset that Subaru doesn't return Rem's love (yet?) in the same way. There was a great bit of art I saw of the moment, and the words alongside it were "I didn't say I love you to hear it back. I said it so that you would know." Despite her still having some issues, being a little too subservient and obsessed with Subaru, I can believe Rem's love for him is real. When Subaru hated himself and believed everyone else did too, Rem told him that she loved him, not to get anything back out of it, but simply because she wanted him to at least have that to hold onto.

Rem was clearly at least a little upset at the end of their talk, and I can see it being some regret that she turned him down or that he does still love Emilia more, and I'm fine with that. She did the right thing and she is happy the real Subaru is back, but her being a little sad afterwards keeps her human (even if she's a demon).

Honestly, while I do ship them, I think both did make the right call. If or when they hook up, it should be when there's no lingering doubts or regrets they're carrying with them. Where they can have a future where they can smile together and with everyone in their lives they love and can't just abandon. Plus, I want to see Ram as an aunt to Subaru and Rem's kid! That sounds amazing!

And Subaru saying he loves Emilia, even after Rem poured her heart out to him...well, yeah, of course he does. He just found out Rem loves him and has had no time to process it (he was trying to run away with her out of fear and guilt, thus why she turned him down). If his feelings for Emilia were that easily swayed then it'd be hard to say that they were ever that strong or real to begin with, and thus what would have been the point of everything he's been through? It's not like he said it to hurt Rem. Hell, here and in the anime he sounds pretty apologetic as he says it, because he knows it'll hurt her to hear it and he doesn't want that. But it is the truth. So I'm not going to get mad at him for it. It's consistent with his character and everything he's been through and lead to great character moments for both him and Rem. What's there to be angry about?

But yeah, there was a little bit of it in the last chapter but I'm soooooooo looking forward to next volume. I remember just the feeling of hype and "F**k yeah!" going through my chest on my first watch of the anime. Subaru, after hitting his absolute lowest point, pulling himself together with Rem's help and gathering up everything he's got to fight back against the previously hopeless situation and save the day. It made all that heartache and misery so worth the wait.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Re_Zero/comments/gr9y77/novels_first_time_read_through_light_novel_vol_6/

#re:zero #random thoughts #reddit repost

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tren-fraszka · 3 years

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Fandom5k 2021 Letter

Dear creator,

Thank you for taking your time to check my requests. I know my requests can sound a bit tricky, but please don’t be discouraged. I wish you will have good time writing first and foremost!

My AO3 is Tren, if you wish to check it out.

Likes: comedy, casefics, canon compliants, AUs, time loops, bodyswaps, roleswaps, “being hoisted by your own petard” plotlines, snark, pettiness, rivals, enemies to friends to lovers, violence, friendships, and character bonding,

DNW: explicit sex (makeouts and fade to black is okay), A/B/O, mpreg, rape depicted as positive (so no “it’s okay, because the other person enjoyed it/it was what they truly wanted”), trans headcanons, soulmate AUs, stories ending with surrender to fate/destiny, fourth wall breaking in canons where that doesn’t occur, character has cancer or other real-life terminal disease AU, word “queerplatonic”.

Also, I included what ships I’m okay with in each fandom. Please do not include any ships that aren’t canon and I have not allowed in those sections (if you feel really strongly about a ship I haven’t mentioned, you can always ask through mods just in case).

On a separate, but similar note, I’m okay with OCs as long as they don’t overshadow the characters I requested.

Additionally, while I almost never request fanart as possible medium, because I prefer my main gift to be fic, I would be very okay with receiving fanart treats. Also, feel free to peruse my old letters if you get your hands on them. I never stop being interested in fandoms, and if I requested something once I will still want it in the future.

REQUESTS

MARIMASHITA! IRUMA-KUN

I read new manga chapters as they get translated so feel free to incorporate anything from the manga that’s available in English.

Kirio Amy/Suzuki Iruma

There are many good ships with Iruma, but this one just has a lot things I like. I love enemy ships with both sides being way too emotionally invested into each other so this was inevitable. I love how this relationship starts as this really wholesome friendship and school festival preparation, except Kirio turns out to be a bit messed up and wants to blow up everyone. But then they both accept the outcome and go on with their lives still thinking about each other. Iruma goes through a lot of trouble to keep the club operating even though Kirio has been pretty much expelled. And then Kirio is now obsessed with Iruma as his anthitesis and perfect enemy.

I’m okay with the potential story happening at any point in the canon. I would love both a story set before the festival while Kirio is still hiding his true colors or a story set after it. Maybe Iruma runs into Kirio somewhere after he escapes prison and instead of calling an adult, he tries to stop Kirio from causing trouble on his own. As for pre-festival story. Maybe some upperclassmen steal important parts from the club and Iruma and Kirio set out to get them back.

Naberius Callego & Suzuki Iruma

I love Callego for being a much better take on Snape than original Snape ever was. The second the series made Callego Iruma’s familiar I knew this was about to get good. And it was. I love how Callego slowly warms up to Iruma, even if he is still allergic to his and Sullivan’s antics. I love that Callego is actually a competent teacher who cares about his students, but at the same time he would rather eat a whole lemon than admit it out loud.

For prompts, maybe Sullivan ends up having an important business and Opera isn’t available so he dumps looking after Iruma on Callego for a few days. Or Iruma is struggling with studying since so many things are new for him, so Callego ends up forced to help him catch up with the material (if you are following manga inclusion of Balam is always welcome). Or maybe Iruma gets into usual trouble ends up stranded somewhere and the only one he can call for help is his familiar.

Crocell Kerori | Kuromu/Gyari

One of the last thing I expected to get this year was a canonical yuri romance in this manga, but here it is and it’s perfect. I love how it is pretty much built on mutual pining. I love how Kuromu loves Gyari, but refuses to reciprocate her feelings, because she knows that she needs to remain unattainable to keep their relationship alive, and I love how Gyari is never ever going to give up.

I would love to see more of the time when they worked together. We know it was love at the first sight for Gyari, but I would love to see how Kuromu’s feelings grew. Those hours they spent together practicing, maybe a not-date where they sneak together to scout a venue where they will be having their first big concert, or maybe a small contest that would sow the seeds for their future rivalry. I would love any and all of it. Also, Gyari doesn’t seem to be aware of Kuromu’s civilian identity, so I would love a story where Gyari meets Crocell Kerori rather than Kuromu. Does she recognize her? Or does Kerori manage to successfully trick her? Maybe Gyari makes a full investigation after hearing rumors that Kuromu is attending Babylys. I would also love any sort of future fic for those two.

AUs and ships

I love the worldbuilding around the demon world, so I would ask that if you decided to write an AU that it still incorporates demons. I would definitely love an AU where rather than getting summoned to demon world, Iruma accidentally summons either Kirio or Callego into the human world. Maybe Iruma’s parents try to use him as an offering, but instead he ends up bound to a demon. I would love to see Kirio excited to unleash suffering (even if his weak powers severely limit him in that regard) onto human world just to discover that he made contract with the biggest pacifist possible. Or Callego being torn between wanting to return home as soon as possible (he has classes to teach!) and wanting to somehow help the weird human child that just keeps getting into trouble. Any other demon-focused AU is also welcome. For Gyari and Kurmou, maybe one of them is a human who ends up summoning the other as a demon. How different would their relationship be then? I’m also fine with any sort of AU divergences scenario. Maybe Iruma keeps accidentally sabbotaging Kirio’s terrorist plans without realizing it. Or Iruma ends up summoning Callego more often as his familiar when he gets into trouble. What if Gyari also attended Babylys.

As for ships, I’d rather avoid any love triangle scenarios for this canon, so please focus on just one pairing per character (competing for Iruma’s attention is normal for this canon, I’d just rather not see outright romantic competition). It’s self-explainatory for Kirio request, but if you want to include some shipping elements into the other requests I also ship Iruma/Amelie and Callego/Balam.

RE:ZERO

I watched the two season of anime, as well as the two OVA. Please don’t include any spoilers for events that haven’t been yet adapted. I’m fine with mentions of stuff from the light novel that adaptation has skipped, just please make sure to establish them properly, as I haven’t read the light novel.

Natsuki Subaru/Otto Suwen Natsuki Subaru & Felix Argyle & Julius Euclius & Reinhard van Astrea Roswaal L. Mathers (Re:Zero)

Echidna the Witch (Re:Zero)

Feel free to mix and match my requests (or cut off parts of the requests and stitch them together). Or include any other characters, I love all of them.

Natsuki Subaru/Otto Suwen

I came out of second season with a burning desire to see Otto and Subaru getting together. Otto was the MVP of the second season. Like sure, Emilia killed it in the last few episodes, but none of it would happen if Otto didn’t slap Subaru in the face when he needed it the most. Subaru even commented that Otto was like a heroine in a game at one point. They just care so much about each other and I would love to see them actually get together.

I would love to see them going on an undercover mission. Maybe they are trying to gather the information about witch cultists. Maybe they need to pretend to be a couple for the sake of their investigation. Or Emilia sends the two of them on a fake mission that actually consists of them visiting places of relaxation to make sure Subaru finally gets a break. And Otto’s mission is to make sure that Subaru actually rests and doesn’t get in trouble, but this proves to be a much more difficult undertaking that he expected.

After first season I had a working theory that Otto is actually a sin archbishop who is pretending to be a normal person for some unknown reasons (or maybe has a split personality). Season two pretty much disproved it, but I still adore that idea and would love anything with it.

Natsuki Subaru & Felix Argyle & Julius Euclius & Reinhard van Astrea

I immediately loved the queen candidates’ knights and the relationships between them. I would greatly enjoy seeing them work together. Maybe someone is plotting to harm queen candidates and they join forces to bring them down. Or maybe the queen candidates are busy with some bureaucracy and the bored knights decide to spend a night at town, which ends with all sorts of shenanigans. Maybe Subaru and Julius decide to have some sort of competiton that hilariously goes out of control. Or Reinhardt and Subaru rope everyone into helping some poor grandma, but her straightforward request ends up becoming much more difficult to execute than anyone predicted. Also, at the end of second season Subaru officially became Emilia’s knight and I would love to see other knights throwing an unofficial party for Subaru to celebrate this achievement. Or maybe their planned celebration doesn’t go as planned and Subaru ends up accussed of a crime he didn’t commit. Luckily, there are three very handsome and equally capable knights who believe in him and are willing to help him clear his name.

Feel free to also include Aldebaran into the group if you want. He had very little screen time in anime, so I didn’t want to make this request more difficult than it already is, but if you want to write him too I would be very happy with his inclusion.

Roswaal L. Mathers (Re:Zero)

Roswaal was incredible in the second season. I loved the parallels between him and Subaru! I loved his unrequited crush on Echidna! I loved Ram’s unrequited crush on him and how her actions ended up affecting him! I loved how Emilia made him apologize! He just had so many great interactions. I would just love to see more of Roswaal.

We know that Roswaal attempted to undertake the trial, but was rejected. What if by some quirk of fate Roswaal could undertake the trial. How would it go? Would he be able to accept the past? I would also love a deeper insight into his thought process during the Sanctuary arc, but also earlier arcs. How did he feel about Subaru and other characters? What happened to him after the Subaru failed? (we don’t know if Subaru dying creates new timelines or if there’s one that gets reset, while this prompt leans on former, I’m fine with both interpretations) I would also love to see if maybe Ram had attempted to destroy Roswaal’s book or shown her feelings for him before. On a different note, I would love Roswaal being a bit too interested in Otto (after he had changed the fate written in the book) and trying to figure out how he had achieved that. Honestly, I would love to see Roswaal interact with anyone. You could write him and Reinhard meeting in a bakery and I would love it.

Echidna the Witch (Re:Zero)

Echidna is best witch (at least until anime shows more of Sekhmet who I can already tell is my spirit animal witch). I loved Echidna’s character, the aura of mystery she built around herself, and her plans involving Subaru. She was just incredible.

I would absolutely love to see Echidna holding trials for other characters. It doesn’t matter who. Maybe Garfiel ends up completing all of them. Or maybe by some twist of fate Otto gains qualification and takes up the trials. Or Ram, or really anybody else. I just loved how personalized the trials were and would love to see them for other characters and what Echidna would think of them. I would also love to see more of her interactions with Subaru. Maybe Subaru makes deal with her, but belatedly realizes it was a bad idea and tries to find a way to break it. I would be also very okay with seeing more of her interactions with other witches. Or Emilia. I will gladly take 5k words of Echidna being completely done with Emilia’s positivity. Maybe Echidna finds a way to escape her deadness, but she needs to enter a contract with Emilia and now she is her familiar like Puck was.

AUs and ships

I would prefer no setting changes for this story. Any other AUs are fine. I especially love Subaru’s reset mechanic, so feel free to abuse that if you want. If you want some AU ideas, maybe another character starts remembering bits and pieces of the reseted timelines.

I like Subaru/Emilia, but the show is doing such a good job with it that I’m not craving more. As such I’m okay with acknowledging Subaru’s canon crush on Emilia, but if you are planning to do any other pairing involving Subaru I would prefer to reframe Subaru’s feelings for her as friendship. I’m okay with pairing Subaru with pretty much any other guy in the series (especially other queen candidate knights) or leaving who he will end up with ambiguous.

SOUSOU NO FRIEREN

I read new manga chapters as they get translated so feel free to incorporate anything from the manga that’s available in English.

Frieren

I love how this manga is a slow-paced fantasy dealing with loss and inevitable passage of time. And I love Frieren for being one of the best depictions of an elf whose long life actually affects their outlook on life and actions.

I would equally love the insight into Frieren’s present with her charges and the past with hero party. What other shenanigans they get into on their journey? What kind of weird magic Frieren pursued? I would love to see more of her mentoring Fern and Stark. I also love to see her interactions with the hero party. Maybe some more insight into how they fought with demons, since Frieren seemed to have picked up a number of enemies during that time. For some more specific prompts: maybe Frieren accidentally stumbles ona cursed item that erases her memories (or just her memories of Himmel). How would it affect her? What would the party do to help her? Or maybe a demon kidnaps someone from Frieren’s party?

Feel free to include any other characters, they are a colorful bunch.

AUs and ships

I’m fine with AUs as long as Frieren’s long lifespan is preserved. Her perspective is very much shaped by how long she has lived, so I wouldn’t want that aspect to change. An AU with mythological creatures or similar could be interesting. I would also love a roleswap where Himmel is an elf, while Frieren is a human, and exploration of how both of them would be affected by having a different lifespan.

I would very much love Himmel/Frieren, though I also enjoy how the manga softly builds on their connection. I also enjoy the budding romance between Fern and Stark.

HATARAKU MAOU-SAMA!

While I made this request mostly with anime in mind, I also consumed the original novels up to (and including) volume six. So feel free to include anything from the novels up until that point if you want, but nothing beyond that.

Maou Sadao/Ashiya Shirou

If Demon Lord’s right hand man/strategist turned into a househusband isn’t one of the most shippy ideas then I don’t know what is. Fics are just writing themselves. I just love seeing utter domesticity and loyalty Sadao and Ashiya have (and trouble they have with their prodigal not-son Urushihara).

I would love to get some insight into their relationship before they had to escape into another world. Maybe Ashiya realizes he is actually happy with the current arrangement and feels shame over indulging himself, while his lord is working hard to earn money and regain their powers. For some more specific prompts, maybe instead of becoming househusband he ends up working in MgRonald’s alongside Sadao. Or maybe while he’s doing shopping he ends up winning a lottery organized by some local shops and receives tickets for an onsen visit for two, so he and Sadao go to have a much deserved break. Or alternatively a story where they don’t get a break and need to face some new enemy.

Maou Sadao/Sasaki Chiho

I love Chiho Sasaki. She’s one of my favourite renditions of a normal person accidentally becomes entangled into a supernatural plot I’ve seen. And amidst it all, I love how she keeps supporting Sadao, even after learning that her MgRonald’s senpai is in fact a demon lord from another world.

I would love to see more of them working together in MgRonald’s. Maybe a precanon story where Chiho is still learning her ropes at MgRonald’s, while Sadao is still not completely used to passing as a human, so he keeps accidentally mentioning things about his demonic past and then has to quickly amend them into something more human. Or maybe a “tragic” story of Chiho who instead of applying to MgRonald’s goes to Sentucky Fired Chicken (I don’t mind changing it so SFC opens earlier than in the canon). Even though Sadao works for the rival store Chiho still falls for him and his impeccable work ethic and so she keeps counting days until her contract ends so she can apply to MgRonald’s instead (bonus points if the Sariel’s plotline happens during that time and Chiho gets increasingly distreased that Sadao will hate her even if she successfully moves to MgRonald’s). Alternatively they both go on some sort of training or charity action for MgRonald’s employees. Or maybe a more fantastical adventure where a new threat appears, so Sadao and Chiho work together to neutralize it.

AUs and ships

I would prefer no setting changes for this story, because this shows premise is just way too good. I’m fine with any other AUs. One slight exception (since it’s a bit of borderline case between a setting and divergence AU) would be that I would love to see Sadao and Chiho working at a coffee shop chain instead of MgRonald's.

Please only focus on one pairing requested when writing. I’d rather not have a triangle situation and see either Ashiya or Chiho rejected (requested character feeling slight jealousy over Sadao getting along with someone else is fine, I just don’t want a full on rivalry). I’d also rather not see Sadao paired with anyone beside the requested characters.

#exchange letters

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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Re: Zero – 48 – Crunch Time

“Love Me Down to My Blood and Guts” almost feels like a finale. At the very least, it feels like the start of the climax of a epic blockbuster film. Every stop is pulled out and not a single moment of its 29+ minutes is wasted. You get a little bit of everything, starting with a well-balanced combination of badass action and lighthearted comedy.

Every wound Garfiel gives Elsa is instantly healed, but he doesn’t consider his fight futile, because he’s not necessarily fighting to beat her. He’s fighting to support his “Boss” Subaru, and no matter how many times Elsa heals and charges, he’ll keep meeting her steel with his.

That’s where we get a couple of impeccably-timed jokes, first with Garfiel boasting that the mabeasts will be no sweat for Boss, followed by the mabeasts being too much for Boss to handle. Subie also strikes out when he tries to demonstrate his real-world knowledge of dust fires, only to need to be bailed out by Otto and Petra igniting the beast with oil.

Those fires defeat the main mabeast but also beging to envelop the mansion. Subaru entrusts Rem and Petra to Otto while he runs into the flames to rescue Beako, whether she wants to go or not.

While the flames rage at the mansion, Emilia’s part of the episode serves as a calming, centering breath. Sure, she watched a number of unpleasant futures, but they come as a jumbled rush of voices and images, ultimately collectively blunting their individual discouraging effects.

There’s also the fact that they’re only “possible” futures, as Minerva tells her after the third trial ends. That means none of them are absolutely the real future, which means Emilia and those she loves will be able to avert disaster if and when it rears its ugly head.

Minerva appears to meet with Emilia in Bliss because Echidna was still “mad” at Lia for how the other two trials went, particularly the second. Perhaps Echidna really would have preferred to greedily feed off Emilia’s despair, but after reckoning with her past in the first trial, the witch’s prediction the other two would be a cakewalk turned out to be accurate.

Minerva is decidedly unwrathful in her interactions with Emilia. In fact, she treats her a lot like Mother Fortuna treated her, with tenderness and love, embracing her when Emilia turns back to see her. I suppose Minerva knew her mother, and maybe even knew Emilia as a baby, which is why she’s so aunt-like here?

In any case, Emilia has passed all three trials, and gains access to a tomb where the intricate barrier spell emanates from the deceased Echidna’s chest. With a cute little “Hi-yah!” Emilia deactivates the barrier and exits the graveyard, only to be welcomed by a raging winter storm.

Elsa and Garfiel are still going at it in the midst of the spreading flames when Maylie bursts through the outer wall with her giant hippo. Frederica isn’t far behind, turning the duel into a battle between sibling duos. After some trash talk the four get down to business, in a fury of bloody, kick-ass combat.

Frederica takes on all of Maylie’s other mabeasts, then Garfiel starts getting serious by transforming into his beast mode, ripping half of Elsa’s face off then not only going toe-to-toe with the hippo, but twisting and ripping it’s damn head off. Unlike the hippo, even Gar’s most vicious attacks fail to faze Elsa.

It’s at this point Garfiel realizes he’s dealing with a vampire. Elsa takes a few moments to tell the story of where she came from, and how she suffered to get to this kind of existence. When she was caught and stripped by an shop owner while stealing off starvation, Elsa reached for a shard of glass and opened the man’s belly.

Elsa, who’d previously only known the cold bleakness of her homeland, was both soothed and excited by the warmth of blood and innards, and never looked back. She tells Garfiel all of this because she finds him so precious and endearing. When he says there’s already a girl he likes, she clarifies that she only has business with his insides, and her love for him will begin after she kills him.

It’s a stirring final monologue for a baddie who has been around since Subaru first arrived, and distinguished by the utter inability to kill her. However, thanks to an assist by Frederica using Maylie to distract her, Gar gets in close and bites Elsa in the neck. Elsa bites him back, but he gives as good as he gets.

Before Elsa’s wound heals (or perhaps it won’t heal because of where he bit her), Gar lifts up the giant headless hippo and throws it on top of her. In her final moments, she recalls the very first thrill of disemboweling someone, then exclaims “What a thrill” in sheer ecstasy before being crushed with an ugly crunch. Hard cut to the title card and that oh-so fitting title, “Love Me Down to My Blood and Guts”.

At this point we’ve reached the 21-minute mark, which is when most other anime are rolling credits. Re:Zero keeps it going with an entire extra act, which is perhaps the most visually stunning and emotionally affecting in an episode that’s already full of those.

It deals with Ram and Puck fighting Roswaal, a battle that moves outside to protect Ryuzu Meyer’s crystal. Roswaal stirs shit by confessing to messing with Puck’s contract with Emilia when she was depressed after her fight with Subaru, essentially kicking her while she’s down in hopes Subie would scoop her up and do everything for her.

Roswaal admits to always looking back on the past, and with fondness, deeming all the wonderful things that ever happened to be in the past, and all that exists now is a phony standing atop a pile of corpses. Puck name-drops Beatrice, provoking him into launching fire attack.

Roswaal is disappointed in Ram’s weak outing thus far; as he wanted her to exact justice for her brethren and find happiness by defeating him. That’s when Ram drops a bombshell on him: he never properly realized her true intention: that she really was a demon, and not someone who was in love with Roswaal.

It’s a confession she delivers while both of her eyes exposed, a trademark of the demon maid sisters. When Roswaal asks her what of keeping her promise to her brethren, Ram simply says she’s prioritizing her own feelings over those of the dead. Puck, energized by Ram’s confession, grows to mammoth size (though maintaining his cute appearance) and seals Roswaal in a giant ring of ice, through which he can spot multiple Rams flitting back and forth.

Roswaal begins destroying the ice walls and the giant ice crystal attacks Puck rains down on him, but in the process he ends up with one of the crystals directly behind him. It shatters on its own and out comes the real Ram, snatching the gospel Echidna gave him, while suffering a horrific wound. Calling it “the root of all evil”, she drops the book in the fire, destroying it.

She wears a smile as she says “Now, at last…” before being hit by Roswaal’s retaliatory flames, which cause a huge explosion that consumes them both. Then the credits roll, and for me at least, the process of starting to breathe again commenced. As it has demonstrated many times in its previous forty-seven episodes, when Re:Zero decides to go big and epic, it does not disappoint.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

By: magicalchurlsukui

#Anime #News #RABUJOI – An Anime Blog

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rcguna-archived · 4 years

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@onlyhorn sent: " Father. " Betty pipes up, somewhat bashfully, as she stomps up to Raguna and faces him with all her tiny might. Beatrice looks determined, but there is a very evident flush over her cheeks that indicate embarrassment she's trying to desperately hide. " I... suppose I will call you Father, starting now. It feels too.... odd. To refer to you as anyone else. " She pauses, then casts her gaze down to the floor. " ... if... it's alright with you, I suppose. "

There’s no telling what Raguna may be in for when it came to Beatrice and her episodes. Well, episodes isn’t the right way of putting it. Maybe it’d be better to phrase it as uh, whenever the spirit had need of something. She was forceful about such things and yet it wasn’t as if she was spoiled, Raguna saw it as being direct. Raguna, I need a place to keep my books. Raguna, I would prefer a more sequestered room, I suppose. Raguna, the chickens.... ahem. I suppose they could be warmer. The list went on a bit more than that, but perhaps the idea is properly conveyed.

And yet this never bothered him. Working to help others had been one of his most important pursuits ever since he woke up in the countryside. Paying back the kindnesses that people had given to him. Certainly there were some folks out in the world who saw his generosity as a farce to ‘buy’ the assistance or kindness of others, but convincing those individuals that some people just like to see others being happy is a difficulty.

Even Beatrice fell into this category, through the months and months that he spent coming around the manor and associating with the Roswaal estate he had always tried to find points where he was able to see Beatrice and do things for her in spite of her protests. Bringing her books. Making her treats. Talking about anything they may be able to relate on (which, at first, was very little). And yet he had no goal in this other than spending time with her. It had taken until she confessed her situation to him, and made the contract with him, for the spirit to realize this. To realize that this wasn’t some trick or deception. Raguna just wanted her to be happy and wouldn’t hesitate to go beyond what was normal for a person to do so.

Because he cared about her.

Maybe some people would expect this turn of events as the next order of business. Like taking another step around a well lit pathway in the woods. Of course this kind of thing should come naturally, right? When you hear the babbling of the brook is it really so surprising to find the water and a little waterfall off to the side? For Raguna, it would seem..... yes it is. Her declaration throws his eyes open from the content lidding they’d been indulging in. Something different stirs in his chest. His heart was an organ that had already been through so much. With finding who he was, with falling for Rem, with dying and returning, with the revelation of Zeyrfial...

…there was so much for him to protect. And it was almost an entirely thankless job. Protecting everyone he could- had he forgotten that he wasn’t the only one who wished to reciprocate that love? Rem notwithstanding. Of course. Maybe this was his own naivete plaguing him. Letting his eyes remain closed to ignore the fear and pain was unintentionally blocking out everything that his efforts were creating and preserving. This was one of those things. One of the most important of them. Beatrice.

And now with those eyes opened he could see that in a way his spirit was paying him back for some of his kindness to her. It was so easy for him to forget that he had a contract with the spirit and she was obligated to stay around him. His resources of mana are so plentiful he rarely feels it when she needs the energy, even on top of what energy also cycled because of his contract with Leif. Raguna sniffs after a light chuckle at her request, wipes a tear from his eye and smiles brightly before ushering her into a hug, one he doesn’t release for some time.

Father... Father... Gods, Raguna had always wanted a family, it was the first wish that came to him after he found his bearings and started building a life around helping others. One towards a future, one that he knew that he wished to have with Rem. But he never thought the first person to be a part of their family would be someone adopted like this. Someone saved.

“Of course, Betty, I... I think I’d really like that, actually. Thank you.” Even if it felt weird. Even if it was a surprise. This felt right. Just like holding the spirit in his arms did.

#onlyhorn #inbox :: answered ic #verse :: rerezero #i will do everything i can; i will be that person for you :: beatrice & raguna #hey op.......

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paulisweeabootrash · 6 years

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First Impression: Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World

It's time again for Paul is Weeaboo Trash!

Today's topic: Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World (2016)

Review based on 6 episodes. Or 5 if you count two two-part beginning, episodes "1A and 1B", as one.

The characters are plastered all over everything at conventions! It keeps getting casually mentioned in reviews of other shows! Rem is apparently everyone's waifu! And yet... I knew absolutely nothing about the actual details of this show. I think I might understand why after the first few episodes, because it seems like one of those things you can't really discuss properly without resorting to spoilers, so people evade mentioning them. Or maybe the things I'm calling "spoilers" seem so obvious to other people that they don't think they're worth mentioning. Or the spoilers may be “common knowledge” in the weeb community so people don’t think they’re worth explicitly describing. Whatever, I'm notoriously dense when it comes to picking up foreshadowing, and often "anticipate" different twists than the ones that end up happening. I'm the perfect rube for twists. I didn't know the twist of The Sixth Sense (a movie which, incidentally, I still haven't seen) until The Lonely Island mentioned it in a song nine years after the movie came out. You’ll see what I mean soon, hopefully, because I think enjoying this show is very dependent on the audience learning what’s going on along with the main character.

Anyway, my point is that all I had heard that this was an unusually good isekai, a genre which I have somehow avoided reviewing up to this point even though I've enjoyed some isekai quite a lot. The idea of being transported to another world has been around for a long time, even being a key feature in the archetypal “hero’s journey” story format. In its current anime incarnation, it tends to be set in medieval-flavored fantasy worlds and be very action-oriented, but there is some nice diversity out there in the scenarios and spins different works take on the general concept. It has even been inverted and descended into total absurdity. But there is a shadow over the genre: a shadow cast by unpleasant and overpowered characters and escalatingly-stupid writing. And it is that kind of world our, er, hero(?)... well, main character at least, Subaru, expects.

Subaru, you see, is a shut-in gamer who suddenly finds himself transported to another world while shopping. One moment, he's on a deserted city street at night in our world. The next, he is on a busy city street in daylight in — surprise — a medieval-flavored fantasy setting. And he is very familiar with what that means: he has been summoned here. Plucked from his mundane life, he must be a superpowered protagonist, about to find himself on a grand adventure!

Ha. Nope. Try as he may, it seems like the only power he has is above-average strength from working out (but no real skill at using that strength to fight). And he doesn't even have normal functioning here otherwise. He's illiterate in the local language, comes off as insane to everyone he meets, and almost immediately finds himself being beaten up by muggers he thought he could heroically take on by himself. Rescued and healed by a magical mystery woman and her cat-like familiar spirit, Puck, he knows right away: she is the superpowered protagonist, and beautiful to boot! She too has been robbed, and he will help her recover what was stolen! Ha. Nope. Subaru soon finds that his situation is far stranger than he expected.

See, Subaru and his new magical mystery companion search for the woman who robbed her of her item, described only as a jeweled insignia. On the way, he learns that she is a half-elf and her name is Satella, and that although he treats her like a stock tsundere, she both isn't one and doesn't understand why he expects her to act like this. And I appreciate this, personally, because realistically we should ask: what does he expect? They've known each other for only a few hours, after all! They track the thief, a professional named Felt, down to a bar in the outskirt slums of the city run by her fence, Old Man Rom, and Subaru enters to find it full of merchandise but no sign of people. Then he finds the corpses.

Because of how the first few episodes unfold, it will be necessary to go into some things you might want to leave as spoilers even though they happen so soon in, because there's really something to be gained here from being confused and surprised with Subaru, and maybe even seeing your own expectations contradicted along with his. If you don’t want spoilers but are intrigued by the summary so far, go skip ahead to the Weeb Ass Shit ratings and then watch the show.

If not, now we're going to finish episode 1A, and go onward from there, okay?

Okay.

Subaru and Satella are quickly killed by an unseen attacker, the same one who already dispatched Rom and Felt before they arrived. At this point, we remember that back in the very first scene of the episode, before Subaru was transported, the camera cut back and forth between Subaru shopping in a convenience store and a hand reaching out weakly as the voice of the person to which it belongs talks about saving someone. Because now we see that the hand was his, and he was reaching out for Satella.

And then he's back in the city, right where he first appeared. And apparently also right when he first appeared. Was it a dream? A premonition? He certainly thinks so, and wants to use this knowledge to help Satella. So he goes to Rom's bar, finds Rom alive and working, and tries to negotiate to barter for the stolen insignia. Felt shows up, as does Elsa, the woman who hired her to steal the insignia in the first place, who turns out to have been the one who killed him in his premonition. And she kills him again. And then he's back in the city, and the same time and place. Oh no. It's not a premonition, it's a Groundhog Day-style time loop.

After a third death and reset, he has learned three important things: first, that Satella's name is definitely not Satella. Second, that much to his relief, there is some sort of police force in this world, although so far the only part of it he has encountered is Reinhart, a single off-duty knight. Third, that this insignia is worth much more than Felt is being paid for it and has some significance he can't yet guess at. Oh, and also he has decided this loop must be his “power”, and has named it “return by death”.

That gets us up through episodes 1B and 2. After that, he makes (and survives this time, albeit just barely) a fourth attempt to recover the insignia from Felt, and to keep it and all of the people involved out of the hands of Felt's murderous employer. Emilia — who called herself Satella before as what now seems to have been a sort of off-color joke, due to her resemblance to the real Satella, whom we have yet to encounter but who is clearly Bad News — brings the wounded Subaru home with her. He wakes up to find himself fully healed and in a bed at Emilia's palace, attended to by maids who look like near mirror images of each other. Maids? Palace?!

Yes, it turns out that the country Subaru has been transported to, Lugnica, is undergoing a succession crisis, that Emilia (sponsored by the flamboyant Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers) is in line for the throne, and that the insignia is a sort of proof of her authority that she must possess to be eligible when the new ruler is decided. Subaru asks to work for her, and the twin maids Ram and Rem (aha, now we meet everyone’s waifu), struggle to teach him the basics he needs to survive here, like cooking and reading. At the end of an unspecified number of days of trying but failing to learn to work alongside them, Subaru speaks to Emilia alone, and they seem to be getting along very well. He very badly attempts to explain the concept of a date to her, and successfully asks her out on one, and goes to sleep happy... And he wakes up to find Ram and Rem waiting at the foot of his bed... just as they were when he woke up here the first day... Yes, it turns out that somehow he died in his sleep and has been “reset” again. But he has at least obtained a new "save point", as it were, with his power, and must now work out what happened to him this time — and how exactly his power works, since he went back multiple days this time.

You know what? I'm not even going to go onward in my summary into the sixth (fifth) episode. Those of you who have seen the show will notice that my summary is getting more and more cursory, but it's because I don't want to just recap the show for you, I want to provide enough overview so you know what kind of show it is. There is so much to enjoy and appreciate that I haven't gotten to. Here’s an assortment of highlights:

- Subaru's interactions with Emilia and Beatrice (the librarian who I didn't even get around to mentioning in the summary above) are particularly nice because he treats them with otaku-y genre-savviness and they respond not just with some moe twist on confusion but with actual annoyance.

- I find it interesting that we can't be sure whether nobody knows about his power yet or whether they just aren't letting on that they know (although it sounds like Beatrice might know something), even though it doesn't make that much sense to me that Subaru has not tried to explain it, or the fact that he's from another world, even though he has established that magic is downright common here.

- On that note, I love that it sounds like there may be a thought-out, maybe even "hard", magic system that the people of this world know as a normal and understandable part of their environment and not just ad hoc contrivances.

- And I love that Subaru hasn't adapted well to his power, unlike many fantasy characters who, upon obtaining magic, take to it seemingly instinctively. He behaves just as you might expect from someone who (1) has never experienced magic before and (2) has a power that is clearly horrifying to experience. He even has difficulty not talking about things that happened previous times through, constantly confusing people in ways that are sometimes dramatic and sometimes just plain funny.

Much to my surprise, this also seems to be one of the very few shows I can watch more than three episodes of in a row without getting restless and wanting to go do something else. Even shows I love, I can not usually binge watch. But Re:ZERO sets up and uses its cliffhangers excellently. Some shows have clear self-contained stories in each episode. Some seem like they try to end in a way that at least sets up the next part of the story, if not necessarily do so suspensefully, but they choose bad places to break up the ongoing story. Some shows end in ways that practically obligate you to keep watching because a single episode is so unsatisfying (and maybe they should've made a movie instead). But here, I both end each episode having watched a useful and well-paced unit of story and it leaves off with open questions that keep me interested in what will happen next.

I am looking forward to the political intrigue or succession war or both that will presumably happen because there's no way "will Emilia take the throne?" doesn't become at least a main plot line. I am looking forward to finding out why everyone loves Rem so much. I am looking forward to seeing if (and how) Subaru ever matures and adjusts to his situation, and what his relationship to Emilia ends up being once they really know each other. I’m just overall very excited and optimistic for the future of this show. And I will be very upset if it unravels.

-----

For scoring on this review, I'd like to try something a little different. I think I would like to add two things to supplement the Weeb Ass Shit scale, and I'll try this new approach for a few more reviews before deciding whether to keep it.

First, I was inspired by Yuri Reviews, which breaks ratings down much more specifically than the W/A/S, into Story, Characters, Animation, Sound, Yuri (of course), and Total Enjoyment, most of which would be merged incoherently into “Shit”. Keeping in mind that combining unrelated features was exactly my problem with the "Shit" scale in the first place, I will try breaking down my evaluation roughly into writing vs. everything else. That is, although I’ll still provide a single summary “Shit” score, I will try to explain it more thoroughly by having a category for things like characters, story, and translation (if egregious enough that even I, with almost no knowledge of Japanese, notice problems — I'm looking at you, Full Metal Panic!, with all your subtitles that keep trying to insist that "Teresa" is spelled "Teletha"), and another for character design, animation, sound, and anything else I feel like commenting on.

Second, given how "sexual content" can mean anything from risqué jokes to non-sexualized nudity to fanservice to depictions of sexual violence and there is no way in the W/A/S framework to evaluate other aspects prospective viewers should know (e.g., the surprise pivot from stylized violence to disturbing violence in R.O.D.), I will now provide "Content Notes" that, although not necessarily warnings in the "trigger warning" or "viewer discretion is advised" sense, highlight some things I think viewers should know about when deciding if this is appropriate for themselves or others.

-----

Deluxe W/A/S Scores: 4 / 3 / 2

Weeb: Although he announces what he means fairly explicitly, Subaru's dialogue and assumptions probably make more sense with some background knowledge on other isekai, especially the ones with bad reputations. The genre isn't totally unknown to Western audiences, especially in the English-speaking world, but it's more common to see it with magical artifacts or wishes being the triggers for the transportation, not just leaving it as a mysterious force or reincarnation. These are not well-known things to non-otaku American audiences.

Ass: Elsa’s costume is, er, quite revealing, and a few shots of Felt and Emilia are framed in fanservicey ways, but so far it's also hard to think of this show as titillating. There is some barely-covered male nudity later on, too, but in one scene and not explicit.

Shit (writing): The characters who we encounter more than once are mostly interesting and have some depth and motivation to them, except for the gang that repeatedly mugs Subaru in the iterations of the first day. The surprises surprised me, but as I said at the beginning, I'm dumb as a brick when it comes to twists. So I'm not sure whether that's good writing or me being oblivious.

Shit (other): It's well-above-average-looking in terms of consistency and detail, and the designs of characters and places just consistently appeal to me. I have a vaguely-formed idea I can't articulate that this seems very... well-framed, I think the word I'm looking for? I don't know cinematography, but I know what gets my attention and leaves an impression. I also want to bring special attention to a nice touch in the sound in episode 1B: when Subaru tells Felt, Rom, and Elsa that his occupation is "unemployed", the music pauses momentarily along with the action on-screen, emphasizing the other characters' awkward silence.

Content Notes: As might be expected in a show where the main character repeatedly dies, some of the violence crosses the line from stylized to unsettling and maybe even into disturbing.

#weeaboo trash #anime review #first impression review #re:zero

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tren-fraszka · 4 years

Text

Five Figure Fanwork Exchange 2020 Letter

Dear creator,

Thank you for taking your time to check my requests. I know my requests can sound a bit tricky, but please don’t be discouraged. I wish you will have good time writing first and foremost!

My AO3 is Tren, if you wish to check it out.

Additionally, while I almost never request fanart as possible medium, because I prefer my main gift to be fic, I would be very okay with receiving fanart treats. On another note, feel free to use my old letters if you get your hands on them. I never stop being interested in fandoms, and if I requested something once I will still want it in the future.

REQUESTS

MARIMASHITA! IRUMA-KUN

I read new manga chapters as they get translated so feel free to incorporate anything from the manga that’s available in english. I’m not spoiled for anything beyond that, so please no spoilers for future developments.

Kiriwo Amy/Suzuki Iruma

There are many good ships with Iruma, but this one just has a lot things I like. I love enemy ships with both sides being way too emotionally invested into each other so this was inevitable. I love how this relationship starts as this really wholesome friendship and school festival preparation, except Kiriwo turns out to be a bit messed up and wants to blow up everyone. But then they both accept the outcome and go on with their lives still thinking about each other. Iruma goes through a lot of trouble to keep the club operating even though Kiriwo has been pretty much expelled. And then Kiriwo is now obsessed with Iruma as his anthitesis and perfect enemy.

I’m okay with the potential story happening at any point in the canon. I would love both a story set before the festival while Kiriwo is still hiding his true colors or a story set after festival. Maybe Iruma runs into Kiriwo somewhere after he escapes prison and instead of calling an adult, he tries to stop Kiriwo from causing trouble on his own. As for pre-festival story. Maybe some upperclassmen steal important parts from the club and Iruma and Kiriwo set out to get them back.

Naberius Kalego & Suzuki Iruma

I love Kalego for being a much better take on Snape than original Snape ever was. The second the series made Kalego Iruma’s familiar I knew this was about to get good. And it was. I love how Kalego slowly warms up to Iruma, even if he is still allergic to his and Sullivan’s antics. I love that Kalego is actually a competent teacher who cares about his students, even if he would rather eat a whole lemon than admit it out loud.

For prompts, maybe Sullivan ends up having an important business and Opera isn’t available so he dumps looking after Iruma on Kalego for a few days. Or Iruma is struggling with studying since so much is new for him so Kalego ends up forced to help him catch up with the material (if you are following manga inclusion of Balam is always welcome). Or maybe Iruma gets into usual trouble ends up stranded somewhere and the only one he can call for help is his familiar.

AUs and ships

I love the worldbuilding around the demon world, so I would ask that if you decided to write an AU that it still incorporates demons. I would definitely love an AU where rather than getting summoned to demon world, Iruma accidentally summons either Kiriwo or Kalego into the human world. Maybe Iruma’s parents try to use him as an offering, but instead he ends up bound to a demon. I would love to see Kiriwo excited to unleash suffering (even if his weak powers severely limit him in that regard) onto human world just to discover that he made contract with the biggest pacifist possible. Or Kalego being torn between wanting to return home as soon as possible (he has classes to teach!) and wanting to somehow help the weird human child that just keeps getting into trouble. Any other demon-focused AU is also welcome. I’m also fine with any sort of AU divergences scenario. Maybe Iruma keeps accidentally sabbotaging Kiriwo’s terrorist plans without realizing it. Or Iruma ends up summoning Kalego more often as his familiar when he gets into trouble.

As for ships, I’d rather avoid any love triangle scenarios for this canon, so please focus on just one pairing per character (competing for Iruma’s attention is normal for this canon, I’d just rather not see outright romantic competition). It’s self-explainatory for Kiriwo request, but if you want to include some shipping elements into the Kalego request I also ship Iruma/Ameri, Iruma/Alice and Kalego/Balam.

RE:ZERO

I watched the first season of anime, as well as the two OVA, and I’m now following the second one. Please don’t include any spoilers for events that haven’t been yet adapted. I’m fine with mentions of stuff from Light Novel that adaptation has skipped, just please make sure to establish them properly.

Natsuki Subaru & Beatrice Natsuki Subaru & Felix Argyle & Julius Euclius & Reinhard van Astrea Natsuki Subaru & Puck

I love how many great interactions Suberu has in Re:Zero with various people, not just Emilia. Feel free to mix my requests or include any other characters, I love all of them.

Natsuki Subaru & Puck

I adore how Subaru immediately gets along with Puck due to their shared admiration of Emilia. I would love a story where the two of them decide to work together to throw a surprise party for Emilia or to make a present for her. Or maybe they need to work together to protect Emilia against a threat. Or for something lighter, their shared adventures of pranking everyone they can in Roswaal’s manor. Feel free to include as much Emilia as you need for this relationship, since Puck is contracted with her.

Natsuki Subaru & Felix Argyle & Julius Euclius & Reinhard van Astrea

I immediately loved the queen candidates’ knights and the relationships between them. I would greatly enjoy seeing them work together. Maybe someone is plotting to harm queen candidates and they join forces to bring them down. Or maybe the queen candidates are busy with some bureaucracy and the bored knights decide to spend a night at town, which ends with all sorts of shenanigans. Maybe Subaru and Julius decide to have some sort of competiton that hilariously goes out of control. Or Reinhardt and Subaru rope everyone into helping some poor grandma, but her straightforward request ends up becoming much more difficult to execute than anyone predicted. Alternatively, Felix, Julius, and Reinhardt decide that Subaru has been pushing himself way too much recently and with silent blessing from Emilia they drag him into the local hot springs to make him finally rest a bit and make sure that give Felix plenty of time for some additional magical treatment.

Natsuki Subaru & Beatrice

Beatrice is a fascinating character. She’s clearly very powerful, but ends up hiding herself in the library due to her strongly hinted tragic past. Watching Subaru try to make her open up more to him and other people is very interesting. I would love to see more of his attempts to befriend Beatrice. Maybe he suggests they do a book club and makes Beatrice choose books they should read. Or alternatively Subaru ends up trapped inside a magical book and Beatrice is the only one who can help navigate him so he can escape from it. Or alternatively a witch cultist invided the Roswaal mansion and Subaru and Beatrice need to work together to find and neutralize the threat.

AUs and ships

I would prefer no setting changes for this story, any other AUs are fine. I especially love Subaru’s reset mechanic, so feel free to abuse that if you want. If you want some AU ideas, maybe another character starts remembering bits and pieces of the reseted timelines. Or maybe Otto turns out to be a witch cultist in disguise and uses the trust he earned to cause problems.

I’m okay with acknowledging Subaru’s canon crush on Emilia, though I’d rather it wasn’t framed as an endgame ship. I’m okay with pairing Subaru with pretty much any guy in the series (especially other queen candidate knights) or leaving who he will end up with ambiguous.

MY NEXT LIFE AS A VILLAINESS (ANIME)

I watched anime and read manga for this story, so please don’t spoil me for the parts not yet adapted from Light Novel.

Group: Katarina Claes/Gerald Stuart (My Next Life as a Villainess)

I ran into this manga on accident, but I definitely don’t regret it. I love how Katarina ends up solving all the problems in this series either through her efforts or by sheer accident and how she ends up becoming the actual protagonist. This charmingly comedic story has a lot of heart and I crave more.

I think I like Gerard the most out of all potential suitors for Katarina’s heart and would love to see more of his crush on Katarina and unsuccessful attempts at actually wooing her. We only see him through Katarina’s perspective, who can’t separate him from the Gerard she knows from the game, even though he changed under her influence. I would definitely be up for a story where Katarina starts to notice that maybe her idea of Gerard doesn’t exactly line up with the reality. Or maybe she remains blissfully ignorant and decides to go in-depth investigation into finding more of Gerard’s weaknesses, because she saw him do something nice for Maria and now she is sure the end is near for her and she wants to be extra prepared. Or maybe he takes her on a vacation trip to escape from her other suitors, but everything goes terribly wrong (maybe their carriage crashes forcing them to spend the night in the woods), and yet both of them end up having a lot of fun.

I don’t mind including any other characters, since they are a colorful bunch. I read this manga for harem shenanigans, and you are free to include as much of that as you want.

AUs and ships

I’m okay with AUs and canon divergences. The story is already a huge canon divergence after all, so if you want to twist it even more, that’s fine by me. If you want to play around with characters accidentally getting transported to the alternate world where Katarina is the original Katarina or getting a glimps of it, I would be very much for it. I love the idea of Gerard meeting the original Katarina and having all sorts of complicated feelings about her, but ultimately acting kind towards her, because he believes that this is what Katarina he knows would have wanted. And just imagine the utter chaos that would result in two Katarinas running around.

I’m okay with all canonical crushes being acknowledged, however due the nature of my request I want the endgame ship to be Katarina/Gerard. I don’t mind other characters being shipped with each other.

TOWER OF GOD

I’m caught up with the newest chapters of the webtoon.

Khun Aguero Agnis/Twenty-Fifth Baam | Jyu Viole Grace (Tower of God)

I got into this series through anime but then I binged the rest of this webtoon and wow it was a blast. I love the complicated world of the tower, the colorful cast, and the complicated relationships between characters. And I love Aguero for being a total asshole and schemer, who becomes a better person due to Bam’s influence.

I’m fine with the fic being set at any point in the story, whether it be beginning of their relationship right after they both started to climb the tower or anything else down the line. I love the slow change that Aguero goes through starting as the very selfish person who burned most of the bridges behind him into a slightly more caring but still willing to burn all the bridges if it’s for Bam person. Also, Bam’s arc of slowly finding himself through interacting with others is great. For some ideas, maybe they have to go undercover to achieve some goal and end up pretending to be boyfriends to throw off suspicions (bonus points for Khun making their supposed relationship’s backstory more ridiculous each time someone asks about it). Or something goes wrong while they are escaping resulting in Bam and Khun getting chained together with shinsu-resistant handcuffs, which begins their epic journey to find and defeat the person who has key to it. Meanwhile Khun is slowly losing it, because he isn’t prepared to handle someone’s constant presence 24h a day, especially if it’s Bam. Or any other towe climbing shenanigans. Maybe Khun wagers something he really shouldn’t have (like his memories) and the team has to get them back, because Khun regresses into his pre-Bam meeting self and is even more of an asshole than usual.

Please use the names Bam and Jue Viole Grace respectively in the fic, because that was the official translation when I picked up the comics (I’m assuming it was different in the past from the AO3 tag).

AUs and ships

I would prefer no setting changes for this story, Tower is a honestly fascinating place and I want to enjoy more of it, but all other AUs are okay. For some suggestions, maybe Bam doesn’t manage to escape from FUG. Khun finds him and decides that the only way to help is to make sure that Elders acknowledge Bam as a Slayer, so he starts to climb ranks of FUG.

I’m okay with mentions of Bam’s crush on Rachel, but mostly in the context of his past feelings for her. Just please focus on Bam/Aguero. For some other ships, I’m okay with Anaak/Ran and Anaak/Endorsi. As for other characters, you are free to ship them if you want, just don’t ship Hwaryun with anyone.

#exchange letters

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rcguna-archived · 4 years

Note

Raguna receives something by mail. A very hastily-written letter with a LOT of signatures. The message within reads, ' As members of the Rem/Ram fanclub, we hereby DENOUNCE your relationship with our DARLING ANGEL Rem. She deserves FAR BETTER than just some farmer!! She needs a KNIGHT who can DEFEND HER from even the most PROMINENT THREATS IN THE LAND, not someone who can make a good turnip!! With love & hate - The Rem/Ram Fanclub. '

He’s living happy and he’s living healthy. After waking up from a coma and realizing how malnourished and weak he was he’s taken to doing a lot more cooking and experimenting with recipes. It was wild just how hungry he could get, but now that his magic source had been reignited and claimed for himself it was almost like he was eating for another... well... half of himself, perhaps. One way or the other it meant that he was home more often and cooking more often with the vegetables and meat he was picking up.

A lot of this cooking had been done after visits with Rem, going along with her into the market for her other groceries. And of course, when she learned he’d been trying to eat more she happily offered her services in the matter. It was fun to talk about. It was fun to discuss together. They would hold hands and give each other loving gazes as they shopped together before parting ways. Laughter. Smiles. It was wonderful.

....

The letter arrived shortly after these admittedly flirty excursions together began.

It’s different from the normal mail he gets from villagers in Kardia, not to mention that it was sourced from elsewhere. It looked to be the village near the Roswaal estate? He smiles on its arrival, wondering if it was new correspondence from some of the folks he felt he had befriended in his time working with the Lord of the area.

It wasn’t.

It’s hard to describe what he’s feeling as he scans down the letter, reading the intentions and then seeing the lengthy list of signatures at the bottom. D-denounced their relationship?? Fanclub?! Is he feeling concerned? Self-conscious? He knew where Rem’s feelings rested on the matter, and he probably shouldn’t consider this to hold any weight. It’s less than a threat than the businessmen when he was running his stall at the city, right?

And yet he does worry. He does somewhat fret at the implications of a group of individuals frowning on his relationship. He should talk with Rem about it and see what she thinks. That seems like the best course of action to him, she would want to know something like this had happened.

He’d been planning to visit the Roswaal estate (and Rem) the next day anyway, the arrival of the letter couldn’t be more fortuitous. He, his carriage of produce and pickles, and the ground dragon that had been granted to him. They pull up and loop around to where supplies are usually dropped off, but someone was already waiting for him.

Ah, that guy.... Wylan. The one who started the whole pickle fiasco which ended up giving him the nickname. Should he be frustrated about that? He wasn’t sure. The pickle business had started up because of their ... well, whatever it was he had done anyway. But his personality is something else to get used to.

“Good day to you, Mr. Wylan.” He says, letter in his pocket and going to grab the first case of produce to bring into the kitchens. The other doesn’t move or reply at first, then their head tilts back and a long hum rings out.

“Let me guess, you got one too, right?” He steps away from the wall of the building, closing the distance between them in a few hopping steps and fixing Raguna with a discerning stare.

“Eh? But- how did you--” And wait, what did he mean by ‘too’?

“You keep touching your pocket and it’s not bulging like you got a cute little present for Blue, so I’m sure it’s a letter. A lot like this one, right?” They fish a piece of paper from their pocket, snapping it open and holding it out for Raguna to read. He squints at it curiously-

“Wait, you’re in a relationship with R--”

“It says association. Don’t jump dragons with me.” They quickly snap back. Whatever brief sign of frustration is on the older male’s features is gone before Raguna can register them. He’s too focused on the letter. Thug. So they disagreed with his standing too. Whoever these people were they had clear standards for the two maidens. And just the thought of people associating out of line was enough to send a threat.

“Sorry, well... I guess you’re probably not worried, but I was going to talk to Rem about this. See if we can go talk to some people in the village and.... er... Wylan...?” He pauses in his planning, getting an incredulous look from the other.

“Wh- You’re not telling Rem, are you an idiot? --Don’t answer that. A girl like her, with how she is with you? You’re not gonna get the result you’re after. Trust me. Listen.” He snatches the letter back from Raguna, making sure to point at all the signatures.

“Well, Rem can certainly be intimidating...” That may be putting things gently, a word like ‘violent’ is more to the point. Raguna is well aware of what she’s capable of against thugs and vagrants, not to mention what she’d do to those that tried to hurt him. Or in a rage. He appreciates her enthusiasm, but Wylan may have a point. He shakes his head and follows the attention as the other directs it.

“See all these names?” The swordsman resumes, running their finger along the bottom of the page and pointing out all the entries. “They’re idiots. We got names. You and I are gonna track down this fanclub. And we’re going to destroy it. Or at least beat them until all they see when they look at us is respect.”

“Wait, destroy?! Beat them? Sure, this is uh, weird, but I don’t think we should--”

“Pickle Guy--”

“Raguna.”

“Pickle Guy, you don’t wanna put up with a clingy fanclub if you wanna live your fairy tale love story.” Raguna’s breath catches in his throat, but Wylan is unaffected. “..From what I hear, and how you are, you’re just gonna get them angrier by existing in her vicinity.”

Wylan sighs, sinking his shoulders. “Alright, look at it this way. Maybe you can prove to them that you are worthy of having Rem, yeah? And I just want to beat them up for-- well. Because I can. Clearly.” He gestures out his arms after pocketing the note once again.

“....prove to them that I’m worthy...” There’s a brief image in his mind. The scene of Rem seeing what he had done to defend his honor and defend their relationship- his love for her. His mind tells him this is something she would admire. Standing up for himself. Yeah.... it’s not a bad idea at all, is it? He clenches a fist and nods confidently to Wylan.

“So what’s the plan? What do you need me to do?”

“I thought you’d never ask....”

As far as Wylan was concerned. This club was getting hell for calling his princess a butterfly.

@onlyhorn

#inbox :: answered ic #Anonymous #:: drabble #arc 1.2 cometh #boyfriends vs the sweat mob

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onlyhorn · 4 years

Text

“ Rem.. you know what I’m here to talk with you about. “

Rem had been brought into a room shortly after being subdued by Betty. She had no injuries, but she was placed in a bed for her own safety, her own comfort. The outburst she expressed earlier had literally shaken the foundation of the mansion. She is lucky that Roswaal wasn’t here, else he would have thought the mansion was under attack, and things could have gotten much worse.

Rem was... unresponsive, at first. She couldn’t meet her sister’s gaze, no matter how hard she tried to meet it herself. She’d always look away. She was ashamed. Ram knew why. She knew that she lost control of herself. And in that moment, she almost killed the person she had sworn she’d take care of.

“ I’m your sister, Rem. I could feed you the same bullshit of ‘I don’t understand how you feel’ because I DO understand. Your anger, your hatred, your regret.. I can feel pretty much all of it. “

“ I... I don’t... I don’t understand, Nee-sama... “

She couldn’t understand. How had the one she’d come to love fallen so deep into the witch’s claws? She wanted to be mad at him but she couldn’t. She couldn’t. She put blame on him but it was fake. It wasn’t deserved. She presses her hands against her eyes, to try to stop the formation of tears before they start waterfalling down her face.

“ How did this happen? Why did this happen...? Raguna.. He wasn’t supposed to be like that... “

Ram frowned. She knew that she was confused, pleading with whatever deity she believed in to confirm to her why the love of her life had suddenly turned dark in her eyes. Ram clenches her hands into fists at her knees, grinding her teeth together in thought... Then, eventually, she leans forward, reaches out, and takes her sister’s hand in her own. An act of comfort. One she’s always done with Rem was upset.

“ It’s not his fault, Rem. I spoke with Beatrice about it shortly after she subdued you. “

Rem flinches, eyes going wide. She looks at her sister in confusion. She wants clarification.

“ There was something afflicting him. Something he had no control over. According to Beatrice-sama, she confirmed that there was an outside force attempting to influence him. “

“ A-- Attempting...? “

Ram frowns. If Beatrice had time to explain this to Rem before he ran into her in the hallway, most of what just happened could have been prevented. Even if Rem didn’t understand it fully now, she would have been less likely to have an outburst like that, maybe even given him a chance...

“ When he left, he mentioned he was going to try to find a way to solve it. To get rid of it. For you. “

Her sister’s hand clutches Ram’s tightly. It feels almost like she might end up breaking her hand - but she knows she won’t. Rem was just trying to process it all.

“ Wh-- what if he was lying? What if none of what he said was true? All the things he told me before.. what if none of them meant anything...? “

“ You’re STILL doubting him? “

Beatrice’s voice comes as a surprise to the two maidens. They each look over at her, confused and puzzled. How long had she been at the doorway? Had she merely appeared there? The little librarian approaches the bed and turns to look at Rem pointedly, ready to crush any further doubts she may have.

“ I may not be very fond of seeing you two act all gross in the courtyard or in the hallways... Hell, I try to give you some privacy but even then, you two made it hard to ignore you. “

“ Just get to the point, Beatrice-sama. “

“ I was getting there! Ugh... Look - my point is, I’ve seen the way you two talked and interacted. I can tell when people are being honest with themselves. And from what I’ve witnessed from you two, everything that transpired between you was honest. Not a lick of it was said with malicious intent. “

“ I know you likely have a hard time believing that, Rem, but it surprises me how quickly you painted him in black and white the moment he started to show that aura. Why didn’t you seek to help him? “

“ I.... I thought.. “

I thought I couldn’t save him. I thought he was beyond saving. I thought if I let him stay any more, he’d hurt Ram, he’d hurt Roswaal, he’d hurt me.

... They were thoughts she didn’t want to accept. But they were thoughts she had no choice but to admit were the ones that went through her head at the time.

“ Raguna still loves you, Rem. He always has. “

“ You don’t need your elder sister’s bias to influence what you think here. You know it, too.

“ ... It’s because of me that Raguna had no choice but to run away. “

Rem slowly starts to move out of her bed. She takes a slow, deep breath, trying to collect herself. Her sister looks worried, staring at her as if she were uncertain if she was truly believing her own words.

“ He would have given me a chance, if I were in that same situation... and -- because of my selfishness, because I was scared, I didn’t give him that chance. “

“ But that doesn’t mean I’m too late. “

“ Beatrice-sama.. where is he? “

She turns to Betty. She almost seems somewhat surprised - she knows that deeper down, Rem was aching and hurting and just wanted to cry - but she knows the type of danger that Raguna’s in right now. If she doesn’t do something, she’ll lose him for good.

“ ... He said he was going to go confer with the spirits in the woods. You might still have some time to catch up with him, if you take Roswaal’s fastest-- “

Rem doesn’t even give her time to finish her sentence. Before she could finish, Rem had already moved to bolt out the door. Ram had gotten up, with the intent of pursuing her, but Betty held out a hand to her, halting her approach. Ram turns to her, a visible look of fire hidden in those pink irises of hers.

“ You can’t seriously tell me I shouldn’t go with my own sister, Beatrice..? “

“ I can. As much as I hate to admit it, you would only slow her down, I suppose.. “

“ ... “

_________________________________________________

The Sun was already beginning to set. If Rem wasn’t quick enough, she wouldn’t be able to make it to Raguna’s home in time. The forest is dangerous after dark, she’s been told plenty of times. If Raguna is out there when it gets dark, he might die.

So, she took the fastest, strongest land dragon that Roswaal had, and rode it without a carriage to avoid as much weight as possible. Unfortunately, the sight she’d soon be graced with would be anything except what she WANTED to see.

This-- This was the sign of a battle. A ruined carriage, out in the open, destroyed, broken beyond repair. She found bodies... cultist bodies. Dead on the ground, slain by a sword. Her breath was picking up... did they get him? Did they take Raguna? She tries to look around for any sign of him around, EVEN A BODY, but... there is nothing. No clues. NOTHING.

... Except, a scent.

She picks it up almost immediately. She can smell it - it’s repulsive, disgusting, and it goes deeper into the forest. She didn’t care if the forest was going to be dangerous.

She wasn’t going to let them take away her reason to LIVE.

#[🎕] Life finds a way to get better. | IC.#[🎕] My sister would have done it better. | GUEST MUSE: RAM.#[🎕] She is the Guardian of the Forbidden Library. | GUEST MUSE: BEATRICE.#rcguna #( WE'RE ALMOST NEARING THE BEST PART )#long post//#[💙] Forever in your arms is where I want to be. | SHIP: REM X RAGUNA.

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rcguna-archived · 4 years

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The next time Rem sees him, she does not smile. Her eyes are down on his feet - she feels ashamed to look him in the eyes. Sure-- it was a dream. It was just a dream, she told herself. So why did it feel so real? Was she doubting herself? Was she doubting him? She couldn't tell. All she knew right now is that she was scared. Scared for him. Wordlessly, she steps up to him, grabs him, and hugs him as tightly as she could manage, burying her head against his shoulder.

Maybe it was indulgent of him to grow accustomed to the new shines that have become a part of his routines. It was at least once a week that he got to see the lovely blue haired maid make her way through the gates to his farm. She always brought a smile and something just behind her lips that she would wait to say until after she’d reached him, thrown her arms around him, and received a kiss and a hello. He liked her needy side when she allowed herself to be selfish around him. It made him happy to be wanted and to be in a position to do those things that got her giggling and smiling and looking at him more and more with those sparkling eyes.

She made his heart soar. And he never wanted it to come back down.

The sun was preparing to set on another summer evening, and upon finishing his work clearing debris and moving rocks and twigs from some of the fields it was time to rest easy. He sits out front of the homestead watching Caomh graze and enjoying his retirement from cart and plow pulling. That duty had been passed over to a young earth dragon which the Roswaal Manor had gifted him as part of their ‘business dealings’. Really, it had been a gift, but Raguna appreciated feeling like it was in return for something instead of just presented to him.

The mule notices that Rem has arrived first, ears flicking before he lifted his muzzle from the grass to snort in her direction, a sort of greeting of his own. Raguna follows suit (less the grass eating and snorting), turning to beam at Rem with the usual smile until she-- but something was off. Her face was down, her features were sullen, and when she makes it over to him (he’s stood up now, eyes full of concern) the hug she throws upon him is different. There’s fear and desperation and-- was she shaking?

“Rem? What’s wrong?” He blinks in confusion, though doesn’t hesitate to take her into his arms, holding her tight against him. Several soft kisses are placed to the top of her head as he keeps her there, a hand moving to stroke her hair as he waits for something, anything from the girl. His soaring heart was starting to descend. His pulse is quickening as each second passes without a response. Throat dries. Mind races. Fears heighten.

“Please. Tell me what happened-” Let him help her. Please let things be ok but please let him be able to help her if they’re not. This was the pain that came with him not being able to be with her more often. It felt like he was failing on his promise to her. The promise to never let her feel like she’s alone.

“Rem. I’m here for you. Everything will be ok. I’ll make sure of it.”

#onlyhorn #inbox :: answered ic #oh no!! :(

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onlyhorn · 4 years

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@diplomatic-steel confessed: "Rem I.... I'm not who think I am." It pains him to say this. As a matter of fact, he can't even look at her. "I... hurt people. I hurt people in a way that can't be healed or forgiven. I cause grieving, anger, and pain in my path. There's nothing more that people want than to watch me die. I'm not a good man... I'm disgusting."

“ Talon-san... “

There’s a long pause that follows the assassin’s words. She looks at him incredulously, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just been told. Talon was confessing his sins to her, as though he intended to come clean about how horrible of a person he was. The surprise in her expression, however, isn’t that he just admitted to it. No - she suspected him of being that type of person - from the moment she met him, to the moment she washed his clothes and found all those weapons, weapons that only a skilled assassin would use, Rem knew the type of person she was dealing with. The only thing that surprised her was that it sounded like Talon was trying to pry himself away from her - against anything good for him. A frown is visible on her face, her eyes soften, blue irises unable to gaze directly into his own eyes - she couldn’t bear to see how much pain he was in.

“ Why do you speak as if you want me to hate you? “

It was true, wasn’t it? Everything he told her - he had hurt people, he had killed people, he had committed atrocities and... perhaps other horrible things that she couldn’t imagine... but hadn’t she done the same?

She’s killed men and weapon before too. She’s not proud to admit it - they were often people she thought were threats to Roswaal, or to her sister, or to Betty or even Emilia. She has a killcount just as much as he did, and the kinds of things she’s done to people when influenced by her demon state... she liked to not think about.

To her, they were all just memories to be forgotten, placed aside as she moves on to a new day, and begins life from zero all over again.

“ I will believe you when you tell me you’ve done those things, Talon-san... but I will not hate you, if that is what you are intending. “

“ You are brave enough to tell me up-front about what you’ve done. Brave enough to admit it when I could have very well eliminated you on-sight simply for admitting you were an assassin. “

“ The truth is... I’ve known for a while. Or-- at least, I assumed, and it appears as though I were correct. If I wanted to hate you, Talon-san, I would have started long ago. “

“ There’s no point in dwelling over the past, Talon-san. You will only bathe in sad memories, and never be able to experience something new. “

“ So let’s experience something new together - you can leave your darkness behind you, and step into the light, and smile when the sun shines upon a brand new day. “

“ Others may want you to die, Talon-san, but I want you to live. I want you to live, grow, and be happy. I want you to be someone better. And I know you can accomplish that if you were given the chance to. “

“ Maybe it’s a bit foolish of me to think that... but I genuinely believe it. “

#diplomatic-steel #( dont test me I WILL break ur heart with every power that lies within my being )#[🎕] Life finds a way to get better. | IC.#[🎕] Politely-answered messages. | ASKS.

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aros001 · 3 years

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First time read through light novel vol. 12. Random thoughts.

Right off the bat and I love this illustration

of the aftermath of Subaru's various deaths. Just at a look and you're able to tell which loop and death it was. From left to right:

After the Witch Cult slaughters Emilia, the mansion, and villagers and Puck goes out to destroy the world. Though not sure if this is the loop where Puck and Subaru got to talk or it this is a loop before that.

Rem tortures and Ram mercy kills Subaru, likely lying and covering up their actions afterwards to Emilia.

Rem dies from the Shaman's curse and Subaru commits suicide, unfortunately doing so right in front of Beatrice and Ram.

Elsa murders Subaru and Emilia. Subaru's very first death.

Subaru is possessed by Petelgeuse and has to be put down.

I wasn't sure about this one at first but later in the book seems to imply this is after Subaru killed himself after Rem fell into a coma.

Echidna speculated that Subaru's save points were based just on what'd help him be most likely to overcome whatever killed him and that Satella likely didn't care about anyone else in his life. But with the black shadow devouring everything, save for Garfiel, and seemingly heading for the mansion next, I wouldn't be surprised if Satella actually is choosing the points that get rid of others who are important to Subaru so she can have his love all to herself. Rem's in a coma and Subaru can't go back further to save her from that fate and the only reason Emilia is still around is because a lot of the events that kill her tend to also kill Subaru, like Elsa and the Witch Cult, so her death wouldn't exist in a timeline where Subaru also gets to live. In arc 3 Subaru's save point was set after he and Emilia had that big fight and went their separate ways. I wouldn't be surprised if Satella set that point specifically because the two were driven apart and she didn't want Subaru to get a do-over.

Watching Ram, Ryuzu, and all the other people he cared about get swallowed whole, vanishing within the shadow.

But even after so many precious people were stolen from him, Garfiel refused to use revenge as an excuse to throw all decency aside. He wouldn’t tolerate any talk about a victory that involved sacrificing Subaru.

I like to think this is a little bit of a callback to some of Subaru's loops during arc 3, specifically when he was so lost in his selfishness and later his rage at the Witch Cult's massacres that he was somewhat blinded to everyone else and was throwing away his decency; something Garfiel is refusing to do. Again, I don't mind that Subaru has had moments where he's not a good person and has very serious character flaws because the story is about him continuously growing into a better person.

“In this world, when I heard ‘I love you’ spoken seriously to me for the first time...it gave me, an unredeemable bastard, enough power to make me think I could become a hero.”

He was a piece of garbage, twisted down, broken, and ready to flee from everything, but those words had made him believe he could face the future head-on, never giving in—to challenge it once more, over and over, however many times that it took.

As sad as I am that Rem's not in the story anymore aside from being a near lifeless husk, I am glad that her importance on the story and Subaru specifically is still strong. Honestly, all shipping aside, I'm mostly upset that, because of the coma, all of Rem's character development has pretty much been put on hold. I was enjoying seeing her grow and the ways she was reacting to events in the story. For the audience, having her be in a coma is maybe worse than her being killed because there's that hope she'll come back and you're continuously waiting for her to do so; waiting for that part of the story to be allowed to continue.

What could he say, what should he say, that would rub the Witch the worst way? There was no one better armed to get under someone else’s skin than Subaru. So he knew.

Accordingly, Subaru gave a shallow, cruel laugh, turning a look of scorn toward the Witch.

“—I’d rather love Echidna and the other Witches than you.”

...Yeah, that oughta do it. Seriously though, I almost felt all the sound go out in the world at reading that line, that's how much of an "Ohhhhh shit." moment it was, with there being nothing Subaru could have said to piss the witch off more.

I suppose Satella (and Subaru) consuming and becoming one with everything can relate to envy. No need to be envious of what others have when you are both them and what they possess.

He had seen the Witch’s face in the moment just prior to Return by Death —and it was the same face as Emilia’s. After straddling death to come back, he had dragged along a fear of the Witch that stuck with him.

It's temporary but I do like this. For a moment Subaru is in a similar position as those who naturally live in this world. He knows that Emilia is not the Witch of Envy, just as most people in the world could obviously understand, but because of the strong resemblance (and Satella possessing Emilia's body) he can't not see Satella when he looks at her and feel that fear. Obviously it's still wrong to have that prejudice against Emilia and other half-elves whom have done nothing to harm anyone but having even Subaru feel that fear, even for just a moment, does make it very understandable why the people of this world have trouble letting go of it.

I know this is bothering me more than it should and it's not a criticism towards the series, but I always feel bad that Subaru has this perception around him of being a little bit of a crybaby, or at least easily upset and needing to be soothed. Don't get me wrong, I make no demands that the MC always be seen all ultra-masculine manly but from the perspective of others it does seem like Subaru breaks down easily. In the mansion arc with Subaru working himself sick and crying into Emilia's lap to the White Whale arc where Subaru gave up and asked Rem to run away with him to now where Emilia is needing to comfort him inside Echidna's tomb. We the audience know these breakdowns are VERY well deserved after the horrors Subaru has been through and he really needs the comfort, but the other characters don't know and it just looks like he's cracking over nothing. I like Subaru and it sucks that he keeps getting seen as a bit of a crybaby, especially in front of the woman he loves. Emilia doesn't make a big deal of it and Subaru has done plenty to prove his worth and bravery before, but I still can't help but feel a little bad for the guy.

I'm wondering if there's an implication that Emilia's doing better during this loop is because she now feels she's fighting/being strong for Subaru? Kind of like how Subaru has found strength in fighting for her and the others he cares about.

“I did think about it, so I asked Ram to keep him occupied. In the meantime, it’s a date between you and me, Ryuzu.”

“I am unsure what it is you mean by dayte...but I cannot defy you at this point, Young Su. You may do with me and the girl here as you wish.”

“That’s giving in a little too much!"

What is with people continuously thinking Subaru wants to defile them?! Is it the eyes? (It's probably the eyes)

I've heard tales before that Subaru comes to be known as the Lolimancer. Given he now has authority over Ryuzu and a practical army of replicas, I can kind of see that. And it's glorious. Nothing crushes your enemy quite like their opponent throwing a little girl that them...and winning.

Then, after a momentary pause, she slowly nodded and said, “—Ahhh, I understand now. Betty is probably entrusting you with her final moment because...”

Once he heard the answer, there was no going back. —He was certain of it.

And yet, his decision came too late. He had realized too late. It was too late for everything.

“—Sorry to intrude mid-conversation, but...”

A voice he should not have heard spoke. Hastened by a terrible chill, Subaru flipped around.

Then he saw her.

“—Is it all right if I become That Person for you, I wonder?”

Carrying a black curved blade in her hand—a kukri knife—the black- clothed Bowel Hunter stood at the archive’s entrance.

F**K! OFF! ELSA!

Crystal arrows were thrust through her entire body, half of it shattered like inorganic matter. Such was Elsa’s death.

THAT'S WHAT YOU GET, BITCH!

Beatrice’s eyebrows fell as she let out a breath of instantaneous relief, forming a thin smile in the process.

—The tip of a black blade was poking out of her chest.

“—My, what an odd feeling in the hand. A spirit’s belly really is different.”

DAMMIT!

“The letter...that’s right. I wrote a letter. I wrote everything on it, that’s why. I really meant to tell you about everything, but...”

“Tee-hee.”

Ohhhhhhhh no, that's never a good sign. Dark tomb dedicated to a witch, everything else outside going wrong, and Emilia just gives a little giggle like that, talking about how lonely she was and how much she loves him? She didn't even comment on how he's MISSING AN EYE.

Funny enough, for this part I am being reminded of a reaction I had while reading the Goblin Slayer light novels. "Oh, thank goodness this character was only severely beaten and about to be sacrificed to summon a demon old god into the world." "Oh, thank goodness. Emilia's not possessed or under some terrible curse. She's just cracked from mental strain and trauma." It's just one of those times where I have to take a moment and think about what kind of series I'm reading where I'm relieved a major character has only gone insane.

It is kind of cool how she's in a way going through a similar experience as Subaru has. Repeatedly going through a continuous loop of failures she can't overcome but feels she has to for the sake of others, until she finally just hits her breaking point.

I do like how even just Roswaal talking about RBD is enough for the witch to grasp Subaru's heart, even though Roswaal figured it all out on his own. I'm also glad I saw the "Memory Snow" OVA because it does add a nice (and really messed up) layer to Roswaal's manipulations. That even a happy and completely innocent time like that, seeming to exist for no other reason than to give the audience a nice breather before arc 3, was something he figured out how to use to his advantage. It makes him feel like even more of a devious bastard, that he'll be taking such a pleasant and pure memory and using it to get the villagers to fear Emilia.

“The current you is insufficient to bring about the future indicated in the text. Any discrepancy with that recorded requires a correction.”

That makes me curious about how specifically the book works. Before Roswaal and Beatrice were making it sound like the book foretold futures that would happen no matter what, but this line implies that Subaru currently is unable to make that future come to pass, making it sound more like the book describes the specific ways required to make the foretold future happen. Then again, Subaru isn't from this world, so is he maybe somewhat exempt from the book's prophecies? Or is he a requirement for fulfilling them? Roswaal caught on to Subaru's looping because of the book, but how? Is the future changing every time Subaru loops and because Roswaal has read ahead he knew what the future originally was and thus noticed when it changed? Subaru also speculates that Roswaal has the ability to inherit memories like Echidna and thus he can remember the previous timelines, but I feel like he'd be able to understand that the loops were caused by Subaru dying then, since that's the common trait among all of them. Roswaal also says there's no point in talking about thing since he will not be the same Roswaal Subaru meets when he loops again, so I'm assuming that means he can't inherit memories or the new Roswaal, while not the same as the previous loop, would remember his and Subaru's conversation and be able to continue it.

So to recap:

Rem, Petra, and Frederica are murdered after Subaru sent them to the village to keep them safe

He has to watch as Elsa murders a suicidal Beatrice

Elsa cuts out his left eye

He's caught in a harsh snowstorm wearing only a ripped up tracksuit

Emilia, the woman he loves, has a mental breakdown

Roswaal murders Ram and Garfiel right in front of him and admits he deliberately drove Emilia into isolation

Roswaal tortures Subaru in order to try and get him to loop

Rabbits eat Roswaal alive right in front of Subaru and likely are doing the same to the rest of Sanctuary, save for those whom chose suicide by fire rather than being eaten

The replicas are killed defending Subaru under his orders and he still got half-mauled in the process

His first kiss was at the very moment of his death by an insane Emilia

All in all, today's been something of a bummer for Subaru, hasn't it?

In all seriousness though, SOMEONE GIVE THE MAN A HUG!!!

And let's just keep the pain train rolling with Subaru being shown the aftermath of his death after Rem fell into a coma. Seriously, that was heart wrenching, between Emilia's sobbing to Wilhelm's desperation to save him and unable to understand how someone he genuinely respected could take his own life like that.

I kind of suspected this already given the first trial made Subaru confront his past, or at least a version of it, but now with the second trial being "the unknowable present" I'm assuming the three trials are based around past, present, and future respectively.

“—Goodness, can you even stand anymore? Subaru.”

...

For she was the girl who knew Subaru was not strong yet had said to him anyway, “I love you.”

“—Rem.”

“Yes. I am Subaru’s Rem.”

REM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't care if it's the Witch of Lust trying to trick him, the story made me need that as much as Subaru did.

“If I was stronger, if I was wiser, if I was a man who could do more...no one would have to suffer, to be sad, to go through hard times like that...”

It would have been so much better if Subaru had been strong enough to do everything, all of it, alone.

Emilia’s sadness, Beatrice’s loneliness, the calamity befalling Petra and Frederica, the menace of the Great Rabbit, Garfiel, who was desperately protecting something... He should have been able to do...something.

Everything, all of it, every last bit of it was Subaru’s fault.

That was why, to balance out his weakness, Subaru had to pay by shaving away his life. —That was what he’d thought, and yet...

“Have I saved...anyone...?”

“Subaru.”

“If those worlds continued after my death, how many times I have I abandoned everyone to die?”

“Subaru.”

“How many times...did I make you die? How many times...do I have to kill you?”

Seriously, why do so many people hate Subaru? And I'm not talking about in-story, I'm talking about how often I see people online just crapping on the guy and really just having such firm dislike for the character. Yeah, he has a bad tendency to shove his foot into his mouth, especially early on, and he most certainly has been selfish and entitled. But he's continuously growing, continuously being made to face his faults and try to overcome them. Most important, at the end of the day he's just a guy who doesn't want anything bad to happen to the people he loves and he tries despite how utterly powerless he is, holding himself to his failures to the point of self-destructiveness. He's far from perfect but he's a good guy who's being continuously pushed to be a better one.

“I’ll show you my weakness. I’ll show you my vulnerabilities. I’ll even show you how I’m a petty, irredeemable bastard. —But the one thing I won’t show you is me giving up.”

Rem had once said...Subaru was her hero.

And Subaru Natsuki had decided to be Rem’s hero.

Again, I don't dislike Emilia at all. I don't even dislike the idea of her and Subaru as a couple, since I can clearly see why Subaru loves her and why Emilia is likely falling for him. But these books have most certainly done nothing to temper how much I love the Subarem ship. How important Rem is to him not only helping to pull Subaru out of his despair over his long string of failures but also how much he wants to be the man she sees him as breaking him out of the Rem-deception. I'm not sure if what I said makes any sense but it's beautiful nonetheless!

The funny thing about Echidna's idea for potential immortality, hopping from one body to the next, is that it's an idea I feel like I've seen many times in fiction and yet I'm drawing a blank on many specific examples. I'm curious if implanting memories into a new vessel is how her tomb works, like she placed herself literally into her tomb and thus why her dream castle exists even after her death?

I am really enjoying Echidna so far. You know Subaru probably shouldn't trust her but she's very good at making herself someone you kind of want to trust. While it's a bit grey to say if she is an outright villain, I think she makes for a very good one.

I feel like I may have a misunderstanding of how Beatrice's pact works. She's to guard the library of forbidden books and sometimes the story makes it sound like she can't leave it, or at least can't leave the mansion, but she has left it a few times now, the furthest being Subaru's suicide jump of the cliff. So is it the overall estate she can't leave or that she can only exit the grounds on certain conditions? Because she and Subaru did have a pact when he went to the cliff.

Next volume should prove interesting, given Subaru seems like he's going to form a pact with Beatrice and Satella just showed up for the tea party. Next volume comes on sale on July 21, so I've got a couple of weeks to wait, unless anyone is aware of any websites that've translated the light novels (not web novels) like Overlord and Konosuba have.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Re_Zero/comments/ho60yc/novels_first_time_read_through_light_novel_vol_12/

#re:zero #random thoughts #reddit repost

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aros001 · 3 years

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First time read through light novel vol. 3. Random thoughts.

The Six Witches had made the world scream, but this witch wiped them out in one fell swoop, ushering in a calamity that destroyed half the world.

A hero had sealed her flesh within a crystal, where she continued to sleep, even then, in some corner of the world.

I'd say Satella is like this world's Voldemort with how much people hesitate to even talk about her, but honestly she seems like she'd slap the back of his bald head and call him a bitch. Honestly, she's the character I'm looking forward to getting to know more about than the rest of the cast, even Emilia, whom I've heard gets a lot of her development after where the anime left off. Given how plenty of "witch" stories go in fiction and even Ram telling Subaru that the country naturally has a bias against the witch because of its connection to the dragon that helped seal her, I could totally see this being a situation where Satella was just trying to stop evil (the Six Witches) and ended up being persecuted and called a monster by history. ...But I wouldn't be opposed to her just being f**king evil. I love me a good villain.

I already liked Rem and Beatrice from the anime, but while I never disliked Emilia and Ram, I am finding myself a lot more into those two through these books than I was before. I can't quite put my finger on what's different. I suppose knowing where things go helps a bit but the narration and going at my own pace gives me better focus on their interactions and relationships with Subaru. I don't think I got as good a feel for Emilia's character in the anime and while I still don't know a lot about her, I do think she has a bit more reaction here. She can get angry, pout, and does seem to genuinely enjoy Subaru's company, where maybe she felt a little too one-note sometimes in the anime? I don't know. And Ram is just the best. I live for her attitude and she does give off a bit of a big sister vibe when she's with Subaru. Like Roswaal noted in the first loop in his and her private chat, Ram does seem actually fond of Subaru. Not in a romantic way. She just seems to have fun with him, especially with all her little jabs and slight bullying.

“My specialty is ice, but it’s actually fire mana. Fire relates mainly to temperature, so cooling that which is hot is classified as part of fire, apparently.”

I'm apparently a f**king nerd because I love getting rules for a world's made-up systems like magic and this is a pretty unique style compared to what I'm used to. The elements are not constrained just to what something literally is but rather how it relates to something. Ice is water but what forms ice is temperature. Water is more related to healing.

The right hand went for his heart; the other caressed Subaru’s cheek like it was fond of him.

Again, I'm really looking forward to knowing what the deal is with Subaru and Satella (assuming the hands are hers), especially since he comments that the hand on his cheek brought a sense of warmth and relief (while the other was squeezing his heart). Consciously or not, he's feeling some kind of connection to her.

I'm a big fan of superhero stories, and while there's nothing better than seeing the hero win after a hard fought battle, there is one trope I really like, where what defines a hero isn't just the battles they win but what they do when faced with a battle they can't. Credit to Subaru, he knew he had little to no chance of beating the shaman and its hordes. He was terrified, drained, badly injured, and even crying for his parents...and he still fought anyway. I think the narration implies that's part of what impressed Rem too when they were working to save the kids; Subaru doing everything he can to help in spite of his uselessness.

For some reason, when her fingers gently grazed his mind, Subaru wanted to weep. The wave of strange emotion washing over him suggested that he had always been waiting for her to do so.

He had an instinctive desire for the wriggling shadow to embrace him, to swallow him whole—and then it stopped. Something had stopped it.

Subaru’s mind realized that there was another shadow, its white fingers embracing him from behind.

Two shadows? I'm under the impression one of them is Satella but I'm curious who the other is? Given Rem was holding Subaru's hand when he woke up I'd think it was her but the narration talks about the shadow coming from behind him, nothing to do with his hands.

She had short blue hair. Her face was more the “lovely” than “pretty” type. At first, he thought she showed little emotion on her face, but she was coming around on that bit by bit. He wasn’t afraid of her. He wasn’t afraid of her at all.

There was a Rem who had made Subaru loop more than once, but here was a Rem happy from the bottom of her heart that he had come back alive. It was all by chance.

There was the Rem who ran amok for her sister’s sake, the Rem who acted rashly to protect Subaru, the Rem who ran off before switching to Berserker Mode so that she wouldn’t cause friendly fire—

One suggestion I've seen before about why Subaru might not ever be able to return Rem's feelings in full, beyond his own love for Emilia, is because he'll always have those past memories of Rem torturing him. That no matter how much he grows to like her their relationship will always be held back because he subconsciously still associates that horrible experience with her. I'll have to see how if the books ever bring that up, because while I can buy that being a thing, Subaru seems to view the Rem that tortured him and the Rem he knows as two different people, acknowledging how mixed up she is. His feelings for Emilia are definitely stronger, given that she's been his rock and oasis throughout all his lives and horrible experiences; the one consistently good thing he could always count on. But I'm not sure how much he holds it against other people. Only the three thugs and Elsa have been consistently awful to him.

Also, I'm don't know what's funnier: that they tied Emilia to a chair to keep her from going after Subaru, or that it was Beatrice's idea and Puck helped her with it?

Roswaal and Ram is going to be interesting going forward, especially because I'm not sure yet whether to trust him. Roswaal is a very fun character and has helped Subaru a few times...but he's definitely shady. And that comment that the hornless beasts obey whoever cut off their horns...so does that apply to demons like the twins as well? I'm not saying Roswaal had anything to do with Ram losing her horn, it easily could be just a situation he took advantage of.

I always found the source of Rem's guilt complex really interesting because it's such an extreme reaction but it also feels oddly realistic. She felt happy, just for a moment, about something terrible and spent the next several years of her life feeling so guilty over it that she gave up practically everything about herself to try and make up for it. There's no doubt in my mind that the sisters love each other and that's probably why it hit her so hard. If Ram was just some pompous bitch who didn't deserve any of her strength and skill it'd be one thing, but Ram did take care of Rem and Rem did admire and love her, thus why she feels like such scum being momentarily happy about one of the worst things possible happening to her beloved sister, just so she'd never have to live in her shadow again. You spend enough time obsessing and beating yourself up over something like that, of course you develop a complex. I don't blame Ram for not trying to straighten Rem out sooner either. She was also just a kid when it happened and while she told Subaru the loss of her horn doesn't bother her anymore (or at least doesn't bother her as much as it did), then that implies it was a major blow to her back then. I don't think she ever took it out on Rem, more likely that she was just depressed or felt empty/incomplete and Rem picking up the slack and always helping out probably made that time a little easier to deal with. By the time Ram is old enough to realize the complex her sister's developed Rem's too far down the spiral for her to simply be talked out of it. The only adult figure left in their lives who could have stopped all of this was Roswaal and he's made pretty clear he has no problem using Ram as a way to keep Rem loyal. I don't know his character well enough yet to say where his morality lies, but he doesn't strike me as the type of guy to sit a young Rem down and try to talk her through her guilt; not when it can be used in purpose of his great goal, something to do with when a dragon (assumedly the one from the Witch of Envy story) dies.

I've only seen the anime once so I can totally believe I probably missed all the parallels this arc draws between Subaru and Rem and I love them.

And seeing him struggle so hard to produce results in spite of inferior ability reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Both of them working themselves frantically, bottling up their feelings as their thoughts are running so fast that they're about ready to crack from all the pressure and guilt they're placing on themselves. When Subaru is attacked by the dogs upon pushing Rem out of the way she flashes back to when Ram got her horn cut off saving her, practically doubling her guilt complex. My favorite comes at the end after Subaru and Rem's talk. While she's not in his lap, her crying and letting her emotions flow while he gently strokes her hair is a great callback to when he was crying in Emilia's lap. While it's not exactly a dignified way you'd want to look in front of the person you love, making you seem a lot like a child, for Subaru and Rem's own mental health it was definitely what they needed. At the very least, in Rem's case, while he didn't hear the full story because he didn't want her to tell him, he'd heard enough to piece together her breakdown was over feelings of guilt and inferiority towards her sister. With poor Subaru, he can't tell Emilia the real reason for his breakdown. As far as her perspective goes, Subaru was so frantic and pushing himself way too hard simply because he was afraid of having to leave them, which technically is true, but she'll never know how real it is to him the possibility that he might just lose everything or how many times he's already gone through that.

“So I mean, you said you were a substitute, but Ram has no substitute for you, does she? I mean, if you weren’t there for her, can you imagine the state she’d be in?”

I love that line. It's a great callback, as while Rem will never know it, Subaru himself has seen how deeply Ram loves her and the state she'd be in if Rem died. But if I'm remembering correctly how the later arcs go, it's another nice parallel between Subaru and Rem. In this case, him being so lost in his devotion to Emilia that he doesn't consider her side of things, but I'll talk more about that if and when it does come up in the story.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Re_Zero/comments/gmek8z/novels_first_time_read_through_light_novel_vol_3/

#re:zero #random thoughts #reddit repost

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