Re:Zero 2×15 Reaction
Episodes in this season
27You may also like
Assassination Classroom
Assassination Classroom
Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan
Chainsaw Man
Chainsaw Man
Seasons:
Chainsaw Man
Code Geass
Code Geass
Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop
Seasons:
Cowboy Bebop
Death Note
Death Note
Seasons:
Death Note
Demon Slayer
Just to make this clear, “like” is generally not being used here to denote anything romantic, as it relates to Subaru, other than when speaking of Subaru’s feelings towards Emilia and Rem’s feelings towards Subaru.
Patrasche is supposed to be the example– the point that “oh… they do care about me.” The whole point was that Subaru was fixated on the romantic stuff and figured that that’s all there was. He never considered that he had proper FRIENDS, rather than just someone he liked (Emilia) and someone who liked him (Rem). Considering how much he hated himself and rejected the idea of someone liking him even when they were *clearly in love with him* (Rem), and how much it took before he actually believed that, it’s no surprise that Subaru’s complex about thinking himself undeserving of other people would be similarly difficult to unravel as it applies to less black-and-white relationships, like those amidst his friends.
Otto, in fact, shows just how completely baffled Subaru was by the very notion that ANYONE would consider him a friend, back when Otto saved Subaru from being kidnapped and held prisoner. Granted, that wasn’t enough for Subaru to realize that his friends would actually trust him enough to help, even when he couldn’t explain why he needed their help… until now. Which is why Otto’s “grit your teeth” moment and the whole of Straight Bet (last episode) felt so fantastically hype. Subaru, that dense oaf, is finally fighting together *with* his friends, rather than just *for* them on his own.
But just to clarify how the witches feel, here…
Daphne (Gluttony) basically just thinks it’s amusing for him to have boasted about how he’ll take out the Great Rabbit.
Carmilla (Lust) is bothered by the fact that he ignores the fact that there’s people who care about him.
Sekhmet (Sloth) finds his behavior to be tedious– especially how he’s been blindly manipulated by Echidona.
Typhon (Pride) has concluded that he’s a good person who hates himself, so she’s a bit protective out of pity.
Minerva (Wrath) is angry at him for being stupid, and also refuses to let *anyone* come to harm.
Echidona (Greed) sees Return by Death as her only hope for satisfying her curiosity, and she’s a sociopath who’s been acting like a girl in love to try and manipulate Subaru into entering a contract. Because she’s obsessed with any and all opportunities towards acquiring greater knowledge, to the point of understanding nothing else, she tries to dress that up as “love”– a concept that is utterly alien to her.
Satella… well, yeah, okay, she loves him, as does the Witch of Envy, but that’s not exactly something to be thrilled about, you know?
But lets move on to the rest of the cast, then…
Crusch? After the battle with the white whale, she basically says “you were pretty cool there, but that doesn’t mean I’m into you.”
Priscilla? Uh… that feels like an easy “no.” At best, she sees him as a jester.
Anastasia? She just figures he’s likely to stir up some profitable opportunities.
Felt? On friendly terms, as they fought together in the whole thing with the loot house, but that’s kinda it.
Ram? She sees him as an ignorant clown, and mocks him accordingly… but she’s shown here that she trusts his judgement. Nothing romantic, and, like, she’s clearly devoted to Roswaal, regardless.
Petra? Is a grade-schooler with a crush who is specifically not taken seriously and I really hope I don’t need to explain that.
Frederica? I mean, she seemed to have a lot of fun teasing Emilia about speaking so highly of Subaru, and the only other detail that occurs to me is her being generally protective of the mansion and all involved. I guess they both bond a bit over seeing Petra as a good kid, and he surprises her by not wanting a relative stranger (herself) to die trying to protect them. Not really seeing it, in any case.
Beatrice? Completely not. She’s been set up to be similar to Otto or Ram at this point: lots of friend-banter. Beatrice being without “mother” has left her in despair, and she wants “that person” to arrive as someone who can fill that void, basically. Or, well… *wanted*. At this point, she’s given up, and just wants to disappear. Not a romantic dynamic. They bicker rather like relatives, and even Beatrice’s thing of “then put me first” is basically saying to Subaru that she can’t take him seriously because he’s obviously more concerned with Emilia than he is about Beatrice’s well-being. I can’t really clarify their dynamic any farther without risking spoilers, but I’d honestly hope that the fact that she’s pretty much a child would also preclude any such weird conclusions anyways. Re:Zero doesn’t do any weird jank like that.
Ryuzu? Is an old woman who makes some jokes. Or, well, multiple. Except for the younger ones who don’t speak, and apart from Shima, who… has mostly been an obstacle to Subaru. So, nope.
Elsa? I mean… even *that* psychopath’s twisted definition of “love” doesn’t apply to Subaru. As shown by how she gouges out his eye out of annoyance from him. So, uh, no.
Don’t get me wrong. The isekai genre is *FILLED* with trashy harem nonsense. Which is *why* there are so many attractive girls in proximity to Subaru, yes. But *the entire point* is that they largely *aren’t* love interests, and that Subaru starts off as way too pathetic– both massive subversions to the genre that’s known for “overpowered jesus-kun chosen one protagonist effortlessly saves the day as dozens of one-dimensional cardboard cutouts that vaguely resemble actual women fall all over him.”
It has the *set up* for such nonsense, yes. But Re:Zero makes an active effort to show that, like, that ain’t how things work.
Well… except for Rem, in any case. But that’s pretty well justified with the character-writing, at least.
—
Unrelated note. Subaru “not asking more questions” is mostly just the anime not having time to include everything that’s talked about in the extremely long chats with Echidona. Other than the first tea party, where he totally dismisses her without asking much, but that’s not the point. Specifically, though, Subaru never asks about why he ended up in this world because he has no reason to believe that Satella actually even had anything to do with that. And when he asked “why me,” he basically got cryptic responses about how and why Satella loves him.
And, yes, he’s even gone so far as trying to write stuff about Return by Death. Pretty early on, in fact. There’s a lot of stuff cut for the sake of both pacing and plot focus, as they were much more focused on making sure the character development has enough space– rather than getting too caught up in the minutia of including every common-sense question he might have. Though, that’s not to say that Subaru isn’t kinda dumb. He definitely is. There’s certainly valuable stuff he could have also asked. But, to be fair, he’s not exactly been in the best mental state for *any* of the tea parties. In the first one he was worried about finding Emilia, in the second he’d *just been eaten alive*, AND was busy having a breakdown over being able to talk about Return by Death. And in the third, he was almost broken by the possibility that everything he’d done might be pointless (assuming that what he’d seen was true), *and* he’d been ambushed with Echidona’s suggestion of a contract when he tried to ask more questions– the implication being that answering all of his questions would kind of be part of the point of making a contract. Not that he *couldn’t* have possibly asked for more, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable for him to have not, considering what all was on his plate already, at the time.
—
Anywhos! Fascinating discussion stuff, as always. Super excited for next Tuesday, now that I’m back on patreon after being holiday-broke. ^^
Yeah he doesn’t really have a lot of girls that like him. Seems really weird to me every time they say that honestly. (Most not have seen any actual harems I guess) the presence of women that are friends with him is not the same as romantic interest.
The witches, Rem, Emilia, Petra.
Anyone else notice this is in the Fate Zero playlist?
Who are those girls that are really into him?
Rem hated him, until he helped her with her issues. Then she fell in love with him, but that makes sense.
Ram really isn’t into him.
Emilia didn’t even think about such thing until he pretty much forced her to with his stubbornness.
Crush also didn’t think much of him, until he showed that he actually is a bit capable. But still she didn’t fall for him, because she had her duty.
Other candidates also don’t look like they love him at all.
And that’s about all the girls in the show.
You forgot Petrasche.
I would have to imagine he is thinking of all the witches and beatrice as well