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「自称騎士ナツキ・スバル」 (Jishou Kishi Natsuki Subaru)
“Self-Proclaimed Knight Natsuki Subaru”
I’ve defended Subaru quite a bit over the past few months when viewers would bash him for being annoying or self-centered… but this episode takes the icing on the cake. Subaru proved not only to be quite ignorant but just not very self-aware of the situation he’s thrown himself in. I’m not annoyed at him, but I’ve got to say that he had it coming. Emilia gave him all the benefit of the doubt and this episode just shows how Subaru has been living in his own world. With all the revivals he’s experienced, it’s no wonder he’d have a mental breakdown but it’s entirely different than the one he went through with Rem and Ram a few weeks ago. This one shows that he can’t just fix things by dying and he should take into consideration how other people view his behavior and actions.
The episode starts off exactly where we left off with the beginning of the Royal Election. I’m not sure exactly what this entails of yet but from the sounds of it, it’s got to be a battle of some sort with all the candidates and their accompanied knights. With a short introduction of Felt (who still behaves like the same girl we know her as), we get into the Subaru scenes which he kind of basically makes a fool of himself by proclaiming to be Emilia’s knight. Then what follows is another silly fight which Subaru obviously loses, and then a further defeating blow when he has a full out argument with Emilia about what happened since they met. There’s a lot of opposing views about how Subaru handled himself during the day and personally, I’m not with Subaru on this one. While I don’t think it was out of character, I do think he made a lot of bad calls and he could’ve easily removed himself from the situation instead of digging himself in a bigger hole. Subaru has always been outspoken and someone that does what he wants because he believes it’s the right thing. The only thing wrong with that though, is that he fails to see the big picture. He might think he’s doing the right thing but to others, he’s being disrespectful, ignorant, and untrustworthy. I understand where Emilia is coming from and I actually was somewhat glad to see Subaru fail at his fight against Julius Euclius (Eguchi Takuya) because it puts things into perspective. He’s not the strongest, he can’t just say what he wants without repercussions and there will be moments that he’s going to feel hopeless. I think Subaru needs to realize that he’s not the ”main character” in this world despite his abilities, he’s alone if he can’t build relationships the right way.
I sound really hard on Subaru and that’s because I think this is a rude awakening for him that he didn’t expect. I empathize with Emilia in this situation because she really doesn’t know Subaru that well and he doesn’t seem to understand that. He’s a stranger… a stranger whom puts his faith and trust and affection on Emilia who never asked for it. It’s like a secret admirer that never goes away and in fact, might even embarrass you in front of all these people on your big day. As if Emilia doesn’t have enough issues to deal with (with her similarities to the Witch and all). I don’t think she really owes anything to Subaru because she’s already done so much for him – from letting him stay with her, to healing him and watching over him… what more can she do? She’s not going to be indebted to him for life and I think Subaru needs to realize that. Since all these past lives only exist in Subaru’s head, I do feel bad that he has to face all these inner conflicts and turmoil alone; but you can’t force yourself on others either. With each life, he should be more appreciative of being given another chance and not take these opportunities for granted. I get it – he’s just a child and he has a lot of built-up anger and frustration, but hopefully this will help him grow up and see his life in a different perspective. Maybe this is what he needs to really change his ways or his approach on the situation.
Going forward, I hope that each episode isn’t going to end up with an explosive Subaru and his rage outbreaks. I prefer he analyzed his situation a bit better before speaking, similar to episode 6 which he slowed down to look and observe. There’s a lot going on here that isn’t focused on Subaru and it’s probably hinted early on what’s going on with this royal election. There’s talks of the Dragon and equality within the kingdom, there’s also a clear division between the rich and poor which Felt wants to eliminate. These are very serious issues and similar to any political debates, each representative has their own promises if they were to rule Lugnica. If it turns into a battle of wits and games rather than a duel, that’d be cool too. I don’t see Re: Zero being a psychological game though even if there’s more than meets the eye amongst all the new cast. Anastasia and Crush feel very static for the time being so they’re probably easier to predict, but Priscilla and Felt are far more interesting and their views can be more polarizing. Emilia behaves exactly like I’d expect her to and her choice of sponsor being Roswaal is different… I still don’t trust him at all (creepy clowns).
Bottom Line – @ RCCherrie: What a tense episode of #ReZero! Just that argument at the end had me so on edge. Poor Subaru. There’s a polarizing view on whether or not Subaru’s were OOC and while I don’t think it was, I still think he behaved irresponsibly.
Full-length images: The eligible candidates for the throne.
A strong episode. Emilia actually taking a stand for what she wants. Pulling back the veil on the ugly side of the obsessive stalker MC character type. Possibly finally touching on what it is about Subaru as a person that kept him as a NEET, considering his personality up til this point should have made it fairly easy for him to fit in at school.
There have been flags for this for most of the series, but something I never expected to happen because 1) this is from a light novel, and 2) anime almost never looks at this side of things. It was painful to watch, but also reassuring that the author was actually going to address these issues.
Totally agree.
In other LN of this kind. Julius would be made a dick head and evil and MC cheap trick would work out and won then everyone would then praise him.
This episode is so good.
I agree that this was actually a really good episode, especially since it is a wakeup call for Subaru if one understands what has happened. So far, he has died several times, realizing that every time he dies he comes back. While this sort of “cheat” has a godly advantage, this made Subaru arrogant and careless. He charges in without thinking, risking him self without a worry. He isn’t brave but he becomes too reliant on his ability to realize the flaws of his actions, where he thinks doesn’t need to think twice thus he becomes stupid and arrogant due to knowing he won’t die. In this episode his arrogance shows thus the result is that he’s now been shot down by the girl he loves. He got beaten by a knight who he thought he could beat simply by using half baked skills and magic. This has opened up a new path for him to open his eyes more, learn and hone his skills in magic.
Naturally, most anime need to crush the Main character mentally to allow them to understand that they need to grow.
…But is he really an obessuve stalker given his stituation?
This is yhe same guy put his on the line to save several people would not even be here weren’t for him, and end suffering physical and mental trauma though it all. By himself. Being reductive about him character in light if all that is just plain wrong. He’s flawed yes and his situation with Emilia largely due ti fustraution and preasure, but he’s someone always had good intentions behind his actions. So to vilfy him in that way going overbroad. He made mistakes, he’s not entirely selfless, but he’s hardly as bad you make out to be.
There’s an issue of time distortion in the story – In the span of the show only a few weeks have gone by since Subaru met Emilia. In Subaru’s mind though with all the loops several months have gone by, and he has a familiarity with others that he should not have developed so quickly. Imagine someone you just met is willing to die for you and acts like you’ve been together for years. Would get pretty weird quick. So when you look at it from Emilia’s perspective based on what she’s experienced and knows- yes Subaru is stifling and selfish. The Story is showing real guts to not gloss over the fact the MC is selfish and kinda crazy from others perspectives even if it is unpleasant to watch the MC suffer due to things outside his control.
Ah, this will take some careful dissecting.
This is a logical flaw in the same vein as “the ends justifies the means”. The fact that he saved her life is not a free pass to excuse any other action he ever takes, or interaction he has with her. And in fact, that is part of the problem, in that he expects that because he saved her life, she “owes” him. Which very much starts on the creepy stalker path problem.
Note that this is different from Emilia feeling that she owes him. By taking that stance from Subaru’s side, he’s essentially trying to force her to be indebted to him, with that debt being her entire life. A life debt is one that you may choose to give, not one that someone takes from you. Someone taking and claiming that is called slavery.
So, bringing that in as a justification for his actions is a condemning statement, not an exonerating one.
This is the passive-aggressive problem. “Look at how much I’ve suffered for you; you owe me.” The end conclusion is the same as above, but it follows a slightly different logical path.
If you choose to suffer for the sake of someone else, that’s laudable. However, it is, again, your choice, and not the other person’s, and does not confer obligation on their part.
This is both correct and incorrect at the same time. Yes, there’s frustration, and yes, there’s pressure, and yes, those contribute to the problem at hand. However they are not justifications. Presenting your counterargument this way hides the actual issue by pretending that “frustration” and “pressure” are in and of themselves entirely complete, non-ambiguous points that support your argument. That is not the case.
There are a number of sources of frustration and pressure, applied to both sides in this interaction. For example, there’s frustration in not being able to explain his circumstance, with the time loops. But there also appears to be frustration that Emilia is not behaving the way she’s “supposed” to. And frustration that, as the ‘main character’, he’s not getting the respect and acknowledgement that he things he deserves. And frustration that he can’t beat up the guy that pissed him off. And frustration that he’s in a situation where he’s way out of his depth, and being made to feel small and helpless. And on, and on, and on.
On Emilia’s side, there’s someone who she’s known for only a short time, but has appeared to be completely devoted to her, and self-sacrificing when it comes to the village children, and the household oni-maids. He’s cheerful and happy and wacky, and she knows absolutely nothing about his true self, and she can’t afford to let him be his cheerful wacky self in the midst of a serious diplomatic conference, where his actions reflect on her, and her chances to succeed and have a chance to improve things for everyone in the entire country. Losing all of that because of one guy who can’t keep his foot out of his mouth… She would like to believe in him and trust his intentions, but doing so would be the height of foolishness.
So yes, there are frustrations and pressures on both sides, which leads to the difficult situation. However those are only the factors that allow this situation to happen; they are not the causes of the current crisis, nor are they excuses to be used for shifting blame.
Good intentions are never an excuse. Never. Because good intentions are the most simplistic and selfish manner of justifying an action, and a handwave to pretend no actual thought is needed, and can be used to justify just about anything.
@Dave
Dude you putting more thought in this whole thing more than Subaru is. He isn’t some calculating Machiavellian here. Just some ordinary guy who trying to do right thing in keeping what attachments he has in this world alive despite being in over head in situation he has no control of. He going about clumsy way, but that’s nothing new. If he wanted take some unlawful controlling advantage Emilia it would have been a longtime ago and Emilia wouldn’t even bother having this talk with him. Regardless of how it come out he’s had largely good intentions and you taking what he said in spur of moment time of weakness caused by in his inability to directly explain his situation to Emilia seriously.
Plenty of people say lots of things they don’t mean under duress. Heck, I’ve done before, but that doesn’t mean I actually think those things.
And that’s the whole problem.
And why most of your argument does not work. Regardless of how one feels about something, intentions and context do fact matter. That how we as humans able to understand something any otherwise you get shallow one-sided discussions. Human do not always act rational in every given situation. Taking all everything in account that lead up to that scene it’s pretty clear Subaru had hit his limit everything that happened up to that point with his trigger for his pent up frustration finally exploding when wasn’t even allowed to tell Emilia the truth about himself.
I don’t condone what Subaru said either, but I can at least recognize that he said what he did under stress. At same token don’t blame Emilia for doing what she did especially when she can’t understand why he’s going so far her. Perspective is important especially in delicate emotionally charged scenes like this so not cheapened by buzzwords.
@David @Iron Maw
I love your discussion of this. Great to read.
Personally I fall on David’s side of the argument with nods of acknowledgement to Iron Maw’s case. Subaru is in the wrong here, on multiple levels.
We can understand him, because Iron Maw’s arguments are somewhat sound. Subaru _has_ suffered for others and _has_ helped them immensely. And the fact that he can die and be reset must actually be horrible, even though it’s useful. And it must even be worse that he can’t actually explain himself without the witch squeezing his heart, maybe to permanent death.
But, David’s right; even taking that into account, he’s being an obsessive stalker with an unhealthy amount of arrogance and no small amount of delusions of grandeur. Others haven’t known him for that long and have no idea why he is so devoted and sure of himself. There’s no other explanation for others than him having some kind of hidden agenda, especially if he gives everyone reasons to not trust him without reservation.
Take it how you will, but the start of the Royal Selection would’ve been fine without him, but he had to insert himself. Yes, there was a positive effect on one elder, but mostly he generated drama in a scene in which he had no business at all. He was being genre-savvy where it wasn’t warranted.
I hope Subaru will learn from this and put himself in the shoes of others more now. That’s the bit that he desperately needs… empathy.
Told ya he’s an annoying creepy NEET.
I just want to say one thing about Subaru’s behaviour in the final scene.
If a conversation goes on and frustrates a person to the point where they eventually “snap” and say something insensitive/terrible/mean/etc, it doesn’t mean that that person has finally shown their “true colors” and revealed what they truly think. It just means that that person has built up so much energy within them by enduring all the annoying/negative stuff that eventually they come to a point where the body just needs to let all of that energy out (either by crying, screaming, physical activity, etc.). Some people just say hurtful things on purpose, that they don’t actually mean. In Subaru’s case, he yelled out that disgusting line to Emilia: “You should have a greater debt to me than you could ever repay!”. I don’t think for a second he truly believes that.. he just reached a tipping point, he’s really just suffering and thinking “If only you knew what I’m going through, if only I could tell you..”.
I mean think about it, he’s juggling memories from multiple different timelines and is only able to talk about one of them. And he keeps being pushed to answer questions that he literally can’t answer. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him despite cringing over almost everything he said.
This episode made me feel so shitty inside.. I seriously love this anime so fucking much!!
I completely agree with you there. I don’t think he meant all that he said. He just snapped, which was cringe-worthy indeed. I just hope these turn of events straighten him out a bit. And that he will be able to patch up with Emilia.
That last sentence of your comment though.. Can’t help but laugh a little when you put “makes me feel shitty”, with “loving it” in one sentence. Long live the shitty feeling? 😛
Hmm isn’t it the other way around? Normally people can keep a check at his/her own feelings so while they think someone was annoying they can still smile etc, but when he/she was cornered in most case they will shown his true feelings in that spur of moment.
While I say that, I am agree it wasn’t Subaru true colors, it was just a spur of moment.
I don’t blame Subaru for his outburst of emotions at the end because he did feel like he was backed into a corner with Emilia accusing him of being untrustworthy and selfish. I would probably be extremely angry as well because here’s someone that I thought I was risking my life for and she doesn’t even appreciate it!
But that’s not the scene that I felt like Subaru overstepped some boundaries. It was everything he did leading up to that moment. When he proclaimed to be a knight or when he fought Julius or upset Emilia in the grand room, that was what got to me. He could’ve stopped himself or not said anything but he did it all anyway and that move, was what bothered me. Not his scene in bed but just all the outrageous things he did before that. He upset all the knights in the room, he upset Emilia and worst of all – he doesn’t even think he did anything wrong. In hindsight, usually people would think “Oh ya, that was a bad call” but Subaru still thinks he’s doing the right thing and he needs to dial it back a lot.
He’s just not the kind of guy who can suck it up for greater gains later, when people are being cruel to him or especially Emilia. He’s way too empathetic to ever make it in politics. Sincere might be the word; he has his heart on his sleeve, whether it’s jealousy over a romantic rival or accepting a challenge without any thought or just wanting people to stop being racist dickheads to his waifu.
His previous victories worked not just because he came up with clever ideas but because he could convince people of his sincerity and good will and get them to believe in him. But it’s not a tool that really works in delicate situations like this one.
I definitely don’t disagree with you Cherry, Subaru has been acting ridiculously. There were so many things he could have done differently if he just for one second would stop thinking about himself or Emilia. I feel bad for Julius, who really has yet to interract with Subaru without the latter giving him that “I hate you”-face.
On the one hand, I want him to just do a quick reset because I really don’t want anything that happened in this episode on his record, but on the other hand I’m really hoping he doesn’t because I feel that he’ll learn more if he stays and thinks things through. He is being so very childish. As you said in the main post, he needs to realize that he’s not the main character. Pronto!
The part that I disliked, or rather what hurt me the most, was when Emilia said that they’d be done with each other after this. I’m not saying she’s being unreasonable, but wow did that hurt. I’m really curious as to how things’ll progress from here, but I really hope they don’t just fix everything with a reset.
So true! That’s why I was kinda surprised at how many people judged this whole thing as black or white. There’s so many shades of gray in this. Emilia is looking at Subaru as one individual but the guy in front of her is a multitude of experiences, emotions, knowledge and has done many selfless acts in her favor but THIS current emilia doesn’t know an iota of it so she only judges him based on the crap he’s pulled here which i’m not debating since he was super ugly here (in terms of character lol) but this was the tipping point as you say…he had to explode…what he said in the end was not to THIS Emilia but to the COLLECTIVE of Emilias and experiences he had with them that this one doesn’t know about.
He needs to reset and takes some time off and get over it by re-realising that no matter how angry he’s right to be at her for not seeing why he’s going so far for her (she kept asking why) she really is THIS current version of Emilia and not the collective like HE is. Its hard to explain but i hope that makes sense? lol
no matter how angry he wants to get she nor anyone won’t get it, they’ll just think he’s a crazy idiot…so he needs to reset and come back and act proper as if he just met her Again basically.
He’s only ever reset as a last resort though (since he doesn’t know what his checkpoint is and the trauma that came with the deaths). I think it would be better if he fixes their relationship properly, take time off and regroup his thoughts. Of course he’s going to regret it, but Subaru needed to let out that frustration, and someday when him and Emilia can meet properly he’ll realize what needs to be done. He should leave the reset as he’s always had to use it as it is since he’s hasn’t abused it but has taken others for granted.
You explained it perfectly Hawk, the part about him talking to the collective of Emilia’s even though the one standing before him is the only “real” one. She even notices this and comments on it “The me in your mind must be amazing, she can understand things without you saying anything to her”. That must have stung him a bit. I’m with Dualash in that I hope he doesn’t reset though. He definitely needs a reality check. Then again, does a person who can turn back time by dying really need a reality check? Heh…
@JayDrink: “If a conversation goes on and frustrates a person to the point where they eventually “snap” and say something insensitive/terrible/mean/etc, it doesn’t mean that that person has finally shown their “true colors” and revealed what they truly think.”
Yes, it doesn’t NECESSARILY = that’s what they really think/”true colors”, but it sure CAN be what they really think/”true colors”. That situation can be similar to when people are drunk. Mental filters come off and people can and DO say what they really think. “I do all this for you and you don’t appreciate it!” That kind of statement (which is what this is) has certainly been uttered in arguments (alcohol induced or not) because that’s what a person does in fact think – – just as Cherrie comments.
I think his statement does “ring true” because of how he acts before this statement. He’s possessive and “I just want to help” doesn’t whitewash that. Didn’t he remark something to the effect of Julius (someone) trying “to keep him away from Emilia”? He gets jealous very easily and wants to be with her all the time – even when she expressly tells him not to. He can’t even keep his promise on that. He feels “justified” in his actions – WHY? Well, “look at all I’ve done for you even though you never asked me” and/or “Everything turned out OK because of me”. It all fits too well to be dismissed lightly IMO.
Whether his excuse/reason is valid is another matter.
You’re absolutely right! I definitely should have included the word “necessarily” in my comment. I was so focused on defending one point of view that I disregarded the other one (where people actually end up saying what they “truly” mean) even though it’s probably more common. Yeah, Subaru was being very childish throughout the episode and I really just hope he learns something from all this.
I believe it is the correct way to interpret Subaru’s behavior in that argument he had with Emilia, but unfortunately for him that’s from the omniscient viewer point of view, not from Emilia.
What he did damaged so much what he tried to achieve, it’s a form of self-destruction or withdrawal in a sense, and that means that his mind is seriously damaged by all these past events, he’s still on the edge.
I also think that the anime/manga and maybe LN only shows us the events rather objectively, there’s no introspection from Subaru or another character, knowing his mental state may explain a lot on his behavior during this arc, all that is left to the viewer interpretation, and i like it that way.
It was thoroughly satisfying to see him lose, and better yet, to have to live and deal with the shame. In his particular case, dying and resetting would be too easy, an escape. Now he has to face the consequences.
if he was smart he would abuse the heck out of his reset and just carry a knife with him to kill himself whenever he doesn’t like the outcome, the darkness holds him by the rules of not spelling his secret, doubt it will let him perma. die if he kills himself.
Dying is painful and sucks Subaru might not be able to pull off a suiside unless totally desperate and might not be able to pull off a knife yourself kill at all.
This episode showed something most anime don’t show and that is the ugly side of the main character which I will give it credit for. Subaru has looked so suspicious for some time especially during the royal selection. The moment he walked in the amount of people he was familiar with was suspicious and his actions o dear lord I was practically begging for him to stop talking almost throughout the episode
Sometimes a guy just needs a beatdown when he becomes too self-absorbed. Emilia’s correct in that Subaru has been very selfish through this trip back to the capital. She’s treated him pretty well throughout, but he wants to get involved in every little thing of hers. She was adamant that he stay away/outside in a way she hadn’t really shown before; maybe she was trying to save you from yourself, Subaru? I can understand his desire to be her knight, but that also involves trusting her decisions. If she felt she could handle it, let her handle it. If nothing else, Roswaal is capable in battle, and seems to have motive to protect Emilia, at least until she wins the selection.
Nothing he did was particularly out-of-character; he’s been up to these kinds of antics for a while, we just haven’t seen normal reactions since those around him aren’t exactly normal, and they’ve been spoiling him, like when Rem let him go when she should probably have known better.
Gotta say, though, that bit at the end stung when Emilia is disappointed when he won’t (can’t) tell her what he’s been going through. Has he tried a more round-about way to talk about it, or is he cursed from saying anything at all?
Unfortunately for Subaru the triggered for Black Hand is based on “intent”, so doesn’t mater what he tries.
what is this? Why of all sudden we get “Project Geass” vibes? Where bad Guys become the Heroes? Do the “White Knights” ones become boring? not attracting enough fans? Now we get the “Dark Side” Darth Vader types that need to be rescued at the end?…
Oh, well.. Perhaps i am to old school
I don’t see any problems with any of the White Knights here as they all acted casually. Julius may sound a bit arrogant sometimes, but he seems to be a generally alright guy, even if a bit tough. That he beat up Subaru was also required, because you can’t just come to some major political faction, insult them and get away without consequences (letting such an act go unpunished can hurt your authority and you DON’T want that). So if Julius did not take care of him, Subaru would have paid a higher price either legally (the Knights arresting him) or in an alley. With that said, the Knights here did NOT enjoy seeing Subaru being bullied, so again they are not shown as bad people.
Subaru still acts like he lives in our world, rather than in a Medieval world. And if he keeps going like that, he will just make the life difficult for himself and those around him.
There’s also the fact that Subaru is most likely assuming the history of this world must be similar to the real world, where a lot of medieval knights (or other sort of “knight”-like positions in Europe, like the Musketeers in France) really were largely nobility who were more or less handed the position due to their family name/wealth/influence/etc. (but many were still were trained hard to fit the position and did see real battle after joining), and the peasants usually not able to become one unless they REALLY are able to show their stuff somehow.
For all Subaru knows, it could very well be the opposite here, where a lot more of the knights could be people who started as peasants and had to work their asses up the ranks.
The nobility which includes knights were expected to fight and were the primary core of the armies. Nobles would lead their troops into battle and training was intense and from an early age. Knights and nobel sons were expected to earn their spurs though a long difficult process. Only the disabled in some way were exempt and then not truly a Knight although they could rule their territory similar to when women came into power.
Knight Orders were more hard core and there members were from the commoners so Subaru knows way to little.
The not in battle noble and knight Subaru is thinking of is after Kings almost totally took power from the nobles and thus shoved them out having troops or generating extra knights. Kings did this to obtain total control and cut down revolts that could win. This is only after professional Armies came to rule the battlefield. For story purposes this is post Renaissance period 1700’s and afterward so Subaru is way off base. Guess Subaru avoided history and the more realistic historical games. But even in the Professional Army period nobel sons often were expected to serve in the military having their commissions paid for, there military strategy varied, but many had military training and normally all Nobel sons were expected to know how to fence even in the period Subaru is thinking of.
Sorry you guys, but this bad aspect of Subaru, who is self centered and tries to force himself on others (including Emilia), is affirmed as a virtue ultimately by the author.
I hope you’re joking, because if not, then this episode has no point. I mean, I was tolerating stupidity of Subaru only for his future development, when he can fix his faults ( like Luke in Tales of the Abyss ) and this episode making his bad points as values are like the last thing i’d think of.
Before this episode i couldn’t even think that i’d join his haters lol.
Shirocat// No joke intended. I know the story of arc 3 as I’m a reader of the WN.
By the way, this episode makes a sense because a temporary failure makes the final victory of our bad MC even more glorious and dramatic.
That’s a striaght up lie from what novel readers at Animesuki have told and translated. Disregardhis post.
Can’t say his interpretation is wrong, but at the same time, I know a friend who is Japanese who actually does read the original web novel. He’s always been good enough at avoiding spoilers, all that he said was that this arc would set up the arc that would have Subaru at his lowest of lows, and that “he would climb out of it, starting from Zero to become the Hero” is what he summed arc 3 to be. Despite that though, he did say Subaru’s antics will be here to stay, just that his character development will be god-tier level.
@Art of Trap (Kuma)
Then that just means his interpretation is warped and post just further confirms what other LN/WN readers said and what I have seen myself.
To begin with is not like Suabru has nothing bad traits. On contrary, he’s been earnest, altruistic enough to help strangers, courageous in times when he needed to be and values the bonds and friendships built with people a lot. There nothing wrong with his devotion to people he loves, he just needs to go about it better and suffocate them with it. Even despite how disastrous results of this situation to turn out to be he really didn’t do what did out pure self-interest. Suabru was genuinely concerned about Emilia’s safety partly he knows how limited his power own.
http://i.imgur.com/Vi4JDEj.png
http://i.imgur.com/Qz55Eqt.png
http://i.imgur.com/3skaASb.png
http://i.imgur.com/M7ez4j4.png
Yes, went about displaying concern terribly, he say things he shouldn’t out of stress and didn’t think all of his actions. But you know what? That just means he’s no Saint, only human and highlights fact he still has growing up to do. This fairly harsh but necessary step that was this episode is clearly providing the foundation for that growth.
It is a virtue. If he didn’t involve himself with the others, there would be a lot of dead bodies in the 1-st and 2-nd arcs. The problem is, any virtue can be twisted into something bad. I think we’ve seen Subaru at his worst – his insecurities and selfishness pushing him to act as a complete jackass.
Kessler // insecure personality, selfishness, self-absorbness and forcing himself on others are not virtues, though they could be twisted as to make a good tesult in some situation.
Did the author actually say that insecure personality, selfishness, self-absorbness and forcing himself on others were virtues? I admit I sort of responded in a blind, making assumptions of what the author said.
Kessler // Not explicitly by the author, but that bad Subaru achieves the final victory and glory in the story. Enough to back up my claim.
In otherwords he’s putting words in authors mouth and using his dislike of Subaru to justufy his point of view. It is completely at odds of what WN and LN readers on Animesuki have said. The mainpoint this arc is developing Subaru into a better person.
This Subaru hater, fripsidelover9111, reminds me so much of that adamant yuri hater in the Hibike Euphorium blogs who tries to twist facts to suit his ‘opinion’.
Sorry, you’re way to lenient on Subaru. Liar and oath breaker to one he professes to love. Involves himself in things he has no right too and can harm said love interest. Green eyed jealous of someone who, in this society at least, he isn’t fit to clean their boots. Stupid enough to take on a person who has trained from childhood in combat and, at least on the surface, appears to have a knightly morality. The looks he has given both Julius and in the last scene Emilia are about as ugly as I’ve ever seen on a supposed good guy and ML. Annoying, boastful, Subaru was bad enough, but instead of becoming wiser to the ways of the world he’s become way worse. It doesn’t seem like the same character who saved Felt and Rem.
Oh, and strange that someone else hasn’t noticed the smell of the witch? No other magicians or non humans in the crowd?
Not sure how the smell thing works, but I think only demons or powerful mages can “smell” him? Like Ram/Rem and Beatrice. Maybe Knights and regular people don’t notice?
JayDrink mentioned above (and I agree with) that Subaru probably doesn’t really MEAN everything that he said at that moment because he’s probably a) very mad and angry and b) feels cornered and frustrated. It’s hard for Emilia not to take those things personally but in some ways, I wouldn’t judge the guy too badly based on those few words alone. It’s everything leading up to that moment that I really felt like Subaru could’ve changed and stepped back on. Yes – I might be too lenient but hey… I give the creators props for diving into a character’s psyche so deeply and taking Subaru down this dark path. I certainly pity Subaru and that’s why I feel like he can change and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
If it was just those few words to Emilia I’d accept that explanation, but his actions in the rest of the episode and the previous one show someone self-centered and entitled. He’s acting more like a stalker than someone who actually cares about her. Almost a borderline yandere in his jealousy.
Dying (Multiple times in Subaru’s case) tends to throw people out of whack. Like what the Felix’s Butler said in the previous episode (his eyes has seen death many times). SO I can give him a pass for his cringe worthy behavior this episode.
Not everyone can claim to stay completely sane after having their gut sliced open , arm and leg torn off, throat slashed and head crushed by rocks/spiked ball.
This episode was so satisfying! Subaru finally got what he deserved! That obsessive clingy annoying shit. I disliked his personality from the start and I’m so surprised that people are saying “what happened to him these last two episodes?” when it was there all along. Subaru just lied straight to Emilia’s face and publicly humiliated her because he had to satisfy his ego. Emilia was just a one-dimensional character so far but I admire that she told Subaru she had enough of his bullshit. I’m really glad that she finally had some character development beyond being the generic nice girl and love interest. I always believe that what people say when they’re angry is what they truly feel. Subaru’s so-called “love” for Emilia is nothing but possessiveness and entitlement.
If he tries to kill himself to reset his relationship with Emilia I would have lost whatever little shred of respect I have left for his character. I hope the next “save point” is after this falling out, if not the whole scene is pointless. Hopefully this shatters his saviour complex and he actually starts acting more like a real person instead of some hero wannabe. I like that we aren’t getting some boring as hell main character though. The fact that I can feel this level of annoyance means the show is doing something right.
#FeltsamaforQueen2k16
Also: http://i.imgur.com/P8k7gTR.jpg
Personally, I feel even if he kills himself, but realizes his mistakes, and resets but changes his way, that’d be acceptable too, although I definitely perfer if he faces the consequences and makes amends in this time loop.
I don’t think Subaru pushing to get involved with Emilia & royal selection was wrong in itself. He could encourage her as a friend and if for example assassins attacked, his power may have allowed him to save the day again. The problem is, he wasn’t doing it for Emilia, but for himself. In the capital he sensed that his importance as hero was slipping, so he started to overcompensating by being more pushy, loud and obnoxious then usual, and then went into being a complete jerk. I’d say he must have some insecurities about his personal worth, not helped by everybody around him being powerful knights, nobles and mages.
I think in the first two arcs Subaru was genuinely heroic, getting involved in dangerous situations to save others. But perhaps his successes have made him think, that he could always do it and succeed. Basically, he started to think of himself as “Main Character” and reduced everybody else into props for his heroic story – Emilia into pure-pureness damsel in distress and knights into evil jerks he would prevail over to show his worth.
I gained some appreciation for Emilia, both for giving Subaru benefit of the doubt and calling him on his lies. Plus I feel bad for her – she really just wanted to have a friend, who would see her, for who she really is. Taking that away from her is the worst thing he’s done in my opinion.
I don’t mind, if Subaru remains impulsive, somewhat foolish and keeps getting into situations over his head, as long as he does it for the sake of others (not this fake – “I did it all for you” in this episode). He can be a good person, if his main-character ego isn’t in the driver’s seat.
I think you’ve hit on his problem. He has “Main Character” syndrome. He still thinks of himself as the MC in an anime/video game and expects to be the central character in the story when he’s a small fish in a big sea that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about him. Somehow he’ll always come out on top and be the one involved in all of the major happenings. He’s not even in control of his actions but acting under some purpose that appears to be the Jealous Witch’s. In that respect he’s nothing more than a pawn.
To be certain, Subaru is a worst kind of person. In my view, he really wants to help Emilia. There is no lie in it. But his attitude toward Emilia is out-right male chauvinistic and childish in that he wants her to be a yes-girl, the kind of girl who would obey whatever he tells her to do, and think it’s not her but Subaru who really knows what is the best for her, and be willing to gratitude him, saying “Oh, my shujin, my master! I’m nothing without you! So always stay with me and protect me, even at losing your life. Of course, you will have my sweet lap-pillow for compensation!”
That is such a gross exaggeration of his character. Yes he’s immature and not completely sefless but he’s never asked much of Emilia anything beyond innocous things her name and to go out with at one point. His overprotective cost him, but the source of that was mostly due to all crap his been through for the past month,
The character you described in you post wouldn’t be trying to save childern he spent time with.
Iron Maw // He asked, at least hope, her to thank and appreciate what he did to help her, even if she clearly refused it.
He tried something against her will, with no respect for her will, yet he still wants her to thank him about it.
It’s equivalent that he treated her as a his possesion, his thing, not as a person being equal with him. In other words, his attitude is no different from caring for a pet.
@fripsidelover9111
Once again you have proven to be able only see things in black & white when preious which had characters committing far greater sins such as murder show that reasons behind those actions. Just like in with that incident Subaru breaking his promuse to Emilua wasn’t good, but he didn’t mailious intents towards her or as a sign of disrepect. It’s because he has own reasons and issues which he is literally incapable of telling her no matter how much he wants too. Perspective is key, that how people came to like Rem after ep 11 despite she did to Subaru. So beung wilfylly ignorant.
Yes Suburu is a sexist jerk, understandable as he is like a majority of Japanese males but still wrong. And his jealous actions again sexist the women can express if she is disturbed by others her self.
I still can enjoy this story but I do have to make allowances in some stories.
Yeah… sorry I can’t agree with that. To call Subaru misguided or outright insane, sure I am on board with that. But Subaru sexist? I don’t think I have seen anything from him that might be interpreted as being prejudiced or discriminatory. He subscribes, to a certain extent, to chivalry, but I wouldn’t call him sexist, it would be far too much.
As much as I cringed, this also helps show that Subaru is a flawed character and not some shonen hero who tends to have just one or two bad things happen and then is “perfect” the rest of the time (like he himself may think he had become). Things can still go very wrong, including by his own words and actions, and he’s going to have to face the consequences.
It also shows how everything that has happened up to this point, despite how Subaru may try to make himself appear on the outside (like how he really overcompensated his butler facade last arc that time), is definitely having a negative effect on his mind. Even last episode, you had who I assume was Reinhard’s (grand)father, comment on Subaru’s eyes as someone who has seen death multiple times, which I would assume for the guy himself at least, would be like a soldier, and we know how many soldiers show signs of PTSD and can become completely different people from before due to far less than what Subaru has gone through.
I also really hope they don’t cop out and let him fix at least what happened here, and between him and Emilia, much less almost everything by just dying and resetting at a convenient point. If they did such a thing here, it would not feel genuinely earned or sincere at all even if Subaru did realize his mistakes, but still feel like he only got it through “save scumming”.
Subaru is a NEET being pushed to the brink by his character and circumstances.
I don’t know how long he’s been a NEET, but it’s clear that Subaru has poor social skills and doesn’t know how to relate to people. In his bishoujo games the situation is usually very straightforward: be a hero, make the choices you think will make the girl happy, and you’ll get her affection in the end. His obsession with Emilia is also a result of this otaku mentality.
And yet Subaru…isn’t entirely to blame. He was transferred to this world against his will and given a terrible power he never asked for. Dying over and over again and not being able to talk about it is like dropping Mentos into a bottle of cola and keeping the lid on: it’ll eventually explode spectacularly. The fact that anyone could be an enemy (including those close to him) has generated a sense of paranoia and causes him to stick to the one person he feels won’t betray him ever. Obviously he went overboard.
Just because you’re a NEET, doesn’t mean you have poor social skills. I think he pointed out himself that he’s a NEET, but I thought he was able to build relationships fairly well up until this point. Yes he did some shady things while in the mansion, but look – he has a good relationship with Puck, Ram/Rem and Beatrice now and that’s all thanks to himself…
I don’t see why that all fell apart here other than his own ignorance of the situation at hand. He’s not taking this seriously enough and doesn’t see the consequences of all these things he’s doing “for Emilia”. And that’s ruining his relationship with her. I think he’s gotten more confident with his abilities after the past 2 arcs that now he feels more capable… but the truth is, he still has a long way to go to be able to stand by Emilia’s side.
this Paranoia thing is spreading like poison mushrooms in the mangas i see here and there.. wondering if this is the next “hype” train of the mangakas…
Honestly, some of Subaru’s responses and attitudes this episode really annoyed me not because I can’t see him become entitled with the things that he feels he has to do and his attachment to Emilia or caught up in the stress of it all, but because it felt exaggerated for the sake of artificially engorged drama.
It feels /really off/ that he seemed to be ignoring the possible consequences of his actions and taking things for granted when it was emphasized just in the previous arc that he must and will make the best of every single life, because even if he might come back if he messes up and dies, there’s no guarantee he will, and even then it’s painful and terrifying in more than one way; him commiting suicide to have the chance to save Rem despite managing to survive himself was so significant precisely because of this.
So from that perspective, it’s like the episode took an unexplained step back in characterization.
I also really wasn’t expecting Subaru’s breakdown to be so ugly at the end. Like, yes, he’s not exactly been shown to be super resistant to those, because he’s just human, he’s surrounded by stressful and very heavy circumstances that wouldn’t reflect well on anyone’s psyche, and he’s still being impossibly distant from everything he used to know. That shit ain’t easy. But he’s also had a near-month of relative succor after the latest ordeal in the story, which was surely compounded by him coming to bit of internal peace and a relieving of his personal anxiety despite how much he suffered in the process.
Subaru is already a very flawed person in how his presumptuousness gets him in trouble and paints his personal interactions with others, particularly when he doesn’t know the “proper” way to act – even if it’s not entirely genuine. But the extent to which he lashed out at the end (arguably that the moment was like that at all), for the reasons above, frankly came off as pretty forced too.
I’m not nearly as upset at this episode as I was at first, which is good because my perspective was honestly distorted during my initial analysis (although it admittedly didn’t help I was shown context-less cuts of all of Subaru’s worst moments before watching), but I still find it to have the most questionable writing of all the episodes so far. Some scenes I enjoyed a lot though, such as Subaru’s growing frustration and loss of composure at the way the court was treating Emilia.*
(*Oddly, I’ve seen some people upset at Subaru because he was making “cringe-worthy faces” there, but that’s possibly the silliest and most thoughtless reason to criticize him this episode I’ve heard.)
Nothing thoughtless or silly about our reasoning. That’s your opinion about the “cringe-worthy faces” but I see them as an expression of his inner emotions and thoughts that are so strong they register on his face. Those faces are a way the animators can show us why he’s acting the way that he is (show don’t tell). We didn’t get to hear what he is thinking but his facial expressions give the viewer the ability to infer them and they’re not pretty. That’s the whole point. Did you think the animators drew them arbitrarily?
Did you actually read what I said?
I made no negative judgement about his expressions. In the previous paragraph I said I really liked that scene. His expressions were excellent at showing exactly how he was feeling about the responses Emilia was getting, and a great way to demonstrate his loss of composure over it.
I was critizing //opinions that his range of expression in that scene was bad or made Subaru annoying because they were “cringe-worthy”//. That is not WHAT I THOUGHT at all.
Criticizing*
@Vortigen
Yes, I read what you wrote and that’s not how I interpreted what you said. You mentioned Subaru’s growing frustration and loss of composure but you weren’t explicit about his expressions so I didn’t see the context relative to your last statement. When you say “cringe worthy” are you implying that the commenters thought the expressions were poorly done? If that’s what you meant then I understand your position, however I took their comments to be that we suddenly had the hero/main character show expressions that caused the viewer to have a negative reaction to a character they liked. They saw something ugly about a person that they had a positive view of. Not that the animation itself was “cringe worthy” just as animation.
I know he acted strange and it was disgusting to look at. But look at it from his viewpoint he got dragged into a world he only knows from games but he is still a loser and he dies and he cant tell anyone about it. No one is thanking him and i think everybody would snap.
I’m soooo curious in who brought Subaru here, who cast the magic that allows him to re-live after death and stops him from telling about his “rewind” ability. Subaru is just poor lad who became a tool of someone.
He just kept breaking promises so it was expected he would finally lose her trust. It’s true everything would have turned for worse if he hadn’t been there the other two times, but it was already surprising Emilia was being so supportive and understanding to him, given how little she actually knew and interacted with him.
I would have liked if they had shown more of Emilia’s expressions this chapter, it could have been better done. Using those stupid shadowed eyes and other angles that avoided her face all the time, that’s cheap!
He’s trying to push himself into her life, which is unpleasant to watch. On the other hand, the reason he’s doing that is because of all the Priestess candidates she alone had no protective knight, she was getting shit talked right to her face from the crowd, the other Priestess candidates and the people in power. Ask a guy in love to stand by while that’s happening? As well ask Subaru to fly.
That line of his, ‘I helped, right Emilia?’ really hurts my heart. Dude just wants to help, in his way, but he just keeps fucking everything up because he has no idea what’s going on. Almost as bad was her line asking Subaru to explain himself… which of course he can’t. And then that line about how she owes him more than she knows… technically true, he’s saved the lives of everyone in the mansion (except Ros, natch) one time or another, and suffered and suffered and SUFFERED for it. But of course you can’t force people to owe you, and gratitude isn’t just a blank check to cash.
Just an ugly, ugly scene.
But not a bad one. You can see where both characters are coming from and exactly how and why this trainwreck is happening, and I have to give the show props for that.
She may not have a knight but she’s got Roswell who could probably take out the knights without breaking a sweat. Subaru is not being altruistic but wanting everyone (especially Emilia) to recognize him as a hero. Most of the time it’s someone else who actually saves the day and his repeated blundering attempts only allow the events to change enough that the right person shows up to save the day.
>She may not have a knight but she’s got Roswell who could probably take out the knights without breaking a sweat.
I’m speaking of a protective knight in the emotional sense. Ros is her sponsor and a hell of a mage, but he could also not give two shits about people calling Emilia a devil to her face. Subaru does, he just doesn’t have the know-how or training to back it up.
>Most of the time it’s someone else who actually saves the day and his repeated blundering attempts only allow the events to change enough that the right person shows up to save the day.
That’s like saying a guy who calls the cops on a mugging or a B&E isn’t a hero because he didn’t step in and take on the guy with a knife himself, or a guy who takes someone shot on the street to the hospital isn’t a hero because he didn’t remove the bullet himself.
Hell, Subaru tried to step in and do the hero thing at least three times, dying each time, before he wised up and tried calling the cops (metaphorically). He still dives headfirst into danger at the drop of a hat whenever someone’s in trouble.
Oh I agree he tried to be the hero. I do give Subaru points for putting himself at risk. It’s just that someone had to come in and save his bacon each time. He may have acted heroically, but I think he fell short of actually being the hero in a literary sense at least. I think the term hero is overused. Your example of calling the cops shows someone as a good citizen but I don’t put that in the class of heroism.
Yeah I think I will stop watching here, now he’s all but forcing himself onto Emilia. Not COOL.
Forcing what? She just cut ties to him. Furthermore is only acting the way he does because he’s to Emilia then she to him due all timelines he remembers that she doesn’t.
The fact that he butt into her life and proclaim himself as her knight and then talk about owing him. That’s pretty much forcing himself on her. His attention and injection was not wanted OR needed. No means no.
Why? This is showing that Subaru is not a perfect character. This has been building up from the beginning and he it finally reared its ugly head. I don’t think Subaru truly thinks what he was saying to Emilia at the end. I think it was an outburst and given a little time, he’ll understand the mistake he made and realize he was wrong. I’d say Subaru is a good person who was thrown into a difficult situation and is having trouble dealing with it.
His character will probably get some development off this and it will be a good thing in the long run. No reason to stop watching just because we saw him at his lowest point.
I think Emilia appreciates that he forced himself into her life – considering she was friendless and judged for looking like a witch. Plus dead, if he didn’t save her. I think if he stopped at proclaiming himself her knight, it would have being okay – he’d look like a fool, but the sort of fool, who acts for his friends.
I say, I would take flawed character, who gets called on his slimy deeds and suffers the consequences, over one, whose selfishness is ignored and to whom the world bends so that he/she never even has opportunities to be wrong.
Well its your loss as you’ll not see how Subaru drags himself up from this hell hole.
An interesting thing that doesn’t seem to be getting any discussion is the cut to Ros’s grin when Subaru bulled his way into the China shop in an effort to protect Emelia. Clown-chi is pretty clearly playing a higher game somehow.
Why was Ros happy things happened this way? Is Roswall on Subaru’s side, or did he want Subaru to lose his credit with the Bank of Emilia? Did he want SOMEBODY to say something for Emilia but couldn’t (his own noble position), or did he want Emilia isolated for her own purposes?
Roswall is on Roswell’s side. He’s like the Joker in that you can’t assume anything from his smiles. This one could have been amusement that a little nobody managed to disrupt the proceedings or just cover for his actual anger at Subaru for doing it. He could also be looking at the disruption as something that he might take advantage of. What I couldn’t say. Remember, he’s also suspicious of Subaru so I don’t think he’s on his side.
Definitely true, but he did save Subaru in that forest when he could have easily let him die. And he thanked him with (what seemed like) real sincerity for the efforts on behalf of his onis. So whatever his plans are, I think he Subaru definitely fits in somehow.
@Bear: I see where the confusion came from now.
To clarify, I was saying that said commenters (at places) were hating on the episode or Subaru himself because they found his range of expressions in that scene distasteful. Which I then asserted was poor reason to get their hate on.
Thanks for clarifying that.
appreciate the response.
I really liked this episode because it basically turns the whole idea of a “Main Character” right on top of its head. The world, at least this serises’, doesn’t revolve around the MC and Subaru got a rude awakening to the whole thing. It’s one of those double standard things that seem to be hardwired into all our mindsets where if the “good guy” does it it’s ok since he has a greater purpose but if the “bad guy” does the same thing its despicable because well he is “evil”.
Subaru pretty much stepped over the line here and more than just the final scene. He basically can’t take a hint and went off acting, again, like he is the center of it all. While I don’t particularly like Julius or his seemingly elitst attitude I do appreciate him putting Subaru in his place. The scene at the end was just icing on the cake. The fact that many viewers feel repulsed by it even if “they know all that’s actually happened” is testament to how wrong it is.
Basically I think Emelia was right, while Subaru was proclaiming to have done it all for her, and I suspect he also believed it to be that way, he was actually doing a good deal of it for himself. I don’t blame him for his harsh or unfiltered words because he basically snapped but what came through was that he seems to feel entitled given what he has done. Sure, its no small thing and it takes guts and fortitude to have gone through all of it but at the end of the day if you really are doing it for the sake of someone else you do it freely and while gratitude is appreciated it is not demanded.
Yeah, the very fact that Julius simply had a mock battle with Subaru using wooden swords when, as he said, the punishment for what Subaru did would usually just be death, shows a bigger person than what he tends to display on the outside (and, as mentioned here, not answering Subaru’s words and actions would also probably reflect badly on himself and the Knights). Julius was giving Subaru the chance to prove his thoughts about him wrong, a chance to defend himself but unfortunately, Subaru failed completely and if anything, only made himself look even worse than before to everyone by being “dishonorable” or cowardly by trying to take advantage of Julius’s split-second distraction of Emilia’s sudden appearance to use his own shadow magic and attack him.
Spent the entire last half of the episode wishing he’d die or kill himself and start over.
He royally messed up. Of course, this now means he won’t die cause how else will he learn from his mistakes if all he does is return to his old ways?
Yeesh he’s got a lot of growing up to do.
Gotta say, Subaru has a point though. But for his involvement in many of the show’s previous events, Emilia quite simply wouldn’t be alive- creepy stalker NEET behavior or not. Sure, he owes her plenty too, but she’s the one who owes him life debts. Being functionally immortal he would’ve been fine eventually no matter the situation with or without Emilia, after enough retries. The same would not be true of Emilia without him. Therefore in terms of raw utilitarian calculus, I think there is a strong argument that Emilia really does in fact (at least) owe Subaru significantly more than he owes her.
Having said that, there is no disputing the fact that Subaru’s behavior, though ultimately beneficial to Emilia, resembles that of a creepy, clingy, NEET stalker. Were I in Emilia’s shoes I’d drop that creepy freak hard and fast. If I felt obligated to him because of the life debts I owed him, I’d give him a vast fortune sufficient to last a lifetime, servants (Rem?), titles and an opulent mansion. Everything to give him the perfect life in return for having saved mine. And then I would resolve to never meet him again.
On one hand, I disagree given it’s only in Subaru’s memory that any of that happened. As far as Emilia and the others are concerned, none of that other stuff ever happened hence why Emilia looked so confused when Subaru was talking about those other times that, technically, no longer exist.
On the other hand, I agree similarly for the same reason…weird, huh? lol
I guess I would compare it to someone who…I guess you could say does something that results in saving someone else’s life, but no one else knows it was you BUT you. Sure you may be fine with nobody knowing or praising you as a big hero or anything at first, but then what if that person you saved then went on to become something big and people just always talked about that person being saved and how big they were able to become because of their survival and all, rather than things just quieting right back down after that day. I’m pretty sure a lot of people would get at least bothered by it eventually and if it persisted, for whatever reason (greed mostly), you now feel that person “owes you” and you wanting a piece of their pie.
But since no one, except yourself, knows it was you who saved that person and there is no proof to the claim, people would be very confused, annoyed, angry, etc. that you then come out and start claiming you were the one who saved that person and, despite doing so or not, look like someone just trying to get some sort of free ride.
Maybe not exactly the same kind of comparison but…yeah…I tried, lol. XD
Yeah, that’s not a bad way to describe it.
Look at it like this- Lets say I mix up a bunch of natural and synthetic diamonds in a bag, throw the bag into a time machine and send it back in time- and it somehow ends up in the inventory of a jeweler at a bronze age bazaar- where deficiencies in technology make it impossible to distinguish the real diamonds from the fakes. The bronze age jeweler would probably assume that all the diamonds are real- and therefore value them as such when he sells them to his customers, given that he has no way of distinguishing the real diamonds from the imitations- indeed the very concept of “synthetic gemstones” is, in this context, anachronistic; entirely alien to him.
Of course, regardless of the fact that the bronze age jeweler (and his bronze age customers) are unable to tell my fake diamonds apart from the real ones, and thus value them the same as the real ones, this does not change the true nature of the synthetic diamonds, nor their inherent correspondingly lesser value. Them valuing the fakes as highly as the real deal is, quite simply, a mistake due to a lack of knowledge of the imitations’ true nature, to which there is a true, inherently lesser value attached.
Likewise, because nobody knows about Subaru’s functional immortality, it appears to them as if their saving him from death is equivalent to him saving them from death. Which is not at all the case. Them saving Subaru from death is analogous to my fake diamonds in the hands of the bronze age jeweler- both are assumed to be of far greater value than they truly are because of a lack of knowledge on the part of the observer/evaluator. The observor/evaluator’s perceptual error does not change the true nature, and thus the correspondingly lesser inherent value of these things. “Saving the life of” a functional immortal like Subaru is inherently vastly less meaningful than saving the life of ordinary folks. Saving Subaru from a death is essentially saving him from a relatively short period of pre-“death” physical torture, and from having to waste a few days to get back to the same temporal position from his respawn point.
In other words, if you save Subaru’s life, you are simply saving him time, and from a certain measure of physical pain. Versus saving an ordinary person’s life- you literally save them from the dark oblivion of eternal non-existence. Not to say that the former is worthless, far from it, but I think the vast majority of folks would agree that the latter is inherently worth significantly, even vastly, more.
Good example that works even though you used the wrong item.
I wonder which of the diamond fakes your thinking of. Synthetic Mojssanite might be it hardness 9.5 to diamonds 10 and many similar properties and has been used for fakes that your medieval gem merchant might not be able to detect, although if you heat them say in a candle you can tell by color shift. Natural source Mojssanite is way more valuable than diamonds as it is quite rare.
Synthetic Diamonds are real Diamonds, just as hard and have the same chemical makeup. There a plant down in Sarasota Florida, the Bottom of the Tampa Bay Area I live in, that makes yellow diamonds for gem stones using Soviet Diamond machines they bought and they sell those diamonds for very high prices. Both sources of Diamonds are from carbon put under intense heat and pressure. Both have the same properties and uses. Trace element detectors and other detectors the traditional source industry have developed are only a attempt to keep the value of Synthetic Gem stones down and only partially successful as the only difference is emotional preference and perhaps collectors preference for the more rare. Yes a traditional source quite large yellow diamond probably sells for more because they are very rare, that why the synthetic industry usually sticks to colored diamonds but both will look the same in jewelry and cut glass the same. The gem quality Synthetics take very expensive and power consuming machines to make so there are not that much of them, the lower quality industrial gems are cheaper and easier and tiny to make but no one would mistake them for gem stones, there are natural industrial diamonds as well but have been used for a long time so fewer available. You don’t see Synthetics as much at normal budget prices as the Synthetic industry in the past has stuck to the bigger colored diamonds that are so rare naturally, after all clear smaller most people have diamonds are only expensive because of tight limits on mining them as they are a common stone in the right places after all they are made of carbon not some rare element. The Synthetics are starting to reach the normal people budgets market now and I recommend them as there really is no difference, they look the same, are just as hard, perform the same, cut glass the same.
Fun fact the FTC will not let you use the term Synthetic quoting, “…..with the name of any natural stone to describe any industry product unless such industry product has essentially the same optical, physical, and chemical properties as the stone named.” So a Synthetic cannot be fake.
I don’t think the essence of what I’m saying is incorrect. I use the term “fake” in the loosest, most liberal sense possible, interchangeably with the term “synthetic”- which as you noted is perhaps the more precise word (Yes I’m referring to lab-grown diamonds, not Mojssanite or some other imitation). Let’s not split hairs here, please. And my understanding is that one can distinguish even gem-grade synthetics from naturals with near 100% accuracy by conducting a battery of the most advanced modern tests (such as spectroscopy, fluorescence imaging, etc.), although as one would imagine the costs of using such high-tech methods aren’t always justified.
And there’s a reason why I chose the bronze age. It’s pre-medieval; humans had barely just learned how to work metal and almost certainly had zero knowledge about how to determine the authenticity of gemstones. Even low quality synthetic diamonds/fakes would in all likelihood pass muster as “natural/real” to the people of that time.
I wonder why the studio modified the scene where Emilia getting insulted….In the manga puck comes out and threaten to freeze all the audience, so Subaru kinda more pathetic in the manga..haha
Yes, this scene was quite important to show, it gave a lot of background information about Pack and even Rosewall.
But since the manga and anime are following their own LN adaptation it can’t be helped.
On the other hand the manga did skip a lot too, like how Subaru managed to enter the castle with Priscilla.
I think i’ll read the LN, it’ll be available soon (by Yen press, in august i believe).
yeah I wish they didn’t skipped badass Puck scene.
While Emilia is right to have her feelings, Subaru is literally in over his head so far, and faced so many PTSD moments it is a miracle he hasn’t completely given up in a pool of “I’m overwhelmed”. He’s not past breakdowns, and it is just a pity that he has to suffer for our entertainment like this. . . but that’s the story, and that’s the drama.
Minor spoiler below:
Show Spoiler ▼
Did Suburu miss his own history let alone all that of Medieval periods. I guess only poor games and MMO’s that don’t enforce any sort of class system. If a servant uttered a word in a audience with the officials of the Shogun in his history his head would have rolled before he got many more words out. And Emilia would have lost face and have to apologize for her dead servant.
Imagine a servant doing what Suburu did in any of the meetings in front of the Lords in Game of Thrones, or real history. A immediate beating and being dragged out and imprisoned before flogging and exile is the minimum he could have expected. Even with the Starks it would have been rough, the others probably painfully fatal. Warriors had some ability to talk in war councils but watch the show the normal help never gets involved.
I enjoyed the episode in it’s painful way, and boy most games don’t prepare you for real alternative worlds very well compared to my youth playing paper and dice Dungeon and Dragons and other games. Late 70’s early 80’s. Older history buff players and GM’s made it clear how a medieval world worked for the most part and made you aware there is a class system and that correct behavior is expected around royalty and nobility. Heck even though not required at all I still bow and kneel to the right people in MMO”s.
I don’t know where people though he was annoying or self centered before this episode. Everything he had done before was at the expense of his own life (even though he later learned he could reset). IMO Priscilla is one you could call self-centered.
I think Subaru probably sees Emilia as someone who can’t defend herself, kinda like a nerd being bullied in school and you ask them why they don’t fight back and they answer “it’s ok, let them, it doesn’t phase me anyway…” While we know that BS since we can see how much it pains them being their friend. So In this case subaru acts against her wish to let the Abuse rain upon her so to speak, because he cares and knows she won’t defend herself, HECK even Roswaal provided little help…
I do understand that he still acted like an idiot and was doing it for himself at this point but imo, before as in the early episodes he was doing it for her instead. So the idea that he’s always been self-centered kinda surprises me.
In any case this is the worst I’ve seen Subaru in, I was hoping for him to get some kind of fatality every second of it so that he could reset. He was undoubtedly selfish in entirety this ep and I was wondering even if any kind of reset would even save his character…we shall see what he does next
Am guessing most of his arrogance comes from being able to reset when he dies (in terms of sheer XP he’s already knight material in relation the the Imperial Knghts) for and also the fact that even he can reset, dying takes and emotional and mental toll regardless (it’s not pleasant) and He’s using Emilia as a Mental and Emotional support to handle the stress ( when he cried himself to sleep during Rem’s arc) so when she distances herself from him it causes his stress levels to explode.
Of course at this moment he still not gotten used to the fact that the Respawn powers is only useful after serveral retires and that’s cringe worthy part of him comes into play
Big episode = lot to discuss! We got some separation of the candidates. Not the most dynamic character, but I still like Crusch. Interestingly, her goal of “making the dragon forget the covenant it demanded” seems to align quite well with Roswaal’s goal of killing the dragon (IRRC). As for Anastasia, greedy girl is greedy. Not much else to say. Priscilla does have some personality, but I can’t call it a good one, and her “all shall grovel at my feet” attitude doesn’t help.
Felt, as usual, was fun, but I don’t think a speech of destruction is a crowd pleaser. LOL Still do NOT trust Reinhard, and less so after her speech. Uh, dude IS part of the establishment she’s vowed to destroy so what’s his angle here. What does he really want to accomplish?
Emilia scored a lot of points with me this episode. She was on the back burner last arc, but no longer. Loved how she stood up to all the slurs thrown against her. Not an easy thing to do in that situation, and there’s definitely some backbone to her which I like. Her goal for “all to be equal” makes 1000% sense given the discrimination she’s clearly faced throughout her life. I also think she handled Subaru’s antics well in that situation. Remained cool & calm with proper situational awareness.
On to Subaru. This episode confirmed what I suspected in a comment last episode. He caused a big scene and embarrassed Emilia. Bull in a china shop. Look, I’m sure it was frustrating for him to hear the slurs against Emilia. I could give a pass if he made one spur of the moment, exclamatory comment to the effect of “You don’t know Emilia. She’s a great person who would make a fine ruler”… and leave it at that. Or have some situational awareness, grit his teeth and keep his mouth shut. If his value here is emotional support, he can do that after the meeting is over IF Emilia broke down or something. Instead, Emilia handled the situation perfectly fine, showcasing her resolve.
So we got “Bad Subaru” at his worst. NO situational awareness, do what he wants, acting like a petulant child and damn the consequences (not that he ever considered them). Accepting Julius’ challenge was just icing on the stupidity cake, and he rightfully got his ass kicked. I mentioned last episode that he’s acting like he’s some do all/be all “Swiss Army knife” protagonist. Kessler’s post above called it “Main Character Syndrome” which might be a better phrase. Hubris, Subaru, hubris. As others rightfully point out, yes he helped to save the day before, but he sure as hell didn’t do it alone. What happened to him noting how he was largely a magic dog chew toy last arc?
Frankly, I loved Emilia taking him to task (more points for her), and IMO she was right to do so. Yeah, he helps Emilia at times (this certainly wasn’t one of them), but he’s also pushing himself on Emilia whether she wants it or expressly tells him otherwise. One of the best parts of the episode IMO was when Emilia comments about how the “Emilia in Subaru’s mind must be awesome.” It’s a very good line IMO, because I think it explains the situation with him and Emilia quite well.
WHAT does Subaru really know about Emilia? He’s made practically no real effort to get to know her beyond the superficial. IMO he knows Rem (and I’d say Ram) a lot better than Emilia. He said that the reason for all he does for her is due to the tried and true anime cliché of “he/she was nice to me once” (happens a lot in harem LNs) -> *poof* instant “romance”.
I’m NOT suggesting there’s no relationship at al between the two, but let’s address the hot half-elf in the room here. If say Reinhard or Roswaal rescued Subaru in place of Emilia, would he be as unwavering in his devotion to “be of help” to them? Would he barge into VIP meetings they expressly tell him not to join? I think not. Again, I’m sure the two like each other on some level, but a lot of this strikes me as Subaru’s infatuation with “a hot girl who was nice to him”… who happens to named Emilia. He’s idolized her as she notes, and like some do with idols, has a possessive almost stalker nature at times. I totally buy that he thinks that “if not for me, all would be lost” and she “owes him”. It’s consistent with his both his attitude and approach.
Also, just to be clear, I’m not suggesting the guy has no positive qualities. He does, but it’s just that the negative ones at times overwhelm the positive ones. Like I said, there’s “Good Subaru” and “Bad Subaru” for me. IMO, Subaru is a fairly non-traditional ML as these things go, and one I don’t think is all that unrealistic in terms of personality. People are flawed and some mature faster than others. So points to the show/series for that, but damn can he be frustrating to watch at times.
Lastly, appreciate some clarity from LN readers or others on the following: First, the magic badge selection. Is it first come first serve? Find five who make the badge light up and go from there, or is it each badge reacts to only one person? Second can’t remember for sure, but isn’t the type of magic Subaru uses (“shadow”?) associated with the Jealous Witch? I was surprised the no one made a big deal about it when he used it in the duel.
Sorry ignore my other post. >.<
As the Head Sage stated, Subaru defending her there actually did more for her than just herself speaking up and Emilia only found her resolve after he cleared the path for her to do. So I don’t see any problem with him in that part and actually the kind of support he’s be throwing her way.
It’s not about who he knows more or not. But who’s done more for him. Emilia saved his life, gave him a home, a job and was the first friend he could rely on at all times. Compared to two people who once murdered him under false pretenses (regardless of their reasons) why the hell be a surprised he likes her better than anyone else? Emilia’s is his savior so (even if she doesn’t remember it or debt he owes her)so naturally or him to feel gratitude towards her. Falling for her is just a secondary side-effect of that. Besides he’s know her more than anyone else here. He’s made plenty of effort to get to know her why (conversing with her, going out with her, and Talking with Puck about some aspects of her past etc). I mean is he physically attracted to her? Sure, but they relationship go more than that.
Your example with Roswaal and Reinhard doesn’t amount to much because the former would never help to begin with and comes off as creepy while I don’t see any reason he wouldn’t as grateful to later. Suabru and Reinhard already become fast friends just from Reinhard helping him out.
Except that isn’t consistent with how he’s interacted with her. In fact as I said in a post earlier Subaru never asked much of Emilia at all. He’s merely wanted to spend time with her as know her better. Unless that somehow became a crime that should not be looks at negatively at all.
So it’s clear to me based on proceeding events and fact he tried to tell her what was going on but couldn’t that he said what he did out of frustration.
Slight correction. He didn’t barge in, he was invited by another member. While he broke his promise to her, his entrance into the gathering itself was fine and only one who had any issue with was of course Emilia.
@Iron Maw:
– Re: “Head Sage” Comment: Disagree about Subaru “clearing the path” for Emilia. First of all, she’s had to deal with this type of discrimination (half-elf on top of looks like Jealous Witch) long before Subaru ever showed up. She was also a candidate before the guy showed up. This is something she’s been planning on doing and prepared to handle. Looking at the dialog, he says “stop this crap/apologize to Emilia”, to which she tells him twice to stop (he refuses her the 1st time & stops the 2nd time), before she gives her introduction addressing the issues including mentioning Puck which impresses all there. Not sure if the manga deviated from the LN (source) or the anime did, but interesting that in the manga it’s Puck who tells the audience to stop insulting Emilia. (see Setsuna’s post above). Frankly, I’d have a better opinion of Subaru if the anime followed the manga and had Puck & Emilia handle it.
Anyway, yes, the head council notes that Subaru shows “She’s not to be feared” which is helpful. Subaru insulting the knights and creating a ruckus to the point Emilia has to apologize for his behavior during the meeting… not helpful. NOTE: My post DID allow the option for him to speak up – just do it in the right way. He’s not her knight or attendant or in her employ. Emilia describes him as her friend which is what he is in relation to her (see below).
– “Emilia saved his life, gave him a home, a job and was the first friend he could rely on at all times.”
Correction Roswaal, not Emilia, gave Subara a home and a job as a reward for helping her recover the dragon badge (right term?). He’s in Roswaal’s employee, not Emilia’s.
– Subaru’s Motivation: This what my hypothetical is geared towards, and whether it might be out of character or not is immaterial to the issue at hand. It’s a hypothetical illustrating a point. Don’t like those two, then pick someone (make up a new character if you want) in which Subaru would not have a romantic interest. I still maintain that he wouldn’t act the same way toward them. Right now, at best he’s casual friends with Reinhard (not like we’ve seen him ask for time off to go hang out with his buddy Reinhard). Reinhard did save him (twice really) as well. Beatrice saves him from dying from a curse the second time (when he’s fact finding) – doesn’t treat her the same as he does Emilia either.
Debt/Gratitude: Yes she saved his life, and then he saved hers/got her dragon badge back. He’s then rewarded for doing so by Roswaal so there’s some quid pro quo here. Even so, at the end he exclaims how she owes him a huge debt to which Emilia agrees, So I question any “debt”/”I owe her” motive for him. Gratitude? Eh, similar to debt/”I owe here” IMO. She’s not asking for his help. More like the opposite lately (which he ignores). Scratch that. Friendship? OK, but see above about how he doesn’t (or IMO wouldn’t) act to the same degree towards others if you replace Emilia with one of them way back in the first encounter.
Gratitude/friendship/etc. does NOT explain his jealousy and possessiveness. If his buddy Reinhard said “Hey, got an important meeting to attend. Sorry, you can’t go”, would Subaru still go anyway? Again, I think not. So what DOES explain his possessiveness, jealousy and burning desire to help Emilia whether she wants his help or not? Only thing left IMO is love/lust/infatuation (i.e. hot half-elf is hot). People have done some crazy, extreme (and bad) things from stalking to even murder because of that.
AGAIN, not saying that is the only reason/motivation for Subaru, but IMO it is the reason for his more extreme behavior. This is NOT altruism (selfless act without any desire or expectation of compensation) = my main point. Subaru wants something. He says she owes him so what does he want? Emilia – and more than friends (which is what she seems to want – at least now). Look, nothing new here about young guy falling for hot girl and trying to romance her. So if he wants to try to “get the girl”, fine (IF done properly) – but that doesn’t excuse everything he does either.
– ““If just want to get somebody’s pants there much easier and far saner ways to do it that doesn’t involve having your guts sliced opened, suffering physical and emotional abuse and getting a job as servant to just to build a life for yourself.”
There are also a much easier ways to make friends, help people, pay debts, show gratitude, etc. – right?
Daikama // If say Reinhard or Roswaal rescued Subaru in place of Emilia, would he be as unwavering in his devotion to “be of help” to them? Would he barge into VIP meetings they expressly tell him not to join? I think not.
Very well said. If Emilia was not a hot sexy chick who had been so nice to him, appeared to possibly let Subaru fuck herself someday later, Subaru would not have been so desperate to stay with her, claiming “it’s for your sake, even if it’s against your will”.
Then explain why he was so grateful for Reinhard saving him and how their became friends just as fast he did with Emilia then. Because the material defeats that very point in first arc. So um what?
Iron Maw // Subaru was grateful to Reinhart and became a good friend of him?
Yes. But so what? Are you suggesting Subaru would force himself on him, breaking promises like a creepy stalker, just as Subaru did about Emilia?
I don’t think you can say his devotion is ENTIRELY divorced from gender, hot chick is still hot chick.
But he’s super friendly and accommodating to both Reinhardt and Roswaal, giving them the benefit of every doubt. Emilia just got their first, and saved him when he was lost and alone in a new world (also, hot chick).
@ Guile
Oh there no doubt that her attractiveness play some role in it, that’s only natural and anyone who tells they did not have a lover or friend they didn’t find attractive is bullshitting to highest degree. Certainly not anyone I’d called human nor want be around with.
However that by no means that is only reason they becomes friends and definitely not in case Suabru, Emilia and any of rest of relationships that have appeared in this series thus far. Otherwise we are not watching same show these people came to aid of each other under incredibility difficult circumstances and forged bonds through that.
If just want to get somebody’s pants there much easier and far saner ways to do it that doesn’t involve having your guts sliced opened, suffering physical and emotional abuse and getting a job as servant to just to build a life for yourself.
That argument at the end of episode with Emilia… it was so tense, while Emilia is in her full right this time i think it seriously damaged their relationship so much that i just wished for Subaru to die and correct what went wrong in the past two episodes !
I really believe Subaru behaved like an idiot with Emilia in this new arc until now and in the past two arcs that was quite the oposite, he managed to gain her trust a bit more in the 1st loops and a bit less with the successful ones, not this time, so at least it can’t go worse (it can’t right ? :p ), and maybe Subaru will see his return by death ability like on a brighter point of view and not like a curse.
I truly hope this argument will be “rewritten” !
As the Head Sage stated, Subaru defending her there actually did more for her than just herself speaking up and Emilia only found her resolve after he cleared the path for her to do. So I don’t see any problem with him in that part and actually the kind of support he’s be throwing her way.
It’s not about who he knows more or not. But who’s done more for him. Emila saved his life, gave him a home, a job and was the first friend he could rely on at all times. Compared to two people who once murdered him under false pretenses (regardless of their reasons) why the hell be a surprised he likes her better than anyone else? Emilia’s is his savior so (even if she doesn’t remember it or debt he owes her)so naturally or him to feel gratitude towards her. Falling for her is just a secondary side-effect of that. Besides he’s know her more than anyone else here. He’s made plenty of effort to get to know her why (conversing with her, going out with her, and Talking with Puck about some aspects of her past etc).
This wasn’t Emilia’s problem with him. The reason she frustrated with is Suabru that he’s been reckless putting himself in danger for her sake and she doesn’t know why. Emilia has been trying to protect him so he stops pushing himself so hard especially when he’s recovering his wounds from last incident. She doe not know his situation and it is impossible for her to know because Subaru literal can’t tell her. This always be problem with his relationships where to others than they are to him. Situation with twins back in arc 2 is good example of this.
Would he barge into VIP meetings they expressly tell him not to join? I think not.
Slight correction. He didn’t barge in, he was invited by another member. While he broke his promise to her, his entrance into the gathering itself was fine and only one who had any issue with was of course Emilia.
Iron Maw // He made an effot to get to konw her? No, not at all.
Subaru even does not know how old she is, has no interest in what kind of king she wants to be, why she want to be a king in the first place, what her life was like before…
What? When he got to mansion he literally learned about 1) Her position in the country 2) Her exact relationship with Puck, 3) why she called herself Satella. Not to mention he talk to her about his future plans among various other things.
There is also fact he went out on dates with her to play kids in the village and see the sights. How the hell was he not trying get to know her from that? What do think people do these thing otherwise?
Iron Maw // Subaru made NO effort to know her position in the country. He learned it simply because Rosswaaldo told him.
@fripsidelover9111
That makes little difference. He would have asked eitherway because he directly involved that incident and helped Emilia get insignia back. The rest of my point still stands.
Iron Maw // and he learned (more correctlynspeaking, got a guess) why she called herself stella simply because Beaco told him about the witch. It’s not that he leaned it as a result of his effort to know about emilia.
So he made NO effort for learning why Emilia called herself stella. He learned it just accidentally.
Also remember that he spent something like 4 weeks at the mansion, of which we only saw a small fraction of the time.
Despite her apparently being busy, off-screen interaction is a given considering the medium. Anime can’t show every minute of their interaction.
Guileb // off screen interactions. I see.
But if Sbaru is not so eager to know about very basic but important info of Emilia – How old she is, how she got to know rosewaald, why she wants to be a king and so on – in his on screen interaction with Emilia, it’s only natural to assume that he is not in his off screen interactions with her.
Next episode we will learn from the pro stalker:rem
hahaha
This was certainly the episode for discussion, eh? There are a lot of things here to dissect and talk about concerning Subaru’s behavior. I think the reason he feels like he’s her knight is because he kinda was for a bit. He died a few times trying to save her, so I wouldn’t begrudge him that. The issue here is that this is a different kind of fight. The hero that he thinks everyone deserves is NOT needed right now. He’s gotten by with drawing aggro and taking damage and/or dying until he comes up with a strategy to win. It’s sloppy and reckless, but for the video game style conflicts he’s stumbled into, it more or less works. Even though (as stated previously) he’s never dealt the winning blow, he’s been there trying to save everyone he could. He has died for most of the people he’s saved. More than once. And he can’t even talk about it. Who knows “how long” he’s subjectively known everyone and the amount of attachment he’s gotta feel giving his life for theirs. Subaru is deeply flawed. I’m pretty sure his flaws caused him to be isolated in “the real world” , yet in this new reality they are seen as refreshing and somewhat charming in a quirky way which allowed him to bond with these people. Beatrice speaks to him as…an acquaintance…? At least she’s concerned over him instead of barely caring who he was outside of him being in her personal space. Ram adores him and Rem is practically in love with him. Puck has vouched for his character more than once, and Reinhardt also sees him as a worthy individual. Emilia saw him approaching a dear friend, which is why she’s so hurt over this. He promised to stay behind, but he broke that promise. He then forces himself into a title he doesn’t understand and proceeds to embarrass her, insult the country’s sacred order, and risk further damage to defend his tattered pride (which he set himself up to be torn down). Then he screams at her talking about how much she owes him. *Sigh Sorry. I kinda went stream of consciousness there.
tl;dr
As stated before his powers are a major root of this whole thing
– gives overconfidence
– makes him approach every battle and conflict in a similar fashion
– creates bonds that are strongest only in his own mind
– isolates him because he seems to literally be unable to talk about it
– creates psychological scars from dying in all sorts of creative ways
But I think if you have people like Puck, Reinhardt, and the maids vouching for you, you can’t be too bad in character.
In a Nut Shell Subaru is living/walking example of the statement “Dude! You have no idea what I have to go thru to get here”. XD
That ending scene was in fact one of the reason many of the Japanese fandom outright dropped RE:zero completely.
It was literally author’s intention, to show NEETs and otakus how wrong they are, and challenge their way of thinking by having the so called self-insert MC himself say out loud what their true intentions actually are, and force them to acknowledge that.
Like apparently back when re:zero was a web novel and this moment happened the comment section literally exploded with hate mail. Because no one could get behind the idea.
I certainly don’t think that ALL NEETs are like that and if the author is highlighting the generalization that all NEETs behave like Subaru, then that’s wrong. If the author is just trying to showcase that Subaru suffers from “MC syndrome” and has flaws and can be wrong, then I think that’s a really refreshing view of anime MCs. Anime doesn’t normally showcase this side of human beings in their MCs because they don’t want people to hate them or stop watching… the fact that Re:Zero did that to Subaru is just very raw but realistic in some ways. That’s why even though we may not LIKE Subaru anymore (or at all), you can’t really say that what he feels is wrong or unjustified.
I can see why audience members would be mad and hateful… but I give credit to the author for writing this type of scenario out. It’s different and challenges the audience to think about the MC in a different light.
Certainly not all NEETs and otakus aren’t like that but they just weren’t expecting a fictional character be written in such a realistic way.
People on r/anime are comparing Subaru to a shut-in white knight who has the ideal version of the girl (first timeline Emilia)in his head and is literally saying “you owe me sex for being such a nice guy to you.” (for all the shit he has gone through.)
Again it doesn’t fit all neets and otakus but to some it probably hit pretty close home.
xxvan// “when re:zero was a web novel and this moment happened the comment section literally exploded with hate mail”
hate mails from the readers because they thought the author showed how wrong NEET and Otakus are ???
Well… You can find easily negative responses regarding Subaru’s personality and behavior – that is, he is so annoying and obnoxious – in Japanese readers’ reviews of the novel (for instance, check readers reviews on the amazon japan page of the book if you read japanese).
But…, a bunch of hate mails towards the author for they thought the author showed how wrong otakus and NEET are???
Do you have evidence? (i.e., the url of the hate mails in the comment section)
fripsidelover9111//”Do you have evidence? (i.e., the url of the hate mails in the comment section)”
Sadly I do not have the link since I only learned of this on r/anime in the episode discussion (its on reddit, then it must be true lmao) but like many are saying that that’s what happened and why some of Japanese fandom stopped reading after 3rd arc.
xxvan // “(its on reddit, then it must be true lmao)”
I see. In my experience, most of anime-related info written by redditors is credible. But you would agree that not every of them is correct and some of them are baseless, sometimes plainly wrong.
I strongly suspect it is one of such incorrect info for some reason. I’m from South Korea where anime related content is usually imported from Japan way earlier than in the West, especially when it comes to popular LN and WL in Japan.
For example, the 1st volume of the paperback version of Re:zero was published in 2014/08/01 in a Korean translation. About 7 months time gap between it and the publication of 1st volume of the novel in Japan. And the Korean translation of the novel is released upto the 7th volume, including several ex-volumes of it. Unofficial fan translations and introductions of the novel into Korea by passionate (?) Korean fandom of the novel are even way earlier (including info of how the reception of the novel has been like in Japan)
But I have never seen something like you saw on reddit about the reception and fans reaction of the novel before.
Considering that Korea is a country where Japanese LN/anime related info (such as fan’s reception of the novel in Japan) is quickly and widely circulated among Anime fans, and I myself have never seen something like you read on reddit and wrote in your comment above (including Japanese Web pages, blogs about the novel I have read), It’d be too early to conclude that the info you got from reddit is correct.
As I said, not every anime-related info on reddit is credible. Sometimes, some of them is wrong and misguided.
Shittiest episode until now.
Subaru can die, fight demons and still be fine, but he can’t handle some random person saying he’s weak? That didn’t make any sense.
That is indeed how human beings work sometimes, yes.
think you’re breaking it down a bit to simple this was a cumulation of events that finally broke him. repeat deaths, broken timelines only he remembers, doing whatever he had to to make it this far, not just in his old life but this new one.
he found happiness up till now with his broken logic, even was able save multiple people with it but it’s not just working anymore an his death/reset is making it worse as you have a memory of a world that does not exist so yes he broken seem selfish because he want to be happy an make everyone else happy but he still a child an use a child logic.
Sure, but from a storytelling point of view, the catalyst was too weak, it didn’t make an impact, which made the the whole thing being kinda of “meh”… Maybe if it wasn’t a random person that he didn’t know, but someone he knew and trusted saying horrible things to him (which is something the guy didn’t even do that much).
after reading some comments here and there
Imagine,Emilia as an Idol and Subaru as an hardcore fan of her that buy anything out there, like CD and stuff, not 1 piece, no many
So do the fan could think he owns the Idol, because he support her with his money, he gave her his wings?
The same basic idea here
sometimes the spam filter is really funny
You do post a lot of messages though, lol.
It seems that I was already late in this party lol. While most people are very disappointed in this episode, I am very satisfied. And truly, this episode really divided most of the viewers I’ve seen so far. A half emphatized with Subaru while the other half hated him. i’m with the former.
I’m not going to say that I’m good with reading and judging people, but I think Subaru seems like a true human being in this episode. Although, I would want to talk about Subaru being viewed as a possesive stalker by many.
For me, I can’t really see him that way. And I am confused why people cannot understand why he acted the way he did in this episode. After all, he said it outright on the last part of their argument — he was saved by Emilia.
Just imagine being thrown to a diffent world alone. You have no friends, home, money — completely nothing except a bag of groceries on your hand and one tracksuit. At that point, he was completely helpless.
He ventured around, and was completely ignored. The Appa vendor shooed him away. And unfortunately, he immediately faced troubles. Then came a samaritan who helped him. And at that point, I believed that he had to cling to her. He got nobody else around. The story progresses. His connection to Emilia and Puck deepened and deepened.
Fastforward to this episode. The only reason I see why people think Subaru is a possesive stalker is ‘Subaru’s love’ to Emilia. Let’s try to drop the love part for a while and think that he just want to be friends with Emilia.
I can still see him doing the same thing over again. Another thing that Emilia gave to him, aside from food, shelter, and companionship, was purpose. Think about it. He was thrown to another world. With no reason at all. It happened suddenly. There was no magical goddess that told him that he needs to defeat a demon lord like in KonoSuba. He was just thrown randomnly in the middle of the street with nothing with him except for a bag of groceries.
And since things led to another, he knew more about Emilia, and become more indebted to her, he thought that his purpose was to protect her. Why would he be transported to a different world in the first place if that wasn’t the case? At least, that is what he is trying to portray. But from what I can see, that purpose is one of the reasons he can stay sane after dying and reviving multiple times in a foreign world.
The lines he said about Emilia being indebted to her were just a result of him realizing he’s losing a big argument and his sole reason of existence in that world — not to mention him snapping and breaking is already overdue.
He broke the promises because if he just stay idle around, he might lose his purpose. And upon seeing the ass knight he felt that his position was threatened. If we involve the ‘love’ part, it can be called jealousy. But if you disregard that, he is just being insecure.
After all, despite Subaru being portrayed as an idiot, he already knew that the knight, Julius, was capable. The knight can easily render him useless and purposeless. And he does not want that.
It can be also said that that was the reason he proclaimed himself as Emilia’s knight – not to mention that Emilia was already being attacked. Unfortunately, due to his desperation, the situation becomes messy. And everything landslided.
To be quite frank, there was no problem with Emilia and Subaru. They are just having a high level misunderstanding. Sadly, it cannot be solved quite easily. The curse is preventing him to do so.
Anyway, my post’s getting longer.
TL;DR:
This episode was great. I can’t really agree with Subaru being just an annoying stalker-san. He could have behaved like that to almost everyone even if romance was not involved. If he met Felt or even Rem first and provided him something to hold on to in that foreign world, I’m sure he would not even bat an eye to Emilia. He will be downright loyal and go to great lengths.
On the other hand, this is something refreshing. With a wad load of cookie cutter MCs swarming mainstream anime, Subaru is a pleasant surprise. Of course, it can’t be really helped that he acts like a generic idiot from time to time. After all, he needs to appeal to an wide range of audience who are not that comfortable on seeing cringe worthy drama.
Anyway, that’s it for now.
RandomAnon // ” I think Subaru seems like a true human being in this episode. Although, I would want to talk about Subaru being viewed as a possesive stalker by many.
For me, I can’t really see him that way. And I am confused why people cannot understand why he acted the way he did in this episode.
I can still see him doing the same thing over again. Another thing that Emilia gave to him, aside from food, shelter, and companionship, was purpose. Think about it. He was thrown to another world. With no reason at all. It happened suddenly. There was no magical goddess that told him that he needs to defeat a demon lord like in KonoSuba. He was just thrown randomnly in the middle of the street with nothing with him except for a bag of groceries.
And since things led to another, he knew more about Emilia, and become more indebted to her, he thought that his purpose was to protect her. Why would he be transported to a different world in the first place if that wasn’t the case? At least, that is what he is trying to portray. But from what I can see, that purpose is one of the reasons he can stay sane after dying and reviving multiple times in a foreign world.”
One of the most interesting comments about Subaru’s act shown in the episode (and the earlier ones) I have read, though I disagree to you in some points.
I think that most of those (including myself) who call him a creepy stalker (or something close to it) would agree to you about the reasons why he is so desperate to stay with Emilia, and tries to be something meaningful existence to her (a self-proclaimed knight of her, i.e.) – though I still think that Emilia being a sexy hot chick possibly allowing him fuck her in future, matters a lot in his motivation, along with other reasons you mentioned -.
Anyway, let’s suppose for the sake of convenience of discussion that Emilia’s gender (and Subaru’s romantic and/or sexual desire for her) does not play any role in his behavior, as you say, so that he could have behaved like that to almost everyone even if romance was not involved. Furthermore, let’s suppose again that Emilia knows everything Subaru went through and his magical ability (return by death).
But even if that is that case, I think Subaru depicted in the novel and the anime is far from a true human being. I don’t get how a true human being (no matter if he is a shut-in Hikikomori or not) is not anxious to learn and investigate into (1) how he suddenly came to this another world, (2) why it happened (was it a kind of unfortunate natural/cosmic disaster like a typhoon? or there was someone who summoned him to the world deliberately), and (3) if there was someone who deliberately summoned him to the another world, for what purpose he/she did that?, (4) or Is the With of Envy somehow related to him having been summoned to the world, considering that he smells the witch’s scent? and so on. He has never asked those questions and tried to find out some clues or (partial) answers seriously.
How could a true human being be so unconcerned with such critical matters?
You or someone may respond, saying “In the given situation and circumstances in which he has been, he would have failed to find out answers anyway.” Maybe or Maybe not (actually, it’s up to the writer’s decision). But that does not matter. The point is that any true human being would make a serious effort concerning those questions, and would give up only after he/she is convinced that he/she had tried everything he/she could do in a given situation (For example, why Subaru did not ask anyone (for example, Bea-co) if there exists some magic in that world which could summon someone from another world?, and if there is, who could that?. He had more that enough time to ask such questions to people around him – Emilia, Puck, Bea-co, Rosewaald -).
And even if he had some compelling reason to think that it’s pointless to seek out answers for such questions (at least for a while…), those questions should have been kept in his mind if he were a true human being. But do we see anything like that in the anime (and the novel)? No.
there is more. Even if he got to have a firm belief that the sole reason he got summoned to another world was to protect Emilia (though there is no indication that he had such belief, in the anime and the novel though…), I still found gravely problematic the way he acts in the episode.
As you probably agree, all the attempts to insert himself into Emilia’s meeting for the royal selection was ultimately for his sake. Yes, he really wanted to help/protect Emilia (I have no doubt of it as I wrote in my earlier comment). But that does not negate the fact that it was for his sake after all (for example, to keep his mentality sane by having some purpose as you suggested). But he denies it blatantly. Moreover, and he did that against her will. For me, that’s sufficient to call him a creepy stalker or something close to him. I would call anyone a creepy stalker or something similar to it who tries to insert him/herself into my life against my decision, and my will without no respect for my decision, even if he/she genuinely wants to help me for understandable reasons. I would do my best to keep away from him or her.
Lastly, Emilia would be willing to take Subaru along to the VIP royal selection meeting If she had known everything about Subaru we viewers of the anime already know?
I admit that it’s a matter of speculation, but given the way she has acted so far, I’d bet she would be against Subaru’s participation even more strongly, and she would be so mad if Subaru had acted the way he did in this episode.
RandomAnon // My apologies. The comment written above is written by me (fripsidelover9111), not by RandomAnon.
Sorry for my mistake.
That’s fine: @fripsidelover9111
Anyway, I don’t want to cut my reply short, but do remember that I said that “but I think Subaru seems like a true human being in this episode.” Given the previous circumstances, then taking the story seriously, and forgetting the niche the story is under, his actions were understandably human like.
True; there are other reasons why he is acting like that. However, I find that the romantic side of it falls short.
By the way, I’m only watching the show and not reading the LN or Manga as of the moment.
Anyway, in that part, I believe he was not able to take it seriously and spend some more time dissecting what happened because he was instantly stringed into events he chose to prioritize. It did not even take a day before he met Emilia, get harassed by thugs, get killed by an assassin, and the list goes on.
Nonetheless, despite all that, he still did some thinking about those things. However, he was immediately disrupted on the thought of saving/fixing the crucial events that lead to death of his ‘benefactor’ (I guess I’ll try to refer to Emilia that way).
Bottom line, it was not as if he was unconcerned. It was just he prioritized something else. Also, whenever he tries to investigate, especially when its about the Jealous Witch, he is instantly get blocked. After all, it has been established that talking about that person is a taboo in the world he is in. Not to mention that he can’t actually freely talk about everything related to his incident.
In the second part wherein he was in the mansion, his movement was completely limited that time. He tried to recreate the scenarios before, and when that failed, his focus was shifted again to another thing — finding his killers.
About pushing himself to go to the royal selection, if we check his conversation with Emilia, Subaru asked for reasons why he can’t accompany her. All he got were vague answers and Emilia pushing him to do what she wants. Of course, nobody can completely blame Emilia for her actions. Unfortunately, both of them cannot understand each other.
In that part, that is where Subaru err. However, can we really fault him for that? Unlike in the mansion arc, the Royal Selection is an event directly related to the assassin who wanted to get the small thingy (forgot what it was called). Somebody wants to prevent Emilia to be in the Royal Selection to the point Felt was tasked to steal the small thingy from her, which lead to multiple bloodbaths.
If we try to get into his mind, he just want to assure that Emilia will be safe. And things started to get messy from there. He tried to gather some information about the event (talking to the old man in the carriage was one of the few atttempts). However, just like with Emilia, information was withheld from him. It only made him want to go to the selections more.
Skip to the part where he met Julius. That is when things started to get ugly. What happened there might have been caused by insecurity or jealousy. However, I don’t see it as something caused by being possessive or being a creepy stalker. I see it as a sign of immaturity.
After that, you know the rest.
About the part where you want me to assume what will happen if Emilia knows everything, I think we do not need to involve that in this discussion. After all, it is one of the main conflicts of the story. Without it or disregarding that limitation, the story we are watching right now can become disinteresting or become a different story altogether.
However, for the sake of entertaining the thought, I believe that she will allow Subaru to take part on the royal selection. Having a person who has the ability of accurate clairvoyance will be a tremendous security asset.
Of course, there is a chance that Emilia might refuse for the sake of preventing Subaru from experiencing a traumatic death. But surely, Roswall will definitely take advantage of Subaru. This might be the same reason he is okay with Subaru coming along (or hinting that he looks forward in Subaru’s appearance in the selection) and not taking any measure to remove him when he was already inside the chamber.
About the part where people do things for the sake of other people… I believe that, ultimately, all the things we do, whatever it is, will be always for our sake. But let’s set that aside for now.
Subaru just believes that what he was doing was for her own good. He is just a simple man after all. All he has in mind is her safety. The only reason their conversation came to that point is that, as Emilia said, she cannot understand Subaru’s actions and intentions. And there is where the curse gets the better out of them two.
Emilia is just confused on why a random stranger just suddenly pops out of nowhere and save her. She cannot understand Subaru’s motive. Subaru cannot explain anything. So, how can even Emilia fathom that what Subaru’s doing was for her sake? She cannot. So she concluded that Subaru was doing everything for his own sake.
Since Subaru gots cornered and frustrated, you get answers you would expect — bad ones. He felt that his actions were underappreciated. He became irrational. He was hurt by Emilia’s words. He lashed back.
And as for the creepy stalker part, he had a lot of chances to take advantage of Emilia. But he didn’t. Just because you failed to keep simple promises and prioritized something more important, like human life, you will be branded as a creepy stalker?
If you know that somebody has a high chance of being assassinated and you are the only one who can save that person but you were asked to stay put and keep a promise, what will you do? Will you prioritize keeping the promise over that person’s life?
And the funny thing in Subaru’s case, his only strength is that he can only save her by seeing her die first, then die second, and repeat everything over and over again until he gets it right and save her and survive.
Anyway, I apologize for the long ramble. I hope I did make sense.
RandomAnon // Sorry for my late reply. I’m not sure if you will happen to read it, but I will write some of my thought anyway.
1. On Subaru’s curious indifference about the mystery of him having been summoned into another world.
I think the gist of your thought about the issue is summarized as follows: He has been TOO busy with on-going urgent, critical events (usually a matter of life and death for him and/or other people around him) happening to him.
Nobody would deny that he had to spent much (or most) of his time and attention to deal with gravely serious, urgent matters, such as Emilia’s death by the Elsa, his death/Rem’s death and the kids in danger in the woods. I have no issue with Subaru being preoccupied with saving Emilia after he saw her to be brutally killed by Elsa. It’s also nothing strange that he was so busy with finding out a way for a happy-end from the time he realized he got killed on his sleep in someway to the moment he finally succeeded to save the kids in the woods and rem later.
But remind that the situation has not been always like that. For example, after Roswaal saved the day, Subaru had no urgent/critical problem to deal with. Remember that his mentality and physical wounds got stabilized enough for him to enjoy his spare time teaching radio calisthenics to the villagers? And what about Subaru asking Emilia for a date on his first loop at the mansion? As I said, he had more than enough uncritical and not urgent moments for turning his thought and paying attention to the matter I mentioned in my previous comment, the mystery around him having been summoned to another world. Isn’t it curious that he had enough ordinary life moments to grumble about how bard and busy his day was as a servant at the mansion, but never turn his attention to the much more important problem, the mystery of him being summoned into another world? In fact, even in his critical moment at the mansion (when he struggled so hard to find a way out for a happy-end), he spent his attention and mind to think about why Emilia called herself Stella in 1st arc, which is not related to his matter in hand at the time. If he could think about the reason why Emilia called herself Stella even in his critical moment, why he didn’t ask a pretty much obvious and more important question (for example, is the witch of envy is somehow related to me?) after he learned the fact that he smelled the scent of her and some other generally known facts and conjectures of the witch from Bea-co?
No. He gets instantly blocked only when he reveals that he could revive by death. I know it’s a troublesome constraint, but it does never prevent him learning about the witch. Remember that nothing happened to him when he learned about the witch in his talk with Bea-co, or he learned he smells the scent of the witch. He could ask for some possible clues, asking a question to Bea-co (or some other more knowledgeable people around him), something like ” Is it said that the Witch could use magic to summon someone from other world into this world?” But he didn’t.
Furthermore, the talk about the witch is a taboo only in the sense that it is a very uncomfortable topic for your everyday social interactions with other people. It’s not like that nobody would have a talk about it at any time, at any situation. In fact, Bea-co freely talked about the witch, telling Subaru what has been known and/or said about the witch, though it was not so pleasant topic to her. Also remember that the story of the witch is included in a fairy tale book Subaru read to learn the language of the world. In short, It’s hardly more than just an unpleasant topic to talk about. So It’s nothing like the curse which prevents him to reveal his return-by-death ability. As long as he does not directly mention it, nothing prevents him to talk, learn and investigate into the witch and (possibly) related questions.
2. The problem between Subaru and Emilia, and why it can’t be resolved even if Emilia should know everything about Subaru we know about him – the events in the broken time-lines-
While I fully agree that Subaru is genuinely concerned about Emilia’s safety and believes what he did was for her own good, I definitely disagree that all he has in mind is her safety.
Certainly she does not (and can not) understand why he is so desperate to help/protect her as she did not know what happened to her and Subaru in the broken time-lines and about his ability of return by death. But there is one thing she knows for sure. Subaru treats her something special (for some reasons she does not know) and wants to be treated as such by her as well – a sort of romantic (and possibly…, sexual) princess-knight like relationship. Thus, there is more than her safety in Subaru’s mind. But the problem is that it is not the kind of relationship she wants to have with Subaru, which is clearly shown by her line she said at the end of the episode, “I had some hope that you’d maybe look at me just in the same way you look at ordinary, normal people”
Remind that she felt so hurt and annoyed when Subaru tried to establish a status of somewhat special existence to her, self claiming to be her knight in the front of VIPs in the hall. But why? It’s because, just like all of us, she knows well that it had hardly anything to do with Subaru’s concern for her safety. If her safety was really everything he had in his mind, there was no reason for him to present himself as an idiot-like laughable self-claimed knight of her, trying to present himself as something special to her. As he declares later in his talk with Emilia, he wants more than her safety (saying “Impossible for me not to see you a special person for me). But it’s exactly what makes her feel uncomfortable/uneasy about her relationship with Subaru. Although she is well aware that Subaru is really concerned about her safety and her competition for the throne, she also knows that he wants (and demands in a round-about way) something more she does not want to do with him. while she hopes to have an ordinary human interaction – in a word, warmhearted friendship that most of ordinary people enjoy in their life – from him and wish him to treat her in just the same way he does for other normal/ordinary people,
It’s why I think the issue between them would not be fixed, even if she gets to know about how she saved him in the broken time-lines and his motive. You said Emilia concluded Subaru behaved like that way for his own sake because she didn’t know her motive. But a close examination of the talk occurred at the end of the episode will make it clear that she did not deny he did that for her sake. She repeatedly acknowledged Subaru tried so hard to help her through the show. What she really denied is Subaru’s (dishonest) claim that he tried hard only for her sake, no more no less, and he had no other hidden agenda behind it. (“so everything I’ve done has been to repay you”, “I JUST wanted to do something for you”) But she is acutely aware that he also seeks to have the kind of relationship/interaction with her which she does not really want to have, so she said “Stop telling lies about how everything is for my sake. Coming to the castle, fighting Julius, Using magic…).
She is perfectly right in saying that much (if not all) of what he did – fighting Julius, using magic, introducing himself as a her knight – has nothing to do with her safety. What is the point of fighting Julius, yelling out in the VIP hall and claiming to be her knight about securing Emilia’s safety????
What she actually meant to say is “I got it. You genuinely want to help me though I don’t understand the reason well. I know that. But You also pursue your own agenda about me other than that, which I don’t really want. Don’t deny it, saying ‘…Tada… for Emilia’s sake’ (Just, no more no less)”.
I think that her frustration would be relieved more or less if she knows what happened in the broken time lines (Subaru being saved by her etc…) and she would have much more pity on him. But the conflict mentioned above between them can’t be resolved even if she gets to know everything we know about Subaru. After all, she is a half-elf with silver hair who has been severely discriminated for her appearance, which made her have a strong yearn for an ordinary human interaction/relationship. But that’s not anything like what Subaru wishes to do with her. He wants not only her safety/her becoming a king, but also something special about her, something special but which has nothing to do with for her own sake…
3. Subaru being a creepy stalker, or something close to it
as for the creepy stalker part, he had a lot of chances to take advantage of Emilia. But he didn’t. Just because you failed to keep simple promises and prioritized something more important, like human life, you will be branded as a creepy stalker?
If you know that somebody has a high chance of being assassinated and you are the only one who can save that person but you were asked to stay put and keep a promise, what will you do? Will you prioritize keeping the promise over that person’s life? … the funny thing in Subaru’s case, his only strength is that he can only save her by seeing her die first, then die second, and repeat everything over and over again until he gets it right and save her and survive.
You seem to believe that Subaru would (likely) have kept his promise and not forced himself into the meeting if he had believed the royal selection meeting was (at least relatively) safe for Emilia.
But what if Subaru is the kind of a boy who would have broken the promise with her, forcing himself into the meeting even if he had believed the royal selection meeting was safe for Emilia? There appears a scene in the anime which shows security concern is an important reason for him to have wished her to take him along to the meeting. However, Many other scenes (Subaru’s jealousy, his self-claim to be a knight of her, Subaru accepting a duel against Julius) indicates that he had very strong desire to take a part in one of critical turning points for Emilia’s life, and it was as much important a reason for him as security concern. In short, I think he would have behaved exactly the same way even if he had believed there was no serious security concern in the meeting (with showing no respect for her own will and decision about her meeting).
It’s why I think he is an , or is close to it.
Correction for the last line in the comment above.
==> It’s why I think he is an intimacy seeker and/or Incompetent suitor type of stalker, or is close to it.
Suburu even has the hair for it!
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/fma/images/b/b3/Pride.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20150222180505
Hey writing – I am thankful for the insight , Does someone know where my company might find a template NJ DoT NJ-W4 example to use ?