Subaru Has No Character (According to Him)

Previous Title: Subaru, Hamlet, and Soliloquy

Warning, spoilers for both Re:Zero Season 1 (2016) and Hamlet (1600ish). Also I know I mispronounce "ay," sorry I stuttered!

Back in the era of stage plays, they dealt with many challenges that some take for granted today. For example, how do you deal with the lack of access to narration? Sure, you could have someone pretend to be the character off-stage, with the actor looking wistfully out into the distance. But Shakespeare approached it a little differently.

His characters would wrestle with their inner demons, exposing themselves in moments where they felt truly alone with their thoughts—giving the audience the feeling of listening in to something you weren't supposed to hear. And rather than being cheap, almost omniscient exposition, his characters often failed to find the flaws in their thinking—being unreliable narrators to even themselves... which rings pretty true to life.

While I was enjoying Re:Zero just fine before then, I absolutely adored episode 18. It really felt like a turning point, a Shakespearean-esque exploration of a truly flawed individual—but also their return (ha) from their darkest depths.

References and additional reading:

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[ЯБезымянный-оф]

From the first episode to the last, I never once thought Subaru was a bad person.

[fakerhex]

I hate how ep 18 has one of the best character developements (and also is basically the best episode in the whole series) and yet all people ever focused on was the fact that subaru said "I love emilia"

[ahengaming]

Subaru is probably the most human main character, at least in my opinion.

[tezstlez]

SUBARU:
What do you know?! What do you know about me?! This is the kind of man I am! I have no strenght but I want it all. I have no knowledge but all I do is dream. There's nothing I can do, but I struggle in vain!
I... I... I hate myself! All I do is talk a big game, and make myself sound like a big shot, when I can't do anything! I never do anything, yet I can complain like a pro! Who do I think I am? It's amazing I can live like this and not feel ashamed! Right?! I'm empty! There's nothing inside me at all! I know that... Yeah, that's obvious. I know it's obvious. Before I came here... Before I got into the situation that led me to all of you.
Do you have any idea what I did? I did nothing. I've never done a single thing! And this is the result! What I am now is the result! All of my powerlessness, all of my incompetence, is the product of my rotten character.
Wanting to accomplish something when I've never done anything goes beyond the limits of arrogance! The cost of my laziness and all the wasteful habits in my life just ends up killing both you and me! That's right.
I have no character. Even when I thought I could go on living here, nothing changed. That old man saw that part of me perfectly. Right? I wasn't trying to get stronger, or trying to make things better. I was just striking an obvious pose to justify myself, to say that I was trying, that it wasn't like I wasn't doing anything. I wanted to say I couldn't help it. I wanted to be told that it couldn't be helped!
I was only pretending to push my body to the limits so that would be possible! Even when I had you help me study, I was just posing to cover up how embarrassed I felt! At heart, I'm just a small, cowardly, filthy piece of trash who is always worried about how other see me, and nothing... nothing about me has changed! I knew it all along. That all of it was my fault... I'm the lowest of the low.
I absolutely hate myself.

[vanillasoda]

No character? No sane individual would willing to do what he did knowing all of the consequences, most will just give up, find another route & turn a blind eye, he tried to but he didn't.

Subaru is just a human, with an angel heart, who is trying his very best in an unfair world with most of the people judging him without knowing.

[vfsberry]

I mean Subaru is realistic he’s literally a human being probably one of the most realistic MC’s despite his “world” being all magic.

[biggusdikuss]

Looking at it logically, Subaru has fuck ton of grit and patience. He puts his life on the line just because he’s met people that in only some loops he found a good side to them. With Emilia, she was like Subaru first savior and at the time where Subaru still believed he was gonna be like a “Isekai protagonist” She captured his heart by saving him only once in that alleyway setting her as a “main heroine”. Subaru was so trusting even though to him, she’s was honestly a complete stranger. How often do you find a person who would be willing to get disemboweled several times for a girl that they just met.

Moving on to the times where he works at the Roswaal Mansion, in the very first loop where he wakes up at the mansion, he immediately offers himself as a butler in order to provide for himself and as well stay close to Emilia (which at the time was the only person that had treated him with kindness despite not knowing him all that well. Excluding Reinhardt). He treats everyone with respect and a approachable funny attitude while Ram (being as sarcastically cute as she is) would honestly not be the ideal type of coworker as she comes off a bit rude and snarky. Rem is completely cold to Subaru as she smells the witch’s scent on him and suspects him of being a witch cultists. At this points in the story, Subaru has still not had a full grasp on the history of the Rezero world and has no knowledge of his scent, so to him Rem is just being a monotonic cold person to him for no particular reason. Nonetheless, he always tries to keep it the mood fun when they interact even with Rem’s not so enthusiastic attitude. He goes 4-day sets of continuous loops dying from a curse, crushing by chained mace, and jumping of a goddamn cliff. On one of the loops he plans to leave the Roswaal Mansion in order to find out who, based on his point of view, would murder him and then the rest of the residents of the mansion. He does this despite not being treated by most of them and is not willing to leave anyone behind. To his surprise the attacker would be Rem, the person he was so sure he was getting a tiny bit closer to, would cut off his legs off to prevent from running, interrogate him about his smell and the witch cult (which he still has no idea about) while simultaneously getting his body smashed if he answers with the truth of just “wanting to be closer with everyone”. His responses are then followed up questions about “WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH!” This man is balling his eyes out while his voice reflects his agonizing. His final sentence before his throat is severed is “I Really Love You Guys”. Like Rem cut the man some slack because if he was a witch cultist, this man deserves a Grammy for his acting. And guess what he’s forced to become a freeloader at the mansion seeing this as the only option in making through the 4th day without dying, and because he wasn’t at the village to obtain the mabeast’s curse (in the form of a puppy) Rem receives the curse in his place and dies. Ram wants to kill him at this time, and he now he has three choices, to escape Ram and find a new place to live that allows him to remove all the troubles he’s encountered thus far, to kill Ram and live but ultimately remove a fraction of his humanity, or to kill himself by jumping off a GODDAMN CLIFF to once again restart despite not even being sure if “Return by Death” has a unlimited number of revives. This man risks his potential final life in order to save a girl that brutally murdered him, a girl that wants to murder him because she believes he killed her sister, a girl who cause him to get disemboweled several times and lied about her name being Satella, a little girl who seems to be in a bad mood 24:7 (I know she has her reasons), and a weird clown man.

You guys already know what this sigma male does. He clenched ass cheeks and his fists dashing towards the edge like Usain Bolt diving towards spikes like he’s a goddamn Olympic diver.

Skipping a few episodes, thus far, Subaru has experienced getting mugged and stabbed, using his Od (basically magic container and life force) to an unhealthy degree that permanently damaged his body, getting disemboweled, getting smashed, getting his throat slit, getting mauled by dogs, getting humiliated in front of the girl he likes by Julius, getting frozen to death by a spirit, getting murdered by witch cultist, getting pushed off a carriage by Otto as a sacrifice to the White Whale, getting rejected by several parties who don’t want to help him against the witch cult…
and he’s unable to say a single word about it.

So when he reaches his breaking point and starts going off on Emilia, suddenly he’s a dick, loser, and someone with a heroic complex. HEEEELLL

Imagine yourself going through what he did and being able not to get pissed by anyone for that long.
I’m positive some people wouldn’t even have been able to keep their shit together after the first 2 to 3 deaths.

Not even that. During his “I Hate Myself” speech he lists so many things that we as an audience can relate to and have experienced. Lazying away while you could’ve done anything your life, being rejected by your former friends, not feeling well enough to go to school for several days because of depression, and not making genuine connections with people because you fear each 5 negative thoughts that come from every positive thought of “what if”. Subaru has such an understanding of himself as a rotten character that he dismisses every single life he saved when he was transported. The man is selfless, compassionate, funny, determined, patient, kind, tough, trusting of of others, forgiving, and smart to figure out his mountainous problems he faces.

This goes even further in season 2 when he still doesn’t want to kill Maylie (the mabeast trainer) just because she’s a child. This may sound bad in today’s society but, who the fuck cares if she’s a child; that “child thing” tried to curse your ass, crush your ass, and chew your ass to pieces with her pets.

If I encounter Subaru’s situations, I would be a lot less forgiving to anyone who wrongfully killed me. I probably wouldn’t be patient enough to understand their reasoning of killing me like Subaru did with Rem. I probably would’ve not jumped off the cliff because I’d be too much of a pussy to do it with the fear of final death. I probably would’ve left Emilia to fend for herself even knowing that she would die an unpreventable death. I wouldn’t continue to put up a tough act for others and wallow in my own pain from dying so many times.

The point I’m trying to make here is that if you hate Subaru, take a genuine moment to think “What would’ve I done in his shoes not knowing anything about the story line of Rezero.” or “What would’ve happened to my mental state if I was in Subaru’s shoes?”

It makes sense considering everyone gets pissed at stupid things sometimes and cries about a major problem in their lives, but Mr. Chadbaru over here is still kicking ass with his mental durability.

[NoHairStyle]

This reminded me why I watched Re: Zero til the end. Sure it was entertaining and you wanted to see what would happen next, but I actually really liked seeing the truth of Subaru as a character, and this video highlighted it perfectly. He was a deeply flawed character who pushed his ideals of the situation onto those around him, but it wasn't until he opened up about how powerless he really thought he was that he was able to get the help he needed and make the most progress he had ever made. It wasn't the greatest series ever, but it managed to do that right at least

[AnimeSimp]

A Re Zero and Monogatari fan? Literally 2 of my top 5 anime of all time. Truly a based individual you are my friend.

[bloodcrusnik]

This is me interacting for the almighty Algorithm-Sama

[sn]

subaru is one of my fav character, i love the fact that he didnt have some kinda hidden power that activates by power of friendship or achieving something by saying mada mada

[WokeandProud]

He really is one of the best isakai characters ever purely because of his development.

[MuchachoDMax]

I too thought that scene was something off of old English Shakespearian, Re: Zero defiantly deserves its praise as a great story in the medium of animation. And not some "Waifu trap", "Harem", "Memes" or " Just another Isekai". presumptions. After season 2 I can't help but want to read the Novels now, and here's to hoping Season 3 is going to be announced this year.

Thanks for the well-informed video and spreading the greatness of the show/books, also nice regard to another great piece of the story, Monogatari.

[snner_]

This is why I don't watch Re:Zero, I don't want to cry because I could relate to Subaru

[SeaCowg]

Episode 18 of Re: Zero is what led me to discover Monogatari in the first place, and this channel. So for that, episode 18 will always be one of my favorite episodes in all of anime.

[purpleemperor]

Yeah, Re Zero was like fun mystery with great suffering of main character until episode 18 but after that it became even more. At that moment, I was stunned. It is one of most meaningfull and touching monologues for me in all anime.(maybe cause I relate) Also, I love Rem. She is so precious.

[babybababofski]

I was so surprised when I found out what ''to be or not to be'' meant a few years ago. It suddenly made me realise why that line is so famous, because it's absolutely fucking beautiful. This video is absolutely fantastic and one of, if not, my favourite one you've ever done. The king's return to anitube has been fantastic. Good fucking work.

[cahsahhhhhhhn]

Great video.
Subaru’s Soliloquy was when I really fell in love with Subaru and Re:Zero as well.

[crimsondemon]

I have to admit I watched this anime with no info beforehand and absolutely loved the MC when he speaks about his inner conflict it really hit's hard.

[justsomeguywithoutalife]

Subaru = The powerless hero who care too much