re:zero "Subaru" character analysis

This essay contains spoilers, so if you don’t want to be spoiled with either Summertime Rendering or Re: Zero, the current season, please come back after watching.

There are a number of anime and stories in general with time travel, traveling between realms, and death intertwined in their themes. One of the most solid anime to do it in one season is Summertime Rendering. The characters are likable, the plot twists are well done, the animation and pacing are superb. The main character in Summertime Rendering goes back in time through death. He doesn’t feel or remember the sensations of the experience, but he learns that when he dies, he goes back to a specific point in time.  If you haven’t watched it, I highly encourage you do. It is a top tier  anime. 

When I think of an Isekai and a character that goes through this process in a gruesome, torturous way, I think of “Subaru” from Re:Zero. The fandom is interesting: many have an opinion about “Subaru” ranging from he’s immature to having deep compassion for him. Having watched all seasons and caught up the most current season, it’s important to remember the following:

“Subaru” not only remembers his deaths: the feelings and sensations of his deaths live within his body.

“Subaru” is a TEEN. He is still a child.

In this arc, “Subaru” loses his memories, where he relearns and re-experiences his power: return by death. One of the most cruel parts about his power is he can’t tell anyone—he suffers alone.

The depiction of “Subaru” trying to understand and navigate losing his memories is depicted in a similar way in which survivors remember: or rather can’t since many often have fragemented memories. When the body and mind are in survival, that is the priority, surviving— not storing memory. To watch “Subaru” experience the pain and fear for what feels like the first time for him, the depiction of his fear,  mistrust, and fragmentation is shown really well throughout the arc. Some of the most recent episodes feel disjointed, and incomplete.

The most recent episode ties in the gaps that we as viewers did not understand or maybe felt a disconnection from the weeks before. The reveal itself had many plot twists I was not expecting and also hints as to why there are gaps in his short term memory while also having lost his long term memory.

Back in season two, the only character “Subaru” could confide in was “Echidna,” the witch of Greed. We see him repeatedly share his power to her, over and over, for all the times he couldn’t share: in season one, when he told “Emilia” his power is return by death, “Emilia” died immediately, and “Puck” went on a rampage, killing everyone. It’s understandable that “Subaru” would bear the burden of keeping this power a secret, and also be traumatized by the compounded deaths he experiences throughout the series. 

What makes “Subaru” and Re: Zero so compelling, is the how the managaka write and shows the audience he is simultaneously alone and not alone in this journey: season 4 is the fifth arc of the story, and has more to reveal on how “Subaru” lost his memories, and in this arc, if it ever does, resolve.

Anime often has young protagonists where they are preteens to teenagers navigating cruel and often tragic fates out of their own control. “Subaru” is an interesting character as his experiences parallels to those who are victims and survivors of violence. How often the memories of such tramatic events live in the body, how memories are stored in fragments or pieces, where some memories come to light by a trigger, like a smell, touch, sound, word. As powerful it is to remember, victims and survivors of violence do not have that luxury.

We see it in one of the scenes where “Emilia” and “Beako” argue on behalf of helping “Subaru” where the other characters feel he is no longer reliable without his memory. If he no longer has his memories, is he now considered disposable? If he cannot contribute the way they expect of him, does he deserve to be left behind? The culmination of all of this makes it even more so of not only “Subaru” can’t trust anyone around him, but he can’t trust himself. This is a much too common experience for victims and survivors who are often regarded as weak, useless and disposable.

The antagonists from the intro we see are the malbeasts and the “Gluttonies.” The “Gluttonies” in particular operate in violent ways that are similar to society: they rob you of your name, your memories, and ultimately, your existence. Who do you remember, and who remembers you? What is it like to navigate a world where the people you love and treasure most have no recollection of you? Or in “Subaru’s“ case, you have no recollection of them?

I can’t say if this is the intention of the writer or not as I am anime only (for now), but I will say one of the things I love about Re:Zero and its characters are the ways in which it has us as the viewer think about the connections of their world to our larger society. I look forward to the final epsiode of cour 1, on Wednesday June 17th, and the remaining episodes of season 4 in August. I’ll be cheering for “Subaru” and his crew, and in the meantime, start reading the light novel.