Re: Zero -Life In Another World-is a series whose protagonist has been the subject of a lot of criticism, butthe third season’s premierehas jogged my memory as to why he’s great, and it has to do with whyRe: Zeroitself is great.Re: Zerois, on its face, an isekai. The protagonist, Subaru Natsuki, is sucked into another world and givena bizarre ability that allows him to rewind time upon his death.
Falling in love and otherwise falling in with Emilia, a candidate in the royal elections for the next king of Lugunica, Subaru finds himself in the middle of a much broader conflict led by the Witch Cultists. There, he has to mobilize his time-reset ability to change fate. Along the way, he becomes acquainted with faces that have transcendedRe: Zeroto become universally recognizable in anime communities: maids Rem and Ram, feminine catperson Ferris, tiny librarian Beatrice, and the humble former merchant Otto.Protecting these people becomes his purpose in lifeasRe: Zerounfolds.
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Subaru’s Role Is Unenviable, But He’s The Only Protagonist For The Job
To address the elephant in the room:Subaru’s ability is a devastating thing to imagine. During the trials he undergoes in season 2, it’s revealed that he was an outcast in Japan. In Lugunica, he finds a sense of community and sincere love, as well as a singular purpose in life:to restructure fate through constant death, an unthinkable responsibility. Unlike many isekai protagonists, Subaru is just a normal guy, and in Lugunica—aside from his Return by Death ability—he remains a normal guy.
There is no training arc, nor is there some innate aptitudethat only Subaru possesses. Aside from Return by Death, of course: a power that’s actually a curse. It’s also a power he can’t tell anybody about. It’s devastating to observe as he sees Emilia, Rem, and others die time after time, trying to whisper out that he can’t die and that his death resets time.
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One of the things that’s frustrating about Subaru is his tendency to enter moods that can best be described as “Shinji-core”, but at the same time, he can’t be blamed for that. Even if he wanted to leave Lugunica, he couldn’t; even if he wanted to die, he couldn’t. Importantly, though, he wants neither.Subaru isdetermined to use his one special power for the benefit of those around him, even if it kills him (literally). In Lugunica, he finds a life worth living, at the price of endless death befalling himself and those he loves.
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Re: Zero Originated As An Addendum To A Legendary Isekai Series
Subaru is exceptional as an isekai protagonist, and it’s by design.The Familiar of Zero’s light novel launched in 2004, and its anime followed suit in 2006. Both would be wildly successful, andThe Familiar of Zero’s central ideas became foundational to contemporary isekai. With its spectacular fame came the growth offan-fiction communitiesderiving from it, and those were whereRe: Zero’s creator Tappei Nagutsuki would spend his free time before penning the devastating isekai.
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The Familiar of Zerocontributed the archetype of the “ordinary guy”, the kuudere maid, modern isekai’s frequent high fantasy settings, political subplots of royal succession, the integration of comedy and action elements into romance/harem plots, and more. The series remainsa pinnacle of escapist media based around self-insertion, with a protagonist (Saito) who is at once everybody and nobody. He goes from powerless to incredibly strong, a nameless face to a celebrity, and a middle-class student to the husband of nobility. From zero to hero, if you would.
Subaru is none of that.The Familiar of Zero’s plot revolves around Saito finding a way back to Japan;Re: Zeroshudders to imagine Subaru’s return, as does Subaru himself. Subaru struggles to transition to the culture, political norms, and social hierarchy of his new life. With nothing much to offer, he becomes jealous, clams up, and often stews in anxious frustration. Where Saito’s interactions come effortlessly, Subaru’s feel transparently off-kilter. Where Saito is the object of half-hearted affection from anyone other than female lead Louise, Subaru must break Rem’s heart.
The Premiere Of Re: Zero’s Third Season Tricked Me
Re: Zero Reminded Me Why Subaru Is Perfect For The Series
Because he broke Rem’s heart, saw her die countless times, and was killed by her in a life scratched out of the timeline, there is a special vulnerability when, in the premiere ofRe: Zero’s third season,Subaru sits at the bedside of a comatose Rem. Idly chatting, he revealed he’s regularly visited her over the year since the events of the second season. However, the weight of this didn’t immediately occur to me.
In fact, the episode (“Theatrical Malice”) proceeded as if the series had never done anything wrong to me. Because Subaru never occupied the spotlight or their attention,the side characters inRe: Zerohave always been well-defined. The premiere expanded on that by giving Beatrice and Reinhard, especially, a load of screen time and exposition. Overall, the episode is an absolute masterpiece of misdirection.
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The passage of time led me to forget whatRe: Zerois “actually about”. I had forgotten, for example, the heartbreaking ending of season 1, episode 15, where Subaru’s decapitated corpse holds Rem as they’re buried by the snow. In that episode, the inhabitants of Roswaal’s manor—Rem, Beatrice, Emilia, and all the others—aremassacred over and over, and he has a complete breakdown. No doubt, it was a convenient thing to forget.
The third season’s first episode was mostly peaceful but, for the most part, felt eerily correct. Everything felt right against my memory—there was royal succession talk, a lot of familiar faces, a little bit of perverted humor, and some emotion. As far as my memory and I were concerned,everything was in its proper place. In hindsight, I should have seen the ending coming.Re: Zeroalways tricks you, stabbing you in the gut while you’re distracted.
An unexpected enemy, the Sin Archbishop of Wrath, appeared. It wasan incredible twist that totally caught me off-guard. I can’t help but feel thatRe: Zeroknew I had forgotten its tricks. It shoved the scene in my face, with the cultist’s theatrically affected voice ringing out over a depraved one-man show. She enchanted the audience and dropped a child to the ground, then killed everyone. Naturally, Subaru returns by death.
It dawns on him what’s come to pass. He’s gone back in time for the first time in a year. When it hit me, he was clutching himself in a kneeling huddle, nearly hyperventilating as the faces of the past-that-became-present-again checked in on him. That’s when I realized thatSubaru’s vulnerability and weakness are integral toRe: Zero’s appeal. His pain is horribly real.
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The number one source of frustration I’ve heard about Subaru isseeing him constantly fail and struggle. That’s what tells me that Subaru isn’t a response to self-insert isekai protagonists; he’sRe: Zero’s ingenious weaponization of self-insertion as a concept. Subaru is the tragic mirror constructed solely from the viewers' empathy and suspension of disbelief.
Subaru is weak and sometimes fumbles his words and often gets frustrated when things don’t go his way; he struggles to confess his love, but would also do anything for Emilia; all of this, he does because he’s like me. Imprinted with the pain of two worlds and a clock that can’t just move in one direction, I feel his nauseating burden weighing on me.Re: Zero -Life In Another Worldwent around three years without new material: just enough time for me to forgetSubaruso that, in one heartbreaking sequence, I could be reminded he’s so special.
