She’s right. It’s a male power fantasy. I too fantasize about being beaten in public by a tall good looking man while the person I’m attracted to watches me be knocked unconscious.
Rezero is targeted at men. I'm a dude and I can vouch for that. Because it inspired me to go through a very tough time in my life. I had a medical condition in which even breathing would hurt my body with unimaginable pain. But when I looked at what Subaru goes through and still manages to somehow come out on top, it inspired me to do the same. That's why this anime holds a very special place in my heart. It'll always be my number 1. It teaches men to be better men.
I get what you mean. But tbh as a teenage girl I relate hard with subaru, his insecurities, low self esteem, and the feeling to have to fake your personality in order to satisfy others, so seeing him grow and change to become a respectable and responsible young man inspired me and alot of people of both genders to do and become better. In my opinion rezero is a message for those who think they're hit rock bottom to better themselves, work harder to earn the respect and accomplishments they desire regardless of hardships and failures they faced in their lives and well... restart from zero.
Bruh calling Subaru irredeemable for his outcry in arc 3 man. I like how we can’t even make an effort to change in this generation as well only be judge on our past actions.Fictional characters and real people alike.
Don't you know that's what the internet is for? It's for looking at that sexist tweet you made when you were 16 after a bad breakup, and assuming you're still a sexist pig at 27.
That's what most annoys me, also, another hot take: When some people dislike Subaru so much, what about other characters? Wasn't Rem a psychopath before Subaru helps her? This ties with people hating Subaru even more in ep 18 S1 for being "dumb"(As if Subaru doesn't have the right to love whoever he wants), but having Rem on a pedestal. Don't get me wrong, Rem is such a good character, but i can't understand the hypocresy of staments like that. Anyone has the right to dislike or like whatever, the problem that i have it's those weird arguments.
At that point he was mentally scarred, he had to deal with getting his stomach getting stabbed multiple times, getting killed by a curse, getting killed by rem ( he didn’t know who killed him) while suffering from the curse, getting tortured by rem and killed by ram, and having to commit suicide. Honestly, if I had to do that I’d probably lash out, what he did was indeed deplorable but from his point of view he had to deal with extreme pain. Another problem I see with the argument that Subaru has everyone falling for him is that nobody realizes that from other characters POV Subaru essentially has Rimuru’s Great sage and has infinite knowledge, it was so annoying to see it get overlooked.
well, but it really did the case sometimes. In truth, something usually described as girls kind of behavior model can be applied to boys as well - and vise versa. Dont get me wrong, nothing p3rv i mean. I mean, for example, usually girls want to stay "adult kids" and no gown up same as we boys (deep inside they are). And still girls are differ - usually they more reasonable and responsible persons. Exactly just because they girls. And it something personally. Yes, parents do some job. Bot mostly upbringing is an "independent" process (sry wrong translation - in too lazy). Girls rises with that traits that they give it to themselfs same as we boys. And usually girls are better in that than we boys. Exactly by girls nature.
@@bencegergohocz5988 well sometimes people don’t know things and it’s find, people who know can explain. Only those that are stubborn even after getting slapped with facts should be hated.
Ah yes the true male fantasy of Re Zero, an isekai about the existential horror of isolation and return by death for a broken protagonist in a world the complete opposite of his own. The Witches of Sin are top tier harem material and not terrifying entities of unimaginable power
Not to mention only one of those “fit the mold” she was so certain all isekai went off of (it doesn’t), I honestly have no idea how she even got to the conclusion on what isekai is, it’s like only watching MHA, Dragon Ball, and Naruto and assuming all shonen anime have an emotionless protagonist, no plot, and are power fantasies, which as you may be able to figure out only one of those descriptions fit, then blame one piece for ruining shonen, I just can’t understand her thought process
tbh she showed that picture which had Syd and Aki in it, but she didn't say their names, so I'm not even sure she knew or bothered to find out who they were.
It really hurts me whenever someone calls Subaru a "shit" MC, or annoying, or terrible. That's actually part of the process. You weren't perfect from when you're born till you grow up to be an adult. You'll stumble, fail, be humiliated, and might become an asshole at least once in your lifetime. All of that is part of growing up and maturing as a person. People who takes Subaru's journey lightly are prolly kids who doesn't want to grow up, or doesn't want to be reminded of the horrible fact that they need to grow up.
@@TheReaIestOne Honestly Deku also gets a lot of hate because he is not a badass. He is a kid trying to become a hero and when in public usually acts like one. Yet people say he is weak when we see him cry at his lowest.
@@zselle9001 U do know that Luffy was 17 when the series began right and he didn’t cry most of the time like Deku did Naruto was 12 when his series started out and he didn’t cry nearly as much as Deku did shoot Goku was younger than Deku and he barely cried in DB all of them were close to his age when they started their series and they didn’t nearly as much as Deku the reason why I don’t like Deku is because he’s a crybaby and he’s not the type of mc I prefer
"Re:zero is a self insert harem that degrades women and appeals to nice guys" - main character literally gets murdered by love interests but still forgives them and also grows as a character learning to treat women as equals rather than as objects that need to be saved + the story contains plenty of badass females.
pplus aren't at least some of the main villains women? or is it degrading for a woman to be evil, because having a vagina means you can't be a bad person?
@@sarafontanini7051 The women are some of the most powerful too. There are 8 witches and 1 warlock currently in the anime, and even amongst the main cast, the females are all pretty strong.
I think that definition is more appropriate to SAO anime. As a woman, Re:Zero fanservice and romance feel to be built carefully and don't feel unnecessary, unlike some problematic scenes in SAO.
@@anadaere6861 Roswaal is a powerhouse on that level and Julius can tentatively be considered one, especially considering what he managed to do in Arc 6. Felix is powerful in his own way too, considering he can literally return to life if he dies. Plus Garfiel, who is considered to be theoretically capable of reaching Reinhardt's level (minus the hax stuff like divine blessings, etc) if he matures. Also there are the Archbishops, and we can safely say that all of them whether they are male or female are nonsensically strong. There's also two more that are amongst the world's strongest, Cecilus and Halibel. Cecilus is one of the few that are able to make Reinhardt draw his sword, implying he is on the level of Puck, and Halibel is a shinobi who not only can do stuff that ninjas do but is also proficient in curses. They and one other person are considered to be on the level of the Sword Saint Reinhardt.
I used to be mad at Subaru because he kept doing stupid things and i couldn't self insert myself, but during arc 4 i've seen him more as character and not a device to project myself into, and when in other arcs i didn't really cared how he feels and just wanted him to make things right, to suddenly rooting for him and when he tried to do things he couldn't and he felt like shit for that i wanted to scream at my laptop that "you are doing everything you can, you need to share this suffering with your friends, i care about you too", just from simple change of perspective he changed from one of my least likable protagonists, to my favorite, all thanks to show letting me see him as human, with all this expectations and parent stuff, man i love that guy.
"But Subaru right from the start is a good person. He's striving to be a good person and save people he could've abandoned". THANK YOU. I have always maintained this notion about him. To me, he was a good person with a lot of strengths and flaws. I could never understand when people say he was a "terrible human being" in the beginning. I just didn't agree with it.
"what matters is that you're trying. A lot of people forget that that distinction matters." -random unnamed angel, Order of the Stick, regardign whetehr someone deserves to go to heaven despite doing one bad thing once.
He literalry killed himself to save the girl that was murdering him(Rem) just cause he saw how sad her sister(Ram) was... I wouldn't have done that and i highly doubt most of the people that call Subaru a shity person would. Also, many of those people are what i would call "armchair brave". They can't fucking understad that geting cut/crushed/stabbed/mauled/burnt/ripped apart and so on is terrifying. It's fucking easy to say that he can just come back so geting killed doesn't matter but every animal is instinctually terrified by pain, pain is the signal that tells out brain that something is realy not ok so not caring abaut it is straith up unnatural. Subaru's outburst abaut not geting rewarded is something people like this moron instantly connet to their perverted bs (just like her comment abaut the Rem scene being a fap matterial for evil males like me which is pretty demn insulting cause i was crying my eyes out) but that wasn't even the first time Subaru voiced that. When Rem was torturing him, he said "why don't you remember? Why do you all keep leaving me behind?" It's clearly nothing sexul... He just want's his existance and actions to be recognised. This is exactly why the scene when he finally can tell Echidna abaut his ability is so powerful, finally at least someone did'n leave him behind.
@@charliekahn4205 true... i wanna see morons like this atempt to selfinsert themselves into Denji (chansaw man), a character literlarly base on Leatherface. (or maybe Power aka Eric Cartman...)
I found this gem in Noralities' videos comment section, it was written by Terry Lei: "Your argument for re:zero being a male power fantasy is like me calling Naruto a romance anime where Naruto's only tries to win over his tsundere boyfriend Sasuke." And of course good video!
For me, the worst thing she said in the video was that it was a male fantasy in the sense that a girl saw the worst parts of Subaru and still loved him unconditionally. Love is SUPPOSED to be loving someone despite knowing the parts of them that aren't all good. Wanting love like that should not be considered apart of a male fantasy.
Or you know, just marry some rich reformed playboy billionaire who randomly takes an interest in you and suddenly does a 180 into the most gentle man you ever met and renounces all his sinful ways to live a monogamous life with you. Sorry, I started cringing super hard after typing all that.
Just answer me one thing then, out of my curiosity: what did Subaru do for Rem? Or for Emilia? Noralities' point was exactly that Subaru wasn't truly loving them back (just being possessive of Emilia) while all those girls loved him unconditionally, which is why she thinks it's unfair because true love has to be reciprocated. I'm not saying I agree with her though, because I never watched the series, but I really wanna know if the MC did anything to deserve these girls' love at all, or if he was just being a jerk and overall horrible person to them.
@@JayDay04 I'm absolutely confused as to why you are going out of your way to comment if you never watched Re:Zero. As to your question, yes Subaru has done a lot for these girls. Even dying for them at times, even if they don't know it. Of course, that in itself is a toxic mindset, the idea that because he did what he did for them, they should reciprocate, and that is depicted as wrong on Subaru's part in episode 18 of Re;Zero season 1 which Subaru does learn. More importantly, the girls do not see Subaru's failures, in their view, he always succeeds, even if he gets hurt doing it, etc. Therefore in their eyes, he is indeed someone amazing and worthy. That however isn't why the viewers love Subaru, we love him because of his failures. Because he struggles, gets hurt and fails, then gets right back up and tries again. Slight spoiler, but someone who knows about Subaru's failures and deaths once asked him why he didn't just stop trying if it was so hard. His reply is that he just loved the people around him too much, he wants those ordinary days he spends with them to just continue and so he cannot stop until he grabs back those ordinary days.
@@Arufonsa1 Oh and remember when the show literally said how being a martyr is disgusting and no one should have that mindset? But I guess we can just ignore Subaru's entire character development in S2 because if we didn't, you wouldn't have an argument :)
@@Arufonsa1 In no way is it lampshading...its one of Subaru's most important character developments that becomes a major part of the story and his character for every arc after the fact
Imagine being so into finding a popular anime to use in your video about your ideologies that you'd convince yourself Re:Zero was a male power fantasy...
Event with the lastest chapter, Subaru is getting screwed left and right. Yes, re: zero I think is unnecessarily leaning towards harem ( which i dont like) but there is so much more to it. Re zero is not comparable to most other anime that she had her gripes with
*Flashbacks to him experiencing death, the consequences of his actions, etc and not to mention the only one who romantically loves him in the anime (tho it looks like Emilia is starting to develop feelings for him as well) is in a coma where no one in the world besides him can remember her*
@@NatalieXHunter most of season 1 was him learning how much consequences his actions had, it honestly makes me wonder if she actually watched the show.
She gets really angry about anime fanservice and lolis, but after scrolling through her Tumblr profile for a bit the first thing I found is Yaoi fanart of underage My Hero Academia characters. Rule for the you but not for me
This was a really interesting video. You really hit the nail on the head when it comes to how she disregarded people who relate to Subaru. I'm someone who wants to believe almost everyone can be redeemed I like believing that you can almost always better yourself and right your past wrongs. It hurt me when she said those things. Not beacuse I've done the exact same things as Subaru and can exactly relate to everything that's happened to him and what he has done beacuse god almighty I never could. But I do relate to him in alot of ways. As someone who first experienced Re:Zero when I was Subaru's age and still have yet to reach my 20's its very important to me. When I got really depressed and felt like I had commited unforgivable mistakes and wasted my life Subaru as a character and Re:Zero as a story gave me hope that things could be better. Even in my darkest moments where I considered hurting myself or ending it all or that one time I became a shut in for a month one of my few reprieves was this story. You can dislike a story I take no issue with that people are entitled to their opinions. But It felt like in that moment she was telling me I didn't deserve to get better or to improve. She was telling me I was irredeemable. I get enough of that shit from myself so it sucked when she said that. Subaru and me are different in many ways. But we share many similarities. And I can feel a lot less ashamed of those traits when I see someone I can aspire to be like share them with me fictional character or not. Anyway emotional stuff aside thanks for talking about this in depth!
I once spoke to someone on twitter who behaved JUST like her. They outright was like “uhh I don’t think you actually improved as a person if you relate to Subaru” and I was shocked. I legit only explained to them why Ppl like the show and relate to the mc and I guess cuz he once made mistakes means that anyone who’s ever made mistakes are garbage. After a bunch of ad hominem attacks I outright called them a dumbass for being aggressive for no reason (well it’s Twitter, what r u gonna do) and they made up some excuse about how it was justified cuz they were French or something. For a person who calls re zero fans horny and pathetic as a result, it’s hilarious how they then went on to post nudes on their account. I lowkey wanted to report them but I didn’t want to be responsible for getting them kicked or something
@@ma.2089 "I am French therefore I am allowed to be mean" So does that mean if I identify as an American I am justified to shoot you? (I'm not but this is the backwards leap in logic we're using so why not)
I saw that someone in that video's comment section said that rem's confession in ep 18 was dehumanizing to rem. Excuse me ,i don't understand, how is saying what you love about someone else "dehumanizing" ? That's literally what true love is. To be able to list off the little things that you love about someone, even when they deem those insignficant like tapping their pinky finger when they are deep in thought. That uplifts them. Their "insignficant" parts of themselves suddenly became signficant, and that's what true love is suppose to do.
Damn, by that logic (not yours) my mom telling me she loves me was dehumanizing her. Wow. I'm glad these ideas are a minority but I feel bad for whoever believes that.
It is because in the minds of these people, someone who shows that he likes another person, that he cares about another person or in short "loves" that person is a sign of weakness. People with this kind of mentality often have various types of frustrations in their life, or are either unable to genuinely love another person or have never had anyone show that kind of feeling to them. They are bubbles of negative emotions and personal dissatisfaction.
@@dannyboers4704 Thing is its not a Male power fantasy. If people watch the whole show they realise where he gets his power from. It's not a MALE POWER FANTASY. im not saying thats what your saying but smh jesus christ.
I watched Noralitie's video comparing Dr. Stone and Ascendance of a Bookworm. That's fair they both have similar premises, but 90% of the video was praising Ascendance of a Bookworm for being "relatable" and having a female lead, while she basically dismissed Dr. Stone as just another shonen manga. I don't want to be "that guy", but Noralitie doesn't GET Dr. Stone. While AoaB is about family and struggling to find luxury as part of the middle class, Dr.S is more of a humanist tale about humanities potential to conquer nature and fly to the stars through the power of science. As a fan of Dr. Stone, it's disheartening to see someone just brush it off like it's nothing.
They really don't even have a similar premise. They're completely different. It's just that both MCs use vaguely similar methods of recreating things from the modern world to achieve their goals.
fr, Senku is one of the best male protagonists watching how differently he acts and looks from all the other male shonen MC's out there is a breath of fresh air
@@cerridianempire1653ok this is kinda misleading, I know everyone will always lump together all the shonen protags and dismiss them, that is wrong each shonen protag is insanely unique in their own story and across the stories, Naruto, Luffy, Gon and more shonen are also have way too many things that are unique to them.
As an extravert who has struggled with Covid isolation, depressive episodes, and this feeling of having to shoulder the burden for everyone else, I related heavily to Subaru. I also am a woman. Like you said, gender is not the only thing that one looks for in a relatable protagonist. Subaru has gone through things that I don't often see myself in otherwise, and watching him struggle has helped me see my own faulty lines of thinking. Thanks for defending my favorite anime, and the awful idea that Subaru (and by extension, female me) is irredeemable.
I'm really confused by Noralities video. I actually used to watch her stuff cause I enjoyed her Utena essay videos but that isekai video rubbed me the wrong way. She says one of her favorite characters from Utena is Nanami, a girl who literally drowns a kitten because she was jealous it got more attention from her brother than she did, but sure, Subaru is irredeemable because hes a man who had a dickish outburst. Just seems kind of hypocritical to me.
Her point about Rem reminds me of another thing that I always found irritating: how a lot of people seem to think that a character only has a personality if they are loud or abrasive, while dismissing the quieter ones almost entirely.
I'm starting to think some people fetishize being the victims so bad that they see it everywhere, even when it's unreasonable. It cheapens what _real_ victims go through. Twitter in a nutshell.
Ikr. They're looking for problems where problems doesn't really exist, or atleast are not serious that they need lots of attention. They're taking away the attention from real victims, and it's so disrespectful
I don't want fan service to go away but done in a better way that doesn't roll my eye like fire force did do it in way like Bunny girl Senpai where it make sense to have it and not some bullshit
Hm... I had a bad feeling about those videos once they showed up in my feed, and it turns out I was right... I must say, even though I am also a girl, I do find myself relating to Subaru quite a bit despite it. Re:Zero was something I happened to come across because I heard it being talked about a lot and now, it's something very special to me. Hearing these "criticisms" makes me scratch my head in confusion when they were either proven untrue later on (or...y'know, staring you smack dab in the face) or are twisted in some shape or form to make it seem a certain way. I don't generally like watching videos like this Noralities person did, and I'm very much glad I didn't... It would have been a very frustrating experience.
I honestly fell victim to that video, cuz her channel kept being recommended to me and I thought she might have an interesting opinion and decided to watch her video. Turns out she's an arrogant, ignorant, cynical, and biased sexist.
Yay fellow girl who relates to Subaru! This anime hits on so many levels for me and I feel much of Subaru's personality is basically me. Yeah though watching the original video saying that Subaru was bad was super frustrating. Love that this response video was made.
@@danielantony1882 yeah that's why I would get upset when I would see videos complaining about Subaru. It made me feel like he was not good enough and he's my boy. He is definitely best aniki :).
The funniest part, about all this is that finding "male" vtubers is way, way harder. I mean, just look at Hololive vs Holostars numbers. So I have no idea what the other woman was even trying to say.
@@blackblade7757 the important part is that Nijiboys and Nijigirls start out pretty weak, and when confident enough they became pretty Charismatic. Which is really important, not because Holostars are not Charismatic since they also have a loyal community.
And the Holostars have better singers too. For evidence, I submit Izuru's _Unravel_ cover. It will change the way you look at reality. That man could have been an 80s British rock star with that voice.
I'm actually really glad I watched this video all the way through, because I will admit I was a little apprehensive at first. I came from noralities' video only knowing about Re:zero through her review, and what little bits I'd seen about it online, so my opinion of it was pretty negative. Now after watching this video and getting a better understanding of what Re:Zero's truly about, I feel honestly kind of guilty. Perpetuating the idea that people don't deserve forgiveness or the opportunity to change, especially with men, is really harmful. And by me and many others misinterpreting the message of Re:Zero it definitely added to this problem. I think i'm definitely going to give Re:Zero a watch after this, because it genuinely sounds like the kind of story I want to hear.
When, i watched noralities take on re zero i was genuinely shocked by how terrible it was. Not even big haters are saying things that noralities pointed out.
I completely agree and I've looked and have had people recommend to me criticizing it and I started skeptical but ended agreeing with more of the criticism then Nora's original video.
For what it's worth, loads of men who like RE:Zero hate the aspects of the MC that Norality mentions, but in season 2 he's largely grown past those bad characteristics. And the female characters see good character development, season 2 is a masterpiece.
See, fun fact: as an aspiring writer myself, I originally went into Re:Zero as a part of simply exploring isekai. I hadn't expected much from it (hell, back then I considered Overlord to be the best the genre offered) and I got into it so much and so quickly I basically watched the entire first season in one sitting. Why? Because the series specifically goes against so many tropes of not only isekai, but fantasy in general, and you can see Nagatsuki knows his stuff better than most authors. It not only inspired me on a personal level, and a lot, but it also really helped point me in the right direction when it comes to my own writing, specifically when it comes to characters and inter-personal characters - something I struggle with both personally and with my writing. The fact that the series has a broad and well-rounded cast, to the point that the author can write whole side-stories from their POVs, should settle any debate about the story being a self-insert. Not to mention at least half of those, if not more, are women, all of whom except Petra dwarf Subaru in terms of raw power and often experience and competence. If anything, Re:Zero is almost an anti-harem where the main character can and frequently does form working relationships with other women without immediately involving romantic or sexual undertones - something, I might point out, is not nearly as isolated to manga and anime as people like these often claim. Take it from someone who was not familiar with the medium until relatively recently. So yeah, the video seems about as informative as what you can expect from the woke grifter crowd, and I enjoyed the analysis of it very much. Personally, I would be very happy for more long format videos from you even if it means less frequent uploads, since my most favorite videos of yours are the ones where you really get in depth with a topic and I could listen to your voice for hours (no Big Barry voice modulators, I beg you!). All in all, great job and I do hope you decide to give both this type of content and format another go at some point in the future.
Yeah, I think it's pretty much because I'm a writer that I appreciate Re:Zero so much - I analyze everything I read because that's what you've got to do to improve your own abilities, and with Re:Zero I am always finding cool, interesting things Tappei does.
@@NatalieXHunter What are the things you've read that helped you become a better writing. I've read On Writing by Stephen King and wonder if you read other like it?
On Writing is really interesting, but tbh because I did a lot of ghostwriting in all different genres a lot of books I found useful were super specific to specific genres (like Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes is useful for romance, etc).
I think Subaru is one of the best written characters ever made.As someone who is autistic and struggles with relationships and social interactions it was nice to watch a show that made me felt like I was not alone.Your video was great at arguing against her points.
Subaru’s themes of self-doubt and coming to accept and love yourself are incredible. The way he portrays the way someone can enter a new environment and change their personality is incredible. While rewatching the show, I had some insight on Subaru and how he has an inferiority complex and why he fell in love with Emilia. It must be easy to fall in love with someone when you go your whole life living in someone’s shadow and being constantly starved of affection. When he arrived in Lagunica, Emilia was the only one to show him kindness and compassion and he was swept away by her. I really love how he portrays mental instability and emotional trauma
As an adult , 26 years old Asian woman I relate painfully with Subaru. ( I never watched re:zero. But after learning about the story content) I totally relate because my own failures ( I had dreams of becoming an influencer, got a degree .end up in minimum wage jobs , living in my parent’ s basement. Being verbally abused and feeling like nothing. . i am a good person , I am extroverted and I like to help people .but sometimes I lash out at my friends for not understanding my situation and isolate myself from them for criticizing my actions because I dont think they understand what I am going through everyday at home . Mental Illness is real .. sometimes the victim does not always act like “ the perfect victim “ . We can be angry, depressed , hard to get along sometimes . Subaru has PtSD. and his PtSD is valid since he gets brutally murdered multiple times ,literally . i cant imagine how much pain that is mentally and also physically.. Many times veterans struggle with PtSD does not only act depressed , they can act angry , lash out . Shut in because they cant stop seeing the image of their comrades dying in front of their eyes . That does not mean their action is right. It just means we need to see things from their perspective since most of us does not experience something like this. How she talks about Subaru ‘s lash out is just unsympathetic as fuck. She is the example of a radical feminist that makes the rest of us feminist look bad
When I watched Noralities' video and she went on about how a woman would be unable to relate to/enjoy Re Zero, I thought, "Hm, I wonder what Natalie would think about that." So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this on my recommended.
"women are unable to relate to/enjoy Re:Zero" I really, really hate it when people generalize like this. You do not speak for all women when you say shit like this... I'm also a woman and jfc I relate to Subaru so hard. Let's just say my current life is very similar to Subaru's before he was isekai'd... Anyways, I hope she learns to get off her high horse soon before she does some especially elitist shit. I like her videos and I would hate to see her go down that path.
@@samanthot_ Honestly, what she said about Subaru (and without realizing people who have had Subaru-like phases) was pretty bad already. A teenager did wrong and threw a fit even though he apologized and worked to better himself afterward and did it in the first place due to projection of his own insecurities and naivety in how to build a relationship... because he's a teenager? Unacceptable!
I'm a woman and I don't relate to all sides of Subaru, but I don't think it's a gender thing. It's just a matter of personal experience regardless of the gender. I cried and related so much on episode 18, but Subaru at the start of the season quite frustrated me. He's slow to figure out his ability although he's fond of this kind of world to the point he didn't even question about it, and I don't think there's ever a thought of him to go back to his world when he had bad experiences in this fantasy world. I personally had experience in living far from home. I disliked my home and loved my new place, but I still got homesick. Regardless of how I hated my parents before, I missed them when I had to adapt in a new place I barely knew. That's why I couldn't relate to Subaru in this part. I talked to my friends about it. Two of them are men and they both had similar experience of going far away from home to a place they dreamed of, like me. One of them had similar opinions, while the other one didn't feel homesick at all. It's clearly not because he's a man since both men had different opinions. It's just a matter of personal experience and feeling.
@@stefanijovita1640 He also does get sad he can't see his parents again in Season 2. So that's something. I guess emotions for some people only really pop up when the action has subsided for a moment.
@@gabebarnes6814 That's why I like season 2 better though, because it explores more about Subaru, but it still doesn't change the fact that I can't relate to certain parts of him, especially in the beginning. The only parts I can relate to Subaru are what's in episode 18 and his pain, but other than that, I admire him rather than relate to him, although it's not really a bad thing.
"You and I are adult women, and the things you're criticising are experiences of adolescent man who is still growing up" Well said, really like this line of yours. Truly a woman of experience!
My God, that reminds me of people in the cartoon community criticizing Cailou, DW from Arthur, and Sarah from Ed Edd n Eddy for being spoiled brats. They kinda forgot that these characters aren't adults who know wrong from right (or should know wrong from right). They are children.
@@arthurfine4284 Agree. Though I think I’ve heard from people the reason they hate these characters is because some believe characters in little kid shows should be good role models and shouldn’t teach kids to throw fits. The characters should be the best versions of a child character. I also disagree with these types and from my viewpoint I see it as parents not wanting to teach or understand the necessity of being taught to deal with your emotions. That such shows could include characters like that in an effort to teach that lesson or have someone relatable to the child.
@@FullmoonPhantom-dn2sr I think it's important that you have these characters to show that life isn't necessarily fair and you would encounter these types of people in your life. And that no matter how they act, you should treat them as you like to be treated because you are the better person in that situation. If you watch Ed Edd n Eddy, you never see Ed physically or verbally abuse other people because his sister or his parents abuse him. He's a better person and character for not doing so and that's why you can sympathize with him. Same with Cinderella, just because her mother and sister abuses her, she still treats other people and creatures with respect and civility because that is what a good person does.
@@arthurfine4284 i think the problem with Caillou is that he’s a brat, like any kid his age, but gets away with it all the time. I think that’s why Caillou is so hated
Bruh, when she called Rem a "2D anime body pillow" I nearly had an aneurysm. I'm almost positive that she actually only watched the two scenes she mentioned, as her overall reading of both the story and its characters are just so, so unbelievably unfounded.
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 Yeah, I have. But if she has the same critical thinking skills as the coomer degens that inhabit the anime community, then that’s on her not the show. Are you telling me her reading of the character is correct?
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 ahh yes because the way the fandom acts is part of the story canon. You can make a very sexually unstimulating character and people will still find ways to sexualize them. Does that affect the characterization of the character in the work aforementioned? No. Unless that's added in the canon of the work sure. If you are criticizing the plot and structure of a story and one of your major criticism on the characterization is how the fandom acts, that's just being disingenuous.
i find it funny how people think anime is so targetted towards only men, yet ignore when even men are hyping up anime clearly targetted towards other women. violet evergarden and wonder egg priority are two great examples, i love them and im a guy, its almost like gender means absolutely nothing when it comes to interests 0 - 0
The problem is there are very few like fruits basket that are actually targeted towards women compared to men. Whereas if i watch one targeted towards men i usually have to watch a teen getting groped portrayed as a joke, and i have trouble excusing things like that.
@@Beth4ny you watch some wild ass shows. There are soo much shows that doesn't do that shit. Oh wait , want me to tell a show where reverse gender abuse happens?
@@gayballa35 they do because they see anything that is fantasy and has game elements as isekai. They're the same kind of people who see Danmachi as isekai
Thank you P.s. when I was a teenage boy, the character i relate with the most is Elsa. Not because Elsa was a pretty princess, but because she overcame her fear of being herself after being secluded from society for all of her life. Elsa is someone I aspire to become.
When I 1st watched Noralities video, you are the 1st person I thought of, due to being a female youtuber who likes anime and more specificly Re:zero. I am so glad you decide to respond to her video!
Does Nornally even realize that the entire V-tuber market is dominated by female creators with Nuxtaku (for those who count him as one) being the exception?
This response is phenomenal, it made me realize what was so insulting about the noralities video. Her invalidation of Subaru's struggles is damn infuriating, and not only that it spits in the face of all the others who can empathize with him. A lot of the reason I love Re:Zero is just how personal it gets for me, its exploration of expectation and the like hits so close to home. Re:Zero really was a catalyst for change within myself at my lowest point, I have so much thanks for Tappei Nagatsuki because his work really saved me. It's kinda embarassing to talk about, but there was a time last year where I basically went full hikikomori, starting late March and going into May I effectively stopped going to school completely. How I did that is pretty amazing in and of itself, because I did it without my parents knowing basically. We were sent into online school because of COVID, at that point I just stopped caring, I didn't go to the meetings, and I didn't do any of the tests or homework, in effect I was skipping school just as Subaru was. And to understand a bit more, it's not like I'm a bad student, far from it; in fact, I've always been and it's to the point that it was just what was expected from me. Since I was a kid, everyone just knew me as the Asian kid who was good at math and the like, getting 90s was "just ok" for me. Now for what made 2020 difficult, I had gone to the same school for 9 years, but for high school I decided I was gonna go to a new school to take the full IB programme. I now had literally no friends, and with the pressure to high grades. I did well for the first semester, but when second semester came I was too burnt out; I was lonely, the pressure to do well was coming to be too much, so I gave up; not because I didn't want to succeed, quite the opposite actually, but because I didn't want to fail, and so I withdrew from it all. Of course, my parents did eventually find out, and put some sense into me, and I did start to try and work my way out and make up for everything I fell behind in. Eventually I barely made it at the end of the year, but it was just barely and I had to spend the summer making it up. When the next school year came around the corner, the pressure was doubly as strong as before. I didn't feel ready, I felt inadequate, I felt like I had wasted my life, I felt like the shittiest person in the world. And then came Re:Zero, I had started watching anime as a form of escapism and came across it. And it's such a hard feeling to describe, but the only way I can find that's appropriate is to describe it as my time starting again. Re:Zero pulled an episode 18 on me, and it was incredible. I've since gone back to my old school and I've been doing better now, although with some different struggles but that's just life isn't it. Kinda poetic, but since then I've started from zero (hehehe). Re:Zero did what nothing else did for me at the time, Re:Zero told me I was redeemable, and that no matter how terrible I think I am or how much I did wrong before, that it's not too late for me to start making myself better, and that it's not too late for me to start trying again. I've sorta realized after the fact that this comment goes on longer than it should've and probably too personal, but it's really hard to describe just how much Re:Zero means to me without bringing up that portion of my life. Noralities' video agitated me to no end because I felt like it was trying to invalidate the experience many people like Subaru and I have had and the growth we've experienced. Nobody should be told that they're irredeemable like that, so it's understandable why so many people got upset.
Oh, and to add on, a lot of how I was brought up probably affected my opinion of Arc 6, especially with how it deals with expectation. It's easily my favourite part of the series, and I especially want it to be done justice if it ever gets adapted.
Thank you so much for telling your story. Even in the comments here, on a video that has only been up for a day, there are several people opening up about the difficult times that Subaru inspired them through, and I hope that if Noralities does ever see this video she reads your story and the others like it.
I think there’s a deeper reason why Noralities doesn’t like Re:Zero. One that shook her and many others to their very core. All it took was 3 words. “I love Emilia” Hopefully you got a chuckle from this old joke.
There are many anime for women out there. I think Noralities is just not looking at what is for her, she only focuses on what is popular. She also found some anime that she did enjoy, but she hates Dragon Lolis while at the same time, she loves Ghost Shotas.
@raynaldo arlen k.eman She is just another Twitter product. A hypocrite who foams with rage whenever he sees other people doing the same thing she keeps doing.
@@AntepenultimaRomantica The one who is bound to the Toilet? I am guessing yes if that is the one you are thinking. I did see the first episode of Toilet Bound Ghost Shota one. It is a cute story with a female protagonist getting into trouble with other ghosts and spirits. Would say that many female otaku would love this one. Sadly there are a certain few woke people who are trying to inject identity politics into any anime they claim to enjoy, much like they did with Revolutionary Girl Utena and Sailor Moon. So I won't be surprised if the Toilet Bound Ghost Shota anime gets infiltrated with some of those people who want to inject politics into everything, I would say female otaku need to be on their guard.
In the dragon maid video she stopped it because of the kanna twister scene but it seems like she had 0 reaction to shota- kun being constantly put in sexual situations before that and you can't even excuse it with the 1000 year old argument that can be given with kanna because shota -kun is a MInor.
@@TBoneTony Good lord, I hope I don't meet those people. I'd hate to see how they'd screw my favorite series. I personally, love Hanako, because of his character. (plus, I'm technically the same age as him when he died) I've seen someone make a report accusing AidaIro being pedos, but since they have no concrete proof, and their only basis is that their art depicts characters having childish designs, no one really believed it.
It really is. I watched it recently because how much praise the community gave it and I found it to be one of the most generic, if not well written, reverse harem anime I've ever seen. I love how she used (in the video) Issie from DxD as an example of a blank slate protagonist when at least his reason for "obliviousness" is actually explored, even if its seasons later. Vileness's protagonist is so frustratingly oblivious for 0 reason that it actually hurt my enjoyment of the show.
@@Demedich1 I'm not seeing it's great, but calling it generic is wrong. It definitively doesn't feel like a regular reverse harem (where the MC usually uses her charms... like a lot, is level-headed etc...), it's way more similar to a generic isekai trash in that regard (Stupid mc gets loved for random reasons, and as a reincarnation is stupidly childish) although still not exactly there It's literally the proof that original=/good
@@typeouetco1626 My main comparison is Oran Highschool Host Club and it mostly reminded me of that. Probably should have said very generic Harem and Isekai. When I think of genetic harem I think: 1. Overtly Oblivious MC 2. Characters throwing themselves utterly devoted at the MC after 1 overcone challange/encounter. I don't watch much of the genre so I may be missing other main parts but I always felt the better ones (high school dxd) at least did some form of subversion of that standard set (Issie actually had to earn Most of the cast over multiple trails, Whole 2nd arc was dedicated to the male side character)
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 "When a group of people base their political ideology off of 'SJW OWNED!' compilations, beating women for gender equality really isn't far off" - Isaac Newton, probably
It is refreshing to see discussion videos so lucid, empathetic, and welcoming like yours. I appreciate your open mindedness towards anime and to the intentions of Noralities. Thank you, I learned a lot from this. I also think your avatar is really cute.
Just finished this video, it's genuinely perfect. Hearing you counter all of her points about re:zero and isekai in general while showing off your knowledge in the medium and criticizing her double-standards is just so well done. It's genuinely detoxifying for my brain after having to listen to Noralities video on the topic.
I for one am happy that I got another perspective on the topic however, the response seems unnecessarily antagonistic for what it is meant to be. There are now points I disagree on thanks to this video but not all points are addressed. Some of these being the sheer prevalence of unhealthy fanservice and the portrayal of female characters. Sure, shows like Fire Force might have gotten the same sort of reception as others. Does that take away the fact of how female characters are treated in it? No, it is still there. That I think is the main issue. This video has some amazing points, covered Isekai greatly. But the tone comes out as overly antagonistic when Noralites has brought out good points and issues herself. For such a topic where many find common ground (such as with Dragon maid and the depiction of underage characters) it is worrying to hear responses in this way.
@@TheAnimaAnimal I'm glad that you got another perspective on this topic, but Natalie was purposefully avoiding being antagonistic. I actually think Natalie was very concise and diplomatic with the points she spoke about in this video, which is much more respectful than the response I would have gave as a female towards Noralities' claims about anime, including re:zero. You speak of a "common ground" about underage representation in anime yet Noralities is a complete hypocrite when it comes to underage characters. She will speak out against dragon maid in one video as she geeks out about indecent shota characters in another. She literally has reposted indecent art of underage boys on her blog, but how dare lolis exist in anime. She's being criticized by everyone due to her hypocrisy and double standards alongside her extremely hot takes. While a lot of people are antagonizing Noralities, Natalie makes an effort to debunk her arguments in a respectful way rather than villainizing Noralities.
"It's almost like male anime fans don't actually care if the protagonist is a woman and they like characters and plot with depth and cleverness to them" CRAP, THEY'RE ON TO US!
There are certain anitubers who claim that Subaru was a shitty person who somehow changed and learned to be better. I hold that he’s been the same person at his core all along, and what changed is his ability to deal with the world around him and the people in it.
I think that's actually one of the things I like that he wasn't a horrible person, he just had personal issues he needed to work through and congratulations he got the most traumatic version of therapy 😂 But like we see again and again that no he is a good person and he always has been, he just also is flawed and had to work on for example treating this like a real world versus a video game and connecting with others, which that later part has a lot more to do with his self hate than anyone else. It's an amazing thing to see for anyone who's dealt with issues of self-worth. And the series also does a great job of also having Emila and others go through complementary character arcs.
I would say he has gotten worse and has slowly let the de Delusion of his sin factor take him down the longest road to nowhere. He is at least honest with the fact he is greedy and unrealistic. He wants everything at the cost of nothing, either he is feeding the witch of envy directly and unknowingly, or he is slowly building emilia up only for her to crash hard later.
@@Dharengo every person who attains a witch factor has their ambitions fall apart and are usually consumed by their own hubris. Cornelius was consumed by his pride, beetle by his sloth (both against Subaru and against pandora). The moment you accept a factor your fate is twisted to the means of the factor. Subaru has one now, plus we still dont know how many degrees the witch of envy is from emilia. Subaru is a ignorant fool who helps a world blindly he still does not understand. Either as a tool for the envy (which is why echidna is so interested in making him follow her instead). All of which is under the witch of greed (whose own greed made her grave a prison). All I'm saying is if subarus arc doe not end it tragedy the author is missing the very elements that make subaru one of the most "real" fantasy characters made. One with flaws, a huge ego, and whose bullheaded nature will not save them, but make them fail.
Finally, oh my god. I’ve been waiting to see if anyone else responded to this, but they hadn’t. I myself left a really beefy comment on her rezero section of “I’m tired of Isekai”. I was thinking of putting that comment into a video script since it was so long, but it’s been a while since that video. But you gave me the confidence to pursue that goal again. I’m really glad you caught wind of this. You’re very well articulated and you have an edge as a “female anituber” considering it’s the only thing she seems to value above all else.
@@NatalieXHunter Alas, I made that video. If you ever have the time, you can watch it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-r18P_uNI4AM.html
45:40 Ironic since Noralities would be the type of gal to say that men are put under constant pressure by society to always be protector and always be strong and not fail them... And yet she blames Subaru For exact same reason. She, like society, blames Subaru for not being "a men". Ironic
I honestly don't understand when people complain about Subaru. Oh, he's selfish? That's the point. His character arc is about realising he's a bad person and learning to improve himself. He's weak physically and mentally? Of course he is because he's human and the things he goes through woud break anyone. You guys are the ones who always say that you don't want so many generic shounen and isekai protags, and yet, when you are offered Subaru, a character with amazing development, you start crying and wailing like children that he's not right. And then they have the nerve to tell you that they don't care that's he's developed even more in the novels because they haven't read them. Is Re:Zero really that hard to understand? I think it's pretty obvious what the story's message is about by now. Subaru is legit one of the best main characters I've seen in media. I swear that if Subaru was a female, these people wouldn't be complaining about anything.
I'm glad people are calling Noralities out. This is just absolutely ridiculous... Also major props for your narration btw! You are very soothing and relaxing to listen to. =)
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS VIDEO! I watched the other video recently and as a female anime fan who loves Re:Zero I found myself getting so frustrated, so it made me really happy to see one of my favourite female anitubers putting fourth the other side.
Calling Re:Zero a "Harem not a Harem" show is like calling Madoka Magica a "Cute girls do cute things" show. A great video! You seem to have been the perfect person to address that video in particular.
@@NatalieXHunter This is not an attack on you, merely a statement. I feel that you saying that you have an equal chance of success on RU-vid is a bit of ignorance as you ignore the death threats and other more sexual comments that lots of female creators experienced.
@@theolddragon2830 Men get those too. The internet is full of toxic people using anonymity as an opening to act without consequence. Arguably, men are on the receiving end of that toxicity more often than women. Humans in general tend to be more empathetic towards women. And then there are feminists like Noralities that see men as the problem and thus attack (or at the very least disregard) men on top of the troll behavior that men and women both experience.
@@MrDj232 First of all, not all feminists are sexist assholes who want there to be no men. Second of all, do men receive messages about how much someone wants to rape them.
Also stepping into the skin of a male protagonist is incredibly easy for me as a girl, honestly we don’t think that differently. I mean I literally play Danganronpa where one (unless if you wanna count Kaede, but yknow what happens to her early on) out of the four games has a female protagonist
"Men dont like female protagonists" Yes...because when I saw Myne blow that arrogant high class soldier out of the water with her vastly superior casting skills in Ascendance of a bookworm, I TOTALLY didn't cheer for her or berate that moron after he literally abused her...Men DEFINITELY don't like female protagonists. Just as much as the show is targeted towards girls
💀 I just started this video and this Nora woman doesn’t sound like she tried the reach out to find other women in the community. There’s tons of women who make videos about Issues with the anime community, cosplay, theories, etc. I usually find women anime on accident and via Twitter
You... kind of sound like you didn't watch Nora's video in the first place. I think you should watch it first, Natalie is *really* putting words in Nora's mouth and making baseless assumptions about their beliefs and actions in this first part.
@@ljneko2886 no I did and many other people, nobody put any words in her mouth, because other people made videos calling her out on her nonsense, and even shows all the clips of her saying this, so stop acting like we missed the point, when it was you, I watched the video and her dragon maid video, she never says any of the point. You claim are in the video, and this is just you putting word in noralities mouth, that nobody said
There are 2 things that a large portion of the Twitter mob can’t get through their thick skull. The first is that anime and some other media aren’t meant to accurately reflect reality. I’m not supposed to look at Jotaro Kujo from Jojo and think that I’m intended to be just as buff as him. To do so is not only foolish but it’d be a disservice to myself. The second is that a character doesn’t need to be your gender, sexuality, race, etc in order for you to relate to them. For example, I can relate to Haruhi Suzumiya’s desire to break free from the mundaneness of everyday life even though I’m not a Japanese high school girl.
Also, I get how a lot of Subaru's journey is, in the ways mentioned in this video, geared toward males, but I actually really relate to his struggles as a person. To boil it down to just what you could glean from season 1 and view as relatable: Struggling with things you can't say and lashing out at people when you hit a breaking point or feel treated unfairly or undervalued. Having moments when you just want to be selfishly happy, but ultimately being unable to do so most times. Being exhausted and seeing no way out of bad situations, yet somehow, either through self reflection, learning an important lesson, or just the love and support of those around you, being able to pick yourself back up from rock bottom and try yet again for the sake of your ideals, for others, and in a way more than anything, to chase the shadow of the person that you want to become. Is he perfect? Hell no, but of course he's not, because he's human. Something fragile trying to become strong in an inexperienced, and often deeply ungraceful way. I find that relatable and very very real in what you'd expect to be a totally unrealistic fantasy-style storyline. I love that about the series, and about his character.
it’s ironic how she slanders rem as more of an accessory, yet when season 1 just finished and i binged it, i found rem to be one of the most interesting and diverse characters. i’m a woman myself and first watching re:zero i had a slight bias too, especially with the whole argument he had with emilia (i disliked both him and emilia at the time) but with how rem is willing to acknowledge subaru’s good AND bad points while having her own issues regarding her inferiority complex with rem and the way she’s treated “worse than ram” and her confession episode made me cry so much. 4 years later watching it with my boyfriend as his first time experiencing re:zero and i still cried at the confession episode simply because it’s still impacts me so much. i’m a feminist as well, yet i don’t think re:zero undermines feminism at all, yes i think there is a lack of character development from the cast in season 1 but that’s mainly due to how it focused more on the conflict and world building. season 2, especially part 2 focuses so much on other characters and emilia’s as well and i enjoyed it. i liked emilia in season 1 (despite heavily disliking it at some parts) but her character is way more fleshed out in season 2.
I think Season 1 does give female characters a lot of development too! But its mostly overlooked for some reason... 1) Rem gets a HUGE development. As she says it herself in episode 18, her time was frozen, she was basically an NPC, but she learned to live again, even if she got an unhealthy obssession with Subaru, it is still something. 2) Crusch, man, her character is just so fkn good! How she grows to respect Subaru due to his actions, THATS a fkn awesome female character! Her whole speech of "even if we become enemies, I WILL treat you with respect" is just so amazing. 3) Even Ram, at the start she is someone who is only helping Subaru to find out if he is a spy. But she ends up caring for him in her own way. The way she calls him "Barusu" is a good indicator of how close they grew. Ofc, her actual Arc comes only in Season 2, but it starts in season 1!
Someone should post this on the Rezero subreddit. While some on there were trying to defend her by saying the Rezero part was dumb, but the rest was right, I’d say most agreed the video was stupid in general.
She probably was wrong about a lot of things. But Isekai often being a male fantasy with an op boy having a harem of soulless big b00bies and the obligatory loli girl annoys me too. I already didn't watch sao til the end.
@@realglutenfree Indeed, that is pretty much the common theme around a lot of popular anime. Shows with good female characters that aren't fan service or useless are the exceptions, not the rule. It's silly that a lot of people just label you an "sjw" for criticizing something about anime.
Natalie, thank you. As a 25 year old man, I've never had a woman express sympathy or empathy for the struggles of growing up as a man, and honestly, it made me cry. I had no idea why, when it happened. I had no idea how badly I needed to hear from a woman that it's OK to make mistakes, but apparently I really needed it, because I felt such a wave of pain and relief all at once that it was overwhelming. At some point in my life, hearing about how horrible men are, and how much we hurt women or make them suffer, and that we were always horrible throughout history, at some point I began to hate myself. I deep-down began to hate that I was born a man. I hated our history, my sexuality, our instincts. I hated myself for being a man. I know you probably won't see this comment, but if you do, thank you sincerely. PS. You've convinced me to watch Re:Zero
@theythem your whole comment is like "omg i never thought about how hurtful sexism is towards men!, but still women have it harder, so while your feelings are important and i feel for you, woman have it harder so kindly realize your okay and don't truly have it hard as women do, but thanks for showing me not all men are bad, whoopsie me for being biased, but it's okay because men have been mean to me so it's okay to be sexist if you're a woman and men have been bad to you."
@theythem I'd like to discuss this more at length with you on a platform that isn't RU-vid, because too often comments get randomly deleted or hidden on this platform. But I do want to say, that I'm well aware many women have it rough. I've learned this as I've grown and was in denial when I grew up, because I was oppressed for my gender, here in the US. I didn't want to admit that women faced oppression in many other parts of the world, because that was used as an excuse to discriminate against me for most of my life. It depends on the culture that you grew up in, but here in the US, women absolutely have advantages over men, including your example of getting a job. Men are more likely to get rejected for a job in favor of women here in the US, not only on a gender bias scenario, in many cases, but also because of legal and tax incentives to hire women over men. In fact, I'm currently facing an issue where I'm trying to go back to school, but can't get a scholarship, cause half of the scholarships are for women only, with not a single one being for men only. Trying to "fix" a natural gap in the workforce, is leading to the oppression of qualified and determined men and is artificially spreading gender politics to those who wield the most power.
@theythem No, you don't need to apologize. I understand. I've come to realize recently that the only way we can move forward is to recognize that the oppression of one side does not discredit the oppression of the other side. We need to work together to figure out what men and women naturally need and how we can structure society so that we're both happy. If we don't do that, then it's just gonna be an eternal war between men and women and both sides will be miserable. You should know that, that in the US, the reason there are scholarships for women only, is cause there are large governmental pushes to hire women to fill out diversity quotas for statistics.
@theythem Just because you see certain societal models commonly around you, doesn't mean that there weren't or aren't antipods to these models in the world. There have been and are matrilinial societies take for example the tribes of native americans. So your "because not only is it a proven fact that there has been a centuries-long bias towards women" is debatable to say the least if you do not restrict the geographical and time scopes.
though it is pretty obvious that Noralities' opinion is fueld by ignorance and bias I have to admit that you have to dig a bit deeper to find good shows with a strong female lead, besides the few really popular ones like promised neverland or made in abyss
Wow, this was so refreshing. Logic and knowledge instead of man-hating bias. You've quickly earned a sub. I’m glad you didn’t become “Big Dave’s Anime Shack”, you have a soothing voice to listen to. P.S., I’ll be buying the “RE: Zero” Ln’s so I can binge your thoughts on the series afterwards. Cheers.
Thank you! Though if you want to read Re:Zero past the anime in English, you need to read the web novel, because the light novels for the post anime stuff hasn't been translated yet (if you speak Japanese ignore that!). There are good fan translations of the web novel though, and the story is more or less the same (there are lots of little differences, but the main story beats and how the characters are is the same - it's not one of those where the web novel and light novels/anime are totally different like Shield Hero, in this case the web novel is more like the first draft he does of each chapter before tightening it up for the LN, so it's very similar). The anime finished arc 4, so you can start reading from arc 5 of the web novel if you want to go straight to after the anime. It's currently on arc 7, so there are two complete arcs you can read and then you can keep up with the new arc 7 chapters as they come out!
@@NatalieXHunter I'm honored, my first celebrity encounter. :) Finding rational people here honestly rekindled some of my faith in humanity. Thank you. I appreciate the reading guide. There should be a Reddit for those. It could be labeled "Is it wrong to pick up Ln's after the anime?" Lol. Sadly, online reading hurts my eyes. I'll watch S2 and eagerly await the English Ln's.
@@fixsationon7244 "INSTEAD of man-hating" Yes, I agree with her. Hence, "You've quickly earned a sub" I was even a patreon when she was active. Re; Zero is never a mistake for Natalie.
Me, a female writer who writes mostly male characters: Yep, most definitely have a hard time slipping into the skin of a male protagonist. Its like Noralities forgets that female authors can write male characters too...
Meanwhile its opposite for male fanfiction writers, since its difficult for some of us to write a Male Protagonist without screwing them over and over again(based on my experience after leaving Pokemon Fanfiction), which makes it easier to have a female lead instead.
Well, I know everything there is about being a man. For stories there are a lot of overlaps of both genders in general. I think I might have a hard time writing a believable girl character. I would have to base it on girls I've known in real life. xD At least for things like how they acted in certain circumstances.
Made in Abyss was the first time i ever saw myself in a character, Rikos story was so moving and relatable to my childhood and i am not nor have ever been a little girl cave raider
Well, I'm both happy and disappointed. Happy you found a character you related to, disappointed that there isn't a little girl cave raider watching my videos...
Like a lot of shit ideas, people can talk about them and make them sound incredible and believable, but when you actually look beyond the surface it all falls apart. I watched Noralities' video, and the way she presented her argument, it came across as pretty legitimate. But when you actually think about what she's saying, it really collapses in on itself. Not that it takes a lot of thought to realize how much of what she says is 100% certified bullshit.
Lol that's exactly how I felt after watching her video. At first I thought, wow, this is insightful but then I thought about for like minute and realized how little sense her arguments sound.
I get that yes, there are a lot more male protagonist in isekai, but I don't think that should stop girls from feeling that they like or relate to a male protagonist. If you like the character and story then it doesn't matter if the protagonist is a boy or girl. That's at least what I think.
I’m a male, when I’m watching a show and enjoying it, I literally don’t care if a main character male or female, I just don’t care, if characters good and I like the show, I will enjoy them no meter who the main hero is
Me, smol woman, My favorite isekai is Overlord. My husband, a 6'3 250 lbs man, his favorite is My next life as a Villainess. Lmao people have different tatstes, it doesn't matter what gender. These gender obsessed content creators are overly sensitive and highly dramatic.
I think the issue is often time the female characters aren't as fleshed out or well written as the main characters who tend to be men. Most people like me who generally agree with Noralitie's points aren't saying the main character has to be the same gender as us for us to like them, but it can be a nice little bonus or a change of pace to see it and for the women to have more fleshed out personality traits. Also it is generally easier to hold the position of "not caring about the race or gender of a character" when the vast majority already are like the viewer, ie white dudes. When you're someone like me who's trans and suddenly there's a main character who is also trans and well written and they're not just a token it's really cool feeling and then you start to wonder why it can't just happen a little more. We just want a bigger share of the pie is all.
@@MissGenkiArt except that’s not true considering the amount of anime that have female leads or characters these last two seasons, 86, jujitsu Kaisen ,vivy, and spider isekai just to name a few
The problem isn't if the mc is a girl or a boy. But usually, for example, in shonen, the problems the male mc go through have a lot to do with masculinity, like fighting to protect a girl they like or acquiring strength to protect those he loves. So the relatability girls have with these characters, although they're not inexistent, are considerably low than if the mc was a girl. I personally related more with Emma from the Promised Neverland because of the feminine traits she possesses (like her particular way of caring for her family and her high emotional intelligence in contrast to Ray's and Norman's high logical intelligence but lower empathy) than, let's say, Mob from Mob Psycho who was focused on improving his body to impress the girl he likes. Gender does affect someone's traits and characteristics so we can't deny that some (again, SOME) stories with male protagonists will have some traits and conflicts that most boys relate to but most girls doesn't. It's isn't a coincidence that there's less anime girl fans than anime boy fans. I, for example, never liked Dragon Ball ever since I was a kid because of their constant fighting and screaming, and instead always naturally preferred girly magical girl anime, which are, many times, much less popular than shonen. And most of the popular and high selling anime are shonen with said male-focused problems. Of course, I'm not here to defend Noralities because I actually disagree with her, but I also think there IS some space for debate about whether more anime are focused on male public or not, and if this affects how many men or women like anime.
The most oppressed minority is the individual. Much like how each story has a unique protagonist, every one of 'us' is their own person. The fact we can relate to each other or fictional characters at all is glorious by itself.
Super irredeemable to have a selfish outburst like that. Who cares that he's a 17 year old who has suffered immense physical and emotional trauma on repeat while trying to help people, even at the hands of the very people he's trying to help? Nah, he's just another entitled man. It's incredibly hard to watch, but it's also incredibly human of Subaru. He'd basically have to have super-human mental health to not have a breakdown and lash out at some point. Noralities seems to think that not being part of the majority that finds popular stuff appealing means she's being discriminated against. The attitude of a self-centered and self-victimizing person. I have to look harder to find things that truly appeal to me too, as I do not like harem, fan-service/ecchi, or OP protags that never really struggle. Maybe it's some of that "male privilege" speaking that I don't take this as some sort of personal attack and instead just assume I have more niche tastes.
I know what you mean, but do you really have to look that hard to find stuff like that? I mean, Attack on Titan is about the most popular anime series ever in the West and there's no fanservice or harems in that, and the protag definitely struggles! There are quite a few series with really high popularity that are almost universally loved by the anime community that don't have any of that stuff, in all different genres (Made in Abyss, The Promised Neverland, Mob Psycho 100, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaguya-sama, Haikyuu!, Death Note...), and so unless someone is getting their recommendations from some channel I don't know about called Thirsty Dave's Anime Shack I don't think it would be hard at all to find stuff that doesn't have those elements. But I think what is cool is that you can have way nicher tastes than that, like, say you only like hard sci-fi, or you only like shows that focus on music, or you only like depressing romantic tragedies where someone dies at the end, and you can still find anime that will have exactly what you want - yes, it will be harder, but not harder than say, finding a live action show on Netflix that meets those needs.
@@NatalieXHunter I mean...it becomes harder once you already watch or read all of those and are looking for more. Lol Then you start scouring RoyalRoad for all the gems on there. Also, yes, there is basically something out there for everyone. It just depends on how willing you are to look for it. Which is great, but some people don't seem to think that's good enough.
@@IzzySarru yeah, I guess that's kind of the case even if you like very mainstream stuff though - I think every fan of every genre reaches a point where they're searching high and low for something as good as their favorites. I like isekai, but there's only one Re:Zero, only one Mushoku Tensei - most of it will not be peak for me. The bigger the pool, the more chances for something top tier to be created, of course, but I watch a lot of mid stuff in search of the best stuff!
18. He’s 18 and yeah I don’t care if he’s suffered. He’s horrible and people aren’t required to like or be around him. They’re not required to say everything he does is okay just because he’s gone through shit. Especially when the characters in the story don’t know that. I still enjoyed ReZero, but Subaru was insufferable in s1. Though that’s intended for his character. I can understand why Noralities feels the way she does on this topic. I don’t usually agree with her, but I do here. I just think she took it too personally.
@@FullmoonPhantom-dn2sr Who said anyone had to like or tolerate his actions though? I'm just saying that her idea that he's this way because he's a man is sexist and absurd. He's this way because of the trauma. It doesn't make it okay, but it DOES make it understandable. Subaru is totally meant to be unlikable for the majority of the first season, then he grows as a person. The same way a lot of the other characters are also meant to be unlikable, but have their own reasons for being that way. The show basically explores human relationships and how complicated they are. Especially when you add on the horrible BS people often experience in their lives that dyes their perception of other's words and actions. Also, you say he's 18 like that makes all the difference.
I just hate kumo desu ga nani ka, I mean, I can't self insert as kumoko, a spider, because it's a GIRL. wdym spider? wdym god? I can easily identify to that
I’m legit a bit salty over how they made Kumoko in CGI so often due to how fucking good that show is. It’s not the next re: zero (so far), but it’s just fucking great. Btw, this isn’t meant as some wooosh worthy rebuke, I just wanted to talk about it when I saw your comment on a video about how to properly gauge the quality of an anime.
kumo isekai is clearly only popular because most people secretly sexually identify as a spider. That's the only possible explanation. It's literally impossible to watch something where you can't self-insert.
@@NozomuYume Lol that's a pretty shit take tbh. It is completely possible to watch something where a person can't self insert themselves. Key word is engagement. And self-insert is one of the cheapest, most overabused forms of building engagement with the show (Albeit when pulled off correctly it's just as good as other methods, i.e. Re Zero). I mean guts from berserk is not in any way a character I could relate to due to how shitty of a life he's had. But I still fucking love the manga due to how engaging of a story it is and honestly, I just want to see him happy. Also that first sentence. I genuinely hope you were joking.
I’m a trans woman, so I’ve sorta seen both sides of the fence. Both the struggles of womanhood, and the self-destruction of boyhood. As such, both Subaru and Emilia’s stories hit me like a semi-truck. I know the pain of what it was like to hate yourself and constantly hurt those around you because of your own objectifying behavior and inability to find emotional affection. And I know the constant feeling of responsibility and bigotry being faced despite still feeling like a child that never fully grew up at my core, and needing to accept that sometimes you need to woman up, face your past and your present, and push through the hatred of others for your own good and the good of those around you. Calling Subaru irredeemable or calling Emilia and all the other well written female characters walking body pillows... Christ, it felt like getting stabbed in the back and the stomach at once. Fuck this gal’s take entirely. It stings. Of course because I’m not her, I know that saying hurtful things doesn’t make you irredeemable. So hopefully she looks at the implications of how the things she said effects those who relate to the show’s characters. Subbed btw.
"well written female characters" what are your other well written female characters? the girl in naruto? i guess u never actually read a well written female character
@@sofypi7493 I’m talking about within Re: Zero. Not a huge Rem fan like a lot of folks, but Crusch, Beatrice, and Ram are really fucking solid. If you’re talking outside or Re Zero… holy shit, I’m guessing you don’t watch a lot of anime. Utena from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Retsuko from Aggretsuko, Sara from Eden, basically the entire female cast in Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, Saber from Fate / Zero, most of the ladies in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Ryuko from Kill La Kill (visual objectification aside, her personality is fucking god tier), Riko from Made In Abyss, Morioka from Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Akane from Psycho-Pass, Lain from Serial Experiments Lain, every lady in Attack On Titan except Mikasa, Violet Evergarden from the show of the same name, Tomoko from WataMote, the entire cast of Wonder Egg Priority up until the finale, Emma from The Promised Neverland, and a shit ton more. So uh… idk what yer talkin’ bout.
".....hopefully she looks at the implications of how the things ....." Never gonna happen, most likely she won't care, and one of the implications is scaring away people from ideas related to gender equality and stuff related. After ridiculous things like these I'm starting to convince myself that conservativism and/or libertarianism are "the lesser of two evils".
She's only speaking for women and hating or neutering men her following is only aimed at that and if that's not the case she need's to peak out of the bubble and communicate the world becomes bigger with each baby step.
It’s not tho....😭 there have literally been studies done that show that when a majority of men look at women, they literally recognize them as objects......I get disagreeing w Nora, and I even get not believing most men are, at least on some level, misogynistic, but being so dismissive of men’s higher tolerance for injustice against women is just naive....
one of thousands of studies on this topic: DOI:10.1007/s12144-020-01260-8 it also literally addresses the fact that this has to do with societal gender roles, and isn't an inherent property of genders
Yeah, I remember using that word back in the day to describe things that may pose a problem in some kind of plan or whatever, but now I only ever use it sarcastically!
58:00 In rising of the shield hero the MC also needed to learn how to read. The other heroes never bother and it costs them. In Konosuba it is mentioned that the new language is being "uploaded" into Kazuma. In Overloard the MC also doesn't know the language and needs to overcome it when undercover as an adventurer. In mushoku tensei the MC also learns several languages and writing styles. And then there's Re:Zero. It really isn't that uncommon or overlooked. Noralities just doesn't know shit. And these are just the ones I that I watched and immediately came to mind. EDIT: Oh, and I forgot Digimon where Izzy has to figure out some friggin Hyroglyphes, for crying out loud.
Yeah, I think writers normally do mention in some way how the isekai'd people can understand the people in their new world, it's just that some of the time, they don't want to actually spend time on it within the story because it isn't relevant to what they're going for so they just deal with it in one quick line, and other times they do want to show it. If they don't, it's fine too, because you're always going to have some affordances in isekai to make the story work (like, it's not a plot hole that they don't always discuss things like whether they use a similar way of counting time as in our world, for instance - if the author wants to worldbuild with that they can, but if they don't think it's interesting we just assume everyone in that world knows what an hour is - it's not logical that they would, but it's a reasonable affordance).
When I watched Noralities' video and listened to her describe Re:ZERO as a power fantasy, I straight up went to watch the series. I'd never watched it before because I was annoyed by how many people were telling me to watch it, but when I watched through... literally nothing about it was a power fantasy. That was straight-up brutal, hard facts being thrown at a man until he learned from his mistakes. I really enjoyed the series, and although I had episodes where I saw that Subaru was being a little shit and disliked his attitude, I still enjoyed all of it. Still don't get how it could be perceived as a power fantasy, considering everything that happened to every single character in the show, including Subaru himself, but hey... I guess people think what they want, even if they're completely off the point.
"men don't like female protagonists" Me watching a certain scientific railgun and thinking that misaka is better written than touma: ._. guess I've been lying to myself
@@TheMightyCrucibleKnight184 he has had. Im not counting the ones currently alive, which would be somewhere around the number you said, but I think its smaller
when she mentioned in her video that the whole anime is aimed at a male audience it even angerd me a little. I'm a woman, but I never look at whether the main character is a woman or a man, I'm interested in whether the story is engaging, or whether the characters have interesting personalities. I dont look at tags like shonen or josei, I tend to search for stories that grab my attention, no mater of the genre, tag or whats between the legs of protag. so when she claims that if protag is male, its harder for woman to enjoy it, or that enjoying that work is forced upon us, then what that claim means for me? that I am not a woman? or that you can only be a woman if you enjoy girly shows or that youcan like only female led shows? it angers me.
If it was the opposite men would be whining all over. Women are more likely to put themselves into thé shoes of others and not think about it. Its just truth
yeah and its not like one of the most popular anime of all time is lead by a girl, that anime keeps getting demands for a remaster explicility like Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood or something. oh wait, it's called Soul Eater.
The main guy is absolutely powerless and only has the ability to rewind to a point when he dies as anything special about him. Meanwhile, there's 4 females with very powerful combat capabilities, one of whom is a one horned demon that can go on a bloody rampage. I can deeeefinitely see how this anime is disempowering to women.
Ah, the eternal problem's of the self proclaimed experts babbling about stuff they don't even know with some dubious moral high ground to bake it up... I made myself a principle in if I truly hate something, I'll read/watch it fully so I'll have all the ammunition needed to uterly destroy it to the ground. Re:Zero truly resonated with me and I thank you for defending it with logic arguments.
Or, if she just actually watched the show at all. I'm not convinced she actually did, but rather just cherry-picked the episodes she knew she could rant against.
@@xyanknight yeah I’m reading arc 6 right now no spoiler but I keep seeing this guy I’m the comments who only has negative things to say who doesn’t even take into account all the bull he’s going through that makes arc 4 looks like a comedy
So I decided to come back to this video to give some hilarious news regarding Noralities. It turns out that Noralties doesn't practice what she even preaches. People dug into her Tumblr account and found questionable shota yaoi fanart of the My Hero Academia characters. She gets to bash on the lolis but I guess that shota is kosher in her eyes then. What a massive hypocrite lol. Talk about getting caught in 4K lol.
Oh for real? I mean, I never weighed in on the loli stuff because I did think she had some fair points about it (they don't stop me just seeing Dragon Maid as comical, but I can see her point too), but yeah, someone who loves shotas should not really be preaching about depictions of children in anime...
I hate that gender is something that people actually use for criticism on media. Why can't you just watch something without the thought of "I'm male and hate women media" or "I'm female and hate male media". I'm male and one of my favorite animes is a shoujo and its known as maid-sama. I didn't even know it was for girls until I wait a RU-vid video about it. Even after I watched the video I still loved the anime. Noralities is criticizing a story for being for men yet she we will praise a story for just having a female lead. The one thing I did not like about her video was when she said if Subaru and Rem had there spots switched in his "I hate myself" speech then people would ride the hate train for Rem. Then she proceeds to reenact that with having rem act like Subaru when he had an argument Emilia. She deliberately ignored what was happening in the scene to made her bad point. She acts like she understands it but ignores what was written right in front of you because of her bias. I love re:zero (my favorite anime if fact) if you don't like it then you don't like it but don't spit you opinions as fact.
Natalie sounds so mad but handles it so professionally with her soothing voice DAYUM. Edit: Im suprised how many people have liked that video which basically say that rezero isnt good wow what dumb people
always remember when people say the vocal minority or 1% of people are woke, it is only small when compared to the other 99% that aren't woke. 1% of the total population in the US currently (328.2 million) is 3,282,000 people, 0.1% is 328,200, and .01% is 32,820. so yeah they may be the minority but they are still alot of people. we tend to forget that. thats why this infestation of woke has happened, we underestimated them.
I honestly can't thank you enough for making this. Being a man can feel like the sisyphean task of climbing a mountain while knowing that if you stumble, no one will help you get back up, especially for adolescents and young aduls. Worse, you'll be screamed at: "Come on, it's easy for you, you're a man." I really like Noralities and think her heart is in a good place, but hearing her say those things cuts me somewhere really deep and vulnerable. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone. :)
This is the same woman who complained about lolis yet has drawn sexually suggestive art of the *16 YEAR OLD* BNHA guys. Also, she complained about Kanna being physically underage, yet, simps for Hanako from Hanako Kun, who, is *PHYSICALLY UNDERAGE.* Noralities needs to take a step back.
This reminds me of an article from a blogger site called "The Mary Sue" (yes, really) about how Rainbow Mika from Street Fighter V is supposedly sexist yet apparently someone one the site couldn't stop gushing over how hot Ryu is.
@@mattc2306 That brings something back to me, I remember that specific Anime America hate review towards Cells at Work where the OP complained about the Red Cells wearing "revealing clothes" (when they simply wore basic t-shirts and shorts) or something while *simping* over White Blood Cell -_-
Well, that's a very steep hill to climb. I mean, there are a ton of hot takes I have towards anime but I won't go out of my way to call something I don't like "problematic."
