Happy Birthday

Anastasia Hoshin (10th March)

Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World

The Finest Knight vs. The Sword Saint's reaction to the insignia glowing

quick 1 hr EMT for the holidays!! also a lil doodle underneath the cut. the sillies

FIRST COLOURED ILLUSTRATION OF LUGUNICAN HUSTLE IN TAPPENSHUU 9

A small detail that's not really mentioned in the anime since it was narration in the web novel;

Emilia has a robe that keeps people from recognizing her. However, the spell doesn't work if the person is strong enough to overcome it

With that in mind, when Julius first appeared and greeted them, Emilia wore this robe with the hood on. Julius was unfazed, recognizing her immediately and greeting her by name

Julius is strong enough to overcome the spell and recognize the wearer

But when Subaru wore it so he could get Emilia to agree to moving the villagers out because of the Witch Cult, Emilia didn't recognize him

And I don't know if Subaru knew beforehand that Emilia was the owner of the robe, but Subaru never seems to have trouble recognizing her when she wears it

So Julius is strong enough to overcome the woven magic. So is Subaru. But Emilia isn't.

I was originally going to think of it as normal strength, where Julius is stronger than Emilia; but considering Emilia's magical abilities, that doesn't seem right. So I'm thinking it's a different kind of strength they mean that Julius and Subaru have in common; and it's not spirit affinity, because Emilia has that too

Anyway, the original main point: nice detail that Julius is strong enough to recognize Emilia immediately, not falling under the spell. On that note, Emilia didn't recognize Subaru using the spell, but Subaru recognizes Emilia

Taking a break from brainstorming and writing my WxS + ensemble fic by thinking rezero thoughts and how much I love SubaEmi & SubaRem both in and outside of romantic context because their relationship is so much more than that.

I remember back when the first season aired there's an 'I love Emilia' meme going around before I even knew rezero (I watched it in 2017 iirc). And when I finally watched it, I didn't really get why people at that time is mad at Subaru for not saying 'I love Rem' lol.

First of all, Rem is the one who rejected Subaru's proposal first. She knows that Subaru doesn't love her that way, and that something scared him so much that he chose to run away other than fight. She confessed not to get Subaru saying 'I love you' to her (although she kinda wished he would), but it's more about showing Subaru that there's someone that would love him and always be by her side no matter what--her.

And Subaru answered Rem's genuine love confession with the genuine truth--that he still loves Emilia. Because he knew that saying anything else but the truth will dishonor Rem's feelings. Rem falls in love with the Subaru who tries so hard for everyone and everything, including for Emilia's love. Actually, I like this scene because it shows how loyal Subaru is?? Even in his weakest moment, even when there's a girl that's so passionate about her love to him, his feelings for Emilia is still going strong. And I hate that a lot of viewers don't appreciate that dedication. Like damn, where can I find a guy as loyal as Subaru??

And not all anime-only knows this, but Subaru actually, truly, loves with Emilia because of the lap pillow in Arc 2. Sure, he fell in love at first sight when she saved him in the beginning of Arc 1 (also because she's physically his type), but it's only a bud--a crush. There's even a whole paragraph that's basically about Subaru realizing 'oh, I love her' at the end of the pillow scene in the light novel (ps. the ln is great btw). Just think about it, at that time, Subaru was terrified of being hated and betrayed again by everyone, everything he did ended in mistakes and he couldn't even tell anyone about his trauma---and then there's Emilia, who doesn't know or even able to understand, and yet she lent him her lap and a willing pair of ears to listen to his cries---showing Subaru that he's not alone in that world. For Subaru, he knew Emilia for more or less two weeks, but for Emilia, she only knew Subaru for more or less a day. Like, who wouldn't fall for her gentleness??

(And Rem did kill Subaru in cold blood and tortured him so I think it's weirder that Subaru forgave Rem, but that's Subaru for you ig. His super low self-esteem makes him has the mentality of 'as long as I know you have a shred of kindness in you, I can forgive you, even if you betray my trust, torture me, and kill me without remorse lol'

Btw, iirc in arc 7 he had a monologue where he said he still got shivers every time he heard the sound of chains--his trauma from Rem's torture will probably never go away).

So yeah, anime-onlies argument about 'Subaru's love to Emilia doesn't make sense' becomes moot if they actually have the context from the ln. But I didn't even have the context from the ln when I watched Ep. 18 the first time and I still understood why Subaru said 'I love Emilia' just fine, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Funny thing is that there's a scene in ln where Subaru admitted to both Rem (in Arc 3 before the White Whale battle) and Emilia (in Arc 4 on the carriage to Sanctuary) where he said that he also loves Rem. Again, understandable, because who wouldn't fall for Rem after her heartfelt confession?? And I appreciate how Subaru think that he's such a scum for liking two girls at the same time and thought that Emilia and Rem should know of his two-timing feelings. Rem is... well, she's kinda obsessed so she said that she's okay being the 2nd wife (but by the way Arc 7 goes I think she wouldn't be in the future), and the kind and gentle Emilia basically saying 'yeah, you suck' but she also said that she understood that Subaru and Rem had a history that she didn't know of so she couldn't fully judge Subaru for that.

Of course, then in Arc 6 Emilia said that she knew Subaru would be occupied with Rem when she woke up, so Emilia needed to work harder to make Subaru look her way... And then in Arc 7 Rem lost all her memories (which I think will tie in to Rem's own character development so she could live for herself, not for Ram or Subaru).

And also, why didn't anyone mention how strict Rem is to Subaru? In Arc 3 she basically said 'don't you dare run away from your trouble because I'm here', and in Arc 6 she's basically pissed at Subaru for giving up and not being able to stand up lol. Heck, in Arc 4 Subaru said to the witches that Rem is the strictest person ever to him because she wouldn't let him give up... and somehow it turned into a hero complex which is also addressed in Arc 7... although I think Arc 7 just made his hero complex worse... On the other hand, Emilia is gentle towards Subaru. In the Arc 4 light novel, when she realized how distressed Subaru was she put Subaru's ears against her chest so Subaru could hear her steady heartbeat to calm him down. In Arc 6, Emilia's (almost-)confession to Subaru was so soft even though all the chaos, and then when they fell she embraced him in such a way so she would fall to the ground first??? Even though there's no way they would survive that fall??? I'm so sorry, I'm so soft for that scene. Not to say that Rem wasn't gentle, but where Emilia would say 'it's okay for Subaru to rest', Rem wouldn't let him.

And and his narration in Arc 4 of his feelings for Rem and Emilia when he talked to his dad---Emilia is his light, and Rem is his sky--and how he couldn't live without both... that passage is so *chef's kiss*

And I haven't say anything about how their love for each other (and other people, in Subaru's case) is also a catalyst for them to love themselves...

Rezero is about love, and there are many forms of love. Romantic, platonic, familial, self-love, etc. ... The writer isn't wrong by calling it a heartwarming story.

What are your least favorite ships? Not counting Subaru x one of the minors (i sadly have seen some around)

whew...... least favorite ships..... now thats a bold question HAH and i may have some. ah. Bold answers hah.

im generally pretty open to most ships, its just a matter of like. either i already liked the ship / was really into the ship or im more neutral about it and you just gotta convince me why i should at least give it a shot or be like "this could be good in certain circumstances". i dont usually care if a ship is toxic or "problematic" per say bc 1. this is rezero and sooo so many ships in this show arent 100% healthy lbr and 2. i will like a ship if its like. complex, and if theres problematic stuff, then its done for a reason - like it's not just there willy nilly. but thats just my personal feelings on it yep!! :o fiction is different from real life and all that.

more under the cut!!

that being said like. you know, kinda like you said - the obvious answers would be like subaru x any minors and just any sort of incest ships bc like. i do not see the point of it. that and you know, like a lot of people, i tend to avoid these sorts of ships with 99.999% of fandoms im in. i aint here for incest or shipping adults with minors. and i know theres like fandoms like game of thrones where this sort of thing IS relevant in the story, but with rezero - like it just is not relevant here and adds nothing unless youre into that. i do get that fictional stuff is different from real life and its not necessarily an indication of someone's character. i also definitely know this bc ive cowritten a gluttony if selfcest fic for this fandom as a very extreme crack treated seriously story hahh. but yeah like. ships between family and adult x minor are Not For Me in this fandom. i dont feel like it adds anything to the story and its also like Really out of character.

granted, i cant really say much on that bc ive written and posted selfcest for this fandom but like. in my defense, i did way too much research for that fic (..............i researched a lot of psychology stuff) and also gluttonybaru is Canonically Not Normal about subaru. the more you think about gluttonybaru the worse he gets HAH. like. dude has canonically kissed subaru via emilia's book of the dead....................

but obviously ofc i do not condone any of this ^^^^ in real life.

anyway on a lighter note!! im not a huge fan of most ships between subaru and *insert a female side character here*. like im not a big fan of like. subaru x anastasia, subaru x priscilla, subaru x elsa, subaru x yorna, subaru x pandora, like... the list can get kinda long bc people in this fandom in certain english spaces like to ship him with like any girl ever, it feels like sometimes. it gets to the point where sometimes i feel like subaru is just the self-insert to be shipped with women that people have the hots for.

like with most content about these sorts of ships, its hard for me to see much point to it - and there IS potential there. there is almost always potential in so many different tropes and ships, and theres some cool fanart in this fandom with these ships!! but you know, i hear about people suggesting ideas with these ships or writing fic about these ships and its just not my cup of tea bc it really sacrifices the characterization of all these women. and elsa is like already sexualized enough okay and its almost never nuanced and taking into account her backstory :( like i could be convinced to ship these ships with like idk 20k to 200k words of relationship and character development, but as it stands i personally really dont like them hah ;-;;; and also priscilla is clearly more into women okay (she canonically talks about how men are only allowed to fantasize about her and nothing more or she'll cut off their heads!!) and anastasia seems more into like julius and priscilla so like. HAH.

subaru x crusch is not something im a big fan of but im pretty open to it hah, i just havent seen much fancontent about them that really piques my interest :,)

anyway i also just. dont like the idea of taking a gay subaru ship and genderbending only one of them due to homophobia. and ill emphasize and underline that last part - due to homophobia - bc ive seen really good genderbend subaru content in this fandom where subarus afab and shipped with like julius or reinhard or something and there was clear effort and passion put into it!! and i do think its interesting thinking about how genderbend aus would affect this sort of thing for sure <3 i really really enjoy seeing the well made genderbend aus in this fandom!!

but i see other people suggesting fic ideas or making fics sometimes where its like fem subaru x male side character or like now-fem side character x subaru but it like its only clearly done bc some people just cant ship a gay ship, they gotta make it straight and then not put effort into thinking how this would change more things. and the female character in the duo now is Especially terribly out of character :(( the homophobia is just so so irritating to me. i go on the fic reddit thread sometimes and i see stuff like. i think once i saw a thread about someone requesting ottosuba and someone else immediately went "oh, with femotto right!!" like. ...... please. they are a gay ship :,,,))))))) let them be gay Sometimes at least!! maybe we can genderbend both of them sometimes??? :,)))

also on a less serious note HAH ok like..... ok hear me out, dont kill me for saying this either, but - fredotto. frederica and otto. and - ok dont get me wrong, i think theyd be really really interesting for multiple reasons, right. and ive seen some cute fancontent on them that i liked a lot!! so i really do think they have lots of potential!! like theres the obvious "otto had a crush on a cat as a child and frederica's a cat demihuman", then theres the other obvious fact of otto and frederica being connected via garfiel being their brother/brother figure, and also like personality/temperament wise they could bounce off of each other in interesting ways but like.

the thing with fredotto is that i feel like in english fandom its treated as the "more likely" otto ship to happen, at times. which is Absurd to me after studying otto's lore way too hard bc not only is this dude just way too obsessed with subaru (like regardless of whether you view it as platonic or romantic or not, ottos like Down Bad either way LMAO i just dont see him having eyes for anyone else at this rate)... but also otto OPENLY ADMITS that he'd be bad in a relationship with a woman. like im really sorry but frederica would probably be Too Good for him. and he would Know That.

otto………. can you specify what “the most important thing” is. like do you mean ONLY your career or—

anyway so its like. you want me to believe that otto "i could never be in a relationship with a woman as i am now" suwen. could date a woman????? right now???? i dont think so LMAOO. like i would feel BAD shipping a woman with otto bc barely anyone deserves otto, ok. idk you might be going "suffaru arent you kinda mean to otto" but like being an otto fan also means being his biggest hater and dude is just super super cringe. and even if he had a crush, the chances of him voicing it is Probably Low.

like ships like fredotto, again, need like idk maybe like a few thousand words of development At Least on both ends, bc frederica?? we barely know anything about her at the moment, so its Really hard to approach a ship like this in an in-depth manner right now. like id love to explore fredotto!! id love to learn more about frederica!! id love to go crazy with this ship!! but yeah its definitely kinda hard bc we barely know anything on frederica :< :( and yeah once again. i think shes too good for otto. i think almost every woman is too good for otto. if youre shipping a woman especially with otto you gotta jump through hoops to Really convince me on this HAH. bc i think shipping him with men is just gonna lead to two different possibilities (codependency. and/or otto trying to femme fatale his way through life 👍)

yeah anyway jokes aside. fredotto at worst feels like just a case of pairing the spares and like Clearly they must only be in a straight ship or something HAH.... like i would love to read/write extensive relationship development on them though ;-;;; they got good potential, youd just have to put in the work for me to Believe that they could happen ;-;;;; but most fredotto english fic content atm is just them already being a Thing in the background like ;-;;; this would Not Happen from either of them without development!!!

also i have some fredotto tumblr posts floating around with what i Think would be fun to do with their dynamic…. idk where they are rn hah but yep i think they got potential :,) !!

anyway HAH i hope you did not mind reading about my least favorite ships in this fandom bc this is everything thats coming to my mind now 👍

I'm an anime only but i'm curious how is ferris relationship with gender?

im going to answer kinda quickly (and w/o spoilers) bc im abt to have dinner but the basic gist of it is:

crusch and ferris swapped gender presentations as part of a pact, something that goes back to their respective backstories. (might be harder to tell that crusch is intended to lean more masc, but its in like that knightly bishounen kinda way so it can come off more androgynous than anything). ferris takes the deal a lot more seriously than crusch does (partly bc of devotion, partly because of love) and even still "plays the part" when the pact no longer requires it after crusch got her memories eaten (and was acting more girlish). ferris wakes up every morning repeating the mantra of being a "cute girl" as an affirmation- saying that "this has been the mantra for a long time" believing whole-heatedly that there's magic in this sort of believing, and thats why they just somehow havent developed secondary sex characteristics (and they thank their ancestors for the lack of beard hair- i think it must be somekinda undiscovered divine protection of hrt). though they have a bit of a complex about the idea of this girlhood being "borrowed" because of the swap, and sort of have a higher sense of pressure to confirm as strictly to femininity because of this- because its for crusch. but dont necessarily mistake this for ferris disliking the pact itself, the pressure is something more internal. crusch never held herself to the same degree of devotion to it, wearing casual dresses while inside the house and such, while ferris has committed every fiber of their being to it. this has been the mantra for a long time. and there are genuine insecurities to be found within this- at a certain point a villain representing lust accuses ferris of dressing this way to "lead on" men, something that we as the audience know isnt true (ferris still loves crusch), but never the less messes with their head and in a way i think its meant to be a commentary on the general preconceptions audiences have when it comes to characters like ferris- rezero is a deconstruction series after all so stuff like that is to be expected.

all that being said do i think ferris is the most well done amazing rep in the whole universe? not really. i mean im not transfem so im not the authority on this topic, but im echoing stuff ive generally seen discussed- i think ferris is kind of an example of a character that suffers a bit from the creator not reeeaaallly knowing how trans people work or not realizing hes effectively written a trans person because of this. i defaulted to they/them to ferris here because it is kinda complicated and can be taken a few different ways. how much of it is for crusch vs how much is for ferris? how much of an identity does ferris have outside of crusch? outside of being crusch's "girl side" etc. this theme is something we see with ALL the knights! they all have a blinding and often self-destructive devotion to their liege. and a lot of these are heavily reliant on gender roles in a lot of ways (subaru projects his masc powerfantasy onto emilia, julius has to constantly be the Perfect Knight for anastasia, reinhard can only ever be a Hero and stakes his family's redemption on felt becoming king, al lets priscilla just behead him 100 times bc hes a freak.) in the case of crusch and ferris the entire concept is that these roles have been somewhat swapped, but the devotion stayed the same so. theres a lot there. a lot thats a lot more complicated than just like.... "boy dresses like a girl bc its my fetish" eugh

Anastasia with Yellow Poppies and a Tiger Lily.

happy late birthday

1116 - Anastasia Hoshin I WILL BE FAMOUS WHEN I DRAW UNTIL 10000 CHIBIS! currently 1116/10000

Happy (somewhat late) birthday Juli!!!

They'd be the best worsties of all time I like to think