Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 4th season

It would be a far bigger plot twist if everything wasn't because the went back in time at some point. They've been clubbing us over the head with Satella being time traveled Emilia from the first season, but this season all but said it outright that the whole tower situation was because part of this group traveled back in time and arranged everything. As far as I'm concerned, the only mystery is how they're going to explain Subaru sentencing Shaula to 400 years in solitary confinement knowing she all but dies at the end of it without making Subaru look like complete twat.

It really, REALLY reeks of a time loop/time travel somehow. Satella shouldn't even know who Subaru is and yet she is the one who summoned him to this world supposedly and gave him his iconic ability. Flugel's disciple recognizes Subaru as her master. Somehow Emilia looks identical to Satella, down to fingerprints apparently. And then there's this whole tower which is only possible to open if you know star constellations from our world. Patrasche is just a young earth dragon and yet Volcanica recognizes her. I don't think it's as simple as past lives, honestly it's giving me vibes of non-linear time passing and future events that will occur in the past so far. I kiiiind of hope I am wrong though cuz it has not so positive implications for at least some of the main characters.

Also a bootstrap paradox with Shaula, where Subaru gets a little scorpion, goes back in time with her that leads to this tower where she's abandoned and then he gets her again. To me this theory is one I've had in the back of my head since season 1 with Subaru having a time based power and Satella looking exactly like Emilia and who also loves him, and I'm starting to feel like it's a bit too obvious and might be a red herring.

It's not gonna be everyone. But the people who made the hand prints on that slate, I bet those are all people who go back in time at some point. Probably including Roswaal. A competent mage you can't fully trust could be really useful from the author's perspective. When Subaru lost his memory, I was afraid the plot was for Subaru to never get his memories back, and eventually becoming Flugel. He also wouldn't fall in love with Emilia again. However, Emilia has at this point already fallen most of the way in love with Subaru, and I thought it might become an obsession for her, until we get the one sided love of Satella. After all, he loved her before. Why can't he love her again?! It was meant to be! Next time, she'll get him next time around! She loves him so much, he'll understand! Subaru got his memories back, so clearly that was not the plan. Thank goodness. But we very much could still get the time loop. There are two versions of Gluttony still alive, so memory loss shenanigans are still on the table as well.

Here’s a wild theory though. What if Subaru time travels back into the past. Calls himself flugel and then does all the stuff that Flugel is known for. Then at the end he has to return to the present because that’s where he belongs. So in order to have the present be the way that it is now he has to leave Shaula at the tower for 400 years. So it could be like a bittersweet we know we will reunite kind of thing, while also reconciling that maybe Flugel, or in this case himself, did do a shitty thing but for a good reason.

I mean, Satella has time powers, so I would be VERY surprised if the big twist isn't gonna be that in the future, Subaru dies, making Emilia go crazy, unlocking time powers, which leads to her going back in time with the single minded goal to keep Subaru alive no matter the cost, unaware that she is the cause that kills Subaru in the first place, causing an infinite loop of suffering for everyone involved. And the endgame would obviously be that Subaru needs to find a way to break out of this loop by preventing Emilia to ever become Satella. No idea how Flugel = Subaru fits into this, but I am sure that could be explained somehow as well.

I can somehow understand that Volcanica thought of Emilia as Satella , but him recognizing Patrasche was so surprising that it left me speechless. Plus, there's the fact that Emilia's hand is identical to the handprint on that stone (surely Satella's). So what the hell is going on? Does that mean that Subaru and Emilia (plus Patrasche ) went back in time and somehow became Flugel and Satella? Is this some kind of time loop? What the hell....

Even though I'm much younger, as things like Attack on Titan took 10 years to resolve, I can't help feel the conundrum about future series. I don't want shows rushed for the sake of it because then we get terrible adaptations that make no one happy. But at the same time I can't keep getting series that take 10 years to finish and I really do enjoy being able to see these series as they develop. I have no answer for you but I hope we both see the ending one day and if not, thanks for being here in this moment enjoying anime.

I think the reason Amnesia worked with Subaru is that unlike typical amnesia plots it wasn’t used to undo character development and extend the story, but to provide further character development. We get to see Subaru from the beginning of the series and all his issues reconcile with the relationships he’s built over 3 seasons and the image he’s built of himself in his mind. Subaru’s core issue at the start of the series is that he tries so hard to appear heroic because he fundamentally thinks he’s anything but. His memory loss forces him into a circumstance where he’s already seen as a hero but he has no idea why. His self worth is so bad he genuinely considers the Natsuki Subaru that is viewed as a hero to be a separate person from himself. The climax being that the hero everyone knows is just himself. To put it another way, Subaru’s amnesia arc works because it isn’t treated as an amnesia story, but more like an AU fanfiction. “What if Subaru was isekaid into arc 6 of the story instead of arc 1?”

I think the reason Amnesia worked with Subaru is that unlike typical amnesia plots it wasn’t used to undo character development and extend the story, but to provide further character development. I think you nailed it here. It often feels like a lot of amnesia plots are largely used to either a) basically freeze character development in place, b) extend the plot, or c) manufacture melodrama and angst for the characters involved. The amnesia here is mainly used to actually interrogate Subaru's traits, which is the exact opposite of the most common usage of the trope, but the melodrama it creates also has real, critical consequences because of the network of mysteries and secrets within the tower. His conversation with Julius and Eridna/Anastasia, Meili's attempts to murder him, his relationship with Ram, etc. mean that the loss of his memories has real ramifications which we see play out across those loops. It also completely decapitates the rest of the group, who are now without their leader in a dangerous situation in the tower, and they literally admit that themselves. It also helps that memory loss has been a pretty big feature in the series since the beginning. We obviously have the gluttony siblings and the concept of stealing ones name or memories, but RBD also interrogates the idea of memories quite a bit. A lot of the second arc is built around what Subaru remembers yet nobody else does, so I think the idea playing with memory is a bit more ingrained in the fabric of ReZero compared to a lot of other series and fits far more naturally as a result.