u/_Affectionate_

Vought Tower
Boys hideout
Wherever the new location Boys will be in for their operation that episode. Mostly being indoors or far away from civilians.

It really feels like they run out of budget or something. It makes it feel a lot less like this world is alive or lived in. The only thing I remember is that scene of a woman being taken by the police but a single scene is too little for 6 episodes of supposed civil unrest. Even season 4 had public protests and fightings happening, people getting in Starlights office to make a shooting etc. Now the only thing we have is Ashley pointing at a screen and saying “67% of Americans disapprove of this” and nothing else.

Its crazy to me that HOMELANDER DECLARED HIMSELF AS GOD TO THE WORLD and we get absolutely NOTHING outside of someone pointing at a screen and say “people aren’t happy”

Since Kripke is keep bringing up budget on interviews I’m afraid we will never see how much this world is being affected by the crazy political unrest thats happening right now, and “do people expect nothing but fight scenes” are you kidding me Kripke?? When was The Boys a battle oriented show? The amount of big budget Supe brawls can be counted with a single hand and majority of fights are brief 1v1s like Deep vs Noir. This isn’t Invincible, no-one is expecting an episode of none stop action. Shows main catch has always been The Boys getting in to wild wacky impossible situations and watch them figure out how to get out of it.

Soldier boy starts as going against Homelander in season 3.

Starts this season on his side and gets infected by the virus.

Next episode he is against Homelander and plans to prevent him from getting V1.

Goes back to being on Homelanders side after Homelander spares him.

This episode goes against Homelander AGAIN because they fucked the same Nazi chick

GOES BACK TO BEING ON HIS SIDE AGAIN AND GIVES HIM V1

Thats changing sides 5 TIMES IN 6 EPISODES considering he wasn’t even in episode 1 THAT MEANS HE CHANGED SIDES EVERY. SINGLE. EPISODE. Guess what? Considering only way to beat Homelander thats left is soldier boys powers we might see him switching sides AGAIN.

Every season starts with the boys being fucked by Butcher previous season finale but at the end of first episode they take him in. Fuck consequences we hold keeping the status quo above anything else in this show

Kimiko and Frenchie broke up and got back together due to lack of communication every season at this point.

MM does his routine “I cant get near my family” stuff and learns to not letting his anger get the best of his humanity AGAIN.

Hughie argues with Butcher and only one to see the humanity in him AGAIN.

Homelander is FINALLY losing his mind and about to go ape shit. AGAIN.

This show turned in to Scooby Doo chase the way everyone is just running around circles.

The main argument against this is “Subaru is not a OP mc who gets everything handed to him he actually struggles, besides his whole character arc and journey is about him getting over his main character syndrome” however I think while Re Zero is not the same kind of wish fulfillment story it is a wish fulfillment story nonetheless and no Subaru not having a literal harem full of little girls and not one shooting everyone doesn’t make it not a wish fulfillment story. I swear bar is so low with isekais Re Zero not having these things comes off as revolutionary to people. There are a lot of things I like about the story (id give it a 7/10) but public perception is so far from reality.

Subarus ability RBD is an allegory for depression. He goes through immense pain and trauma that he cant share anyone with. He is forced to keep all of this anguish inside and not be able to tell anyone just so to be able to perform for people in his life. Actions that are natural for others is countless failed tries and suffering for Subaru. I get that his story was about him getting over himself, to be an actual person, and all of this is precisely why it is a isekai wish fulfillment story for shut in depressed people.

He gets beaten and humiliated just enough for this specific demographic of people to relate to him but he also saves the day, gets the girl and have everyone around him praise and be in love with him. I lost the count of times his oh so innocent waifus have him lay on their thighs so he can cry.

This is how Re Zero structures its story line. It does just enough to seem like it criticize everything about Isekai wish fulfillments and right after does everything it criticizes anyway. It’s the same reason behind why vast majority of community of Re Zero is indistinguishable from other Isekai communities. Please go to Re Zero subreddit and tell me Im wrong.

As in Season 3 the amount of girls who are in love with or have a crush on Subaru are. (These are all I remember)
Satella
Emillia
Rem
Crusch
Echidna
Petra (minor btw)
If you add If story lines this list gets waaaay longer mind you

Emillia is the most “Im written to be wish fulfillment waifu for people with no self esteem” woman character Ive ever seen. She has powers not to be too annoyingly helpless but not powerful enough to handle herself and not needing the MC to be rescued. She is so terribly innocent to the point she obsoletely has no idea how intimate relationships work just so people with no self esteem to believe they can be with a girl who has no idea about the world and believes everything she is told.

Of course I don’t get the story and the characters because I don’t have media literacy right? Emilias entire arc revolves around her being her own woman and gaining her individuality and stepping outside of a trophy wife right?????. Of course right after her character development to not be a trophy wife she reveals that she thinks kissing for the first time got her pregnant. Of course her mental age being 14 YEARS OLD is just a coincidence, author possibly couldn’t just written so she would be out of the ice 4 more years at least before she met Subaru. ITS PIVOLTAL TO THE PLOT BRO IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME WANTING A CHILD LIKE INNOCENT WAIFU BRO THIS ISNT LIKE OTHER ISEAKIS

Of course Im cherry picking and don’t get that Petra just has a innocent little crush and their relationship is a sibling coded one right? Anyway did you know that author himself wrote an if route in which Subaru gives in to the sin of Lust. The very first page involves Subaru in bed with Petra, a 12 year old girl and she he nuzzles in to her body because she is so warm and soft. Later on Subaru has a scene with Felt, (a 14 year old girl) and comments about how he can see everything under her skirt and makes out with her. THE NEXT SCENE he goes to his pregnant wife Rem and talks about how if they have a baby girl he’s going to spoil her so much “shes going to want to marry her own father”… Did you know the Japanese community of this series that supposedly made to criticize wish fulfilment isekais fucking overwhelmingly loved this If story. It just must be a coincidence right?

What about Sin Bishop of LUST being a little kid who wears under wear and nothing else? Or that one musician who just happens to wear skimpy clothes? Oh also a seemingly 12 year old loli making out with a grown woman was soooo important to the story bro we HAD to add that to the story. We also NEEDED to have the camera zoom in and have us listen to their wet mouths and moans. We HAD to add a scene of that grown woman getting naked in front of a loli bro. These are definitely not scenes made so losers can jerk it watching them.

Re Zero contains almost every Isekai wish fulfillment tropes and characters but throws in some bs reason behind them so people can point at them to argue against this story being another wish fulfillment bs. Im so tired of everyone acting like Re Zero isn’t just another wish fulfillment story. Im so frustrated that I listened to all those people who kept saying “Subaru is the best written MC in fiction” just to witness all of this bs.

I find that this is a problem most common in Japanese stories. I get that appealing to a younger audience is common because it is safest way to get the most money from people of all ages but dear god it is so jarring when it clashes with the actual story. Whenever I’m trying to immerse myself to the themes of the story I’m blinded by the shoehorned high school festivals or forced silly jokes at the middle of a war zone the story is supposedly asking me to take seriously. Most of these storied would be better off if the main cast were adults or at least not 14-15.

Also I acknowledge that stories can be mostly fun but still tackle deeply serious subjects. A lot of children’s stories or animations can find the sweet spot to deliver an emotionally moving serious stories but also be somewhat fun (ATLA). I think the stories fail at it when they try to have the jokes drop at the middle of these serious events or revolve around characters that should be taken seriously.

I watched Code Geass when I was in high school and I had this weird dissonant feeling in certain times but I couldn’t put my finger on it but now I do. This story about racial discrimination, political unrest, genocide and war would ever so often take a break episode to show how these war criminals have to arrange a school festival with silly jokey jokes and ruin the immersion I had and create a tonal inconsistency that caused me to take the show and these characters seriously less and less as the story goes on.

It’s the same with FF7 remakes, this story about class wars, eco terrorism and genocide would turn these seriously fucked up characters in to silly little goobers every so often. Its like story was saying “Hey this guy is responsible of hundreds of thousands of death and fascism but look at him eating a ice cream isn’t he so silly Xd” The worst time when this happened was in two different instances.

First was when the plates fell in the first remake. The story made me walk in the slums after math of massacring of innocent civilians by Shinra. The streets are full of people in loss, crying and praying. Some are even having panic attacks and desperately looking for their loved ones at the hopes of their safety. I get in to a building and “HEY BRO WELCOME BACK TO THE GYM DO YOU WANNA JOIN OUR PULLUP COMPETITION? THERES A RAD TROPHY FOR WHOEVER WINS!!!! TIME TO SWEAT LIKE A MF AND GET MUSCLES!!!” Are you kidding me? I just witnessed a terror attack on innocent poor civilians and now game wants to cut in to that to put a fucking mini game?

Barrets section of the story in Rebirth and his history with that one certain character was revealed and their emotional reunion scene happens. It was a really sad and emotionally moving part of the story for me and I was ready to forgive the story for its tonal dissonance up until now. NOT EVEN A MINUTE LATER one of these fascistic oligarchs who’s responsible of tens of thousands of deaths and eco terrorism is SHAKING HIS ASS TO THE CAMERA LIKE ITS FROM A MINIONS MOVIE. After that point I checked out of the story and almost uninstall the game.

This happens with so many stories, the author wants to create a story full of mature themes and story beats only for some high school bs to cut in to it for no other reason than appealing to a larger audience.