purrgiri

At first it comes of more like a joke manga with albus looking like your average op protagonist with the character depth of a puddle spending centuries looping time just so he could see his dog before it dies

But gradually the story unravels and you begin to see the depth in him his hopes his dreams the wishs he holds dear to his heart the real reason he spends centuries reliving the same journey again and again and again

All to save one girl all to ensure a happy ending to the people he met on his centuries long journey

Even if he has to pay the ultimate price and not share the happy ending with them

He is genuinely so intriguing honestly if i had to make any comparisons here I'd compere Him to fellow time looper Subaru natsuki

(Genuinely they are so similar was re:zero an inspiration behind this story?)

They share a lot of traits and issues that madness to save everyone no matter what the lack of self worth

The endless determination the immense kindness in their hearts

They are similar but the difference between them keeps albus from just being a Subaru clone and thus interesting to me

Albus knows he can't save everyone he knows it's madness to try "change the world" is a godlike power but he is no god so he focus on saving those he cares for and as many others as he can

Focusing on speed to ensure everything ends quickly minimising casualties to achieve the best ending

In a way this compresion is just

Speedrunner vs completionist

Albus wants to accomplish his primary objectives with minimal side activities to get it done quickly as possible for the best ending

Subaru wants to save everyone no one left behind if it can be helped

That difference does a world of good in making albus his own guy while being similar enough to where my enjoyment of Subaru adds to my enjoyment of him if that makes any sense

The side cast are also a fun bunch rayman especially was so fun

The messenger of god to while i saw the twist with him coming from a whole ass timeline away and he doesn't appear that often he serves his role as a long running mystery man well

Kinda reminds me of the man in black from "to your eternity"

The series is still running so there's probably more to come so I'll keep following this and i heavily recommended anyone who enjoys these kind of stories to follow it to

Before you dismiss it hear me out this has some potential

To open with the basics Subaru and rem (Especially crippled) don't have the privilege of being the strongest things in the ever after like team RWBY had

They aren't at the bottom of the food chain (mostly because the ever after has like 3 people who can actually fight) but they will eventually run afoul of someone dangerous like the red prince or the jabbawalker

There is also the ever after weirdness paths that loop around strange creatures trying to scam you etc

Already off that Subaru has stepped into a horror show made worse by his glitchy RBD

Sure he would run into jaune which helps but it's gonna be a painful journey till he finds him especially with the red prince getting shrunk even if they work with the cat Subaru will have an awful time

There is also the question of "can we make it back?" Because the ever after isn't a different country they can't grab a carriage back Especially when they find jaune and realise he is also from a different world

Subaru gave up on ever going back to earth when he ended up in lagunica so i imagen that the possibility he can never go back to emilia and the others would hang over him

Especially after he meets jaune who's been stuck there for over 40 years

There is also the issue of rem no memories no ties no trust in subaru and zero ability to properly judge somebody character

The curious cat is about to moving like hakari because he just hit the damn vessel jackpot but we'll go back to that in a bit

the real meat of this if begins when rem pulls the "your not a hero" card either when the paper pleasers die or the market gets destroyed by the jabbawalker and Subaru can't do anything about it and they learn about Ascension

I think that in the ever after now more then ever Subaru weakness is gonna hang over him because there's a god that can make him that idealised hero that can save everyone if he asked right there

Imagine jaune rem and Subaru go on the journey to the tree Subaru feels worse about everything rem eventually gets possessed and with a glitchy RBD he can't undo it but he can't abandon her either

He and Jaune go after curious rem to the tree and this story version of the 10 seconds of hell begins

Subaru is weak jaune is washed up and old and the cat is already extremely powerful ontop of having rem Oni strength now and the checkpoint is right as they confront the cat

Subaru dies hundreds of times trying everything trying to get rem to take control trying to guide jaune trying the leaves trick nothing works

Rem has no attachments to cling to lacking memories

And jaune is to weak to win against the cat even with Subaru guidance

And Subaru is tired he is so damn tired

Losing his crutch of being rem hero

The idea he could never go back to the people he loves again

And being killed hundreds of times by a monster wearing rem face

He is tired there's nothing he can do even if he could muster up the guts to kill rem they can't do it

The cat notices how tired Subaru is and decide for fun to drop a bunch of leaves on him and jaune before setting them on fire with his lighting breath causing them both to inhale the smoke

Jaune rejects ascension swinging Crocea Mors to disperse the smoke and charging back into the fight but as he charges behind him where Subaru stood a hole closes up

Subaru falls into the tree meets the blacksmith before being given the choice leaving his burdens behind and becoming someone new or staying himself

To stay as Subaru natsuki rem self proclaimed hero knight of Emilia the immortal boy who cannot quit

Or become someone new someone stronger faster smarter a man unbreakable even in the face of return by death someone who can be a real hero who can save everyone rem included

(side note I'd imagen ascendedbaru to basically our Subaru minus the problems and fears holding him back with a version of RBD that has no checkpoints instead letting him go back as far as he wants giving him time to save anyone he wants)

And then Subaru makes his choice

Either tossing "Subaru natsuki" away to become someone he believes he needs to be to save rem and make it home resulting in an if "Subaru" his original self sacrificed to become a version of himself with greater control over time allowing him to accomplish anything he wanted at the cost of the original Subaru

Or grit his teeth staying himself and finding another way

At this point Subaru decides to constantly break the taboo summoning satella and fixing RBD his wooden statue exploding with the shadows of the witch of envy as he returns allowing him to go back to before rem was possessed and stopping the cat

Eventually leading everyone to go to the tree together have their group meeting and lore dump with the blacksmith (only jaune cares)

Jaune and Subaru shake hands and thank eachother (tramua bonding is is a powerful thing) before the blacksmith opens a gate back to remnant and sends jaune away

As he meets his friends again and they ask him how he came back jaune simply answers that he had help from "a pretty amazing guy"

(Honstly jaune could have a whole ass plot of him and Subaru bonding but im more focused on Subaru side of things here)

The blacksmith gives Subaru a few words of encouragement before sending them back home at the moment they are needed most

appearing in the carriage with their friends like two hours after they went missing scaring everyone half to death

Ram demands to know what happened Subaru stares for a moment knowing how absurd the answer is before ending this story off directing a little question he learned from jaune towards ram