#Balleroy

[livesunique]

Château de Balleroy, Calvados, Normandy, France,

[wgm-beautiful-world]

Château de Balleroy - FRANCE

[highlights-in-town-scoobydoo]

Château de BALLEROY - France

[sanekfr]

Nearly completely caught up with the Re:Zero webnovels and I am loving it but if I don’t talk about arc 8 my heads going to explode

SO

I’m sure everybody who’s read arc 8 completely can agree that it definitely has some flaws and is objectively one of the weaker arcs in the series, which imo just makes it more impressive that it can still be so loved.

Heavy spoilers ahead if your not caught up, but anyways, to talk about the problems in the arc briefly, and then about the good stuff:

A big part of it was probably the fact that it didn’t feel like it had much stakes. We seemingly had Subaru losing his sense of self a bit because of Olbart and im being shrunken for an extended period of time, but that wasn’t really touched on after that, and on top of that, 2 major antagonists just switched sides halfway through to fight with the living. I get it for Eugard, but I’m still a bit confused about Balleroy.

Additionally, bringing in Halibel made the whole arc a lot easier, and although I like the character I feel like he was kinda just there to even out the odds a bit. Same with Anastasia and Julius, they were kinda just there to bring in Halibel and then didn’t do much else after that aside from a huge rainbow shield thing, and most of the characterization, albeit some of the best in the series, happened in the middle of a battle.

Even with the war being way more fair because of Halibel’s existence, Subaru still died a ton of times trying to get the best outcome, but the problem is we’re not shown any of that. It’s implied heavily, but for the majority of the arc we’re following the successful loop, the one where Subaru knows exactly where to place everyone for the best odds of success, which kinda diminishes on the whole “overcoming insurmountable odds” part of the show, even if we know that logically, Subaru lived through hell a amount of times potentially in the thousands, having to listen to his friends pleas every time he reset via suicide.

Somehow though, even with the exceptionally large amount of characters introduced in arc 7 and 8, it was honestly easy to care about all of them (with the exception of Palladio and Lamia, who felt like they were just kinda there as a plot device). Madelyn and Balleroy’s subplot ended beautifully with her having to finally accept his death, Yorna and Eugard got a brief happy ending, every time Cecilus and the rest of the Pleiades Battalion appeared I was honestly pretty happy.

Now to have a smooth transition to the stuff I really wanna talk about:

Holy hell. Arc 8 was a rollercoaster the entire time that had to stop in the middle of the ride for maintenance (Phase 3).

There were some moments that honestly really moved me, but there’s two in specific I absolutely need to bring up, being the death of Balleroy and Moguro and the ending.

Honestly, even though I didn’t think too much about either of those 2 characters, the duo of Balleroy and Moguro almost had me tearing up. There was just something about their ending that felt so, so amazing to read. Maybe it was the fact they were willingly charging towards their death to save everyone else, maybe it was that I had started to really like the characters without realizing, I don’t know, but it was beautiful.

On the other hand, we have her.

Priscilla, possibly my least favorite character in s1 is now permanently one of my favorite characters in all of fiction, right up there with.. uh, Natsuki Subaru, and Emilia, and Vincent Vollachia, and Wilhelmina, and Heinkel, you get the idea.

I was.. half expecting it, admittedly I did get spoiled, but while I was reading the final chapter I was genuinely thinking “Oh, I guess I got lied to. Honestly kinda glad.” The whole chapter was genuinely one of my favorites before that scene, and I really liked seeing Priscilla finally seeming to open up to people, finished amazingly with her and Al dancing under the stars while a slightly drunk Subaru sang for them.

And then the sun rose.

And then, one of the most emotionally impactful scenes in all of Re:Zero was thrown in the form of a compete curveball.

I don’t think any words can do ‘Curtain’s Close- “Priscilla Barielle”’ justice.

This is what cemented it as one of the best in the whole series, this is what made me spent 40 minutes writing a tumblr post that not a lot of people are probably gonna read when I should really be sleeping, this is what made me love arc 8 so much more then I had previously.

This entire time, Re:Zero felt like a story that shied away from permanent character death. Of course, it made sense given Subaru’s RBD, but in the end everything always worked out somewhat well for the main characters.. after Subaru dies in incredibly horrible ways over and over, even killing himself in arc 2, in that weird gray zone between 3 and 4, in 4 after Satella shows up, and SO much in 7 and 8 that it’s blatantly said in one of the chapters the leading cause of death so far is himself, with the exception of maybe Olbart.

And now, a major character, one extremely important to the whole main objective of the series is dead after having some of the best writing in the entire story. Everything from her getting captured, to descending from the sky after somehow escaping the prison, to the final scene had me gradually starting to love Priscilla more and more.

I said this a bit ago but I wanna restate it, I loved seeing her open up. I loved seeing her Soul Marriage activate on everyone fighting in the capital, I loved seeing her interactions with Subaru in the finale, and I loved her, Al, and Subaru just have a great time together.

And I loved seeing her give one final speech to the pair from beyond the great waterfall, preventing Subaru from killing himself again while Al begged him to jump off the railing, and getting Al to confess his love while he hugged her. It was enough to make me want to cry, even if I didn’t- and reflect in the form of spending about 50 minutes now writing a tumblr post.

Still, even with all that, I don’t think I’ve done the scene any kind of justice to how impactful and amazingly well written it is. It’s really something you gotta read for yourself to understand fully, which I’m hoping everyone who may be reading this now has already done. But, well, disorganized thoughts out of the way, I can’t wait for it to be adapted, because when it does I get the feeling I’ll find it a lot easier to cry then.

It feels weird to say thank you to a fictional character, but thank you, Priscilla. If there’s anything to take to heart from your character, it’s to learn to love the world, and be loved by the world.

The sunset of Arc 8, Curtain’s Close- “Priscilla Barielle” is over, one of the brightest flames in the story being extinguished.

Thank you, Tappei Natsuguki.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Road scene by Balleroy, Normandy region of France

French vintage postcard, mailed to Paris

[artbyfinnbrown]

Reread the "Sword identity" short story recently. I like how in it and the EX4 novel, Goz, Morgu, Groovy, and Balleroy are just depicted like regular co-workers. Casual friends, even.

And then there's their two co-workers who are constantly dueling each other.

And then there’s that other co-worker who's constantly staging rebellions against the throne.

[mishy-mashy]

Balleroy has nice hips and is the most dashing, sexy guy according to Tappei, and so a question has been raised

[whitedogblog]

Chateau de Balleroy, 17th Century, Normandy, France

[suffarustuffaru]

I disagree with that anon, the childification of the characters is just Tappei being weird

Like tappei has been out of pocket this arc and im afraid for the future of the series, the loli general dragon crying and yelling that she loves the 40yo grown ass man that died was SO BAD

Maybe they will fix it in the LN... Editor-san save me......save me editor

no yeah, tappei has a Consistent Pattern Of Being Weird About Kids And Occasionally Women. if its written in story to be a properly addressed issue, sure. if its a writing flaw that consistently shows up across multiple characters (clind, kiritaka, al, a few louis moments, other moments with the other kids, arcs 1-3 wn subaru being so bad even tappei kinda agreed), then its like. a Problem with the author.

AND GODDD ANON YOU JUST REMINDED ME ABOUT THE GENERAL DRAGON WITH BALLEROY 😭😭😭😭😭 THAT WAS AWFULLLL i remember going to my mutuals in rezero discord servers and metaphorically bawling my eyes over it. it was sooo bad jfcccc 😭😭😭😭😭 i dont like the romantic (not in a Nice romantic way) undertones of it !!!!!! i really dont !!!

and while i appreciate childbaru being a narratively significant arc!! i once again Hate 12 yr old preteen adoptive dad subaru being canon. the part where he adopts louis as spica is In Line for him, the 12 yr old preteen adoptive dad part made me wanna cry though. BUT childbaru is narratively significant at least :,,)))) im not so sure about al medium bc it Did Not leave a lasting impression on me though my opinion may change on that :,)) cecilus’s kidbaru arc was alright though, i enjoyed the rest of his arc more :,)

but yeah save me editor :,,)) save me anime staff who graciously fixed capella and liliana’s designs :,))))))) save me :,,,,)))))))))

but anyway im glad to hear from you anon so glad to know im not tweaking and genuinely see tappei being Weird :,))) like okay ill give him credit where credit is due—childbaru for the most part is really interesting, characters like meili are interesting, etc—but tappei is still weird about kids for sure :,))) theres just So Much Evidence.

[ottosuwuen]

Hi, Vollachia enjoyers. I'm curious, so choose your favorite Divine General, based on whatever you want.

[deafknell]

julius?

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi for sure. I've seen a lot of ace Juli headcanons which are pretty neat!

A ship I have with said character: I'm a diehard Anajuli shipper, but I do love emisubajuli and all its variants, and have a good soft spot for reinjuli. Ana and Julius just have so much mutual respect and adoration for each other it's so wonderful. Julius being seen as this suave knight by Subaru, meanwhile in one SS he mopes about being rejected by Anastasia because he tried to get Reinhard to be her knight instead because he views Rein as better than himself.

Plus Ana choosing to go undercover as "Ana" in an SS because she thought Julius going as "Juli" was cute of him. They're so sweet to each other I could go on for yeaaars about this ship.

A BROTP I have with said character: Felix and Julius need more good content of them being bros. They're both so in love with their candidates, but Julius is hopeless at expressing himself and Felix is the complete opposite. I like to imagine them hanging out a lot whenever Julius finishes his patrols or has some free time.

A NOTP I have with said character: Hmm, don't think I've seen any pairings I'd outright reject. I really dislike the amount of NTR content made with Juli "stealing" Subaru's love interests, but I have no issues at all with the ships the content refers to.

A random headcanon: Julius is really good at writing, while his brother's good at art. We see him carrying and writing in a "promise keeping notebook," and we know Julius reads a lot thanks to his reading glasses in very rare canon art, so I like to think he's good at creative writing with lots of stories of old heroes and adventures Joshua would read to him.

General Opinion over said character: Him and Joshua tied for number one boys in my heart. They're just so well written and the colour schemes are immaculate. Julius is such a softie (even wishing he got to know Balleroy better after killing him) and his dorky nature often gets underplayed in fanworks, but it really shines a lot in post arc 5 content. He's goofy and loves tousling his hair and teasing people, but he's well aware he's nowhere near Reinhard's level of skill despite wanting to come close to it.

One of my favourite lines in rezero comes from his side story Julius Juukulius' Promise Keeping Notebook - "Forgetting or being forgotten, which one is more miserable?"

Really speaks volumes to how much forgetting Joshua weighs on him, and how much everyone else forgetting him messes with who he is as a person.

[postcard-from-the-past]

100 years ago:

Chateau de Balleroy, Calvados, Normandy, France,

Photography by @co.versailles

[random-racehorses]

Random Real Thoroughbred: MONTHLERY

MONTHLERY is a bay gelding born in France in 1995. By BALLEROY out of MARJANA. Link to their pedigreequery page: https://www.pedigreequery.com/monthlery

[archimaps]

Elevation of the Chateau de Balleroy

[castlesandmanorhouses]

Château de Balleroy, Balleroy, Normandy, France.

www.castlesandmanorhouses.com

The fief of Balleroy, near the forest and abbey of Cerisy, was acquired in 1600 by Jean de Choisy, wine supplier to King Henri IV. The present château was built from 1626 to 1636 by his son, Jean II de Choisy, State Councilor and chancellor of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, brother of Louis XIII. .

[mishy-mashy]

Just really like Groovy Gumlet

Other than the fact his name is that and he's cute with an outie, he just cares a lot and is actually very personable and isn't so prideful to not admit when he needs help

In the EX Novel 4, he got angry with the knights because he thought they killed Balleroy, and wasn't afraid to admit Balleroy was one of his friends. He, along the lines of this, goes "F*** you, you're worried for your friend? How do you think I feel when you killed one of mine?!"

He befriended Moguro after accidentally thinking he was an inanimate hunk of metal, and doesn't mind his mechanical way of talk ("Groovy, run, outmatched." for example, to say they should run, and he probably won't misunderstand it)

In arc 8, when he's cornered and about to die from not eating or drinking anything for days, one of his worries is if any of his subordinates survived. He hoped it'd be the case. And this was in the middle of being surrounded by a bunch of zombies, so it lagged his reaction

"At the very least, it'd be nice if some of his subordinates survived." Or something along those lines

And right before that, he thought of his second-in-command. I was thinking that Groovy feels lonely without anyone, fending for himself like this. Even if his circumstances suck, it'd be better if he had someone on his side

Plus, he's a hyena demihuman. Hyenas are extremely social animals, and have complex hierarchies, so him being a general with his own army is just perfect for him

He's not afraid of stating his opinions of people, like when he said Balleroy was a bit flashy and too friendly, but still a good guy

And he goes to Chisha for help in dealing with Cecilus, just to complain and scream on his couch

And he's an optimist! He hopes Chisha can control Cecilus, he hopes he and Moguro can handle Reinhard if they get some help, the entire time he's being chased, he's hoping for other things like a breather and food.. that sounds more like desperation, but it's also narrated as a

"small breather would be somewhat helpful.

Having faith in that, he ran, ran, and ran――"

He's clinging to nice little things, even as he's being chased, because wouldn't that be nice to have?

When he smelled living people, he really ran in shouting and hoping for their help to fend off the zombies together too. But before he did, he was afraid of dragging them into his problems, because even in his pushed-to-the-brink state, he didn't want to endanger anyone.

He didn't think of using them as a diversion or anything. He's actually really nice.

If the life he smelled could fight, he'd hope for assistance, and if not, maybe he could get something in his system with the smallest reprieve. He didn't think that the people would be dangerous to him, or attack him immediately; which they did.

And when he just got two drunkards, he got angry because why are they doing this? Why are they the only ones alive now, and they're like this? But angry as he was, and exhausted, he still only passed out when in the company of others. Maybe it was from the long strain, or he finally relaxed even a little bit to be around others (even if those "others" contemplated killing him)