My Favorite Relationship Dynamic In Fiction Is A Worshipper And Their God. Not A Literal God, But Their

[Slaps roof of Senticousins]

These bad boys can fit so many trope subversions in them

Re:Zero Chronological Order

Re:Zero Chronological Order of all Novels and Side Stories. Can be treated like a timeline of events. I probably made some mistakes, so let me know if you spot some. Arc 9+ spoiler warning https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11e-hZ5pf7FyINDF-GkZiOBoD13lu9mqBW9xm4wE1UB8/edit?pli=1&gid=0#gid=0

Have a great day everybody

Otto wtf Man,his mask managed to affect even us,entities of a literal HIGHER REALITY who seems downtigth omnicient in comparision

Wtf otto

why the emilia camp thinks otto is their most threatening member 👍

i see some people being confused on why the emilia camp collectively seems to agree that otto is the biggest threat there for some reason and like. yeah. i get it.

but let me explain real quick why i think it makes sense for the emilia camp to think that :O !!

otto though is disarming because. well okay look at him he doesnt look threatening at all. he has the looks and personality of a wet cat. hes whiny. hes cringe fail. he gets stressed out with paperwork. he looks like you could just smack him around like a bug. he HAS been smacked around like a bug. but that makes him unpredictable because apart from roswaal, he is the Most Amoral one there. you can expect roswaal to be trying some shit, but youd never know when to expect otto is planning something. his moral compass is just “does this benefit me or my loved ones in some way? if not, then its gonna be gone 🥺”.

sure, he does nice things sometimes out of the goodness of his heart. he genuinely means well a lot of the time.

but also then you read the shit hes thinking in his internal dialogue and its like.

“should i go save some girl i dont even know from bandits??? hmm lemme think for a couple minutes. im the only one that can help rn… some guy claiming to be her dad is begging me to help his daughter, but also hes kind of annoying… but i dont even live in this city so why should i help… or Care. actually. but i feel kinda bad about this girl… but also this is gonna put me and my profits in danger… but if i reject helping then im forever gonna be known as the guy who abandoned them and then i wont be able to make any sales in this city anymore :<<<< ……anyway im gonna help them then lol im so smart.” and then he gets captured by the exact same bandits anyway so hes like “well okay now me and this girl might be sold into slavery so i might as well save both of us or ill feel bad ☝️☝️”

(yes. yes this is genuinely ottos thought process if you read through the Otto's Bittersweet Peddling Log side story.)

except all the back and forth Calculation he does in his head Stays In His Head and doesnt match up with his outward appearance most of the time. which means that sometimes his words dont match up with his actions. “dont be surprised if i leave at the first sign of danger,” he says, right after risking his life and writing a suicide note over a dude hes known for like four days. “ahah thanks for giving me a vacation to see my family…” he says, damn well knowing he cant go back home yet otherwise he’ll get sniped by assassins. “im gonna give you some of my own money bounty money to help you BUT BUT BUT DONT THINK THAT IM NICE OR ANYTHING I NEED MOST OF THE MONEY FOR REPAIRS OK YOU CAN ONLY HAVE A BIT :<<<“

this also means that whenever otto says or does something Particularly Questionable, all his friends are still kinda blindsided by it because otherwise otto seems Mostly Fine in comparison to whatever the hell everyone else has going on. hes just a wet pathetic cat of a guy ahah. theres nothing more going on with h—

“if everyone in vollachia dies but rem and natsuki-san live, then we’ve won. if everyone in vollachia lives but rem and natsuki-san die, then we’ve lost.”

um otto can you repeat that. what the fuck did you just say.

otto looks Mostly Normal, Just Stressed Out or Somewhat Chilling the vast majority of the time, and then he whacks you over the head with a steel chair. like can you imagine being garfiel and learning that this pathetic rag of a man is actually pretty brave when it counts. youre like “oh cool lol we kinda beat each others asses and i was Annoyed but now that thats all over i got some newfound respect for you!!” and then you read through his diary and hes got a suicide note in there, which is like. okay fine whatever hes kind of a clown just like my New Captain lol but hes dedicated to his friends, ill give him that. and then a year later you find your now brother figure (whos also lowkey highkey an alcoholic) with a broken hand after punching a wall because he couldnt do his Lets Abandon 50 Million People Plan and youre just sitting there going

and okay dont get me wrong—subaru is Batshit Crazy. in Multiple Incomprehensible Ways. if the emilia camp (or Anyone. At All.) knew about all the shit hes done and been through with rbd, subaru would INSTANTLY be skyrocketing up the Most Threatening People list. but at the same time subarus less threatening than otto in the sense that subarus Always going to want to do good. hes Always going to want to save everyone. hes Extremely forgiving, on top of that. he goes along picking up friends everywhere he goes in his own Incomprehensible Unhinged Way and hes fond of All of them.

otto? yeah his opinion of you could shift on a dime and you could end up in his personal shit list unless youre one of the *checks list* *clears throat* maybe like ten people he cares about. and even if youre on the I Care About You! :) list, he could still get pissed enough at you to, i dont know, punch a wall over you? and spiral into obsession? and even if hes not upset at you hes still gonna mansplain manipulate malewife his way to his goals <33

and yeah of course subaru is also Mansplain Manipulate and Gaslight Gatekeep but at least he has way more good intentions AND his attitude about it is gonna be like "sorry :<<< i just gotta do this for your sake :<<<<<< :((( haha dont worry about it". subaru would never ever want to do anything big to hurt his loved ones (except for rbd). while otto doesnt even bat an eye. everyone can be manipulated if he has to. he goes down his list of Things I Need To Do and goes "yeah that had to be done. oh well. anyway i got more shit to do (like maybe kill a toddler lol)"

also lets talk about roswaal's perspective really quick. post-arc 4 hes like "well subaru-kun is always gonna want to save everyone and hes doing a pretty good job of things in general so whatever lol. i can still keep him in check by killing everyone if even one of his friends dies :)". so its like. YEAH subarus an Unhinged Wildcard. roswaal knows that. but right now subaru is more predictable and also again, roswaal knows he can keep subaru in check by making subaru have to reset if roswaal really needs to.

but otto? yeah ottos second in line for being an Unhinged Wildcard. but whats even worse is that otto is Basically Subaru but More Calculating and with a moral backbone thats Near Nonexistent. roswaal was genuinely concerned for otto in arc 8 for once and there was still Literally No Stopping Otto from being a stubborn little shit whos hell bent on all the maladjusted insane mentalities hes got floating around in his head, half of which he doesnt even say out loud, and all of which he thinks is Completely Right and that theres Nothing Wrong with what hes doing.

and also otto being underestimated and Not In The Tome was a big help as to how subaru got the win over roswaal in arc 4 👍and then otto Continues to try keeping an eye on roswaal after arc 4, to the point of getting roswaal's tome and actively trying to investigate roswaal's actions, so roswaal is Very Aware that otto is. a bit of a threat. roswaal of course is smarter and more powerful than otto though, but that still doesnt change the fact that otto is still capable of being a threat if roswaal doesnt Also kind of keep an eye on otto back. because roswaal kind of lost to otto already in arc 4!!

but okay, on top of all of this, no one knows the full extent of whats going on with otto, not even roswaal (though he has his Suspicions), and most definitely not subaru yet (whos Still a bit of an otto apologist anyway), and otto is already a bit menacing even without knowing All of that. and the rest of the emilia camp are already a bit more lenient with roswaal (as hes seemingly chilled out after arc 4 + they all need him still). that, and you can easily Expect roswaal post-arc 4 to be suspicious and Probably up to something. you wont know what it is, but you wont Exactly be surprised when it happens.

and also roswaal isnt publicly batshit crazy like otto is. otto of course isnt as Openly Weird as subaru, but otto is still Openly Unhinged and Pathetic. just look at him declaring julius and anastasia, HIS CAMP'S ALLIES, as enemies right to their faces alsdfjlsdjfl.

and with subaru, there is Zero doubt in the emilia camp's minds that subaru wants the best for them and everyone around them.

otto though? yeah he also wants whats best for the camp. he Cares about them, he really does. but hes so obviously Questionable by the time you get to arc 8 to the point where the entire rest of the camp starts eyeing him like this:

theres also the fact that ottos dp allows him to have eyes and ears Everywhere so long as he doesnt overuse it. that paired with his Intelligence, Stubbornness, and Lack of Morals or self-awareness/sometimes guilt/regret over his actions is dangerous. theres a reason why gluttony if subaru decided to flood The Entire Surrounding Area Around Otto. the flood took away the potential army otto couldve made out of the animals and allies otto had in the city, and once you do that, whats otto going to do against someone like shaula? all of ottos power regarding his People Skills and Animal DP was stripped away.

but if that Isnt stripped away... well honestly otto can do whatever the hell he wants the moment he figures out a solid plan to try and get what he wants. his biggest ability at the core of what makes him dangerous is his ability to quite Literally be in the background. so long as hes underestimated, so long as he still has secrets, no ones gonna know the full extent of his bullshit!! you cant stop him if you dont even realize what hes going to do, and hes Good at doing that!!

and if gluttonybaru hadnt taken out otto, subaru would be skyrocketing right to the top of ottos shit list after subaru literally just killed All of ottos (and previously subarus.) loved ones. otto wouldnt stop until he figured out how to destroy subaru. its to the point where im pretty sure if otto had to choose between destroying half the world vs kill gluttonybaru once and for all, otto would certainly choose one of those options in a Heartbeat.

anyway. if youre an emilia camp member, and you see the dude whos in charge of the Vast Majority of the factions political affairs, the guy who you Know is very intelligent and competent and determined when it counts, say shit like "if everyone dies in this entire country i wouldnt even give a single flying fuck as long as our friends get back safe and sound :) it would be such a loss if the entire country lived but our friends didnt :<<<" OF COURSE I WOULD BE LIKE YEAH THAT GUY IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ONE HERE. HE HAS THE SKILLS AND THE MOTIVATION TO BACK UP THAT STATEMENT AND I WONT EVEN KNOW WHEN ITD HAPPEN. he also has the Mental Instability to back that up too, given the amount of times he spends drinking and Raging and Being Terribly Anxious over Every Little Thing.

youll be sweating buckets being wary of otto while ottos casually standing there with his wet cat looks and a knife in your back.

and otto has, for the most part, some of the most normal trauma compared to a bunch of people in this cast (not to discount ottos trauma and pain or anything but its true lajdsfls sorry otto. but also im not sorry because arc 5 was partially on you T^T). he doesnt have rbd, he doesnt have some weird family drama bullshit going on like the astreas or emilias family or the segmunts, he hasnt been erased by gluttony, etc etc. but hes still like this. if you put him in subarus position and gave him rbd, he would get even worse than he already is.

yeah so anyway thats my quick rambley psa about why i think it makes sense that the emilia camp's voted otto as the most threatening one there 👍

but the fact that we (the audience) (or at least some of us!!) keep questioning why the hell the emilia camp thinks otto is the biggest threat there is means that otto's funny silly guy image is. Kind of Working??? just a little bit.

because. granted. of course i think subaru is easily the most threatening person there with both His Flavor of Insanity and rbd. subaru is an eldritch horror in every single way. but at the same time - hes an eldritch horror who thinks friendship is the best magic of all T^TT !!! he FORGIVES PEOPLE WHO'VE KILLED AND TORTURED HIM. hes not threatening in this sense - the fact that hes kind of just way too nice in this sense!!! granted yes, he IS abusing rbd and Terrifying and Threatening in a multitude of ways, but i'd rather take my chances with mainbaru over main otto right now HAH T^TT at least subaru will apologize and start bawling his eyes out if he stabs some random innocent civilian and stranger in the gut for Some Necessary Reason!! otto would feel a bit bad and then completely Eradicate that feeling of guilt with "i had to do it. it was them or me so no regrets <3".

because otto..................... yeah otto is the Worlds Most Pathetic Yandere to his whole camp.

This is the standard winged nightjar and it has one singular stupidly big feather on each wing... if you even care.

Thats Oolong inst he?

She's a funny girl😂❤️

hello ive made many diagrams by now but you can have Yet Another One. appy pride monf 🫶🏳️‍🌈 (also i mayve put some of the more intersecting ones in the wrong places oops but just pretend theyre in the right place 👍)

Omg that makes sense

I've had this thought for a while but only just realized I have a tumblr now so I can actually get that thought to reach ppl who'll share my level of madness.

So Sonic yeah? Pretty much the entire main cast are all anthropomorphic animals, excluding Eggman and his family tree. Across adaptations of Sonic, there's not a lot of consistency on what the general population outside of Sonic and the Gang are composed of. In shows like Boom, Prime, and the IDW comics, it's almost entirely animals, and Eggman's the odd one out:

But in other versions, where there are humans, Eggman still sticks out like a sore thumb:

It's also worth noting that in some Sonic games, there are regular, non-anthropomorphic animals in addition to anthropomorphic versions

(Yes, Vector is a crocodile not an alligator, but they're close enough taxonomically to be significant. You can't convince me that the difference between alligators and crocodiles in this universe is that one swims in freshwater and the other has bills to pay)

So here's my theory: there's cartoonish, anthropomorphic versions and realistic, non-anthropomorphic versions of the animals, right? So why wouldn't this extend to humans? After all, they're mammals just like hedgehogs and foxes are. AND THAT'S WHAT EGGMAN IS. He's an anthropomorphic animal like Sonic, it just happens to be that the animal he's based on is a human.

Eggman is an anthropomorphic human. He's human squared.

Thank you

The concept of rezero modern AUs that are "the same but different" (meaning all the fantasy elements are replaced by realistic equivalents) is so funny. Like what do you make of arc 2? Does Subaru get bitten by a normal puppy and get normal rabies? Does the Milwaukee Protocol work on him? Does he later learn a little girl intentionally got a rabid dog to bite him? And his clown boss asked her to because his horoscope said so? You have to understand his life actually gets way more insane if you try to make it normal

Gonna be usefull for Future fic powerscaling and backstory

About the Dragon Balls: is there anything lost in translation when it's said that they can't do anything beyond the power of the creator? Because taken as written, that...has some implications about Kami's abilities. I'm guessing if that is what it says in the original Japanese, it's meant in more of a general sense of power - the same way you could say a bunch of food has equivalent chemical energy to a bomb exploding. That's kind of the only way that statement makes sense in anything past Kami's introduction I think, but do you think it was originally intended as that, or was Toriyama's original concept that Kami could do anything the Dragon Balls do, e.g. resurrect people (or did Toriyama just not think that hard about it - also very possible!)

As a bonus mostly irrelevant side note, in trying to make that statement work, me and my friend came up with the idea that the Dragon Balls are ki-to-magic converters - so they are connected to Kami's level of power (in ki), but they convert it into the equivalent level of magical power.

So far as I know, there are a few interesting limitations on what the Dragon Balls are capable of so far as the wishes they can grant.

The "can't grant wishes beyond God's power" rule was established here, when Oolong wanted to use Shenron to kill Vegeta and Nappa.

This is an accurate translation of the original. While it's very hard to find the manga in original Japanese, the anime is another story - and I can confirm that this is what he's saying in Japanese in the anime. "That would be impossible. I was born from God; Therefore, I cannot do something that would exceed the power of God."

When Shenron says this, he's talking about Vegeta and Nappa's ki. Shenron's power is pegged to God's power, but Vegeta and Nappa have a stronger ki than he does. In fact, their ki is so great that even Kaio is dwarfed by them.

Elite Saiyans are so strong that even gods are humbled by their might. This grants them an ability that, up to this point, had never been discussed: They can resist wishes targeted at them.

This has never really come up before. First because God was only recently introduced to the cast and, prior to Piccolo, there were no characters on his level. And second, because targeting a hostile wish at someone has never happened before.

Not for lack of trying. The Muten-Roshi's plan in the Piccolo-Daimao arc was to get Shenron to kill Piccolo.

But that went about as badly as conceivably possible.

Yeah, this literally cannot have gone any worse. That is a hard fail in every possible way.

Could Shenron have ganked Piccolo before the wish to restore his youth was made? We'll never really know. It's entirely possible that the Muten-Roshi would have gotten the "beyond my power" speech then if he'd managed to succeed.

But he didn't, and so "What if Shenron just fucking killed this guy?" wouldn't get brought up until the arrival of the Saiyans.

Essentially, the main function that rule serves within the story is just that: To explain why Shenron cannot be used to just erase the new bad guy from the plot and be done with them. As the powers grow, they leave God and by extension Shenron far behind them, and so it becomes possible for characters to resist wishes targeted at them - as seen here.

Though a wish is made to return Goku to Earth, it cannot be granted because Goku resisted it. Goku's ki so far surpasses that of Muri it's not even funny, and so Porunga may only grant a wish targeting Goku if he has Goku's consent.

So far as the range of wishes that can be cast... it's not entirely clear what controls that. Dende upgraded the Dragon Balls when he arrived on Earth, increasing the number of permitted wishes to three.

Note: He means here "Two wishes if you use one of them for a multi-rez", not "We'll only get two wishes out of any usage if we want Shenron to be capable of multi-rez." Common misconception.

In upgrading the dragon, we see that some of Shenron's limitations are configured at the factory, so to speak. We have to decide what we want the new Shenron's abilities to be while we're forging him.

Though it does seem that these things can be reconfigured after the design is in place. At some point after leaving Earth, Muri reconfigured Porunga to allow multi-rez.

So Shenron is limited by God's power in terms of targeting wishes, and also by how his settings are configured.

There is a subtle implication that Dende's dragon can do three wishes because Dende has a stronger ki than the previous God's. There is, to my knowledge, no official statement one way or the other. But it is possible.

Saichoro described the Nameless Namekian as a prodigy of the Ryuzoku Namekians.

Saichoro legit doesn't believe anything short of a Super Saiyan could have bested the Nameless Namekian. Though he may be overselling NN's capabilities out of racial pride.

But in the same breath, he also notes that God is a greatly diminished shadow of what the Nameless Namekian would be capable of.

So the original Shenron was created by a Ryuzoku prodigy cut down to size.

By contrast, Dende is never described as a prodigy. Krillin confirms that his ki is itty-bitty as would be expected of a child his age.

Dende's not throwing hands with Super Saiyans any time soon.

...however.

Meager though Dende may be, he did have his dormant ki drawn out of him by Saichoro.

To give a sense of scope for what that means, keep in mind that Namekian warriors have a Battle Power reading of 3,000... but Nail is 42,000. This same process took Krillin from around 1,500 to 75,000. Having all of your dormant ki awakened is a skyrocketing effect.

So between the prodigy child of Katatz greatly diminished and the mundane Dende with a colossal buff, it is entirely possible that Dende's dragon can grant more wishes because his ki kicks his predecessor's ass.

But it could just as easily have been a personal choice by the former God.

He may have deliberately set Shenron's settings to 1 wish because he didn't want the Dragon Ball quest to be too rewarding. He didn't want earthlings to lean too heavily on miracles to solve their problems. He was pretty hands-off as a deity.

Lastly, with regard to what God himself is capable of and whether he can do the same things Shenron can.... God confirms that Shenron is capable of greater feats of reality warping than he himself is.

Wish Dragons are unique for their ability to unkill people. That is not a power that even gods possess. In fact, even climbing into the upper echelons of the divine hierarchy, the only comparable ability we've ever seen comes from the Kaioshin, highest of gods (pre-Super).

...and it can only be performed by trading a Kaioshin's life for one mortal's.

Gods cannot revive the dead. Only Shenron can.