What is fate?
What is destiny?
You know, some people believe in it blindly while others believe that we aren't bound by it in any way
well the way I see it I see fate is essentially God's plan for us and
And while the destination is predetermined
we have the choice to make on the road we in the road we take to get there and
That's pretty much the central thing you want to go over for for this season and the anime that I think best kind of
captures this idea of fate or role in it and
What it means to essentially lives his life through it is an anime better known as re zero
Hey, what's going on guys? My name is Nate. You're listening to the Otaku Liberation
A show where we help you break free from the chains that hold you back in your life by connecting some biblical principles with things from your favorite anime
And without further ado, let's get into it. So re zero is written by
I got Tsuki Tappei and illustrated by Shinichiro Otsuka. I know I push those names terribly, but again, like always. Yeah, I'm doing my best
And this is actually a light novel series that began back in 2014 around January, I believe and so it's going on
Almost 10 years now. It's just kind of crazy to think about and
Essentially essentially it's a series of
The main character whose name is Subaru Natsuki and his life after being summoned to another world and
As you guys know in animators a plethora of animes are about, you know
The main character gets summoned to another world and they're typically, you know, just overpowered and beyond busted compared to everybody else
That's not the case. That's not the case for some anime
Like at all, he's very average compared to everyone around him except for, you know, his one main ability
But I think we'll get further on, get into that a little later on
But so again, so the overall theme of the series itself is the concept of challenging fate, right?
And basically determining are your steps set in stone each and every way? Is everything that you do already predetermined?
And not so much the future, but is your past, is your past all that it was meant to be essentially?
And when I was watching this series, it's kind of this question that came up in my head
It's like even if we are able to change our past, if we're able to confront it, if we were to change these things
Would that make that much of a difference in the long run?
And the reason I asked that, right? So again, so the main ability that Subaru has is what he calls return by death
And it does exactly what it sounds like. So it's like, you know, it's like, you know, it's like, you know, it's like
And it does exactly what it sounds like. So essentially he has a predetermined save point that he has no control over when it is
But every time that he dies, he starts over from that particular save point, you know, back in the past
And he's the only one who has memories of what just happened
And so, I mean, it doesn't matter how he's killed, whether it's, you know, suicide, he's murdered, poisoned, whatever
If he dies, he's going to go back to our previous save point
And all throughout the different arcs of the series, he ends up looping several different times to, you know, figure out
Whatever the main villain's plan is at that point, right?
Because at first it was, you know, figuring out who's killing him in the mansion, who's the dude who saved him
And then later on moves to dealing with the witch's cult and all type of different things that start happening, right?
But during each of his loops, Subaru's trying to piece together as much information as he possibly can
And during each of the loops, he's trying different things to try to change up certain actions that he did or prevent things from happening
But at the end, the end result is still either him himself dying or the few that he loves dying or both
Like everyone's just dead, right?
And watching his anime, one, I was just like, man, my dude needs a win desperately
But the second thing was, it was like, you know, you hear a lot of people who say
If I can go back in time and just change this, then I'll be better off right now, right?
If I can just go back and redo this, do this over, if I knew what I know now back then, then my life would be this
So, but for me, it's like, would it really be that much different?
Because at the end of the day, the common denominator is still you, right?
If you still have the same mindset, still have the same, you know, personality, right?
If you haven't done the inner work, the self work to be the better person
You change something about your past outside of yourself isn't gonna really do anything
Because eventually, you're just gonna end up back to the way it was now, right?
It's gonna end up back to how it was always meant to happen
And so for me, again, that's why I think it's funny, it's kind of funny to me, you know?
Because, you know, God sees the end game, right?
He sees in, he knows our beginning, middle, and end, right?
You know, everything that we're gonna do, everything is already predetermined
But he still gives us the free will and the ability to make the choice
To determine which way we're gonna go and how we're gonna go about it
Because he'll let us go our own way, right?
It's not gonna work out, whether it falls flat immediately or 10 years down the road
It's still gonna fall flat
And for me, being a participant in my own faith and my own destiny
Means, okay, following his lead, following God's lead, following what he's telling me to go
Now, again, it's not like he's speaking to me like I'm speaking to you guys
Or on a cell phone or something like that
It's more so, you know, like a gut feeling
Because we've all had that bout of intuition when something just doesn't feel right
Something does feel right, like it feels like, okay, I'm meant to be doing this thing
Or maybe I shouldn't mess with that over there
And you follow it and then lo and behold, either you avoided something completely disastrous
Or you experienced something incredible
And the result is still saying you were obedient
You listened to that feeling, to that gentle push
And then for those who didn't listen to that feeling
If you go back and change that, just that one opportunity
Are you changing it because in hindsight it's 2020
And you realize that that opportunity might have been the best for you
Or do you want to change it because now that you've matured
You've actually realized, okay, this feeling, this presence
Is trying to guide me to do something that I really need to be doing
And now I don't want to fight against it anymore
I don't want to keep trying to do my own thing
Now I just want to submit and surrender
Because it is two different mindsets
If you're trying to just correct a mistake versus actually better in your life
Actually being better
And again, in Subaru's case, and not just his, but all of the characters
They all go through really a kind of self-reflection of their past
And their past circumstances and things like that
Which I'm going to delve more into for each of the actual character episodes that I'm going to do
But the vast majority of the main cast has something that happened in their past
That either kept them in their past
They were living in a fancy land about the good old days
And it's preventing them from experiencing the future
From even truly living because they're stuck in the past
They're still living the fantasy life
Instead of really moving forward and really pushing themselves
And I know for a lot of us it's easy to get stuck in the highlight reels of life
Maybe you made a quote-unquote peak in high school
You were a star of the football team or something
The normal cliches we see on movies
And you're living in the past instead of accepting what the present has for you right now
And because of that you're not really giving it your all to go for it
To change, to grow
Because let's be honest
High school might have been good for most of us, I'd like to hope
But do you really want to go back there?
Do you really want to go back to tests and papers and all the social pressures and anxieties
That comes with being in high school?
Maybe I'm the odd one out but that doesn't sound good to me
It really doesn't
Now there's some moments back there that I want to change or redo, of course
But let me ask you this
Would you still be the same person that you are today if you hadn't made those choices?
If you hadn't confessed your love to the person that you liked and they shot you down?
If you didn't fail that driver's test right?
If you didn't bomb that interview?
Would you still be the same person that you are today?
Think about it
Because as bad as some of the choices we made or may not have made in our past
They still ultimately shaped the way we are today
And I know for me I'm thankful for the mistakes I've made
I'm thankful for the hardships that I went through in my young life
And that may not seem like hardships to other people
Because they've went through something much, much worse
Or much more impactful in their lives than I have
But that doesn't mean what I went through wasn't impactful for me
And that's a key thing too
To not compare your pain to somebody else's pain
Because you don't know what they're going through
You don't know the type of life that they've lived or are living
And we all have our own journey
We're all going through life at our own pace
And I think that's something we should all be respectful of
So if you hear somebody, whether they're complaining or they're not
If you hear somebody, whether they're complaining or just kind of voicing the frustrations of things and scenarios that they're going through
It may not be as bad as what you're going through
But again, you can still be sympathetic
You can still just offer a listening ear even if you don't want to offer any advice
But again, back to the whole thing about changing who you are
I do believe every decision that we've made, every failure that we've had, every success that we've had too
Have all been building blocks to build up who we are now
Who we are right now in this moment
Whether it's good or bad
And I think if you truly want to change
The answer doesn't lie in changing in the past
Changing your past if you can go back
Or living in the past starts right now
Start in this moment
What are the things that you want to change
The things that you want to get better at
The things that you think will push you forward with your life
And focus in on those
Because a lot of the characters here in ReZero
When they stop living in their past or start regretting the things that they've said or done
And they start
And they open their eyes really
And open their eyes to the people that are around them
Who love and care for them no matter what it is that they've done
And who believe in them
Who encourage them to go forward
Then that's when you really see them come alive
When you really see them start reaching towards the goal
Towards their destiny, fate, whatever you want to call it
And going at it, you know, just full tilt, full force
And like I said, Subaru is a little different
Because he didn't really have a goal per se
Because again, he just got dropped in the world
After buying some different convenience store
And so he first started going through the world
And through his loops he didn't have really a clear, clear goal
Outside of just living
Living through the night, right
But over time he fell in love with Amelia
The main heroine of the story
And now his goal in life is just to support her
In everything that she does
To protect her from the things that he can protect her from, right
And as noble as that sound
As good as it sounds on paper
He still needed to go through his own trials
His own tribulations, his own really
He had to confront this himself, really
So he could be able to move forward
And better appreciate the things that he has
Again, I'm trying not to delve too, too deep into it
And you guys just have to wait until next week when I release this episode
But it's a good watch, I will say that
I'm sure some people have read the light novel
And I'm sure they cut out a lot of it for the anime
But it's a really good story just about confronting your own past
And really challenging the fate that you think you've
Essentially the fate that you subscribe yourself to, right
No one else has said these things about you
No one else has said you're never going to amount to this down to third
It's all self-imposed, right
And again, a lot of the characters, Subaru, Amelia, Ram, Roswell
All of them have these preconceived notions about themselves
That they spit out, that they say over and over and over again
And it takes somebody else essentially just slapping them awake
Like, come on now, that's not all you're made for
That's not all what you stand for
And sometimes that's all it takes
You just take somebody on the outside who may not even know you that well
But they know what they've seen
And they can speak to the truth and not to your lies that you tell yourself
And again, this thing called life that we go through is
It can be tiring, it can be frustrating, it can be lonely
It can feel empty at times
But I do encourage each and every one of us to take an astride
Take an astride
All the mistakes that we've made, all the failures we've had
All the opportunities that we've missed, all the opportunities that we've dismissed
All the people we've blown off
Take all of that into account
And then go back and take a look at all the opportunities that you reached out for
And you took all the people that you've helped
All the people who've helped you
All the wonderful and joyous times
Even just the times where you're just laying in bed watching anime all day
Because, sorry, is that just me? Is that just me? That's a good day for me?
But just all the good times
Because if you focus too much on the bad
Then you're just stuck in this negative mind space
And it's just going to repeat, it's going to repeat itself
And I'm always a big advocate for learning from your past
Definitely learn from your past, or else you're doomed to repeat it
But don't live there
Don't live in that cold, dark place
Because just find the rays of sunshine that you can
And really live a life where you have more of those moments than you do of the dark ones
And then even right now if the rays of sunlight are few and far in between
But if you focus on looking for more of those moments
And really striving towards them
You'll start seeing them more and more and more
And then after a while, all the bad stuff
They don't seem so big in comparison to all the good that you've seen and done and experienced in your life
And I don't know, maybe just an optimistic outlook on life
Because I'm still young, right?
Maybe I haven't been beaten down by the world quite yet
But hey, again, part of me, I started this podcast so I can come back and listen to it years down the road
And just see how cringey I really do sound on the mic
No, but seriously, just put it out there for whoever listens
Just that, hey, the fact that you woke up today
The fact that you're still reading
The fact that you can't even listen to this right now means you're not done
The things that you've done before in your past, they don't define you
They don't define you unless you let them
Starting today, you can turn everything around
You can start making the steps to better yourself, change your situation
Whatever it is, whatever you want to call it
And just don't beat yourself down, right?
Life's going to do it anyway
Life's going to beat you down regardless
So don't help it
Don't give it a helping hand, man
Lift yourself up, dust yourself off
And just take that first step
Because after the first one, the rest of them just come easier
So anyway, that's all I got for you guys today
I just want to thank you for tuning in to today's episode
And I pray that you got what you needed out of it
And hopefully you learned something new about yourself
If not, hopefully you take the time to reflect
So you can learn something new about yourself
Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review
I would love reading you guys' comments
And it helps me improve each and every episode
And always remember, you are the main character of your story
And that story doesn't end until he says so
Alright, be blessed