Subaru Natsuki

Subaru Natsuki (Japanese: ナツキ・スバル, Hepburn: Natsuki Subaru) is a fictional character from Re:Zero, a series of light novels written by Tappei Nagatsuki and illustrated by Shin'ichirō Ōtsuka. Subaru is a young hikikomori who suddenly finds himself transported to another world on his way home from the convenience store. While dealing with the new world's society, he also encounters catastrophes that result in his death, though he is always revived to a point in time where he can make substantial changes. Using this "Return by Death" (死に戻り, Shinimodori) ability, Subaru searches for a way to protect his newly found friends. Aside from the anime and video games based on the series, Subaru also appears in the gag series Isekai Quartet. Named after the Pleiades asterism, Subaru was originally created by Nagatsuki in 2013 with the intention of creating a web novel. A publishing house editor was impressed and asked Nagatsuki to write light novels for publication. Ōtsuka's first sketch of the character was rejected due to the writer's fear of making him unlikable. In the anime adaptation of the series, Subaru is voiced by Yūsuke Kobayashi in Japanese and Sean Chiplock in English. Subaru has been a popular character in Japan and won "Best Character (Male)" at the Newtype Anime Awards. Despite early mixed reception to Subaru's characterization, anime and manga critics have praised the handling of his stress and the way he overcomes it in a heroic manner, making him a likable protagonist. The character has been often analyzed as the opposite of the typical archetypes presented in the isekai genre due to Subaru's heroic complex and the weakness he often shows in most episodes.