It really bugs me that we receive no insight what so ever into why Subaru is transported to the world, or how the curse even works. Subaru himself doesn't even seem to give a damn about finding anything out about the what's and why's. The whole royal selection ordeal might've been interesting, but that too is sidetracked in favor of Subaru being an ass and suffering the consequences for it, followed by a painfully boring 4 episodes revolving around a big white whale. Emilia-Tan is hardly even in the show after episode 13...
The sheer amount of adversity facing Subaru really becomes too much around the halfway point, killing the fun and pacing of the show, and while his mental breakdown is understandable, I feel like he recovered from it way too well. The hardships were so great that I simply don't buy that a pep talk from a girl, however sweet and earnest she might be, would be enough to completely bring him back on track. Also, answering her heartfelt confession by asking her to help him get with Emilia is beyond cruel. Rem herself becomes rather one-note and uninteresting after that. Not sure why so many people are calling her best girl (that honor of course lies with Emilia
![Tongue :P :P](/wp-content/themes/gtp16/images/smilies/tongue.svg?v=3)
). The cult started out as super creepy, but after a few episodes, they just become laughable easy to deal with, and by the last episodes, I was just plain fed up with the main antagonist. It doesn't help that I think the combat scenes in general were rather poorly done, relying a lot on blowing up dirt to make it look like something was actually happening.
Perhaps my biggest gripe is Puck. Why is this spirit (Emilia's father?) so strong, yet also completely useless? Why, and with whom, does he have a contract stating that he has to kill the entire friggin world if Emilia dies? Where does he fit into all of this? What is his connection to the library girl, other than them being siblings apparently(?). And what the hell is the library girls place in all of this? She obviously knows more than she is letting on, as evident when she tells Subaru that she is sick of all the suffering just before teleporting him and Emilia's corpse away.
And god damnit that whale fight was awful!
Okay, it sounds like I hate the show. I don't. I think the premise is interesting. Subaru is a reasonably complex character, even if I ultimately don't think he changes that much. Some moments, like the ending to episode 15 (with the snow covered mansion and Puck rising up from it), were truly intense. The cast was interesting, but very under utilized. Overall, I enjoyed the first 12 episodes a lot more than what came after, because it at least had some semblance of focus.