I’ve said it multiple times before but my favorite theme in Re:Zero is the theme of personal identity, and how that can be molded through how people around you perceive you, and how you perceive those perceptions in turn. What I call “Self-recognition through the other”.
And what I really like about it is that it uses the typical 7 deadly sins (plus the 2 Pope Gregory got rid of) to represent transgressions in that regard; the vice of warping another person’s sense of self in one way or another, ways that can be abusive, that’s the truest sin. Of course, they also get applied in their more literal meanings in the story too, but I wanna talk about how they are framed in regards to this theme specifically
Gluttony is the most obvious, it’s framed as a sin where you “consume” another person’s identity for your own sake, or take it on completely, without regard for them and how they’ll get dulled or lose their own sense of self devoid from you.
Greed is about a desire for connection, which in moderation can be a good thing, but it can also become possessive and entitled. It’s literally objectifying, treating someone else like your possession. On the flip side, placing that desire above all else can also lead to the detriment of your own well-being as well as those around you.
Lust doesn’t just refer to the sexual connotation, but about love in general. Specifically about using love as leverage to take advantage of and manipulate people, even by force, and even down to their sense of self.
Wrath also isn’t just about anger, it’s about intense emotions in general, and what happens when you project these emotions onto other people, and how this can become a cycle of amplifying these emotional projections back and forth until the person’s identity has been consumed by them.
Sloth can be taken as being slothful in your relationships, not just romantic ones but to the people around you. Neglecting or abandoning them when things get hard, especially if they really need you.
Pride seems to be about the arrogant assumption that your perspective of another person is the correct one, and treating them the way that you see fit based on that. You’re in the right, so if you decide they deserve to be punished then it must be justified.
Envy is also about the possession of others, similar to greed but with a much more targeted and controlling nature. The jealousy that comes with it is one that forces the object of desire into being isolated, lonely and unfulfilled, unable to form any true bonds with others.
Melancholy is the one we’ve seen the least of, but it seems to be about forcing your negativity onto others, hurting not just yourself but also other people through your own depression and apathy.
Vainglory is gaslighting. Despite being as mysterious as melancholy, the metaphor is obvious. It’s manipulating another person’s entire perspective and reality to fit your narrative, to manipulate them into what you want them to be.
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