A flashback before a arc finale certainly isn’t a new prospect but I at least can forgive it if the info provided is good. With this we learn of Rem and Ram’s past and with it comes a number of answers. My previous theory turned out to be off the mark but I am actually happy about that. So it seems from birth Ram had a massive affinity for demonic power, to a degree that she could accomplish practically anything with it. Everyone compared Rem to her sister and she felt inferior to her in everyway. Thus she has always pushed herself to do her best, not because she wishes to best her sister but rather because she wishes to punish herself for being happy that Ram lost her horn the moment it happened. Rem has been holding on to a massive inferiority complex this whole time which is rather strange when you consider that Ram is more likely candidate to feel inferior. It has already been established that Rem is better than Ram in practically every way. She’s, more hardworking, earnest, stronger and generally more proficient in every area. Subaru even points out that she beats her in the chest area as well. Yet Rem always measures herself up to who her sister used to be and always feels she falls short. Seems the ones that cut off Ram’s horn is a witches cult, sporting the ku klux klan hoods as well which cultists seem quite fond of. Some are theorizing that Roswell is the one who cut off Ram’s horn but this seems based on the fact that one scene shows a man cradling Ram who looks to be wearing Roswell’s attire. Looking over the scene, it’s clear that the one who cut off Ram’s horn was wearing different clothes than the person who was holding Ram in his arms. Roswell looks to have saved the two from the attack and then took them on as his personal maids. Part of this could be because of his eccentric mannerisms, his objective or what looks like Ram’s need to be supplied mana directly to her torn off horn.
The finale of this arc is Subaru’s battle against the Ma-beasts which does turn out to be him holding them off until someone who can take care of them comes along. I really like that Subaru is never the one who truly defeats the villains, rather he makes use of his limited skillset to buy time for someone who can. Ultimately Subaru gets off alive and looks to have won the heart of Rem. I am not too fond of the harem aspects of this series but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t moved by Rem’s smile. This episode looks to have won Rem a large fanbase and I even admit that when I see Subaru go back to trying to win Emilia’s heart I somewhat wish he would go after Rem instead. Maybe because I was never too fond of Emilia to begin with or maybe because I think Rem and Subaru make for a better couple but regardless you can consider a Rem fan from this point forward. Well more a Rem/Ram fan because what can I say? I am greedy. What I find most interesting from this point on is that Rem looks to be quite smitten with Subaru now and if she starts making moves to get closer to him, I could see problems arise. For let us not forget,(No matter how easy it is too forget) Rem did kill Subaru quite brutally in another loop. Rem may not remember this but Subaru certainly does and I doubt he’s pushed this out of his psyche quite so easily. But let’s not let that cloud this episode because this was a nice heartwarming victory. We do have some loose threads, namely that one of the children Subaru recused has mysteriously disappeared and that the Ma-Beasts were controlled by someone. My bets on the blue haired little girl. Roswell also mentioned that his goal is to kill the Dragon connected to the royal family which could out him as a villain but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Something tells me this dragon isn’t quite as benevolent as he’s described to be.
We have two arcs done and I am quite satisfied with how Re:Zero has turned out. If this was the end of the series then I would certainly rate it highly and put it in my best of the year. But we haven’t even reached the halfway point and have a whole fourteen or so episodes to go and a brand new arc starting. The sceptic in me says that plenty of series have fallen down in the second half but I want to hope with this. For one White Fox is promising they are bringing their best with this and based on the quality so far that’s certainly exciting. Even the author is hyping up the next arc having more Subaru suffering. I have even heard that the third arc of the series is has the worst sales, not by being bad but rather because readers couldn’t handle the level of suffering Subaru was experiencing. Seeing as I happen to be the soulless monster that I am, I take my potato chips and eat them in glee at the prospect. Who knows, maybe his suffering will become too great even for me to watch on. I actually have a high level of confidence on the quality of this series continuing but I am concerned about how it will conclude. Perhaps this new arc will give the series a main goal it has been missing since the start but considering the amount of material left to adapt I wonder whether it will provide a good conclusion which leaves room for a potential sequel. While there are a total of eight light novels, those light novels are adaptations of a web novel which is much further on. Basic on rough estimate and machine translation there are a total so far of 6 arcs with the sixth currently still being written. However future arcs are much longer than our current one. Web novel wise the second arc which we just finished is 50 chapters long. The next arc is 84 chapters long with the fourth arc after that being a massive 130 chapters long. Given White Fox’s number of sequels made i have doubts we will even make it to the fourth arc. (White fox has made a total of two sequels. One a movie for steins gate, another a second season of Jormungand.) Unless this turns out to be a real hit I think we will need to rely on translators to see the conclusion to this story.
~AidanAK47~
Seeing how much White Fox loves this show, I’d say that second season is very likely. While the sales are the main factor in deciding if something gets a sequel, studios mellow down the requirements for the shows they themselves like (though usually for one season).
When it comes to second seasons I tend to assume there won’t be one. While the materail is there its a question of whether White fox would be willing to adapt web novel material or want to wait for the light novel adaptions.
Sort of a similar situation with one Punch man where the material is there but it looks like madhouse is waiting on Murata to redraw it.
I get the feeling that they’d be pressured not to animate based on the webnovels so that the publisher can push out more sales of the light novels. I can’t speak for the Japanese and whether they’d buy a light novel series after watching a series cover that portion, all I can say is that in the States I don’t hear it happening too often unless the adaptation was bad or insufficient.
TAKE IT TO CHANGE.ORG IF WE DONT GET MOAR. Best show since first cour of SAO
Hey Aidan!
Good reviews as usual, this one was out pretty early. One comment though, your paragraphs are steadily getting longer. It’d help readability to chop them up to shorter ones. They all raise great points but some space around some sentences would really make it all flow better.
Alright then. I will try chopping it up more when paragraphs are getting to chunky. I admit I was getting a little concerned about the length.
I’n a bit concern about mine as well, as it keeps getting shorter and shorter
Actually looking at Psgels old posts and comparing them to yours makes them perfect length. It’s more that I am starting to write way too much
I actually enjoy the length! It’s not like you’re trying to pad your reviews as you would with a book report or something. It’s just that you have a lot of stuff to say.
You also write in a different style than psgels, which is not worse but just different.
Well I did make it a point when I joined the site that I wasn’t gonna be another psgels. In that regard I think I succeeded.