In my coverage of this series I can acknowledge that I have likely spent too many of my posts covering the actual events of the episodes as opposed to my opinions on them. When considering that this is my favorite series of the season and surely my favorite of the year, it would be easy to drum up opinions on episodes that I clearly enjoy. However I have found myself restricted by my own declaration to not spoil details from the source as the current events in Re:Zero are dependent on mystery and speculation to which I cannot speculate due to my own knowledge of future events. Still it is also an issue that the quality of the series speaks for itself as when airing the first season had a more polarising view to the anime community but in light of a four year wait and the outstanding calibre of the second season, many are rethinking it to be a potential anime masterpiece. So what am I to say when you could just watch the series and see it’s splendor for yourself? Perhaps it will still not be everyone’s cup of tea but as many a corporate capitalist media maker fails to realise, a story tailored to everyone is a story that appeals to no one. Taking that into account, I am just going to assume you have seen the episodes plot and meander into my adulation and diatribes.
A small criticism I see of this arc so far is that Subaru hasn’t really moved forward since the beginning of the loops at the tomb and while I find that criticism suspect I can at least make some acknowledgement of it. If you are to take the progress that Subaru has made towards solving the problems presented to him you would see that he really hasn’t advanced and keeps returning to square one. Such as is the case, it is true that there hasn’t been progress in a very strict view of the term but I do think that criticism could be leveled at every arc as the very nature of Return by Death is to invalidate all progress made in order to try again. In this series of Subaru’s increasingly bad failures we have come to learn far more about the situation and as it stands we have a very clear view of the whole picture by now. The is an attack on the mansion which is designated to start whenever Subaru arrives or within a certain time, Subaru must avoid antagonizing Garfiel or else he will be confined due to the witches scent, Emilia must pass the trails of the tomb in order to lift the seal on sanctuary so that the villagers can leave of which she has proven to be incapable of doing and lastly that if Subaru leaves then Roswall will work to isolate Emilia by turning everyone against her in order to make her dependant on Subaru which has the extra caveat in how the snow that Roswall summons draws in the Great Rabbit which will wipe out everyone in Sanctuary if it arrives. These series of problems essentially require Subaru to be in two places at once as when he attempts to address one of his problems, the other only intensifies. Perhaps as Roswall stated before becoming bunny kibble, he should focus on saving the most important thing. Potentially hinting that Subaru will not be able to solve this situation without sacrificing one of these things.
What makes Return by Death such a strong narrative tool is that it is not confined by the laws of a linear narrative. You can say that the situation has not progressed but you would be a downright lair to claim that nothing has been accomplished. Characters and setting have been massively expanded upon and with Return by Death we can see sides of people that normally wouldn’t appear. Garfiel once played the antagonist who killed Ram in an animal berserker rage while in another loop he is desperately using the last moments of his life to try and save her. The various loops peeling away Beatrix’s facade, revealing the desperate and lonely girl crying for an end to her existence. Roswalls manipulative and controlling mask slowly pulled off revealing a man so determined that he will throw away absolutely everything right down to his very life to ensure his desire fulfilled. Return by Death as a progression tool is a catch 22, but as a development tool it is an unparalleled storytelling device. Allowing for multiple perspectives on the same event and giving characters a chance to display or play roles they never could otherwise. Truly I can see no other way in which Roswall could have displayed his horrifying viewpoint in a traditional story where the plot can only move forward. Even if it included some rather awkward animation at the point where he was beating Subaru, indeed that was rather jarring and I hope the Blu-rays clean that up a bit. On thinking about it there are quite a number of anime that make use of time loops for such purposes, Steins;Gate being the obvious example. Even Isekai have made use of the time loop mechanic though often in a less interesting way than Re:Zero. Much like the Isekai idea itself, it tends to get malformed into power fantasy.
I may not remember much of the translation I read four years ago but one of the most striking images was of Emilia’s breakdown in the aptly titled chapter “The Kiss of Death”.(Really hoping Crunchyrolls translation of calling the episode the taste of death was a mistake as Kiss seems way more suitable considering episodes end.) The tone is certainly a lot creepier than the translation I read which made it more sad to see just how much Emilia had broken down. Nevertheless I find her insanity to be a delicious irony to the very escapist nature of Isekai fantasy and in how when Subaru started his journey this may be what he thought that he wanted. After all Emilia now loves him utterly unconditionally and will do whatever he asks while saying tons of cute lines about how much she loves him no matter what he looks like. If you take the lines that Emilia said in this episode and put them to light hearted music with a girl making a lovely smile with a brush of blush under the eyes then you would have premium waifu bait. Yet this change is met with complete rejection from Subaru as he realises just as we do that this isn’t Emilia. Assuming that you have watched the Frozen Bonds OVA, and if you haven’t done, watch it as it’s quite good, you would know that Emilia has a massive fear of losing her identity.
Even in Arc 3 she remarked on how Subaru held an image of her that made it that he never truly saw her. All her life people have seen her as a witch with no one willing to look past that and see her for who she is. The fact that she is hated and isolated for a reason that isn’t even related to her drives her into despair with her exclaiming the above line in the image. Amusingly this is both true within the show and outside of it as Emilia is often hated due to Subaru choosing her over best girl Rem. Well fans, now Emilia is utterly devoted to Subaru, wants nothing more than to be with him forever and ever, will do anything to make him happy and thinks of nothing but him. Are you happy now? Is she perfect yet? Is she the best girl? On first watch I originally saw the effect they added to Emilia’s eyes during this scene to be misleading as the purple haze gave the impression that Satella had taken over her body but on looking at it deeper, be it intentional or not, I found it to be a fascinating display of viewer assimilation into the world of Re:Zero. For Emilia’s worst fear has been realised, she has lost all sense of her identity with all that look upon her seeing nothing but Witch or Waifu. No one seeing her for herself. A poignant parallel for an episode that started with some very awkward CGI.
I’m not a light novel reader, and this has nothing to do with this episode, but I feel like given that part of what you’re talking about involves waifus, I’m going to mention who I think Subaru will end up with in the end. I’m deviating from popular opinion by saying it will be Priscilla, but I will make the case for why it will be her, and yes, I realize that my interpretation about this is based off of three episodes given that that’s how many episodes Priscilla has been shown, but I still want to share my thoughts on this even though I might fall flat on my face with this prediction at the end of the series.
My analysis is based mostly on the scene in which Priscilla asked Subaru to lick her foot. My interpretation of that scene given Priscilla’s extreme reaction to Subaru daring to consider licking her foot and her decision to grab Subaru’s arm and say to Emilia, “Is there a reason you stare at my manservant, half-wit?” is that Priscilla actually found Subaru to be attractive and possibly a potential lover after he had the moxie to show her that apples have red skin.
To me, Priscilla saying, “It seems you really are just an insignificant man!” shows that she thought Subaru was more than just a loser before he made a fool of himself at the castle, and her challenging Subaru to lick her foot was an attempt to see if he actually had any dignity left and to see whether he’d show the same kind of attitude he had when they first met, which was one that didn’t show deference to her. When Subaru actually showed that he was going to lick her foot, she was outraged and said she would strike down any camp he was a part of even if the Witch Cult were defeated because that moment was a personal humiliation for her because it showed that her first impression of him as a potential lover was wrong.
Priscilla may have called Subaru a jester who had mastered his act during the scene, but I didn’t take Priscilla’s words at face value was because of just how offended Priscilla actually was. She lectured him about what he displayed not being an act of loyalty or devotion but more akin to a pig’s greed, leading her to say she would strike down any camp he was a part of, and this tells me that Subaru’s decision to lick her foot was something that was the complete opposite of what Priscilla wanted even though on the surface she made it sound like favouring his miniscule pride would lead to an undesirable result. I believe Priscilla decided that she would make a weak pathetic Subaru her mortal enemy was because he did something that insulted her to the core, and for someone as extremely proud and confident in herself to the extreme as Priscilla is, it would be to show that she was wrong about her judgement in some way, and that would be that Subaru showed that he was pathetic and not worth her time after she would go as far as to try and make Emilia jealous by grabbing his arm and suggesting that Subaru was her (Priscilla’s) manservant at the Royal Palace.
I know it’s a tough sell since it’s just one scene from a character that has only showed up in 3 episodes so far, but Priscilla’s outrage along with her body language during the scene which included her playing with her hair and uncrossing and crossing her legs says to me that she thought more of Subaru and possibly thought a lot about Subaru after her first meeting with him in that alleyway next to the police station. One reason I think it is Priscilla who Subaru will end up with is that it seems to me that the first person in this world to show romantic interest in Subaru on her first interaction with him is Priscilla, so I think that is something that should be noted if I am correct.
This is not to say that Priscilla is a good character. She is currently a much hated character much like Subaru was after Subaru’s ugly interaction with Emilia in episode 13 and for good reason since all she is right now as portrayed by the anime is arrogance exemplified, but I have hope that she and Subaru will develop and improve as characters by the end and get closer together closer to the end of the series. I could see an ending in Re:zero where after Emilia is possessed by Satella and killed by a coalition of people including Subaru, that Satella sends Subaru back to modern day Earth, and he meets a regular version of Priscilla with no powers in an alleyway as a callback to Subaru and Priscilla’s first meeting.
My friend, you have jumped on a ship with no chance of sailing.
I say that because if what you say came to pass, people would be absolutely furious. Sort of how they are currently furious with the Devil is a part timer ending.
Hmm, I interpreted those scenes very differently. Priscilla did show an interest in Subaru, but I don’t think love was involved: if anything, I think she just saw him as an interesting toy that could provide her with some entertainment, and that she could use to mess with Emilia. And I don’t think she was upset with him in the foot licking scene because her feelings were hurt, but rather because the way he acted completely goes against her principles. Priscilla is a very proud individual, so for her there is probably nothing worse than debasing yourself to get someone’s help: someone who acts like that is, in her eyes, no longer human but is simply a greedy animal which does not deserve any respect. So I think what she felt in that scene was not disappointment so much as utter contempt.
It is an interesting interpretation, though: I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone seriously ship Subaru with Priscilla before, haha… I personally don’t hate her, by the way. Sure, she’s arrogant, but her contempt for Subaru was not unreasonable given the way he acted in that scene, and her knight (Al) seems like a good guy so she probably isn’t all bad.
I do feel that she felt some contempt for Subaru, but to me, the main emotions she
felt in that scene were initially of disappointment (So you really are an insignificant man!) and then rage. I don’t feel that mere contempt for Subaru would be enough for her to decide that she would strike down any camp Subaru is a part of. That she would decide to strike him down no matter which camp he was part of shows that it was not just contempt that she felt but something strong enough to make a weak little servant her mortal enemy. This is why I believe she suffered a personal humiliation in Subaru acting the way he did because she felt he was better than that, and her being wrong about that led to her being consumed by rage. Her statement about him really being an insignificant man after all shows that she was indeed disappointed.
Sorry for the late reply! I didn’t have a lot of time yesterday.
Anyway, I see your point, and it is possible to interpret her actions that way, but in my eyes it is not the most natural interpretation. The “so you really are an insignificant man” does indicate some disappointment, I suppose, but I don’t think it had anything to do with a broken heart: I think it was more because (i) she was testing Subaru, and he failed her test, and (ii) she was hoping to get some entertainment out of him, but instead he pissed her off due to just how far he was willing to debase himself to satisfy his greed.
As for her declaration to destroy any camp Subaru is a part of, I agree it does seem a bit over the top for merely losing her respect. But then, the same is true if she made that decision because she kind of liked Subaru and he failed to live up to her hopes and dreams: she barely knew him, so whatever her exact reason may have been, it was always bound to be rather excessive. And for me, the idea that Priscilla is a very proud individual who would go to the ends of the earth to destroy anyone she sees as her enemy fits what we know about her better than that she fell in love with Subaru at first sight because he was kind of interesting. My impression of her, at least, is not that she’s some tsundere who is really an innocent maiden at heart, but rather that she’s a narcissist who believes that she stands above all others – the world revolves around her, and all others are merely actors in her play! – and looks down on anyone who fails to meet her standards, or fails to give her the respect she believes she deserves. Only the future will tell what she is really like, though: given how little we know about her, for now we can only speculate.
Sorry for my late reply as well, but I always knew Priscilla was testing Subaru. That is why my original post stated that she was testing Subaru to see if he had any dignity left. I also never said she’s a tsundere who is really an innocent maiden at heart. I do believe her to be tsundere for Subaru but innocent is something that in no way shape or form describes her, and you can tell that is the case when Priscilla tried to attack Felt during the the start of the Royal Selection.
You said Priscilla looks down on anyone who fails to give her the respect she deserves, but I don’t think that’s the case given that Subaru didn’t show her respect in their first meeting, telling her to not chase after bad guys and correcting her by saying appas actually have red skin. I really do believe that in episode 16, Priscilla wanted Subaru to do what he did when they first met, which is to not show her deference. If Subaru had instead said, “There’s no way I’ll lick your feet. In fact, you should be the one licking my feet” that Priscilla would have been more satisfied with that kind of interaction.
Another small issue I have with the season – aside from the slow pace that you already pointed out – is that I feel like there’s often a slight … disconnect between how I tend to experience situations and how Subaru reacts to them. At this point, I’ve largely grown desensitized to the deaths of cast members: we’ve seen basically all of the major cast members die before, and we know that all of their deaths can be easily – if painfully – reversed, so in the grand scheme of things their deaths don’t really mean much – or as Roswaal puts it, there’s little point in grieving them. But Subaru continues to get super upset at each and every death. Which is understandable, of course (and it is clearly a good thing that he’s managed to preserve his humanity in spite of everything that happened to him), but the disconnect can make his despair a bit … ineffectual, maybe? Because the deaths don’t really hit me anymore, seeing someone react to them so fiercely (despite having the same knowledge as me) just feels weird. And if you see someone in despair all the time, it loses impact, and ends up becoming repetitive instead.
So … I guess what all this points to is that I’d like to see Subaru develop a bit more because of the experiences he’s had instead of repeating the same thing over and over. I’m not sure how the series could do that without forcing Subaru to give up his humanity or fall into despair, though. They could make his reactions a bit more subdued (like a quiet anguish instead of howls of frustration), but it’s a delicate balance. But I do hope the series can find some way to keep the return by death mechanism fresh and exciting, because for me, it has definitely lost some of its impact this season (though I agree with you that it has been really good for purposes of world building and character exposition).
To actually talk about this current episode, AidanAK47, when you mentioned that the Great Rabbit might have eaten Puck in episode 8, I thought it was a convincing explanation and plausible, but after this episode, I think it’s moreso likely that Roswaal makes it snow whenever Subaru decides to leave before the trials have been completed to punish Subaru for not providing Emilia the emotional support she needs to complete the trials.
Roswaal’s remarks about casting away everything except the one thing most important to him seems to be his way of telling Subaru to only focus on Emilia and that any deviation from that will lead to disaster.
I would say it’s not likely but more literally the reason. I actually forgot this detail myself but thinking back on it and the power Puck displayed in the OVA, I think he could take down the rabbit before it ate him.
I’ve realized that Re:Zero is going to take a midseason break not for the animators but so the poor fans can recover. Us and Subaru have just taken a psychological beating this season in every way possible.
I’ve never wished more for an unironic beach episode so the entire cast (Ros-chii included) can get some R&R – they should make that the midseason finale. Throw in the witches tea party too for good measure!