Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 16 [Nobody Can Lift a Quain Stone Alone]

I don’t know what witch contract or magic lamp Tappei Nagatsuki got that managed to get White Fox to give his story so much effort but I hope it’s a sign that they are in this for the long run. Thirty whole minutes for a single episode, I even heard they bought up the time slot in order for the show to get more time. Even with that we still haven’t seen the opening or ending to the show so I honestly have to wonder who it is that is willing to go so far for it. Maybe I can pray that season three is much closer than we think and if so Tappei is going to have to get back to writing the rest of the story. Well after he’s done writing up that script for that new studio Wit show that is apparently airing next season. Not sure what to think about that as Tappei at least still has to prove himself outside of Re:Zero as one of his other works Sigrdrifa wasn’t all that impressive from the episodes I watched. But alas we are here for Re:Zero which remains really damn good.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 15 [Otto Suwen/A Reason to Believe]

It’s been two episodes and we have yet to hear the opening for the second cour and considering how little the last opening was used, I wonder if they will forgo even making an anime opening and just use the song in scenes. Now looking at common consensus the reception to this episode was quite positive and being a Re:Zero fan myself I don’t really like to be the wet blanket to that response. However I will say that I only really liked half of this episode, that half being the second part. Bits of the reason pertain to something I believe I mentioned in one of my posts on the first cour, namely that Re:Zero is not really an action series so when it focuses on action it can be to its detriment. The first season did have some notable action scenes but I would never consider them the highlight of the show and in our current environment I don’t believe that they can deliver on action when the first cour of the second season showed a noticeable hit to production. I only spotted it recently myself but you may notice that the ears of characters are considerably less detailed than the first season. I know that is a weird thing to comment on which would likely solicit a well deserved “Who cares?” but I feel it’s the easy way to distinguish the quality drop when you see they stopped shading the ears and they are mostly now just a squiggly line on skin tone. It’s one of those things you wish you could no longer notice once you do see it so my apologies in advance. Maybe they might fix it up when the blu-rays come out as they have done quite a lot of rework on the blu-ray releases before.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 14 [Straight Bet]

Why do I keep getting dragged out of retirement? Well we have the return of the better alternative to cocaine but there’s another season of LOGH coming and I already resigned myself to covering all that as well. Regardless I wasn’t pulled away from anything important as while I made the resolution to start writing, I have been procrastinating in part due to our current worldwide situation and also from one of the writers of this site kicking me down a certain rabbit hole. You think it will never be you until you find yourself watching an adorable dog girl play Doom with homicidal glee but I at least have not simped on these 2D time succubi. No, in that case gacha has my wallet…is this the anime fan version of becoming the worthless drunk getting sloshed in a bar? Ah screw it, let’s get this post up so I can go back to losing myself in my new VR headset.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 13 [The Sounds That Make You Want To Cry]

Well we are here and I now have the outlook of a drug addict whose supply has been cut to now face a Winter of cold turkey. Or I suppose Autumn. I do think that this episode continues the streak of great episodes and I can’t really criticise it for not bookending the cour as from hearsay I don’t believe it was ever intended to. Word on the street is that this wasn’t originally a split cour but due to intervention from that virus that everyone loves, they couldn’t finish the episodes in time and decided to split it. I of course have no problem with this as if we are gonna animate this story it’s better to have it done right than to have the quality suffer by them trucking forward. But god even if I understand and agree with the reasons the wait for the continuation of this story is going to be murder. The title of this episode may be apt as once I heard the ending theme song I certainly wanted to cry. Oh on that it’s crazy that they only played the opening and ending 3 times throughout the entire run. The extra content is always great but it just makes me think that there is no point whatsoever in making a new opening for the second cour. Matter of fact might as well not bother making both for all future seasons. On that note, please more seasons I need it all.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 12 [The Witches Tea Party]

There is only one more episode left and boy do I both eagerly await it and dread it. The dry spell is upon us and this time it’s going to be a bad one. Well at least this time we at least know more Re:Zero is coming and don’t have a four year wait but oh god it’s still going to be torture. Speaking of torture though Subaru this week has gone through a new batch of suffering and one truly has to either be impressed or scared of the various degrees that Tappei can come up with to torture our boy. I have seen my fair share of torture porn and even manga darker than darkest black edge with a straight razor on the side but I still marvel at how much he can make Subaru suffer while not having it become excessive or ludicrous. You only need to look at shows like Mahou Shoujo Site or any grimdark anime you can think of to see the way such excessive dark themes can be royally messed up to become comical. Yet here it is anything but and makes for a show you just can’t take your eyes away from.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 11 [The Taste of Death]

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.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 10 [I know hell]

As it stands I would say there are only two characters in anime(Or even all of fiction) who can say “I know hell” and make me truly believe it. The first being Sakura Matou who experienced a childhood so horrific that it could drive an ordinary person to madness just to experience three days of what she endured. The second being Natsuki Subaru who has experienced death a total of sixteen times and gone through experiences that, despite what they may claim, would break any watchers mind down to splinters. Though to know hell is but one thing and while Subaru has experienced it, I doubt he has gone through the worst it has to offer. With another episode Re:Zero continues a string of great episodes that could very well go to the end of the cour and the viewers will be experiencing the hell of cold turkey.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 09 [Love Love Love Love Love Love You]

If the MAL episode count is correct, we have four more episodes before the series goes on break as the second cour will air in January 2021. I swear that the wait between episodes currently is a grueling affair so to have that wait extended into a three month wait is something I dread. But the future is tomorrow and today is the present so one should thank the blessings given today rather than lament the blessing forsaken tomorrow. Besides, Crunchyroll has already begun dubbing the second Season of Re:Zero so I could rewatch the series in dub to tide myself over.Either way the string of truly excellent episodes continues with today’s episode being an engaging experience that I once again lost track of time. What has happened today between the waifu witches and Subaru? Dona tea and biscuits abound so start the kettle and let’s talk.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 08 [The Value of Life]

Ah that’s right, this show has an opening doesn’t it? It’s very easy to forget when it’s barely used though that is by no means a complaint. More content trumps replaying the opening any day. So for today’s episode many are calling it Re:Zero’s best episode yet, even though it seems that every new episode is Re:Zero’s best episode to date. I do agree that this was a pretty great episode but I am not sure if I would put it on the level of previous greats. It may require a rewatch or perhaps my knowledge of the web novel dulled the impact it would have had but I feel it didn’t hit the same highs as previous standouts. Indeed I would even say that there were a couple of points during the forest scene that I found a bit jarring. The quick cut between the forest and Subaru being teleported to his previous place of confinement being a rather confusing shift. Though that may be intentional or the result of Nagatsuki shortening the length of arc 4 for the light novel adaption.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 07 [Friend]

While Re:Zero has had a slow start, once it’s got going it hasn’t stopped. I again feel that same anticipation upon starting and the dejection upon finishing an episode because I know I need to wait another week for a continuation. This episode was when I felt that level of immersion that this 26 minute episode felt like five minutes and when the credits rolled I was in disbelief that it was over already. In that regard I may not have much to say about this week’s episode as there were only about three critical events. The talk with Beatrix, Subaru’s imprisonment and the eventual rescue. So I guess we should start with the first.

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