I have a certain belief when it comes to anime and it is that in a great series there is “That” episode. You know the one, the one you will always remember. The one that comes to mind when the series is brought up. Of course depending on personal opinion, that episode can be different for other people. However I think that sometimes in a series, there is one episode that truly hits the hardest. Some examples for me are Madoka’s episode 10, Cowboy bebops final episode or Fate/Zero episode 23. That episode that when the credits roll all you can really say is, wow. This is likely premature of me as we are only over the halfway point but I believe that this is Re:Zero’s, That episode. When this series is brought up in the future I am certain the image that will come to everyone’s mind is that of a decapitated Subaru holding Rem in the snow. The studio might agree on that point as a new Key visual came out on the official site which displays Subaru carrying Rem in the snow. But let me dial back a bit before I am labeled a zealous fanboy.
We finally hit the point where Subaru dies and it’s after finding the corpses of Rem, Ram and the children of the village. The bodies of Beatrix and Roswaal are oddly missing but considering their fighting potential they are likely guarding Emilia and if they are guarding Emilia that means they are dead center of the snowstorm. The room Subaru was about to enter is likely where they hid out and we get a rather unexpected death of Subaru, as he’s frozen to death and shattered. Thus we finally get the first death of the arc and find out where his “save point” is. It looks like it’s in front of the apple salesman again and upon first seeing it I thought Subaru had returned right back to the beginning. However it turns out to be in the middle of the shopping trip he and Rem went on. It also happens to be after Subaru and Emilia’s argument and his foolhardy mistakes at the selection which I am truly grateful for. It could have been so easy for the writer to just undo the mess and put Subaru on top but instead he took the high road and made it that Subaru needs to live with his mistakes and mend his broken relationships. Though he’s not doing that now as he’s gone completely insane and no longer has the mental capacity to deal with things anymore. This is the point where Rem has pretty much won the main heroine title. I don’t care if Emilia is technically the main heroine, Rem’s earned it ten times over by this point. Which is surprising as it wasn’t all that long ago when she caved in Subaru’s skull with a flail.
Subaru has been rendered a unresponsive vegetable at this point and despite not knowing how this suddenly happened, Rem sticks with him. Though she does make an accurate guess in that the witch is likely involved due to the scent of her growing over Subaru. She even fights to the fight to save his life after he’s abducted by the witches cult. That brings me to what I would call the biggest flaw of an otherwise perfect episode, Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is the main villain of this arc and boy, does he want you to know it. For Subaru’s development he’s perfect as he’s so unredeemable evil and unforgivable that he drives Subaru to fight him. However while in some aspects I like his purpose, I rather dislike his overly cartoonishly exaggerated insanity. He’s trying far too hard to be creepy and unstable that he’s just too hard to take seriously. He bares a heavy resemblance to Gates from Full Metal Panic: The second raid who also had a spastic personality as well as a pendent for killing his own subordinates. This kind of villain suits the needs of the plot but as a character he just comes off as weak. If he can manage to tone down his mood swings I think he has potential in how perceptive he is of others. Particularly he managed to see that Rem had unrequited love for Subaru and more importantly, that Subaru was retreating into insanity.
As the Joker stated in the famous comic and soon to be animated adaption “The Killing Joke” “So when you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable, remember there’s always madness. Madness is the emergency exit…” Subaru tried to take that exit but Betelgeuse wouldn’t let he close the door and that’s the strange thing about this. Betelgeuse did horrible things, brutally killed Rem and left Subaru screaming bloody vengeance but in an odd manner, he “helped” Subaru. Well, help might not be the right word, more he gave Subaru drive and focus. With the next loop Subaru is ready to fight back but the look in his eyes isn’t that of a hero. It’s the eyes of someone out to kill a man called Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse put down some nice hints in his scene, with him labeling himself Sloth and aptly wondering if Subaru was pride. It looks like all the archbishops of this “gospel” are representative of a sin and in the manga Betelgeuse does say that he knows everyone’s face but pride. I must admit however that I am really getting tired of the seven deadly sins being used as symbolism. When Full metal alchemist did it that was cool but lately everything under the sun has been using the seven deadly sins motif. At least change it up a bit. After all, there were originally eight deadly sins. Those original sins had despair instead of envy and the eighth sin was vainglory. Vainglory being the human desire to be seen, appreciated, acknowledged, and accepted. If this writer is very smart it could be possible that Subaru is Vainglory and that suits him to a much greater degree than pride.
What is by far the signature of this episode is the closing credits. Rem limped her way to Subaru and released his chains.(Still questioning how she’s still alive seeing as I was sure Betelgeuse broke her neck.) After she confesses her love and dies in his arms, Subaru carries her all the way to the manor which has been overtaken by a sudden snowstorm. After seeing Ram’s dead body a giant beast comes out of the top of the manor and upon locking eyes with Subaru, freezes and decapitates him. As the credits roll and Subaru is buried under snow and fog, this doesn’t feel like the end of a single episode of a series. If feels like the dramatic end of a movie and is just mesmerising. The music on this point as well is just superb with orchestrated violins. I think it’s fairly safe to say that the beast that froze the manor is Puck due to the ice powers, his tendency of calling Emilia his daughter and looking closely at the silhouette you can see the earring Puck wears clearly. It was previously mentioned at the selection and by Puck himself that he is a very powerful spirit and this is likely his true form revealed after the death of Emilia. His killing of Subaru feels like a mercy killing as he didn’t want him to see Emilia dead. Or it could be possible that he is aware of Subaru’s power to a degree as he has shown elements of a mind reading power. The real question now is what happens after this, when Subaru now is ready to strike back. My guess is Wilhelm will notice the change and play a part. My biggest worry from this point forward is that Re:Zero may have played it’s strongest hand, hit the peak and after this it’s all downhill. It has so far managed to avoid that but truthfully, I am not sure how it can top this.
~AidanAK47~
Truly an episode the behold. Gonna rewatch it today because just wow.
And to your wondering why Rem didn’t die, I also found that quite strange. Usually when people get their limbs and neck turned 360 degrees they die, however then I remembered “but she isn’t a person, she’s a demon”. While it may be far fetched, she has shown signs of fast healing which could explain this, however you can’t really heal yourself if you die.
On a side note, just rewatched K-on!! too and there really are “That” episodes. When they all play at the last festival and start crying their hearts out over the fact they won’t ever again at the school it really was a touching moment. Don’tya love it when anime does that to you.
I think it would have made more sense if her horn was still out as that does give her pain resistance. I am willing to let it go because shes not exactly human and it ended up being a pretty great scene. Though she isn’t quite a demon but rather an Oni.
The best anime does that to you. I think watching all these new seasons is worthwhile when you land on “That” episode. And here I thought I had become too critical and cynical to be blown away ever again.
Man, that last scene was incredible. Especially as the scene got whiter as the credits rolled. And there’s still a lot to learn in this arc. Like why they’re targeting Emilia specifically. Where was Beako during all this?
For now, I think Subaru will end up taking the dangerous road mentioned a few eps ago to get them before they attack. But I doubt things are going to so simple as to be resolved by just going there first and warning them of the impending attack.
I’m normally one to get up and FF through the credits to the post-credits scenes. This episode I just sat wide-eyed as the credits rolled and tried to process what I just saw (as i said in the shoutbox 😛 ) The only conclusion I could come to was, Holy Shi…
I did hear of word about a staff change in the series but I couldn’t really confirm it so I left it out of the post. But apperently the director was someone who worked on Stiens Gate and death note. But the most signicant change is the addition of a writer who is credited for this particularlly fantastic episode. His name is Eiji Umehara and he wrote a sequel to Chaos;Head called Chaos;Child which is supposed to be quite excellent. Apprently Re:Zero’s author Tappei insisted that he would be perfect for the series. If this episode is evidence of that then he was goddamn right.
I totally got the chills when I saw the earring on the silhouette. That was my “oh SHIT” moment.