This week I happened to see the result of delaying the release of Re:Zero on a certain message board. It was pure pandemonium as there were those too lazy to google demanding the next episode, trolls trying to convince people the episode was delayed to next week with fake screenshots of twitter posts, haters and generally a cluster of utter idiocy that the internet can only provide. All this chaos over tennis delaying the episode. Guess I can say Re:Zero essentially is the most popular series of the season. Considering with popularity comes a cancerous fan base that fills me with unease, even the best of games or shows can be devalued by the overly loud fan base placing it on a pedestal. I worry because I actually really like this show and that delay killed me just as much as anyone else. Through this show still has it’s flaws it still manages to give me the giddy feeling every time an episode comes out. One of the flaws I consider is that I found it a bit odd when Subaru started listing out the children’s dreams to motivate Rem to help him. I get why he was doing it but it came out of nowhere. It is also made a bit awkward when he had to give another speech yet again to convince her to let him look for the last kid in the forest. Having two motivational speeches right by one another is a bit disconcerting. Subaru’s meta-isms can still be annoying at times and the characters do need a little bit more development.
The culprit behind the death of Subaru in the first run has been determined. And it’s….the dog with the shifty eyes! Well when you put it like that it sounds rather silly but taking into account the foreshadowing….well it’s still quite silly. My guess is the dog is the familiar of a mage(Like Puck is to Emilia.) likely related to the organisation who tried to steal Emilia’s emblem. Considering the focus on killing off Subaru this could be a result of the grudge Elsa has againest Subaru for messing up her plans. I don’t think this is an independent incident considering the timing and the way one kid was removed from the group specifically to lure Subaru out alone. Even the little girl Subaru rescues is the one who lead him to the curse puppy in the first place. Perhaps the girl is the perpetrator? I didn’t see a bite on her for one thing. This happens to be the only time Roswell left the Mansion, by flight which does suggest he’s quite a badass, and I have a firm suspicion that he was made to leave the mansion on purpose. The timing of the attack on the kids and him leaving was far too coincidental. My guess is that the shaman found out that Subaru forced Betrix to dispel the curse and resorted to measures to lure Subaru to the forest. Taking Roswell out of the equation so he couldn’t turn the tide against the Ma-beasts. Still Rem managed to put up one hell of a fight and she’s quite the berserker. Seems she’s an Oni which the subtitles have translated as demon but Oni fits better considering. I get the feeling that the tale Subaru told of the red and blue Oni has more relevance to them than previously suspected. Perhaps Ram made a deal to turn human in order to get closer to humans and it backfired on her maybe?
The second half of the episode where Subaru and Rem venture into the forest to rescue the kids was some truly tense and excellent sequence. For this part of the show had something not a lot of anime have. That is genuine stakes for the viewer and characters. In many a series it tries to fool you that characters can die. However in many cases that is simply an illusion and the viewer knows the characters are not in any true danger. Because they are the heroes and the heroes can’t die until the story concludes. Of course some characters can die on special occasions but it a fairly rare occurrence. However in Re:Zero, Subaru and anyone can die at any given moment. Sure that only means that Subaru returns to the starting point but the show has made it a point to give Subaru’s deaths gravitas. For Subaru this means a horrible death and resetting to the beginning. This loss is also felt by the viewer because all the development and efforts Subaru made to get closer to people disappear. When watching this episode I was fairly certain Subaru was going to die, but I didn’t want him to die. For if he dies that means the Rem and Ram who softened up to him die with him. I will never see the result of the promise he made to Rem or how she will see him after this event. I never knew for certain if Subaru would die this time or live and watching the last few minutes had me on the edge of my seat as the show gave me false death flags and raised my hopes as Subaru escaped near death. That’s what I call damn fine entertainment. I do applaud the animators and direction during these scenes. While there are still shortcuts being taken, the music and direction more than make up for it. In particular that piano piece that played during Rem’s transformation was downright perfect and while I truly don’t have linguistic knowledge to give the japanese acting a fair assessment, I can really feel some strong emotion in the performance.Maybe I have been spoiled by the likes of One Punch Man and Fate but I am more sensitive to shortcuts in animation when regarding fight scenes. However what fight scenes that are there are quite excellent. Overall White fox has kept a high level of animation consistency throughout the series and I hope they keep it up.
~AidanAK47~
I thought Roswaal left right when they arrived from the village? So Beatrice didn’t break the curse yet and so he probably left for a different reason.
My take on the situation is that this whole thing might be related to the throne selection; the attack on the village and Roswaal leaving in a hurry. I think the shaman’s original target wasn’t Subaru at all because Rem was still targeted when Subaru didn’t go to the village. It might be a plot to sabotage Emilia and her subordinates or just a random attack on the village that caught them in the mix. That girl with the braids is pretty suspicious too because Subaru didn’t know her future plans. She might have been the one to sabotage the barrier around the town too.
When Roswaal left he said that the person was someone that shouldn’t be kept waiting. Or something like that. So the person might be a candidate for the throne. It would be interesting if the person that called him was Reinhard with the topic regarding Felt being a candidate like you mentioned a while back ago.