Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 05 [A Step Forward]

The great episodes keep coming and hope this continues as we hit the beginning of the death loop. With the start of the episode we have the conclusion to the first tomb trial and as a particular thing I find of note is that Echidna didn’t declare that Subaru had passed the trial until after she planted the idea that his resolution with his parents was merely self wish fulfillment. It’s a particularly devilish aspect of Echidna to point out that the world is fake and suggest that the actions of Subaru’s parents were just how Subaru wished for them to react. In other words that the emotional gut punches of last episode was just Subaru receiving the responses he desired from his parents to remove his guilt. A tactic that looked to be working until Subaru to denied it completely as he could never imagine such responses from his parents. When we see the banter between these two characters it can be easy to forget Echidna’s nature as a witch and it’s great that she displays such shows of manipulation and ill intent. She never even confirms whether what she said is true or that Subaru was correct so we have no real idea if what we saw last episode of Subaru’s parents is indeed their true character. All we know is that Echidna declared the trial completed once Subaru brushed her accusations aside.

The first trial is over for Subaru but for Emilia the trial is far from over. This is an Emilia we are not quite familiar with as with the disappearance of Puck she has become far more vulnerable and faint hearted. Whatever she has to face in her past appears to be far more traumatic than anything Subaru has to face and it’s leaving her unguarded. In these new circumstances her relyance on Subaru has increased with her even reaching out to him subconsciously and while there may be some who can take this for budding romantic affection…there is a caveat with it. With Puck pulling a disappearing act Subaru has become Emilia’s sole pillar of support and with that is a dependency that cannot be described as healthy. Matter of fact that is the kind of dependency that Subaru once shared with Rem and well we have seen just how fast someone falls when that dependency is no longer there. Emilia may be attempting to have Subaru fill a void that Puck left despite her feelings of him still being uncertain. On top of which, Subaru is mainly convincing her to face the trial again and again despite her obvious reluctance to the idea and everyone else’s skepticism as to whether she can even pass it. If Arc 3 is anything to go by, I doubt Subaru is done making grievous mistakes.

We also have a large amount of information being presented to us this episode with Ram letting Subaru know that not everyone is keen on the idea of having the Sanctuaries barrier lifted, the dismissal of evacuating the sanctuary inhabitants as the Barrier would essentially keep their souls should they attempt to move their bodies outside of it and what may be the most important piece of info of all, that Roswalls negligence in Arc 3 was by all means intentional. With him outright declaring that he knew full well that revealing Emilia at the Kings Selection would spur the witches cult to attack and yet did absolutely nothing to stop it. Why? Because he had complete trust that Subaru would stop it and that the accolades would go towards Emilia thus helping to put her on the throne. You may be wondering why Roswall is putting such an absurd amount of trust in Subaru to accomplish this and indeed that is the question. Subaru has certainly shown twice to have been in the right place at the right time but for Rowall to hinge the entirety of his plan on him could sincerely be considered a plothole, provided he is being serious. Naturally though it’s clear that the full truth isn’t out of the bag here and I for one wonder just why Ram is so devoted to Roswall that she is willing to throw her life away for him. Previously it was said that the reason was that Roswall took both her and Rem in which had him earn Ram’s devotion for caring for her sister. However with Rem being wiped from existence just what is keeping Ram so loyal?

A trend this second season seems to be following is fixing the complaints that people had with it’s first season as the last episode fixed the complaints that were made about Subaru’s character. Meanwhile this episode fixes the issue of the first arc introducing a villain who swears a vendetta and then never appears again. That’s right, the bitch is back and slicing up stomachs with a vengeance. One could argue as to what took her so long but well it’s easy to forget that Subaru has not actually been around in this world for all that long, maybe a couple of months at most. This is also the point where the mansion has been at its weakest offensively as Roswall is out of the picture along with both Ram and Rem gone. Either way she’s back and how Subaru has a fight on two fronts. That being the defense of the mansion and the completion of the trials. How well he can work both of these depends on just where his savepoint is now and even in that regard it’s truly a wonder who he can get to face Elsa. A convenient Reinhard isn’t around this time to bail him out and based on the state of the mansion she may have already have killed everyone.(A particular detail is that all the doors were open when suggests that she opened every door in the mansion to get past Beatrix’s door crossing ability.) The red tint of the last few minutes spelt obvious disaster for Subaru but for the viewer this is where the game truly begins.