Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 06 [The Maiden’s Gospel]

It’s been six episodes and Re:Zero has yet to have an episode that doesn’t go beyond industry standard episode length, on top of excluding the opening and ending just to have more content. I love that these episodes end when they want them to end and if it requires extra work then they are putting it in. Tappei Nagatsuki should be thanking his lucky stars that he has an animation team that cares this much about his work and with hope they might care to adapt the entire story. All the more considering how much current circumstances have affected the animation industry. Frankly, I think we should give this animation team a hand for pumping out another great episode..
So the checkpoint has been set at the point where Subaru completed the first trial of the tomb which has the unfortunate outcome that every time Subaru dies the first thing he will have to do after coming back is comfort a mentally traumatised Emilia. But on the plus side Subaru has done a much better job of that this time, so much so that Emilia is able to recover enough to attend the talks about the tomb that she wasn’t present for before. That at least is one good thing that Subaru did this run but sadly it may be the only good move he made. For at the talks he reveals that he also has the qualification to complete the trials and volunteers to do them in Emilia’s place. Now by all accounts this is a good logical move considering that Subaru has already completed the first trial and it has been shown that Emilia is struggling way too hard with the first. By all accounts this should be the right way to proceed but well this is where a big misconception on Subaru’s part comes into play. Subaru has often neglected the fact that what may be a large amount of time for him, is significantly shorter for others. The big mistake he made here was the matter of timing as Subaru made this declaration right after Emilia’s first attempt at the trail and in doing so has made it seem like he holds no faith in Emilia while also making himself far too suspicious with all the information he has revealed. So despite the fact that Garfiel supported and even suggested the idea of Subaru completing the trials in the previous run, he now has done a turnaround and stated that Emilia must complete the trials. Again by all accounts Subaru is making a right move but with the timing that move has become callous and foolhardy by not taking into account the mentality of the people at that time.

There is also the matter of Subaru’s suspicions of Frederica which seem to be born out of her connection with Garfiel, the teleporting crystal and in general being a new character to the story. He’s basically pinning the blame on the newest element added to the scenario simply due to it being there at the time of the attack which is certainly foolhardy. Though he clearly seems to have realised his mistake upon confronting her. But in truth if we are to suspect Frederica it is worth noting that when Subaru arrived she was patrolling the barrier around the mansion and later we have a sudden mabeast that managed to get past the barrier and into the mansion. One could suspect that maybe she let it in on purpose but when it comes to Elsa she does appear to be utterly in the dark. There is of course the question of just why she would do such a thing but considering who she works for it’s not out of the question that perhaps this is Roswalls orders. Roswall has always been a suspicious existence but he only seems to be growing even more untrustworthy. It was very telling that he reacted to Subaru’s muttering of “this time.” There is the question of just how Subaru managed to let that slip and not get his heart in a vice but it could be a loophole in how his curse is applied. Namely in how Subaru didn’t intend to reveal Return by death to Roswall and since the intent wasn’t there he may have gotten away with an unintended vague hint to it.

The final ten minutes of the episode are essentially devoted to the full extent of the bad end as it’s without doubt that Subaru will die and this run will be ruled invalid. Once Elsa shows up early things quickly go south and on that it is a matter to consider how jarring that one action sequence was. We have a small skirmish between Elsa and the maids which was a rather confusing affair to watch. On re-watch it becomes clearer on what exactly is happening but on first watch it is a rather confusing sequence of events. I would say it wasn’t the most graceful bit of animation though fairly I consider that it did the job non the less. But it could prove to take others out of the experience momentarily, even if it was only 22 seconds long. In my previous posts on this series I made a remark during one episode post about fanservice in Re:Zero, or more the rather refreshing lack of it. Indeed if anything there is far more fanservice of the male characters than the female characters, none of which I would consider detrimental. Well in this episode we had a female character rip all her clothes off and have a shot completely naked which despite the raunchy context of that description, oddly didn’t feel sexual at all. Indeed if this was any other show there would be a big close up of Frederica’s breasts and buttucks which had been varnished to a mirror sheen to completely kill the serious atmosfere. Much like Code Geass with Kallens crotch shots the moment she gets into a mecha, we would normally get that confusing direction where a serious show is trying to make you horny. Yet here there is none of that, instead a girl strips off and goes full beast mode with the atmosphere completely unfazed. To which I respect that and honestly can other anime take notes from this so that we can perhaps banish tone breaking fanservice to the void? No? That’s a no isn’t it?

A masterful piece of work here is the point of view sequence at the end of the episode. Right after Subaru gives a speech to protect Petra we have a chaotic series of scenes showing the events happening while Subaru is drifting in and out of conscious. Fights happening in the mansion, the failed escape and Patrasche using the last of her life to fling Subaru to safety culminating in the reveal that Subaru was holding on to Petra’s hand through all of this. Problem is that was the only part of Petra that he had with him as the poor girl was crushed when the mansion collapsed. Not sure if Subaru had pulled off her hand when dragged away or if Ram cut it off with wind magic because she couldn’t get Subaru to let go. But it’s a grim ending and almost solidifies Subaru’s death by credits only to subvert that expectation by having Beatrice intervene at the very last second. The one moment where saving Subaru’s life is actually the more hurtful outcome. So as a last note on this episode it is worth noting that the disappearance of Rem from Ram’s life has changed her into a more cold person. We had a few glimpses of hope with her reaction to Subaru recounting a removed memory and her reintroduction to her sister but even in that she is still willing to sacrifice her for Roswalls sake. Once upon a time Ram fell into complete despair and went into murderous rage over Rems death, here she brushes her off as a necessary sacrifice. In truth the real terror of a situation like Subaru’s is the very real evidence that no matter how integral and irreplaceable memories are to you, they hold no more permanence than dust in the wind. The very building blocks of the foundation of your character can be uprooted and replaced in a moment’s notice without your knowledge. If existence can be rewritten like text on a page, then what worth does human cognizance even have?