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.
I would say the biggest complaint that someone could level at Re:Zero is the lack of consequences for the dire outcomes. Sure things get bad but they can be undone, sure characters die but they just come back when Subaru restarts. Therefore there are no true lasting consequences for any character deaths or negative outcomes in bad end runs. At least you once could say that, but with today’s episode that assertion has been called into question. The very idea that the worlds in which Subaru dies continue on without him is a honestly bleak proposition but a necessary one. The series wisely makes a point of neither confirming or denying that this might be the case, forever placing a serious dire consequence on whenever Subaru makes a bad move. Showing the aftermath of his pointless suicide at the start of the season along with the depressing implications sets one thing clear, Subaru needs to toss aside any idea of treating his lifes as disposable and must do everything he can with the chances he is given. So alongside the treat that the Witch may move his savepoint beyond the point of saving a character’s life, we also have the threat that every world Subaru fails to save is another doomed reality for Emilia..

Well guess what? Echidona is evil and manipulating Subaru this whole time! Isn’t that a surprise…well it would have been if it wasn’t the most spoiled thing on the internet. I swear every single time someone said they liked her along came some idiot saying “Hur hur hur, just wait for a few episodes and you will change your mind.” Of course the reveal didn’t actually cause anyone to stop liking her, actually if anything she’s even more popular. Though if you don’t quite understand why Dona’s deal is such a bad thing for Subaru I would say to read the Greed IF story that goes over what would happen if he took on the contract. At least I would tell you to go read it but the site with the translation is down due to too much traffic, boy I wonder why? For the cliffs notes, basically Echidona wants to use Subaru to explore every single possibility before leading him to the scenario that would solve the situation. Essentially imagine playing a video game where before going to defeat the boss you make it a point to run about the place constantly trying things to see the result and then reloading your save to try something else. That’s essentially what Echidona is going to do with Subaru and if he did take the deal she would have him die one hundred million times to satisfy her curiosity before bringing him to the true solution. There is also the matter that her solution may not possibly be the best solution as demonstrated by her actions as she has a serious lack of empathy. So she might solve the situation but people may not be unscathed as a result. Though this isn’t to say that she is evil as really that can’t quite be said of any of the witches, they are essentially monkey’s paws. Echidona ultimately only thinks of her own greed for knowledge and can act as both your worst enemy or best friend depending on how it serves her ends. If your success would prove to satisfy her curiosity then she will help you with all her ability. However should your failure make her more curious she will do everything to make you fail. She ultimately serves her own devices and doesn’t truly hold others in mind. Though it is amusing that the author described her declaration in this episode to essentially be her pick up line for Subaru though if the IF story is to be taken into account she very much is confusing her desire to use Subaru for feelings of love.

All the witches have shown up for the tea party this time and I do like the way that Tappei has taken a more liberal interpretation of the seven deadly sins theme. The only two to embody their sins straightforwardly is Sekhmet, the witch of Sloth and Daphne, the witch of Gluttony. Sekhmet is lazy(And like most of the time Sloth is portrayed, is often incredibly strong) and Daphne is hungry. Lust is often interpreted as some sexual bombshell that is often horny but here it’s a timid girl who seems to have the ability to mimic people’s loved ones and quite literally take people’s breath away. So basically Tappei decided to focus more on the desire aspect of Lust. With Echidona it’s a greed for knowledge rather than money. Wrath literally heals people with her wrath surprisingly making her the least dangerous and more morally righteous of the group. Pride being a judge of sins and Envy oddly made to be the most dangerous of the bunch despite often being set as the weakest in other stories. I have seen many interpretations of the seven deadly sins in anime, from the anime literally named after it to even FullMetal Alchemist using if for the homunculi so I have long grown tired of the concept. So I really like that Tappei is not taking the concept in a literal sense and instead twisting the themes of the sins to be interpreted in new ways. I guess my point to be made is that if you are going to use myth or religion as a basis for your storytelling, at least try to put a spin on it rather than just take the idea in a literal sense.

So what more is there to say? Well that CGI 360 degree shot of Echidona during her speech was certainly awkward. Normally when it comes to artistic choices in the anime they are usually on point but here it just felt like a mistake to have Echidona rant while having her mouth flaps off sync, or even not moving at all. Seeing Rem again was nice even if it was a fake and god do I miss her terribly. Reinhard and Pucks scene was surprisingly epic despite the briefness of it and Pucks line of Reinhard forever being a hero suggesting the negative side to his ungodly levels of strength. Too have so any divine protections that it might as well be a joke with even the divine protection to never mix up salt and sugar.(No seriously, he really has that one.) I guess if I was to speculate I would say that Reinhard is much like a janitor who cleans up the mess after everything has fallen apart. He will only be called in when the situation passes the point of salvation so he will always be too late to really save anyone. Seeing all the witches on screen makes me notice that they sure are a colourful lot and I wonder if their colour schemes hint at anything. I suppose the interesting aspect is that all the witches feature white somewhere on their clothes with Satella being the only exception. Perhaps a visual cue of the status of who is dead and alive? In that case why is the only one left alive wearing mourning clothes?