Well we are here and I now have the outlook of a drug addict whose supply has been cut to now face a Winter of cold turkey. Or I suppose Autumn. I do think that this episode continues the streak of great episodes and I can’t really criticise it for not bookending the cour as from hearsay I don’t believe it was ever intended to. Word on the street is that this wasn’t originally a split cour but due to intervention from that virus that everyone loves, they couldn’t finish the episodes in time and decided to split it. I of course have no problem with this as if we are gonna animate this story it’s better to have it done right than to have the quality suffer by them trucking forward. But god even if I understand and agree with the reasons the wait for the continuation of this story is going to be murder. The title of this episode may be apt as once I heard the ending theme song I certainly wanted to cry. Oh on that it’s crazy that they only played the opening and ending 3 times throughout the entire run. The extra content is always great but it just makes me think that there is no point whatsoever in making a new opening for the second cour. Matter of fact might as well not bother making both for all future seasons. On that note, please more seasons I need it all.
This episode mainly has two big scenes so perhaps I may not have that much to say about it though I am only just typing this and don’t really know how far down this page I will go. Subaru and the seven witches can basically be summarised as a therapy session given by the most mentally broken individuals in the Re:Zero universe. I quite like it as we have the twist of the main villain of the series essentially reversing everyone’s perception of her to tell Subaru the main thing he needs to learn. It’s hard not to see this entire story as basically a message to it’s demographic sold in the guise of a power fantasy. Well overall this scene was like an intervention from the witches who all in their own messed up ways were trying to help Subaru. None of these people are emotionally equipped to be counselling someone with severe PTSD with the person doing the best job being the witch who sunk half the world in darkness. In a comedic kind of way it’s like psychopaths attempting to cheer up a child. They succeeded in a roundabout way though as Subaru put it, they are all strange monsters he can’t ever understand. But hey they all seem to like him in their own weird way so congrats Subaru! You got a harem! Well a harem of psychopaths but hey, a harems a harem. One particular thing I see people talking about is the cut content of this episode though I honestly think they are blowing it out of proportion. One is a small reference to something that I doubt will pay off till way later down in the story so it’s omission wouldn’t really affect things besides some vague foreshadowing to something that isn’t remotely relevant to the current arc. The other detail regards Satella and how there was a lot more detail and dialogue regarding her. To put it simply, it’s more to distinguish between the Satella here and the witch of envy as they have two different personalities. Personally this is one of those instances where I feel that the adaptation more or less conveyed that without directly stating it and source readers should understand that you don’t have to spell things out for the audience to get it. I am fairly certain that watchers understand that this person is acting differently from her insane counterpart and while it is a little bit of a shame that they didn’t include the line about Subaru’s view of Satella being different from the witches around him, I think the adaption got the point across fair enough. As with mindbroken Emilia, leaving some details open to interpretation is good and there is no need to visibly reinforce something unless it is absolutely critical to the narrative. I would say that more glaring omissions would be in the first season where Subaru was suddenly bargaining with mining rights to Crush out of nowhere as that actually did require explanation. I would say if anyone is confused at this point then they just ain’t paying close enough attention.
Roswaals reveal of being the assassins employer was potentially a detail seen coming, certainly if you watched the Re:Zero Break time shorts for this season(On that, watch those. They are great at fleshing out characters currently not in the spotlight and extra details.) as the 11th episode focused on Elsa and Melli on their off hours briefly mentioning their employer. But the thing that I find great about this is how you never quite think about how Subaru has encountered event after event that has pushed him into death loops. Truly as a viewer it’s almost something you are conditioned not to question. The detective will always stumble upon a murder, the superhero wil encounter an adversay, the hero will coincidentally encounter the heroine. In stories these are the coincidental incidents that we just accept as they have to happen in order for the story to begin. In Re:Zero Subaru must enter a situation where he uses Return By Death to fix, this is essentially the hook of the show. So we never really question just why Subaru has encountered so many life threatening situations in a few months than everyone else in that world. But here we actually have an answer for why Subaru went through this and it was Roswaal all along. Arc 1, 2 and 4 were instigated by him and you can even argue that he purposefully organised Arc 3’s situation. I saw a redditer compare Echidona as an audience surrogate and if she is that then Roswaal may very well be a author proxy with how he set up the story. Actually in season one during a joke bath segment Roswaal once suggested that Subaru was his property and if we are to take current events into mind that suggestion might not be entirely in jest.
Roswaals viewpoint is almost that of an author. I will take my character and place them in trials and tribulations for them to overcome so that they will be molded into exactly what I need them to be. What Roswaal wants is almost the same as the viewers as they may hold the same opinion as Roswaal does at one point. Indeed even I at one point wanted Subaru to take full advantage of his power and begin his journey towards becoming the base equivalent of Bill Murrey at the end of Groundhog Day. But that isn’t Subaru. Subaru is a mess of a human being that needs to learn the harsh lessons of life and develop towards being a better person than he is right now. The goal isn’t empowerment but instead self improvement and no one can dictate what the right path is for you. No one can force you to accept and love yourself, these are simply things you must learn to do yourself. So for an impression on how this second season is going so far, fantastic. Quite frankly one of the best second seasons of anime this decade if not in recent memory. It has me disappointed at the likes of Oregairu’s third season which while it did wrap things up, felt for the most part unnecessary and longer than it needed to be for the story it was telling. I consider Re:Zero’s second season to be anime of the year though in my retired state I am embarrassed to reveal that I haven’t watched that many shows these past few seasons. But god I love this show and I want to own the blu-rays and have three or four seasons more of this. Whatever it takes to fully cover the story. But well I shall wait, after all maybe that Higurashi remake might not disappoint or I could start watching Haikyuu. Time will move forward and I just need to find things to get there faster.
I didn’t catch that Satella and the Witch of Envy are different personalities, and I’ve been told by source readers that I’m very good at noticing important details, so I wouldn’t say that people who didn’t catch it aren’t paying enough attention. I realized that Satella in this episode acted differently from the psycho in episodes 10 and 11, but I had no way of knowing that they were split personalities. I thought that the one in episodes 10 and 11 was just a spectral projection that didn’t have access to Satella’s full intelligence.
I think Satella asking Subaru to eventually come kill her is more fodder for my theory that Emilia dies at the end of Re:zero when Satella possesses her body, forcing Subaru’s coalition of fighters to kill her since Emilia’s body is not immortal unlike Satella’s. I really think there is next to 0 chance that Subaru actually ends up with Emilia at the end of the series, and even though I know that Subaru is into anime with silver-haired heroines, I wouldn’t be too surprised if part of the reason Subaru is obsessed with Emilia is because of Satella. That moment in episode 25 of Season 1 when Subaru said he’d list 2000 things he likes about Emilia if she mentioned 10 things she hated about herself felt like Satella might have been subconsciously leading him to say that given that Puck told Petelgeuse that if he wanted to kill him he needed to summon 1000 shadows, half of what Satella could. That 2000 number is related to Satella, and I think Satella was manipulating Subaru subconsciously to say that.
I’m still a believer in him ending up with Priscilla even though fans would rage hard at that result. If Satella wants Subaru to end her life, I see no way for him to save her since he’s just an ordinary man. If that’s the one true ending she has in store for him, I don’t see how he can fight it. I could see Satella’s goal being to give Subaru the confidence to face life, resulting in her sending him back to the human world after he has become a great hero in Re:zero’s fantasy world as the Satella slayer. Then, he’ll meet a Priscilla lookalike in an alleyway as a callback to how he first met Priscilla.
“I didn’t catch that Satella and the Witch of Envy are different personalities”
Same. I would never have guessed that they weren’t the same based on what’s gone down in he show till this point
While DID ain’t the most obvious thing to see, I think it’s easy to see that the Satella in this episode and the one previously turning Garfiel into a pincushion are different. And her last request to kill her pretty much being a hint that she’s out of control outside of that space.
Sometimes , my brain keeps forgetting bits of details between episodes of everything these days.
I should take to marathoning shows again.
You are gonna die on that Priscilla hill huh. Well I suppose there is a Re:Zero game coming which might have a Priscilla route. I honestly think that’s the closest you will ever get.
AidanAK47, I have some anime suggestions for you from 2019 and 2020. Honzuki no Gekokujou is an isekai about a bookworm who dies in an earthquake and lives again in a medieval society where there are few books, so she strives to eventually get to the point in which she can mass produce books. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai is also a good one. It’s a romantic comedy about two people who try to get the other to confess. To me, they are two of the best anime of the last few years
@Vance: He’s a massive fan of Kaguya and has read the manga up to date and scored the second season favourably. For me, Kaguya depends for me, on a scene by scene basis even in a single episode, one minute I lose it laughing at others I’m left a bit cold.
I don’t think I was paying attention enough during that scene either or in the Emilia goes crazy one, but both still registered as pretty good moments nonetheless.
@Aidan: On reflection on this whole second season there’s more than enough for me to call this an improvement and this second season has had more stuff I could find myself getting into.
I’m laughing at myself for bashing this show before and I think its worth mentioning in your concluding review that this second season has at least somewhat won over previous non-fans.
I think Rosewhal is like Machiavelli and the scene about Subaru having to learn to love himself is another thing that improved my opinion on the series.
I seen both. Bookworm and Kaguya were two that I made note to watch over this year. Right now I plan on watching Deca-dence as I have heard very promising things.
Would mixing aspects of both a web-novel and light novel in an adaptation be feasible/work?
Has that been done before?
“It’s hard not to see this entire story as basically a message to it’s demographic sold in the guise of a power fantasy.”
So it does feel that way but I think and hope it isn’t directed specifically at anime fans as that would be too meta and Hideaki Anno seems to have done that pretty well. But Subaru is without a doubt a portrayal of somebody with self-esteem issues and social isolation [among other things].
As for the episode it’s interesting is how Satella’s message to Subaru overlaps with Emilia’s, The link between these two will be interesting to see although I imagine its endgame plot. And Roswaal is such a good villain. He’s been developed so well. From the quiet leader of their small group to the puppet master behind the scenes. One of the best characters in the show. And although this was in earlier episodes, can’t forget about Beatrice. The payoff for her character arc hasn’t come yet but the groundwork has been laid. Can’t wait for it.
Overall I have to agree that it is the best anime of the year and one of the best sequels right up there with a Clannad or March comes like a lion. It also helps that it makes season 1 better. A lot of divisive elements in season 1 really fit together so much better once you’ve see season 2 and I can only imagine the second cour will reinforce this.
I think everyone can take something away from Subaru’s development. But god I hate Anno’s take, Mememe is such an old man yelling at children on the lawn response. Doesn’t take into account personal choice or the fact the introverts exist.
I can’t remember events that well from the second half of the story(Read it four years ago after all in tiny chunks) but word on the street is that the second cour will be even better than the first.