I am sorry miss Mayu Maeshima but I don’t think this anime is going to do a good job of promoting your new single. In a way I wonder if they are using Realise as a insert song so much to make up for it barely being present in the first cour. This is the fourth episode and we still haven’t seen the opening and truth be told I kinda want to see them only play it on the last episode out of pure amusement. The scary thing being that they just might do that but well today we have another thirty minute episode, all hail White Fox. A deep dive into Emilia’s backstory which has started off on a surprisingly fluffy note full of heartwarming cuteness. Which in Re:Zero is that alarm ringing to let you know that the nuclear bomb is about to drop and you should dive under the desk to prepare for inevitable pain and suffering.
For starters I really love that we have Echidna accompanying Emilia on her trip down memory lane as it gives her a good reason to be back on screen while also showcasing how she interacts with others besides Subaru. In contrast with Subaru where she acted as the perfect cute girl to trick both him and the viewers into thinking she was the best girl(And still being the best girl regardless) we now have her display pretty apparent hatred for Emilia. Matter of fact this may be the persona closest to her true personality as she has absolutely no interest in putting up pretenses or buttering up Emilia which in turn means that she has no reason to hide anything about herself. In that regard I find her quite fascinating as based on what I see her she may not be as sociopathic as previously thought. Based on her reactions it’s clear that Subaru’s rejection actually hit her harder than thought as she gets quite irritated and doesn’t even want to mention his name. But the thing I find most interesting is one simple question, why is she here with Emilia? With previous versions of this trail it’s been shown that she does not need to be present for the trail to work and considering that she has knowledge of return by death’s previous runs there is literally nothing she would be curious about regarding Emilia’s past. Yet she is here, guiding Emilia through her memories even if begrudgingly. She remarks that Subaru changed Emilia and how that annoys her but what she may not have noticed is that Subaru may have influenced her as whether she is aware of it or not, she is helping Emilia though her trial.
She isn’t the only character to get a change in perspective as the antagonist from Arc 3 is shown when he wasn’t insane. On this particular note I have been debating with myself on whether I should continue to call him Betelgeuse or switch to Petelgeuse as it seems that people have taken to calling him the second name. From what I understand it’s a bit of a japanese language dilemma wherein both names are technically correct much in the same way that Japanese doesn’t really differentiate between Rs and Ls making it that you can call a character either Rem or Lem and both are correct.(As a side note this is why Engrish exists as when a Japanese person begins to learn english they can get confused between Rs and Ls) I think for consistency’s sake I will continue using Betelgeuse or maybe just transition into his nickname Geuse. He’s certainly quite different in the past from his insane future self but I like that you can still see traits like his severe emotional reactions and mannerisms. It’s a bit strange to see him as a bishounen but well we all had a prime and Geuse looks to have a bit of romantic tension with Emilia’s adoptive mother Fortuna. Something which someone at White Fox must have noticed as we have a bit of a meta joke in that the voice actors of the two also portray Kirito and Asuna from SAO. In general the witch cult seems to be very different from the cone hood stabby psychos from Arc three, displaying more of a philanthropic side here and referring to themselves as sinners. It could be possible that after Satella’s actions her followers attempted to make up for the pain she caused the world but then something happened which twisted them into the monsters of the present day.
We essentially have a calm before the storm episode as the episodes ending certainly foretells doom considering that the last time the archbishop of Greed showed up, we lost the best girl. We got some answers but a whole heap of questions. Frozen Bonds at least gives an idea as to how this will turn out with the sealed door in the forest surrounded by snow being a primary suspect for how things will go south. But we also have things like Geuse hinting that he is significantly older than he looks which does suggest that this body may not be his original one. There is the secrecy over Emilia’s parents which does put forward that old theory of Emilia being Satella’s daughter or directly linked to her though I feel that would be a bit too obvious for Tappei. She undeniably holds some connection to Satella which Geuses reaction to her appearance does confirm and Fortuna does seem to be extra concerned about raising her to be good. I am going to make a wild guess as to her being a vessel for Satella to possess and that maybe one of her parents is an archbishop of Envy attempting to resurrect her in some fashion. Fortuna at least seems to genuinely care for her and appears to be the source who made Emilia take promises so seriously so perhaps Pucks comment about promises being important to spirit users was more him hinting how much they meant to Emilia. Actually in season one as well we may have some very clever foreshadowing in that on the run where Subaru was taken over by Geuse and killed, there was a moment where Emilia killed one of the fingers of Geuse. After doing so, she starts crying for an unknown reason. So taking into account this episode it could very well be the case that while she didn’t remember these events, she still responded to killing Geuse without knowing why. There are many questions and maybe the next episode will have answers for us…provided it doesn’t make us an emotional wreck like it does to Emilia every time she sees it.
https://imgur.com/a/XDLGs0f
I think that given the seal is a locked door, I believe the seal is a seal to a magical pathway.
I don’t know whether Petelgeuse’s body in the current flashback was Petelgeuse’s original body, but given that Beatrice, who seldom leaves the Forbidden Library, named Geuse without hearing his name when Subaru indicated that he killed and took a Gospel off of the enemy, it’s clear that Beatrice has long known that Petelgeuse is the Sin Archbishop of Sloth.
With the big promise Fortuna made to Emilia at the end of the episode and Emilia’s crying about Mother Fortuna being a liar, I think it’s very likely that Regulus killed Fortuna so that she could not keep her promise with Emilia.