Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 -21 [Reunion of Roars]

I have started every recent Re:Zero post commenting on the thirty minute runtime but at this point I think I will just accept it as granted for the rest of the cour. Still I do admit that for such a long runtime it doesn’t feel like much happened in this episode as we have quite a lot of talking. The vast majority being dedicated to the verbal tossup between Emilia,Ram and Roswaal which I can say that I may be beginning to agree with Lenlo on this, at least in regards to this episode. Arc 4 in general does have rather weak pacing with Teppei even cutting it down for the light novel but it’s still the longest arc out of the story so far. I do still say though that this episode did engage me and those thirty minutes felt more like five which is often a sign of a good time. But it is one of those things that makes the week-long wait for each episode a rather detrimental aspect as with the story moving forward so slowly, having to wait a week for essentially a small step forward is frustrating. I am sure to those of the future who have all the episodes ready to binge though this is a weak complaint but it is indeed the case that Re:Zero may be taking its sweet time too much.

What do I even talk about this week? I wonder as we really do only have a handful of events here in Subaru and crew going to the mansion to head off the assassins and Roswaal being verbally beaten only to set up for a more literal beating. I guess I will start with the mansion attack as there isn’t much to it. Subaru manages to land there at the nick of time making a dramatic entrance but leaving the actual fighting to Garfiel and Otto. Garfiel’s reaction to his grown up sister was quite funny and I even found a bit of respect for Elsa actually sitting back to let them have a moment. I have a feeling she will be shedding her current rather one dimensional exterior and getting a bit more development, provided she survives the current arc. There is a break time episode showing her and Meili interacting in their downtime waiting to attack which is oddly rather similar to the relationship displayed by Frederica and Petra in these break time shorts. I have my doubts on them actually killing these two as Elsa has shown to be quite resilient and I believe they can benefit the story more by sticking around as potential anti-heroes. They are in Roswaals employ after all so if this arc’s story convinces him to abandon his literal suicide mission then these two might come along for the ride in future arcs. I can even imagine Subaru’s awkward interaction with the two considering how one of them has killed him the most. Only other thing I have to say is that someone on reddit likened a battle between Otto and Meili being like pokemon trainers battling which just makes me smile.

So in regards to Roswaal, I still do like seeing him be thrown off his game as even with Emilia proving him wrong he attempts to devalue her accomplishment as built of a weak base of Subaru’s support only to have cold water thrown over him when he hears just that Subaru harshly criticized her instead. Indeed Roswaal was attempting to pull the villain cliche of “We are not so different, you and I” with Subaru but really Emilia adopting his mannerisms truly does highlight just how different they are. In a more interesting bit of foreshadowing, in the OVA memory snow Rem and Ram try to combine their respective loves into making a ice sculpture which literally mixes Subaru and Roswaal together. The two inspirations for the monstrosity expressed clear rejection of the statue in earnest with Roswaal claiming it gave him “Chills”. In a way it’s a conceptualisation of the current situation where Roswaal attempts to claim that they are Subaru are the same but to others their differences are night and day. But it is worth noting that at one point Roswaal’s claims about Subaru were true but after Subaru underwent severe change with his loops what Roswaal previously thought about him no longer holds water. It’s a wonder if Tappei will take the idea of Subaru’s jarring character changes from an outsider perspective and potentially build a future development out of it.

There are comments Roswaal made about engineering the destruction of Ram and Rem’s village though from what I heard this may be a bit of a mistranslation. From my understanding of the situation he was stating that due to the tome informing him about the attack and how he could have stopped it but instead used it to chain Ram and Rem to him. At least from what he is saying it appears that the sisters didn’t work for him willingly in the beginning but had to due to Ram’s injury requiring Roswaal to supply her with extra magic. At least that’s my guess based on what’s being said here and it seems that Roswaal is still under the impression that Ram is begrudgingly serving him but based on Ram’s devotion things changed as time passed. Instead of wanting revenge she wants to free Roswaal from his obsession with Echidna and has opposed him for that exact purpose. I must say that the music during this sequence was simply sublime and something I will be gunning for once the soundtrack is released. I like the developments of this episode but indeed it is a bit overwritten with characters giving long speeches over intent and newfound purpose. Dramatic flair gives some leeway but there is something to be said for brevity in exposition. When it comes to books having characters divulge long speeches can work as when reading you don’t really have to listen to it all in real time but when seeing it in action you just have to wonder how long these characters spent rehearsing these lines and waited for the opportune moment to show the labours of their work. We have four episodes left to this cour and I hope this is the last of the exposition we need to get across. Right now we just need an explosive finale.