With another week gone I get my fix of Re:Zero and yet again I have to wait a week to sate my need. The cliffhangers really kill me on this matter as I am leave hanging till the buzz from the last episode runs out and then it gets me again. To future anime viewers, know that you did not have to suffer as an ongoing watcher of this series has and the joy of being able to marathon a show without the wait in between weeks. Quite honestly I don’t know what I will do when this show ends two episodes from now as I cannot binge on the source material and it appears the anime has finally caught up with the light novels. Looks like production of the light novel has sped up with volumes coming out monthly but to gain the amount of material needed for a second second would take a year at the least. I am concerned over just how this series will conclude if there’s another volume of material but I think White Fox won’t trip up at the finish line.
Anyway it appeared the cliffhanger of the previous episode has been defused pretty fast as Ram mistakenly though Subaru betrayed them only to be convinced otherwise within a minute. The letter Subaru sent them which was supposed to explain the situation was just a blank piece of paper which makes me question if Subaru made the boneheaded mistake of misplacing the letter or if someone in the mansion intercepted it. Both scenarios are equally plausible though it is an unfortunate coincidence that a blank letter in this country is a symbol of the messenger deciding to cut off communications. This tradition seems like it could give rise to a lot of misunderstandings as I see it but well the mistake of sending a blank message is rather rare. The village looks to be pointing the finger of blame directly at Emilia for the witches cult coming to attack and what makes this interesting is that despite it being blatant racism, they are not wrong. Emilia really is the reason that the village is going to be attacked by the witches cult. It’s not her fault, that is for certain but it’s hard to deny that if she wasn’t there then no one would be in danger at all. As a matter of fact, the main cause of all of these events that have lead to everyone dying is Emilia herself. The mabeast incident of the village is a matter for debate but Emilia really is the one drawing these events. Which points the direct origin of all of Subaru’s suffering being Emilia herself and perhaps the very reason Sattella has brought Subaru here is to keep Emilia alive till the time she can serve Sattella’s purpose
Ferris and Julius got a bulk of the screentime this episode which is reasonable considering how the episode ends. Ferris is still leaving people in doubt about whether his claims to be a boy is really true but I like that they made it that there is more to him than his trap gimmick. For you information I will let you know that when the merchant witch’s cult member blows up his cart, he did technically kill Ferris with the blast. However Ferris’s healing magic is so overpowered that he can reconstruct his body even if it’s destroyed. Yep, in Re:Zero even the white mage is twenty times more powerful than our protagonist. Still to give Subaru due credit, it was very smart of him to use the Mabeast’s of the forest to take out one of the fingers. At times I really can’t tell if Subaru is smart or stupid but maybe he works better in the moment. It’s nice to see him almost make old mistakes only to have someone give him a push in the right direction. That was a problem with Rem in general. She stood by Subaru’s side but she always went along with whatever he did, rather than provide the kind of support Wilhelm and Ferris have been giving him. But it’s likely the Subaru of those episodes wouldn’t have taken the hint like he does now. Julius also reveals that he is the one who saved Subaru twice by putting him under the protection of one of his spirits and does point out that Subaru does seem to have a high affinity with them. Despite his introduction being typical of the kind of villain in a Light novel, he proves that he is actually a good guy. I applaud that as I find those one shot weak villains to be a poor excuse of empowering the protagonist.
My theory from last episode looks all but confirmed as a number of Betelgeuse’s pop up to attack Subaru and co. I really have to give credit to the number of voice actresses who act out his mannerisms to a great degree. I may not know Japanese but there does seem to be a lot of talent in this series. The end of the episode was brutal in that just when you think everything is fine and maybe this week won’t have a cliffhanger, we have the series throw a gut punch. I was well on my way to believing this was Subaru’s successful run and then this comes out of nowhere to prove that no matter how much Subaru accomplishes, he can still have it all undone at any moment. Well I do think that the remaining episodes are not enough to do a run through of the White Whale again and I think two possibilities exist here. One is that Ferris will find some way of reviving Subaru without Betelgeuse coming with him and the other is Subaru’s save point being moved up to after the White Whale is defeated. Number two seems the most likely as undoing the events of the White Whale and Rem’s confession would be a bad move.
There is just far too much character development there to just do away with. Likely the save point will be before the first attack on the witches cult as that is the point Subaru could make the most use of his knowledge. Still this does put him in a bad spot as simply killing Betelgeuse isn’t going to stop him from possessing his body again. There could be other factors that allow Betelgeuse to take control of someone, with the gospel being a big factor. However if what allows Betelgeuse to take control of Subaru is just the smell of the witch then I don’t see how Subaru can beat him without getting possessed. There are likely more conditions for Betelgeuse to meet before he can possess someone as it is odd that he didn’t choose to take over Subaru on his first death. Perhaps the choice of who he can take over is not up to him and he simply goes into a random person who happens to have the smell of the witch. Though one thing that seems apparent here is that the witches cult is not operating under Satella’s instructions and seem to be acting in what they believe to be what she desires of them in order to earn her love. What is in store for the climax of this series is still a mystery to me but while I doubt it will be completely conclusive, I at least hope it ties up the particulars of this arc and doesn’t leave a cliffhanger for a next season. A week is something I can put up with but making me wait over a year for a continuation of the story would truly be slothful.