「怠惰一閃」 (Taida Issen)
“A Flash of Sloth”

Just when you think it’s all over, it’s not! Crazy! This Sloth Sin Archbishop is not only just one “person” but he’s multiple-beings at once. I never thought that he’d be more than one physical being and it seems like each follower is just as insane as the “original” (and with the same powers). That certainly took me by surprise when there was another person with the “invisible hands” crushing people. On the flip side though, it doesn’t look like the followers are hard to kill since they fall pretty easily to Wilhelm and even the triplets. Still, the fact that they all continue to be deranged and creepy, makes me uneasy knowing that any one of them can appear any time. The Witches’ Cult will prove harder to deal with than Subaru (and company) initially thought.

A new revelation that came out of Subaru’s most recent encounter with Betelgeuse is this gospel/bible that’s given to all the Witches’ Cult members. Just when you thought you knew it all, there’s still so much about this world that’s foreign to Subaru (and the audience). Although the gospel doesn’t mention Subaru (as per Betelgeuse), the fact that Subaru even picks it up and keeps it is a sign. Plus if nothing else, Betelgeuse reconfirms something that we all theorized about earlier – Subaru is Pride (another Archbishop). However, Subaru was teleported to this world without a book; plus, he doesn’t even know anything about the Witch, never mind the act of actually worshiping her. It sounds like a far stretch to imagine that Subaru could become the Archbishop that Betelgeuse implies, but like I said before, it does explain a lot about Subaru’s involvement in the story and his “powers” (invisible hands included). I still stand by my theory that the gospel, Subaru’s powers and the dark hands will eventually contribute to the unveil of Subaru’s true identity(whatever that may be) but maybe not for a while. He’s obviously linked to the Witch somehow but where that connection is, has yet to be revealed.

The entire episode felt like it was a good setup for the final arc of Re: Zero and it ends off in true Re: Zero fashion, with a cliffhanger. The episodes starts with Subaru and Julius talking it out with Subaru not completely forgiving Julius for his humiliation but at least acknowledging his faults. And that apology shows a huge step forward for Subaru so I’m not going to take it lightly. It was a shame that we didn’t get to see Subaru truly step up to forgive Julius and admit it, but at least that relationship has shown maturity from both parties and I can pat Subaru on the back for that. Clearly the confession with Rem did a lot for Subaru’s growth and development as a character and he’s no longer wallowing in self-pity or suffering from main-character syndrome. The cliffhanger at the end wasn’t what I expected at all – in fact, I don’t know what this means at all for Subaru and the people he’s left behind. Has he been transported somewhere? Is he in an alternate dimension? Has Ram sent him here on purpose? Ram hasn’t been on screen with actual speaking lines for a few episodes now and since I initially liked her character, I’m excited to see her again. There are a ton of questions from me about this last scene but I won’t get my hopes up considering that Re: Zero isn’t known for putting everything out on the table. With only 3 episodes left for this season, I’m sure the show isn’t going to wrap everything up nicely for viewers. There’s surely going to be more cliffhangers and a lot of unanswered questions but I can only wish that there’s less than more.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: We’re finally getting back to killing the Witches’ Cult… it’s just not as easy as it seemed. I still stand by my theory of Subaru being “Pride” and not knowing… but the missing Gospel contradicts that theory =S And now he’s transported to another forest? Or am I imagining things? And what is Ram doing there?! #Rezero

35 Comments

  1. I read somewhere that Ram probably thinks that Subaru betrayed them due to the fact that he shows up with the competition, armed and prepared to fight. Also since Rem is not with them it makes her all the more suspicious and hostile towards Subaru. I still wonder if that’s the last we’ll see of the witch’s cult during the remainder of the season.

    I get the feeling that Subaru is the only one who can read the book without becoming all psychotic and falling into the witch’s spell, but then there lies the question as to why does he have the ability to have some form of free will? Is this the Jealous witch’s master plan or something? It sucks that the season is ending soon and we’re still clueless about what’s Subaru’s whole purpose. Going to be so sad once this show is over… what will i watch on Sundays from now on D:

    Aimless
    1. About your first paragraph, I’m pretty sure Subaru mentioned sending a letter/message to the Roswaal Estate explaining the upcoming events, so if what you turns out to be true I hope they explain what happened to that letter.

      After it has been mentioned a few times that he is the Archbishop of Pride, I’m going to assume that the reason he has been “allowed” such freedom has to do with his sin. Without even noticing it, he is probably too Prideful to allow himself to be controlled. You can also see a bit of his sin showing in this episode, when he was so hesitant/fighting back from apologizing to Julius. Hmmm… now that I think about it, it would explain his personality seen throughout the series and why I hated him as a character at the start.

      Has it been confirmed to not be getting a second season? If so that really sucks, there are going to be a lot of unanswered question and I don’t see them wrapping up everything nicely without rushing the ending…

      1. IIRC the 9 LN volumes of Re Zero cover the 1st 3 story arcs of the source webnovel. The webnovel’s still ongoing at the 6th story arc. And yes, there are still some mysteries the webnovel has yet to answer.

        So no, I don’t think they can do a S2 unless more LNs are published, and that may be subject to edits and rewrites by the author.

        zztop
    2. don’t worry, novel readers have no clue what Subaru’s purpose is either, it’s sort of like your generic series at this point, they will never reveal the end until the series will be dying.

      John
    3. don’t worry, novel readers have no clue what Subaru’s purpose is either, it’s sort of like your generic series at this point, they will never reveal the end until the series will be dying.

      john
  2. No Rem in this episode. But that’s okay. At least Subaru apologized to Julius.

    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2022%20-%2017.jpg
    RIP Betelgeuse. You will be missed so much as an amazing villain.

    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2022%20-%2021.jpg
    So one of Betelgeuse’s underling killed one of the knights, which is a sloth. Well, that’s slothful….

    One Pinch Man
    1. Sloth Mark 2 brilliantly using the element of surprise to mercilessly kill a group of redshirts(whitecloaks) we’d only just met and therefore felt very little about their instant demise…

      great picture though!

      and as you point out.. there was even a weird little sloth joke in there….

      defunkt_bots
  3. Wow, Betelgeuse went down pretty easy. Easy. Oh crap.

    I liked Subaru’s insistence on making absolutely sure Betelgeuse won’t recover. Too bad you just can’t keep down Sloth.

    Kessler
  4. I’ve got a bit of a theory regarding Betelgeuse/Sloth, if anyone’s willing to hear me out.

    The way the second Sloth was introduced – starting off wearing a mask like the other faceless followers and her “my brain.. trembles..” – made me very suspicious about how the whole thing works.

    What if – when Betelgeuse dies – Sloth transfers itself randomly to one of his followers, in this case the freckled redhead. She could have been but a simple follower/cultist, and as soon as Betelgeuse died she was taken over by the Sloth personality (thus gaining Sloth’s powers). It really did look like a “rebirth” of some sort.

    Think about it, why would Betelgeuse be ok with one of his followers randomly having the Unseen Hand – especially after he’s made it very clear to us viewers how much he cares about that power that was personally granted to him by the witch. Wouldn’t it make more sense if that power simply transferred to one of his fingers once he died?

    That would mean that the redhead dying simply transferred Sloth to yet another member, and will continue to do so until all the fingers are killed? If that’s the case, then the situation is still dire with Sloth & the cultists loose and no one being safe.

    I swear it feels like Sloth is just trolling them all.

    JayDrink
  5. I have to say, all this talk about the Sin Archbishops and trying to figure out how they work or who they are is reminding me alot of Fullmetal Alchemist. The main difference I noticed is that Betelgeuse mentioned there only being six Sin Archbishops.

    We know of Sloth and Gluttony, and apparently the seat of Pride has yet to be filled. So there’s 3 seats and 4 sins remaining: Greed, Wrath, Lust and Envy. Which one is being left out?

    I kind of refuse to believe that we’re already done with Sloth and Gluttony (hence my Sloth theory above), it just feels like the story is progressing too fast with all these villains dying. Puck referred to the White Whale as Gluttony, and his mention of it was just so eery and mysterious which has me convinced that we definitely haven’t seen or heard the last of it (or at least of Gluttony).

    I just hope Re Zero’s greed is half a awesome as FMA’s greed. 😀

    JayDrink
    1. Another wild thought.. Betelgeuse mentioned six Sin Archbishops when there’s seven deadly sins. According to Puck, the White Whale is – or was? – Gluttony. I don’t know what’s happened in the past, but it could mean that Gluttony is the only sin not seated as a Sin Archbishop (because of it being more monster than man).

      Meaning that the six Sin Archbishops are those of Sloth, Pride, Greed, Lust, Wrath and Envy.

      JayDrink
  6. Betelgeuse did not go down easy. It took someone who knew where he would be and that could keep him totally occupied to set him up for a surprise attack. And it took knowledge of Betelgeuse’s hidden hand attack to know how to handle him. Finally it took a massively dangerous attacker to kill Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse main defense though was lack of knowledge and hidden nature of the hand attack otherwise he was squishy mage.

    Loving it. Hope Suburu has a after whale fight reset if Ram kills him, even better a after taking out Betelgeuse II reset as do not see reason to repeat a successful loop.

    Like others loved our cute furries acting like player characters and looting that body as fast as possible. And loved the lets blow the body to peaces just to be sure even after a master healer declared it dead. Unfortunately it does seam like a body hop or a quick power transfer promotion.

    RedRocket
  7. — theory of Subaru being “Pride” and not knowing… but the missing Gospel contradicts that theory =S

    Subaru’s too proud to care about the Gospel, thus he is Pride.

    Pride
  8. https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2022%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
    This is me when I try to deal with ant infestation problems.

    Anyway notably Suburu was right, in a way, the way that Slothy priest died so easily…… you can’t help but think he can come back to life.

    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2022%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
    Notably I find it ironic that the first people that bows respectfully before Suburu are from the people that he hates the most.

    L002
  9. Just when you think this episode will for once end without a cliffhanger… Ram, blue flower, frozen mist, the end ! Take that avid Re:Zero viewer !

    And 3 episodes left… can you feel this gigantic season cliffhanger coming ? Ahhhh… my brain trembles !

    Makoto
      1. The Light Novels seem to be coming out at a decent pace too. I wonder how long it’ll be until they have enough material to do another 24-26 episodes? The merchandise seems to be doing well too. I have the Rem Nendoroid pre ordered lol. I hope they release a Ram one too. But yeah, there seems be a lot of Re Zero stuff out there.

        Lyfe
  10. For some reason, it really disturbed me how relatively normal looking the second Sloth was.
    I guess it never occurred to me that, yes, these cultists are actually (technically) human beings, though I thought they’d be more like first Sloth appearance wise.
    Then again, there’s Elza, which pretty much explains itself. >_>;

    The gospel bit was kinda interesting though; read and you shall become a cultist, and it is delivered to those that will become a cultist.
    So, in general, they give you one because they know you will become one of them?
    The way Sloth was reading his book about Subaru made it seem like either A) the book holds a crapload of info about everything (Drives people crazy that everything they believe in is a lie of something) or B) maybe some kind of foresight? (I predicted your future, so now I’m your god?)

    And Whilhlem is still kicking ass.
    Also, found an interesting and awesome fact about his wife as the Sword Saint abilities, technically a bit on the spoiler side.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Hmm...
  11. The whole Subaru as Pride makes all the sense in the world sans the Witch connection which would pretty much be the final proof of it. That basically calls into mind the situation with Emilia. We know Subaru pretty much worships her and is at the very least infatuated with her. Of course her exact relationship with Satella is shrouded in mystery as of the moment but there will definitely be some connection there further along the story line.

    Sadly, I don’t know how far along the original is but I’m assuming it’s not a complete work either so I doubt we will get all the answers before the end of the last few episodes.

    Juan
  12. Remember the very first time Subaru died? He was holding onto Emilia’s hand when that happened.

    Before that, he was just a normal human being. After that, Satella, peharps sealed within Emilia, latched onto Subaru, gave him his ability and from there, the story began. The reason why Subaru’s witch scent got stronger and stronger was that Satella was able to project her presence better with each Subaru’s death.

    In the end, my prediction is that Satella will corrupt Subaru so much that even he got confused, and has to choose between Satella and Emilia.

    The only main question, peharps, is why was Subaru brought into the alternate world in the first place. Maybe that

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Peanutbutter
  13. Hmm it’s explained that there are some people that have natural affinity of witch(or being loved by the witch as Beetlejuice said) and when someone with stronger affinity learn the gospel they classed up to archbishop of sin, so Subaru still at the level of candidate of pride.

    Setsuna

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