First Impressions / Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu

「悪辣なる怠惰」 (Akuratsu Naru Taida)
“Nefarious Sloth”

It seems like Re: Zero is getting less and less buzz these days but maybe that’s just me. I hope this isn’t an indication that it’s losing steam because the last episode is coming up in 2 weeks! It’s crazy just how fast 2-cour comes and goes when you’re watching such a gripping show. Not the mention all those cliffhangers at the end (almost every week!). I’m afraid that Re: Zero will still end this run with another cliffhanger but hopefully answer more questions than it proposes. There’s no doubt in my mind that another season will be in order once this finishes but it better end off on a high note and maybe some answers about the Witch and Emilia herself.

Speaking about Emilia, she finally returns to action this week. For a main heroine, I definitely feel like she’s taken a back seat to Rem for more than a few episodes now. Unlike last week though, Emilia returns with flare by defeating one of the “Fingers” (I find so weird to call them Fingers when Followers rolls off the tongue better) but cries in the process after the threat is over. I’d like to believe that her tears are for all the fallen villagers and other individuals that passed during this massacre because of how soft-hearted Emilia is. Sometimes I’m skeptical of her character, but based on everything she’s done and said these past 23 episodes, it’s hard to imagine that she’s not doing her best to save everyone around her. Despite the fact that everyone is still prejudice against her and doesn’t seem to respect her, she still does what she thinks is right and I give her credit for that. She doesn’t have the most character development in the story and seems almost too perfect to be true, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.

After last week’s cliffhanger, I was very much looking forward to seeing more of Ram which turned out to be a bit anticlimactic because I thought she was the one behind Subaru’s illusion (or whatever that was). Turns out she wasn’t and when she did appear, she asked about a blank letter (which Rem wrote a few episodes back) which raises the question – what happened to Rem? And if what I think happened, did in fact happen, just how did it happen? I thought the White Whale was long dead…

And finally, getting to that cliffhanger which one again demonstrates how many distorted faces Subaru can have. I’m quite disturbed by the 180 degree head turns and tilts; body parts are not meant to bend that much and the mutilation of their bodies are creepy too (maybe they’re called fingers because they all chew them off). Anyway, Subaru being a vessel for Betelguese was certainly something I wasn’t expecting. It suddenly all made sense after the fact, but I felt so distraught for both Julius and Felix when they were faced with the decision they had to make. I didn’t feel as bad for Subaru as I should’ve (mainly because we know he can come back to life); I felt worse for Felix and Julius because they had to actually kill Subaru for the sake of finishing off the Witches’ Cult. I always get choked up during these scenes of self-sacrifice since it’s never an easy decision for the person doing the killing and it’s worse to be the one left behind. Luckily, in this situation, the world reverses back in time after Subaru is killed even if no one else has recollection of it. Subaru might lose all his progress so for his sake, I hope this new save point is after the White Whale’s death. Another restart this late in the series?! That’s crazy! Or maybe they’ll find a way to save Subaru by extracting Betelgeuse out of him (even if that’s the unlikely solution in my opinion).

Author’s Note: Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone had an amazing long weekend and/or a good start to the school year. It was a long weekend/vacation for me this past weekend so my posts have been delayed. Hopefully I can get to Shokugeki no Souma sooner rather than later. Thanks again for putting up with my tardiness!

92 Comments

    1. “My brain will tremble,” funny how Suburu also said that before Betelgeuse possessed him.
      https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2023%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
      I should be impressed in how Betelgeuse is staying alive as he is abusing Suburu’s body,I should have heard a neck snap from that. I do praise a many VA for acting out characters that are completely opposite of each other.

      Anyway, considering how Suburu did well in resisting Betelgeuse, we can imagine Suburu had too much Pride that is fighting Betelgeuse’s Sloth.

      L002
      Reply

  2. Well show has had some major buzz and major buzz episodes so it natural in my opinion for the fandom to take a breather. This has been a shock but this last part still is anti-climatic compared to the Whale fight. The show still rating very high.

    If the author is pacing well for this massively long story their should be a episode or two of downtime after this. I saw some complaints about secrets being dragged out when this is basically only in the first book of a trilogy at least. I know this is a massive work so I am in no rush. There are 6 web novel volumes and expected to be 12 but I do not know how much this has taken up. I know others have expressed it better, Wikipedia was not that useful.

    RedRocket
    Reply

    1. I am curious if the anime had edited out any important detail.

      https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2023%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
      I don’t know how much of Felix’s body was scorched, but it seems impressive that his ribbons and hair are intact. I imagine the description, in the novel, must be very gruesome to where we would know how Felix has some seriously impressive regeneration and will power against pain.

      L002
      Reply

      1. LN Spoiler:
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Puck
        Reply

    1. well white fox (WF) has capabilities to be a big time studio in the level of kyoani. if you see the REWRITE visual novel OP animated by white fox, you can say they can produce quality anime. (which is why some rewrite fans wants WF to animate rewrite instead which well we all know didnt happen) when i heard they will animate rezero, i alredy knew they will really do a good job.

      Jeffers
      Reply

    2. well anyway heard from a friend of mine who claims he is an animator in SHAFT that they will be animating nisekoi (since the manga already ended) next year. so white fox won this year… SHAFT would take it again next year well, unless kyoani (all hail kyoto animation) went on and delivered some epic quality anime.

      Jeffers
      Reply

    2. heard that last episode is 1 hour length though. so probably doable. if i am to go plot wise episode 24 would probably be(MAJOR spoilers btw) Show Spoiler ▼

      then on episode 25 would be more likely Show Spoiler ▼

      Jeffers
      Reply

    3. That’s arc 3.
      Arc 1 – Vol. 1 – ep 1 and 2
      Arc 2 – Vols 2 and 3 – eps 3 to 11
      Arc 3 – Vols 4 to 9 – eps 12 – 25

      As for ending
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Show Spoiler ▼

      JustCommenting
      Reply

      3. Wouldn’t be so sure about that. I really doubt they will animate 4 arc before they will finish releasing it in form of LN.
        3rd arc had 84 chapters of Web Novel and will be completed in 9th Vol of LN that will be released week after last anime episode airing and 4th arc had over 130 chapters of Web Novel so it will take some time to be published.

        JustCommenting
        Reply

      5. @Lyfe

        Unfortunately, one of the common purposes of anime is to sell the novel or manga it is based on. There have been quite a few series that have sold well yet still no announcement on a second, or consecutive season. If they adapted an entire novel series, that could reduce sales of the original work, effectively screwing over the original author. Even if you consider royalties, a bit of their pride would be hurt too.

        Goodwill Wright
        Reply

      7. That’s why I never specified “all”. I’m just saying it’s a possible reason why they wouldn’t adapt all of the LNs.

        I would love it if they adapted all of it. Like how I wish they would adapt the whole of Kyoukaisen. I just highly doubt it will happen. Although I will not complain if they do.

        Goodwill Wright
        Reply

  5. ok ok ok… desu! that cliffhanger in the end was superb and disturbing. who would thought betelgeuse can possess people.

    anyway, emilia finally got some screentime and its kinda painful to see her getting some discrimination for being a half elf. but that is just a plain suffering if compared to subaru. yes the point is she is still fortunate if compared to subaru who once again sacrificed for emilia and the rest of the characters. truly honorable though this is getting UNFAIR.

    i hope emilia would equally suffer too just like subaru in later parts of the story (i will be reading the LN novel spoilers after this anime ended). and no i am not anti emilia faction even though i like REM much more than her. i just find that she was so fortunate than the other two characters rem and subaru who died painfully many times in those loops.

    Jeremiah
    Reply

    1. imagine if emilia or rem became betelgeuse too hahaha that would be be so funny its horrifying. well emilia did tried to voice ala-betelgeuse in rezero radio #18 (her guest is betelgeuse VA yoshitsugu matsuoka (correct?) of course)

      Jeffers
      Reply

      2. well i know they are the same (and should be noted that she is also doing a konosuba radio too because konosuba season 2 you know :D)… she also did that on i forgot what rezero radio episode is that but that is definitely megumin and she even did the famous EXPLOSION though it was like exploooo *cut*.

        Jeffers
        Reply

    2. https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2018%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
      Well, obviously we now know why Suburu was laughing like this in episode 18. Betelgeuse was possessing him at the time.

      Speaking of which, we recalled how Puck wanted to destroy the world, because Emilia died, I am wondering if that white Whale is the same as he wanted to destroy the world because someone killed the Jealous Witch.

      L002
      Reply

  7. Wow just when you think things are gonna be over this episode with a filler or epilogue chapter up next this show just pulls the rug out from under you…

    @Cherie : I feel bad for Julius and Felix for having to do the deed but I kinda disagree a bit with regard to Subaru. Sure we know he is gonna come back to life again and all but I do feel bad for him this time because he really came so near to “the end” of this batch of resets. It’s like he could finally relax then suddenly he has to start again from zero. Also, by no means has this been an easy bunch of resets for him and further whatever he does he won’t be able to avoid casualties having to face both the Whale and Witch Cult. So yeah, he is coming back but I don’t think you really want to relive these events.

    Juan
    Reply

  8. Yup. Things like Sins never just die. They always leave at least one bomb behind.

    Specifically about the Whale, come on, they just loaded it onto a wagon and hauled it off. That’s stupid. I’m sorry, but it really was. There was no mass exit of Fog when it died, and no indication it had run out, so all the Fog it’d been spewing out all fight had to be somewhere. Really hope I’m wrong cause it happened at the worst time possible, but it’ll also depend on when Subaru restarts.

    Aex
    Reply

    1. And Ram was behind the illusions. The flower she was holding last episode is the same one that attacked Subaru, so she meant to paralyze everyone while she subdued them, but Subaru and Julius got out too fast so she changed to a full-on attack.

      Aex
      Reply

      1. @Cherrie, I’m with Aex in that I believe Ram was indeed behind the illusions.. but I still feel that her plan was to perhaps abduct Subaru to the mansion and get some answers out of him rather than actually hurt/kill him.

        @Aex, the White Whale doesn’t consist of fog, it’s capable of producing fog. Compare the fog to human snot (sorry if this disgusts you, heh). I’m able to produce and blow/toss out pieces of snot from my nose. However, if you cut my body open, you won’t find any snot anywhere else because it’s my nose that produces it. Same thing with the whale, it’s not filled with fog, it has the capability to produce and shoot out fog from certain parts of its body.

        Screenshot from episode 20; The Captain cutting down the things (not sure what to call them) that produce the fog.

        Regarding Rem, why would something have happened to her? Last we saw her she was doing OK and she hasn’t really been mentioned since? Or have I missed something?

        JayDrink
        Reply

      2. Like Cherrie said, Rem wrote the letter, which turned blank in transit. So someone either swapped them, or the contents disappeared, which could mean Rem got Fogged. I trust this show to take the worse option.

        Aex
        Reply

  10. This show has taught me something about it and that is to NEVER expect a happy ending to anything.

    I’m wondering something though, with Subaru’s ability and him dying while slowly becoming a finger, does that mean a piece of Betelguese traveled back with him? I ever really thought about the stuff with the letter and Rem, but now that you mentioned it. I got so many question now with so little time to get answers…

    Question now is, whats the new reset point? it has got to be after the Whale Hunt. I can’t see them wasting anymore time on skimming through that again, especially with only 2 episodes left and with the possiblity of no second season… this whole series is going to have a horrible ending… can’t wait!

    SoulCaster
    Reply

  11. Great, they gonna do something to Rem. Again.

    My theory on how it gonna end, but I’m pretty sure I’m guessing correctly.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    I’m on to you Re:Zero

    Vermillion
    Reply

  13. Emilia-tan is suffering from the not enough screentime disease. I’ve been longing for her ever since she left Subaru in the capital, yet after such an awesome and satisfying entrance this week, all I could read online was a bunch of people going “ugh, her again..”, “we were so close to the end, why did she have to show up”, “too bad she didn’t die this time around” and other comments of that nature.

    I don’t like this whole “I like Rem, therefore I dislike Emilia”-mentality people got going. It makes no sense, really.

    JayDrink
    Reply

    2. Sadly, a lot of (popular) anime (franchises) suffer from that kind of mindset among a chunk of the fandom, especially when it comes to pairings; Inuyasha, Bleach, One Piece, Naruto, countless harem anime, etc. That chunk just seems to get a completely tribal mindset towards their preference in that they feel they HAVE to fervently dislike or even hate any other, in this case, pairings, no matter what facts may actually say.

      While, in this case, Subaru and Rem certainly aren’t bad together and have had development and all, it’s the mindset of the fandom that’s wrong in that they keep saying Rem “deserves” Subaru simply because she became nice to him and now clearly loves him and all, as if Subaru’s own feelings don’t matter and that he’s obligated to return Rem’s; the same type of people who said the same thing with Hinata when it came to Naruto.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

  14. I feel like this episode confirmed most of my theories about Sloth’s powers. We never saw two Sloth’s active at the same time, meaning that he does indeed jump to the next finger only after he’d die. The fingers are completely powerless without Sloth possessing them. Well, they can still use their blades, but yeah.

    Sloth’s journey: Betelgeuse > Redhead > ????? > Suicide Bomber > Long-Nose > Second Girl > Old Man > Subaru

    I’m curious about the following things:
    1. Where did Sloth go after the redhead died, or rather, why did it take him so long to hop from her to the suicide bomber?
    2. If even a single follower survives, that means Sloth survives. So then why was he in such despair when Subaru died while he was inside of him? Did they really take down every single follower? Why did Sloth not leave one hiding somewhere as an escape plan?
    3. Off-topic: If Subaru has “Return by Death” and Betelgeuse has “Swap Finger by Death”, does that mean all the other Archbishops have some sort of power that triggers on their death?

    The Gospel is pretty obvious, in my opinion. Subaru picked it up after Betelgeuse died but before the redhead got possessed (which is why she(Sloth) was confused, she(Sloth) didn’t know he took it). The Gospel seems to follow Sloth rather than whatever body he’s currently possessing, so by removing it from Betelgeuse’s corpse, Subaru effectively stole it from all of Sloth.

    JayDrink
    Reply

      1. I actually interpreted it differently. Puck’s exact words were “Death isn’t even a punishment. This is why I hate all of you.” What he meant was that killing a cultist is not a suitable crime for their sins, because cultists are usually (as Betelgeuse demonstrated in that scene) willing to die for their cause. There’s no hope of redemption for them as they never regret what they’ve done and they’re never upset about dying – thus making it a not-so-good punishment.

        But again, that was only my interpretation. If you’re right, and Puck did indeed mean that death doesn’t stop them, then that opens up a very interesting train of thought. Exactly how much does Puck know about the Witch’s Cult?

        JayDrink
        Reply

  15. Do you guys remember this scene from Episode 18?
    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2018%20-%20Large%2015.jpg

    “I’ve heard this laugh before. The voice of the man I hated to death. No… it’s me.”

    I don’t think it was you, Subaru. Puck killed Betelgeuse a few moments before killing Subaru. Now that we know that Subaru is a suitable vessel for Sloth, it’s fully possible that Betelgeuse possessed him during the Puck scene right as Subaru was dying. Subaru was half-dead and had no idea about Sloth, so when he heard Betelgeuse’s laughter in his own Subaru-voice, he got confused and just assumed that he had gone mad.

    JayDrink
    Reply

  16. Beetlejuice says a lot of good things if you try to decipher his madness.

    “Your insanity is far too sane, it’s an insult to those who are truly mad”. This is his assessment of Sloth, rather than Pride. Wilhelm sensed this as well when he said “it’s no use training a man who had given up on becoming stronger”. Crusch also noticed this the previous night during their drink, when Crusch noted that the night was breezy.

    All of this points to one fatal cognitive dissonance held by Subaru.

    Subaru is a fantastic character because we’ve all been that guy, a selfish being who believes he’s altruistic. This mental hiccup is the reason he pretends to work hard for the sake of telling himself he’s working hard. His mind conveniently breaks down for him to act insane because he wishes the world would stop being so cruel if he is at an unredeemable state. Of course, he easily snaps out of it after Beetlejuice mutilates Rem. This is the reason for his gradual self-destruction. This is the Sickness Called Despair.

    If you’re beginning to think Selfishness is the root problem, you’re on the wrong track. Ages have corrupted the word’s meaning. Today we should call it self-esteem.

    Have you ever delayed doing what you loved or found interesting, even though doing that exact thing you’re sure would bring you closer to a better life, and you a better human being? Do you ever procrastinate and instead do things you no longer enjoy out of habit? That is your fear of success, and for many, the fear it more than death. Subaru’s society tells him that Altruism is the highest virtue, that you should live for your fellow man and be humble about your achievements, therefore despite his being an intelligent boy with a bright future, he does nothing with his life. He does nothing because he had already achieved a skill through hard work and the love of it, knitting. He knows that the amount of work he needs to put into anything meaningful is not worth the recognition he gets. Here in America we have the same problem with businessmen. Our media vilify all businessmen whether he’s a crooked CEO or an honest Chairman. We ask him to be humble and to give more and more of his product to the “public good”. So he leaves with his money and the jobs he created, while the crooked one stays obviously as his political connections are here. Subaru suffers a battle that every man in history has fought, the Individual vs the Collective. And his mental illness called Altruisim causes him to want the world to be altruistic to him. In Priscilla’s words, he’s “a pig who knows nothing but want.”

    Every dictator in history has either preached sacrifice, or held an altruistic saint up as the highest virtue of the culture. The average man believes this because from birth he is told by his family, his school, the media, everyone. Because a healthy brain cannot handle contradictions, it shuts part of itself down in order to stay sane. Only by having such low self-esteem can an entire country of people sacrifices themselves and their neighbors to “the public good” or the “common enemy”. Only men of zero self-esteem can conflate the law with right and wrong. Only altruism can cause one man to kill another for an idea without first thinking if it’s the right thing to do. Only an altruist can be enslaved. Forget the corrupt men who earned their wealth dishonestly, if you believe that you are a flawed good person, and that society is made up of people like you, would you want your culture to demand and claim as it’s “public good” those that built their wealth honestly? Or do you prefer the most productive members of your society to be celebrated and aspired to? Every civilized society in history has vilified it’s businessmen. Because they are the most productive and wealthy, they are preached by their leaders intellectually (media, school), physically (taxes, regulations), spiritually (religion) to feel guilty for their achievements. This is also the root cause of why children hate school, and that we often enter school loving knowledge, yet leave school with a disdain for it. It’s not just that school is mostly tedious, or that it feels like a prison. I can speak for my generation that every minute spent at school doing work which we do not love and receives no real compensation other than a letter on a piece of paper, is a contradiction to what we know to be true, that man has free will, that he should work on only what he loves, and rightfully receive compensation in self-esteem. When we learn that man has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but we see great men like Kobe and Arnold get chopped in half for a mistake, parts of our brain die as we turn to video games to keep them alive, so that we may satisfy our thirst for knowledge and the accomplishment to fight to good fight. Seriously, those gold-diggers obviously felt that they’re entitled to half of these men’s wealth, as proven by their pretense until the 10 year mark, do you honestly think these men were getting the love they deserved in a marriage for such super human feats? Just how guilty, really, do you believe they are of their mistakes? Without a healthful amount of self-esteem, we drown ourselves in all kinds of euphoric chemicals. We turn to food and become fat. We that turn to the anonymity of the internet because that’s where feel feel have real choice in our social relationships, and become introverted (another disease, for an evolutionally introverted baby is a dead baby) and socially inept. We turn to drugs because the only other way of releasing the happy chemicals of self-esteem and pride is chemically. Some of us become womanizers for the same rush, but most turn to pornography. We develop all sorts of complexes, many of which incidentally, are both our strengths and weaknesses. For example, an introverted mind shuts down in social settings, but otherwise gives a man time to think and to pursue careers that requires flawless logic such as that of a programmer, and he produces bugged code because his mind is incomplete and therefore occasionally encounters breaks in logic. A man whose mind holds a logical contradiction near the concepts that involve morality, may turn to professions that asserts dominance on other men, the police or sports. Those with conceptual breaks near communication struggles to find disciplines that let him communicate in other ways, such as art. I shudder at the thought of a Vitruvian man’s accomplishments, those that presume he correct his every flaw through discipline and total honesty to himself, a virtue otherwise known as Integrity.

    One cannot say “I love you” without “I”. Subaru must admit he is a valuable human being and that he selfishly loves Emilia because of who she is to him. You probably still don’t feel comfortable with praising selfishness, but consider the opposite. would Emilia like Subaru to say “I love you for your sake, only because I’m so selfless”. This is self-immolation as well as to imply the demand “if you love me, you’ll sacrifice to me as well”. Furthermore, Altruisim is not only evil, it is impossible (the emotion resulting from an impossibility is despair). To say you must love your neighbors is to say that you must love everyone indiscriminately. If you selfishly donate to charity, you may enjoy a range of emotions from “not giving a crap because I just have a hero complex” to “I love my fellow man too much not to”. But if one were to be altruistic, he takes self out of the equation, but that’s impossible because everything begins with self. Another example of this is when he asks Crusch to make sacrifices of her people to solve his problems but when she asks for her incentive, he replys “I’ll owe you.” Conversely, after Rem refills him with courage, he corrects his errors and is then able to start thinking about a solution that could benefit both him and Crusch.
    Ironically, Altruism causes the person to be selfish in the modern sense, and Selfishness (Self-esteem) forces the person to be selfless in the modern sense.
    Lastly, if you protest “but only through the sacrifice of the people around Subaru was he able to eventually become the hero that slayed the White White!”. Have you forgotten? In each loop Rem died because of her altruism, Julius tarnished his career for his, and the villagers paid the price each time. This is a romantic anime with a moral to tell about reality, and in real life people die when they’re killed. Holy hell is Emiya actually a genius?

    Ensen
    Reply

      2. @Ensen
        They don’t get paid. This is entirely for their passion for anime. Great post BTW, and I’m in total agreement with it.
        Off topic, but it’s part of the reason why I’m hopeful for Noctis as a protagonist for FFXV.
        Show Spoiler ▼

        You should become a writher for RC. You’d be really good at it.

        yoloalchemist
        Reply

      3. While I liked the post, I don’t think it’s reasonable to compare it to an episodic review, since in all honesty I didn’t see the connection to the episode. The series overall, sure, but that’s not what I’m looking for each week. Cherrie does a good job of getting to the main points each week and I like her opinions even if I happen to see things differently on occasion. It’d be nice if she had some free time for the comment follow-up, but everyone here has real-life stuff and this is purely a fan site. No one is paid here, and no one is forced to come here. I’m grateful the reviews are interesting at all and I’d personally rather have good reviews of several series then of just one or two.

        Aex
        Reply

      4. @yoloalchemist
        I can’t be a writer. I gauge my personal growth by seeing how much better I get in writing without practicing it. If RC has a guest review program I’d love to drop by occasionally.

        @Aex
        I might’ve been able to write this a couple episodes ago. You’re right, this is more of a retrospective than an episodic review. I just had to write it now because I had some free time and I wanted to make a prediction post before Re:Zero ended.

        Ensen
        Reply

    3. Only thing I’ll poke at is that Rem never died because of altruism; she died because she wanted Subaru to live and wasn’t strong enough to save them both, so she took the route that made her happier. Not the same thing.

      Aex
      Reply

      1. Rem’s relationship with Subaru is debatable, and I lean towards selfish love. But her relationship with Ram before Subaru was definitely Altruism, which caused time to stop moving for her.

        I’d be very impressed if the Author wrote Re:Zero for the same reasons I wrote my half-assed post.

        Ensen
        Reply

    4. It’s interesting that the followers of Beetlejuice are called the Fingers. If you’ve seen V for Vendetta, the secret police are called Fingermen. The fact that any cultist could host Beetlejuice could signify that in the real world, anyone who subscribes to evil can be evil (my estimation of the ratio of evil people in society is quite high). Beetlejuice is the sin of Sloth yet he preaches against Sloth. This could be alluding to a phenomenon of Evil fighting lesser evil to kill two birds with one stone – Pretense of Justice and elimination of competition.
      This is all just my speculation on my part. But if you’ve ever taken psychedelics and then re-watch Gurren Lagann, it’s blatantly obvious the creators of Gurren Lagann were influenced by drugs, and they were against Altruism.

      Ensen
      Reply

      1. Well I would love to improve my writing skills systematically, but my world-view is too controversial.

        I believe you can get better at anything to a certain degree if you grow, just like you become better at basketball without practice if you grow taller.

        If my ideas are still considered controversial in 10 years, I’ll code a JRPG paying homage to Game of Thrones, Gurren Lagann, Zen, and Austrian Economics. Hell I’d do it now if enough people are interested in it. I attempted this a couple years ago with some talented musicians while living in Tokyo. That fell apart quickly when I realized there’s not enough incentive to keep everyone together. I’ve offered to program for many groups for free, only asking for interest in return. But most people are just like Subaru, they only know how to want but are too lazy to even think about what they want. There’s one time a Youtuber was complaining about copyright strikes, so I built him a website that scrapes video data from kissanime and syncs it with youtube, all I asked for was that he provide the link to his own videos. Mofo said he’s too lazy.

        Ensen
        Reply

      2. i never read the reviews, they always point out the obvious. reading reviews on this site is like downloading opinions. im only ever here for the comment section. i agree with yoloalchemist tho, if you write for RC ill read everything u write.

        Archbishop of Porn
        Reply

    6. you are right: If you’re beginning to think Selfishness is the root problem, you’re on the wrong track. Ages have corrupted the word’s meaning. Today we should call it self-esteem.

      self-esteem = selfishness

      “selfishness” is a sin in the past. because good manners and common welfare sells in the past.

      “self-esteem” is a virtue of the present.. because it sells as a motivator in the present.

      but the content of “self-esteem” and “selfishness” are one and the same nonetheless.
      welcome to the world.

      crime
      Reply

  18. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, mei in posse periculis, id scaevola necessitatibus sed. Oratio moderatius mel et, rebum vidisse offendit nec ad, meliore tincidunt in mel. Vero tota ullamcorper his ne. Autem sensibus patrioque in mel, latine phaedrum an mei.

    Id vix propriae scribentur. Ad facete appareat duo. Quidam regione ad duo, ut incorrupte theophrastus eam. Vel te mucius veritus consulatu. Solet congue liberavisse an qui, at vim elit putent omnium. Mea altera facete mediocrem at, per quidam quaestio ad.

    Qui ex fugit simul reprimique, cu qui sint iisque. Ut semper repudiandae pro. Posse impedit ei pro. Graeci utamur ea mei. Sit no odio homero recteque. Phaedrum pertinax interpretaris ei est. Mei dicat dictas rationibus ad, ne vix erant deterruisset, atqui debet salutandi cum cu.

    Mel in iudico atomorum maiestatis, vis possim aliquando abhorreant ei. His eu partem menandri, ea usu meliore accusam conceptam, sit ne vide idque blandit. Te vero soleat ius, denique phaedrum his ne. Lobortis moderatius sit in, laudem maiestatis id quo. Sit at quem case, latine aliquam eu vel, cu euismod dolorem pertinax vel.

    Diceret posidonium ad pro, tempor legendos eu his. Eum ea alia vidit congue, et eam congue iisque. Ipsum idque zril sit ei, qui te vidisse invidunt menandri. Qui noster accumsan inciderint ut. Ei eam dolore nominavi. Case consectetuer ne vix.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, mei in posse periculis, id scaevola necessitatibus sed. Oratio moderatius mel et, rebum vidisse offendit nec ad, meliore tincidunt in mel. Vero tota ullamcorper his ne. Autem sensibus patrioque in mel, latine phaedrum an mei.

    Id vix propriae scribentur. Ad facete appareat duo. Quidam regione ad duo, ut incorrupte theophrastus eam. Vel te mucius veritus consulatu. Solet congue liberavisse an qui, at vim elit putent omnium. Mea altera facete mediocrem at, per quidam quaestio ad.

    Qui ex fugit simul reprimique, cu qui sint iisque. Ut semper repudiandae pro. Posse impedit ei pro. Graeci utamur ea mei. Sit no odio homero recteque. Phaedrum pertinax interpretaris ei est. Mei dicat dictas rationibus ad, ne vix erant deterruisset, atqui debet salutandi cum cu.

    Mel in iudico atomorum maiestatis, vis possim aliquando abhorreant ei. His eu partem menandri, ea usu meliore accusam conceptam, sit ne vide idque blandit. Te vero soleat ius, denique phaedrum his ne. Lobortis moderatius sit in, laudem maiestatis id quo. Sit at quem case, latine aliquam eu vel, cu euismod dolorem pertinax vel.

    Diceret posidonium ad pro, tempor legendos eu his. Eum ea alia vidit congue, et eam congue iisque. Ipsum idque zril sit ei, qui te vidisse invidunt menandri. Qui noster accumsan inciderint ut. Ei eam dolore nominavi. Case consectetuer ne vix.

    duglas
    Reply

      1. Lorem ipsum text is used as a placeholder for situations where large amounts of text are needed, but the text’s content doesn’t matter (for example, it is used during development of web pages).

        In other words, this is a troll post.

        Lord Nayrael
        Reply

  19. So, yeah Many know that I was a detractor after Subaru went full on bitch mode in episode 13. However, these last few episode redeemed him. Then THIS episode catapult him into my good books and made me see him in a truly heroic light. I mean, I KNOW he’s could come back from death, and yet somehow, his death here seem more meaningful and hit me in the feels more than any others.

    Perhaps it’s because he had two outsider enemies who actually acknowledge his noble sacrifices.

    ./clap.

    Last episode is next week?

    Duzz
    Reply

    1. There’s nothing noble about sacrifice. From child sacrifice to the Gods, to monetary sacrifice for the public good, societies had fallen to orgies of altruism since the dawn of civilization.

      Ensen
      Reply

      1. Clearly out of the scope of this work. Sacrifices can be worthless, driven by nonsense, caused by evil motives, tragically fail, or noble and wonderful. But the idea that the lives sacrificed to stop the evil in WWII are not noble is evil.

        RedRocket
        Reply

      2. Wars don’t happen without a culture that calls for altruism. I don’t think evils of altruism is out of scope of Re:Zero and I wrote a lengthy post about it using clues from the episodes. But it just says “awaiting moderation”…………..

        Ensen
        Reply

      3. well honestly I’d take altruism over greed since I think greed and all things stemming therefrom are the more common thing and the source of most conflicts.

        Not all sacrifices are altruistic, many of them are done for pride or vanity. True sacrifice is something special and that’s why people value it

        Juan
        Reply

      4. Subaru realized he was probably going to lose the fight for his body and need to be killed anyway, and his sacrifice cut off the possibility of Sloth killing more people and Emilia. If you don’t like the word “noble” then just call it smart, but it solved the problem the best way the crappy situation could hope for.

        Aex
        Reply

    2. Two more episodes, actually. So two more weeks! And someone above mentioned that the final episode will be 1H, if that’s true then technically we’ve got 3 episodes left. Woop woop! (Don’t get your hopes up about the 1 hour thing though, I haven’t seen a source).

      JayDrink
      Reply

  20. Anyway, Subaru being a vessel for Betelguese was certainly something I wasn’t expecting.

    They foreshadowed it last week when Felix explained that whenever someone receives a gospel they always suddenly seem to become devout cult members. Simple possession of the book seems to be enough to brainwash someone into becoming a cult member and when necessary a vessel for Betelgeuse.

    Also they’re called “fingers” because they’re offshoots of the invisible hand.

    qwert
    Reply

  21. The author has not yet given up his day job as a butcher although he is on leave for the past year. Author states does lots of his thinking while working.
    All these gory evil twists drive a good part of this story. Thus to me from now on the author will be fondly referred to as “The Butcher”.

    RedRocket
    Reply

  22. The hate from the villagers is not all racism although half elf with silver hair are hated. This hate is standard peasant vs Nobel on the subject that the peasants pay dearly for the fights that Nobel’s get into.

    RedRocket
    Reply

  23. We got a good amount of hints this episode.
    – Subaru has high compatibility with spirits. (Easier to possess maybe?)
    – A lesser fire spirit entered his body without him noticing. (Can other “spirits” can do that too?)
    – Subaru got possessed even though he has a witch behind him. (kinda expected her to pop up angry at Betelgeuse. I mean, she’s the Witch of Envy, not the Witch of Sharing)
    – Betelgeuse’s possession method it most likely through his gospel. (Maybe it’s his real “body” or a horcrux :P)

    Other things
    – Thinking back, Betelgeuse said that every Bishop got a gospel. (And I doubt that the whale had one)
    – 1 retry ago when Subaru and Rem went through the mist with the merchants, the witch cult was definitely in the mist too.
    – Betelgeuse and his fingers did not know about the mercenaries coming for them.

    Conclusions:
    – If we take into the account that Subaru is most likely the Bishop of Pride, then he bishops are most likely closer to spirits then humans, which enables them to survive better (Like Betelgeuse’s possession or Subaru’s retry).
    – We have 2 witch cults on the loose.
    – If Subaru is really the Bishop of Pride, then his authority is not the retry, it’s just a side effect from becoming spirit-like.

    Professor
    Reply

    1. As I saw on another site this is when Suburu should have tried to think about return by death thus bringing the Witch into the play. Like that poster I do not think the Witch would be happy with Betelgeuse. 😉

      In desperation though little time to think and there is the possibility of blow back to Felix and Julius.

      RedRocket
      Reply

    2. -Thinking back, Betelgeuse said that every Bishop got a gospel. (And I doubt that the whale had one

      He didn’t say that, Mimi did. It’s treated as an unconfirmed rumor as far as who isn’t part of Cult knows.

      Iron Maw
      Reply

    3. – Thinking back, Betelgeuse said that every Bishop got a gospel. (And I doubt that the whale had one)

      it is possible also that the whale ate one holding a gospel.
      we still are not sure if a gospel is purely physical contact or requires intelligence before becoming possessed.

      sloth
      Reply

    1. While I agree Emilia needs more screen time, there’s a certain segment of most (all?) fandoms who will viciously attack any who disagree, so you’re never going to get away from those Rem fans.

      SK
      Reply

  25. Wow. I really enjoyed this episode, is it just me or the witch cultist are like a metaphor to muslim extremists. watching this episode made me think “wow that is probably how terrorists think” especially with all the kettygeuse, pettugeuse, petelgeuse and all the other geuses. they want love from the witch (allah), they revere the bible (quran), they are all crazy, they need to finish the ordeal (jihad) and they can’t be killed, once you kill one, the sin just passes on to another.

    xtian
    Reply

    1. Not quite sure if you’re trolling with that name and this post, but you could easily make the same case for most other religions and belief systems; Christianity in particular has a long and storied history of religious fanaticism, targeting those both within and without. Only thing that really separates a cult from a religion is its acceptability in society at large. However, I don’t think this is really the time or place to delve deeper into religious studies.

      SK
      Reply

  26. i really think this creates a whole new difference of who is subaru now as he is willing to die… note that in all the previous parts.. he is still afraid of having to die…

    I think he finally manned up a little bit

    Maiku
    Reply

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