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「少女の福音」 (Shoujo no Fukuin)
“The Maiden’s Gospel”
Well I dare say things are getting a little serious in Re:Zero land. We’re still technically in the roundabout section of the Sanctuary arc—i.e. teasing the hell out of reveals for later—yet for all that revving there’s quite a bit given to heartily chew upon. From ominous Frederica oaths to Roswaal shenanigans and yes, even a bit of further Subaru suffering, plenty is already out on the table, and we haven’t even hit Subaru’s second reincarnation yet.
Probably the biggest (or most important) unsurprise of the week is the update to Subaru’s Return by Death checkpoint. While having it positioned before his attempt at Sanctuary’s trial made some sense via Re:Zero’s mantra of suffering (Subaru reliving past trauma is right up there with Steins;Gate Okabe PTSD at this point), I cannot say having it after is a bad decision. We now know what happened in Subaru’s past, a point of contention—i.e. Subaru’s motivation—has been smoothened over, and few I imagine would want to keep on repeating that flashback again and again. Plus it’s not like we’re lacking for suspense and intrigue now; between Frederica’s oath preventing her from speaking (likely down to magic if force is needed to break it) and Roswaal’s own desire to see Emilia complete Sanctuary’s trials alone (certainly due to the election driving Emilia’s actions) there’s quite a bit left to figure out. And that’s before touching of Echidna’s role in these matters.
Right now though the major threat is Elsa, and for pretty obvious reasons. While Subaru may have determined the timing of her arrival, the combined effort of a thoroughly spunky Ram, transforming Frederica, and himself isn’t enough to overcome the bowel lover, particularly when she’s willing to also bring along a pet. It’s anyone’s guess how long it’ll take to get Beatrice involved in this fight (as that ending all but hints towards), however the arguable biggie of this current predicament is Elsa’s client. Someone, somewhere has a pretty damn good idea just where Subaru is from, and just what he is outside of being part of Emilia’s camp. Maybe not enough to fully recognise his otherworldly origins mind you, but probably enough to know the kid is far from being just some charismatic weakling. In any case piecing together the reason for Elsa’s presence will be the immediate name of the game, and with Rem’s and Petra’s lives also at stake, a mystery which will likely take a few Return by Death attempts to properly figure out.
Or at least after Beatrice gets a chance to shine and explain the circumstances preventing her from dealing with the latest potential threat to Roswaal’s personal library.
Elsa saying that Subaru arrived sooner than she expected and that she was supposed to time the killings of two maids and one 1 shut-in (Frederica, Petra, and Beatrice. It can’t be referring to Rem since nobody remembers Rem) so that Subaru would arrive shortly after they’ve been killed suggests that the one she is working for can likely see the future as there’s no other way to know that Subaru would return to the mansion.
It also mandates that it be someone who knows that Petra was recently hired at the mansion, that Frederica recently came back to the mansion, and knows of Beatrice and her Door Crossing, and given how Beatrice rarely comes out of the library, the most obvious suspect is Roswaal if he can indeed see the future with a Gospel as I speculated last week. Frederica had no idea her crystal would teleport someone away, so it must have been Roswaal who tampered with it given that Frederica was acting exactly as he instructed. The alternative is that those crystals Frederica and Garfiel had were inherently tied to Echidna, but what are the odds of that?
I understand that some people still suspect Frederica anyway since she was checking the forest barrier, which would make her somebody who could have let the mabeast in, but I think a mabeast being in the mansion more likely signals that the little blue-haired girl who could control the Ulgarm in the mansion arc is back, and perhaps she is the Maylie Elsa is talking who is taking some of the credit for killing people Elsa was directed to kill.. The blue-haired girl is in the OP after all.
Roswaal is definitely top of the list of suspects, he knows far more than he’s letting on and is directly responsible for the oath binding Frederica. There’s also the minor issue of him choosing to flee to Sanctuary when he knew only a few half-bloods would be able to leave (and isn’t it funny he was eligible to take the trial himself?). The question is why he would target Subaru, and I suspect the answer for that will come from Beatrice.
“[I]f Subaru got disemboweled (again) by Elsa, does this mean he’ll return to a point where he has to do the trial again?”
– From the looks of things, he returns to the point after passing the first trial. It does make me wonder if a new Return By Death “save point” will be made with each trial passed (and if Subaru will have to alternate between finding clues to clear the trials and avoiding a total party kill by Elsa, with lots of returning by death in between).
“If Emilia can’t overcome the Sanctuary’s trial, does this mean that Subaru has to be the one to do it?”
– With Garfiel rejecting (huh?) the idea of Subaru doing the trial in Emilia’s stead, I now wonder if it has something to do with being a half-breed? (e.g.: Emilia being a half-elf.) Or perhaps Emilia having some connection to the Witch of Envy (besides being voiced by Rie Takahashi)?
Still a mystery at this point:
– If Subaru managed to overcome the first trial of the Sanctuary (out of three), I wonder what the other two trials entail?
– I wonder what Emilia’s seeing in her own trial?
New burning questions:
– I recall Ram telling Subaru in the previous timeline to ask Beatrice about “that question”, something known only between Roswaal and Beatrice. Will Subaru pass that message to Beatrice after the latter’s late rescue of Subaru? What is “that question” about?
– On a different note, where’s “Call of the Witch”? Or has it been memed so much that the audience can’t take it seriously anymore?
Welp, time to get scaroused by Elsa again…
Have to remember it’s not Garfiel rejecting Subaru doing the trial, it’s Roswaal. The guy probably doesn’t care who takes it, but since he and Frederica are heavily linked with Roswaal, Roswaal’s opinion is what wins out in the end.
As for the other two trials we’ll find out soon enough, this is the largest arc adapted so far for a reason 😉
This quasi-porn outfit cunt is beyond ridiculous, and therefore about the only redeeming quality of the shitshow. That and some porn.
That was brutal. I loved it. They took forever to leave that room though. It probably wouldn’t have mattered from the looks of it.
Quite a lot happened this episode. So far all S2 episodes have been longer than the standard length of abt. 25 mins. I’m impressed.
Also, Frederica is thicc. There I said it.
Doesn’t look like Subaru will ever get used to death around him, though he still managed to ask Elsa about her client, which unlike other villains she refused to reveal even though she was about to silence him.
Expecting a quick death after whatever Beatrice tells him next episode.
It really helps the producers are willing to abandon the OP and ED as needed just like the first season, it’s very rare we see that except for a few one-off instances. Really shows the script writers are determined to adapt the source material as best as possible.
On the whole, I am not a big fan of the character designs in this show nor with how they’re typically executed. However, every once in a while the artists do something really special and for this episode, it all came together in this dazzling image of Emilia.
https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Season%202%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2007.jpg
On the one hand, it’s really simple; you can count the number of its lines and colours. But it’s quite expressive and I think they really captured her torment in that moment. I can’t help but wonder just what the heck she must face during her trial although given that she’s arguably the most hated creature in the land, it can’t be good.
Meanwhile, Ram had a good episode, which I’m glad to see. She often gets short shrift as her imouto gets all the adoration. But other than when she closed off discussion during the above scene (frame 8) I really liked how she handled the events of the day.
It’s probably why I wind up taking so many screenshots of character eyes up close, a lot of emotion is given by these scenes and it can be easy (or easier) to discern feelings and other personal thoughts through them.
Also agreed on Ram, IMO I think it’s down to her personality (she’s pretty much the bad cop to Rem’s good cop), but with Rem currently out of the picture it’s nice to see she’s more than a simple tart rebuttal device.
So the main character will have so this over and over the time loop thing. I got a lot of questions.
Will anyone figure out about his time looping especially Emily, she need to face the reality and the suffering of the main character?
Also is that means Sabura has to kill the Witch Cultist member Gluttony in order to break the curse?
Whether anyone figures out Subaru’s ability is up in the air right now, but given what happens when he tries to reveal it you can guess no one will be for the moment. It certainly won’t be long before someone starts catching on, but who or when is unknown.
And yes, at least to recover everyone’s memories of Rem. If you mean Subaru’s own ability, that is something more complex and less understood, and it’s no guarantee killing the responsible Witch will destroy it.
Those Sanity Point is really draining on Subaru. look at that faces!.
I think questions concerning identity and agenda of Elsa’s client, or circumstances of Frederica’s binding oath are something better left for safer time:. Now the practical, immediate question is: how do we stop Elsa from killing everyone?
If combined powers of Frederica (who is awesome in her own right) and Ram are not enough, then who can take on this killing machine?
Elsa combines two very impotent features: being a dreadful killing machine and being an almost exclusive supplier of fanservice on behalf of these series, lol
(Frederica surprisingly contributed too in this episode though)