「魔女たちの茶会」 (Majo-tachi no Chakai)
“The Witches’ Tea Party”

If I was a betting man I’d say we’re setting up for one mighty showdown next week—but this is Re:Zero and we all know how far such monetary commitments typically go. Yes, it was a multi-witch special this go around as Subaru progressed a stage while fending off promises of sunshine and rainbows, yet for that glitters you know deep down the true pain and suffering for our boy has yet to really begin.

Out of every detail described this week, probably the most ominous is Echidna’s attempt at securing a boyfriend wrangling Subaru into a contract. As pre-season PV’s hinted towards the girl is not as nice and chummy as she comes across and definitely has an ulterior motive at works—the only question was what. Cue the contractual obligations she nonchalantly throws out after giving Subaru the goodies he’ll get, because hey, what’s a little breach of privacy between friends? I find it quite funny Echidna is taking the roundabout route here; she can clearly coerce Subaru into doing what she wants considering the mental shenanigans she is capable of, but is willing to spend the effort getting him to willingly sign up likely given the uniqueness and alure of his Return by Death. It’s the perfect play to her greedy personality, and you can definitely bet the teasers of what lies underneath her good cop won’t take long to make their official appearance.

The other interest, however, naturally lies with Beatrice given we learned what was easily predictable following last episode’s events. As suspected, the girl is effectively a product of Echidna, a spirit sworn to protect her library (happy to know whose it actually now is aren’t ya?) until the appearance of the right person—who naturally is left up to Beatrice to deduce because Echidna truly only knows how to take over give. I’ll leave it to you to guess how Subaru will wind up saving Beatrice from her self-inflicted purgatory, but without a doubt he will rescue her and will wind up having Beatrice effectively treat him as her new master, because mid-story power-up. And with Beatrice at his side you know the tribulations of Echidna’s second Sanctuary trial won’t be that bad to deal with, especially considering the witch looks set to try and do whatever she considers necessary to finally wrap Subaru around her finger.

Couple it with all the fun to be had of every witch including Satella being in on the festivities and darling I dare say we have one hell of a season finale on our hands. Oh, and the annoyance of that whole season break before getting to part two, but I’ll try to pretend I didn’t know that was a thing.

30 Comments

  1. Subaru incorrectly stated this episode that Roswaal has the Tome of Wisdom because he wasn’t paying attention when Roswaal said that what Beatrice (and him since he has the second copy) has is actually an unnamed text that is the closest thing to the Tome of Wisdom, which means it’s not actually the Tome of Wisdom. Given that Echidna can see the future since she turned Petra’s handkerchief into a spirit blade because she knew Subaru would need to kill himself, that suggests that she has the actual Tome of Wisdom. Beatrice also said that Echidna’s last words to her was that Betty was wait for “that person” to free herself from the contract, and that indicates that Echidna makes the text in the not-quite-Tome of Wisdom appear, and the only way for that to be possible is if she has the genuine Tome of Wisdom that can tell her of the events in Beatrice and Roswaal’s future.

    Vance
  2. I specifically went and read the WN part of what was covered this episode and i must say, damn, they would need like 2 full episodes to cover just the “what if” part of it, detail is so deep, if he saw only moments of what happened after his death, in WN he saw hours of what happened after his demise, and witch tea party made much more sense as well.

    John
  3. These possible parallel realities were harsh to see.
    Also, Echidna seemed to be such a nice girl, but… I guess you don’t call someone a witch for no reason ^_^. Btw losing her composure and offering Subaru all the goodies was quite something and unexpected

    nixx
  4. Am I weird for still liking Echidna?
    LN/WN readers please help me out a bit. What is exacly the price she wants from Subaru?
    From what I got she’s offering answers to questions, and thinking together with Subaru, and in exchange wants to see what he achives with it. While it can be manipulative, it’s nowhere near sinister. She only suggests/provides means to an end, it does not mean you have to choose it.

    To be honest the “tea party” just felt like other witches bullying Echidna for their own gain, while Subaru is getting manipulated by them instead of Echidna.

    Arken
    1. Not a light LN/WN reader but I had someone who is explain it to me so I don’t know if it is correct, but it basically boils down Show Spoiler ▼

      Halat
        1. I think if he takes this deal, he would be affected by her, so he would chose to do it the Greed’s way. There is a What IF scenario, that explores, what happens, if Subaru takes Echidna’s deal and strives for inhuman perfection.

          Kessler
    2. Show Spoiler ▼

      John
    3. Show Spoiler ▼

      Mark
  5. So Subaru did die from extreme blood loss in the previous episode (and after getting a kiss from a mentally unhinged Emilia). Still a disturbing experience nonetheless, at least until he saw what happened in the other timelines after he died or killed himself. (And that was much closer to Morty’s own experience in the “Vat of Acid” episode. Though I dare say Subaru saw more heartbreaking moments in those other timelines.)

    And beyond Echidna showing her darker side, s**t just got real with Satella appearing at Echidna’s tea party. And knowing those six witches were killed by Satella, was their combined strength not enough to repel–if not defeat–Satella? (Or did Satella manage to divide the other six witches and kill them one by one? Or perhaps the six witches were already divided in the first place?)

    I hope the next episode gives some answers, at least before the inevitable cliffhanger is left behind.

    Incognito
      1. I would be interesting if Satella somehow saw the future, and every iteration of the future she could see, Subaru was “stolen” from the other witches, so she preceded to kill them based on that sole fact.

        frubam
  6. It was interesting how Rem killed him to put him out of his misery that one time. Not as sinister as I first thought. What an episode with everything going on. I tell you I am on the edge of my seat most of the time when i watch this.

    sealouse
    1. I think the scene reinforced that neither girl really has a malicious bone in their body, they just do what has to be done (in terms of their relationship with Roswaal). We likely only remember it as sinister given how everything was first viewed through Subaru’s frame of reference 😛

  7. Why is this Johny guy posting spoilers?
    You want to ruin my favorite series for me?

    Think I might just skip further randomc blog posts for this show and read somewhere else where there’s an edit and report function.

    boingman
    1. To put it simply: Spoiler tags ain’t working properly, chief.

      Ran into a similar problem on posts about other anime (e.g.: KanoKari) since I usually spoiler-tag for actual (or potential) spoilers and references to H / “off-brand” content of that anime. 😉

      Incognito
    2. Spoilered everything, but I’m now inclined to push hard for a comment preview function at minimum sooner rather than later given I cannot watch each post like a hawk.

      @Incognito
      Spoiler tags are working, PiC and I ensured it after some spoilers popped up earlier in the season, I think it’s a case of the tags being improperly entered in this case.

      1. Appreciate the fix, chief. Tags are still “X” minus the underscores? (I usually edit my stuff on Notepad before pasting and posting.)

        But just in case…

        330149 (A new “off-brand manga” of Echidna, if anyone wants to know.)

        Incognito

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