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「絶望に抗う賭け」 (Zetsubou ni Aragau Kake)
“A Wager That Defies Despair”
After what seems like a lot of determination and combined effort, Subaru and co. are finally able to take down the Whale by ultimately crushing it with the giant tree. This is not without a lot of work from the group though. They had to pull together all their combined strength to defeat not just one but three whales! Of course, it wasn’t really THREE whales but it still doesn’t mean that the effort goes unseen. The episode showcases everyone’s abilities to take down the White Whale and how Subaru manages to lead the charge. There’s a huge change in the way folks view Subaru compared to how poorly he was treated before. People actually look at him as an equal and with respect – especially Crusch. I see a bit of a ship there, but obviously one of more mutual respect for one another (bordering friendship?). I’m glad that this puts Subaru in people’s good side and he manages to redeem himself a bit from his earlier impressions (back in like episode 13; man that feels so long ago). For those that have been waiting for Subaru to really show off his good qualities and not get beaten to death repeatedly, this is it.
In my post last week, I said that I would’ve liked the episode a lot more if they actually showed the relationship between Wilhelm and his wife develop. The audience never actually gets to see anything more other than their brief introduction and several scenes of them fighting and acknowledging each other. I am blissed with a bit more of their history this week and we don’t just see them together, we see them kiss! Not once but twice! How adorable is that? I’m a sucker for romance and any piece of it in this series is much appreciated; since Subaru + Rem or Emilia is so far down the road. It’s not the most romantic scene in the world, but I think it shows a lot about Wilhelm’s character and also just how much he loves his wife from just wanting to take that burden away from her. He knows that she’s a far superior swordsman to him, but at least he makes his best attempt to prove that he’s worthy of protecting her. I love that and I love how Wilhelm is still out for revenge even years later (too bad Re: Zero never clearly shows HOW Thearesia dies). Wilhelm is ruthless when he rips the Whale open and comes out alive. It’s like he’s running on all this adrenaline and built up anger when he’s slashing the Whale over and over again. It made me feel bad for the Whale just a bit… a tiny bit, but not enough to outweigh the benefit of its death.
And if Wilhelm and Thearesia’s relationship didn’t get to you, then Rem and Subaru must have done the trick. I don’t think many of us would complain seeing more of Rem and Subaru – but mainly Rem. Her devotion to Subaru is off the charts and it’s just unbelievable how well they treat each other. They could seriously be more than friends and I wouldn’t know the difference; it’s a shame that that ship might never happen. I’m sad to see Rem actually depart along with most of the others, which leaves Subaru with only a handful of men from Crusch’s and Anastasia’s camp. She’s been a pleasure to watch and would’ve been an asset against the Witches’ Cult. It feels like forever since we’ve last seen the Witches’ Cult but I’m dying to get back to the main story of how Subaru will finally save Emilia’s life. That includes killing Betelgeuse finally (that crazy son-of-a-b*tch)! I hope no one dies in the process… and I was clearly very wrong about Ricardo and Wilhelm dying. I was completely fooled by last week’s episode! I could’ve been convinced that Wilhelm might still be alive but I thought Ricardo was definitely bitten in half or something with all the blood. That’s no indication if people will or will not die against Betelgeuse but I’m certain that Subaru won’t so this would result in a straightforward story until the finale.
Now that moby dick is done they’ll need to deal with Beatlejuice. There’s no bonfire to save so subaru is going to have to be extra careful XD. Astrea romance was so cute even if it was for a brief moment. Just so sad we don’t get to see more since she’s already gone. Such a great but bittersweet end to his dream.
While it’s cool to see Subaru ride on top of the whale, but seriously how he get on it??
Rem incase him in the ice spell Al Huma and launched him up there.
Hmm when rem cast al huma, Subaru not standing anywhere near rem
That was she did in LN, the anime just seems to have immediately gone to her casting it.
Oh I see…
Man this was pretty damn fantastic episode! Might be one of series bests even. Especially because seeing Subaru come in his own as legitimate hero and not someone pretending to be one out of some misguided pride is extremely cathartic. That said now he’s meeting Julius again after that fateful day at Royal Election, his interaction will be key to really how much his changed. I don’t expect Subaru to like immediately since naturally nobody like some one who beat as badly as he did, but he can bury the hatchet in he end with him it showcase his maturity even more.
The end of Wilhelm’s flashback was really well done, together with the other ones it gave you just enough to show how devoted he was and how he freed her from then burdens of a Warrior’s Path and familial duty that she never wanted. The juxtaposition between him finishing off the Whale and his duel was especially good in it’s direction show kind of emotions running through that words wouldn’t give.
Rem’s scenes were as usual good, but I think like the ones with Crusch and SUbaru only because how she come to respect him. She
Now to see how the anime well handle to last 4 episodes which I’m really looking forward. How will Subaru deal with Witch Cult and what will happened when he reunites with Emilia and others after his long trials. There all things to be excited about.
Crap! Hit the submit button by accident, oh well. lol
Damn if rem is a perfect waifu then Wilhelm is a perfect a husbando..from a normal guy that his sword slash can be stopped by his wife with only using fingers to actually defeat her(at least in raw strength and sword skill) makes me wonder how much time and effort he spend on it
So… if Wilhelm’s wife was killed by the White Whale, why did it not erase her? I mean, sure the White Whale wouldn’t erase everyone if it isn’t possible, but I’d think that a Sword Saint might merit wiping from existence.
What made you think white whale care about who to kill or who to erase though? it’s doesn’t seem to be that smart.
I really doubt the Whale would give a crap about who she is. It’s a monster that only cares about eating and self-sustainment.
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Because you are only erased if your hit by the fog blasts. If killed by bite, crushing, falling or any other reason you are remembered. I think most likely reason she died is when the whale split in three her side froze or ran and she started despairing thus not fighting her best. Then with no ability to reach the real whale in the air the other two whales wore her out to the point she could no longer avoid a bite or crush attack. Later they returned and found her body that had not been hit with mist. Maybe only her sword and a arm if whale ate her.
But what put her into a fight against the white whale in the first place? If I’m not wrong, when Wilhelm disarmed her, that signified that she no longer had the right to wield a sword or to be a knight. So what made her fight the white whale?
Not revealed yet although I recall William saying she had to take up the sword again, I assume he feels guilty about it but don’t know if he actually had any control over it.
I just find the whole thing a bit suss. Mabeasts so far have shown to have some simple goals or are possibly under the control of another being. I wouldn’t say they are completely mindless beasts.
It all depends on the situation and as I said “if” she was killed by the White Whale. Maybe whatever group she was with managed to at least retrieve the body before it was consumed by the fog? They really play her up a lot and I would like to think her role is not over yet.
rem is definitely the best girl for subaru that emilia doesnt even come close. after 20 episodes, i can list now why rem is in the ranking of best waifu/girl in rezero…
1. subaru kept on dying for emilia but we are yet to see if the day will come where emilia will die for subaru (as a payback for all of subaru’s hardship just to help emilia). — this is a complete contrary to rem who is willing to die for subaru (who also died many times for rem).
2. rem is willing to follow subaru disregarding the hellish trial, (i wonder if emilia will follow subaru to that kind of trial too considering as how pro emilia people says, she has life and plans of her own)
3. rem TRIES to understand subaru (during that epic episode 18 rant). emilia doesnt even exerted an effort and prefers to end it (refer to subaru arrogant rant in the end of the episode (cant remember what episode) after getting beat to pulp in a knight duel in an earlier episode)
4. after the white whale hunt and probably saving the mansion (the next mission), i wonder if emilia would be proud of subaru and really appreciate his effort and be grateful so much this time… but i think nope. she seems to see subaru’s sacrifices as nuisance for her own “life plans”.
5. rem needs subaru, subaru needs rem… subaru needs emilia, emilia doesnt need subaru i think this speaks a lot
the point is, if this is love, the real love is subaruXrem. because there is a return of appreciation and love from both sides. on subaruXemilia, the love is one sided. its always subaru to emilia but from emilia, nada, ZERO… honestly with all the plus side of rem, i dont think the episode where emilia let subaru cry on her lap or some other emiliacentric episodes can even surpass rem’s sacrifices for subaru (who sacrificed himself also for rem).
i am not against emilia… i just hope, that there would be a time that emilia would finally appreciate subaru’s effort to help her, and equalize subaru’s sacrifices. as how i see it, emilia doesnt need subaru. subaru is just attached to emilia due to his resolve in episode 1. but if that resolve wasnt created, subaru would surely ditch emilia for rem by now.
Okay regardless of what ship support this just not true:
I can’t say that I agree with this she spent half series being a murder and torturer. Okay in last several epiosdes (Arc 3) that she gotten better.
Thank God someone said it. I was cracking my knuckles ready to burst into a rebuttal typing frenzy.
Bless your soul, because if you didn’t do it, I would have. Nearly every argument made in that person’s soliloquy made my gears turn to overdrive for a second. It’s all the arguments I hate the most against Emilia, as well as all the arguments I hate most pro Rem/SubaruXRem
NOT meaning to start a flame war with anyone, but I just have to say this after reading the original post and, as was mentioned, feeling the urge to respond…
Really, while I actually DO like the Rem and Subaru ship itself, the interaction and development between the two, and so on, the way I have, and still see a lot of people talking about Rem and Subaru – how Rem “deserves” Subaru as if Subaru is merely a trophy whose own feelings don’t matter, especially with the way people try to dictate how he “should” be with Rem while ignoring who he actually is and whatnot, and only seeming to support Rem’s side of things rather than being a mutual and equal relationship…
This has been sounding EXACTLY like what I STILL see diehard Naruto/Hinata fans trying to say – Hinata “deserves” Naruto simply because of a couple moments where it was really just about Hinata and not both of them, only thinking about Hinata’s feelings, but never Naruto’s as if he’s just a trophy for her, only talking about Hinata’s side but never Naruto’s, and so on, all while ignoring things that completely contradict those beliefs.
super spoiler but just about romance plot
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Not an addtion to the spoiler just a reply. I haven’t read any source material so i’m just being careful…
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Problem is, even if that’s true, at this point is not something in favour of the Emilia x Subaru ship. “Wait, it will get better” is the same as saying “it’s not very good right now”.
Also,
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While in-universe Subaru has his reasons to fall for Emilia, out-universe a lot of fans don’t see why or don’t share those reasons to begin with. Another sign of the writer’s loss. But hey, Subaru is the protagonist of a LN, not a player avatar in a Bioware video game or a VN, where the audience can decide which reasons should rule a character’s life. That said, Re:Zero would make for a pretty neat choice-based video-game…
1. “day will come where emilia will die for subaru” – she did…
2. Rem doesn’t have the fate of an entire nation resting with her. Allowing her to be more free with her options. They (Rem & Ram) may owe a debt to Roswaal, but right now his interest seems to lie more with Ram and Rem just came with the package.
3. Rem sees Subaru’s good side, while Emilia sees his bad side. Although, Emilia also sees his good side however she is well aware of his vanity. I’d say there’s a strong argument to Emilia understanding Subaru more than Rem.
4. Since when has she ever seen Subaru’s sacrifices as a nuisance? Not sure if you’ve been watching the anime, but whenever Subaru dies, the world resets. He remembers the traumas, but metaphysically, the events never happened and his sacrifices never happened.
5. I don’t think “need” is the right word. At the very least in Rem’s case, she is way too self-sacrificing and selfless to have the vanity in order to “need” something. The other’s I can relatively agree on. One shared reason why Subaru “needs” (use this for now for lack of a better word myself) Rem and Emilia is emotional support. Does Emilia need Subaru? Well, it depends on the context and scenario we are talking about. Metaphysically, probably yes as she’d be permanently dead otherwise most likely.
Let me finalize by saying that I… actually don’t disagree with you. I think there are strong and valid arguments for both sides of the topic. I’m just simply playing the opposition.
World dosnt reset .. the world where he died continiues thats how dimentional hoping works i hope its not any spoiler..
I am well aware of the multi-dimension theory. But considering Re:Zero’s fantasy status and that it has not defined other dimensions outside of the one the character currently metaphysically exists in, I won’t assume the same is applied here.
In fairness to Emilia we haven’t really gotten to know her much. She was all but absent in this entire arc, as well as the one before and was pretty much merely the damsel in distress (not really but yeah) in the first arc.
So it’s still early days to pass judgment on her as a character. We’ve only seen glimpses of who she potentially is.
just for laughs, in REZERO petit 7, emilia actually feel that her position is being threatened which is true right now. its so funny how it really reflects reality.
on topic, i remember someone saying, that emilia haven’t been put into the position so comparison with rem is wrong, to which i somehow agree. IMHO let’s decide finally who is the best girl once emilia has been put into that “position” like rem. i am pretty sure the day where emilia will have the qualities to become everyone’s waifu like rem will come. just be patient.
You are absolutely right =03. Forget about those fancy explanations trying to dismiss it; Emilia is nice, but not deserving of all that Subaru does for her. Maybe someday she will, but it definitely isn’t at this point in the series. Of course part of that is Subaru’s own fault, but it doesn’t discount how well the bond is between Rem and Subaru.
The thing that you must wait a little becuae Emilia does indeed deserves all Subaru is doing for her, Rem has supported Subaru through all this but Emilia gave the guy a reason to live on in this new world. The true behind Emilia´s actions is tied to her very, very tragic past, she push Subaru away because of that but belive she´s regrets is tremendously. (I´m not kidding about her past, from what I´ve read Rem´s tragic looks like field trip compare to what Emilia has gone through).
I would say the statement that Rem is better for Suburu based on the evidence so far is true with the limitation that we don’t know enough about Emilia. I don’t think the original argument was Suburu should love Rem more. Now at the later part of my life I would hope I would be smart enough to take the bird in the hand even if I did not love them I know I would do so in time and they would make the perfect spouse. But Suburu does not even have to make that choice as he states Rem is his number 2. In Japan most people have a lover and Japanese even has a word that means living with both wife and mistress and/or sharing a bed with wife and mistress. So like the French having two loves is something Suburu would think of as an option. Now me I think of Rem and Ram as a set that I would not break up.
But as far as Suburu loving Emilia she has reasons one would fall in love with her but even if she was rotten, love is blind, deef, dumb and stupid and it is so common for someone to fall in love with the wrong person when a great person would love them it is a tragedy that I’m sick of but should be in fiction like in life a common thing. I want it repeated so maybe for some it will become I will let my mind not my heart choose who I will try to be with. I do know humans are not a monogamist species so I know falling out of love is guarantied so for something to last their must be reason other than love to stay together and then the love can restart.
I really hope Subaru would at least apologize to Julius.
Knowing Julius, he’s too good of a person to not apologize even though he’s not in the wrong. So I wish that Subaru would at least stop being a prick and apologize sincerely.
He was pretty much an a$$ to Julius and all because he jumped to his own conclusions. I think Julius was more entitled to the way he acted than how Subaru did out of his own pride or jealousy. So yeah he does deserve an apology but given the face and reaction, I’m not sure we will get one right away, perhaps after a bit of “getting to know you” which Subaru has so far refused to pursue
Actually, in a roundabout way, Julius did Subaru a favor. Aside from giving his ego a good ass-kicking (which we all know Subaru needed), Subaru’s making an a$$ of himself in the throne room included insulting the knights’ chivalry and honor would have had some stray knights ambushing Subaru in some back alley somewhere and opening his throat for all the insults he spouted in court.
Julius thrashing Subaru did two things: proving that Subaru was weak as Petra and therefore not worth killing, and pounding into Subaru the message that he can’t defend Emilia’s honor. Not in the typical knightly way anyway.
Subaru´s main problem was Pride and because he´s not Ecanor he had not much back it up so end result unavoideble. Emilia´s situation is very complex and it would take more than a strong to help her, this world has a fantastic racism with very deep roots thanks to the Witch of Envy, the way she destroyed hal of the planet must have left a tremendous hatred in the hearts of this people that had lasted all this 400 years so in a way you´re right, Julius forced Subaru into becoming a really good so he can help and protect the girl he loves, because if Emilia has any chance of surviving this mess, let alone becoming King, it would be becuase of Subaru´s heroic actions.
Hen-san you´re kind of right, Julius did Subaru a favor by forcing him to become a better man but that doesn´t it didn´t hurt as hell and I´m not talking about the wounds.
While Subaru was being an ass to Julius from the beginning, you know… jealousy and all… from Subaru’s perspective Julius beat the crap out of him when he was trying to prove himself to everyone. To say to everyone that he had a right to stand beside Emilia. The last thing (at least in the anime) that Julius said to him was something along the line of ‘you are so weak you don’t even have the right to stand alongside her’. Subaru has learned a lot of lessons about himself since then. But you all are saying that Subaru should apologize to Julius, that he should thank Julius. That Julius proved to him how weak he really is.
Are you serious? He should thank Julius? He should apologize? Yeah, he was rude to him but the pure beating that he took would eliminate any amount of rudeness he previously showed. And whether Julius had an ulterior and high minded motive like saving Subaru’s life from the other knights or not, there is no way Subaru would know this. Julius may be high caste and of the knighthood but to Subaru’s way of thinking, there is no caste system. Everyone has the same value or worth to Subaru so he is not beneath Julius.
I’m hoping he doesn’t let it effect his current drive or end-game of protecting Emilia but I don’t blame him in least for the pure hatred on his face when he saw him.
“The only one who may sniff Subaru-kun is me!” Rem, 2016
https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2021%20-%2031.jpg
Rem is officially became the best supporting anime character of 2016.
https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2021%20-%2033.jpg
Would you two please just kiss already!!
I’m happy to see things finally turn out on the brighter side this week. A welcome thing as the past few weeks have been rather painful to deal with in this series.
i was confused as hell when rem said “gochisousama” after catching subaru, isnt that subaru that suppose to say that? lol
She’s happy being a landing cushion ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
She’s happy sniffing Subaru-kun :p
This is such a well done series…. I love the studio decision to weave Wilhelm’s story throughout the battle rather then showing us in a flashback before. They did a great job of presenting his backstory and making me feel for him despite being a minor characters. Seeing him get to lay the the finishing blows on the whale was so satisfying
ummmm why the hell is Julius there? I don’t remember him showing up after the whale fight in the novel, is this going anime original because of episode limitations?
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https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu/Re%20Zero%20Kara%20Hajimeru%20Isekai%20Seikatsu%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
Lol, best impersonation ever
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I’m already suspicious of Julius.
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Other than that, what can I say about this episode that hasn’t already been said. Epic, heartwarming, and proof of just how great of a show Re: Zero is. Especially the parts about Crusch and Rem, those were just the icing on the cake here. I’m almost sad Theresia is no longer among the living, but she may finally rest in peace now and Wilhelm may finally move on. Just fitting, all of it.
Subaru needs to say folks let me catch a short nap right now, maybe start a bonfire 😉 in hopes to establish a new check point.
As much as I loved this episode, I’m cringing. They’re being too careless with the carcass. This is the body of a beast that could spew fog that makes a person cease to exist, and I hate that no one’s considered that said fog might still be inside. I really hope the whole thing doesn’t just explode into fog and take the whole caravan with it, cause while it would make sense, it’d really suck and no one would know. No killing of the Rem, especially not when Subaru doesn’t know!
My question would be whose spine was the witch breaking when Subaru talked about his powers to the Whale. Was it Subaru’s? Or was it Rem’s?
Dude, the emotional and tangible payoff this episode was delivered in spades. Subaru finally had a moment to shine by being the centerpiece of the operation (literally casting himself as bait the entire time, takes lots of balls/determination to pull that off). His self-deprecating line really put it into perspective: “I’m known as a very annoying person that people just can’t ignore!”. He finally realizes his own faults, which is a gratifying change we’ve all wanted to see.
I wish we could see more of Theresia and Wilhelm’s past, but I heard they have a side story of it in the light novels (as well as Crusch/Felix and others). Now on to the meat of the arc, the witch cult confrontation. I’m interested to see how Subaru is going to interact with Julius, and lowkey hope he doesn’t make this a cringe fest again by acting like a jealous/insincere twat because of what happened to him.
so next episode will be DESU DESU DESU!!
Subaru….you did GOOD!….no keep your cool …fool