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「クウェインの石は一人じゃ上がらない」 (Kuwein no Ishi wa Hitori ja Agaranai)
“Nobody Can Lift a Quain Stone Alone”
Well, it may not be a week of awkward kisses in Re: Zero, but it certainly is one of lap rests and plot movement. Also happy Ram noises, but I think we’re better off keeping that one quiet. Yes, Re: Zero has now hit the stage where breaching Sanctuary is a very real thing, and while we have yet to see Subaru and friends succeed, rest assured the challenge isn’t insurmountable.
Given how Garfiel showed up as the ultimate blocker last time, I imagine a few wound up surprised the inevitable fight transpired as it did. Subaru calling out Garfiel’s past? Sure. Subaru levelling up thanks to Sloth Witch Factor activation? Can get behind that. Subaru actually beating Garfiel with some timely animal assistance? Alright, now we’re talking. To be fair to Garfiel, however, it’s not as though he had the mental fortitude needed to actually win that fight. When endowed with a false belief of maternal hatred in the face of every conceivable truth it’s not too shocking the mental dichotomy would hold him back, or that he’d hesitate after being blasted with everything he sought to forget. Sorry Otto, speaking to animals and throwing explosives only gets you so far when confronting crazed tiger boys.
Besides the fun of punches to the face, however, Garfiel’s humbling does provide some timely answers as to the current Sanctuary situation. We know now why Garfiel remained in Sanctuary while Frederica left for example, and given Garfiel’s own beliefs, the reason why he was determined to keep everyone within Sanctuary—i.e. prevent dredging up his old memories. Likewise, Puck’s contract break has been succinctly answered thanks to a little combat assistance, while Subaru’s own nighttime disappearance has revealed its purpose at the just the right time. In short, solving a lot of the remaining confusion, although that itself simply leads to further anarchy down the line. After all, Garfiel might be dealt with, but it’s now Emilia’s turn, and per the sly (re)appearance of Echidna, this round likely won’t be as easy as the one before.
Considering Subaru has already rejected Echidna’s offer previously and Emilia has suddenly found her courage, you can bet this witch won’t be taking the probable defeat of her trials lying down. Not in the slightest.
At the beginning of Season 1 of Re:zero, Subaru thought of himself as the main character of an isekai story who would no doubt also be rewarded with the affections of a pretty girl. I now propose that to an extent, he still thinks of himself in that way, possibly as a coping mechanism for him to continue living on this world in spite of all the suffering he must experience even though his initial expectations of him being really strong were proven false. I will draw upon things he has said in 4 occasions across both seasons of Re:zero to support my analysis.
First, I will draw upon something he said in the first arc in episode 3. “For all the injuries I got, all the crying I did, all the pain I felt, and all the fighting with my life on the line… my only rewards were her name and a single smile. Jeez, talk about unequal compensation.” Subaru here already thinks he’s entitled to a lot more from Emilia because of what he went through, but it’s my belief that you should never expect something from others when you do something for them. He has made it clear he believes in common isekai tropes before in episode 1, and I believe what he said indicates that he thinks of himself as the main character of an isekai who will no doubt be rewarded with Emilia’s affection. Yes, Subaru took note of how kind Emilia was for being the only one who helped him when he was struggling alone with no benefit to yourself. He also became aware that Emilia helped the appa guy’s daughter on more than one loop even when he wasn’t present, which showed off her saintly behaviour, and this fueled his initial attraction to her, but as of episode 41, I still find that he feels entitled to Emilia’s affection, and I am not liking what I see about this behaviour.
After the second arc, in which Subaru succeeded in foiling a mabeast tamer’s attack, which resulted in him killing a single Ulgarm and even fighting a huge Ulgarm which he landed blows on, Subaru became way in over his head, thinking he was some big shot. When Emilia was met with derision by the Council of Wise men as well as other nobles and Priscilla, Subaru went and forcibly tried to make a case for her, culminating in him declaring himself to be Emilia’s knight partly because he felt that what Reinhard and Julius felt for Felt and Anastasia was no less than what he felt for Emilia. After Subaru felt belittled and humiliated by Julius, he lashed out, saying that knight’s are just born into the job and that it’s not a big deal to be a knight. After this outburst, Emilia and Subaru had a talk in the room Crusch had provided to him, and he told her what he really felt deep down from the ugliest depths of his mind after failing to justify his actions, which was that Emilia should have a greater debt to him than she could ever repay. Episode 3 already showed Subaru’s sense of entitlement around Emilia, and the end of episode 13 was the ugliest example of that.
Then fast forward to episode 25, Subaru says, “As far as I’m concerned, it’s written in stone that you’ll give me an answer, and it’ll be a positive one at that.” Now, this may seem like an innocent remark, but I’ll tell why when I saw Subaru say this that I reacted with anger and was fuming for a few hours after I finished watching the episode. When I consider how to interpret dialogue, I consider a holistic approach that draws upon everything that had happened so far, and given Re:zero’s penchant for including foreshadowing in even the most unlikely places, I interpreted that as Subaru feeling that as the main character of an isekai story that Emilia would no doubt return his feelings even possibly thinking that it was destined to happen. I know this interpretation of that line will be very unpopular as most people will see it as just Subaru being confident, but considering Subaru says something very possessive and entitled in episode 40 during the second season, I believe it lends credence to my interpretation. With episode 25’s scene, I feel Subaru has merely gotten better at hiding that he feels entitled to Emilia rather than him no longer feeling entitled to Emilia.
Now, here’s the final piece of text I draw on to support my analysis from episode 40. After a long exchange in which Emilia refuses to believe Subaru when he says that he loves her because he broke his promise to her, Subaru says, “All I think about is how to look good in front of you. I’m suffering for you here! At least try to look as cute as I hoped you would!” That last part demanding Emilia act as cute as he hoped she would shows that Subaru thought Emilia would take his confession much better than what actually occurred in reality. He had fully expected her to react in the way he had expected her to in his mind when he planned this all out and believed that she should act the way he wanted because Emilia would no doubt do what he the main character of an isekai story would want to since she’s the heroine. It was another moment in which he felt entitled and possessive about Emilia. Viewers were meant to take Emilia’s side on the matter considering she demanded that he not talk to her as if she were some doll.
After saying all of that, I do want to clarify that I don’t consider Subaru to be a bad person. He’s just a guy with his own issues just like everybody else who is struggling to make his way through the world. However, I do think that Tappei included moments in the dialogue when Subaru reveals himself to be possessive and entitled because this is the stage Subaru is at right now. I personally believe that in true love that there is no sense of entitlement and that as long as Subaru has this sense of entitlement, regardless of whether it may be a coping mechanism to continue living in this world, I will not acknowledge his feelings for Emilia as being true love and will root for him to fail if he enters a relationship with her. I do want to note that I believe Subaru will get past this stage of entitlement by the end of the story, so it’s not that I wish him eternal despair. I just believe that when Subaru isn’t wallowing in despair, he thinks of himself as the main character as a coping mechanism to keep him going.,
Now Subaru just needs to get killed to reset everything, all his effort wasted, drive him deeper into madness, you know the thing we love about rezero, eternal suffering.
I don’t expect any more resets dealing with the Sanctuary, though with plenty of episodes left, it would be surprising if he managed to clear the mansion/Assassin part without any issues.
Agreed, likely not with Sanctuary considering how much development has now transpired, but there’ll definitely be a death or two yet before the entire arc is cleared.
So….is it still a gut punch when you are punching the opponent from your gut? ^^
Technically? Yes 😛
Great episode.
While the previous episode didn’t work that well for me the way Subaru acted, I was fully on board with the double lap pillow this week and how the episode dealt with Garfiel’s role in this arc. The supposed reason for his mother’s death is hopefully fake though and there might be a bit more behind it to be revealed later, as otherwise that would be pretty lazy story telling IMO.
Good team work there from Subaru and Puck and the former improved his Sloth powers which means that he is now a bit more useful in fights, though he’ll still have to rely on others to help him against tougher enemies.
Speaking of others, Ram was fairly cute in this episode truthfully caring for Garfiel, while Emilia is no longer depressed and full of Subaru fueled motivation ready to face against Echidna.
Man, I hope Echidna doesn’t turn out to be too much of a bitch as I don’t want her to ruin the good image I got from her in earlier episodes.
Oh yeah it’s incredibly unlikely Garfiel’s mother died due to an accident – she wouldn’t have deliberately left Frederica and Garfiel behind if she wasn’t sure her life was in danger. Not sure we’ll find out anytime soon, however; too much left to go regarding Roswaal, Beatrice, and the mansion.
Also thinking Echidna is actually good in the first place was probably a mistake. Considering her hopes for Subaru I think it was already well-shown that she is only concerned for herself and her own desires.
As long as she doesn’t turn completely crazy evil, I can live with that…
I liked her too much for comforting Subaru…
Emilia, a witch’s daughter? The Frozen Witch? An insufferable woman? Something’s coming.
We’ll find out soon enough 😛
As for Emilia being called the Witch’s daughter, I think back to Beatrice calling Echidna her mother. Beatrice in a sense is Echidna’s daughter since Echidna created her. Is it not possible that one of the Witches of Sin, namely Satella, the Witch of Envy in this case, created Emilia? That is one way for her to be the Witch’s daughter without actually being conceived in the womb by Satella, who was sealed 400 years ago. I think back to episode 38 when Satella told Subaru to some day come kill her. Petelgeuse also indicated that the Witch Cult’s goal is to test Emilia to see whether she would be a worthy vessel to put the Witch into, and if so, the Witch would be reborn on the coming fated day. This shows that it’s possible Satella’s goal is to die by possessing a body that isn’t immortal like her original body was. Perhaps Satella somehow created Emilia in a similar fashion that Echidna created Beatrice. I don’t know how Satella could accomplish that while sealed, but given her otherworldly powers, maybe she somehow found a way, creating a body that would be strikingly similar to hers and would be compatible enough to be possessed by her one day.
I know it may seem as if I have tunnel vision for Emilia dying at the end of Re:zero, but the more story hints are revealed, the more I believe this will come to pass.