Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Episode 10: Fanatical Methods Like a Demon

I’m scared.

Impression

Did he cut it off?! Would that be a good thing? Can the ‘sharpest sword’ even do that to an oni’s horn? Wouldn’t Rem become as weakened as Ram currently is? I’m actually wondering whether subduing Rem in her current state is the correct course of action. I know Ram talked about how that crazed state is a detriment to Rem’s body, but if that’s all then it might be the preferable option. Say Subaru successfully scores a blow on Rem’s horn. She’ll probably fall unconscious or, at the very least, be exhausted. Ram is also useless now. That leaves Subaru as the only (relatively) capable fighter all by himself, surrounded by a pack of dogs with no help in sight. Betty would be very far from her library and Emilia shouldn’t know anything. Obviously it’d be a problem solved by the appearance of someone super strong to help them out (like Reinhard) but it’d be a rather cheap way to end all this.

It does feel like this will be the final loop, by the way – it’s carried on for ages and Subaru has made a significant amount of progress. So it’d be devastating if he lost all of his hard work, and that’s probably what he was thinking as Betty broke the bad news to him. After all this trouble, he’s still going to die. She’s surprised by how unperturbed he is about dying, but to him the bigger issue is that things have been better than they’ve ever been throughout the current series of loops, and it would be a huge waste to lose it all. Not only in terms of having to retrace his steps or the effect it’ll have on his morale, but also the fact that Satella’s scent will get stronger on him yet again. It’s actually kind of interesting that he’s managed to come up with a way to take full advantage of it – apparently the curse spikes whenever he tries to reveal its existence to someone else, and it attracts all the dogs (and Rem) towards him. That would be an answer to Ram asking why they were so aggressive to him, although in that case it’s weird that they’ve been jumping at Rem in the exact same way. And in turn, both the dogs and Rem go absolutely batshit when they smell Satella right in front of them. I’m actually having trouble separating the existences of the dogs and the shaman from Satella, given that they all fall into the ‘antagonist’ camp – I know this series isn’t as black and white as to separate its characters into solely two camps, but it’s difficult to visualize where all these factions lie relative to each other when we know so little about them. All we know of the shaman is that they’re acting through countless numbers of dogs. There’s a power struggle for the throne whom they’re presumably involved in, as is Elsa. We need to learn more about this at some point.

Rem is scary. Minase Inori is too godly. I don’t want to like her this much, it feels like I’m cheating on Yuuki Aoi. I’ve said this time and time again, but she’s destined for great things in the future. Every time I hear her in a role as far away from Chino on the spectrum of possible voices (like Rem or Carol) I’m a little awed. I was wondering why they casted her as Rem, and now I know it’s because Rem can get a little… excited in her oni form. It’s probably not a coincidence that it’s the blue oni who’s being depicted as running wild and savagely attacking the dogs, while Ram found herself appreciated by the village kids this episode, although it’s slightly different to the story in that it has nothing to do with the villagers this time as Rem’s doing it to save Subaru. Speaking of which, Rem’s doing something to save Subaru! His words really got through to her! She’s doing it all for him! It’s incredible when you think back to the fact that, merely a few episodes ago, she was just about ready to kill Subaru the moment he stepped out of line (and she did just that in previous loops). Now she’s risking her life to save his. It’s beautiful. And so is this cute Ram.

This has been quite a long arc. The first one lasted a mere 3 episodes (including the 1-hour special at the start), and while I’m glad White Fox are adapting all this properly I didn’t think we’d use up the rest of the season for a second arc – usually the standard light novel adaptation formula is to do 4 episodes per volume (3 if you’re a real cheapskate studio) so spending 7 is unprecedented. Unless we’re not on Volume 2 any more? I’ve been assuming that each ‘save point’ occurs once per arc at the start of a volume, but I could be wrong. I’m not sure how much more is left, but a good transition point would be the end of the cour, so we can refresh the OP/ED and move on to (hopefully) greener pastures. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, everyone! Happiness for Subaru awaits!

;_;