Anastasia did nothing wrong.
Impression
Subaru really hasn’t had it easy these past few episodes, has he? Not that he ever tends to have it easy, but it’s been noticeably worse than usual lately. All his potential allies are now less impressed with him than they were before, and he’s about to get eaten by what I assume to be the White Whale that’s been blocking the quickest road back to Roswaal’s mansion. It’s now somehow made its way to where Subaru is, very possibly because it’s smelled Satella on him, and it also appears to be able to erase everyone else’s memories of its victims in addition to actually killing them. Given the number of bridges Subaru has unwittingly burned this week in his desperation, he’s probably better off dying and trying again, this time armed with the knowledge of the way the king candidates do things and what they’re asking from him in return for their cooperation. Ironically, the one candidate who’s most likely to be moved by Subaru’s sentimentality and has the power to do something about it is Felt, as she’s going to be able to get Reinhard to listen to anything she says, but Reinhard’s not even in the capital any more. This arc would definitely be too easy if Subaru managed to get Reinhard to solve all his problems for him, so from a storytelling perspective this wasn’t too much of a surprise.
In my opinion, Crusch was fairly reasonable. It’s hard to forget that the other candidates aren’t Subaru’s friends by any means, especially since they’re all cute girls, but Crusch treated him surprisingly well given the difference in their status and their relative bargaining power. She first heard him out, asked what he had to offer in return and rejected him while explaining her reasons for doing so. It would be asking far too much of her to be altruistic and save the villagers out of her kindness of her heart, not least of all because she is in competition with Emilia. As Emilia’s removal will happen with or without her involvement, Crusch is right in saying that there is no incentive for her to act. Where I think she’s wrong is her accusation that Subaru only approached Emilia to exact revenge on the cultists, and that Subaru has no intention to save Emilia at all – with regards to the latter, it’s implied perfectly well that he’s so desperate to act because Emilia is in danger, and because there’s no way to get her out of that danger unless every last cultist is dead. And as for the former, we all know that it’s the other way around – his hatred for the cult is indeed personal hatred, but was only kindled way after he met Emilia. It’s difficult to blame Crusch though, because it’s hard to tell otherwise from what she can see – it’s difficult to blame anyone, actually. You can’t help but agree with his frustration towards the other three candidates because they weren’t particularly nice to him, but at the same time it’s not their fault, and they have no reason to be nice to him at all.
Oh wait, actually it’s easier to blame Priscilla. I didn’t really get what she was trying to do, because her actions were purely taken to amuse herself and basically left Subaru with no way of winning. Like Crusch, she was scoping him out, but she never intended to agree at all – Crusch might have done so if there was sufficient benefit to her. I mean, I thought the whole foot licking thing was kind of lewd, but beyond that was she trying to test the extent of his and Emilia’s pride? Was he supposed to treat that as being of higher regard than Emilia’s life? Pride, honour and status are all useless when you’re dead, you know. And was it really necessary to threaten to kill off all his future allies and connections? Even Al thought she was being unreasonable.
Anastasia did nothing wrong. I’m not being biased, by the way – I do think her voice is heaven, and that she’d be great for cuddling, but I also think Priscilla has an amazing body and still I was rather irritated by her this episode. Of the three, Anastasia was the only one who not only gave him proper advice, but also helped him out. His outburst towards her was completely uncalled for. Yes, she manipulated him into giving her information she thought he had, and made careful contingency plans in case something went wrong, but he got something in return, right? She even gave him the info about the dragon-drawn carriages before ascertaining exactly what it was she’d be able to learn from him, and he wasn’t even trying to hide the thing about Russell Fellow visiting Crusch from anyone. Keeping that fact secret wouldn’t even have benefited him in any way, and as Anastasia already knew that Crusch was stockpiling weaponry a piece of info about one of her many suppliers can’t have been of that much value. Subaru basically got a freebie from her, and she could have screwed him over by wheedling stuff out of him before leaving immediately. Instead, he blew up at her after she aided him and took a little something in return for her trouble. Her and Julius are actually trying to teach him things and help him improve despite having a terrible first impression of him, it’s a pity he still hasn’t managed to clear his head and actually listen. Listen to the loli, Subaru! She has money! And she’s cute!
I think the white whale didn’t come because of the scent but simply because they walked right into it’s territory. Last episode otto said that they shouldn’t go because at that time there was the white whale so it’s common occurence for it to be there.
crusch was definitely the easiest to understand since she was straight forward. Offering her resources just to help a tiny village only to gain nothing won’t get you the throne. The only things she could see were: he was talking only about killing the occultist, they have to be destroyed, he has information on a group that only a few selected people even know about and he has this killing intent the entire time in his face.
Priscilla simply wanted to know if he was special or just like all those boring commoners (politicians) who would do everything just to get a bit of power/a favour from someone higher up. In the beginning she had hopes for him, why else would she let a commoner like him walk up so close to her. Hiding her dissatisfaction behind her fan. Sure in most stories you are to cast away your pride to beg for help, but it is necessary to keep your dignity and show your worth as an actual human beeing.
Anastasia is just doing what she can do best and the reason why she is rich and greedy as hell: trading and conversing with other people. It is obvious that everyone wants something. No one actually goes around and offers help for 0 compensation.
Best example would be Subaru himself. He is doing all the saving FOR a favour from emilia. No one told him to do it.
After the thing with priscilla in this episode he said “even after I saved her life”. but she was never in danger to begin with (I really cant see how she would be in danger when she was throwing Subaru through the entire room with no effort at all) And he seriously expects that THEY ALL owe him one. See the last time subaru talked with emilia “you OWE me everything”.
This guy needs to cool his had and actually think. Nobody told him to do this and that. Nobody asked him for help, since he needed help the most but doesn’t realize it. Sure everyone would get angry after experiencing all those horrible deaths but hate and anger won’t get you far.
It is so hard to decide which of the candidates is the best. I like them all (TT_TT)
Btw don’t forget that Anastasia has catgirls 😛
Wasn’t Otto scared of the cultists? Subaru only encountered the KKK and not the White Whale when he continued onwards. It could be that it moves about though – I think it was Rem who first mentioned the Whale, and I doubt she’d take Subaru down that route if she was aware of the potential danger.
I’ve heard some people saying it’d be good PR if she helped save the village. In contrast, if Crusch didn’t do anything it wouldn’t earn her any favours with the citizens. It probably wouldn’t have been enough to sway her even then, as she was still super suspicious about where Subaru got his info from as you say. Another potential hook for him is the impending natural disaster that is Puck – I think that’s his best shot, actually.
As for Priscilla, she played a game with Subaru that he could never win. Maybe she wanted him to display his dignity, but how was he supposed to know that? She said she wouldn’t help him at all if he kept his pride, so why would he think of doing that? There’s no way Subaru (having gone through all that suffering and in desperate need of allies) would see through her reverse psychology. If anything, his willingness to lick her foot demonstrates the devotion he has towards Emilia.
But yeah, he’s become rather delusional. He didn’t save her life at all, it was only because Rom appeared that the issue was resolved. I don’t think he’s gathered that, in the absence of his relationship with Emilia (which isn’t all that great anyway and is more of a detriment given the royal selection) he’s a commoner who wouldn’t normally be able to negotiate with those three at all. And it shows, because he doesn’t have anything that they want.
I guess the girls are best at different things? Crusch is the best leader, and best suited for the throne. Priscilla is only good for her body. Emilia has the best… smile? I suppose? She’d create the best world, but it’s wholly impractical in the context of their feudal society and the fact that she’s a half-elf despised by the population. Anastasia is the softest and has the most ASMR-inducing delicious Kansai accent. Ueda Kana isn’t even from the Kansai region, she’s amazing. I’ve entirely sworn off catgirls for this series, though. The first time I looked at Mimi the first thought in my head was whether she was a girl or a boy. The trauma from my experiences with Felix run deep. Anastasia can keep her catgirls, I don’t want them.
Over the past few, and especially this last episode, I had to wonder why Subaru even stays around these people. No one seems to want him and they’re starting to see him as a bit of a joke. At this point, why not take Rem, leave the country and let the chips fall, even if it’s detrimental to Emilia? Yes, I know, it’s the plot.
Yup, he needs to think things through as he did in past loops. In this particular go-round, all he’s been doing is reacting, and not using his brain. It’ll be interesting to see how many reiterations of this loop he’ll go through before he figures it out.
Because he’s in love with Emilia. Almost obsessively so, it’s one of the factors supporting the Emilia = Satella theory as people think Satella may have messed with his mind to get him to care about Emilia to an unhealthy degree. But yes, I totally agree. The candidates spent the episode shitting all over him, and as Anastasia said it’s hard for them to change their first impression of him because he fucked up in front of literally everyone in the capital who matters and wouldn’t stop fucking up until he was beaten into submission.
If he didn’t have that obsession over Emilia I think he’d definitely have left by now. I know I would. He has a devoted waifu ready to do anything for him and he’s still chasing after someone who left him in the city and wants to cut ties with him. However much longer it takes, I hope it’s soon. I thought it’d be an easier episode to sit through since he spent it in the capital, but it was still rather emotionally unsettling for different reasons.