A very dialogue heavy episode this time, and not in the way that I expected it to go. The next time loop goes wildly different again and it looks like that Subaru is going to have even bigger problems next episode.
I’m not going to lie, I am a little disappointed that we didn’t get more from the Subaru and Beatrice scene. I suppose it’s still too early to get some revelations? Still, we can jot some things down for future events. Beatrice seems to hold the Gospel with a lot of love and affection, and it seems that she follows whatever is in the book, or so she says. She mentions her mother, who I’m assuming is (was?) tied to the Witch’s Cult. It would make sense seeing as how Beako holds the Witch’s Gospel like a treasure, as well as knowing certain things about the cultists, and speaking of Betelgeuse in an affectionate way before. Instead of answering questions, we just got way more of them. I never doubted Beatrice caring about Subaru, even though she denies it. And while she didn’t protect him from getting killed she still looked horrified seeing him die. I’m not sure whether I buy that everything she does is because the Gospel tells her to, but then again we still don’t know if what she’s saying is true. Still, the fact that she has a connection with the Witch’s Cult and I’m suspecting that Roswaal does as well just makes things even more interesting. Now that I think about it, if she’s following everything the Gospel says and the Gospel is mentioning things that’ll happen in the future, then the Gospel can see into the future? I feel it goes back to Roswaal and him seemingly being able to know things ahead of time, or know certain types of things…and the theory feels stronger.
I was hoping we would get something out of that, hoping that Subaru would remember the question that was supposed to be asked and that we would be getting some answers, but the conversation was cut short when Elsa came into the room. And…I get it. You can’t really use your brain well when the people you love just got killed and you have no clue what’s going on. I’m a little disappointed since I thought they were going to give us this grand conversation but we’ll have to save that for later. We’ve gotten a bit more hints and mystery with Beatrice and her connection with the Witch’s Cult and her mother. This was also the first time we saw a different side to Beatrice. I always saw her as this mature and wise figure, but this time she really felt like a child. Very interesting.
Subaru dies once again and still wants to take on the trial on his own. The rest of the episode is pretty decent, one cool thing we learned is that Frederica is only a quarter beast, which is why she was able to leave the Sanctuary as she was the exception to the mixed blood rule. Subaru finds himself in some trouble though when the Witch’s miasma is strongly radiating out of his body, causing Ryuzu and Garfiel to kidnap him.
I think this is the first time in a long time that Subaru has had a male friend? Emilia and the others are his friends for sure, but there was something special when Otto went out and told him he saved him because they’re friends. Maybe it was because he didn’t really expect it from Otto that he stood there shocked and then ended up laughing in his face, and maybe it’s because this is his first male friend in a long time? Most of the characters I say are more like acquaintances to him, where Emilia he sees as more than a friend. I’m sure Subaru also views Rem and Ram as his friends, but I feel like it’s a little different from his relationship with Otto but I’m not explaining it right haha. Either way, it was sweet and a nice way to end the episode before Garfiel kills them.
At this point, Subaru needs to figure things out quick because the more he resets, the stronger the witch’s scent gets and that’s going to be a huge problem with characters like Garfiel. And now I wonder, since he’s an actual half blood, does that mean his beast form is stronger than Frederica since she’s only a quarter? If so, then next episode is not going to be easy at all.
There are some things that are contradictory if Beatrice is indeed a Witch cultist based on what she has said in the past. Beatrice said in episode 7 of Season 1 that Subaru being someone favoured by the Witch makes him a burden and that she’d rather not stay in his room in episode 8 of Season 1 because it reeks of the stench of the Witch of Envy. This suggests that she doesn’t have the Witch of Envy’s scent and actually HATES that scent and the Witch herself as opposed to Petelgeuse, who refers to the strength of the scent as how much love the Witch has for a Cultist (He said the love hanging on Subaru is equivalent to that of a Sin Archbishop). Then again, there is probably a way to hide the smell of the Witch or else the Witch Cult wouldn’t have been able to embed itself so deeply in society. So if Roswaal is a Witch cultist, he probably has a way to hide his scent if Ram and Rem can’t smell the Witch of Envy’s scent on him. Beatrice calling Satella the worst of the worst and Beatrice being a member of the Witch cultist just doesn’t seem like something that can be reconciled. Roswaal, on the other hand, I can see being a Witch cultist since he wants to kill the dragon, who is one of the beings involved in sealing the Witch of Envy and also the protector of Lugunica.
But if Beatrice is not a Witch Cultist, there are many questions that need to be answered. How does she have a Gospel, and why can she read a Gospel? How was she friends with Petelgeuse, the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony? If her “Mother” is not the Witch of Envy, Satella, who is it? Does Puck calling Beatrice his little sister in Season 1 mean that they have the same “Mother”?
Whoops, I forgot to mention that Ryuzu identified herself as Ryuzu Shima this time instead of Ryuzu Bilma? She was also wearing a white outfit compared to the black one that Ryuzu Bilma uses? Considering that the first Ryuzu Subaru met was wearing a white outfit when he was teleported by Frederica’s crystal, does that mean it was Ryuzu Shima who led Subaru to Echidna? Are Ryuzu Bilma and Ryuzu Shima split personalities or 2 separate people?
Lots of great questions that still need answers! I think Beatrice just became a bigger mystery after this episode.
And yeah that was interesting! I’m not sure which explanation for Ryuzu would be more plausible, but it would be pretty interesting if the Ryuzu that shows up depends on the timeline Subaru shows up in, but I’m not sure what the explanation for that would be. ^^;