Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Episode 25 (Final Impression)

And just like that, the second season of Re:zero has come to a close. Subaru, Beatrice, and Emilia take care of the Great Rabbit and with that, it’s back to the royal selection. Roswaal is now part of the group after some well-deserved punches to the face, and we did get to see some interesting reveals again. But still, an incredibly chill and heartwarming ending to such a tumultuous season.

The fight against the Great Rabbit ended up being way shorter than I anticipated. It’s a bit of a letdown with how the show made me fear these tiny things, playing up with how insanely difficult it is to deal with them. The fight was less than 6 minutes, so yeah, it was underwhelming.

The rest of the episode was pretty lighthearted with not too much going on. We finally get to see Echidna’s true face (she doesn’t look that different tbh), we find out that the Roswaal now is still the same Roswaal from back then, and now Roswaal is going to be part of the group. Most of them forgiving him was pretty shocking considering he was ready to murder every single one of them, and pass that seal over to Subaru, which is why I did like Petra’s reaction. Roswaal has done horrible things and while everyone wants him on their side for his power, it doesn’t mean that they have to necessarily like him. Petra and Garfiel, I don’t blame you guys at all. And Ram, you can do so much better than him. You don’t want people to tell you who to love, but I’ll say it anyways. :/

I’m glad the person being reflected in people’s eyes is still a continuing theme, and it filled me with joy when we got that with Beatrice and Roswaal. Even if I don’t necessarily like Roswaal, I’m glad it seems like their relationship can be mended. Beatrice lost a lot and was alone for so long, so I’m mostly happy for her sake that things are really turning around for her.

Subaru becomes a knight, which isn’t exactly what I was expecting. I’m not sure how this works since Subaru never had any special training to work towards being a knight, so I’m guessing Roswaal used his influence to make this happen. And Subaru has accomplished quite a bit such as helping taking down the White Whale, getting rid of the Great Rabbit, as well as some of his help with the Sanctuary. I’m not sure that’s enough to make him a knight without the special training and traditions sooo…okay. But I have to say, Subaru looks pretty amazing in his new outfit and I hope he continues to wear it from now on so he can finally blend in with everyone. Emilia also looked beautiful. The ceremony was gorgeous and Subaru and Emilia continue to share wonderful moments with each other. They finally have a future to strive for together and finally after what seems like a long time (though I think all of this took place in a short amount of time) and all the mental and physical anguish they all went through, they can at least dance away with smiles on their faces. They truly deserve it.

Also, the whole “kissing makes you pregnant” thing is pretty cliche and I don’t care for it, it actually kind of works in Emilia’s case since she froze herself in ice since she was a little girl and only recently was freed. There’s so much Emilia doesn’t know…

FINAL IMPRESSION

As a season, season two was definitely different as it tackled one huge arc instead of many shorter ones like the first one did. It’s amazing that Re:zero can introduce so much characters to us and never fail to make them interesting and important. They’re all so well written and I feel like the second half of season two particularly did a great job at it. The first half dealt with a lot more plot, while the second half was more character focused. Which is personally my favorite. We were able to get the Emilia backstory that I had been waiting for, while also getting lots of backstories for other characters and they were fantastic.

I know I sound like a broken record, but the sheer amount of growth Emilia has gone through is amazing and it makes me love her more. She went through trauma after trauma, and I enjoyed the trials for making not just Emilia, but everyone, to really face their pasts. Emilia’s had to be the worst one and on top of seeing it all for the first time in a long time after her memories being sealed, it takes a lot of strength to accept your loss, and take those losses to create your own personal strength to move on.

Of course, Emilia wasn’t alone and she continues to have allies by her side, but that’s also applies to Subaru who had his own emotional journey. For the longest time, Subaru had people around him in this new world but he was still truly alone in his own way. He had this unfortunate power and dealt with misery and trauma all by himself, because even telling others about his power could get him killed and the horrific cycle would just continue. Even growing up as a child he felt alone because of his own insecurities and depression. He’s made friends and allies throughout his journey, but still dealt with everything on his own, never relying on others. Which is why I’m so glad that Otto finally said enough is enough and made Subaru depend on not just him, but others as well.

Friendships, bonds, and support played a huge part of this second half. You can’t truly move on in life and get stronger without others. Emilia needed it, Subaru needed it, Garfiel, Otto, and even Beatrice. Accepting yourself was also prevalent thanks to the trials, and the lyrics at the end of the OP (“I love who I am”) speaks so much about the characters and this season. It’s just…so fantastic.

I’m usually more of a fan of character driven things so I absolutely adored this half of the season more than the first half, but as a season as a whole, I thought it did very well.

A lot of our questions were answered, but of course there’s still things that need to be addressed for next time. I did like the plot and the world of the Sanctuary and the witches were great, as well as the whole situation with Roswaal. He’s a really compelling character that added to the dread and suspense for this season. It’ll be interesting to see what he does from now on now that he’s basically moved on from the past. Echidna was also a huge standout character, and she certainly made things more interesting, as well as the other witches. I still have my eyes on Minerva and whatever the hell all of that was with Emilia. There’s still plenty we don’t know particularly with Pandora so that’ll be super important later on as well.

I don’t have too many negatives about the season, but sometimes the pacing did get pretty strange with it being either too quick, or usually way too drawn out which is a problem I feel like Re:zero has a lot. I’m never bored with the dialogue and I enjoy dialogue-heavy episodes, but sometimes they do tend to drag on and certain scenes easily could have been shorter which I feel happened more than usual for this season. And for this particular arc, there were so many things happening all at once that sometimes I felt like I needed a clipboard to jot down and keep up with everything. For reviewing maybe I should have done that, but for a casual viewing experience it can be a bit much. Or maybe I’m a big dummy, who knows?

Other than that, Re:zero season two continued to deliver what makes Re:zero so great and more. Giving the first half an 8/10 and giving this second half a 9/10, I guess it would be fair to rank this season as a whole with an 8.5/10. It’s a tiny bit lower than what I gave the first season, but this is still great. Re:zero turned out to be such a surprising anime to me when I first watched it as it completely blew away my expectations as an isekai, and it continues to deliver an incredibly engaging story with great characters you grow to love. I really hope we don’t have to wait too long for the next season. So, until next time~