This episode WAS A LOT. There are so many different things going on that it honestly makes my head spin a little. And they were all coming at a rapid pace. With all the insanity happening, I honestly cannot even theorize how they’re going to deal with all the situations because on the surface, it just feels impossible. With so many high leveled enemies within the city it just feels like they’re all terribly outnumbered and outmatched. After the Reinhard failure in episode 2, we know that he is a bad match up against Sirius, so one can only hope that he’ll do better against Capella, Gluttony or Regulus. But even then, we don’t know how effective he’ll be against them either. Rezero is definitely going to have to flex its writing to convince me of their eventual victory. Given their track record so far, I think I can trust that they’ll show me how to convincingly defeat these insane people.
If I didn’t receive the ick from Regulus before, he gave me even more ICK this episode. Especially in how he views his wives in general because wow, being his wife just seems like your life is over. Not only is he treating Emilia like a fetish with how “pure” she is (Oh my sweet, sweet summer child…), but he forces his wives to act like servants for him and even dislikes it when they show emotion. Though I do find it interesting how he treats Emilia feels like a more extreme version of how Subaru had treated her at the start. Both of them were immediately attracted to her because of how she looks and developed a very unhealthy possessiveness towards her. They seemed to view her as more as their vision of purity to obtain rather than a person. And while Subaru was able to grow out of that terrible mindset, Regulus most likely will remain the same until he dies. In a way, Regulus feels like a foil to Subaru. I feel like if Subaru didn’t change, he could have ended up very similarly to Regulus or at least could have had a similar mindset.
While all the madness is happening everywhere, Reinhard and Felt are stuck having to deal with the stupidity of his father. I’m a little annoyed that Reinhard didn’t just do as Felt told him and go help everyone else. At least Otto ended up being okay because phew, I was legit worried for him. I’m honestly surprised he got away from Gluttony, but he somehow managed to escape. I wish we got to see how he did it, but there was probably too much going on in this episode that it might just be a time waster. And while Reinhard and Felt’s relationship is funny, it does have its warmhearted moments. Especially with Felt encouraging Reinhard to let loose and not be so uptight. I do hope that Reinhard’s family situation gets addressed later, but now is not the time and I am glad that Reinhard will be joining the battle. As I’ve stated earlier, I have to wonder how he’ll fare against the other Archbishops or even those powerful witch cult members. Since we have been shown that his strength can be used against him and it seems like he’s only proficient fighting by himself. So I guess we’ll have to wait and see how he’s utilized now knowing these setbacks.
While Julius is now duking it out on his own against Gluttony (hopefully he’ll be okay), Subaru and Crusch end up having to deal with Capella, the Archbishop of Lust. Also man, I miss strong and independent Crusch. I really don’t like seeing her need Subaru to get around and how frightened she gets when he’s running around with her in his arms. So I’m really hoping they get her name back from Gluttony because I really want the old Crusch back T^T. I need my powerful, no nonsense lady back. Anyways, as soon as I saw the dragon in the room, I could immediately tell something was off. Especially when after it was taken down, it didn’t immediately heal. And sure enough, the eye colors for this dragon and the dragon we saw last episode didn’t match. And after finding out that Capella changed all the hostages into creatures, it makes me worry that this dragon is one of Garfiel’s half siblings or the husband. Hopefully it’s not considering the eye colors don’t match… but I still worry. Though I suppose the husband’s eyes are blue… I really hope that’s not him… for Garfiel’s mom’s sake. Please I beg.
Capella’s shape shifting abilities are certainly something, especially since she can just change a part of her body into a head of a lion. She can literally make anything she wants, making her near unpredictable in a fight. And that’s not even taking in account of her regeneration abilities. She almost feels impossible to defeat as she just gets back up no matter how hard you hit her. Makes me wonder if Reinhard can defeat her. I feel like I shouldn’t be so surprised when the Archbishops do something terribly horrific, but they always surprise me no matter what. Here I thought Sirius was grotesque in how she deals with her enemies, but Capella comes in here cackling at how she has turned all the hostages into “disgusting creatures.” Just seeing the room full of giant flies was enough to make me feel so uncomfortable. And when Capella brings up how no one could love “hideous creatures” like these, it really puts the question of “would you love me even if I were a worm” into consideration. Even though this chick is insane, I don’t think I can even refute that statement. Especially since we are naturally attracted to other humans. So if someone gets turned into something else, naturally we’d want to turn them back.
And as expected, she ended up turning into Emilia to taunt and torture Subaru emotionally and mentally. Though I have to wonder how she even knows about Emilia and Subaru’s bond. Though I guess word has to get around I suppose. But man, to belittle Subaru’s feelings for Emilia like that and proceed to rip his leg off felt so visceral that I had to glance away with how brutal that scene was. It makes me wonder what this scene was trying to get across, like if Subaru’s feelings for Emilia aren’t as strong as it made them out to be. If that’s the case, then I feel like that would diminish the value of their kiss scene and Subaru encouraging Emilia that she could handle the trial no matter what. To which, I feel like would be bad writing at that point. Not to mention giving false hope to Emilia now would just break my heart.
I’m shocked that Subaru didn’t just get reset right then and there. I was waiting for him to get sent back, only for so many set up points to be put in place where I was like: HE ISN’T GOING TO DIE YET????? Because way too many plot points were put into place for this to be a rewind. So not only does current Subaru have to deal with having lost his leg, but he’s also been implanted with Capella’s blood that seems to turn people into different creatures. Not to mention that he is now drowning in the flood that was released onto the poor city. Though I am very curious to how Subaru and the dragon ended up working together since he had tied Crusch to the dragon’s leg and was hanging onto it while the dragon tried to fly away. Though he might end up resetting here since I don’t see how he survives being tossed around in the flood waters with an open wound and a lost leg.
A while ago I read a story about a couple where one of them was horribly injured and disfigured and it killed their sex life. The thing is there was still love there but the one who wasn’t injured was no longer physically attracted to their partner. Their romantic love wasn’t able to transcend the physical. They became more of a friend/carer than lover.
There are some exceptional people out there for whom romantic love transcends physical attraction but they are rare gems indeed.
I totally agree. There are always exceptions to everything, but as you said, in general, it feels like if something like what Capella said happened to a significant other, the love for the person wouldn’t disappear, but it would most likely change.