Episode 2
The arc officially begins and already things go from 0 to 100 real fast. Though I feel like I should be used to this already. But Re:Zero keeps surprising me with how terrible Subaru’s ends are and in this case, sudden. It all started so nicely with their little group caravan. And to be honest, I had no idea how well crafted the team they took on this trip really was. I had forgotten about Ram’s ability of seeing through the eyes of others. Especially since the bartender did say to look towards the birds if they get lost. Not to mention Meili is actually a huge help in keeping the mabeasts at bay to allow a smoother trip. The second she stopped her ability to subdue the mabeasts, they were immediately attacked by a giant worm.
Something I’ve been wondering about is whether or not Subaru’s track suit will actually come back. I kind of hope it doesn’t since the fit he has on now actually makes him blend in with the rest of the world finally. I remember wanting him to continue dressing as a knight after the end of season 2 and was pretty bummed to see him back in his tracksuit. Though I guess it could be a sense of comfort for him since it’s the only thing he has of his world left at this point. So if it happens to be return after this season, I won’t be surprised… just disappointed lol. Though a small nitpick on his current outfit, the logical side of my brain is like: Subaru, why are you going out to the desert in a BLACK HOOD. If this were reality, you would have died within the hour from like heat stroke, my dude. I get your color scheme is orange and black… but come on lol.
When Julius got his name eaten, it didn’t occur to me at the time that just like everyone else, even his spirits, who he depends on in battle could ALSO forget about him. To which nerfs him quite a bit considering his spirit artes are his most powerful abilities. Though it is a bit sad that the spirits don’t recognize him, but have a feeling to stay around him most likely because of the contract made between them. Despite Julius’ existence being forgotten, looks like it’s not strong enough to null a contract between spirits. However, the guy isn’t completely powerless as he still has his swordsmanship to fall back on. And considering how he fights in this episode, dude is still plenty powerful.
However, we can’t have things be too happy or easy-going for too long. As soon as the bartender said to go back before they die, my immediate thought was: Subaru is not going to have a good time. Considering he actually didn’t die half as much as the other seasons last season, not to mention the opening we got to see this episode, he’s probably going to end up using his ability quite a few times. And it’s not going to be pleasant. Last seasons first death had a slow and uncomfortable build up, but in this episode, it just happens without any time to really realize what is happening until his freaking head was gone. Just from this episode alone, Subaru has almost died as much as he had in the previous season. Granted, last season he only died in the first couple episodes three times (which was impressive considering his track record). In this episode, he’s already died two times and both of them just feels like: what are you supposed to do about that???? Especially since it happened so fast with little to no time to even react. But man, the second time he died had to be more brutal with the way Beatrice became hysterical over him dying, only to be completely obliterated a moment later.
After the first death, I was literally yelling to stop Freddie from freaking out. And proceeded to get really annoyed when Subaru let it happen. Though I guess I can’t blame him too hard since he literally just died and was in such a shock at what just happened and I’m just a simple viewer in this horrible scenario lol. But when the second rewind happens, I was like: THERE’S NO EXCUSE THIS TIME, YOU GOTTA STOP FREDDIE. Thankfully Subaru was able to quickly think of a way to calm him down by using the method that Julius showed him at the start of the episode. Didn’t think that would be such a pivitol piece of information. The bear swarm was scary enough, but followed up with such a quick death without knowing what it is would definitely shake me. Especially since during those first two rewinds, it didn’t seem like there was any way to counter it. However, Re:zero constantly reminds us that Subaru CAN’T do things on his own and he NEEDS help from others. Because once he’s able to avoid the bear swarm and they don’t get separated from the group, they are able to prevent Subaru’s headshot.
Unfortunately, after one hurdle, another one forms and I suspect this is when everything will just go horribly wrong from this point on once they fall into a void. Hopefully the group can remain together and not be separated. Though with how this series tends to go, they’re probably gonna be separated…
Episode 3
…And lo and behold. They got separated. But also I think Ram and Subaru have to be one of the worst combinations in this unfortunate situation. Not only is Subaru powerless without Beatrice, but he can’t restore Ram’s mana. So she is extremely vulnerable and NEEDS to preserve her power or else she’s not going to make it too far. Though it was very sweet of Subaru to notice that Ram was seemingly in the most dire during the fall and caught her. Hence whey they are together. But at the very least, they aren’t alone ALONE considering “Anastasia” and Patrasche is also with them. However, Subaru also brings up a good point that literally no one in this little squad can actually fight without repercussions. All of their hard hitters are currently missing.
But man, the amount of times I went “Gosh DANG” in this episode because I was not expecting the amount of uncensored gore I had to witness. Contrary to popular belief, I actually have a hard time watching a series with a lot of gore. Like intestines out or seeing the bone from a sliced off limb. So yeah… this episode felt like A LOT. Like the whole initial situation just kept going from bad to worse in a matter of seconds. You could tell SOMETHING was wrong the moment the group went down the right path. When everyone started feeling heavy and Subaru chucking his water pouch (that still had a lot of water mind you), I knew things were going to spiral… and spiral it did! Because wow, I don’t think I was prepared for the amount of really close and personal violence I had to witness. The whole thing felt SUPER UNCOMFORTABLE. From Subaru getting super violent towards everyone and going as far as to strangle Ram, to freaking stabbing and slicing people in half… I honestly am baffled at the amount of horrific that went down in the span of a few minutes. I think the thing that unnerved me the most was how violent Subaru was in this scene. Not to mention after “Anastasia” stabbed Ram, he didn’t even blink. Like, he felt so creepily casual about the whole thing up until Ram got in one last strike and freaking sliced “Anastasia” in half.
At that point, I had to glance away because there be uncensored intestines falling out for all to see. Rezero is no stranger to really horrific and bloody scenarios happening. But a lot of the really gory and bloody scenes were typically obscured enough where I got the idea of what was happening but at least I couldn’t fully see it. I guess they just DID NOT CARE this season. Let the innards be seen by all! And it didn’t even stop there. We’ve had quite a bit of gore-ish scenes with Patrasche so far this season. First they blew a hole through her where we could see her innards in the previous ep and now we see her chomping on human heads. Not to mention, I paused when she lunged at Subaru and found it was the most inopportune moment because I got to see what was left of Ram’s bloody face in her mouth. Literally that voice line of “It was at this moment he knew.. he f-ed up.” Basically sums up that experience.
After that horrific sequence of events, I’m actually surprised Subaru was able to move past it so quickly. At least what happened between him and Ram because that felt scarily personal. Though it is interesting to note how this episode really puts Ram and Subaru’s relationship in perspective. While we saw them at their absolute worst in a miasma induced state where they were digging at each other and even resorted to violence in the heat of the moment, the reality of their relationship is actually really sweet. Despite them claiming they don’t want to see the other hurt because it’d make Rem sad, it feels like a cover to how they actually feel for each other. The two seem to truly care for one another, even going as far as to put themselves at risk for the other. While Subaru has some very romantic undertones with his interactions with the other girls, this relationship in particular feels very platonic to me. Maybe it’s because they share the same goal, but there’s just something to their relationship that makes it really adorable to watch without it being romantic. Granted, Ram was the one that Subaru ended up getting close to first between the twins. She may even be the first person he got close to coming into this world because at that point, he wasn’t that close to Emilia yet. And while we’ve seen them interact over the course of the first two seasons, I don’t think we’ve delved too deeply into their relationship. So I’m excited to see them explore this relationship more and if we’ll actually get to see how deep their bond is and whether or not it just revolves around Rem.
Last season was me repeating “I love Emilia.” This season it may be me going “I love Ram.” Because I absolutely adored her in the last half of the episode. Despite her always giving Subaru a hard time, Ram was so quick to protect him and take the blow for him. There’s just something about how she protected him that really hit me in the heart.
To completely change the course, as soon as Subaru fell down that pit, I initially thought he was going to get incinerated or something. And then the freaking mabeast is just THERE and I’m like: Oh…. oh that looks like a terrible death… Instant incineration may have been better. Because being incinerated by a place somehow feels less horrifying than being incinerated by a monster. Because then it feels targeted. I don’t know what that this is, but I am TERRIFIED. Though surprisingly it didn’t end in a horrifying death as I initially thought as the girl from the opening and the one who was blasting Subaru’s head off in the previous episode ends up saving them. I don’t have much thoughts about her yet as she is just a “mystery” at this point and I’d rather just wait and see what her role in this season will be.
This episode was certainly a doozy. I’m sure there are a lot more terrible deaths coming, but that miasma induced scene was one of the hardest scenes for me to watch in this series so far. I’d say hopefully things will get better, but we all know it’s just gonna get worst before it does.
