Re:Zero Second Season - Anime Episode Discussion

[GDB]

Eh, when even Echidna didn't think they'd be much trouble, I don't find it to be too significant. And it wasn't particularly interesting either. It was fun, but not really interesting as it didn't change the status quo at all. And the only progress was getting closer to releasing the barrier, but we knew once she cleared the first trial it'd be smooth sailing, so...

[MCAL]

I must admit that was NOT expecting the Subaru/Beatrice confortaion to end quite like that (It was however quite hilarious).

Meanwhile, Emilia continues her hardest to finally reclaim the mantle of best girl. Echidna is jealous.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

Eh, when even Echidna didn't think they'd be much trouble, I don't find it to be too significant. And it wasn't particularly interesting either. It was fun, but not really interesting as it didn't change the status quo at all. And the only progress was getting closer to releasing the barrier, but we knew once she cleared the first trial it'd be smooth sailing, so...

I guess because it seems like something she would be so tempted to give up, it helps re-affirm her character development to see her accept the true present and move on from it. Plus we see now how she's uniting everyone together in support of her .

I guess there's also the added wrinkle that Echidna seems to be going through an emotional breakdown as Emilia overcomes the second trial.

[Applehell]

Originally Posted by GDB

Eh, when even Echidna didn't think they'd be much trouble, I don't find it to be too significant. And it wasn't particularly interesting either. It was fun, but not really interesting as it didn't change the status quo at all. And the only progress was getting closer to releasing the barrier, but we knew once she cleared the first trial it'd be smooth sailing, so...

This trial worked the same way as Subaru's first trial, and the reason manifested is because Emilia still has lingering regrets about the present like Subaru did about his past despite going through his character arc. Comforting her past does not suddenly fix her present or future. Emilia misses Fortuna & Geuse is still longs for time or world where they would be alive. 2nd Trial to test how powerful that feeling is if its enough to tempt in her into accepting this facade because she clearly enjoyed it. Emilia letting go of dream accepting the reality of present, that Fortuna & Geuse are gone, her homeland is gone and that she must live outside world as half-elf with everything that entails is what had to realize to move on. Without facing her past rediscovering Fortuna's love she not have been able to bear their absence. Furthermore affirms the sort of person Emilia wants to be due to all the support she has been given those all around who never saw as just an half-devil spawn of Satella.

The 2nd trial allow her to say good-bye to Geuse and Fortuna in a way couldn't in present.

Originally Posted by Frontier

I guess because it seems like something she would be so tempted to give up, it helps re-affirm her character development to see her accept the true present and move on from it. Plus we see now how she's uniting everyone together in support of her .

I guess there's also the added wrinkle that Echidna seems to be going through an emotional breakdown as Emilia overcomes the second trial.

Yep.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by GDB

Gotta say, I was a little disappointed in this episode. It felt like every story segment inched one inch further onward, but nothing really happened. Guess that's to be expected when you try to fit in Garf vs Elsa, Beatrice, Maylie vs Frederica, what Subaru's gang is doing, AND what Emila's doing. They even managed to fit in a little Ram vs Roswaal.

Hoping next week will be a bit more focused, but I want at least one of these plot threads to conclude (or in Beatrice's case, at least reach the next milestone).

This, I felt like almost nothing happened. The only thing I'll take away from this episode is Echidna hating Emilia so much it brings her to the point of tears. Did she piss in her tea or something? Oh, wait, Echidna already does that herself.

[Frontier]

I am kind of curious about the third trial. It's talking about an "impending disaster" but the trial can't predict the future, more just extrapolate the future you fear based on your memories, so I have to assume it would probably be Pandora attacking Emilia and her present-day friends and loved ones.

Kind of like that teaser of season 2 that had Subaru walking towards Echidna with the dead bodies of everybody surrounding them.

[Wandering Soul]

Originally Posted by GDB

Gotta say, I was a little disappointed in this episode. It felt like every story segment inched one inch further onward, but nothing really happened. Guess that's to be expected when you try to fit in Garf vs Elsa, Beatrice, Maylie vs Frederica, what Subaru's gang is doing, AND what Emila's doing. They even managed to fit in a little Ram vs Roswaal.

Hoping next week will be a bit more focused, but I want at least one of these plot threads to conclude (or in Beatrice's case, at least reach the next milestone).

Yeah, can't say this was my favorite recent episode.

[Tokkan]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I am kind of curious about the third trial. It's talking about an "impending disaster" but the trial can't predict the future, more just extrapolate the future you fear based on your memories, so I have to assume it would probably be Pandora attacking Emilia and her present-day friends and loved ones.

It's not simply "your own memories" or else the fight between Geuse and Regulus, which Emilia did not see, would not be so vividly recreated. There's got to be more to it than just the memories of the person taking the trial.

[Metaneo]

Originally Posted by Tokkan

It's not simply "your own memories" or else the fight between Geuse and Regulus, which Emilia did not see, would not be so vividly recreated. There's got to be more to it than just the memories of the person taking the trial.

Echidna herself might know how their battle went down and she's present in the Trial, she could have shown Emilia the battle as an attempt to mess with her.

[frubam]

I honestly didn't think the episode was too bad, I just hated the weird multiple-focus it had. I'd rather, if Emilia was the major focus for the episode, it should have kept on that track. Since the last episode ended on such a cliffhanger, I'd wish it'd have been the main focus for the episode. Or, at the least, place it later in the episode. To start with the climax, and damper off into something more relaxing is kind of a hype killer.

[scififan]

Originally Posted by Kanon

This, I felt like almost nothing happened. The only thing I'll take away from this episode is Echidna hating Emilia so much it brings her to the point of tears. Did she piss in her tea or something? Oh, wait, Echidna already does that herself.

No, she does not. I know you are joking.

HDNA is against Emilia because Emilia's look resembles Satella.

The official twitter answer is that "dona tea" is made from saliva and sweat. The author describes the taste of the dona tea as Assam tea mixed with condensed milk.

Garfield did quite well to fight the strongest human being alive. Yes, I still consider Elsa as a human. The old butler "Sword Demon" (Reinhard's grandfather) is beyond what a human is capable of doing. Reinhard and his "Sword Saint" grandmother cannot be considered as human.

Besides Garfiel and Frederica, the third feline is also in fighting. Puck is fighting Roswell, and Rosewell has not chance against Puck. Hey, Puck can be a good father figure for Garfield and Frederica.

[Frontier]

Elsa has seemingly found the perfect opponent in Garfiel who will fight her to the bitter end despite the fact that she self-heals so thoroughly. Of course, for Elsa, her love is centered on the object of her affections innards .

Subaru tries to do his best Senku impression (because they have the same VA), but is nowhere near as effective. At least he had Otto and Petra there to make up the difference, but then they not only kill the Mabeast but burn the mansion down. Ah well, I guess they can rebuild or just move on .

So Emilia is shown a vision of a possible (?) future and voices from possible futures...with Emilia bloody and declaring her hatred (to Subaru?), and lines like Subaru calling out Reinhard, Otto wishing he'd died in the cave, Felt talking about going up against a dragon (?), a grandfather talking about their granddaughter (Felt?), Crusch standing against a curse, Priscilla being certain of her victory, Garfiel swearing to kill Subaru, and something about a soul. Will all of this come to pass in one form or another and is foreshadowing? Or will it be a picking and choosing type of situation where only some of it does? I guess this moment will be something to look back on when the entire series is finished .

But it's not all doom and gloom as it ends with a ray of hope for Emilia as she sees Rem (!) and Subaru in front of her .

Echidna doesn't even want to deal with Emilia any more so she just sends Minerva to finish the Trial...except, Minerva might be Emilia's biological mother? There was obviously a reason she didn't want Emilia to see her face or to look at her, and she said she knew her mother, who everyone says is a witch...and then her expression when she found out Emilia had a genuine mother in Mother Fortuna was to immediately embrace her. Did Echidna give Emilia a chance to see her biological mom, and Minerva a chance to see her daughter again? Wow, I did not see any of this coming .

I was not expecting Sanctuary to end with Emilia throwing a fist down with a cute little noise, but here we are. Too bad it looks like Great Rabbit is on its way anyways .

Elsa and Maylie are sisters? This was a double sibling tag-team fight from the beginning? Are they very discrete about it and just so happened to end up on the same job together or are they a discrete sibling partnership of assassins? But it turns out Elsa's one weakness is her sister as she goes out of her way to save Maylie and being distracted by her sister is what gives Garfiel the chance to throw Rock Piggie at her .

Elsa is a vampire? I guess that explains her ability to survive such thorough deaths, but doesn't that functionally make her immortal? How do vampires work in this setting? Do they not die by normal means? I'm not even sure being crushed like that would be enough to do her in .

Turns out Elsa's obsession with intestines comes from her first kill as a child when she killed the man attempting to rape her, and all that blood and guts made her warm in the cold. And then she and Garfiel proceed to chew each other out, which almost looked like sex, and she looked at her nibble at Garfiel like a love bite. Kind of creepy and...kind of romantic, I guess? not really sure how to view it .

I love Puck freaking Roswaal out by making him think he took on his true form .

Ram isn't fighting Roswaal for revenge, but because she genuinely loves him and has grown to love him over the course of her time with him. And in the end her intention wasn't to hurt him but to take out that book that has led him to be obsessed with the past and Echidna. I just hope doing that and getting vaporized by Roswaal for it isn't the end for her .

[EroKing]

Holy, holy, holy, holy, HOLY FUCKING HELL!!! What followed after this were the most epic anime moments I've seen in a long time. The animation, the music, the emotions shown, everything went far beyond my expectations.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by EroKing

Holy, holy, holy, holy, HOLY FUCKING HELL!!! What followed after this were the most epic anime moments I've seen in a long time. The animation, the music, the emotions shown, everything went far beyond my expectations.

The sexual foreplay while they were biting into each other (and yes, I know Garfiel is a 14-year old hikki that can transform into Tony the Tiger and rip a pig's neck off) .

[Tokkan]

In the novels, no context is given as to who was saying those lines in Emilia's third trial. They've been a source of speculation for quite some time but the anime went and added voices, which we can now match.

Spoiler for The third trial.:

Subaru:"You're a hero. A hero is all you can be."
Reinhard:"I..."
Subaru:"Thanks for [saving me.]"

This scene parallels a scene from Subaru's second trial... but in that scene it was Puck who gave the "a hero is all you can be" line to Reinhard. It's also very reminiscent of a conversation Subaru had with Reinhard in one of the what if stories Tappei occasionally puts out on April 1st of any given year.

Wilhelm: "...you cannot even wield the sword without it, thief?!"
Petra: "Subaru, I know you and Emilia-neesama are both tired. I'm sorry. And yet I just ended up weighing you down further."
Old Man Rom: "My precious granddaughter has grown into such a fine young lady, no?"

Al: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't kill you."

Al here is voiced by Tomokazu Seki, like in the ReZero video games. Rest in peace, Keiji Fujiwara... In the novels, this line is longer. It being Al is a surprise because it doesn't use his was of saying "ore" which is normally in katakana but here it was in kanji.

Otto: "If that's the case, then I should've just been wrapped up in that cave and left for dead."
Crusch: "Under no circumstances shall I be killed by something as nonsensical as a curse!"
Priscilla: "There, you see? I win again."
Ram: "To think someone I wanted to kill so badly turned out to a kind person. What a nightmare..."
Julius: "If I bend the knee and lose my sword, what is left for me?"

Anastasia: "What's so hard about sayin' 'I don't want to be alone'?"

Crunchyroll flubbed this line, it should be "Am I asking too much if I say I don't want to be alone?"

Garfiel: "I'm gonna kill you like I promised, Natsuki Subaru."
Roswaal: "I made the realization that I have not walked alone all this time, that is all."
???(Frederica?):"I suppose we must shed every last drop of blood in our bodies to atone."

Felt: "You can just stand there running in place! Witches, dragons, whatever stands in my way, I'll destroy it."

In the novels she corrects herself and says "we'll destroy it". Though not with these exact words, Felt said something similar in the Prophecy of the Throne game.

Felix: "Why won't the soul take hold?"
Rem: "I believe that praying to ask for a favor is arrogant. Prayer should be to seek forgiveness."

In the novels when Emilia reached her hand out to the figure resembling Rem, she had a monologue stating her desire to have a proper conversation with Rem.

[noktown]

So I don't get did Garfiel win or what ? It didn't seem like Elsa was able to heal his bites on the neck, which leaves me even more puzzled as to why.

[henshinagogobaby]

I seriously don't get why Ram loves Roswaal so much. The hate she had for him in the beginning for what he did (wiping out her clan, causing her to lose her horn, forcing her to work for and receive mana from the manipulator in question, etc) makes sense.

I would get if he demonstrated that there was more to him over the years that caused her to change her feelings but it looks like he's always been the same freaky manipulative monster he's always been ever since losing to Hector (including that annoying way of taaaalllllkking).

All I can think of at this moment is Stockholm Syndrome, plain and simple. Or the "Sakura" effect from Naruto; no matter what Sasuke has done, she'll find some way to "overlook" his flaws and love him, even if he's demonstrated countless times that he really doesn't deserve a second chance.

A shame too, since I like Ram better with Garfiel; at least, that relationship looks healthy compared to the unhealthy and dependent one that Ram has with Roswaal at the moment.

She destroyed that stupid book but that only served to piss off Roswaal more (going to channel his inner Dio next episode). Does she really think he'll get over his obsession that easy?

Roswaal is to be pitied too, I guess. Doing all this for the sake of Echidna; I get the feeling that she doesn't even like Roswaal, seeing him as just another "thing" to observe, since as a sociopath, she does not understand human emotions.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by noktown

So I don't get did Garfiel win or what ? It didn't seem like Elsa was able to heal his bites on the neck, which leaves me even more puzzled as to why.

I think the implication is that Garfiel was able to overwhelm her body enough that her self-healing couldn't recover, so she can't re-form after being smashed to bits.

Originally Posted by henshinagogobaby

I seriously don't get why Ram loves Roswaal so much. The hate she had for him in the beginning for what he did (wiping out her clan, causing her to lose her horn, forcing her to work for and receive mana from the manipulator in question, etc) makes sense.

I would get if he demonstrated that there was more to him over the years that caused her to change her feelings but it looks like he's always been the same freaky manipulative monster he's always been ever since losing to Hector (including that annoying way of taaaalllllkking).

All I can think of at this moment is Stockholm Syndrome, plain and simple. Or the "Sakura" effect from Naruto; no matter what Sasuke has done, she'll find some way to "overlook" his flaws and love him, even if he's demonstrated countless times that he really doesn't deserve a second chance.

A shame too, since I like Ram better with Garfiel; at least, that relationship looks healthy compared to the unhealthy and dependent one that Ram has with Roswaal at the moment.

She destroyed that stupid book but that only served to piss off Roswaal more (going to channel his inner Dio next episode). Does she really think he'll get over his obsession that easy?

Roswaal is to be pitied too, I guess. Doing all this for the sake of Echidna; I get the feeling that she doesn't even like Roswaal, seeing him as just another "thing" to observe, since as a sociopath, she does not understand human emotions.

Yeah, I feel like we need a lot more context for Ram's feelings here. I do think she could do much better than Roswaal .

[Xical]

Ram's feelings ... with Rem erased, where you think all her feelings for her little sister are now shoved in?

[henshinagogobaby]

Originally Posted by Xical

Ram's feelings ... with Rem erased, where you think all her feelings for her little sister are now shoved in?

But that's familial sisterly love.

Ram hasn't demonstrated incestual tendencies, and while overprotective of Rem when something bad happens to her, she doesn't show an unhealthy obsession about it.

So, yeah, still in the dark about why she likes Roswall THIS much. I feel like it would be about the same, Rem or no Rem.