Re:Zero - Episode 20 Discussion / Poll

[Jerseykid]

They need puck to show up. They'll all freeze but it's the only other thing I can think of that's powerful enough

[Jaden]

Awesome raid boss episode, though somehow the tension isn't quite as high as some previous episodes. It's probably because from the story composition, I already guessed that Wilhelm would die and Subaru would make it to the next checkpoint.

Originally Posted by Eater of All

I'm actually interested in how Satella managed to choose Subaru specifically and pull him from Japan. A personality that's emotional but determined? A deadbeat with no attachment and is motivated to start from zero?

Yeah that, or if she is the god-like existence I think of, she tests lots of people in lots of parallel worlds in a monkey and typewriter-like process and re:zero is the "success story".

[Master_Yoma]

Dam Wilhelm he really pissed off that white whale

Wow a pod of white whales

[AC-Phoenix]

Anime Rule of thumb : Wilhelm is alive and will now kill the whale from inside.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Anime Rule of thumb : Wilhelm is alive and will now kill the whale from inside.

I had the same possibility cross my mind. The way Wilhelm was ate made it look like he was crushed by the whale's teeth, but it maybe wasn't totally conclusive...

And it's certainly possible that Wilhelm had come to the conclusion that the whale can only be killed from the inside-out. I mean, given everything Wilhelm tried before the whale swallowed him.

[Applehell]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Anime Rule of thumb : Wilhelm is alive and will now kill the whale from inside.

Isn't usually the opposite in this case though? The only reason to think he might survive is because his might not be finished. He could still die afterward too, taking one of them down with him of course.

[PonSquared]

I agree with what a lot of you have already said about episode 20.

So I'll just say: What an episode, and what an ending.

After all that, after all they did, without even taking White Whale Alpha down, two more show up?! Re:Zero has taught me what that horror of hopelessness looks like.

[Cicili]

Originally Posted by Eater of All

It's likely she definitely has plans for Emilia. At the least, she probably killed Emilia last loop because Subaru already screwed it up to the extreme, so it's better to use it to teach him a lesson rather than have him die meaninglessly again.

I'm actually interested in how Satella managed to choose Subaru specifically and pull him from Japan. A personality that's emotional but determined? A deadbeat with no attachment and is motivated to start from zero?

Would not be too surprised if Satella and Subaru has some past history.

Wild theories could include:

Subaru is Pride Bishop who lost his memories somehow.

Or time loop theory again. Satella =future Emilia, Subaru =Sage and somehow they went back a couple hundred years ago.

Why Satella chose Subaru of all people has always been a question i was pondering. This episode tells us its about yandere love. But the 'why'? is the big question. Why is Satella loving Subaru out of all people. He's also somebody who's from another world (or so we believe) so more mystery surrounding Satella's fixation on him.

[Arkard]

Originally Posted by Irenesharda

It's possible that they're illusions, but then I would have to question why Subaru is affected then?

He has been resistant to all of the whale's powers. He can remember people who have been wiped out by the fog, he was affected by it's mind bending powers, so I don't think he would succumb to any kind of illusion it would put out either.

We'll just have to see though. Three whales would be almost impossible to beat.

Good point regarding him being resistant to the whale's abilities so far, that makes illusions less likely. I still don't think there's three whales so that leaves it splitting as the most likely thing that happened. Isn't the whale also Gluttony or related to Gluttony according to what Puck said? What better ability then being able to create more stomachs. If the whale did split itself into multiple copies though, a common theme regarding an ability like this is that either the copies are much weaker or that the the whale's strength is split between the copies. Either one of these I think could lead them to turning this around atm.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Wait, these guys have Maser Cannons?!! The JSDF from Godzilla movies should be proud!

And....WAT? The Moby Dick can do Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?!! Oh, and Wilhelm's role has turned from Ahab to Jonah (or is it Pinokio? )

Also, I wanna ask novel-readers for this. In some instances of this episode, I saw the whale just floating there passively receiving all the attacks like he has a deathwish. It's not like he was tanking them coz he was clearly hurt and bleed due to the attacks. So what gives? Is this how it goes too in the novel, or is this a case where White Fox didn't animate the whale fight properly? Don't answer that if it involve plot spoilers.

Originally Posted by AB079

In simple terms when someone is "eated" by the white whale is erased from everyone's memories but the body and the goods of that person remains. Even if those things like Rem's room are there nobody would remember who she is like the example you mentioned. I agree on that detail about Ram's behaviour, seems suspicious but maybe is just a thing in the adaptation.

Like Klashikari said, that doesn't match with the earlier episode where Rem got killed by the whale. Not only did Ram forgot about her, all Rem's belongings in her room are also gone. The room was empty. You can't do that if the whale can only erase memories. I don't know who is responsible for that inconsistency, White Fox writers or the author but that is truly jarring if the whale can only erase memories.

Originally Posted by Arkard

So good. Always a sign something is well written where there can be so much speculation.

No. Not really. There are badly to terribly-written stories that can trigger much speculations. One of the most recent examples is Kabaneri. So many speculations, but bad payoff

[Sheba]

One french profanity to sum up my reaction at that last scene: PUTAIN! DE! MEEEEEEEEEEEERDE!

[Applehell]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Wait, these guys have Maser Cannons?!! The JSDF from Godzilla movies should be proud!

And....WAT? The Moby Dick can do Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?!! Oh, and Wilhelm's role has turned from Ahab to Jonah (or is it Pinokio? )

Also, I wanna ask novel-readers for this. In some instances of this episode, I saw the whale just floating there passively receiving all the attacks like he has a deathwish. It's not like he was tanking them coz he was clearly hurt and bleed due to the attacks. So what gives? Is this how it goes too in the novel, or is this a case where White Fox didn't animate the whale fight properly? Don't answer that if it involve plot spoilers.

Didn't the episode note wasn't actually taking much damage at all until Wilhelm cut it's eye out? They couldn't even ground it after (literally) blowing their load at it. It only started getting serious once released it's mist. It only seem to care about Subaru till then just lazily swatted anyone who came near. Beyond that LN apparently mentions it's intelligence is low despite it's power.

Like Klashikari said, that doesn't match with the earlier episode where Rem got killed by the whale. Not only did Ram forgot about her, all Rem's belongings in her room are also gone. The room was empty. You can't do that if the whale can only erase memories. I don't know who is responsible for that inconsistency, White Fox writers or the author but that is truly jarring if the whale can only erase memories.

I'm no LN/WN reader here, but I know how this works more or less through spoilers. This is something hard pretty hard to talk about without going into that. Let's just say White Whale's erausre method isn't perfect, it can certainly delete a person and the memories someone had of them, but there is a catch to it.

[Draco Spirit]

Well that was a interesting episode.

First thing I want to note is that the witches lipstick is a dark purple, which gives her a similar aesthetic to Emilia who tends towards silver, white, pink and purple herself. A minor detail for sure, but its a another link between the two.

Originally Posted by Eater of All

It's likely she definitely has plans for Emilia. At the least, she probably killed Emilia last loop because Subaru already screwed it up to the extreme, so it's better to use it to teach him a lesson rather than have him die meaninglessly again.

I'm actually interested in how Satella managed to choose Subaru specifically and pull him from Japan. A personality that's emotional but determined? A deadbeat with no attachment and is motivated to start from zero?

My personal theory is she wanted someone malleable to her plans. A true outsider (who also judging from his chat from Rem) had a crises of purpose and a romantic fantasy in his head of going to a different world and getting a magical girlfriend (see his reaction in episode 1).

Or to put another way, she wanted a impressionable puppy to become a guard dog for Emillia.

[Aetherdraw]

Man, were some of crunchyroll's subs inaccurate this episode. When Subaru was shouting his orders. He tells anyone that can hear him to cover their ears, not to listen up. They would be dying left and right if they were listening.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Applehell

Didn't the episode note wasn't actually taking much damage at all until Wilhelm cut it's eye out? They couldn't even ground it after (literally) blowing their load at it. It only started getting serious once released it's mist. It only seem to care about Subaru till then just lazily swatted anyone who came near. Beyond that LN apparently mentions it's intelligence is low despite it's power.

Yes, I knew the episode addressed that. Maybe it’s just me, but when I saw all those bloody injuries the Moby received from various attacks (eg. Will slashing and dicing), I think that must’ve hurt to a certain degree, but he was just floating there without much resistance until Will plucked out his eye . And him losing his eye can be avoided if he just go around and maneuvering himself in the air shrugging off that pesky Wilhelm and co instead of just floating there rather passively. "The whale didn't move much during the attack" is the point that I want to get across here.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Wait, these guys have Maser Cannons?!! The JSDF from Godzilla movies should be proud!

And JSDF from Gate series better be glad their fantasy opponents weren't from this one.
These guys' firepower and superhuman swordsmen would give them a run for their money!

[DemonneoPT]

The Whale's size is actually a disadvantage. It's like asking for a human to dodge a bees attack. That's why it coundn't do much to avoid so many attacks! And the Whale did maneuvered itself to try to get rid of Wilhelm in the beggining of the fight but the guy was like a tick

[Applehell]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Yes, I knew the episode addressed that. Maybe it’s just me, but when I saw all those bloody injuries the Moby received from various attacks (eg. Will slashing and dicing), I think that must’ve hurt to a certain degree, but he was just floating there without much resistance until Will plucked out his eye . And him losing his eye can be avoided if he just go around and maneuvering himself in the air shrugging off that pesky Wilhelm and co instead of just floating there rather passively. "The whale didn't move much during the attack" is the point that I want to get across here.

DemonneoPT beat me to what I was gonna say, but addition to that Wilhelm and Ricardo actions were actually limiting the Whale's movements which is why it continually get hit by the stationary artllitery.

[Dengar]

Those lasercannnons are probably metias.

[Applehell]

No, the cannons are tech that was developed by the people of this era. They're called magic stone cannons and as might have guessed their one of the many things magic stones are use for. Metia is just a catch all term for magical artifacts.

On a sidenote: this episode shows that White Whale's Mist/Fog of Elimination isn't omipotent. All the soldiers that got erased shared the same fate as Rem did, but the those on batlefield could tell how many they lost even if couldn't remember individual members, through a logical number system. So it seems that prior awareness is key.