I’m scared.

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Impression

Re_Zero 10 Img007Did he cut it off?! Would that be a good thing? Can the ‘sharpest sword’ even do that to an oni’s horn? Wouldn’t Rem become as weakened as Ram currently is? I’m actually wondering whether subduing Rem in her current state is the correct course of action. I know Ram talked about how that crazed state is a detriment to Rem’s body, but if that’s all then it might be the preferable option. Say Subaru successfully scores a blow on Rem’s horn. She’ll probably fall unconscious or, at the very least, be exhausted. Ram is also useless now. That leaves Subaru as the only (relatively) capable fighter all by himself, surrounded by a pack of dogs with no help in sight. Betty would be very far from her library and Emilia shouldn’t know anything. Obviously it’d be a problem solved by the appearance of someone super strong to help them out (like Reinhard) but it’d be a rather cheap way to end all this.

Re_Zero 10 Img003It does feel like this will be the final loop, by the way – it’s carried on for ages and Subaru has made a significant amount of progress. So it’d be devastating if he lost all of his hard work, and that’s probably what he was thinking as Betty broke the bad news to him. After all this trouble, he’s still going to die. She’s surprised by how unperturbed he is about dying, but to him the bigger issue is that things have been better than they’ve ever been throughout the current series of loops, and it would be a huge waste to lose it all. Not only in terms of having to retrace his steps or the effect it’ll have on his morale, but also the fact that Satella’s scent will get stronger on him yet again. It’s actually kind of interesting that he’s managed to come up with a way to take full advantage of it – apparently the curse spikes whenever he tries to reveal its existence to someone else, and it attracts all the dogs (and Rem) towards him. That would be an answer to Ram asking why they were so aggressive to him, although in that case it’s weird that they’ve been jumping at Rem in the exact same way. And in turn, both the dogs and Rem go absolutely batshit when they smell Satella right in front of them. I’m actually having trouble separating the existences of the dogs and the shaman from Satella, given that they all fall into the ‘antagonist’ camp – I know this series isn’t as black and white as to separate its characters into solely two camps, but it’s difficult to visualize where all these factions lie relative to each other when we know so little about them. All we know of the shaman is that they’re acting through countless numbers of dogs. There’s a power struggle for the throne whom they’re presumably involved in, as is Elsa. We need to learn more about this at some point.

Re_Zero 10 Img005Rem is scary. Minase Inori is too godly. I don’t want to like her this much, it feels like I’m cheating on Yuuki Aoi. I’ve said this time and time again, but she’s destined for great things in the future. Every time I hear her in a role as far away from Chino on the spectrum of possible voices (like Rem or Carol) I’m a little awed. I was wondering why they casted her as Rem, and now I know it’s because Rem can get a little… excited in her oni form. It’s probably not a coincidence that it’s the blue oni who’s being depicted as running wild and savagely attacking the dogs, while Ram found herself appreciated by the village kids this episode, although it’s slightly different to the story in that it has nothing to do with the villagers this time as Rem’s doing it to save Subaru. Speaking of which, Rem’s doing something to save Subaru! His words really got through to her! She’s doing it all for him! It’s incredible when you think back to the fact that, merely a few episodes ago, she was just about ready to kill Subaru the moment he stepped out of line (and she did just that in previous loops). Now she’s risking her life to save his. It’s beautiful. And so is this cute Ram.

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Re_Zero 10 Img006This has been quite a long arc. The first one lasted a mere 3 episodes (including the 1-hour special at the start), and while I’m glad White Fox are adapting all this properly I didn’t think we’d use up the rest of the season for a second arc – usually the standard light novel adaptation formula is to do 4 episodes per volume (3 if you’re a real cheapskate studio) so spending 7 is unprecedented. Unless we’re not on Volume 2 any more? I’ve been assuming that each ‘save point’ occurs once per arc at the start of a volume, but I could be wrong. I’m not sure how much more is left, but a good transition point would be the end of the cour, so we can refresh the OP/ED and move on to (hopefully) greener pastures. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, everyone! Happiness for Subaru awaits!

;_;

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Sarnik

    “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, everyone! Happiness for Subaru awaits!”

    Lol

    1. Vantage

      Shush, let me dream! Everything will be okay.

      …Right?

      1. Shiki

        Just hope that it’s not a train at the end of the tunnel that is coming for you LoL

        1. Vantage

          Or a Japanese truck? 😀

  2. Shiki

    Next week is episode 11 and then we will get the prescreening event for episode 12 which will introduce the second cour, the third arc ( I feel already sick only thinking about it ), the crazy huge new cast and most likely the new OP & ED songs with new visuals – Essay-kun

    1. Vantage

      I’m looking forward to the new OP/ED. I was hoping the Suzuki Konomi OP would grow on me over time, but I’m still not too fond of it even though I usually think she’s great. Will the third arc take up the entirety of the second cour? I’ve heard bits here and there about the… gruesome stuff that’ll happen.

      1. Shiki

        Let’s say we will meet a looot of new characters and some old ones make an appearance as well. Also some nice info in the future about some questions we have. Think about it.. do you really think the story would go easy and soft from now on just because subaru suffered here and there and now managed this part?

        It was hard for the Suzuki Konomi OP to grow so much closer considering how often White Fox simply skipped OP/ED. In my opinion the OP is only good in combination with the anime OP-sequence but alone it just does not leave as much of an impact like the ending does.

        1. Vantage

          I don’t think it’ll permanently turn happy and comfy, but I want something like Episode 4 again – where Subaru’s life was relatively more comfortable, he started to make friends and things looked like they were looking up. He hasn’t had a break since then at all.

          It’s amazing how liberal White Fox have been with the OP. Myth & Roid’s ED is the better of the two, so it’s good that it’s appeared more often – and yeah, it’s great how the ED always leads in at the end of an episode.

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