I want to protect that smile.

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Impression

Re_Zero 11 Img006Can we have an RMT? Actually, that sounds like a certain trade union from where I’m from. Let’s go with RMF: ‘Rem-rin Maji Fairy’! As cute as silver Megumin is, Rem must have been everyone’s fairy today. Right? Subaru may have given his heart to Emilia, but the current Rem now feels like she’s become utterly devoted to him, which is absolutely adorable. It’s actually amazing that Subaru has managed to cultivate this much of a contrast in Rem compared to how she treated him before – that is, with such suspicion that he was killed by her without hesitation purely on the off-chance that he was working with Satella (although the stakes were admittedly much higher from her perspective). If we cut off all the context, we basically got a Reinhard-type end. Subaru was saved from certain death by Roswaal, after all. Not that this is a bad thing – it’s realistic that the Shamac spell wouldn’t do much, and after all that suffering Subaru deserves a little bit of luck. I liked how the puppy ended up having a true form though, that’s better than having it stare menacingly at Subaru as all the other dogs did the work.

Re_Zero 11 Img007In hindsight, it’s now understandable that she chose to act first and ask questions later in those past loops – if Subaru really had been a threat, it would have been the perfect opportunity for Rem to sink further into her self-created spiral of guilt and inferiority should anything have gone wrong. Ram or Roswaal could have been hurt or killed, and Rem would have somehow pinned the blame on herself – if only because she had harboured suspicions about Subaru and hadn’t acted on them. On the other hand, if Subaru turned out to be innocent, the loss wouldn’t have been too great. He did save Emilia’s life, yes, but they’d only just met for hardly any time at all. The same goes for the other mansion inhabitants, who would have chided Rem for acting so hastily at most (if that at all, given that he did stink of Satella) and in the end wouldn’t have cared too much. It must have been a no-brainer to Rem. Ram probably wouldn’t have done anything – it was Rem’s mental hangups specifically which ultimately led to Subaru’s death, and so it was actually quite lucky that she and not Ram was the one to follow Subaru to the village.

Re_Zero 11 Img005That back-story played out a little differently than I was expecting – I believed all along that Ram had cut off her own horn (in response to the village bullying or disowning Rem or something like that) because that’s what happened in the Red Oni Blue Oni story. The village being attacked ties in with Rem’s hatred of Satella though, so this was fine too. I had no idea she’d been brewing such thoughts deep inside – a massive inferiority complex for starters, and guilt and a subconscious jealousy alongside that. It was as much a shock to me as it was to her to hear her say she felt relieved that Ram’s horn had been cut off – I thought she was atoning for her being the cause of it all, not because she was punishing herself for the schadenfreude. It looks like Ram has no idea, too. Even when she got good at all the maid duties that Ram wasn’t, she still genuinely seemed to believe that ‘onee-sama could do this better’, presumably if she still had her horn or something. Not that horns are even related to how capable she’d be as a maid. Ram and Rem are good at different things, and there’s nothing wrong with that – Rem is objectively a capable fighter, and Rem objectively has bigger boobs than Ram does. Although, is that last one a good thing? There’s a certain school of thought, you know – when a DFC girl hugs you, she’s holding you closer to her heart.

Anyway. We’re moving onto the next arc! We’ve already got some admin information trickling in – Myth & Roid have been moved to the OP, and Takahashi Rie is on the ED. ED2’s single will also apparently have a B-side by Minase Inori (Rem) so definitely download it when it comes out. I still can’t stop listening to Harmony Ribbon. Many of the new seiyuu joining the cast are also heavyweights – I’m looking forward to Yukarin, Fujiwara Keiji and Ueda Kana the most. They’re really sparing no effort with the cast, which is pleasing. We’ve spent a hell of a long time on this arc, so I’m looking forward to what’s coming next. And also, I got the smile I wanted! Subaru’s happiness! Look how happy he is! I want to protect his smile too! I want to protect all of their smiles!

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This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. Wanderer

    “I’m looking forward to Yukarin, Fujiwara Keiji and Ueda Kana the most.”

    !!! Gnya! Two of my favorites are coming in? Why doesn’t anyone tell me these things?!

    “I want to protect that smile.”

    Need to keep them ALL safe. I can’t let any of them be lost. I can’t stand for any of those smiles to disappear. (Well, I don’t really care about Roswaal, but I think you get what I mean) Subaru has paid in many-times his share of blood, in sanity, and in his very soul to get them through this hellish trial together. If someone DARES ruin what he’s built THIS TIME… I don’t know who yet, but I will find SOMEONE responsible and break their kneecaps for it!

    1. Vantage

      Others include Hocchan and Iguchi Yuka (and this time I won’t mistake her for Asumi Kana). All this builds up a suspiciously tactical slant to seiyuu casting by White Fox – the main cast members are all fresh, rising talent like Takahashi Rie or Minase Inori (presumably as a career-boosting opportunity) while almost every single side character is played by a veteran A-lister.

      Roswaal can protect his own smile. I’m more worried about Subaru ruining what he’s built himself – I want him to set up a good foundation before the save point kicks in and shit starts happening. If he does something unfortunate and it ends up being irreversible because the autosave occurs after that, he’d be making things a lot harder for himself.

  2. Shiki

    episode 11 marks the end of the second arc and with this we’re done with the introduction or prologue of the story
    About the story from the 2 Oni, what Re:Zero did is basically giving this tale that has no real ending, it’s own ending through its own story.
    Once again good job for fighting for a happy ending and helping rem out of her misery

    By the way, for a brief moment we could see Subaru having a bandage with something written on it. Roswaal actually invited all the children into the mansion and visit Subaru while he was unconscious. They wrote their good luck and thank you wishes for him.

    Roswaal also mentions his “goal” which is to kill the dragon that is actually the savior of this world

    Next is the infamous arc 3 and the author himself did well to describe it in a tweet:

    “Next week arc 3 will start and the creators have put a lot of effort into this specific arc, Subaru will suffer MUCH WORSE than in arc 2”. There are also some tweets after that where he is prepared for the emotional messages he will receive and that maybe he even hurt some people too much. And I can confirm this. These past two arcs were the preparation for what will await you as the reader/watcher in the third arc and the following. If you thought episode 7 was the utmost of emotion and psychological breaking this story can have then you’re more than wrong. This was probably the tamest scene in the entire story so far..yeah probably.

    Gotta catch.. er I mean save ’em all

    1. Wanderer

      So the story ends here, got it.

      Where does this author live again? My friend, Mr. Lead Pipe, and I want to know for, uh, research. Yeah. 😉

    2. Vantage

      My body is ready. Bring it on, I can take this… I think.

      I still can’t believe the blue loli was the shaman. Do we ever see her again? And the Roswaal thing confused me slightly, I’m not sure whether that means he’s confirmed to have malicious intentions or not, or whether that aligns him with Satella or Elsa or the both of them. We know hardly anything about the dragon other than what’s been passed down in that fairy tale.

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