Re:Zero Second Season - Anime Episode Discussion
 

This thread is for the discussion of the second season of Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu. For the moment, all episodes' discussion will occur on this single thread until further notice. Below are some posting guidelines to remember.

Thread Guidelines

• Raw requests and offers are not permitted anywhere on this forum.
• Spoilers or hints about future events must not be posted in this thread.
  If you need to reference something that would spoil a future event, reply directly with a private message, or seek out a more appropriate thread.
• Discuss your expectations of the episode if it has not aired yet.
• Be polite to your fellow forum members.
• Please try to keep the discussion on-topic.
• Character bashing is not on-topic and will not be tolerated.
• Do not post multiple times in a row. Please edit your existing post if you wish to add additional thoughts.

If you are a source material reader and want to speculate about the adaptation's future content (or compare current content), please go this thread.

Figures they would start out the second season with that scene in order to make a more seamless entry point for anyone who watched season one. For anyone who kept away from spoilers and didn't watch the director's cut, this would probably be a pretty big shock to open the second season with :eyespin:.

And...now we find out what happened to Rem, Crusch, and company. While everyone was busy defeating Petelgeuse, the rest of our band abruptly got caught between two new Sin Archbishops, Greed and Gluttony. Regulus/Greed is a total "do you mind" type of guy who seems to be really arrogant and condescending towards anyone and has force abilities, but the real depraved one is Lye/Gluttony who is basically an animal in human form willing to devour anyone or anything (and it doesn't even need to be an object). Subaru has some truly monstrous new adversaries to have to contend with :twitch:.

Rem...poor Rem. To be honest, I was starting to think something would happen to her because her existence is just too convenient to prevent or assuage Subaru's suffering, but it still hit like a sack of bricks to watch her "last stand" while she was declaring her faith and love for Subaru. I'm sure her Hero will eventually overcome these villains, but just not soon enough to save her (this time) :(.

I guess in terms of small victories, while Rem's name and memories have been stolen, at least her body is still around so there's no way people can deny her existence when Subaru tells them about her. And that her body is still around leaves some hope that she can be saved if they defeat Gluttony. I am really curious to see how Ram is going to take all of this :uhoh:.

I thought it was bad enough Crusch might have lost her arm, but she's also lost her memory. I did think for a second she sounded a lot more soft-spoken then usual, and it turns out she's practically a different person now, having to adjust to a position and people that she has no recollection of beyond maybe a few feelings here and there. It kind of makes you wonder about the events in her life that made Crusch into that person she is today compared to this more meeker and polite maiden, but she still has that steely and absolute resolve and conviction that defined her previous self. I guess some traits are just inherent ;).

I get where Felis was coming from with not wanting to endanger Crusch any more then they already have, but I think both the Crusch and Emilia camps are in a state where working together against a common enemy is better in the longrun for them both, especially if it gets them both Rem and the original Crusch back :cool:.

Just as Subaru is wallowing in self-pity and his own perceived patheticness, Emilia comes in to comfort him, tell him he's wrong, and be the shoulder for him to cry on. Emilia didn't quite understand Subaru's circumstances before and didn't know how to handle that, but now she is firmly resolved to support the burden he has to bear in any way she can. And with Emilia by his side Subaru once again finds his resolve to declare that he will save Rem :D.

Even for me who has already read this part and thus knew was going to happen, I still ended up being impressed in how WF nailed subtle changes in Crusch's disposition. She feels very different yet some core part of herself still exist.

I agree everything else you said. :)

Anyway this mark the "true" end of vol 9. Arc 4 starts next week!

IIRC, I think we were led to believe the White Whale represented Gluttony (I think Puck called it that), but it was actually just a pet of that kid. Makes sense they would have similar abilities. Felis accused Emilia to be the cause of the Witch cult attacking them, but in this particular case, it's the defeat of the White Whale that made those two move. Not that they have any way to know that, although Puck might have been able to make informed speculations.

For a moment I thought Crush was dead, but I guess the author wouldn't kill a major character like that. At least not when there's no way to save them. Now that I think about it, nobody important has ever died for good. Anyway, I like her so I'm glad she survived. She's more meek than she used to be, but she's still brave and determined.

That Subaru was willing to put in jeopardy everything he had accomplished to save Rem really shows how much he cares about her. Even if he had gone back to his previous save point, I doubt there was a way to save both Emilia and Rem. In a sense, the story/Satella spared him from having to make a really tough choice.

No dedicate thread for every episode discussion?

Re:Zero is back and it starts off with the cliffhanger that the first season avoided ending on. Crush's new softer voice does a good job showing off that she does not have the same edge she had when she was first introduced to us. Her inner strength and conviction are still present, but whatever event brought it all out for her isn't something that matters to the current her.

Despite the fact that Subaru was able to help slay the whale and save the village, he can't consider any of this a victory as long as Rem is in her current state. He was pretty lost, but luckily for him Emilia is there to help him find his resolve and assure him he has someone by his side.

Honestly, everything picked up right where it left off, It almost feels like there hasn't been a huge gap between the first season and the second.

Re Zero S2 Ep1: I like that they started things at medias res and you just have Subaru and Emilia talking and you know that this feeling is just way too happy for this series. But then Emilia drops the bomb that I knew was coming in that she totally forgot who Rem was (again...)

Poor Rem, best girl of the series, and she gets sidelined once again. I like that we get to meet the Archbishops of Gluttony and Greed (not nearly as entertaining as Betelgeuse, but I liked them quite a bit.) It's going to take me some time to learn to remember their names though.

I'd say Greed is probably my favorite of the two, he's rather cute and hilarious and I love that the two have the best centerpiece of the episode. After that, we just basically have what I expected to happen. Rem gets "eaten" by Gluttony and everyone loses memory of her. Crusch kind of gets tapped out with all of her memories being stolen as well. Subaru learning that he's been nerfed because his "save point" got moved again. So, honestly, the majority of the episode is Subaru feeling sad and Emilia giving support. It's okay, all things considered a nice setup episode. Had some exciting moments, but it could have been better.

Considering forum discussion activities as of late, centralizing everything into a single thread was deemed more appropriate to minimize fragmented discussion. Needless to say, if the demand is high enough, we can simply revert it back to weekly episode thread.

And like Subaru said, Emilia should not be held responsible for the actions of a bunch of deranged cultists. She has spent enough of her life being blamed or hated for stuff that she had absolutely no control over.

Its a decent first episode, quality dips here and there but the sentiments remain the same. Not as amazing as season 1 honestly
Looking forward to more Greed shenanigans

That too of course. Honestly, he came across as a huge dick here. I know he's concerned about Crush, but still.

Yeah. Admittedly I wasn't quite sure about the exact nature of Felis and Crusch's relationship but it definitely seems a lot deeper then I was expecting.

Rather than a dick he came out as coward and illogical to me. Crusch is meant to become the ruler of that nation, and fighting the witch's cult should be one of the ruler's responsibilities. Emilia or not, it's not like Crusch can simply hole up in her throne room and let the magic cult do whatever they want in her realm, or I mean she could, but then what would have been the point of all the sacrifices she made to kill the white whale only to let an even greater evil act freely?

I think each candidate's knight are very very close to them.

First episode starting off heavy ready to jump into all the mud.
Curious to see more of greed.

I think the only ones we haven't seen really interact with each other much are Julius and Anastasia.

Oh, yeah you don't know the half of it. Ex 1 goes in all about that. Ferris coming at all from a emotional angle makes for him.

They do, just not much in the anime since they have rarely been seen on screen together beyond Royal Selection ceremony in ep 13 and a couple of their dialogues have been cut for time.

Question:
Does anyone know if someone has gone through the first season and mapped only the "true route/forced route" excluding all the "dead ends"?

I wonder if the intent of whatever or whoever is forcing Subaru through this story would become a little more apparent if the actual route taken is all that you see.

It would also be really bad for her reputation. News would ultimately get out and she'd be forever tarnished as the noble who got attacked by the witch's cult and cowardly backed down. Who would trust a ruler like that? I can sympathise with Ferris' concerns but I can't sympathise with her acting as any kind of official advisor to Crusch.

You've fucking got that right. Like there just really isn't any let up for the poor fucker is there? The suffering commenced and Subaru's already driving a knife into his neck within the first 15 minutes.

I didn't write it out, but I did watch the series that way. It makes everyone else's actions make more sense, but it doesn't help (so far) in seeing an all-seeing viewer's goal or anything.

Funny thing is that was real ending to this arc we supposed to have gotten 4 years ago. The first episode in reality was just cleaning up the unintentional loses ends from the arc before it shifts to the next phase. But it works out really in the end.