Re:Zero - Episode 23 Discussion / Poll

[darkage]

Originally Posted by The One Above God

Damn, I almost teared up when Subaru was begging for his death and then the ED started playing. That moment really hit me hard especially when I saw Felix/Felis and Julius' reactions about the whole situation.

Honestly same here, I was even prepared for his death but man! I did not expect feels that came along with it.

[SuitUp]

How does Betelguse posession gimick works then? It's very clearly not a soul transfer, otherwise there would be no fighting it, and the new Betelguse appeared to have no knowledge of previous events in ep 22 (who are you? to Subaru) but now it seems he does (this is just beggining, the ordeal' completetion is at hand) so how does he jumps his conciousness around? How much knowledge does he actually retains? ...
All in all, fuck Betelguse, I thought that with so little running time left they wouldn't kill Subaru again, and sadly I was wrong.

[Twi]

Originally Posted by The One Above God

Damn, I almost teared up when Subaru was begging for his death and then the ED started playing. That moment really hit me hard especially when I saw Felix/Felis and Julius' reactions about the whole situation.

Same here. It reminds us that the emotional weight doesn't just fall onto Subaru.

[Albel VII]

Damn Subaru, I thought you are genre savvy enough to not raise your own death flag.

Anyway, I wonder why they didn't freak out a bit more when they found out that the letter was blank. I mean, wasn't it a signed letter sent by Crusch herself? Doesn't that mean they essentially have a traitor among Crusch's men as well?

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by SuitUp

How does Betelguse posession gimick works then? It's very clearly not a soul transfer, otherwise there would be no fighting it, and the new Betelguse appeared to have no knowledge of previous events in ep 22 (who are you? to Subaru) but now it seems he does (this is just beggining, the ordeal' completetion is at hand) so how does he jumps his conciousness around? How much knowledge does he actually retains? ...
All in all, fuck Betelguse, I thought that with so little running time left they wouldn't kill Subaru again, and sadly I was wrong.

Well, if it's more mind control than actual possession, nothing is out of the ordinary.

[FlameSparkZ]

Originally Posted by Dengar

Well, if it's more mind control than actual possession, nothing is out of the ordinary.

As it was mentioned earlier, the gospel might be acting as a sort of "anchor" for Betelguese. Each time he was killed, he transfered himself to the fingers and when all fingers died, he might have gone to the gospel, which was being carried by Subaru.

Hopefully, destroying the gospel will be the answer to beating Betelguese.

[larethian]

^^^ it's not mentioned in the anime, but I believe it will be mentioned later.

[VTHokiePride]

Wow. Just wow. Subaru is so slothful.

I'm really hoping he doesn't have to redo everything again. I'm glad Julius was the one to do it and not Emilia either.

[Triple_R]

On the episode as a whole...

Some good Ram moments. I'm glad she wasn't hard-headed and didn't take long to understand what Subaru was saying and where he was coming from. I also liked Ram's attire in this episode, pretty cool!

I'm glad Sloth and his forces are putting up a really good challenge and fight. I was a little fearful this might feel like a mop-up operation after the epic White Whale fight, so I'm glad the challenge is seriously continuing for Subaru. The big surprise explosion, and even freaking Wilhelm struggling some, was good to see.

Nice dramatic action scene for Emilia.

Best moment of all was Sloth taking over Subaru's body. That was genuinely surprising to me, and continues Re:Zero's strong 8 episode+ run of being consistently surprising with good-to-great cliffhangers.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by TheForsaken

Same as above. The right comparison is: Someone is guaranteed to be hit by a car and you are forced to stay near him.

There's no guarantee that Emilia will be targeted by the Witch's Cult. It may be probable, but there's no guarantee. How long has she been in Roswaal's care without having everyone near her slaughtered already? And why would the cult attack the nearby village anyway if Emilia is their goal? It's not like the village would defend her.

But no, let's blame the innocent person for not killing themselves I guess, since apparently their mere existence puts sole blame on them for loonies killing unrelated people that they don't have to kill either way.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

That being said, moridin84 does have a point. "Blame" is a strong word, and I'm not sure I'd go that far, but this much is almost certainly true - If Emilia had chosen somewhere else to live, somewhere much farther away, these villagers would have likely remain unharmed. That's cold, maybe even as cold as Puck can be, but it's still true.

Blame is a strong word. It's also the wrong word. She's involved, and her involvement can cause others to get involved. But she's innocent, just as the villagers are. Should we blame the villagers too, since they're now involved as victims? After all, if the villagers hadn't gotten involved, the soldiers with Subaru wouldn't be getting killed trying to protect them.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

For the villagers in my analogy, and for the actual villagers in this show, if this special wanted person wasn't living near them, they'd be safe.

Roswaal and Emilia keep the village safe from mabeasts. Without them, the mabeasts would destroy them (as seen in arc 2).

Further, Ram and Rem's backstory shows that the witch's cult can act wherever and whenever it pleases. Just because a half-elf isn't super close does not mean they cannot and will not be attacked by the cult. I think this is the biggest thing that people are forgetting. It's not like the Witch's Cult is just some sort of "Purity Organization" that wants to cleanse half-elves and anyone associated with them. They're crazy loons that want to watch the world, and everyone in it, burn. No one is safe.

[Mangonel]

I think looping here wouldn't be very interesting. Granted Subaru learned some things he could fix for a more perfect runthrough, namely the hidden cultists and the blank letter but a loop to fix those things wouldn't be much fun to watch I think.

What would be more interesting is if we get some direct involvement from Satella. We know her power extends beyond Subaru due to the loop where she killed Emilia. Though so far the conditions of Satella's involvement/curse require no one living being aware of it. I'm thinking in their unwillingness to kill Subaru, Betelgeuse could render Julius and Felix unconscious at which point Satella could directly intervene?

With Betelgeuse questioning Subaru about being the Archbishop of Pride and the other Archbishops having the same strong scent of Satella on them this would be a great time to showcase that in some form. Throughout the whole series Satella's influence over Subaru has gotten strong and stronger. From being a hand grasping his heart to reaching out and grasping the hearts of others to more recently whispering into his ear. This has got to amount to something more than just being the ultimate Mabeast lure imo.

[Znail]

Originally Posted by Arkard

Assuming a death, Return by Death can help with the hidden fingers and cultists that were lurking in the carriages and with the merchants, but that still leaves the problem of how to kill Betelgeuse who just seems to be body hopping like mad... the only thing I can think of is what he's resorted to time and time again so far... start talking about Return by Death. You're trying to possess my body? You love the witch? Say hello to Satella. She's a really really scary yandere who strokes me in inappropriate places when I try to talk about her. What do you think's gonna happen when she finds out you're trying to possess "her man?"

That would be pretty hiliarious if it happened!

It seems Puck knows the witch as well and that adds more fuel to the Emilia and Satella connection. It also clears up that the Witch cult is not actually endorsed by the witch herself, wich makes that connection likelier.

[Wandering Soul]

Originally Posted by Albel VII

Anyway, I wonder why they didn't freak out a bit more when they found out that the letter was blank. I mean, wasn't it a signed letter sent by Crusch herself? Doesn't that mean they essentially have a traitor among Crusch's men as well?

They have more pressing matters at the moment. I'm sure some of them might be concerned , but they probably want to wait until they have more time and can talk with Crusch about it.

[BetoJR]

Originally Posted by Wandering Soul

They have more pressing matters at the moment. I'm sure some of them might be concerned , but they probably want to wait until they have more time and can talk with Crusch about it.

I dunno, this seems to be quite the worrisome thing, to me.

[Applehell]

Originally Posted by BetoJR

I dunno, this seems to be quite the worrisome thing, to me.

Subaru said he was going bring up the matter with Emilia directly anyway who is better to discuss with as she more or less incharge here in absence of Roswaal. Evacuations are complicated time consuming process especially on the spot ones and they don't want to unnecessarily alarm the civilians merchants that are with them either.

[ZGoten]

Well it's like I said in the previous episode thread, another return by death is probably due, and here it is. Good episode, though. These witch cult fanatics are truly messed up.

[Loran Cehack]

You know what? This show has been breaking expectations since day one. It would be crazy if there was no return by death this time, but rather something else....

*Just saying hehe*

[blakstealth]

Originally Posted by ZGoten

Well it's like I said in the previous episode thread, another return by death is probably due, and here it is. Good episode, though. These witch cult fanatics are truly diligent.

fixed for ya

[Jaden]

Well, he hasn't been to the mansion or the apple vendor lately. It'd be interesting to see where he respawns. One thing that's certainly not going to happen is having to deal with the whale again.

[Incest Emblem]

Originally Posted by Jaden

It'd be interesting to see where he respawns.

When he woke up from the explosion, he seemed to have seen the Witch's magic before he opened his eyes. Could that be the respawn point? If so, it would leave him with very little time to correct his course and figure out a solution, and it would leave heavy casualties in the village.