Wilhelm van Astrea

Waiting for Re:Zero episode 20. Looking forward to this week too.

Sometimes we use a character's name for the subtitle, and when we do, that means it's that character's spotlight episode, so that's the idea this time.

About 40 years before the main story, the Kingdom of Lugunica was being shaken by the royal civil war, the Demi-Human War.

Just who could this man and woman be?

And now back to the present day.

That thing that looks kind of like modern artillery is a weapon called a magic stone cannon, which fires magic stones. Cost-wise it's pretty inefficient, so it can't be used in large numbers. "Night-banishing magic stones" are even more extreme in that respect; they're magic stones that create something like an artificial sun in the sky.

The White Whale's size was based on the image of it being bigger than a blue whale.

The opening offensive of the operation is to lure the White Whale out into the light, then unleash a full assault and bring it down before it can hide in the "mist."

But this girl is cute.

A-part starts!

White Whale: "Oh, that girl smells."

Now then, first let's see what the "Sword Devil" can do.

The Sword Devil rejoices.

The "Iron Fang" is cheering!

9500/9999

Most mabeasts tend to have designs that trigger an instinctive visual disgust, but the White Whale is even creepier up close, covered all over in fine hair.

That one had to hurt.

"Pathetic..." His old blood is completely stirring now.

Taking damage, gaining new abilities, and becoming more aggressive is a classic kaiju/Earth Defense Force trope, isn’t it?

A-part over! That was fast!

An eyeball fell out, but it's the whale's, not Subaru's, so we're fine.

In response to overwhelming demand, they drew it properly.

B-part starts! Lovey-dovey talk.

A fog thick enough to hide the pseudo-sun was released, and they lost sight of the White Whale's massive body. Not knowing what is happening in the fog gives the same feeling as the first half of Episode 17.

That dodge just now was the ground dragon's own judgment.

In the battle to subjugate the White Whale, the force was divided into squads of 15. Because of that, when they get hit by the "fog," they may not know who disappeared, but they can tell from the numbers that someone is gone.

It isn't shown, but Conwood, representing the old men, has probably been apologizing to Wilhelm ever since he brought back Theresia's sword.

The White Whale uses two kinds of nasty fog: "mind-corrupting fog" and "erasing fog." The former, the corrupting fog, was also released in Episode 17, so I wonder if it affected Otto at least a little. Though in his case, that wasn't all.

"I love you."

The presence was from behind, and yet it came from the front.

For Wilhelm too, the "fog" is ineffective.

Mimi and Hetaro's "Wah-" and "Hah-" are a sibling roar-wave, a finishing move only possible through the three siblings' teamwork.

Like the calm before the storm.

That fog just now was the complete-erasure fog.

It should have been directly overhead, but it came from behind.

The two of them always met here.

This is the "Sword Saint's" first battle.

The full details of their rendezvous are now available in "Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Ex 2: Sword Devil Love Song"!

Rather than protecting the combat-incapable Subaru, it's more that Ricardo's sense of smell told him Subaru was necessary for a counterattack. Well, given his personality, there's also a good chance he just saved the kid in front of him.

Whales travel in groups, or so someone said... As the battle goes on, the enemy getting stronger is one of those classic monster-movie tropes, hehe.

I'd just watched Shin Godzilla, you see.

And with that, the B-part is over too! Thanks again for joining me today! That was fast!

Closing Wilhelm.

What was shown in between was how "Sword Saint" Theresia and "Sword Devil" Wilhelm first met, or rather how the two deepened their bond. They met in that flower field for no particular reason, but when you hear that both of them called it love at first sight, it really hits you.

This may sound like promotion, but Re:Zero has two Ex side-story volumes, and "The Dream the Lion King Saw" and "Sword Devil Love Song" are, respectively, a pre-royal-selection story about Crusch and Ferris, and a story about Wilhelm in his youth, so if you read both, the White Whale battle becomes even more enjoyable... I mean, it's not promotion though!

@otoan425 Well, I write with the idea that you'll enjoy it if you read the books in release order, so it was inevitable that the two EX volumes would make the White Whale battle more enjoyable...!

Well then, thanks again for joining me this week! The second half of the White Whale battle continues next week! What will happen to the subjugation force now that they've fallen into such a desperate situation? Please look forward to it!