Nefarious Sloth

All right, Re:Zero episode 23 is about to start! I barely made it in time again this time!

Now then, for episode 23, "Nefarious Sloth," I asked Rifujin na Magonote-sensei to do the web preview this time! Those who know, know: the immovable all-time cumulative number one on Shousetsuka ni Narou! A true champion. If a phrase like "champion vs. problem child" existed, he'd be on the champion side.

This preview didn't show up until as late as episode 23, but in fact, we got it quite a while ago. However, as you can tell if you watch it, Petelgeuse joins in rather friendly-like, so it was a bit hard to use early on. You know, because Petelgeuse has a certain image. What is he, an idol?

So we prioritized his image as a heel, which meant we couldn't use it around episode 15 or near his first appearance. That left this point, after Subaru and Petelgeuse had their first friendly contact in episode 22. And the content had that trademark pacing and momentum, right?

Then, Re:Zero episode 23 begins! Including today, only 3 episodes left! Please enjoy!!

Starting from the mysterious isolation at the end of last time.

"So cold, I do declare."

The basis for breaking the illusion: "Patrasche isn't being gentle."

Julius-san resisted through his own strength.

What appeared in Julius-san's palm was not a "quasi-spirit," but a "lesser spirit." It's a little above a quasi-spirit in rank, and Julius-san has six of them with him, which is quite extraordinary.

Nee-sama tried to secure Subaru without question and withdraw, but she was stopped by the others, led by Wilhelm, who had broken free of the illusion magic.

You may have thought, "Ram has illusion magic!?" but the hallucinatory effect comes from the toxin of those blue flowers. Ram carried that poison on wind magic and brought the entire subjugation force under its effect. If Julius hadn't resisted on his own...

Part A starts.

"So this is what it means to be bitten by your own dog."

The letter is what Subaru sent to the mansion before the White Whale subjugation, intending to pass along information such as matters related to the Witch Cult. At the moment, that's all it is: a prop.

If Nee-sama hadn't prioritized securing Subaru, she could have wiped out the main force of the subjugation team. But she couldn't do it.

Telling the villagers about the Witch Cult would cause confusion. So they tried to keep it hidden, but everyone had already more or less caught on. Incidentally, even the merchants brought along for the evacuation were brought here without being told about the Witch Cult.

Ferris is cute... no, kind...

Basically, the plan was to get by with, "The Witch Cult? No? We're just dealing with bandits in the forest, okay?" and leave the detailed explanation for after the fact. It didn't work, though.

Hah.

Petra is cute too.

Petra-mama is cute, hey!

Now then, let's go solve the problem that had been put off until later.

Honestly, I think they'd be reeeally surprised if Subaru and Julius came together.

Both Pete-ko in episode 22 and the breaking of the illusion were the power of the red lesser spirit "Ia." Julius had attached it to Subaru.

Try rewatching it a few times and checking what everyone was saying during the Nect.

"Just a gray cat." N-not meee! That's not meee!

Ferris-san has no combat ability at all.

By the way, this person is Kety-san. She has actually appeared properly several times in previous loops too.

"The kindest hand in the world" is something Ferris was told by an important friend.

Part A ends, still as fast as ever!

And so, the third one: Ketylgeuse.

Part B starts! A sudden explosion, Subaru blown to pieces!

Ferris: "Geez, you went and died again, nya."

At this moment, Wilhelm-san is once again seeing the "Unseen Hand" through the dust cloud.

Actually, the third one, Ketylgeuse, has more "Unseen Hands" than Petelgeuse or Pete-ko.

The fourth one, Petemi-san.

When he's standing still, this Petelgeuse-san kind of looks cute.

Three years later and we meet again, Ulgarum.

The fifth one is Camillus Guis.

The ones who called Emilia were Ram and Ferris, who brought a survivor back to the mansion. Ram tried to stop it, and Ferris was more like he was egging it on.

Emilia-tan is the type who doesn’t hesitate to kill someone once she’s decided to kill them. Just saying, even if it’s a bit late.

They defeated the Witch Cult, and now how will the people around her look at Emilia, the one who did it? And why is Emilia crying?

But doesn't this make Ferris look like he's wearing nothing but an apron?

Subaru prioritizes withdrawing over talking with Emilia.

The ia he had on at the moment of that thump gets knocked away from Subaru.

The sixth one: Subarugeuse.

If he could come back just by being talked into it, then it shouldn't be that easy... wait, the talking-into-it actually worked!

"I'll resent you for this, Subaru-kyun."

Just like he did to Ketty, Ferris can use his magic to make the flow of "water" in someone he's used his magic on go berserk and kill them. He did the same thing to the body Petelgeuse had entered, robbing it of its ability to resist. Julius's final strike was a mercy killing for someone who would otherwise die in agony.

If Ferris hadn't made that decision, Julius absolutely couldn't have delivered the mercy killing, so there was a high chance Subarugeuse would have attacked the village. Ferris's judgment was cruel, but correct. Whether he'd want to do it is another matter.

At the end, in the battle between Emilia and Petelgeuse, Emilia scattered ice particles she floated in the air like diamond dust, letting her visually perceive the Unseen Hands just like Wilhelm did. Wilhelm could handle it through physical ability, Emilia through overwhelming mana, so both of them could only deal with it by brute force.

And with that, how was this episode's "Petelgeuse Festival!" We got all kinds of Petelgeuses, six Petelgeuses in total, but which Petelgeuse is your favorite? I'm waiting to hear your best Petelgeuse choice♪

Best Petelgeuse is seriously out of his mind.

Out of the people there, if we're not counting surprise attacks, the only ones who could really go toe-to-toe with Emilia would probably be Wilhelm-san, Julius, and Ricardo.

By the way, I won't go so far as to say Ferris wasn't crying for Subaru at all, but most of it was for a very different reason. The detailed reason is... huh!? You can find out in Re:Zero EX 1, "The Dream the Lion King Saw"!?

Anyway, Episode 23 was a nonstop rush of developments, but the dubbing studio was pretty warm and friendly, or rather, you know? I mean, counting Subarugeuse, there were four Petelgeuses there. Whether it was warm and friendly, utter pandemonium, or heated chaos, it was lively no matter what (lol).

That leaves only episodes 24 and 25! Re:ZERO’s anime is entering its final sprint, so please look forward to what happens next! Thanks for joining me again this week!

Right, just this before bed. As for the final Subarugeuse, I remember thinking Kobayashi-san's performance was incredible while listening to the dubbing. That feeling of the struggle going on inside his head, he played it completely straight exactly like that, to the point where it was hard to explain unless he had some visible switch you could see. It was amazing.

Seriously, I can only say thank you to everyone who played Petelgeuse. And on top of that, this is material from Volume 8, which means I wrote it after the anime meetings had already started, so even if I tried to excuse myself with "I never thought it would turn out like this in the anime," I'd get completely shut down.