Otto Suwen / A Reason to Believe

All right! A week has passed, and it's time for Re:Zero! Last time, things started with Otto and nearly ended with Otto, but what will this episode be like!? Otto dies! No, wait, let's see the result first! Looking forward to this week with you all too!

And so, this week starts with Otto too!

You could say he was overconfident that he wouldn't be killed, or you could say he had read how the other side would act. Facing him down while prepared to take a hit to the gut was groundwork for swiping that precious stone from his neck.

By the way, about the pitfalls: some of them Otto dug himself, and some were probably made with help from insects. Depending on the price, he can get quite a lot of cooperation out of them. Also, Otto's specialty is earth magic.

Otto's hometown is a city called "Piktatt" in the southern part of Lugunica. It's one of the major cities of the Kingdom of Lugunica, with a slightly Arabian atmosphere. The background BGM playing there has that kind of feel too.

Otto was the middle of three brothers, and his parents were good people, so for someone with the Divine Protection of Soul of Language, he had an exceptionally blessed environment. Most people with the Divine Protection of Soul of Language can't endure the hell of being caught between countless surrounding voices and die before reaching adulthood. Other than Otto, only one person in history managed to grow up normally.

"Hide the power of your Divine Protection" was advice from his older brother Oslow-nii-san that shows good sense, but it's also the common way of thinking among people who have Divine Protections. Being different from others makes you easy to reject. Though there are people like Reinhard who can't exactly hide it.

Incidentally, because of this, Otto's younger brother Regin developed a strong sense of guilt toward his older brother. He worked hard in all sorts of ways trying to be able to talk to animals too, and while he never heard voices, he eventually became a veterinarian.

That cute little white one who appeared partway through was Otto's first love. Since, because of the Divine Protection of Soul of Language, Otto has no boundary between conversations with people and animals, he chose a white cat as his first love. As you saw, he only watched and never did anything, so she got taken by a handsome tomcat.

Otto being unlucky is basically his normal state at this point, but his encounter with Petelgeuse is the ultimate example.

It's been a while since Ricardo showed up too, but this was actually something that happened behind the scenes of the correct route in Arc 3. It's the development where Otto, captured by Petelgeuse, was rescued in the middle of Subaru's plan to hunt down Sloth's Fingers.

Mimi and Tivey standing behind Otto holding a rope was the payoff to the later reveal that Otto was being carried along tied to a pole. Because of Ricardo's lack of proper reporting, he got detained again as a suspicious guy.

Hey now, having the OP play while he's in the middle of shining makes him look like the protagonist...

In Arc 3, Otto once shoved Subaru off the wagon to escape the White Whale, but at that point Subaru was just a client, and Otto was in severe confusion from hearing the White Whale's voice. Now Subaru is his benefactor, and they're friends who know each other as people. When the situation changes, relationships change. That's what loops are.

By the way, he's casually using those red magic stones, but those are part of Otto's self-defense measures for emergencies. But those probably cost quite a bit too. He doesn't seem like the type to skimp on that kind of investment.

Ram joins the fight!

Ram's entrance BGM has an incredible boss-character aura. In fact, if the conditions are right, Ram is among the strongest in the story, so it wouldn't be strange at all if she got music like the White Whale's.

Calling him "a man who's just good at timing" is the simplest form of trust you can have in Subaru, who can't talk about "Return by Death." After everything in Arc 2, Nee-sama having that assessment of Subaru really shows, as expected, how well she sees people.

The Garfiel of the past would have been knocked unconscious by that rush from Ram. That said, it has been years since Ram and Garfiel trained by trading blows like that. Naturally, they haven't done it since both of them grew as much as they have now. Garfiel must have been holding back to some extent as well.

Even so, saying something like that is just so like Nee-sama.

I see, so this time it was an Otto title-drop episode. Huh, then what are they going to do for the second half? (Foreshadowing!)

A proper continuation from the end of last time. Subaru rushed to Emilia, who was sitting hugging her knees inside the tomb, but as he says himself, he'd had his qualification to enter the tomb taken away, so it feels like he struggled until his face got filthy before somehow making it this far.

Pack disappearing is part of it, but what really hits is that Subaru once again failed to keep his promise. No matter what Subaru was doing after breaking that promise, disappearing without an excuse or even a note is no good. Yes, definitely no good.

From Emilia's point of view, unable to overcome even a single "Trial," she hasn't been able to answer Subaru, who's been helping her all the way from Arc 1 through Arc 3, and she at least wanted to believe Subaru when he said "I love you," only for that too to be betrayed by him breaking a promise... And the result is: "Isn't it because you don't expect anything from me?"

Up to this point, the only time Subaru and Emilia have really argued like this was the fight at the castle in episode 13 of season 1, because Subaru usually backs down and Emilia is considerate. Maybe that one-sided thing in episode 17 sort of counts too? So this is Subaru and Emilia's first fight like that since then.

"Why the hell do I have to come save a pain-in-the-ass woman like you after going through all this suffering?!" is both Subaru's true feelings after dying so many times to get here, and his sincere confession.

I like how they deliberately cut the BGM partway through the argument so the two of them are completely laid bare.

This part, where Emilia's true feelings inside her come spilling out, is something I pictured as a contrast to Subaru's outpouring when he was surrounded by the witches and shouted, "I don't want to lose anyone like Rem ever again!"

Mothers are amazing!

This depiction of each person reflected in the other's eyes is the kind of direction a novel just can't compete with, so it's something only anime can do. Unfair. Damn it, unfair...!

Th-there's a second subtitle!! (Foreshadowing paid off!)

So then, when Subaru and Emilia step outside after ending their clumsy first argument, waiting for them is a bloodied Garfiel. Otto dies! No, wait, save that until after next episode!

Otto's past and Subaru and Emilia's argument were both very important parts from the author's perspective, so I pushed things a bit with the subtitle too. Aren't subtitles supposed to work like that...? Even while thinking that, this is Re:Zero using subtitles as part of the direction, just like it always does!

With that, thank you again for this week! Now that this fight has happened, how will Subaru and the others face Garfiel next week? Look forward to it! And to finding out what happened to Otto, too!