Happiness Reflected on the Water's Surface

Alright! It's time for Re:Zero again this week! Last time ended right as things were entering the climax in various places, and with the number of episodes left, that's exactly the kind of feeling we're in now. Please stay with us to the very end! Thanks!

And we're off at the very start with Garfiel's flashy first battle. If his first battle is against Elsa-san, then that's the same as Subaru. Though the details may be totally different!

Personally, I love Elsa-san's fighting style of relying on her durability.

In the world of Re:Zero, when it's a one-on-one fight, the strong have a custom of announcing themselves. There's a strange unspoken rule that at least in these introductions, no one lies.

For Beatrice, Subaru's return is always the first time. For Subaru, who knows how many times it's been by now, but this time can he answer her quiet lament?

As expected, someone who's a habitual promise-breaker says things differently. Re:Zero brings up promises quite a lot, but basically, promises are meant to be kept. The reason Subaru has so many promises he can't keep is because his way of thinking is like that.

'Will you become Betty's "that person"?' was a line Beatrice worked up quite a lot of courage to say, but Subaru responded exactly as you saw. How to answer Beatrice's wish, that desire she's carried for four hundred years, is also one of the problems that must be overcome to break through Arc 4.

We saw a slightly calculating side of Petra, but it didn't work on Meili, who's a bad girl seasoned by countless battles. A heartwarming conversation amid the brutal tension between two little kids......

What Meili is riding is a mabeast called an 'Rock Pig.' It's also called a Warg Pig, but the hippo it was modeled after is actually famous for being extremely violent.

Oh......! Ah, y-you are......!

Guiltylowe-san! Why, if it isn't Guiltylowe-san!

The jet-black king of the forest! Guiltylowe!!

After an incredibly short commercial break, we return to the 'Sanctuary' side, where Emilia faces the second 'Trial.' 'Behold an unthinkable present' functioned as a terrifying bomb for Subaru, but for Emilia......?

The first 'Trial' is seeing your own most painful past, and the second 'Trial' is seeing a present from a world line different from the current one. The pattern of 'Trial' shown to Subaru was irregular; Emilia's pattern was what the original second 'Trial' was designed for.

The elves Emilia passed by along the way are the people she recognizes as Aunt Tanse and the others. Since they're elves, they're called aunts, but they look young and beautiful. During dubbing too, we talked about how they're called 'aunt,' but since they're elves, they stay fixed in a youthful state.

Emilia, who is taking on the second 'Trial,' is drawn with an appearance somewhere between Loli Emilia and present-day Emilia... roughly what I imagine a 14-year-old would look like. Takahashi-san is also giving exactly that kind of performance. Like, this is probably how that young Emilia would have grown up if the incident that froze the forest had never happened.

If the forest-freezing incident had never happened, Fortuna and Juice might have been able to build up moments like these together.

I really love Archi's performance here, like he's trying to stop Emilia from leaving. I loved the end of Archi's scene in the first 'Trial' too, but this one is especially wonderful. As expected of Namikawa-san.

The conversation between Emilia and Archi is, from the author's perspective, what I most wanted to do in the second 'Trial.'

At the end, Echidna seemed a little different. In the words she leaves behind, "I hate you," did you see something like emotion in her?

The instant she jumps into the lake, Emilia catches sight of herself reflected on the water's surface. Because Emilia has had so many painful experiences over her appearance, the setting is that after coming out of the ice, she had actually never once seen herself in a mirror until that moment. She looked in a mirror in season one's ending? Forget it!

Outside the tomb, the people of Arlam Village and the residents of the Sanctuary are waiting. That infuriating move where they blankly play dumb like, "Did they say something?" about the words Subaru and the others left behind. Personally, I like the line worrying about Emilia: "The lord was at death's door!"

In fact, Roswaal entered the tomb under the pretext of freeing everyone from the Sanctuary, but the moment he went in, he got blasted apart, so everyone was shocked. That's how he ended up as bandage man.

First seen off by Subaru and the others, then by Ram and Roswaal, and then a third time by the many people in the Sanctuary, Emilia takes on the third 'Trial,' "Face the coming calamity"... and right there, ending! So fast!

By the way, Roswaal entering the tomb, getting blown apart, and ending up near death was a demonstration meant to show everyone how difficult the tomb was, and to strongly impress on them the achievement of the person who would clear it after him (in Roswaal's plan, Subaru). Other than the target changing from Subaru to Emilia, it went exactly as he intended.

He was also hoping, just a little, that he might be able to meet Echidna again in the Sanctuary. Well, the "Book of Wisdom" didn't say he could enter, so he knew he wouldn't be able to see her—but even so, he probably couldn't help trying.

So, thank you again for this week! Please stay with us next week as well as we continue into the climax!