From Now On

Starting tonight! It’s the second half of Re:ZERO Season 4! Everyone, it’s great to have you with us again! Keep your night free! [What scenes or lines stood out to you?] Re:ZERO Cast Comment Relay https://t.co/9Jx4ZdJk2Q via @YouTube

[Re:ZERO] 4th season non-credit opening video │ “Recollect” Konomi Suzuki feat. Ashnikko https://t.co/WSnwQthVmX via @YouTube

All right! So, anime Season 4! The second half begins today! Of course, the author’s noisy live commentary is back too! Let me briefly recap what happened in the first half! “Not a single good thing happened! Maybe something good will happen soon!” With that hope in mind, let’s do this again from today!

At the end of the previous episode, Natsuki Subaru was still suffering from amnesia, but he nevertheless found his reason to fight. Having pulled himself together, he takes on the Pleiades Watchtower once more—now, let’s get this going!

The restart point for “Return by Death” remains the same: Emilia and the others brought Subaru, who had collapsed on the third floor, to the Green Room and were waiting for him to wake up. Incidentally, by this point Subaru had already fallen for Emilia all over again, so he blushed the moment he saw her face.

After losing his memories, Subaru had thought of Emilia as “an incredibly beautiful girl who is exactly my type,” but he wasn’t romantically attracted to her. Even at the beginning, Subaru doesn’t clearly realize his feelings for her until the lap-pillow episode—Episode 8 of Season 1—so he’s actually the kind of guy who needs a certain kind of event to fall for someone.

Even without knowing why Subaru suddenly burst into tears, Emilia and Beatrice accept it head-on. The others present are Rem and Patrasche, so it was quite the lineup: the Four Heavenly Kings who would hug Subaru even if he suddenly started crying!

This is a new loop he takes on with a renewed outlook, but basically nothing has changed apart from his mindset. Still, mindset is important in Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-—stay tuned to see what Subaru, now resolved, will do.

Meili! It’s Meili, alive and well! It’s Meili-senpai, without that nasty look on her face! It’s been a while!

Once again, Subaru goes to reveal his amnesia. Naturally, the people around him take it the same way, but how will things change because Subaru himself has changed? What changes when Subaru, who had fallen into distrust and suspicion, changes?

“Chaaaan…” Emilia sounds so lonely. Unfortunately, this part doesn’t change even after he steels his resolve.

The reason Subaru originally called her “Emilia-tan” was to create an excuse for why he couldn’t get close to a girl who was his type. It was an excuse along the lines of, “If I call her ‘Emilia-tan,’ it can’t be helped if she doesn’t come to like me.” But Emilia herself was happy to be called by a nickname, so she didn’t feel negatively about it.

As last time, talking things over with Ram is essential, but Subaru goes in to make his case sincerely. Whether he has his memories or not, what he can do does not change. “I deserve at least this much reward” is a line I really like.

After that three-action slap just now, the angle and expression of Ram looking down on Subaru feel familiar. They sure do. You can't do this kind of direction in a novel, so it makes you go, “Anime, anime~.”

But his cheek is pretty properly red... Sis, you put too much force into hiding your embarrassment.

I, the author, really love the words that follow Sis's “You fool” here. Isn't the BGM too good, too??

Subaru deals with the problems that must be dealt with, one by one. Now then, what is the first problem Natsuki Subaru must currently address—?

When you imagine how Meili must feel being told this here, it is incredibly scary, and I love it. I knew it, but the second half is nothing but parts I love.

“The responsibility for killing me—” is quite the line for someone who understands too well what I like. If you get the chance, try looking into it!

Last time, Subaru thought, “It'd make sense to be killed because they remember me, but being killed because they forgot me is weird,” but that did properly become his motivation.

Meili is probably super scared right now.

“—Murder becomes a habit” was not something said for the Subaru in that episode; it was a line planted for the answer revealed here.

Congratulations! Elsa-san has appeared continuously not only across Seasons 1 through 4, but also in both the first and second halves of Season 4! I only recently realized it, but since I made her the chapter boss of Arc 1, I guess I really like Elsa-san quite a lot.

Meili's character design was, just as she confesses, based on Elsa. Rather than the author doing so, the image is that Meili herself wanted it that way. If Meili gives you the impression of being not quite age-appropriate, that is feedback I am very happy to hear.

I anticipated Meili's actions, so I had hooked a whip partway up the stairs in advance so she could leap for it. I think that is super dangerous, but I did something similar long ago in a game called Shadow of Memories. I, the author, thought it was super dangerous too.

You can really feel Subaru's growth in the fact that he did not try to handle it alone. Well! He had properly learned that already in Arcs 3 and 4, before the amnesia, so it is reinventing the wheel!

Here, Subaru says, “At least the method,” while rubbing his own stomach. Did some kind of image stir within him, or was it an inferential reaction based on Meili's Book of the Dead information? We'll go with the more interesting one!

Whether the plan to turn Meili into a proper human succeeds depends on how the adults around her behave. Well, at the very least, they are a much more decent group of adults than Elsa-san, so it will surely head in a good direction! Though Shaula may be an exception!

So, the subtitle for the first episode after the return was “A Story From Here On.” One problem solved.

Shaula is holding Meili in her lap. Meili suits being leaned on by an older, high-maintenance woman...

Still so fast! Thirty minutes goes by so fast! The first episode of the second half went by at a speed that was practically a blink! At this rate, eight episodes—or rather, only seven more episodes!? It is frightening to think they may pass in the blink of an eye, but everyone, hold back your blinks and thoroughly enjoy the anime, whose every detail was so carefully crafted!

And so, the culprit behind the push has been identified, and one of the problems at hand has been resolved—yet the Watchtower still has so many things that need to be dealt with. When will the “god-tier episode” Kobayashi-san boldly promised arrive? Honestly, isn't today pretty much one too? With that in mind, please join us next time as well! Until we meet again! At the Tower of Sand!

Updated—it’s 2:10 a.m. The anime's second half has started too, and I can't let this side fall behind, so I'll rev the engine and get going, get going.

Belatedly, additional flowers celebrating Felt's August 8 birthday have arrived! Like the earlier flowers, Felt-colored flowers really feel like the height of summer—vivid and lovely to look at! Thank you for the celebration! https://t.co/9jZJL8GhcE