Shaula / Hero

Well! Wednesday is here again! And now, the final Wednesday of Season 4 is upon us! Today is the Re:Zero anime’s Season 4 finale! A 45-minute special, no less! Keep your eyes glued to the screen and savor every last bit!

Come to think of it, since today’s episode is 45 minutes, my live commentary will overlap with everyone watching from 10:30 p.m.... So they’ll be caught in a pincer attack.

One more minute!!

Julius wore down the formidable Reid two episodes ago, and Ram did the same to Lye last time. There’s only a little left to go! Let’s get past these last obstacles!

Last time, Emilia discovered six handprints on the first floor—and for some reason, they looked familiar, though she couldn’t remember them.

Hmm, Volcanica-san looks powerful, which is great. He really is about as strong as Reinhard. Though with various circumstances coming together, he isn’t quite at his best right now.

Flügel, Reid, Shaula, Farseil—quite a few names have come up, but it’ll be a little while before you learn the details behind them... Still, if you watched the ending closely, something might have caught your eye! Just a tiny thing! Really tiny!

Emilia only dodged that surprise attack from Volcanica because her instincts are so sharp. Ordinarily, you’d get squashed flat. Emilia-tan was in serious danger.

In Emilia’s Ice Brand Arts, the Icicle Line she announces beforehand is a kind of preparation: she spreads mana around herself to create an area where she can instantly draw weapons.

The opening played, and Konomi Suzuki-san beside me is very happy about it.

Watching the opening now, it’s a relief to finally understand everything that happens in it. The first time you saw it, you might have wondered why Subaru was dying so much, but those scenes had a purpose!

“At least make sure you remember my name!” is, of course, a callback to Puck’s “At least remember my name before you die!” It shows that Puck’s teachings have lived on in Emilia all this time.

A quick recap: E・M・M (Emilia-tan・Maji・Megami, or “Emilia-tan Is Seriously a Goddess”) is an absolute defense spell. While it’s active, it shifts Subaru and the others slightly out of reality, a trick that keeps them from taking damage.

E・M・T (Emilia-tan・Maji・Tenshi, or “Emilia-tan Is Seriously an Angel”), on the other hand, is an absolute nullification spell, so it actually has a slightly different use from E・M・M.

“I’m only saying this once, but thanks!” is much like Subaru’s attitude when he said “Ha!” to Julius after Julius joined them between the White Whale battle and the fight with Petelgeuse. It’s just like Subaru now that his memories are back, and Julius responds with a little “Heh.”

The new Authority, Cor Leonis, which Subaru has been using throughout the tower to locate his companions, awakened within him when Rem told him to “Stand up!” in the Hall of Memories. Unlike Regulus-san’s Little King, Subaru uses his to take damage onto himself instead of passing it on to others

Emilia is doing all sorts of action moves, but her combat ability actually hasn’t changed much since The Frozen Bond. What makes her strong now is that she can wield that power with confidence.

That huge ice Subaru we saw partway through actually isn’t in the novel. He appeared after an exchange with Director Shinohara: “Can we put a huge one in?” “Sure, you can put a huge one in!” (laughs) He’s huge, and it’s fun to see!

With Ram’s support, Emilia manages to strike the wound on Volcanica’s neck! She finally places her hand against a handprint and hears the same words again, but this time Volcanica sounds serious.

Emilia can be said to have cleared the first floor’s “Trial.” After the “Dragon” questions her resolve and hears her answer, the things that have shrouded the Pleiades Watchtower for four hundred years begin to clear. What changes will that bring?

I was having dinner with Carlo-sensei yesterday, so he taunted me with, “I’ll be going on ahead, lol.” What kind of taunt is that?

With Emilia’s completion of the “Trial,” the “sand wind” surrounding the Pleiades Watchtower lifts. This means the traps along the way to the tower are gone—apart from the many mabeasts, that is.

The preview mentioned it too, but it’s struck me again that season four really is the story of the devoted girl who waited in the Pleiades Watchtower.

Having survived his battle with Reid and renewed his contracts with the six spirits, Julius has done more than regain the strength he had before his “Name” was eaten. He’s surpassed it.

They call him Gaming Julius, and wow, does that rainbow glow suit him. I love the idea of someone who gets stronger the brighter he shines.

While important characters in the Re:Zero world, Subaru included, often have names taken from stars, I’m also particular about the colors, light, and recurring imagery used to portray each character—Reinhard’s flames, Julius’s rainbow, Ferris’s blue, and so on. Even so, when I started out, I never expected to hold off on Julius’s aurora for this long

Now, Joseph, whom Subaru turns to here, is a ground dragon who, along with Patrasche, has helped Subaru and the others reach the Pleiades Watchtower from the start. Last time, Patrasche did a tremendous amount to protect Rem during the fight with Lye. Here, as Subaru makes use of “Little King,” someone other than himself

At the end, Meili, still reeling from her injuries, asks, “Who are you?” Though Shaula was created in a special way, she is still a mabeast, and that question helps bring her back to her senses. It also plays a part in why Subaru is able to talk with her.

This score is so good it’s making me emotional…

The pure white space where Subaru and Shaula talk is somewhere different from the “Corridor of Memories,” which was the cradle of Od Lagna. But defining or explaining where it is would spoil the moment—that’s how I feel about it.

This episode is titled “Shaula,” but for both the web and book versions, I considered calling it “The Day After Tomorrow” right up to the end. I hope you can feel how much their reunion meant to her, that she could call a wait of four hundred years “just like the day after tomorrow.”

As she fulfills her duty and her existence turns to dust, a tiny being appears. What this being, later called the “Little Crimson Scorpion,” is, and what this meeting means, cannot be known at this moment. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say those things haven’t been decided yet.

Thirty minutes of the forty-five are! Already! Gone!!

The final scene of “Shaula” gave me chills even at the recording session, but honestly, seeing the finished version with the visuals made me realize just how incredible a job everyone did. The feeling it leaves behind… the feeling.

Emilia’s “Name” was eaten by “Gluttony,” and everyone should have forgotten her—but now they all remember her again. This isn’t just special treatment for the main heroine; there’s a proper reason for it. And there’s a reason Rem’s and Julius’s “Names” haven’t been restored either.

Last time, Ram defeated Lye Batenkaitos of “Gluttony,” but Roy Alphard, whose body Reid took over as a vessel, is still alive. Taking him alive carries risks, but executing him on impulse doesn’t seem like the best way to improve the situation.

I try to write the real Anastasia, now that she’s back, as someone whose words have more depth and a firmer foundation than Anastasia when Scarf-dona was in control. If you compare the two closely, you might notice it’s a small distinction I’ve put some care into—the difference between the real person and an imitation.

When he has a moment to stop, certain feelings still well up unexpectedly. Even so, Patrasche and the others help him hold on.

Only Nee-sama could describe Volcanica, the “Divine Dragon” of legend even in the Kingdom of Lugunica, as “a big old forgetful geezer.” She really is something else.

Subaru taking on the burden through “Cor Leonis” made Ram’s battle in the first half of the previous episode possible. Even so, that was only a fraction of the damage Ram normally endures. The damage Rem took from the feedback when Ram unleashed her true power was on another level entirely. So what Ram is worried about is th—

The one who emerged from the sudden rift in space was Louis Arneb, who should have been trapped in the Hall of Memories. After her futile struggle of devouring another version of herself reached a kind of conclusion, she appeared in this world, even though she wasn’t supposed to have a physical body. How did that happen?

Subaru sent Meili on ahead, left Ram in Patrasche’s care, and tried to escape carrying Rem. But knowing the place was about to collapse, he couldn’t just abandon Louis where she lay. That’s the kind of protagonist we have.

The “Witch’s” grasp, which brings down the tower, was one of the five obstacles. But its arrival depended on a certain condition, separate from the tower’s rules. This time, a condition that shouldn’t have been met somehow was, and that’s why this happened. Think about what happened just before, and it’s obvious what triggered it—right?

I’m going to be quiet for a bit.

I-I heard a voice that wasn’t from a spirit bodyyyyy!!

R-Redo is playinggggg!!

W-wait, Ender Ember is playing tooooo!!

Man, there was a perfect chance to play the ending theme, and I thought they might not do it. I was on the edge of my seat! (laughs)

Shaula on the sponsor card! And with that, Re:Zero Season 4 is over! Or so I’d like to say, but make sure you watch the mini anime all the way through! We can’t wrap up Season 4 without it!

Open your eyes and behold! 【Re:Zero】Mini Anime Episode 85, “The Scorpion’s Fairy Tale” │ “Re:ZERO -Starting Break Time From Zero-” 4th season https://t.co/Ng6SD0VSuX via @YouTube

It’s been ten years since Season 1, or even six since Season 2. That scene felt incredibly beautiful, like Subaru and Emilia’s conversation in Episode 25 of Season 1! Wasn’t Rem absolutely adorable!?

Th-th-that was an incredible episode…

Yes, yes, yes! Once again, thank you for joining us for the final episode of Re:Zero Season 4! And thank you for staying with Re:Zero Season 4 all the way to the end! It was an incredibly difficult arc!

Hey, everyone!! Did you watch the mini anime episodes from this week, last week, and the week before!? They cover things that aren’t even in the novels, so you’ll be glad you did!! Don’t finish Season 4 without watching them! 【Re:Zero】Mini Anime Episode 85, “The Scorpion’s Fairy Tale” │ “Re:ZERO -Starting Break Time From Zero-” 4th season