Overcome Sand Time

That was fast! It's already been a week since last time! Thanks in advance again this week! Re:Zero season 4, episode 2 is starting!!!

It's started! With the departure group assembled and their new outfits on, the party is setting out for the Augria Sand Dunes.

Subaru's out of his tracksuit, and Emilia has a costume change too. Emilia's outfit carries over Fortuna's design from season 2, so you can really tell how much effort went into it.

At Subaru's request from last time, Meili joins the group on their journey. Of course, the reason she was in that tatami-cell goes back to the attack in season 2, but another reason was that she didn't want to be found by "Mama," someone she'd rather not meet. As for who Mama is, that can wait for another time.

A fresh OP that hasn't been Gluttony'd!! About 3.5 million views, thank you very much!

Subaru dies a whole lot right before the chorus here, and from what I heard from the staff who made the OP, they even did motion capture for the death scenes so they could depict them properly. That's how much work went into it! I take my hat off to them!

It was an absolutely wonderful OP, and it packs in so many different flavors of season 4 that I really hope you'll go back and rewatch it after each episode and notice new details.

Part A starts! The opening bit is the scene that was also used in the season 4 announcement PV. It's the classic setup where ordering milk in a tavern gets you laughed at, but this style goes by layering cold and hot together.

The "sand time" observed in the Augria Sand Dunes refers to times during the day when strong winds whip up something like a sandstorm. There is a rough interval to it, but it can also blow up unpredictably, which makes traveling the sea of sand pretty tough.

A tavern keeper who's actually very reasonable. The fact that one of his legs is a prosthetic may mean that he, too, once sought some kind of knowledge in the Sage's tower. His advice came from his own failure to reach it, hoping Subaru and the others might benefit from that experience.

Julius was forgotten by the world after having his "name" eaten, and his connection to the six quasi-spirits he contracted with has grown faint as well. But the contracts themselves still remain, so the quasi-spirits are confused too. They're wavering, unsure whether they should lend him their power or not.

These two kind of seem like friends.

By the way, the two ground dragons accompanying them on this journey include, of course, our familiar Patrasche! Today is actually her birthday! Working together with her partner Joseph, they're aiming to break through the "sand time."

During the "sand time," Subaru uses a sandproof cloth (mask) so he doesn't swallow sand, but Beatrice, tucked inside his chest, has no such protection at all. Such is the strength of spirits...! They don't even get hay fever...!

Meili can control mabeasts thanks to the Divine Protection of Soul of Mabeasts, and the Augria Sand Dunes are a place where you encounter mabeasts at a seriously unforgiving rate, so traveling without Meili would be way too difficult. She's basically the perfect character for the Augria Sand Dunes.

By the way, Patrasche is a Diana type that can handle all kinds of terrain, while Joseph is an Agares type that's strong in dry regions like deserts. The setting is that all ground dragon types are named after flowers.

This really is a party that looks like it has low luck stats! Who do you think would have high luck? Re:Zero might not even have any characters with high luck.

The tavern old man's advice is paying off now!

They make it through the "sand time" in splendid fashion! Then, filling their suddenly open field of view, is a flower garden utterly out of place in the sea of sand. Stage 2.

It's written as "Oiran Bear." It's a Mabeast that lives in symbiosis with the flowers growing thick all over its body, but because those flowers drain almost all the nutrients from it, the bear part is all skin and bones and grotesque. It's got a really unpleasant look.

Unlike Subaru, who's used to Mabeasts, Mabeasts are basically something most living creatures instinctively avoid. So you could say there was an understandable side to Josef snapping like that under the strain.

Hm? Did I get something wrong??

The moment the dragon carriage starts moving, Emilia instantly realizes her role and smoothly slips up onto the roof with no wasted motion. That's a subtle little highlight.

This is the first Return by Death of Season 4, starting from the scene right before it where Josef loses control. Before they can really do anything to respond, the next chase is already underway. This is bad. Really bad.

It was like this in Season 3 too, but when Subaru barks out an order on the spot, everyone takes it seriously and thinks, "He has a point." That's the result of everything they've built up by the time Season 4 rolls around.

It's a stupidly huge sandworm, but that mysterious light is a guaranteed kill even against that. Patrasche trying to shield him afterward spared him from dying instantly, but that's as far as the birthday buff goes.

Up to this point, we've managed to avoid Subaru dying in front of Beatrice, but when he dies in front of her, it feels like your heart dies too.

The dead heat starts because Josef loses control. To stop that from happening, what Subaru can do is use what he was taught before departure about calming a land dragon. This is a very rare way to use the "Unseen Hand."

W-wait! A credit roll!? It's the credits! If it's the credits, that means someone died! The ED!

That white beam fired at the group smashed through multiple ice walls Emilia put up, and only after its power was barely dulled could Julius cut it down and somehow stop it. It's an extremely lethal attack.

This is Subaru and Beatrice's original spell, "E・M・T." It's the second one following "E・M・M," which was shown off in Season 3, and please look forward to the third one too.

Thanks to the effect of "E・M・M," the barrier spread across the Augria Sand Dunes comes loose, and the group falls into the crack that opens up! What will happen next...?! And that's where the 30 minutes are already over! It's over already! This episode's sponsor was that old guy who gave them the hint!

That was ridiculously fast, but thanks again for watching with me this week! Emilia was cute every single time she appeared on screen today too! The author is satisfied! The advance screening only went this far, so from here on out it's finally uncharted territory. Please look forward to next week! See you then! I hope you'll join me again next time too!