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Episode 44:

In which the production committee remembers they're contractually obligated to play the opening theme at least once.

S2, 19 / 44:

So that's what happened.

No kid should ever be in that kind of situation. Pandora basically put Emilia in an impossible situation: honor the promise she made to Fortuna (aka her "mother") but cause the world to perish, or save the world but break the promise. Logically speaking, from young Emilia's POV the dilemma is questionable: how can she take Pandora's word for it? It's basically a hostage situation: Pandora has the upper hand in a zero-sum game, so she can call the shots on what's at stake.

But this isn't the point of the whole talk. It's about what kind of character Emilia is, and I can't question about her sense of integrity. Call it utilitarianism versus categorical imperative if you want, but I can safely say that she's the polar opposite of someone like Roswaal: someone who would throw anyone under the bus for his own gains (even himself, if you think about is). I can't blame her for going berserk and freezing the whole forest; she was just a kid when it happened. Emilia recognized that this is what really happened, so she passes trial #1. Good for her.

But man, poor Geuse.

I was kinda irritated that Emilia never asked what would happen if she opened the seal, or why Pandora needed her to. Even with a promise on the line, it's a very kid thing to ask "Why?" about pretty much everything, especially as a stalling tactic, and that would've been a pretty organic way to explain. Clearly, we're not supposed to know yet, but it felt like blatantly avoiding the issue altogether was a clumsy way to save the answer for later.

That moment when Geuse broke, when Pandora tricked him into killing the woman he loved and turned him into the madman we were familiar with. Following manipulation of sweet words into his ear that gave him that twisted idea of love.

I must say, that I really do like this Emilia that is so sure in who she is, that won't bend on feeling regret in the way she thought was the best at the time. She was a kid, there was only so much she could understand at the time.

Kind of funny that Otto is indeed at the centre of all these good results.

Also, where does Puck fit in. Was Puck put place by Pandora? Since his breaking of the contract brought back memories.

It's taken me a while but I've finally made my peace with the fact that Re:Zero is simply not going to deal any time soon with the plot that I actually care about: i.e. what's going on back at the mansion as well as what's going on with the selection of a new leader contest. Fine.

I'm certainly not hating the reduction in Subaru's screentime as we deal with Emilia's trials. And Young Emilia is cute as the dickens. It's good to finally get a chunk of her back story. I had always assumed she was responsible for freezing everybody in the forest so that "reveal" didn't exactly come as a huge shock. It was good to see Betelgeuse's origin story. We saw Beatrice for a bit. Didn't mind learning more about Otto.

It's amazing how much easier it is on the nerves when you make up your mind to submit to the inevitable.

If we were getting the story I want we would be back in the Crusch camp. I need to see her get handle back of herself, and also some Ferris. I have doubts we will get back to the characters before the end of the season.

Actually, you know what character I'd like to check back in with? I can't remember her name (and too lazy to look it up, obbvie) but remember that girl way back in the first few episodes who lived in that ghetto area - the one who stole Emilia's brooch or whatever? Then we found out she was one of the candidates for the new leader selection. Kinda like to see what's new with her.

There's a a side novel on what she's been up to since we lost touch with her. Chances of an adaptation are probably hovering around 0.1% tough.

I'll just go ahead and say we won't see any other royal election candidate this season. Next season, if it exists, they'll all be on deck tough.[/url]

Good to know, thanks for the head's up, OrdepNM!

S2, 20 / 45:

Witch of Vanity, now Devil of Melancholy. Is there a whole guard of witches/devils that existed before the current witches named after the 7 deadly sins?

Basically Roswaal, Beatrice and Ryuzu Meyer were "children" of Echidna, and they created the Sanctuary to defend against Hector. I'm still not sure how the confrontation eventually ended with Roswaal becoming a psychopath and Beatrice being locked up in a library, but at least we know how Ryuzu ended up in the crystal. At least it's clear that Roswaal loved Echidna, so much that apparently he's willing to sacrifice Beatrice in his insane plan to change Emilia into a witch. Essentially the clash between Roswaal and Subaru is about ideology: one believes in people's weakness (although it reeks of hubris; if anyone doesn't have a conviction as strong as his which he has held for 400 years, then they're weak), the other believes in people's strength. Pessimism versus optimism, much.

But here's the strange part: the similarity between story of the Sanctuary and Emilia's own past is uncanny. Foreign invader, doing everything to defend the village, someone turning psycho over the incident. It's perfectly ironic, and makes me think how Emilia and Roswaal came out of their own respective hardship so differently. Another revelation is the relation between Emilia and Echidna as they both have a witch's lineage. So, Echidna is Emilia's ancestor?

[sarcasm]Wow, can't wait until next week's flashback.[/sarcasm]

I did not have a large amount of interest in this week's flashback either, I am not sure that I really understand the struggle of trying to convince Roswaal, like what he is still holding onto and what he hopes to accomplish.

S2, 22 / 47:

I'm simply mesmerized by how much Emilia has developed. We knew from the beginning how much of a crybaby she was, and how weak she feels about herself. But now she's come to terms with herself, especially by forgiving her younger self and never sacrificing her integrity, and by facing and being able to move on from her past, she basically blazed through her second trial. Almost without any trouble!

The way I see it, Echidna has been condescending towards Emilia in her attempts to bring her down, but in the second trial she can't even do anything about it. If Echidna is extremely vexed over how Emilia faced the second trial head-on, it's only because Emilia was so valiant and respectable at how she took it that it's simply envious. Witch of Greed who's experiencing Envy at its best. How about that.

Let's see what the third trial's all about.

Echidna already seemed pretty sure that Emilia would do fine in the second trial, which to me made her reaction seem kind of weird. Like, I thought that it was before mostly over having lost using Subaru to her, but it kind of seemed more personal this time, which really made me wonder what connection Echidna might actually have to Emilia or her parents. To me it seemed more than just facing it head on, like she seemed fine with Subaru doing the first trial in a similar already past it fashion, she has even come across as amoral in ways. But there really is something about Emilia she can barely stand the sight of.

I was grooving on the mansion stuff but then we just HAD to go back for another... well, it's technically not a flashback since what we witnessed was a representation of Emilia's ideal world instead of something that actually happened. I am kind of interested to see what version of the future Emilia sees. Mostly I'm just happy that all the trials will be over.

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