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Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-
Episode 12

by Theron Martin,

How would you rate episode 12 of
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- ?
Community score: 4.4

Reviewer's note: Episode 13 will not likely have an episode review due to me being in Japan for the week, so it may be covered along with episode 14 instead.

I consider Re:Zero to be the best new series of the Spring 2016 season, but it won't be because of this episode. After putting together a long string of great episodes, director Masaharu Watanabe and his WHITE FOX team have turned in something of a clunker.

It's like the production team lost the magical formula of success for this series. Let's hope they find it again by the time the next episode rolls around. Just about everything was off here, including the artistry; characters frequently slipped off-model and everything in general except some CG elements looked a little less refined. (Darn it all if that cat-eared hood Emilia wears isn't darling though!) The episode tried to shift at least partly into humor mode with some of its antics, but too much of that was cringe-worthy, and the problem with awkwardly long dialogue resumed – only this time, Subaru wasn't the biggest perpetrator.

What saves the episode from utter mediocrity is the underlying meat. This is not just some goof-off between-arcs story, as it introduces multiple important new characters. One is Felix, a cat-eared mage that specializes in both water and healing magic, who Emilia has convinced to heal Subaru's gate. (He has apparently overexerted himself magically as well as physically.) Though Felix comes off as a girl, that's apparently just his shtick. Presumably, he will have a big part to play in the upcoming arc concerning the selection process. The second is Priscilla Bariel, a young woman who is supremely full of herself, to the point that she believes that the world is laid out perfectly for her. She strikes me as the stereotypical haughty type who gets her jollies out of messing with other people, and she has apparently already decided that using Subaru to mess with Emilia is going to be fun. Two other selection candidates are also introduced, a “time is money” type and a stereotypical monotone cipher. Their stereotypical personality types are a bit worrisome, but the series has come through before on stock archetypes, so I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now. There's also a masked muscleman who serves Bariel and a couple of other knight-types who seem like they may become recurring characters.

More importantly, Reinhard is back in the picture, along with Rom and Felt. The story is going in the expected direction with Felt; she's being set up by Reinhard as the fifth of five candidates to become the “dragon priestess,” which essentially seems to mean “monarch.” She doesn't look too comfortable about it either, although she does look great in that fancy dress. Reinhard's behavior suggests that he's playing some kind of game with his candidate just like Roswaal, but it would be stranger if people in power didn't do so in this situation. Subaru not trying to finagle his way into the proceedings would also have been strange, and indeed, Reinhard seemed to expect it. Even so, seeing Emilia get upset about it, while Subaru sulks like a scolded puppy, was satisfying.

There's no indication in this episode what the next time loop (assuming there is one) will cover. Apparently more set-up will be needed to get to that point. Still, enough possible plot threads have been thrown out that I am very curious to see where the story goes next.

Rating: C+

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.


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