Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Season 2)

Episode 18

Are we really doing at least three episodes of flashback? I knew there was a lot to get through, but... urgh, fine, okay... Grumble, grumble.

The obvious problem with extended flashbacks is that they slow the overall pace of the story to a crawl. This cour still hasn't gotten around to addressing the murder rabbits and the assassins at the mansion, to name just a few of the problems Subaru is dealing with in the present. This episode opens instead with the Ryuzus beginning to tell Subaru and the others about another past incident separate from what is unfolding in Emilia's trial – the history of the Sanctuary itself. So now we've got two flashbacks happening in tandem. Aggravatingly, just as Ryuzu's flashback was reaching an interesting part with the introduction of the Roswaal of a previous generation, the action returns to Emilia's past.

There's no doubt that Emilia's past is filled with incredibly important information that is relevant to the overall lore of the Re:Zero universe. For example, it introduces a girl named Pandora, who calls herself the Witch of Vanity. Given that we just spent an entire cour learning about the seven witches of sin, and Vanity was not among them, this new information has thrown me into a loop. I want to be invested in the Deep Lore, but I find it frustrating how this series constantly establishes information related to the setting, only to keep scrubbing that out and replacing it with new things. This can only happen so many times before I give up on keeping track of it.

The episode also spends a bit too much time on trying to make Emilia and Fortuna's parting a tearjerker. Having only known Fortuna for one episode, I can't say that I was that emotionally invested in her relationship with Emilia, even if I did think it was cute. This flashback sequence alone is juggling so many mysteries, and I would rather see the plot move forward. That said, it was still gut-wrenching to watch Emilia come to the conclusion that none of her problems would have happened if she had only been a "good girl." She believes that if she gives the villains what they want the sad events will stop, unaware that it's the complete opposite of what her loved ones want.

Probably the most entertaining part of the episode overall was Regulus. He's a larger-than-life villain, full of smugness and prone to unhinged rants, but there's enough genuine menace about him that he doesn't come across as a children's cartoon villain. He also makes Pandora a more terrifying villain by extension, because she proves that she can simply yeet him away when his purpose comes to an end. What makes the Witch Cult so fascinating is that they operate on a logic that is genuinely difficult for ordinary people to comprehend. They're easy to hate on face value, but also full of intrigue. Their presence is what gives the events of this episode most of their weight, because as much as Geuse resists them now, we know that he ends up getting sucked into their manic mindset. He's still unambiguously a good guy here, but there are glimpses of what will become his rabid rhapsodies of love from season 1.

This season of Re:Zero hasn't been terribly action-oriented so far, so it was also nice to see some brief spurts of action throughout this episode. As usual, the storyboarding was the highlight, especially when it came to conveying Geuse's chilling transformation from swallowing the Sloth Witch Factor. It's a good sign that this anime has been able to pull off action even with its limited resources, and that gives me hope for the episodes ahead. We're not out of the woods yet (heh), but I've got high hopes for the climax.

Rating:

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