Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 4

Episode 6

This episode of Re:Zero fills our action quota for the past few episodes. Not only do we get two rounds of Reid versus Julius, but one of Reid versus Emilia as well. While the fighting animation looks great and does its job as eye candy, that is the least important facet of what this episode is trying to do.

The most important facet, on the other hand, is setting up the dilemma for the rest of the cour (at the very least). Reid is the original Sword Saint—i.e., one of the three legendary figures who worked together to seal the Witch of Envy. Every character in the party must defeat Reid if they want to continue to the next floor of the tower.

While this episode focuses on Julius and Emilia's fights, Subaru, Anastasia, Meili, Ram, and even Rem will have to beat him eventually as well. Upon first glance, this seems impossible. However, it looks like overpowering Reid in a fight is far from the only option, as he is willing to change up the rules to make things more fair (at least to some extent). So it appears that overcoming him is more a battle of the brain than brawn.

The battles are also used for the sake of character development. For Emilia, we are reminded that she is so sheltered and pure that Reid's blatant sexual harassment of her doesn't even register in her mind—surprising Reid and giving her the chance for a clean hit. We also learn from this battle a bit about Reid—namely that he is honorable, at least when it comes to his own self-image. While he may twist words to his own ends, he won't flat-out break a promise because that would make him look too uncool.

Of course, the main helping of character development in this episode is centered on Julius. He's always been second best in his life, never getting close to the level of someone like Reinhard. The fact that Anastasia chose him is the most major point of pride in his life—and now something only he remembers. He knows he has no chance against Reid, but can't allow himself to back down.

Neither he nor Subaru is blind to the parallels between this fight and the one between Subaru and Julius back in the first season. In fact, likely, Julius is purposely emulating Subaru in this instance. Julius has witnessed Subaru go from an egotistical joke to a literal city-saving hero. It all started with a proclamation absurd to the point that even the speaker did not believe it, and a willingness to accept the consequences to follow. Thus, Julius takes the repeated beatings as a kind of penance—a necessary acknowledgment of his own weakness.

The entire subsequent staircase scene is a giant metaphor. Subaru begins by carrying Julius, taking him along the path of a hero. But Julius doesn't want to be carried; he wants to walk it alone for the sake of his own pride. Subaru understands this; he tried to do the same thing. But here's the thing that Julius doesn't know about Subaru's story: he wasn't alone.

At his lowest point, there was someone there to lend him a shoulder—someone to help him find his true path, even if that meant starting again from zero. And while Subaru may hate Julius—may be unable to ever truly get beyond the shame and embarrassment he suffered at Julius' hands—Julius needs someone to help him move forward in the right way, just as Rem did for Subaru. And so the two move down the stairs toward where everyone else awaits, not with Subaru carrying Julius or Julius struggling alone for no reason beyond ego, but with Subaru supporting him on the path he has chosen to walk.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Reid says that seven people are in the tower. I'm assuming this means spirits aren't counted, nor is Shaula. Thus, the seven would be: Subaru, Anastasia, Meili, Ram, Rem, Julius, and Emilia. Still, I wonder if this is a hint of something more.

• While Reid is the first Sword Saint (or at least a copy of him), I assume he lacks the actual Divine Protection of the Sword Saint since, as we learned from Reinhard's backstory, only one person in the world can have that Divine Protection at a time.

• I wonder if Rem will win by forfeit. I can't imagine Reid would beat on a comatose girl—that seems far too uncool for his own sense of self.

• The existence of the healing room and Reid not killing our heroes serves to give the whole party something similar to Return by Death by letting them retry the challenges as often as they'd like without worrying about physical damage.

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

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