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Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-
Episode 9

by Theron Martin,

How would you rate episode 9 of
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- ?
Community score: 4.7

I have exactly one gripe about this episode: the writing is still struggling to get the timing down right on Subaru's spiels. Too many times they run just a line or couple of seconds too long for the situation. Granted, Re:Zero is far from the worst offender this season for a problem like this (see The Asterisk War in particular), but in a series that is otherwise doing so much so well, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

The high level that the series starting functioning on a couple of episodes back hasn't wavered at all. We cut off last episode with Subaru planning to go to the village with both Rem and Ram, and now he makes a deliberate effort to come into physical contact with everyone in the village in his very personable way, including the Stray Dog. His reasoning is clever: if he gets everyone to touch him in a different location, then that can be used to pinpoint who cursed him if one of the villagers really is doing it. It works, and when Beatrice discovers that he is cursed – but the curse isn't activated yet – and he convinces her to break it, we get confirmation of something that I've long voiced suspicion about: the dog is responsible. The unexpected twist on this later in the episode is that the dog doesn't seem to be just acting as a medium to transmit the curse; it actually is the witch, able to control mabeasts (short for “magical beasts”) to send after Subaru when he tries to interfere with its scheme to carry the children off into the forest and drain them. Or was the whole thing, as Subaru started to suspect, a trap set for him? That seems unlikely, unless the dog somehow knew that her curse had been broken, but we'll see what develops in the arc's final episode, which should be the next one.

All sorts of other new, meaningful developments come up too. Roswaal has to leave for some reason this time around – when he never has before on this particular day – which has some interesting ramifications. Has he never left before because this is the first loop where he's trusted Subaru enough concerning Emilia? That's the only thing I can think of that might change his mind. Both of the twins seem to trust Subaru now too, enough that Rem shows him her flail when he convinces her to go off into the forest to rescue the missing kids. And when Rem gets sufficiently riled up, she manifests a horn and gains a frightening level of power. This is the first confirmation of something that's been kinda-sorta suggested for a while now: that Rem is an oni. (The subtitles are translating that as “demon,” although I'm not sure I agree with that interpretation in this case.)

And man, does the episode ratchet up the intensity level in its final few minutes! Situations like the one that Subaru finds himself in against the mabeasts are a dime a dozen in action anime, yet rarely have such scenes carried as much weight and tension as these do. Subaru shows once again that he's far from helpless in a fight but can still be overrun without help just like any normal human, and we finally get a clearer sense of what Rem can do. These parts get pretty graphic, and the music once again works wonders in its own subtle way. I also relished the little touches, like Rem seeing Subaru's hand tremble and recognizing the bravado Subaru was putting on. It's an important shot to indicate that he wasn't just being a fool.

So are the injuries that Subaru suffers saving Rem bad enough to cause him to loop again? The episode ends with that up in the air (actually using the closer for the first time in several episodes, though not the opener). I actually hope that they aren't, as he has such a good thing going this time around with everyone. Whatever the case, the writers have clearly shown that they know what they are doing on everything but Subaru's long-winded dialog, so I am eagerly looking forward to how this resolves next week.

Rating: A-

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


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