RE: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu – 23
Emilia steps out…
 |
Great Googly Moogly! Can I please have some more magic in my magic fantasy? For the love of Puck, this one was darn near perfect in it’s thematic sword play…but a much much more granular approach to magic at some point leading up to this, greater than we’ve already had, would have made some of the tension this episode more sublime…But that’s my digression out of the way… |
There is no time for regrets..
…of course these two would start to get along…and then…
I think that caption could be the theme for the entire episode. Just when things start to look very bright…along comes the clouds…soon the sun shall set… go spelunking without a lantern. I admire these two. I don’t trust people that just shake hands and make up, no one should be able to do that in a story and keep tension. They have to get over a rough start, and that should still take time enough for the whole process to be believable. Like a good knight, Julis doesn’t double down. He was mistaken in his initial assessment and reaction of and to Subaru upon meeting; we already know Balse was not exactly putting best foot forward. Subaru only has to stop being a dork and admit he’s afraid of losing Emilia/his mind to Julis. It’s a great set up for the rest of the show. Besides, with those one set of regrets, that one bit of unfinished business between them, it made the end feel that much more weighted…
Oh, hey, Ram is here…
Yeah, she voiced the background for the trouble we would later see, the empty letter, and then that was pretty much her done with…that was weird and bad…But the best use of (or second best, see later) character this episode has to be our healing cat boy, Felix. You know, it’s one thing to lay on hands in a ye olde magickal sense to heal a physical wound, but entirely another to understand people enough to give them timely advice to heal a mental one. Felix passes on Crusch’s advice to look up and not dwell. It’s just the right push Subaru needs, and it’s right on time as far as the development of this episode goes. At the halfway point we needed a great push up the hill, so to speak, to give us some positive perspective. This was right before the plunge into darkness, and dammit, if Felix didn’t have that part in hand as well. He can hurt with those hands to, which is shocking, to say the very least…and tragic to the point it hurts, at the most…damn good supporting character…
Felix has the best hands in the business…But they still need Subaru…
He’s the man with the plan, after all. What stands in his way is a weird quasi-feudal knot of lords, merchants, and mercenaries that needs to be untangled from the concern the villagers have for their own status quo and safety. That would be one and done, but early on Subaru sh*tcanned himself much to everyone’s chagrin…he’s no dog and he can’t seek refuge in that any longer. Both Wil and Ram are right to call him on that. After all, he got two major houses of the land to fight with instead of against each other. With that in mind, easing the spirits of the villagers, who have very natural concerns (let’s not indulge in a stupid trope of thinking of them as simple…blah to that, plus who knows how deep the cult is) shouldn’t’ be that hard if his aim is right. Even if Emilia did toss them a curveball…He doesn’t lord it over them, or claim special knowledge. He appeals to the things that normal people are concerned with, and says so, “yeah this is scary, and I’m scared to, let’s pack up and get to a place less so…”.
Fingertips….
♩♫♫ Fingertips, Fingertips, Fingertips, Fingertips ♩♫♫
OK, so yeah, this is when the IDEA of Betelgeuse get’s well and very scary, doesn’t it? We don’t know the exact extent of how often he can create the “fingers” or even if there is a “he” to consider – like we would a normal person. Like I discussed last episode, the repeating meme of this evil is what makes it so fascinating. But this is where it get’s very chilling and horrifying. Let’s go back to the beginning. Is it Julis himself that, inadvertently, opens Subaru up to possession?…connecting a lot more minds than he realized there with the little black and white minor spirits? Ia was there to protect that much is sure, but what did the other bits do in opening people’s gates? Including putting one hell of a whammy on the boy; just after he got over another whammy. I know they didn’t spell it out like that but that just feels like the catalyst the witchcult has been waiting for. They had moles all along it seems…
Hey White Fox, SHAFT called, shall I leave a message?
Or was it because Subaru cursed himself? He likes to taunt doesn’t he; having few other weapons in his arsenal. He was mouthing the lines Betel loves to scream, and does so in a most as a matter of fact fashion; doing a still pointed yet wan, yet near perfect, imitation all along. He thinks it brings him out on top. So he has the cursed book, the lines, and even a bit of the crazed mentality down – Restart has brought the pain. If he lives in a world where magic can give you a bad day like the episode began with, then maybe this transformation was a forgone conclusion? Or are there deeper things to consider? With two more eps left, and a lot more questions to answer, are we going to have a decent conclusion to a two-cour show?
…or will there be tears…
The best in the business…
That’s a lot to overcome…
So when all’s said and done, what about Emilia’s stand? This is possibly the most “on the same level” that both she and Subaru have been on since the very innocent flirtation near the beginning of the show. Both of them are facing their fears, and resolving what they can in a very limited time frame. Both of them have to answer for some shortcomings (Subaru’s are his, Emilia’s are projected on to her, which makes her pause…) and make good on promises.
Yeah, call her worst girl now…
But be upstanding for Emilia as she takes her place on the record for taking the enemy out, and reaching out when she could have just had others do it. Deeds not words were needed, and that was risk when you get right down to it. Say what you like about her, she isn’t the type to deal death easily, but she has just proven to be methodical when it comes to necessity. In doing so she saved the village. This is what makes Subaru’s death this time that much worse. She won. She got respect, or at least the beginning of that – when hate can turn to something else that isn’t worse. Again, just like the relationship Subaru was forging with Julis, Subaru and Emilia are getting to common ground. Plus Subaru behaved just as he should have, and made sure the danger of his possession didn’t reach her or anyone else, giving himself up selflessly…Now, to save everyone, Restart has to erase that…and again, how do they resolve that in a likeable way with two eps left?
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
The anime’s already covered all the available published novels, so now it’s covering webnovel material.
It’s possible we may not see a S2 for some time until there’s enough books published, and even then the webnovel’s still ongoing with 3 remaining big arcs.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Are the webnovels side stories, or are they concurrent or what? It seems like the anime story is progressing a story. I’ve heard that Ram actually had more to do in the “source material”. Did I read that correctly, or is there more to it…cause if she had more to do, that’s source material? Or…and this is my final conjecture…or is the end of this anime the end of the published novels?
But I get they are running low on material…them’s the risks in long form television without decades of material to back them up, ala S comic books.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
The Re Zero webnovels are concurrent with the LNs. Basically the author started writing the webnovels first, and he was releasing a new chapter online quite regularly (min 1 day between releases).
The printed LN versions are likely subject to edits and possible rewrites due to editorial request or author’s whim (One author said they rewrote the LN content to ensure non-otakus could enjoy the books too).
PS. Re Zero’s webnovel’s last update was in April 1st this year. Makes sense given the author’s been involved in the anime planning.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Given that all of the anime planning was probably started last September, and that there probably wasn’t too much of that kind of work left by the time the series started airing, I’d imagine that’s more of a media strategy than a lack of available capacity due to the anime. Unless there’s that much lead time for the web novel chapters (which I doubt).
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
For reference, here’s a link to the webnovel chapters. The dates are the day each chapter was posted.
http://ncode.syosetu.com/n2267be/
I’ve been told the anime’s covering the 1st 3 webnovel arcs. The 3rd arc’s final chapter came out on 19/4/2013.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 35 comments
Lore:
1) The Hood that Ram was wearing is the same as Emilia in purpose (The design was tweaked a bit by our loveable cat spirit). It has the ability to make the wearer inconspicuous , very side character like that people dont mind much. which is why Emilia isnt harass every moment of her life while walking around the villages.
2) Ferris is the talented Water mage in the history of Lugunica , one such proof is that he can resurrect himself from certain death like getting kaboom to smithereens . he died during the explosion but through the power of magic is able to reattach himself somehow… why he still reattach his unwanted part is left unanswered XD *dressing as a girl and all i think he will want to remove certain part of the biology safely XD.
About Subaru. He is very much sentitive to spirits (hinted by the episode) like all Spirit Artes user which is why he is possessed by Betelgeuse.
Show ▼
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I’m hard on storytellers, but if they would have expanded on any one of these points, they really could have made an already pretty good ep, that much better. I’ve always said this story could use a bit more depth here and there, and knowing about Felix would have made that relationship much more interesting…Ah well, we get broad strokes…
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
Matsuoka is still the best Betelgeuse. The other fingers just don’t match up to him. And apparently, they have names given to them according to the Twitter account of the author(which I found in the Japanese Wikipedia). The one last week is called Peteko and voiced by Hikasa Yoko. The first one this week is Ketergeuse and voiced by Yanaka Hiroshi. The 2nd one(female) is Petebi and voiced by Kanemoto Hisako. The last one is Camillegeuse and voiced by Tobita Nobuo.
And apparently, it’s Petelgeuse(ペテルギウス), not Betelgeuse(ベテルギウス). Sounds the same and looks the same but the dakuten is different. This is in the credits so I wonder why this went unnoticed in the subs for so long. I only noticed myself when I looked at MAL and double-checked JP Wikipedia.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Well Subaru is the Japanese term for the star cluster The Pleiades. Betelgeuse is also a star…So there is that connection. But Petlegeuse? I mean Betelgeuse is one star we know that will go supernova soon (soon in astronomical terms…like a million years or so) so that fits his character’s somewhat…volatile nature.
And I thought that sounded like Hikasa Yoko…Thank you for the information, as always, and sorry I missed this for a few days.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments