Spoilers ahead! Warning!
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This first season took directly from the peaks of the first one, and only goes to add to the context and overall lore of the core characters of the series, as well as introducing a few new ones like most arcs would. This whole season spans one arc, arc 4, which is set in the sanctuary and explores Subaru’s past and other topics like the witch of greed.
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The first scene of this season was a really good way to link the seasons together, I thought this would be the focus of season 2 at the time of watching, however, this wasn’t the case, and this only went to set up further links through the line of the series. It shows Rem’s battle against two new archbishops, and how much she fought for Subaru. The first death of this season came immediately, Crusch was shown to be a victim, as well as Rem, and when Subaru found Rem’s body, he stabbed himself, despite constantly feeling like he wouldn’t be able to since he hated dying so much. The biggest surprise was that the checkpoint was only at the carriage, so Subaru couldn’t go back and save Rem. The changes in attitude people showed towards Rem really showed how dejected Subaru must have been in that moment, and you couldn’t help but feel for him. This was further highlighted by the much changed Crusch, who had changed emotion quite heavily. Emilia also gets her chance to help calm Subaru.
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.The first new character in this arc was Frederica, the replacement maid for Rem. While you would think that a new character would struggle to be too important, however, her character managed to be quite important over this season. After this Subaru visits Beatrice, who reveals some important things, setting out a new goal for Subaru, to find out about the witches. Petra also becomes a maid in the mansion, this really pushes the point that every character in this series is really important.
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.Subaru, Emilia and Otto head for the sanctuary, but pass out on the way. When Subaru wakes up he has to chase a strange figure and enters this strange, old structure. This leads to him being transported to this very, very green world, with the Witch of Greed, Echidna, inside, this conclusion to the episode made me think Subaru was about to meet another foe, but it was actually just a pretty peaceful witch. This was really crazy to watch as they hadn’t ever shown a witch properly and so it took me really off guard having seen one so suddenly. Subaru’s lax nature in this environment was quite surprising, he didn’t even bother asking many questions, which the series benefitted from as it meant the information he learnt about was spread about the season. I found Echidna herself to be pretty likeable and funny, especially her dynamic with Subaru.
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.Yet another character was introduced after this, Garfiel, who had been hinted at beforehand, and on first sight, he seemed to have a screw loose. His crazy nature also made him the perfect character to introduce the sanctuary, which turned out to be a bit rubbish, and in a total state. Despite this terrible setting, Ram acted as a familiar face in this situation. Roswaal was in a total state when we met him, Subaru also wasn’t happy at all when he saw him, knowing that he had abandoned him. Hearing Roswaal mention Echidna’s name was surprising, and also made Roswaal seem like he would be evil, which really helped to lay out this whole season, the fact that Garf says that people were trapped in the sanctuary really made this place seem sinister though. Emilia’s speech to the villagers was pretty touching, and I quite enjoyed what she brought to the table this early on in the season, as the last arc didn’t involve her too much. The friendship which the villagers agreed too was also nice to hear. The credits song was great to hear at the end of the episode, and Subaru running into the sanctuary after Emilia was an absolutely awesome ending scene.
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.This next episode can’t be praised enough, I apologise for writing this long segment, but this episode deserves so much praise. It starts at the end of the episode before, with Subaru’s Dad jumping on him. I don’t think I can really stress enough how much I love this episode, how they suddenly brought Subaru back to earth was totally unexpected and really impressed. The relationship Subaru had with his family was really nice and his Dad’s enthusiasm worked really well with him. Subaru’s Dad laxness and jokes over his job shows how he had reflected himself onto Subaru, and their walk acted as a great way to show their bond, Subaru being presented as his Dad’s pride and joy acted as a big contrast to what Subaru had been saying previously, and all that self hate he had garnered. The realisation that Subaru was idle and skipping school acted as a big stepping stone to find out what kind of person he really was, his self doubt in the real world was countered by the love in which Emilia and Rem gave him, showing a sharp difference from what he felt in the real world. His Dad’s description of how his look had changed also helped to show how while his experience in another world had been difficult, it also changed him as a person completely, due to his admiration and love of Emilia, although it was weird to see him forgetting who she was, as he never would’ve met her if not for being brought to another world. He continues on his self-deprecation and shows how much he believes he could squeeze his way through everything, while taking the easy way out and being pathetic. His critique of himself is very easy to relate to, I think most people have had a thing they used to be good at, but gave up on once it became difficult, this difficulty to meet expectations can resonate with most people and I feel this is what makes Subaru so great as a character. The alienation he felt from others when he realised he wasn’t special hit him deeply, this also goes for a lot of people in the world, and it contributed him to giving up completely, he slowly tired himself out and just gave up from there. He believed he was so pathetic, yet he still received love, which really exposed him to terrible thoughts, he wished to be thrown away, as he had already given up. This directly linked to Rem’s words from the first season. What was really good was the scene in which his father wanted him to take care of him when he and his mother became old, Subaru simply can’t do that, he doesn’t live with them anymore, creating a scary reality in which he can’t see those he loved from his old world, apart from in this dream. In his chat with his mother, she says Subaru can be his totally own person from anyone else, but when she leaves him, Subaru feels he will never be able to see his parents again, this was really sad, as he had to admit they would lose contact, but he would still be proud to be their kid. This is a really good moment for the development of his character as he says he will do nothing that will make him hate himself, which is a huge moment of growth for him. The final message from his mother, “take care” at the end of a long moment they had, which was pretty emotionally devastating, scenes like this have me in awe. To link this in with the rest of the season, it turns out this was Echidna making Subaru confronting his past. As the credits rolled, I was completely in awe. This episode really comes across as being one of the best I have ever seen, not just in anime but in TV as a whole, I think the way it is presented from start to finish is downright incredible and the writer should be applauded for this. The relatability of Subaru reiterated in this episode was phenomenal and only went to add to an already amazing character.
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.Echidna created the world of Subaru’s past, she felt Subaru would be angry, but Subaru was actually happy to be able to say what he wanted to say. Emilia wasn’t as successful in her trial, Subaru was pretty good in calming her down, but after the night we find out some people didn’t want the sanctuary to be freed. It is also said the Frederica may be plotting something, by this point we were pretty unsure of who was orchestrating what, it overall it felt this environment and situation was pretty dire. It was good to see Subaru confront Roswaal about the situation with the witch’s cult, there was no reason for him not to be there, even Ram condoned this. The part of the scene in which Subaru realised that Ram didn’t even know about Rem, due to her absence from the conclusion of the witch hunt, was also one that worked really well. It put Subaru in a total lock and left him trying to find the words to say. Roswaal led to the events of the witch’s cult to happen, in hopes that Subaru’s reputation would be saved as well as Emilia in the royal selection being viewed preferably, although this doesn’t directly express Roswaal as a villain.
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.The conclusion to this episode was a big surprise and throwback too, Subaru had been gutted, meaning the return of Elsa, creating a huge problem for him to solve. Upon his restart he suggests taking the trials, like Garf had suggested in the previous loop, however, the next dynamic was that Garf actually opposed the idea of Subaru doing it this time around, creating the dynamic of characters who would change opinions between each loop, making it especially hard for Subaru. The question remains whether or not Frederica is a foe or friend. On his return to the mansion, Petra greeted him, showing their special relationship, and sets up the amount of commitment that Subaru will have towards saving her later on.
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This made it such a huge surprise when Elsa barged in, holding Petra as a hostage. Frederica showed her courage through agreeing with Subara’s choice to save Rem, Petra did the same too. We also saw Frederica’s ability to change forms, as well as a Mabeast who attacked them. Petra and Subaru shared a moment in which Subaru praised Petra for trying her best, which is usually what Subaru himself does so well. After everyone had been killed, Subaru was ready to die and was saved by Beatrice anyway, she completely cracked at his reaction, and began to sob. It also showed that there was something up with Beako, she had the Gospel, Subaru was very saddened by this. The next scene shows Beatrice’s pure emotion and how Subaru wasn’t that important to her, even though it seemed so, he was also annoyed by her obedience to that book.
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.Another restart came after being killed by Elsa, same routine of saving Emilia and comforting her. He spoke to Otto afterwards and this time, Garf took him away and after some insight into Garf’s past, Subaru had been tied up and kidnapped. Despite all of Garfiel’s threats towards Otto, he comes and saves Subaru anyway, because Otto saw him and Subaru as being friends, which was weird for Subaru to see and he saw it as really childish. His reaction was terrible towards Otto, as he laughed uncontrollably at the thought that him and Otto wouldn’t be friends. After Subaru was freed, he asks Roswaal questions about Beatrice which he had questioned on the previous loop, but didn’t find out much.
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.Next came an attack from Garfiel, the villagers helped Subaru, which completely frightened him, as ordinary people were being killed for Subaru’s sake and loads of sacrifices were being made for him. Upon waking, yet another problem was added, an army of rabbits who would eat people alive, by this point it seems here is barely a chance that Subaru would be able to make it out of this situation. His next visit to Echidna let him remember what they had done at the tea party together. It culminated in a conclusion to Subaru’s built up emotion, from not being able to express how he returns from death, it gives glimpses into all the tragedy he had felt from it so far, his first time saying it was a huge surprise. This led to him expressing that phrase over and over in loads of emotional pain, watching him break down, as well as all the bad memories being shown back to us put into context the root of Subaru’s emotions at this time. Echidna acted well in helping Subaru out here too, this episode was another amazing one, “The Value of Life”.
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.It's quite weird to see Subaru be acting like friends with a witch, although this allowed him to learn about the great rabbit, who was on the same scale as the white whale. Subaru ended up meeting all the witches, on accident, they all have totally different personalities, they didn’t actually feature much in this season though, I do hope they come back at some point in later seasons as they all seem pretty interesting. The witches are all pretty crazy between themselves though, the Witch of Wrath also seems to be just like Crazy Diamond from Jojo’s part 4, which seemed like a reference. What was weird about this loop was the Witch of Envy, Satella herself being present in the flesh, and causing absolute chaos. I loved the way in which she sounded, and how her voice seemed to rotate around. This physical form put into question what would happen if Subaru died to her, as she was the one who was reviving Subaru this whole time. The first hints to Subaru’s abilities being known by Roswaal were shown too. To end this loop, Satella consumed Subaru into her strange show dimension, and Subaru now believes that it was Echidna who was leading Subaru into doing this.
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On the next loop, Subaru began to shake when seeing Emilia, this went to show just how scary the resemblance between Emilia and the witch was, and actually helps to illustrate how regular people in that world must see Emilia. This time round, it was Ryuzu who was touched upon we learnt about what she was exactly. Subaru left Ryuzu after this talk, and found Emilia in the forest, they had another conversation in which they both heavily backed each other up, showing how they are the super couple. Garfiel got provoked by Subaru at the end, and said Subaru didn’t know pain or suffering, leading to a pretty smug moment of Subaru saying he had been through it many times, and was the only one who would ever need to see it.
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.Subaru tried to save Beatrice, she describes the contract which Echidna gave her, and Subaru was pretty passionate about saying that people shouldn’t want to die. Beatrice really wanted Subaru to be that person for her, but Subaru didn’t actually want to take that way of getting Beatrice out, he didn’t want to be “that person”, until Elsa entered as a surprise. Beatrice protected Subaru but in the village, one of the kids turned out to be an evil Mabeast user, which came as a bit surprise and also put another huge complexity into this situation. Beatrice was killed by Elsa anyway, and it was the first time we have seen a spirit die. Somehow, Subaru survived as Beatrice teleported him away, it was a shame though as the snow had already fallen. In this loop, Emilia had gone completely insane, her eyes had gone purple with the witch’s smoke inside of them. This scene was quite disturbing and unsettling, as Subaru clearly wasn’t comfortable in this situation, he even believes this himself, as he pities himself towards Garfiel after leaving. Subaru himself caught onto Roswaal making it snow in the sanctuary, and so while Subaru feels he had caught onto Roswaal, it was instead the contrary, it was Roswaal who saw through Subaru, tested by him killing Garfiel and Ram, and shown by the lack of sadness on Subaru’s face, but rather just shock. Roswaal now knows that Subaru has been returning by death, which has made a lot of the actions he has taken so far to be pretty clear, later on, even the assassins were shown to be hired by him, making it pretty clear he is the villain of this arc. The final scene was pretty creepy too, it went off the crazy Emilia from before, who was excited like a playful child, the grainy filter as well as Subaru’s mangled body made this sight horrifying and really uncomfortable to watch, we see the light in Subaru’s eyes disappear and some note, that when she goes to kiss Subaru at the end, it has bad connotations, as we later find out (in part 2)
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.Subaru makes another return to Echidna’s tea party, but instead it shows a very interesting fate, all of the outcomes of what happens after Subaru’s restarts, which weren’t real, but just conceptions of what may have happened. This was pretty disturbing too and it highlights his trauma which he had been through. The fake Rem which Subaru saw led to him being able to make a really good speech, expressing how even in those worlds he left behind, he had still been too weak, and his regret was expressed to those from his past worlds. On his reunion with Echidna, she wants to form a contract, which he seemed pretty willing to do at first, as his situation at the moment was pretty dire. The witch did seem to have some malicious intent in the end, and on top of this, she mentioned that Beatrice didn’t even have a specific “that person” who would come for her, Echidna didn’t even know herself, which seems like a total betrayal. Satella came to all the witches to see Subaru too, despite their neglect for her. Her overwhelming aura made her seem very threatening, but the witches instead blame Subaru for everything, saying that he doesn’t appreciate every life he has to its full extent, he claims he can get hurt in order to save others but Subaru himself was completely broken, before accepting what the witches were trying to say to him. Satella says, in the ones he wants to save, he should also be saving himself. He is also able to accept that return by death has saved him, and he can like himself a little more, which has seemed to be a common theme within these trials. The last line Satella gave him was representative of this series, he should be able to rely on others.
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.After Roswaal had been confirmed to be against Subaru, Otto came to Subaru’s rescue, and helped him in his current situation, beating some sense into him and telling him he can rely on his friends, just like Satella said.
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Best Episodes:
2. Episode 8: The Value of Life
3. Episode 11: The Taste of Death
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Best Characters:
2. Echidna
3. Emilia
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Overall, this first half to the season consisted of the most deaths Subaru has been through so far and tested all sorts of different trials and tests in order to break him, yet he overcame this and went through a huge development of his character, this first half acted as a huge formation arc as a part of Subaru’s character.
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