Spoilers ahead! Warning!
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This second season of Re:Zero is split into two sections, both depicting arc 4 of the light novel. This second season features the run in which Subaru goes against all the odds, and manages to conquer his greatest challenge yet. This review will go over the season, and I will add any thoughts or comment on details I thought were important. I thought that this season was just as good as the last, and continued to be that ever so perfect series which I knew.
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The first episode goes off where Otto left off, he wanted to help Subaru, and show that he had others he could rely on. Themes like this are always so good to watch, as relying on others makes the series correlate more to the real world, and actually give a deeper meaning to the series. Otto’s support for Subaru was really admirable and the fact he accepted everything he said was on the same level of Rem from the first season.
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The scene with the “Straight Bet” theme in the background was sick, and showed a really cool view of Subaru. His dominant mindset over Roswaal was really clear and Subaru’s absolute confidence in this situation was really satisfying to watch. After a speech with Ryuzu, it led to Subaru backing up Emilia, and a conversation with Puck, in which it seems like we would say goodbye to him.
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.Emilia has some conflict with herself, as she is angry at Puck and Subaru leaving her, despite Subaru promising to stay with her in the night. Emilia ran off because of this, but we learned that Subaru was acting in a very genius way. Before we got to the end of the conversation, we learned about how Otto grew up, which is really great, as I feel everyone in this show has a good level of depth behind their character. From here it leads to Otto being really helpful in distracting Garfiel and keeping him busy, Ram helps too for “Roswaal’s sake” although it feel like it is all for Subaru’s sake. Emilia and Subaru came back into the focus after this, as Subaru made a really risky speech, in which he admitted how he felt about her, which was really satisfying as it felt like he might have messed up, but since Subaru was so genuine, he sold his feelings to her completely. After a really touching speech, Subaru and Emilia share their first kiss of the series, which had felt a long time coming, and this moment was the perfect time to do it, in the situation in which Emilia needed to be shown love the most.
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.Garfiel received the same sort of treatment as Otto, seeing how he grew up too, he was a pretty troubled character himself. When Garfiel came to fight them, it somehow was Subaru who was fighting Garfiel, and winning too, a huge change for him, who would usually rely on others for help, a previous theme shown in this part of the season. After fighting Garfiel though, he managed to show appreciation for Otto. Seeing Otto’s relationship with Frederica in his trial made it link the two areas of the season together, as the mansion and sanctuary were connected through Garfiel, the soundtrack really helped this scene help hard.
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.Emilia began her trial, seeing loads of helpful messages and drawings around the sanctuary in support of her, all written by Subaru. Echidna returns too, but she seems to hate Emilia at first sight. Emilia seems to have taken Subaru’s pose too when saying her name. In this flashback world, Petelguese had returned and Emilia had a mother figure, called Fortuna, who looked very similar to her. Seeing Emilia as a kid made it feel like nothing bad should ever happen to her, she was so care free, but also “so bored”. Petelguese at this time seemed to be a pretty nice guy, a stark contrast from the Petelguese which we knew. The seal in which little Emilia saw kind of suggests that something bad will come of it, we do see someone strange come along at the end of the episode, this being the same one who attacked Rem at the start of part 1 of this season.
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.Another flashback started at the same time as this, Ryuzu’s original memories, in which Beatrice was there, which further links the whole of the story together and is what makes this series so appealing. Back to Emilia, Petelguese and Fortuna tried to fight Regulus, he was really annoying, but it totally links everything together really well, as he is a recurring character who is still around by the point in which the series is set. Emilia’s promise to her mother made it seem like she would do something very wrong, as she clearly had some terrible memory from this time, suggested from her earlier failed attempts in this season. Archi sacrificing himself from Emilia adds the first level of guilt to Emilia. The second comes from her meeting Pandora, which results in Fortuna’s death, in front of Emilia, as well as Petelguese becoming insane. Emilia seems to be shown as a bit selfish, as there was no way people would forgive her for freezing them, but it was a bit of acceptance for what she had done in the past, and there was no undoing this.
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.Roswaal was getting insulted by Subaru after this, it was pretty funny that Otto wasn’t even in the prophecy, which actually goes a bit further and suggests that he would be able to break the prophecy. From here, we find out that Roswaal and Echidna have a very connected past, and Beatrice and Ryuzu were with her too, all as part of a group. Ryzuzu’s sacrifice was explained too, creating the sanctuary, Beatrice didn’t want her to do so, she got upset over this, and a little speech between them shows some level of emotion, but I couldn’t see too much further beyond this. I thought Subaru’s rant after this story was really good, as it showed a positive thinking Subaru, who always saw the best in every situation, and compared him to the direct contrast of Roswaal, who had a pessimistic view, and would rather keep others weak. I thought the use of other characters like Garfiel to hit this point home was really good too.
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.Emilia was also provoked to argue with Roswaal, and so Roswaal confronts her, Emilia’s response is absolutely amazing, and backs this idea of being able to rely on each other. I think Subaru’s truthful response to Emilia made to show that their relationship wasn’t made up of just pep talks from Subaru like Roswaal had thought. This realisation left him absolutely stunned. Even Ram has joined in against Roswaal, and has brought Puck to fight him, this introduction was so cool! I think the scene with Petra, in which Subaru comes at just the right moment, shows how Subaru really is just that guy who is great at always being in the right place at the right time. Garfiel’s being so battle ready for Elsa, who even the sword saint didn’t kill was incredible, and we finally got to see Garf and Frederica meet again.
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.Subaru’s first attempt at saving Beatrice was really convincing, this probably goes to ground him a bit and show he can’t just make a speech that everyone will accept. Subaru’s rejection of being “that person” also shows a bit of rejection towards Echidna. Emilia’s shorter trial of the present she could have had made her appreciate the present she currently had, even if she had so much regret in the past, which suggested she was happier with the present, and so Subaru had had the effect which he wanted. I enjoyed the speech that the villagers made to Emilia this time too, it shows that Subaru had managed to garner everyone’s support in the whole sanctuary.
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.Subaru’s role in the mansion this time was a lot more brave, and he seemed a lot more like a hero this episode. We didn’t see him in this episode after Emilia had her next trial, her scene at the tea party was pretty good, she said she believed in a future where the worst would happen. Also, the Witch of Wrath said she knew Emilia’s mother, but Emilia said her mother was Fortuna, simply because of what she had seen her do in her memories. The snow after Emilia left the sanctuary really hinted towards the worst though.
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.Garfiel’s fight with Elsa was very beautifully animated and was sick to watch, and seeing how Garfiel came on top, and how Subaru had such a strong ally now, made this fight really, really cool to watch. Somehow, we also watched Ram get incinerated, which gives concerns that she wouldn’t be saved, as this run seems so much like the one where Subaru wins. Although, Ram seemed to still be saveable at the start of the next episode. Roswaal seemed to be in a pretty broken state by this point, as his book had been destroyed. Yet he had still created problems through him making snow fall. The thing that was so great about this episode was the fact that we saw both Emilia and Subaru being brave in their own situations. Emilia commits to saving Roswaal, Ram, Ryuzu and all the villagers from the oncoming great rabbit, and the scene after was sick, we saw the whole mansion burning down, really showing this as a moment of peril. Subaru was running about the burning mansion trying to find Beatrice, while everyone else was escaping, even after Beatrice kicked him out into the fire, which was sending him to his death. Subaru ran in to the completely hopeless mansion to find Beatrice in the last door he knew, in which he found Beatrice in a burning library, and Subaru convinced her by asking her to choose him, rather than him being that person, her stubbornness after 400 years was fair enough, but the Subaru standing in front of her managed to convince her by him saying that he would be so memorable and would engrave himself into her life if she chose him. This final scene of Beatrice crying Subaru’s name as they made their way across the sky, and then landed at Emilia’s side was sweet. The fight against the great rabbit was surprisingly pretty easy with the help of Beatrice, and it was nice to have Emilia be involved in this too.
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.What made the conclusion so good was how Roswaal turned out to be the same one from the flashbacks, and so Beatrice was pretty amazed by this. I also found Emilia thinking that babies were made from kissing pretty funny, especially after the seriousness of this whole season. Seeing a defeated Roswaal also made the season round off nicely, knowing Roswaal would not try to do anything again, even if he wanted too. Seeing the season end so nicely made me pretty content with where it left, and Subaru being knighted was a really sweet way to do this.
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.Best Episodes (episode number is in terms of the whole of season 2):
2. Episode 24: Choose Me
3. Episode 15: Otto Suwen / A Reason to Believe
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Best Characters:
2. Emilia
3. Garfiel
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.Overall, this half of the season acts as the most heroic run we have seen Subaru go on yet, and the insights into Emilia’s past as well as Otto’s and Garfiel’s as well makes this season big on the development of many members of the cast. The themes explored heavily involve the reliance on others, which Subaru has often done, while Emilia experiences a bit of the opposite, and uses the confidence that others have in her to solidify herself as someone who can help even more. The position it leaves us in also allows for another season to be easily continued while also having a firm conclusion to this arc in the sanctuary.
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