Spoilers ahead! Warning!
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Season 3 of Re:Zero, follows the second season up a year after its events. It begins with a really long episode, in which the cast goes to the city of Priestella and are joined by all of the royal candidates, meaning a huge cast of characters we already know are present. The story focuses around the siege that the witches cult has on the city, and how the camps work together to defeat them and explores a very different way in which the series can be presented.
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The arc begins with a, previously mentioned, very long episode. I feel that this episode lacked in action and story, however, it was still really entertaining, since I love the cast for this season. We heard about another guy from Japan, Hoshin of the wastes, as well as meeting Liliana the bard as well as Kiritaka, who seemed to be the link for bringing Puck back. We also saw Regulus in the city, but no-one seemed to recognise him.
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.I like to rave about how in depth all the characters are in this series, but this even goes as far as the thugs who beat up Subaru in the first arc, who now work under Felt and Reinhard. On the topic of Reinhard, the Astrea family takes a huge role from here as the three generations, Reinhard, Heinkel and Wilhelm all are present in Priestella.
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.Garfiel also has his own problems, his internal conflict over Elsa begins, he doubts his own ability because of her, and she haunts him as a case of him being lucky, and avoiding defeat because of this. Along with meeting who he believes to be his mother in this first episode.
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.By the end of this very long first episode, we think that Subaru is using his confidence in order to mess with the Witch’s cult, who had appeared by the end, but instead it turns out she had controlled his mind, and so the first death of the season takes place, which takes us heavily off guard since the episode had been so light hearted until then.
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.Subaru finds a bit of a problem this early on in the season, and dies again, really quickly. He then thinks of a great plan, to summon Reinhard to win for him, however the big mistake this time, is that while it seems Reinhard had won, when he was struck down, everyone under her control was too, including Subaru. After these loops, this was the last time that Subaru returned by death in this season, this made for a really nice change from the constant loops he underwent, and makes this season really refreshing from the season before, and it will likely also help to amplify season 4.
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.Subaru and Emilia fighting is much more entertaining this time because they actually know how to fight really well, especially Subaru, since he has had a year of training. The season is also set in place, a group of the witch’s cult attacking the city, and the different members of the parties fighting against them, this was mostly established here. Although the dynamic of not all of the witch’s cult being on the same page was also shown here, this shows how they would all be a bit different from each other, although it also helps to illustrate the sort of chaos which takes place in the city later on, making it seem more like an assault, rather than a planned operation.
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.Garfiel’s meeting with his mother consisted of him rejecting the idea of her being his mother, and didn’t mention it to her either, despite her hinting at hit, saying things like the tea Garf wanted came to her naturally. Garf’s internal conflict with Elsa continued here too, and by this point, the father of the kids caught up to Garfiel, and told him that what he presumed to be his mother, lost her memories around 15 years ago, just around when Garf was a baby. Seeing Garfiel having a vulnerable moment, despite being this tough guy for the most part, and now the “gorgeous tiger” made him seem like a very troubled teenager, but this makes his character really interesting. Especially with how well he is getting on with Mimi.
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.When Capella made her announcement to Priestella, it really started the big fight in Lugunica, as it meant all parties knew about it. The first fight after this was Garfiel and Mimi encountering two mysterious swordsmen from the witch’s cult. Garfiel was pretty destroyed after this, but he regained his composure quite easily, which goes to show how he was pretty mentally strong, despite all that was going on. The people around him backing him up also helped him out a bit. Something about all the archbishops being introduced so quickly made them a bit difficult to gather who they all were at first, however, since a lot of them had been previously seen, it helped loads and their varying personalities made them quite different from each other. The designs for the archbishops were actually improved in the anime too.
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.When Crusch and Subaru were fighting Capella, it really seemed like Subaru was on the verge of needing to restart soon, and this part really surprised me by not killing him, even though his death was expected. The creepiness of Capella in the scene where she copies Emilia was shown, as she looked a bit more unhinged than she usually does, and Capella’s gruesome transformations made her really disturbing to watch, especially when she was turning loads of people into flies.
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.I loved seeing how the sin archbishops all fought different parties, like how the archbishop of wrath fought Hetaro and his brother in what was meant to be the safe zone for everyone. Between this and the next scene, it involved Reinhard and Otto, which was cool to see, as those two hadn’t really interacted much so far and those little moments make the world seem more alive, and also they perk my interest. Now onto the setting, the whole city flooded, which is going to create a really cool dynamic from thereon. From when Subaru was saved, I also liked how Priscilla and Liliana were now a team as well as Subaru meeting with them, and the interactions between all the characters at this stage made this season so cool.
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.I think the scenes with Emilia and Regulus set out to make us really hate him, and he even seemed to disagree with the other archbishops, making him seem even more rotten. The fact that he refers to his wives with numbers hits this point further too.
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.Subaru’s speech at the end of this episode was really great, and I liked the support which he had from Anastasia and Julius too. Subaru also portrays his view in which he differentiates those killed in the battle against the white whale, and the civilians being killed here too. This was nice to hear as it fleshes out the extent of his morales and makes them really clear.
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.The scene where Emilia picks up the phone, and it’s Al on the other end was pretty funny too. This links whatever Al was doing to Emilia, and then this comes to Al meeting with Subaru and the others at the big speaker metia. Which is where he makes his speech. The encouragement he received from his allies was good to see, and while it seems like an easy task for him, I think the inclusion of Al saying Subaru didn’t have to do it makes it seem like what he did was more impressive. Garfiel backed him up big time, and Julius linked back to his baseless speech at the capital. Subaru’s speech managed to include what he thinks about himself, what he thinks others see in him, and the him he wants to be, although I should note that the him in which he wants to be is more similar to what he actually is at this moment. His speech itself was also very uplifting and felt like a real tide-turner in the way towards taking back Priestella.
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.The next plan of action was to create the battle plan, everyone had their own role. I thought that Emilia’s speech at the wedding was really good, since it explained her emotions and what she felt about her situation and Regulus at that time. The scene where Reinhard and Subaru kicked down the door was really one that put a smile on my face too.
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.The use of having different situations all shown at once was probably quite useful in pacing, and also highlights the chaotic nature of the scramble which was going on. The reveals that one of the swordsmen was Theresia van Astrea really helped to flesh out the story of this arc, and made it seem a lot more important, it also led to a more emotional moment, which I will touch upon later. The reunion of Emilia and Subaru was really sweet to watch, and the insults towards Regulus have already begun, and its especially cool seeing a villain who seemed to be immortal, being fought to an equal scale. They also totally tricked us, seeing Reinhard die suggested that Subaru might’ve needed to restart, but this was short lived as he came back to life, seeing as that Reinhard is just that strong. Some of the dynamics shown were really cool too, like how Emilia talks to the brides in an uplifting way and also Garfiel’s fight with the eight armed swordsman being a way of conquering his internal conflict with Elsa. To continue on the fight with Regulus, I think it really succeeded in taking the focus away from Reinhard, and instead allowing Subaru and Emilia to contribute the most. The way that they had so many plans to beat Regulus was really cool too, as it showed such a great plan, and well as showing how Regulus’ authority could’ve been anything.
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.Priscilla’s fight with Wrath seemed to just be a very convenient plan, since Liliana had a direct counter towards her ability. The focus shifted back to Subaru and Emilia after this, and his moment in which he figures out Regulus’ authority was really cool, I loved seeing a smug Subaru completely outsmart him like this. And then after the brief cut to this fight, we were brought back to Priscilla and Liliana fighting Wrath.
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.Liliana’s backstory didn’t really convince me at first, although it was beneficial that her character was explained in a thorough amount, as they insist upon explaining ever character to an admirable level of depth. The visuals in the fight with Priscilla were amazing, and the fire around them made it look so incredible. Liliana’s story took the fight to it’s end and allowed Wrath to be defeated.
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.From there, the Regulus fight has it’s final moment. Emilia figures out that it is the hearts of the wives which give Regulus his authority, and she manages to really sympathise with them and her heroine attitude towards saving them was really great. The scene of Subaru using unseen hand was great, as it showed a reflection of Petelguese, who Emilia was shown to have known in season 2, and this linked them together really well. It also helped to show Emilia’s absolute confidence in Subaru. I appreciated Emilia’s beatdown of Regulus, one punch for every one of his wives, showing just how bitter of a person he was in his last moments. Regulus’ speech really made sure we remember how rotten he was, and his death was very much deserved for him.
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.It was nice of them to finally let Al fight, we’ve not seen him fight before, despite him being around for so long. We also saw the fight between the eight armed swordsman and Garfiel. This was really fun to watch and they also managed to include his internal conflict over Elsa, as well as a moment of hype, in which all the people in the bunker which he fought him backed him up. The animation in the final part of the duel between these two was phenomenal and was really out there and helped to bring it completely to life.
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.Having a whole episode dedicated to a character, Theresia van Astrea, who wasn’t really at the focal point of the story, especially since Wilhelm had already managed to avenge her death in the battle with the white whale, was quite important. Showing all three generations of the van Astrea’s here was a good setting to have, since this story had so much to tell us about the backstory which their family had. It showed how Theresia didn’t want to have the role of sword saint at all, and Wilhelm took this role from her and made sure she didn’t have to fulfil her role as the sword saint. Letting Wilhelm have a final word with Theresia before she turned to dust was a really good point, and allowed Wilhelm to have another conclusion to a part of his character.
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.We go back and forth between fights by this point. Otto fighting was also a nice surprise to see, since we have never seen him fight properly yet. Julius’ fight was a bit more disturbing though, it seems he had forgotten who someone was, since his memory of them had been wiped away. Al’s fight was also included, he “beat” Capella, but eventually had to be saved by Reinhard. Otto’s fight returns after this, and I think him figuring out the ability of Gluttony was important, as it linked back to earlier in the season, when Al said, if you meet Gluttony, don’t tell him your name, suggesting Al had met Gluttony before. A surprise visit from Beatrice saved Otto’s fingers, and this made it clear that he was the one who ate Rem’s memories, since he began to speak her name, and the lines from Rem, meaning he already knew the names of the main cast, making him a huge risk. The huge weapon felt had in this fight came as a surprise, and somehow it had a relation to Echidna, in some sort of way. There was also a third member of the archbishop of gluttony, however all she did was provoke felt and leave, but the fact that so many of the archbishops escaped allows for the story to continue using them, and having characters we are familiar with being used in the future will be something we probably benefit from.
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.The ending wrapped things up in a sweet way, similar to the way seasons before had been ended, everyone had roles in which they had to do next. The big surprise was Julius, he wasn’t present at the negotiations in the end, and it turns out that everyone had seemed to have forgotten who he was. Which is a big cliffhanger for the next season.
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.Best Episodes:
2. Episode 12: Regulus Corneas
3. Episode 14: Theresia van Astrea
Best Characters:
2. Emilia
3. Regulus Corneas
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Overall, this season was hugely different from what we have seen before. It involved a break from the return by death ability, used a wide range of the cast, and also had a stronger Subaru included. The dynamics which were shown this season were top notch, as well as the worldbuilding done for this city and the amazing fights and archbishops included. This season managed to smash it out the park and similarly allows the story to flow into the next season very naturally.
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