Re: Zero 2x13 Reaction Extended (YT link below)
Added 2025-01-30 02:00:04 +0000 UTCIn Re: Zero 2x13, The Sounds That Make You Want to Cry, Echidna enjoys the tea.
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Pistachio
Anya Mcghee
2025-01-31 15:08:36 +0000 UTCI could have sworn this was mentioned the last episode, but I didn't find it and waited for this part of the teaparty, where it wasn't yet again, but one important thing regrading the contract with Echidna — She would have helped bringing him to his desired outcome, yes, but she would have made him die and go down every other possibloe way first. Hence why the contract is waaay worse than you seem to have thought.
Baddy
2025-01-31 10:13:48 +0000 UTCFaceless Bride was the same thing what the WItch of Lust used last episode when she looked like Rem and the name of the ability and a few details were mentioned there too.
Baddy
2025-01-31 09:49:13 +0000 UTCOh boy, here's the episode with MAJOR cuts. I'll just blast through them. It's revealed in the novels that Satella has a split personality due to being incompatible with the Envy Witch Factor. These two personalities are Satella and the Witch of Envy. The Witches like Satella, but hate Envy, except for Echidna, who hates both. In the Web Novel, it's stated that Satella is the one who killed all of the Witches and consumed half of the world, despite the other Witches liking her. In this scene, we see Satella's personality, not Envy, who is what we saw before. There is some cut dialogue from Satella, talking about how she loves Subaru, but she gives him some reasons why. Here is what she said: “I am in love with you. —Because you gave me light. Because you took me by the hand, and taught me the world outside. Because through nights where in solitude I shivered, you kept by my side with your hands around mine. Because, then being alone, by your kiss you told me I wasn't. There are so many things you've given to me. ...And so, I love you. Because you—you gave me everything.” The narration goes on to note that even though he doesn't remember doing any of that, but emotions begin bubbling up from somewhere unknown Daphne calls Subaru a Sage Candidate (presumably relayed to the Sage that helped seal the Witch of Envy), and that he should've already known about the fact that Satella and the Witch of Envy aren't the same person. Iirc, Minerva or Echidna tell Daphne to stop talking about it. After Subaru leaves the Dream Realm, and the Witches ask why Echidna intentionally led him to rejecting her contract, but she doesn't really give an actual answer. That's the most important stuff, and obviously all of it is pretty damn important lore/character stuff
Kieran
2025-01-31 06:01:24 +0000 UTCI agree! I mean at the end of the day, there’s just soooo much that we don’t know about Satella and what started all of this. So I’d say at the moment it’s pretty much impossible to understand anything close to the entirety of her intentions… it’s definitely a mixed deal, like you said.
Hailan
2025-01-30 22:14:19 +0000 UTCThe only thing I disagree with is that Satella’s intentions cannot possibly be ENTIRELY altruistic or out of genuine love. If it was, she wouldn’t grab his heart every time he tries to speak of his predicament and force such suffering from isolation upon him. She is ENVY after all, and allowing no one else to know of their “love” is par for the course
Steve.
2025-01-30 21:55:22 +0000 UTCIt's actually worse than that. Echidna doesn't "force" Subaru to do anything. The above comment goes into more detail, but essentially, Subaru accepting Echidna's deal means he's accepting his life holds little to no meaning due to Return By Death, and also accepting "saving" everyone regardless of how his actions trample upon their agency. The Greed IF perfectly illustrates the logical conclusion Subaru's mindset will lead him to.
BirthdayParty
2025-01-30 12:16:08 +0000 UTCwonderfully written and said. i much so enjoyed this exposition
Bonzi Buddy
2025-01-30 08:40:54 +0000 UTCAND THUS MARKS THE END OF RE ZERO SEASON 2 COUR 1! I'm sure you've noticed by now, that this Cour --despite the surplus of relevant characters-- is one that focuses on Subaru just as, if not even more, than the Royal Capital Arc in Season 1. And this episode is the climax of everything that has been laid down thus far in Season 2. Subaru's mental state, despite the things he's learned and the growth he's gone through by the end of S1, is unironically at an ALL TIME unstable/low ever since the first episode of this season. The terribleness of the things that happened to Subaru so far this season also parallels his dangerous lack of self love -- ever since he found out that Rem is beyond his saving. It's like he said this episode, the lingering thoughts of "If I were stronger, if I were better, if I wasn't worried about getting hurt... then Rem wouldn't be in the state she's in right now" constantly, CONSTANTLY plagues him, and thus dominates the ENTIRETY of his actions so far into the season. All the trouble that he ran into with Garfiel, with a good chunk of the cause being that Subaru's own desires to take everything upon himself -- even if it robs the agency of Emilia, even if it's not what she would've wanted for him -- comes off as terribly suspicious in Garfiel's eyes as a stranger. Subaru's sinking into a similar pitfall as he did in S1, but this time for a different reason. And while his reasoning behind it went from selfish in S1 to genuinely selfless in S2... it's a bit TOO selfLESS that's the issue here. Subaru has gone through more disasters and horrifying things this season than he ever have, but his unrelenting way of getting back up comes down to more than just the possession of an iron will -- he's beginning to disregard himself, entirely. His vision of the perfect future, the "good ending" that he must paint with all his blood to achieve, does that at the price of excluding his own wellbeing from the picture. We talk about why Echidna's deal is this MASSIVE pitfall -- because she wants to milk his Return by Death to the extreme. He doesn't have to give up on others in the process, but he has to treat his life as something which value is only to be offered up and sacrificed. Echidna wants him to die countless times, acquire all the information in the world, and eventually reach that desired future beyond the realm of a billion. The only thing Subaru has to offer up, is his sanity and own well being -- combined with the lingering problem that he's just solving every issue for others, no matter large or small, at the cost of their own agency and decision making. Echidna's deal is the most extreme of extremes, the greediest of all greeds, because that's the only extent that can satisfy her nature as the Witch of Greed and her part of the contract. The Witches' Tea Party is special, because we see that they're all actually very comprehensible beings with their own opinion on how Subaru should approach his problem. Typhon and Sekhmet pities Subaru's lack of agency, and thus want to let him die as he wanted in the dream world. Minerva believes that Subaru's lack of self love is NOT the healthy way to end things, and thus digs under the surface for Subaru's inner voice of "I don't want to die" so she can heal him. Daphne wants Subaru to uphold his challenge to her on wiping out the Great Rabbit, and thus subdues Typhon. Carmilla used her "Faceless Bride" that she used to turn into Rem last episode, to help Subaru recall the thoughts and words of those he love in his head as he was dying -- the very thoughts that revealed to him the grief of those that care about him when they find him beyond saving in those alternate timelines. And of course, last but certainly not least, Satella reveals to Subaru that she gave this power to him, not to make him suffer nor out of selfish hate, but because she loves him and genuinely wants him to have the chance to achieve a safe future for himself, to be able to overcome every obstacle that's out for his demise. And while we still don't know anything about the origin of all this, we do know that this information, combined with the other witches' inputs -- helped Subaru realize that there's more value to his life than just Return by Death, something that he probably would've struggled less had Rem be by his side this whole time. What makes these witches technically "incomprehensible" is that their mentality is skewed towards having a feeling so strong for their respective designated "sins", that they shape their whole life around it. Subaru understands this, and thus tells them that he could never wholly comprehend them, but also realizes that he's genuinely in their debt for everything that happened at the Tea Party -- and thus thanks them. Fast forward to Patrasche coming into the graveyard to drag Subaru out of there. The anime actually censored the HELL out of her injuries, and downplayed what she actually did. Because whoever tanks the pain and enters the graveyard without qualification will suffer great injuries as a result (check Roswaal), Patrasche was actually bleeding all over and having parts of her skin scraped off by the time she got Subaru out of there. Thankfully, there's healers at the Sanctuary (Garfiel, Emilia, etc), but it's a very severe thing that our Best Girl did for Subaru -- which is why he teared up when realizing that and combined with what he learned at the Tea Party. Fast forward to Roswaal, this is one of the most spectacular villain expositions and voice acting in media IMO. The writing here is amazing because everything Roswaal promotes is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of everything Subaru just learned. He wants to sharpen Subaru like he's iron, wants him to trample upon everyone's agency if it means achieving the future he desires and truly "loving" Emilia, and wants him to go "insane"... so that he can be perfected in Roswaal's perception of "strength". Obviously one of the focuses of this episode is that shouldering everything, all the while lacking self love, is NOT strength at all (sorry Eren) -- and that it takes courage to live out a life that knows to both give and take when it comes to relationships, all the while acknowledging other people's agency in your life, and it's also the surest way to combat stagnation in personal growth -- when you're not shackled by the madness of carrying everything at the expense of... everything. Roswaal's line of "Why aren't you insane yet, Subaru?" is haunting, the reminder of all the sufferings thus far threatens Subaru to give up his humanity and prepare for a hell to stumble in for eternity -- it talks of a madness that Subaru has actually already more than dipped his toes into prior to this episode. Roswaal's ideology serves as the perfect juxtaposition to what Subaru needs to learn, and that's why it's beyond tempting and horrifying to have him reveal everything here, when Subaru's just learning how to walk. That's essentially why Subaru went on a mental breakdown, mumbling deliriously to himself in the forest from midnight to the dawn of daybreak (that's why Otto said "good morning" when he found Subaru, in which he reacted with "morning?"). Finally, with Otto's friendship punch to remind Subaru of the encapsulation of what he should've learned, have already learned, and needs to continue to learn from now on -- we arrive at the end of Season 2's Cour 1. And though we obviously still have many characters that need the screentime and development they deserve up ahead, it was more than fitting for Subaru to have the entire first cour dedicated to the biggest walk he has undertaken thus far. I genuinely believe Season 2, Arc 4 of ReZero, is an incredible piece of literature that sheds light on sooo sooo many of the common pitfalls that EVERY human has to go through and learn. Thanks Alex for all the reactions, super pumped for the next cour and remainder of this amazing season!
Hailan
2025-01-30 06:25:28 +0000 UTCApparently in the IF story where Subaru accepts Echidna's contract she has him die thousands of times a day to satisfy her curiosity about anything and everything, and then he goes insane! Isn't that fun!?
Gus N
2025-01-30 06:20:13 +0000 UTCPeak zero ep. Definitely one of my fav eps of the season. Subaru getting to realize that he's actually a likeable person. The... interesting interactions he had with all the witches. Great ep.
Plasma Lemon
2025-01-30 05:59:04 +0000 UTCPeak zero day!!! And man the witches just keep delivering, is always interesting seeing them and their views of the situation being explored.
Aukar frank
2025-01-30 04:40:56 +0000 UTCWait... now even *you're* saying "Pastrasche"? 😄 Don't let Alex infect you.
Ryan
2025-01-30 04:26:12 +0000 UTCI know Subaru is going through some stuff but Otto and Pastrache need some more recognition. Definitely not picking favorites
Anya Mcghee
2025-01-30 03:50:27 +0000 UTCI don't think the multiverse needs to be real for Roswaal's theory to make sense. If the same timeline is simply overwritten, then each iteration of Roswaal is still "one not himself". For example, when the timeline where he gets eaten by bunnies resets, then the reset Roswaal will not recall that experience, and so is in a sense a different one. In the same way, his self being eaten will not experience the reset, his conscious experience would just end there. From any given Roswaal's perspective, Subaru could have reset 100 or 100,000 times. Each one just hopes to be on the continuity that continues to the future
Steve.
2025-01-30 03:33:44 +0000 UTCLet’s goooo! This is one of my fav episodes of the show. The subversion of Envy’s intentions and all the witches perspectives, Roswaal continuing to show his hand, Otto and Patrasche being the best, and Subaru taking another step forward. I absolutely love all the Satella stuff. It’s such a shock, to have her continuously be portrayed by the show from Subarus perspective and in-universe, as an unfathomable monster, yet when she appears it’s nothing like that at all. It’s so important that Subaru hears this from her. His Return by Death, as with all the other witches actions, is meant for something really beautiful. A chance for Subaru to protect himself, love himself, and keep himself safe (somewhat like how Daphne made the great beasts as a food source) but it’s been received in Subaru’s eyes as something terrible. And both perspectives are true. He’s been put through unimaginable pain, but he does thank her, because it’s saved him many times. Just hearing Subaru come to the resolution that he wants to find some way to repay the people he cares about in ways other than death is beautiful to me. Lots of heroes stories tend to put an emphasis on sacrificing your own body, or your own autonomy for the sake of others, but is that truly the highest form of heroism? Maybe, maybe not, but I love that he’s going to try and find an answer. And Roswaal. I love the way everything is portrayed in his scenes. The close ups, the voice acting, it’s all just fantastic. I love how in this arc, Echidna and Roswaal are almost dark mirrors of Subaru’s parents. Roswaals, “become like me” echoes the want Subaru had to be just like his father, and Echidnas, “ends justify the means” mentality puts a dark spin on his mother’s words. And I’ve always thought of his mom’s lesson as this: You’ll go through a lot of shit in your life. It’ll be painful, things will suck, but, as long as you can smile at the end of it all, it’ll be okay. Because you’re still alive. As always, it’s a process. Subaru is picking up pieces of the puzzle that is real love for himself and others, and there’s plenty of pitfalls to be had along the way. And finally, more Otto greatness. You’re not alone Subaru! Great thoughts as always, super excited for the next one.
Vali Sippola
2025-01-30 02:47:53 +0000 UTC
