It’s that time of the week again. the time when Crow and I talk about this week’s episode of re:Zero season 2 over on Crow’s World of Anime while I put up a whole bunch of screencaps here. To be a bit more precise, you can see our episode post right here!
Re:Zero is not the best show for gallery posts but I hope you stick with me.
When I say re:Zero isn’t great for gallery posts I don’t mean it doesn’t look good. It looks great. The animation is nice as well. And I am really digging my little seasonal collection of screenshots. However, there’s not much in the way of visual storytelling in this series. At least none that I manage to notice. And the direction is very classical as well.
Mind you none of that is bad it’s just that short of going through specific character designs, I really don’t have much to say about the images.
Except for a couple of things. First is that the one camera trick that does get used in re:Zero, and it really gets used a lot, is the dutch angle. I went through all my screencaps and even without purposefully focusing on them, I have a clear dutch angle shot per episode, usually quite a few. The exception being the alternate episode of Subaru and his parents. Not a single slanted shot there. Almost as if it was more honest and safe an environment…
The other thing I bring up more often in this series is the light. Because it doesn’t always behave like light. At least not like right in our world would. To be clear, I don’t think this is necessarily a flaw. It’s too subtle to ruin the immersion for anyone. I mean we’ve already accepted the fantastic world of re:Zero and the fact that everyone is drawings A few odd shadows or lack thereof aren’t going to be a dealbreaker at this point. But along with the angles, it sort of gives the impression that the world of re:Zero isn’t quite right. Like maybe it doesn’t exist or it really is a delusion…
Now I get that Garfiel was glowing from within. That’s why his beast’s eyes are like that. It looks kinda cool. I understand that he was casting that magic red glow around himself. But why are his eyes and forehead in complete shadow when there’s a bright red light right there? IIt is casting light because we see it in his eyeshines… And earlier we had Roswaal with his ow odd eyes:
That eyeshine right there is in several frames but it only reflects in his eyes. There is no light cast on anything else in the room, including his face. And it happens to look hella cool! I love this screencap! But that light also doesn’t seem to have any source. This is a dream! But who’s dream???
As some of you know, I live in a snowy country. It’s easy to forget just how bright fresh snow is. Before it gets disturbed and all sullied by traffic, snow almost shines. You can walk around in the dead of night and it will seem like daytime. The dimmest star is reflected and refracted in every flake. What I’m saying is that the evil bunny scenes looked accurate to me. Heck, they could even have been brighter. I’m sure I’ll talk with Crow about the Monty Python influences here. It was great!
Lately, I’ve been really into anime skies. Not only the colours but the amounts and shapes of clouds. I blame Fire Force for that. This said, the sky in Echidna’s garden…or graveyard… is really nice too. It looks photoshopped, with those big fluffy clouds dipping clearly below the horizon line. That’s not something you would normally see. But of course, they are not in a real place.
And this is why I think maybe all the weird light isn’t just a superficial choice to look cool. Maybe they really are trying to convey a slight atmosphere of unreality. It seems unreality is a real word. I’m surprised.
I know I’m grasping at straws but like I said, I just don’t have that much to say. Maybe I should stick with look cute rabbits!
If you guys crave a bit of substance on this episode and want to read someone who actually has something to say, you should check out Crow’s thoughts right here. I guess I’m there too: https://www.crowsworldofanime.com/posts/rezero-2-episode-33-or-8-before-i-heard-you-i-saw-you/
