Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 50 marks the end of season 2 of re:Zero. Fans absolutely adore it. I just read a review calling it Isekai perfection. And for one last time, Crow and I will discuss the episode.
Have any of you read Watership Down? Did you like it? I read it in school and although I do appreciate it as a book. As in I don’t think it’s badly written at all and I understand the themes and points it was making. Effectively if somewhat brutishly, I did not enjoy it. I will not reread it again. I just don’t like the idea of bunnies killing each other. I’m a very simple creature and fluffy cute things should be friends.
What do you think Crow?
It’s been forever since I read the book or have seen the movie. The movie was well made, by the way. I grew up on a farm, so my view of animals includes the idea of livestock. Growing up in that environment left its mark. Bunnies, or cattle, or pigs — once you see them as part of a food chain, it’s hard to unsee that.
At least, that’s what I thought. My brother went vegan and he’s never been healthier. Perspectives can change!
We’re off topic, aren’t we? Well, I’m off topic… And I’m in bold. There will be spoilers.
But on to episode 50 of re:Zero 2. As far as the events of the episode go, there isn’t that much to talk about. The fight against the bunnies was over in a heartbeat and after that it was a wrap up. The characters simply reaffirmed information we learned throughout the season.
The only new thing I suppose is that knighting scene at the end of the episode. I did not realize that Emilia had been made queen so that’s new information for me I guess but I’m sure most of the viewers were more diligent. I guess it was an alright scene but in practice I don’t see how it changes anything. Subaru was going to stand by Emilia’s side and defend her regardless and it’s what he’s been doing up until now. Maybe there’s more to it but we’ll find out next season.
One thing I will say for this scene. Did they really haul out Rem’s unconscious body to attend? That seems really rude! Especially after how hard the narrative shafted her this season. Oh well…
I’m sure you have plenty of stand out moments Crow. Please tell us about it!
I don’t think Emilia’s on the throne yet. Subaru mentioned they’d need Roswaal’s help in the selection process, so that still seems in play. The only thing I could figure is that Roswaal’s family is royalty and Subaru’s knighthood is as a ward of that family. But that’s not a satisfying answer.
As far as what I enjoyed about it, I was absolutely astounded to see Subaru in something other than a track suit. I didn’t know how to process that! Also, after everything he and Emilia have been through, it was great seeing them have time to just be their awkward halting selves.
And Beatrice twirling Petra on the dance floor was too adorable.
But as I feared, Rem’s still unconscious. And it was a little creepy having her out on the floor. She certainly didn’t get anything out of it!
In the end, I have a lot of lingering questions about the season and thankfully Crow pays much better attention and will be able to answer them! Like what was the point of a lot of the events. Why did Roswaal do all this? To break Emilia’s spirit so she can serve as a vessel for Echidna? OK, fine. But why murder the people at his mansion? Why burn it down? Why risk Beatrice, the beloved daughter of the woman he loves? Why hire vampires? Why summon the bunny rabbits? Why challenge Subaru? How do any of these actions help his goal? It seems really convoluted if it’s just to keep Subaru away from Emilia.
And I know Subaru could leave at any time. Why did Emilia go through the trials at all? Why not just leave Sanctuary as it is, Roswall and all and just go on her merry way to, maybe help find a cure for one of her most dedicated servants who she’s forgotten?
Why did there need to be so many clones?
And this is more of a production issue, but was the lady in the coffin Echidna? The characters seem to say she wasn’t the same Echidna that we’ve been seeing all season. And I have to admit the character model did seem a bit odd to me but I don’t know if that was intended or simply a slight art consistency issue. Are we to understand that who we thought was Echidna wasn’t? Cause I would need a bit more to go on if that’s the case. If not, why include this?
I feel like I’m on stage and the spotlight just kicked on. Someone in the back coughed. My costume doesn’t fit right. And I forgot my lines.
I wish I could answer your questions, because each one is a good question. Now, on and off through the season, I’ve had some theories about some of your questions, and I’ve seen others post conjecture on other questions. The thing is, as much as I like this show, it has a flaw that bugs the heck out of me.
The best description I’ve read is from Dewbond’s site Shallow Dives in Anime. In a post called “Re-Dive, Quick Thoughts Edition on Steins;Gate: Back to the Future, and then back again,” he said: “Steins;Gate is a show that rewards you for paying attention, but also doesn’t penalize you not paying attention like ReZero does.”
I embrace the idea of show don’t tell. I love figuring things out. But the sheer volume of things I’ve needed to figure out is enormous for this show.
For some shows, I have to make up some inner fan fiction to explain points that make sense. For this show, I have an entire parallel world. And it’s constantly changing to adjust to the latest episode.
You should not have had to ask a single one of your questions. The narrative should have answered them. For heaven’s sake, your questions dealt with character motivation, which is at the heart of believability!
TL;DR: I completely understand you not enjoying this season. I’m glad you stuck with it, and I hope it didn’t diminish your enjoyment of anime in general!
It’s not a question of not enjoying it. I know for a fact I often forget show elements so I think there are answers to all these questions and I’m curious. Maybe some of our readers know them.
I think your questions are spot on. I honestly don’t think the show did a good job of answering them. But we do have some really sharp readers! Maybe one of them will have something.
One thing I will say is that the characters seem to be pretty much back to their season 1 personalities at the end of this episode and I think that’s a good thing. I found most of them a lot more compelling in season 1 and I hope they don’t shift too much again.
At least Emilia knows where babies come from now! Maybe! Well, we’re not really sure, but I’m hopeful!
So Crow has been bringing back the three main themes of this season of re:Zero in every single one of his posts to create continuity. And I am super embarrassed to admit this, but I don’t know what these themes are.
I thought about it and here are the three main themes I could come up with for the season but none of them work.
1- True love conquers all. Admittedly this was the weakest of the three but seeing as the kiss was presented and paced as the cornerstone event of the season, I figure it was of some importance. However, this theme falls apart immediately. True love doesn’t work for anyone else in the season. It didn’t work for Roswaal and he had to give it up. It pretty much doomed Geuse and if anything his arc was a cautionary tale to not get blinded by love. And poor Rem. Risking her life for her true love got her sidetracked all season and even if she ever does wake up, she gets the reward of finding out her one true love got a girlfriend while she was in a coma and is now super happy without her.
So, we’re 0 for 1.
2- Learning to count on others. Both Subaru and Emilia had to learn to depend on and trust others this season. But well not really again. There was this big thing about Emilia having to stop depending on others, especially Puck, and believe in herself. So that sort of undoes this theme right at the start. And Fortuna was doomed because she depended on others, not to mention that her trust in others pretty much led them all to a gruesome death. And anyone who trusted Roswaal…well that’s a bit on them, let’s face it.
So, 0 for 2? It’s beginning to feel like baseball.
3- The strongest theme I could see was: Confronting and learning to let go of the past. As in you must first accept your past and move on to have a future. Pretty much all the main characters went through this and I think it is a decent connecting thread. Still, the season did manage to specifically contradict it through Garf, Frederica and Otto, all of whom had to specifically reconnect with their past and go back to their roots instead.
Is that a foul ball maybe? So, still 0 for 2 with us needing another pitch for 3?
So I give up, Crow, please tell me what the three themes of the season were. I’m actually really curious about this!
And I thought I’d dodged a bullet with your last questions! I’m tempted to channel Jack O’Neill from Stargate SG-1: “I got nothing!” I’m also tempted to be flippant! But let me see what I can come up with.
It’s okay not to shoulder the entire burden alone. Sometimes you have to, but if you start thinking that way by default, Rem will end up unconscious. Not everything can be solved by Return by Death!
Go big or go home. Want to save everything in Sanctuary and the mansion? Then pay the price not by accepting pain and death, but by doing things that are more scary. Like backing Roswaal into a corner and convincing Garfiel that he should fight Knifey. Yes. That’s a repeat of the first one, but it’s slightly different, so I’m going with it.
And sometimes, you need a bro to punch you in the face. Sometimes you need something to adjust your thinking, and if reason won’t do it, there are other tools in the box.
How’d I do?
I didn’t mean to be flippant. I tried to give it some serious thought. It’s more that I came up short than I was trying to be disrespectful. Not the case at all. To me, it felt as if I was missing a piece of the puzzle. Either because I have forgotten something or because the story needs to be considered in light of an arc that hasn’t been adapted yet. And I was actually curious about the themes you already had been using all season, you didn’t have to come up with new ones but that’s good too.
Well, I had themes for The Promised Neverland… When I don’t have a great answer, I fall back on humor, which is not a great thing because I suck at it. I didn’t take a single one of your questions as flippant — I’ve been trying to bring these ideas together for the latter half of the season, and it’s bee a struggle.
Isn’t it’s ok not to shoulder everything the same as learn to count on others?
The second theme of season 2 you mention is that the gimmick of the series should not be counted on, so like future seasons will move away from the Return by Death? Maybe, but I think the characters would all be dead without it, no?
Go big or go home as in do not compromise. That’s actually a good one. It’s an unusual lesson but I guess stand your ground or something like that could work. I mean not for Rem, Echidna, Roswaal, Beatrice, Fortuna or Geuse but the story didn’t directly contradict the theme either. It’s a clear theme that works with season 1 as well. I have to admit, I wouldn’t have picked it up on my own. But I like it.
The punch a bro in the face theme is do learn to compromise and don’t stand your ground? I like the opposite one better.
Sometimes, standing your ground is a terrible idea! A punch in the face can be a reminder to retreat once in a while!
I thought the first episode of part 1 was a very interesting setup and conflict. The confrontation with the cultists and the consequences to Crusch and Rem. And that’s kind of the story I wanted to see. Which means that next season should be awesome for those who watch it.
How about you Crow? Did the season give you everything you had hoped for? Are you happy with the resolution and are you looking forward to next season?
See, you had to bring up Crusch. I miss her terribly because of her potential, especially in her diminished state! I’ve been waiting all season to see what Subaru could come up with against Nom-ie and Arrogant Man. Though it was nice to see Pandora smack him around a bit!
Yes, I am looking forward to the next season. I want to see those things I didn’t see this season. I want to see Rem restored or I want to see that world crash in the attempt.
Will you watch a fifth season if it comes out?
Fifth? I thought we were at the third season. In any case I’m pretty much done with re:Zero personally. I will enjoy reading other people’s posts on it instead. I’ve always been more of a KonoSuba sort. You know, wacky comedy isekai.
By fifth I meant third. I don’t get along very well with math.
I’m guessing you will?
Probably. I doubt I’ll review it, though. But now that you’ve mentioned the series Darkness is in, that has a pretty strong appeal!
Previous Posts
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 39: STRAIGHT BET
- Re:Zero 2 pt 2 episode 40 – One More Time With Feeeeeeeeeeelings
- Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 41 – Young Garfiel And Simply Emilia
- Re:Zero 2 pt 2 episode 42 – Audaces fortuna iuvat
- Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 43 – Thought As a Child
- Re:Zero 2 pt 2 episode 44 – A World Full of Love
- Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 45 – A (Literally) Shattered Heart and Clown Face Off
- Re:Zero 2 pt 2 episode 46 – Fire and Ice
- Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 47 – A Little Too Far and the Unthinkable Present
- Re:Zero 2 pt 2 episode 48
- Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 49: The Fall of the House of Mathers
Great review ! And I’m glad to see a Konosuba fan and Stargate fan too 💕 I was sad to see the end , but I knew it was coming , and yeah I kind of guessed Rem wouldn’t wake up yet . Subaru probably has to fight the bishop of gluttony or something . But I did enjoy the season finale , Roswaal all getting beat up , and Disney Princess ending for Emilia and Subaru, except with a poor girl in a coma. Sadly we’ll probably have to wait a few years for another season 😭.
@Irina glad you stayed with the show even though it’s not your favorite , I enjoyed reading yours and Crow’s thoughts 😊✨
Fear not, Irina, I can answer almost all of your questions.
“Why did Roswaal do all this? To break Emilia’s spirit so she can serve as a vessel for Echidna? OK, fine. But why murder the people at his mansion? Why burn it down? Why risk Beatrice, the beloved daughter of the woman he loves? Why hire vampires? Why summon the bunny rabbits? Why challenge Subaru? How do any of these actions help his goal? It seems really convoluted if it’s just to keep Subaru away from Emilia.
And I know Subaru could leave at any time. Why did Emilia go through the trials at all? Why not just leave Sanctuary as it is, Roswall and all and just go on her merry way to, maybe help find a cure for one of her most dedicated servants who she’s forgotten?
Why did there need to be so many clones? ”
First, I will say it was not Roswaal’s intention for the mansion to burn down. That was the result of Subaru, Otto, and Petra’s actions because they needed to kill the big Guiltylowe mabeast, and with Garfiel occupied since he was fighting Elsa, they had to resort to burning it to death.
Now as for why Roswaal did all of the things he did, this was implied in Episode 36 and confirmed in Episode 38 with Episode 45 adding a bit of context. In Episode 36, Roswaal told Subaru that he must cast aside all else and focus on one precious thing and only then can Subaru be like him (Roswaal), which shows that Roswaal is trying to turn Subaru into him, someone who works only toward his one wish, which Roswaal does to the best of his ability as ordained by the not-quite-Tome of Wisdom (I say not-quite-Tome of Wisdom because it was revealed in Episodes 33 and 49 that what Beatrice and Roswaal had were working copies/replicas of the real Tome of Wisdom) that Echidna bequeathed to him that tells the future.
That’s the reason why Ram considers the tome the source of evil since Roswaal just blindly follows it, and that’s why Roswaal has made it snow on Days 1, 2, and 3, depending on Subaru’s actions since the Tome updates itself to guide Roswaal to his desired future, and when Subaru does enough to deviate from what it says will happen, the book updates itself to tell Roswaal to make it snow, leading to the Great Rabbit coming, to force Subaru to reset and start over because Subaru is making a future that Roswaal doesn’t desire, which is a future in which the Sanctuary residents and Emilia are killed. Ram was very upset that Roswaal could cause such atrocities just because the book says so.
As for why Roswaal makes it snow and hired assassins to kill those at the mansion, it’s because he wants to force Subaru to make a choice between either saving those at the Sanctuary or saving those at the mansion likely because he believes people are weak and need to cling to one desire as stated in Episode 45. I’d say the reason he believes this is due to the trauma of getting beaten down by Hector and then somehow losing Echidna 400 years ago in a yet-to-be-determined way that the story has not revealed yet.
As for why Roswaal has to do this to Subaru at all, I believe it’s because Subaru’s Return By Death, whether it be his actual power or actually Satella’s power that she is using for his sake, makes Subaru very much unpredictable and hard to control. This is speculation, but given that Roswaal stated in Episode 33 and Episode 48 that Subaru gives him hope and is the key to making his wish come true respectively, he likely believes that Subaru is the one person who can make his wish to revive Echidna as revealed in Episode 50 come true because of Return by Death allowing Subaru to undo things until he gets things right, which would make Subaru a very valuable asset if he could control Subaru to a certain degree. As Roswaal stated in Episode 48, it is very hard to restrict Subaru’s actions, and using Emilia as a means to do so was part of his plan.
That’s why Roswaal placed a spell on Emilia that allowed him to change the contract Puck and Emilia had together, which was the reason Emilia was unable to call out Puck when she needed his help. The whole reason they were sent to the Sanctuary in the first place is to have a discouraged Emilia be trapped in the Sanctuary since she’s a half-blood that can’t leave due to the Sanctuary barrier trapping half-bloods. That would mean that Emilia would be too emotionally disturbed to take the Sanctuary trials, forcing Subaru to take the Sanctuary trials himself in her place, which was revealed in Episode 38. Otherwise, Emilia would be trapped in the Sanctuary forever. Roswaal’s not-quite-Tome of Wisdom likely showed him that Subaru would gain the qualification to take the Sanctuary trial from Echidna, and that is probably how Roswaal knew that this was the path for him to take.
As for why Roswaal would hire people to kill all those people, including Beatrice, at the mansion, it’s been stated before by him in Episode 33 that if you expect his help, you’d have to accept his inhumanity, so I believe it’s clear that Roswaal literally threw aside everything aside from his one goal of reviving Echidna as he himself indicated multiple times. Everyone else was just a pawn to him by that point. My guess is that he hired Elsa, a vampire, because having a regenerating vampire on his side would make it that much harder for Subaru to win.
Roswaal really didn’t believe he could lose after all his preparation as shown by his bet with Subaru in Episode 39. As for why he made that bet, it was specifically because he believed it would make it easier to control Subaru in the future since it filled the conditions of an oath. As you recall from episode 18 of Re:zero, Petelgeuse indicated that in death, he would be reunited with the Witch, which indicates there’s an afterlife and strongly indicates the presence of souls in Re:zero. Arbiter Melakuera indicated there was reincarnation in Re:zero in the Re:zero OVAs, which is a second instance that suggests that there are souls in Re:zero. Season 2 confirmed that souls are a thing in a Re:zero when Echidna indicated that her soul was trapped in the Witch’s Graveyard in the afterlife.
I’m now getting to my point. I believe that the first step of Return by Death involves resetting time, restoring Subaru’s body and resetting to a previous point in time. This also suggests the soul is the reason Subaru retains his memories from previous lives since his brain shouldn’t remember anything since it is straight up restored to its previous state, meaning the second step of Return by Death is sending Subaru’s soul back into his restored body. So if Roswaal and Subaru’s bet somehow has a mandatory effect on the soul, then Subaru would be forced to do whatever Roswaal wishes even after a death because Return by Death does not reset the soul. Episode 45 confirmed this to be the case when Roswaal said that he and Subaru’s wager turned Subaru into an ordinary person, which implies that Subaru would not be able to avoid the effects of the oath by resetting, which shows that the oath has a mandatory effect on the soul.
So basically, what Roswaal has been setting up since Season 1 when he had Ram tell Subaru and the merchants to evacuate some of the citizens to the Sanctuary is a way to control Subaru and break him, making him someone who will look out for Emilia and no one else since Roswaal absolutely needs Emilia to become the ruler to kill the legendary dragon to revive Echidna. As for why Roswaal needs the dragon to be killed to revive his beloved, I don’t know as that hasn’t been revealed. If you’re wondering why Roswaal chose to back Emilia in the Royal Selection, it’s because all of the other candidates have notable backers. and with Roswaal absolutely needing to be there when the winner enters into a covenant with the dragon, he needed someone like Emilia who wouldn’t have more prominent backers since she’s a half-elf who resembles Satella, making most people rule her out immediately because of that. I see something recurring here is that Roswaal doesn’t trust other people, which is why so many people this season were told one thing, not other things, which was not necessarily because he wanted to pit everyone against each other, and why he tried so hard to control Subaru and Emilia.
I don’t think there is a cure for Rem. The only way to restore her to her original state is to kill the person who did this to her, so Roswaal can’t just go off and find a cure for her, especially since only Subaru remembers who Rem is. Emilia was told about Rem in Episode 26, but she can’t actually remember Rem.
My guess about why there had to be so many clones is because as the number of people trapped in the Sanctuary increased, more clones needed to be made to keep an eye on people so that the 4 main Ryuzu clones with lots of authority could properly oversee the Sanctuary.
Emilia was also never meant to be a vessel for Echidna. Maybe she will be a vessel for Satella at the end of Re:zero though.
Oh, Irina, given you’d had trouble thinking about themes for this season, I think I’ll give you one. The main theme this season is about loving yourself. Satella told Subaru to love himself and that people grieve when he dies as a reason for why he shouldn’t use his deaths as test runs for a final loop. Emilia had to overcome her feelings of weakness by accepting that Subaru really believed all the things he thought about her. Yeah, I didn’t find their kiss scene romantic given that Subaru had made some entitled remarks about Emilia not long before, but I do believe the main point of that scene is that Emilia needed some reassurance from Subaru that he was telling the truth after she was mentally not in the best shape because she was unsure about whether she’d even still be the same person after all her memories returned, because Puck had broken his contract with her, and because Subaru broke his promise with her to stay with her through the night.
It took me 2 hours to post this given I was checking past episodes to make sure I referenced the right episodes with regards to what I was talking about, but I feel that it is now satisfactory for you to read.
See, I knew there were answers. Thank you so much Vance. Even at two hours, I think you put this together really quickly. That’s so much information, it’s amazing,
I didn’t get those answers from the series and neither did Crow. Which is way more impressive cause he pays very close attention to this show.
As for the theme of loving yourself. I can see it but again it sort of gets murky when you consider that Rem being true to herself got her punished without any redemption this season, and that Echidna’s self love was framed as a bad thing. Otto had been a rich and successful merchant but lived only for himself and through the season learned to put his self love aside for others. If we isolate certain parts of the story there are a lot of themes going. I still think that learning to trust other or learning to let go of the past were well illustrated. It’s just that I really need to consider them in isolation rather than take in all the story threads.
That’s fair enough. I do admit that to see any consistent themes this season that you have to view them in isolation since they don’t uniformly apply to every character.
Rem was, in fact, punished *because* she didn’t care for herself. She always saw herself as a nameless replacement at first, then when Subaru saved her, she became dependent on him and was “Subaru’s Rem”. That led to her giving her name to Gluttony with her small speech about Subaru, and her name & existence got eaten.
It’s as much about self-love/reliance as depending on others. There’s a healthy balance to be had. Subaru couldn’t get anything done by himself in the first cour when he tried to abuse Return by Death, and only got things done after casting it away. Emilia on the other hand kept depending on Puck and Subaru emotionally, and only grew when the contract with Puck was broken and she stopped relying on Subaru (ie. taking the Trials herself).
Very well researched!
I have notes from every episode I watched, and going back through those, I can confirm some of the points you brought up. Others, you’ve done some detective work and have drawn conclusions, which is great. It’s good when a show rewards its viewers like that.
Yet…
I go back to Dewbond’s observation: “Steins;Gate is a show that rewards you for paying attention, but also doesn’t penalize you not paying attention like ReZero does.”
Do you write fiction? If you do, and if you like to write complex plots, then you know the responsibility you have as a writer to bring your readers along. If you fail in that responsibility, then you let yours readers down. You blunt the impact your story will have. Readers won’t feel the full effect.
If I was the only one to miss the points in Re:ZERO, I’d write it off to I just wasn’t paying attention (though I take notes on everything I watch). But Irina, too? She’s much better at recalling character nuance than I am, and I think she’s downplaying her ability to understand and internalize plot. Just read her Natsume’s Book of Friends reviews — or, heck, the reviews we collaborated on for Zombieland Saga.
It’s not like either of us are new at this review thing.
Please remember: I really enjoy watching re:ZERO. I’ll likely watch the next season. But consider this: I don’t think I know of anyone who does more in-depth analysis than you do. The closest I can think of would be Doublesama. Yet, it took you two hours of research to prepare your answer to Irina’s questions.
Questions which represented the heart of the show!
Is that the experience the writer wanted us to have?
Again, I like the show. I’m not tearing it down. I _am_ suggesting that it’s one thing to show and not tell; it’s another to show and show and show in an ambiguous way, then expect the audience to fill in the blanks. The end result is that the character’s motivations and plans feel nebulous and ill-defined. And that robs critical moments of their emotional impact.
I hear you given that I see a lot of people who say they did not understand what happened in season 2 of Re:zero, whereas nearly everyone who watched Season 1 in full knew what was happening in that season.
I think part of the reason for this is that this entire arc might have been written as a mystery series and the rest of the problem is that Re:zero tried to fit over 30 episodes of material into 25 episodes, which made it a challenge to adapt. I can only imagine it would have been worse if a studio aside from White Fox tried to adapt this arc in its entirety given other studios probably wouldn’t have given up the ad revenue to extend the episode length.
I’m Discord buddies with a novel reader, and he says this Sanctuary arc is the longest and most dialogue-heavy arc, so future arcs might be easier to adapt while not neglecting to make clear all the characters’ motivations. Apparently, the next arc of Re:zero is the one with the most action, and given that actions scenes take up less time to animate than dialogue-heavy scenes, we can only hope for an arc which is more clear about everything given there will hopefully be less of a constraint on time compared to this season.
I do believe that this season had a lot going on, and as a result, some moments were indeed robbed of their emotional impact as you say. Some of my favourite scenes in the series are those like the Emilia and Subaru scene in Episode 13 and the Priscilla and Subaru scene in Episode 16, both of which weren’t filled to the brim with content, allowing for the emotional impact of those moments, notably being Emilia’s displeasure and Priscilla’s disappointment and righteous indignation to shine through.
I can only hope that White Fox adapts the next arc well so that there is still an appetite for more Re:zero as I feel that for a number of people this fourth arc of the series dampened their excitement for the series.
There was a definite shift in the way s2 was adapted vs s1. Not only in the pacing and occasionally muddled motivations but I also think that s1 used a lot more visual and context queues to set up the narrative whereas s2 was way more exposition heavy. And even though exposition is generally more clear, it also take more time so you can’t always get all the info you need in. This said s2 is higher rated than s1 so it seems that fans may prefer the exposition approach. If this sways the studio, next season will be closer to this one than the first one.
S2 may be higher-rated than S1, but Blu-ray sales are down 50% compared to S1, and I don’t know how merchandise sales are doing compared to Season 1, but I assume that they might be down because of Rem being out of commission, unless Emilia has become a lot more popular this season.
I would assume Rem had an impact but I think that Bleu-ray sales are down because of the wide digital availability of the season that has just finished. That might change in the coming months
I wish I had answers to your questions, but Re:Zero is actually pretty good at making me not think. That sounds like I’m putting it down, but that’s actually a good skill to have for an entertaining but not particularly deep show. I do think Roswaal saw something of himself in Subaru, in the sense of blind dedication to a woman, but it irked him that Subaru wasn’t single-minded enough and still tried to save others, too, rather than sacrificing everything else, which a truly dedicated man should. That’s not really his motivation, though. His real motivation would have had something to do with the book? Something in there? Really, I don’t know. I tend to forget Re:Zero fairly quickly, too. I find Re:Zero entertaining in the moment, but I don’t really think about the show much when it’s not on.
I’ve never read Watership Down, but I’ve seen the film. I’m fine bunnies killing each other, though, if that’s the story. My basic idea is that everyone, cute or not, should get along, but that’s not really the world we live in, so…
And if you’d like a wacky comedy isekai, you could try Ixion Saga DT. Konosuba-type protagonist, with a excentric but comptetent party who like to affectionately tease him, and group of bishonen antagonists. Loves to make fun of sappy set-ups. I think you’ll like it at least a little. (Crunchy should have it.)
Oh, thanks for the recommendation.
Did you guys try 2017’s Magical Circle Guru Guru? Lively little show, it lovingly lampoons RPG narratives & mechanics, plus following the two silly leads as they goof around was good fun.
I only managed to catch a handful episodes at the time, but I’ve been considering another try.
I have not, it sounds very interesting.
If you liked what you saw, it’s well worth finishing. It’s energetic and cute and you’ll get more characters to expand the cast. I imagine people who like 8bit rpgs wil get the most out of it.
Crunchy does have it. I have had great luck with your recommendations, it’s on the list
Now I remember! You were the one who recommended Ixion Saga DT to me, weren’t you?
I finished it a couple of months ago. I’ve been meaning to thank you for the recommendation.
Gotta say: I have never seen anything quite like it. That last episode… Really glad Mariandale got her wish in the end!
huh, well I guess I won’t have to worry then
Hmmm. Well, I guess I should have spoiler alerted that. It’s such an old series that I for. Sorry about that.
On the bright side, I didn’t say which of Mariandale’s wishes got granted. She had several.
While I don’t think the show in general is all that unique, that ending really is something. I tend to bring up the show whenever someone brings up Konosuba. I like the humour, though, like the main character getting homesick and carving a playstation controller from wood. I don’t want to say too much, though.
Interestingly, it was based on a game still in development at the time. That confused a lot of people. The game came out in the final month of series. Which is especially interesting, since it’s such a balls-to-the-wall show.
LOL!
I see what you did there!