Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-

Episode 6

Man, we still haven't gotten a regular 24-minute episode this season. Not that I'm complaining! Once again, this was a dense episode for Re:Zero, as the plot starts to thicken and the action ramps up.

After Subaru respawns inside the Sanctuary, he doesn't waste time getting back to the mansion. Unfortunately, he's unable to avert disaster on this attempt after Elsa and a Mabeast show up. I wouldn't be surprised if the poor guy gets war flashbacks every time he goes back to that mansion, because people seem to die horribly every time he shows up there. (Hey, Petra, do you need a hand there?)

Once again, this was an episode where more questions were raised than answered. Let's start with Garfiel's abrupt mood swing. Last episode, he was chummy with Subaru and even gave him his stone as a parting gift, but this time he wants nothing to do with Subaru. It's been established in previous arcs that Subaru gives off the foul stench of the Witch every time he restarts, so maybe Garfiel is reacting to that, but we don't know much about him in general. His relationship with Frederica is also intriguing. From the way he spoke about her last episode, it seems that they have a difficult relationship, but not only does Frederica seem ready to cry when she says that she's his older sister, she also says that Garfiel is the one who imitates her when she starts raring for a fight. I think the truth may be that the siblings love each other very deeply, but the circumstances with the Sanctuary mean that they can't be together.

I don't think it's a coincidence that family has been a running theme throughout this entire season. Two episodes ago, Subaru came to terms with the idea that he'll never see his parents again, and whatever cruel past Emilia is confronting has got to be related to family as well. Rem's subplot this episode was particularly gut-wrenching, especially after Ram visits her and confirms that they share the same blood, but is still willing to sacrifice her when push comes to shove because she just doesn't remember how important Rem is to her anymore. I really want all these families to be reunited and happy again, but I don't think anyone's got a good shot at it in the near future except for Frederica and Garfiel.

Speaking of Frederica, it seems like the implications from last episode that she may be villainous were a red herring, because it turns out she doesn't know anything about the trap in her stone from episode 2. She's also willing to sacrifice her life to protect Subaru and the others. But there's definitely something suspicious around that stone, which Frederica cannot divulge due to her oath. In the world of Re:Zero, oaths are like magical contracts with deep consequences for breaking them. This is why Beatrice has never left the mansion grounds so far under any circumstances, for instance. Whatever secret Frederica is harboring has got to be something major, and I have the feeling that it'll be a major key to solving the problems in this loop.

The other key to progressing is Beatrice. At the end of this episode, Subaru is definitely not in the mood to do information scouting, what with everyone dead and all. But for now, he's alive and so is Beatrice. This respite will probably not last long because she can only stay hidden while there are closed doors in the mansion, and in the last episode Subaru returned to a mansion where every door was open. Whoever their enemy is, it's someone who knows Beatrice's deal. So it's probably in Subaru's best interests to learn what he can and then peace out.

The direction in this episode, especially in a scene towards the end where the action is conveyed through Subaru's fuzzy first-person perspective, was really creative. It perfectly captures the frenetic and chaotic feeling of the story playing out here, where a lot of terrible things happen that Subaru isn't able to make sense of quite yet. The scenes involving Frederica's beast form aren't quite as strong in terms of animation, but her character design in her half-transformed state brings out maximum thirst from anime fans, so overall the visuals in this episode were great. Keep up the good work, Re:Zero.

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Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.