What They Say:
“Return to the Capital”
Natsuki Subaru, an ordinary high school student, is on his way home from the convenience store when he finds himself transported to another world. As he’s lost and confused in a new world where he doesn’t even know left from right, the only person to reach out to him was a beautiful girl with silver hair. Determined to repay her somehow for saving him from his own despair, Subaru agrees to help the girl find something she’s looking for…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
And with that, a new arc of Re:Zero has begun. “Return to the Capital” is a very busy episode packed with new characters, and focused on setting up what promises to be a very political and mythology-driven arc. Considering those facts, it’s really no surprise that White Fox chose to omit the (new) opening and ending for this episode.
Getting new characters certainly feels refreshing after having been stuck with the same cast for most of the first half of the season. These new characters are divided by the five parties aspiring to the throne. The ones that stood out the most in this episode were the prideful Priscilla (because every anime has to have an “oujou-sama”) and her knight, Al, one of the most likable characters so far. The other two characters that also got a fair amount of screentime were Wilhelm and Ferris, the butler and knight of one of the candidates, Crusch. Wilhelm seems like a man with a mysterious past: not only was he able to read a lot just from Subaru’s eyes (they say war veterans have that perception), but he also bears the name van Astrea, which, according to Old Man Rom, it’s not necessary good news. Then there’s “trap” Ferris, the adorable cat boy that made many viewers scratch their head. Lasly, we met Julius, who will presumably be Subaru’s love rival, and Anastasia, a quite rude candidate. Aside from Rom, the other two characters returning are Reinhard van Astrea and Felt. I can’t wait to see what Felt thinks about going from working as a thief to wearing fancy dresses in a Royal Election!
Surpisingly, even though there were so many new characters, the ones that shined the brightest were Subaru and Emilia, and not for a good reason. Emilia doesn’t want Subaru to get involved with the Royal Election, partly because she’s worried about him and wants him to heal first, and partly because this is important business to her and she doesn’t want to have to worry about Subaru doing something stupid. On the other hand, Subaru argues that “I’m only of any use when something happens” and feels like he needs to be there to protect Emilia. While his obsession with protecting Emilia comes from his white knighting and the fact that he has the biggest crush on her, we should also consider that Subaru has already experienced how cruel this world can be and how death is all around them. Still, that doesn’t justify getting all worked up when seeing Julius and Al interacting with her. Subaru was straight up obnoxious in this episode, which is rare for me to say – I often enjoy Subaru’s antics and see it as some sort of defense mechanism for his insecurities. Much like it happened in Episode 8 when Subaru’s behavior was over the top, it almost seemed like the series was accentuating Subaru’s stupidity and how it’s going to backfire on him eventually.
If there was one downside to this episode, that would have to be pacing. The episode didn’t feel too rushed per se, nor was it hard to keep up with what was going on (Re:Zero has the perfect balance of exposition), but apparently it either rushed or skipped a lot from the source material. This shouldn’t be too alarming, though: it’s not the first time the anime has rearranged conversations, and it’s understandable that the studio wants to have enough time to do the rest of the arc. Cuting some minor scenes short to dedicate 2 minutes to Reinhard introducing Felt as the fifth candidate was worth it and something I approve of. That final scene was the highlight of the episode, not only because it featured two of the most beloved characters from the first arc, but because it was executed brilliantly (the director really knows when to insert the most powerful soundtracks). That scene alone was the perfect way to end the introduction of an arc that already promises many exciting things for the future.
In Summary:
After Episode 12, the Mansion Arc seems like a parenthesis of the main story as Arc 3 brings previous characters and plot points from Arc 1 back. It’s still hard to guess what Arc 3 will really be about, but it certainly seems like it will be much bigger and involve many more different characters than what the first half of the season has.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
