[WIW]Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World- and having arguments over who the Best Girl is. | Other Media (2025)

Hello everybody and welcome to our next exciting episode of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, where it's time to go back into despairing for the main character once again.

In our last episode, Subaru has been having possibly the worst week of his life. He had a major fight with the girl he's in love with, has been essentially exiled from her company, and despite his best efforts, is getting his ass kicked by one of the greatest swordsman of the land. Oh, and he appears to be ignoring the advances of the cute blue-haired maid staying by him, but that's kind of typical for male main protagonist.

It's gotten so bad for Subaru that, after a light night talk with Crusch, his host, he decides that the best option is to get himself killed and reset back to a save point where maybe, just maybe, he can fix all of this. Unfortunately, he's still got his all "It's all about me and I'm important" attitude, which really needs to be fixed before anything else can be fixed. He doesn't get the chance, though, because the Roswaal manor is under attack, putting the entire land on high alert. And they can't take the direct route there because the White Whale is blocking the path. Where's Ahab when you need him?

So Subaru and Rem take the long way around, but after their own late night talk, Rem leaves him behind to deal with things on her own. And this is when it all goes downhill. Subaru, catching a ride from Otto, who will probably never be seen again, runs into this strange cult of cultist who decide not to kill him for some reason, then makes his way to that small village he frequented in the last arc, only to find that everybody died, probably from the hands of the cultist. And the hits keep on coming because as soon as he makes it to the manor, he finds Rem there, but she's dead, as well.

How bad will things get before Subaru can find a way to stop it from happening, or has he finally hit the point where he's in an unwinnable state? Time to warm up the Death Counter and see what happens.

-Our episode begins with a panning aerial shot, first starting with a kneeling Subaru, then over to Rem, who is very dead, in case you think that wasn't the case last time. She got herself a sword sticking out of her back and her face is a bloody mess, as well. Whatever happened, it didn't end well for her. Subaru takes a look around the battlefield to see that Rem went down swinging, finding bodies of those cultist all over the place. She certainly made them pay for their victory.

-Oh, but we're not done kicking Subaru some more. He notices a shed near the edge of the grounds that happens to have a few swords sticking out of it. As he goes in to take a look, he is completely horrified by what he saw. We only get quick glimpses, though a flashback makes it clear that those kids from the village were here, and those very same cultists left no survivors. Oh, and show, was it really necessary to give us another panning shot of Rem, only showing us her face with her eye open? We get it, show, but there's no need to remind us of it. This is just so mean spirited.

-Subaru recalls his own words in a flashback, that he can make any problem disappear, though he somehow links those words to what happened at Roswaal manor. He's running on autopilot now as he makes he way to the mansion proper, calling out to anybody for help. And we get the title card, because we don't need to show off the OP in back to back episodes.

-Inside, Subaru begins his search for anybody in the manor. There he finds two more bodies, Ram and Petra. Petra was a child from the village with the red ribbon in her hair. Subaru, horrified at what he's seeing, yells that it isn't his fault, but looks further inside to see a very familiar pin, and just behind it, a trail of blood. Following the trail, he finds a hairpiece that looks like a flower, which he knows belongs to Emilia. To the left he finds an open shelf that appears to be leading to a secret room. He walks down the stairs of this extremely cold room, finding more bodies of these cultists there. He soon reaches a door at the end, but when he touches it...

-Instant frostbite and loss of three of his fingers. Yup, we're getting a reset here, I can tell. Horrified, Subaru trips and falls on his ass, only to look up and see one of the dead cultists looking down at him. But then suddenly...

-Wow. Just how cold was it in that room to have Subaru completely freeze over like that? But then we have the voice telling him that it's "too late", and then he cracks apart. Who was that voice? I don't think we've heard that before. But after he falls apart, we cut to black, then a voice calls out to him. When he awakens, he finds himself in front of the Appas vendor. Geez, just how far back did you go, Subaru?

-Making sure he didn't leap back to the beginning, Subaru looks down at his left hand to see no bag there. Well, that's good. To his left he sees Rem, alive, holding a basket of Appas. This indicates that his save point was established during his date with Rem in the city. So maybe two days ago, possibly three? Subaru, either from the stress, relief, or both, collapses to his knees. Though I think it's relief because...

-Hey! No flirting in front of the appas vendor! You'll drive away the customers! A close up of Subaru shows that he's gone and gotten himself broken. Just when you think you hit rock bottom... He and Rem return to the Crusch manor, but he's clearly not well as he's laid up in bed and appears to have gone insane. Felix is there and has looked him over, but thinks there's nyothing they can do. Why?

-Not only did the abyss look back, but I'm pretty sure it took a part of Subaru's soul, as well. Huh, that's an interesting thought. When Subaru does these loops, does he leave a piece of himself behind? It may explain how he seemingly gets worse after every jump. Then again, you can only kill somebody so many times before it finally takes it's toll on them. Crusch asks why the madman went mad, but Felix has no idea what happened. There's no indication of a curse, either. As such, if Felix, the best healer in all the land, can't do the job, then nobody can. She apologizes to Rem, but she puts on a smile and thanks them for their generous concern, but she herself is very concerned, as she's able to confirm Felix's diagnosis of Subaru's condition. It's always nice to get a second option that matches up with the professional's opinion.

-However, as noted before, Rem can sense the scent of the witch, and she sees some black smoke coming from Subaru. So she decides to take Subaru away, probably to get help for that particular issue. We see them taking their leave from the manor, but it's Rem doing all the talking since Subaru is currently out on vacation. Crusch asks her to deliver a message to Emilia, one that shows her honorable side as she doesn't want to bring shame to her family, nor see Emilia bring shame to herself. Felix is concerned for Subaru's well being, though, and asks if anybody at the Roswaal mansion can heal him? Rem thinks that the sight of Emilia will help snap Subaru out. Or make things worse. Even odds, really.

-Crusch realizes she's stepping out of line, but asks Rem how she can give so much of herself to Subaru? After all, their relationship is not that of a master and servant, like with Felix and herself, but her behavior and places she casts are those a woman gives a man. ...And? That's it? I feel like something important was dropped there, or maybe Crusch doesn't want to say it fully, but the implication is there. Crusch tries to take back her words, realizing that this relationship isn't any of her business, but Rem answers anyway, though she still struggles with the words until she comes up with something that would satisfy everybody for a time.

-We're getting close to a confession, but I imagine they'll tease us for another ten or so episodes, assuming we get a confession at all. This was certainly not the answer Crusch and Felix were expected, but after a moment, she says that Subaru sure is a lucky man. In some aspects, maybe, but I'd probably rank is luck at a D-, at best. And so, the two are seen off, returning to Roswaal manor to hopefully cure Subaru of his ailing condition, which includes randomly falling asleep in long cart rides.

-For those keeping count, that's one for Puck, one for Emilia, and two for Rem. Looks like our maid is taking the lead here. After a moment of surprise, she does smile at his position. At night, Rem is bundling up with the dragon mount, talking to herself. She knows she can't let her personal feelings interfere, but she was happy to keep Subaru all to herself at Crusch's house. Sadly, once they return to the mansion, she won't be able to do that. Cause, you know, he only has eyes for Emilia. Yeah, it's kind of terrible you weren't introduced earlier, cause then you might have had a shot. But Rem is confident that Subaru will get better, because from her own memories, he's fanatical like a demon and a remarkable person. He's also borderline suicidal, but that's because he cheats.

-The next day, they've entered Roswaal's territory, but Rem can't help but feel uneasy. It's too quiet. Suddenly, she gets a sharp pain in her chest, a feeling she's getting from her sister, and that prompts her to return quickly. Somebody disagrees with that, though, because the dragon cart lost his head, causing a nasty accidental on the road.

-Well, that morning commute is going to suck now. Also, that poor dragon. Why is everybody hating on the dragons like this? It does look like this snaps Subaru out of his state for a moment, but as he looks up, he sees that he's surrounded by those same cultists from the last timeline. One attempts to walk over and touch Subaru on the forehead, but he ends up losing his head over it. That's because Rem is kind of pissed off about the accident.

-More importantly, if you touch her man, she will tear your head off. Then put your body on a spike as a warning for all those that wish to touch her man. The cultists are unfazed, though, and throw their swords at her, but in a smooth move, she kicks up the wheel, blocking the strikes, then uses the wheel as a projectile against one cultist, leaving him with a concussion and possibly death, then uses her mace to kill another. The third, being smart, attempts to run away, but Rem apparently holds the long distance record as she leaps from the cart and right onto the running cultist, leaving a small crater in her wake. During this, though, she drops her guard and gets stabbed in the back, but in the left shoulder, so not exactly fatal but man does that hurt.

-Recalling the fate of her own village, Rem is thoroughly pissed and plans to leave no survivors, but the cultists aren't going to lay around and do nothing. One attacks with a fireball, but she gets up in time to produce a shield to block it. Though it isn't perfect as her arm has some nasty burns on it. That's when she sees that one of the cultists is running away with Subaru. Rem is really, really pissed about this. Sure, destroy her village and take her sister's horn is one thing, but this?

-Admittedly, that was not quite the response I was expecting. But yeah, they're touching her man, and as stated before, this is unacceptable. Rem is going to kill the whole lot of them! And then an explosion happens for reasons. Because why not have a random explosion. Did Michael Bay direct this episode?

-After a hard cut to black, we fade in on what appears to be a dungeon of sorts. Subaru himself is waking up slowly, but when he does, he finds some creepy jackass staring at him. And like that, he's very wide awake and apparently chained up to the wall. Yeah, this timeline is sucking a lot already. This mysterious individual finds Subaru very interesting and asks if he's Pride? Do you see a fake eye on him, guy? He's obviously not Pride.

-Subaru, however, is freaking out badly and doesn't answer, which pisses off the other guy so much that he starts biting on his finger, to the point that he starts to bleed. And I thought Subaru was having issues. But he quickly changes tune and realizes he hasn't introduced himself yet. He walks a short distance away, in front of some other cultists, and introduces himself as the Sin Archbishop representing sloth, and his name is...

-...You are creepy, man. Subaru, however, has fallen back on his theme for this timeline, in that he's currently balled up in his own head somewhere. Betelgeuse finds it very entertaining and goes a little nuts himself. Oh god, why are your eyes bulging out like that? After a moment of that, he wonders what brings Subaru here. One of the cultists appears from the floor and explains what happened, that he came with a dragon carriage. Oh, Betelgeuse likes that, especially ground dragons. They're so obedient and fantastic! Oh, and he was killed, which he is also happy about. And... I honestly can't tell if I should be taking him seriously or not, especially when he does stuff like this.

-In almost any other show, he'd be treated as a joke at best. Here? It's hard to tell, but clearly there's more than a few screws loose in that head of his. But he's happy about the dead dragon, since it's the very definition of "sloth", then orders his cultists to clean up the area. With the day of the Ordeal upon us, they mustn't allow their existence to be discovered. Fortunately, Rem is still alive. Or at the very least, her status is unknown. And because of this, Betelgeuse slams the guy into the ground, then lifts him up and yells at him for letting a potential problem remain. And he expresses his disappointment in the only other way he knows how.

-...Is it bad that I laughed at this? Does that make me a bad person? Because I did laugh, if only to let it die down in an awkward manner. So that guy is dead as Betelgeuse falls to his knees, asking for forgiveness that led them to betray "his" goodwill. Oh, and because it's only fair to give you all a nightmare for tonight.

-Apparently, to be an Archbishop of Sloth, you must be at a certain level of insanity in order to apply for it. As for Rem, bring her back here dead. If you find her alive, kill her, otherwise, he wants her head. And the rest of the cultists, including the one that was killed, disappear into the floor. This leaves only Subaru with Betelgeuse, and I'm very, very worried about how this will go. The Archbishop walks over to Subaru and has him look into his eyes and demands an answer. Why does such dense love hang, so abundant, upon him? You mean that witch's scent? Is that it? I'd say it was strange, but given who we're dealing with here. He takes out a book, asking if Subaru owns a copy of the Gospel. Great, the cultists have their own books. What a world to live in.

-Subaru, who isn't all there himself, doesn't respond, and Betelgeuse is sadden to be ignored. After all, he's treating him so kindly, what with him being chained to the wall and not killing him. Yes, he's treated like he's royalty. Truly, he will never have another experience like this again. So he decides to change the order of his questions. He then grabs Subaru by the head and licks his face, all along his open eye. Dude, that's just... DUDE!

-And the question? Why does Subaru pretend that his mind has broken? Uh, no, I honestly think he's broken, and badly. Betelgeuse, however, has his doubts. And he would know, since he's truly broken. So why does Subaru act crazed? And how does Betelgeuse know this, aside from experience?

-Well, there are different levels of insanity, but to Betelgeuse, Subaru is behaving so cleverly and quietly, as if seeking sympathy, and that is an insult to real madness. Though honestly, I think it might be a case of insanity mixed with fear for Subaru. Subaru takes hold of his head, short of screaming like there's no tomorrow, but Betelgeuse doesn't buy it. Because if he really meant it, he would pay the axes of others no heed. And this just keeps getting harder to watch for a multitude of reasons. Betelgeuse truly pities him, and despite that, he is so loved. He then smashes his head against the wall, asking if he'd rather waste away in stagnation than repay the goodwill shown to him? And I think that gave him a concussion as he falls to the ground, in silence, and bleeding from the head.

-After a moment, Betelgeuse lifts up Subarus head and calls him truly slothful. Before any more can be said, a noise is heard at the back of the cave, and a body of a cultist comes flying from the darkness. The other cultists soon appear and we see what is coming in to bring holy and rightful vengeance upon these cultists.

-Guess who's here to get her man back! Though this will either end really well or end really poorly. We'll just have to see, won't we. But the moment Rem sees Subaru, she goes into full on rage mode. Betelgeuse is excited by her appearance and her arrival, almost as if he wanted a cliche to happen, but Rem isn't interested in playing along. To carry out their insubordinate actions in Roswaal's domain, without permission, makes them fools! Because you can't practice your witchcraft on the grounds without proper permission, and that paperwork is a nightmare to go through.

-So Rem is just going to kill them all, but Betelgeuse can see right through her. He grabs Subaru and knows that she's only here for him and suggests to her to stop saying things that merely sound attractive. He presses his finger against Subaru's nose, which gets Rem to mutter not to touch him. Betelgeuse didn't hear it, though, and asks her to repeat herself.

-Rem is going to need so many pikes now. As she gets her murder on, Betelgeuse is happy with the response, but asks why a believer in love, such as herself, adhere to someone like Subaru? Yeah, like she's going to answer him at all. She continues to get her killing on as Betelgeuse is biting his fingers off in joy at what he's seeing. Which includes Rem getting stabbed in the right shoulder. But she's running on pure rage and adrenaline and fights through the pain to deliver a righteous beatdown.

-Subaru, in his weakened state, looks up to see Rem in action. He calls out to her, which she did hear, causing her to smile and say something to him, but it was lost. Because what happens next is... uh, something happening. Rem is caught in midair by some unseen force and... oh, that didn't sound good. Betelgeuse did something about it, though, calling it the authority of sloth, the Unseen Hand. Uh, I think Rem is dead, guys.

-Subaru, already in a broken state, just gets worse as Betelgeuse says it's his fault. By doing nothing, he practiced sloth, and as a result, Rem is dead. And then the Archbishop twists the knife further by twisting all of Rem's limbs around, including her neck. And while it is darken in shadow, we do see him doing all of that. That is not something I wanted to see. Though as... something to maybe be happy about, Subaru is snapped out of his condition and swears vengeance against Betelgeuse. As he screams in rage, Betelgeuse takes a quick look around at the mess, but decides to leave it. He then orders his men to resume their duties and rendezvous with the other fingers. Wait, other fingers? Are they like generals or something?

-When they leave, Betelgeuse turns back to Subaru and tells him that he honestly has no idea what his position in all of this is, so he'll judge him as his Lord sees fit. And that will be to leave him bounded here, but should the Gospel happen to find its way to him, he's certain that Subaru will be saved. As he continues to scream vengeance against the Archbishop, Betelgeuse begins to leave, but before he does, he looks back at Rem's body one more time. He releases his spell on her, dropping her to the ground like a rag doll, and while he compliments her love, he says it never reached him, and that makes her truly slothful. And then he leaves, laughing. Never have I wanted somebody to die more than this man, right here.

-Time passes and Subaru has lost his voice, but he continues to vow vengeance against Betelgeuse. He slams his head into the ground repeatedly, but in a weakened state. His wrists are bloody from his chains, fighting against them in a vain attempt to free himself. That's when he hears a noise in the distance and looks over to Rem's body... which starts moving towards him. Oh, this can't be good for a number of reasons.

-Subaru calls out to her as Rem continues to crawl towards him. Wait, was she actually still alive? This girl is tough as nails, though it's clear that she's on the last of her strength. With Subaru's help, he's able to bring her closer, and she is able to release his chains with her spell. In her final moments, she asks for him to live, and then declares her love for him before passing. Cradling her body, Subaru cries, unable to scream towards the sky. Sometime later, Subaru is able to exit the cave with her body, making his way back to Arlam and the mansion. The snow begins to fall, indicating that some time has passed. Wait, how long were they in that cave?

-Like before, the village has been slaughtered, but in the manor grounds, things are a bit different. Ram is in front of the shed, shielding it with her body, surrounded by cultists. Oh, and then something happens.

-Oh, this can't be good at all. The creature then looks at Subaru, who has been frozen instantly, like in the last timeline, and the voice from before tells him to sleep like his daughter. Wait... is that Puck? And does this also mean that Emilia is dead? And as if we can't get enough kicking in, this time, it's for the audience. As Subaru's head falls off, the credits begin to play, but as if it's the end of a movie, complete with sad music. The snow continues to fall harder and harder, covering the screen with white. As the credits finish, the screen fades to black.

-But we aren't done yet! Like before, Subaru resets to a day or two ago. And he's still not in a good place. He looks over to Rem, who comments that he's seen a ghost. He keeps calling her name and she gets embarrassed. It looks like he's about to say more, but the vendor ruins the moment and tells them to get out. Stupid young couple.

-A short cut shows Subaru walking away from the vendor, holding Rem by the hand. She notes that the unpleasant smell on him seems to have grown stronger. He lingers on that for a moment, but then turns to her and says that if she's worried, she should keep holding his hand. It feels a lot safer, right?

-She's just so happy right now. Rem then stands by Subaru's side, but his smile soon drops to an angry scowl. He remembers the previous timeline, and he plans to murder Betelgeuse, no matter what. Which leads to our title card, The Outside of Madness, with "Mad" highlighted in green. End of episode.

First, we need to update the Death Counter:

Subaru: 9
Emilia: 2
Felt: 1
Rom: 2
Rem: 3
Arlam: 2
Village kids: 1
Ram: 2

I'm rather hesitant to give Emilia a third count, given that we didn't see her die on screen, but I'm counting one for this episode, given Monster Puck's choice of words at the end here. And apparently my joke about him being the most dangerous familiar wasn't a joke after all. Either that or this was a completely different familiar that Emilia happens to be contracted with. Also, the village kids get their own count since they weren't in the village at the time, so they're listed separately.

But yeah, this was not a good episode at all for Subaru. He got broken so badly that he was barely running on autopilot for the entire episode. Rem had to help steer him in the right way, and while she was happy about a couple of moments, it was clear that Subaru wasn't well at all. And then we add on to the mental torture he suffered at the hands of Betelgeuse, but seeing what happened to Rem, as well as having him die in his arms, certainly snapped him out of it. Rage is a hell of a drug, and it looks like Subaru is high on it.

This episode was a bit of a world-building one, too. We don't know much about these cultists, but it does look like Betelgeuse has some special ability that essentially gives him an "I win" button. But Rem proved that she could tough it out, even if she would eventually die of her injuries. Honestly, Subaru, I know you want another shot at him, but I think you might want to find Reinhard first to help out. Bring these two OP characters together and let's see who wins there.

So now we know what happened in the last two timelines, as well as a possible clear condition for Subaru. Basically, it may be to stop the attack altogether, but the question is, how? We know Subaru wants to go straight for the Archbishop, but would that really be enough? We'll have to tune in on Friday to find out.

Until next time, remember, if you end up meeting with a bunch of Witch Cultists representing Sloth, do not think of them as lazy, because they will think you are lazy and deal with that in the most extreme manner possible.