English Dub Review: Re:ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~ ”Otto Suwen / A Reason to Believe“

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Otto distracts Garfiel with the help of his animal friends and by stealing his crystal necklace. Ottos past’s started out as a child without any knowledge that he held divine protection. After a bright light passes by him Otto began to recognize the sounds made by animals. Upon telling his older brother the news, he has to hide his blessing out of fear that someone will misuse it. Then he gets in trouble and flees his hometown, and he gains independence as a merchant with a goal to open up his own store. However, the Witch’s Cult captures him and after that brush with death, he realizes his reason for living. Garfiel catches up to Otto, but Ram enters the fight using her wind magic and her punches to fend off a transformed Garfiel.

Meanwhile, Subaru and Emilia talk at the graveyard about Subaru not keeping his promise and Emilia selfishly running away. Their talk gets heated as Subaru calls her out on her sulking, but he still loves her. Emilia doesn’t believe him, but he says that he believes in her because he’s in love with her. However, she still can’t believe him because he broke his promise. Emilia confesses that her returning memories cause her anxiety and that she might change because of them. Regardless of that Subaru says that he loves her, but Emilia can’t believe him because of his previous actions. Therefore he proves his love to her with a kiss before they discuss her reason for moving forward.

Our Take:

This week’s episode continues with Otto’s plan and Subaru and Emilia’s talk. The animation and voice acting were good as usual. Both parts of the episode boil down to these characters searching for their reason to continue their path.

Otto’s plan to keep Garfiel distracted is exciting to watch. For example, Otto having his bug friends swam Garfiel who’s fallen in the hole he mostly likely dug prior to their meeting. Otto’s past helped develop his character and how divine protections are a burden and a gift. I enjoyed how the audio portion of Otto’s past with the other characters’ voices being nearly impossible to hear and the animal sounds becoming coherent to Otto worked. It helped emphasize the negative impact his divine protection had on Otto as a child. After that the opening music ramps up during Otto’s fight with Garfiel as he’s throwing those magic bombs and when the dust settles the song ends. There’s also Ram’s agreement with Otto on Subaru and that when things get deadly Subaru somehow manages to pull through.

Subaru and Emilia’s conversation was great for a few reasons. For starters, Subaru calling Emilia out on her moping, but loves her all the same. However, Emilia counters with the fact that he broke his promise to her on staying with her. Admittedly I found that to be childish, but a subtle reminder that she is just an anxious teen like Subaru. The preconception that Subaru expects that Emilia acts perfect is shut down by Subaru. He doesn’t expect her to since he understands that not everyone can be perfect.

There’s the kiss that is Subaru’s attempt to convince Emilia that he’s telling her the truth about him loving her. It was sweet and I’m glad that Subaru gave Emilia the option to dodge and the fact that she didn’t could imply her acceptance of his words. Lastly, there’s Subaru reassuring Emilia with the words his mother told him about what matters is what you do in the present rather than the past or something along those lines. I did enjoy that mention of his mother and how her influence in Subaru has helped him with Emilia’s fears.

Overall the episode was good. I look forward to seeing what will happen next now that Garfiel caught up to the two at the graveyard.