English Dub Review: Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~ ”Love Me Down to My Blood and Guts“

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Garfiel and Elsa fight against each other however Elsa can heal faster than Garfiel can wound her. On the other hand, Subaru, Otto, and Petra use their methods to set the guiltylowe on fire. At the Sanctuary, Emilia sees the possible future and ends up in Echidna’s tea party. Before Emilia could turn around Minerva appears warning her not to turn around. They talk about Echidna and Emilia’s experience with the third trial. Then Minerva mentions that she knows Emilia’s mother and hugs her. Emilia requests that Minerva tell Echidna that she would like to have a tea party with all the witches which Minerva agrees to. Emilia breaks the seal and leaves the graveyard to find out that it’s snowing heavily outside.

Then we return to the mansion where Garfiel and Frederica tag team against the intruders. Garfiel takes down Elsa by crushing her while Frederica grabs Meilie and takes off. At the Sanctuary Ram and Puck fight against Roswaal and during the fight she confesses that she loves him. He finds the notion preposterous because he’s the one responsible for the attack on her village. After Puck distracts Roswaal Ram steals his tome and throws it in the fire. Roswaal launches a large fiery attack that leaves Ram in an unknown state.

Our Take:

This week’s episode concludes most of the fights and Emilia’s trial. The episode is linear going from the groups in the mansion to the group in the Sanctuary.

Subaru using his knowledge of the modern world with the dust and fire to try and create an explosion was a good idea. However, it fails and they have to pour Otto’s oil on the beast and then set it on fire. It goes out the window and sets the house on fire. Therefore Subaru goes to get Beatrice out while Otto gets the girls out of the mansion. Hopefully, this second chance will get Beatrice out of the library and her loneliness.

Garfiel and Elsa’s fight was good especially towards the end where they both bite each other to fatally wound one another. Elsa’s chatter about her past and why she kills is good at explaining why she goes for people’s insides as she killed a man up north because he nearly assaulted her. Garfiel’s lack of interest in her past worked at making a jab at the trope of anime characters explaining things while in the middle of a fight. Elsa getting crushed by the dead demon beast was a fitting end with how brutal it was for the killer.

Emilia’s conversation with Minerva was good. It solidifies her recognition that she’s not alone and her faith in being able to change those misfortune potential futures. Admittedly I do have to wonder about the bits of foreshadowing for the next season. I could pinpoint a few known characters like Garfiel, Roswaal, and Rem. Some definitely lead to deadly endings like Garfiel’s promise to kill Subaru. It definitely hypes things up for another season. Although what’s suspicious is that Emilia didn’t seem to recognize Echidna after she left Echidna’s tea party place. Even though it’s clearly Echidna going by her dress and hair, Emilia still doesn’t recognize her. The show built on the mystery of her face, but to be honest I’m not really interested in it anymore.

Puck’s question to Roswaal about the spell he placed on Emilia is an attempt to explain Emilia’s depressive deterioration in the first half of the season. It does work since the event happened offscreen and a long time ago. Puck’s reaction to Roswaal’s reply was good at bringing out his fatherly side and making a jab at Roswaal’s relationship with Beatrice mentioning how sad she would be. Then there’s Ram’s confession to Roswaal with a song playing in the background. Their oath and history with her revenge for her village against Roswaal build to this moment as she confesses and throws the book in the fire. Roswaal’s rage as she does it with the montage of his memories with Echidna as he tries to get it was nice. His desperation was really satisfying to watch, and his fire magic at the end leaving Ram’s status unknown.

Overall it was a good episode dropping a few details for the future with Emilia’s trial. It concludes most of the fights with a satisfying ending.