English Dub Season Review: Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~ Season Two

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After defeating the Witch Cult, Subaru Natsuki and the others head to Sanctuary. Once they get there, he finds out Emilia has to complete trials for the people living there and the villagers living near the mansion. Mysteriously, Subaru also obtains the right to undertake the trial and meets the Witch of Greed, Echidna. However, someone hired assassins to kill the maids at the mansion and one of the great Malbeasts, the Great Rabbit attacks the Sanctuary. After getting advice from the Witches of Sin in the trial and learning that Roswaal is behind the attacks, Subaru gets help from his friends.

He gets help from Otto and Subaru has one last challenge for Roswaal on accomplishing their goals. Later Subaru encourages Emilia after a frank talk and convinces Garfiel to side with him. Through many fights, Subaru and his friends manage to save the maids and Rem at the mansion. Then he, Beatrice, and Emilia defeat the Great Rabbit in Sanctuary. Afterward, everyone settles their grievances with Roswaal and Subaru wins their challenge against Roswaal to get his cooperation. Lastly, Subaru is officially appointed as Emilia’s knight, and they all celebrate with a big party.

Our Take:

The second season of Re: ZERO was an emotional rollercoaster that bends the stereotypes of the isekai genre. The season gave a chance for each character to develop and build the world’s lore with the Witches of Sin and the Witch Cult.

The animation is good from the fight scenes to the emotional heartbreaking scenes. For example, Subaru and Beatrice against the Great Rabbit and Emilia’s Mother Fortuna with Peteguese against Pandora were exciting. Then there are the emotional scenes like Puck breaking his contract with Emilia, Subaru’s breakdown with the Witches of Sin, Subaru’s reunion with his parents, and Beatrice’s sudden goodbye with Ryuzu Meyer. The subtle framing of scenes also helped to set the mood or emphasis the moment. The voice acting was great to emphasize the emotional beats of the episodes like Subaru’s despair and Beatrice’s loneliness.

Subaru’s development throughout the season is great. He goes from repeatedly trying to solve things on his own with his Return by Death to relying on his friends. The mental strain upon his repeated deaths builds up well to give us that scene with Witches of Sin including Satella. The conclusion that he should love himself more was beautiful. Then there’s the episode where he meets his parents again is something that isekais nowadays barely touch on. It was a great emotional episode to address Subaru’s past and his inferiority complex with his dad. His parent’s words encourage him and it works to emphasizes the simple fact that they love him no matter what. There’s also the fact that he’s most likely never going to return to them and that’s a tearjerker.

Emilia becomes a well-developed character once the second half of the season kicks off. In the beginning, she’s understandably distraught by her trial and Puck breaking their contract. Even in a time loop Emilia mentally breaks down without the support of Puck or Subaru by her side. She does snap out of it with a talk with Subaru about being a pain in the butt and having feelings for her regardless of her flaws. Furthermore, her past with Mother Fortuna and Petelgeuse was heart-wrenching with the tragedy because of Pandora. However, she overcomes it and has more of a role in this season by completing the trial and assisting Subaru and Beatrice in their fight against the Great Rabbit.

This season expands Roswaal’s end goal to reunite with his teacher, Echidna. His role as the antagonist for this season is great. We get to see why he would force Subaru to make a hard choice between saving the mansion or the people in the Sanctuary. His manipulation of the events and reliance on the tome makes sense when he reveals that he’s the same Roswaal from 500 years ago. The hints weren’t subtle though, but I liked how the series doesn’t mess around with the audience’s expectations.

Then there’s Beatrice and her loneliness which is heartbreaking when you get to know about her past. The immortal spirit waiting for a person that she doesn’t know because of her promise to her mother, Echidna. Then when Subaru gets her out of the library, she moves on from that promise especially after Subaru asks her to choose him.

Otto is the dark horse in this season. His role in changing the outcome of the dangers by getting Subaru to get help from him and others is great. Halfway through the season Otto punching Subaru to snap out of his mental anguish was a glorious moment. His role emphasizes the fact that working together is better than fighting alone.

There’s a lot of exposition in the season. However, it pays off with the buildup to certain scenes like Subaru finally getting Beatrice out of the library and Roswaal’s reveal to Beatrice about his identity. The time loops at the beginning piled on the stakes for Subaru as he goes through each loop gaining information. However, the price he pays is a gruesome demise until his conversation with the Witches of Sin. Speaking of the Witches of Sin, they are an interesting bunch of powerful witches. For starters, they’ve rightfully earned their malicious reputations with the result of their actions.

The happy ending was a well-earned victory for Subaru and the others. Subaru gets his knight status. Garfiel and Frederica finally reunite. Beatrice isn’t lonely anymore. Emilia gains the trust of others. However, that’s not to say things will be happy in the next season if there’s going to be one. Roswaal’s warning to Subaru about the future still lingers in the air. There’s also Echidna’s suspicious remark while Emilia talks with Ryuzu Shima.

Overall the season was good. Subaru learns to rely on others which in turn gives many characters their spotlight in the season. Hopefully, this will continue if there’s another season. Even though there were long conversations, they were needed to set up the final episodes to end with that happy ending.