MY RE:ZERO 2 EPISODE 4 THREAD

Just me rambling about a bunch of nice framing choices, characters and whatnot. This entire episode was like a microcosm of the series' themes and everything great about it.

The first minute is just devoted to giving characterization to the Natsuki household— from Kenichi's boisterous personality as he embodies the word "chad", to Naoko's somewhat airheaded (her voice actress did an amazing job in that department) but kind nature.

Humor of the situation aside as the peas are passed around, this offers a good glimpse at the Natsuki family dynamic: his parents are doing their best to raise him well, but it seems they fail at setting a good example to him themselves. This is especially noteworthy for Kenichi.

It's not often that anxiety is depicted in anime, and much less so in a good, tactful way. Subaru has certain trigger phrases (related to school), and the directing emphasizes a pain in his head and heart, taking deep breaths as he watches the clock tick away to calm himself.

But the point here isn't him having an anxiety attack, but rather him relapsing to old, bad habits: his tendency to escape reality and responsibilities. It can't be helped, it's not his fault; that's his line of thought, criticized by Ferris (and thus the writer) in Arc 3 also.

But, as Kenichi notices, this isn't the same Subaru who ran away from his problems, hid from them and put on an act.

The source of his struggles & pain speaks out, and there's a clear change in Subaru as he remembers.

Emilia is the source of all of his suffering, but also part of what prompted his introspection, realizing his flaws and how much he'd wronged her in his little escapist fantasy.

But he's moved past that now, and Emilia, instead of being his objectified heroine, has become his main motivation to become a better person, rather than the special "hero". The mood changes from here as Subaru truly opens up.

Also, I adore Re:ZERO's eye reflection close-ups.

Because he was nothing special, Subaru was constantly looking for a reason to give up, to be put down by his parents, as it would've given him exactly the incentive he looked for to give up. THAT is why Rem completely rejecting that idea was such a cathartic moment for him.

The scene that follows is one that I'm sure a lot of people can relate to— the "gifted" child growing up to realize they're actually nothing special, a struggle many had to go through in their teenage years. But that's only part of it for our protagonist.

That phase was particularly bad for Subaru because of the father he had to live up to. That's why he took on his boisterous personality & amplified it, looking for attention. I love this sequence as it contextualizes well his personality and over-the-top attitude throughout S1.

We once again see the "Natsuki Subaru was here!!"... quite the recurring motif now, isn't it? Wonder what it means?

I'd like to take a moment to draw a parallel here with Rem's story, who lived in the shadow of the greater Ram. To emphasize this, the OSTs used are the same as the Rem scenes in Arc 2. While not exactly the same situation, there's really no wonder that these two clicked so well.

...I also do wonder where Subaru took that Super Slap which he used on Rem to bring her back to reality from. Hmm. Either way, the similarities that can be drawn between this duo are striking, to say the least.

I find it really beautiful that these two equally troubled people made each other's time move again and allowed the other, who was completely withdrawn from reality in their self-loathing, to move forward once more and CHANGE by validating each other.

Pausing this episode breakdown to cry at this because OUCH. This is the closest thing to closure and a goodbye Subaru will ever have, and it HURTS.

As Subaru is leaving, him being the son of Kenichi is no longer an expectation that crushes him, but serves as motivation and source of pride—because he now believes in himself as he's actively working to become a better person for the people around him. Also that pose is iconic.

I like the implications that Naoko knew what was going on with Subaru unlike Kenichi, but simply couldn't find the right words to address it, as much as she would've loved to. This explains why neither parent was able to set him straight before he arrived to Lugunica.

Subaru acknowledging that he's a work in progress, but that for his loved ones' sake he won't let himself languish in self-pity & give up, even if he's far from perfect, is golden. He's a precious boy and I won't let anyone tell me otherwise.

Fittingly, their goodbye happens at train tracks, with Naoko on the other side of it. With his bag in hand like a suitcase, it's framed like Subaru is departing to a long voyage. It's beautiful framing and one of the many clever & inspired artistic decisions this episode.

I just think these lines are beautiful and Subaru's parents are wonderful people. It makes me happy that the author didn't create some bland, depressive environment just to justify Subaru in E18, but rather invited the viewer to find beauty in the real world with the Natsukis.

And so Subaru moves on, having overcome his biggest regrets, mainly his lack of farewell to his parents. As Echidna points out, this takes shorter than expected, & that's because Subaru has already grown and overcome the ghosts of his past, this being merely a satisfying closure.

And satisfying it was. This episode nearly moved me to tears. It was an accomplishment on a technical, creative and artistic level all at once, encapsulating most of what this story is all about. I think my score is fairly obvious.

(I had to redo this after losing all progress on my first one due to a dumb mistake, so this is an inferior version as I was less inspired rewriting it... apologies. But that's the gist of my thoughts.)