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MY RE:ZERO 2 EPISODE 18-19 THREAD
I have certain gripes with the adaptation—however this episode's & the last one's chapters contained my favorite bits of symbolism, references, lore and characterization. I won't make this thread twice as long so I'll just focus on key bits.
I have certain gripes with the adaptation—however this episode's & the last one's chapters contained my favorite bits of symbolism, references, lore and characterization. I won't make this thread twice as long so I'll just focus on key bits.
The confirmation that Petelgeuse is a body-hopping spirit gives context to some of his behavior in S1. He was, in S1, disdainful of Puck & afraid of facing lesser spirits, acting like he was human — likely because to him, uncorrupted spirits are a reflection of who he used to be.
"Pandora's box", in mythology, is a box that is said to unleash evil onto the world after Pandora convinced her husband to open it. Re:ZERO recreates that mythological scene, with the evil in question being the Sloth Witch Factor.
Also note the mention of Flugel…sound familiar?
Also note the mention of Flugel…sound familiar?
Now, some astrology. The name of the star Betelgeuse is derived from يد الجوزاء—"the Hand of Orion".
In "Betelgeuse", "Betel" is the "Hand" & "Geuse" is Orion. Pandora changing Geuse's name to Petelgeuse is, essentially, her adding the Hand to Orion (depicted by the Unseen Hand)
In "Betelgeuse", "Betel" is the "Hand" & "Geuse" is Orion. Pandora changing Geuse's name to Petelgeuse is, essentially, her adding the Hand to Orion (depicted by the Unseen Hand)
You could push it further with the star being associated with death & rebirth. Geuse's transformation was a veritable death & rebirth as he took on the name Petelgeuse—not to mention him mirroring Subaru, the epitome of "death & rebirth".
Lots of astrology in R:Z's storytelling.
Lots of astrology in R:Z's storytelling.
Let's talk about Regulus's characterization work for a bit! We already knew he was entitled, however this line points to him being irritated at Geuse for skipping a "payment". As prideful as he is, it appears that Regulus worked hard or made a "payment" to get to his position.
Regulus is, always, the "good guy". He isn't unreasonable; what's unreasonable is the world, who's forcing him into the position of a villain. It's that belief that allows him to torment Geuse without hesitation.
Notice how Pandora takes advantage of this to manipulate him, too.
Notice how Pandora takes advantage of this to manipulate him, too.
When things don't go his way & Regulus loses his cool to go on a tantrum, his "me"s become emphasized. His true self, like an egotistical child, shows through; it's all about "me, me, me". He's in his own tiny world where he comes first, & everyone else might as well not exist.
Even the revered Pandora-sama isn't safe from his childish tantrums — and the way he refers to her as "woman" denotes a certain sexism, too. (In contrast to his preaching to Fortuna about prejudices towards men—his morality consists of only what's convenient to him at the moment)
After the Trial, it was nice seeing Emilia vulnerable again, after she had to remain strong in front of Echidna. The word she's pressed against as she mourns the mother she had forgotten is "love".
Now my favorite part to talk about in both episodes, and a little bit of speculation! I'll probably write a whole thread about it later but I'll keep it brief here.
What I'm going to touch upon now is Otto's role in the story, Roswaal's Gospel and Rem's role, too.
What I'm going to touch upon now is Otto's role in the story, Roswaal's Gospel and Rem's role, too.
We learn in this interaction that Otto is completely left out of Roswaal's Gospel — and we know he was the catalyst in annihilating Roswaal's perfect setup for Subaru, pushing him out of despair.
Now who else did that? Rem.
Now who else did that? Rem.
Had Subaru run away in Arc 3, he would've come back to the same checkpoint after death, over and over until he was "perfected", with no regard for his own life & valuing nothing but Emilia.
Now here's an interesting trivia about Rem, too: she wasn't in Roswaal's Tome either!
Now here's an interesting trivia about Rem, too: she wasn't in Roswaal's Tome either!
Otto and Rem were both confirmed to be created as MINOR, almost filler characters, who spun out of control as Nagatsuki wrote on — Rem was outright confirmed to not even be present in the original draft of the WN, which didn't include Arc 2 at all.
...thus, we come to the very meta conclusion that Roswaal's Tome is the ORIGINAL DRAFT OF THE STORY, which was completely defied by two minor characters not accounted for.
I'm brushing the surface here, but there are also lines in the LN that might subtly hint towards that idea.
I'm brushing the surface here, but there are also lines in the LN that might subtly hint towards that idea.
Lastly, back to the episode, we see Subaru laugh off his previous, toxic entitled protagonist mindset with a joke, which was very refreshing! And Roswaal doesn't seem pleased at all, having tried to enable that behavior in order to manipulate him in S1-2.
https://twitter.com/Jaereku/status/1359538713747931137
https://twitter.com/Jaereku/status/1359538713747931137
The meta Gospel is one of my favorite things to talk about in the series haha & I'm glad I finally can. Anyhow, I didn't much like how these last few episodes adapted the source (which felt a lot more powerful), but they raised some very interesting talking points regardless!
