Re:Zero - Episode 23: Nefarious Sloth (Review)
By: TheJewphin
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
[yasr_multiset setid=11]Episode 23 of Re:Zero featured a more likable Subaru working with his band of heroes to protect Emilia and the town from cultists. While the cultist battles themselves were a little short, the episode remained interesting up until a wonderful conclusion.Subaru starts the episode alone in a frozen wasteland which he quickly realizes is just an illusion of some sort. Subaru's reasoning for believing he's in an illusion (this flower can't exist here!) is a little suspect, but a red fairy appears to burn the aforementioned flower and set Subaru free. The original owner of the red fairy, Julius, had set the fairy on Subaru to protect him. It's nice to see that Julius had set out ahead of time to help Subaru even though Subaru was still being hateful.
The whole illusion trap was just a setup for Ram to kidnap Subaru, essentially to figure out why he had betrayed Roswaal. Subaru's letter to Roswaal from the capital had arrived blank, which is a sign in this society that a person no longer wishes to communicate to the recipient. Ram feels betrayed by Subaru's actions. Once Subaru explains that the letter was not supposed to be blank, Ram sets about to help him.The team set about to evacuate the townspeople. While the evacuation should be a simple thing, the townspeople blame the incoming cultists on Emilia. Fortunately, modern day Subaru is capable of learning from his mistakes. Instead of getting angry at the townspeople, he focuses on making sure everyone will agree to evacuate the town.I actually really enjoyed the scene with the townspeople because it was a positive step forward for Subaru that wasn't predicated on him becoming completely unlikable. His staunch defenses of Emilia were probably the only thing that one could consider justifiable under his original personality. Yet, as Emilia had pointed out, it was still selfish on his part to put his views ahead of everything else.Unfortunately for the rescuers, one of the merchants who came to help evacuate the town was a finger in disguise. He self-destructs when Felis, the cat captures him and the rest of the fingers start their attack. The actual attack of the fingers is a little sparse in this episode. Wilhelm fights one which also blows up on death, taking the mighty swordsman out of the picture. Another runs off after Subaru when he shows off the Gospel he stole from Betelgeuse's corpse.The "fight" between Subaru and the finger is another great moment of the episode. For once, Subaru has a plan other than just "be bait." Though the plan does start with "be bait," it ends with the use of the vicious mabeasts to gobble up the poor finger. The plan to use the mabeasts shows an intelligence in Subaru that we have not seen for quite a while.
Subaru returns from his forest fight in time to find the last remaining finger - the rest having been killed off-screen. Emilia and Puck arrive in time to make a grand performance of defeating and trapping the last cultist in front of all of the villagers. With all of the fingers subdued, the episode is ready to end on a high note. But this is Re:Zero we're talking about. Nothing is ever that easy.
Remember last episode when Subaru took the Gospel even after being told that anyone who receives a Gospel immediately becomes a fanatic follower of the witch? Well, apparently his genius plan of taking the evil book backfired. Who could have seen this coming? (See my review on Episode 22 here). Subaru prepares to talk to Emilia, but stops when he realizes that something strange is happening to his body other than what usually happens when he prepares to talk to Emilia.Subaru races off into the woods, followed by Felis and Julius, where he undergoes a mental transformation from Subaru into Betelgeuse. Again, the voice actor playing Subaru does an amazing job on his performance. Subaru's Betelgeuse is perfect. As Subaru wrestles for control of his body, he begs Julius and Felis to kill him. It's a wonderful moment. Felis uses his magic to knock Subaru to the floor with almost no hesitation, but with tears in his eyes. Julius raises his sword and prepares to strike. And with that, Episode 23 ends on a Re:Zero note. The show has once again made me excited to see what comes next.
