Quick Summary of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 40
In Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 40, “Otto Suwen / A Reason to Believe,” Otto, in his zeal to help his friend Subaru, has to do something very, very dangerous: delay an increasingly annoyed Garfiel. And we all remember what happened in the timeline where Otto really annoyed Garfiel… As that’s happening, the show gives us flashbacks to Otto’s childhood. Are they trying to drum up sympathy for his exit? Meanwhile, Subaru might have an even bigger challenge: talking some sense into Emilia. That’s hard not only because of Emilia’s emotional state, but Subaru’s not famous for having a lot of sense to talk! What’s next for our long-running “not couple?”
Irina’s Turn to Host!
I thought Otto was a bro before! Well, he was, but he’s even more bro-ful this episode! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime and I are collaborating to review Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2, and this week, it’s Irina’s turn to host! You can jump straight to the review on her site by clicking here.
This episode covers a lot of ground, and I’ll give you one spoiler for free: There’s no OP again! I was this close to being bummed. But I think you’ll find the writer made good use of the extra minute and thirty seconds.
Please do check out the post Re:Zero 2 pt 2 episode 40 – One More Time With Feeeeeeeeeeelings on I Drink and Watch Anime. And if you’re so inclined, please do let us know what you think about the review or the episode in the Comments!
Other Posts about Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 40
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Season 2 Part 2 – Episode 15 discussion
- Anime Evo: Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2 – 15
- AngryAnimeBitches Anime Blog: Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Episode 15
This Collaboration (I Drink and Watch Anime and Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 39: STRAIGHT BET
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 40: Otto Suwen / A Reason to Believe
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 41: Nobody Can Lift a Quain Stone Alone
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 42: A Journey Through Memories
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 43: The Day Betelgeuse Laughed
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 44: The Permafrost of Elior Forest
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 45: The Beginning of the Sanctuary and the Beginning of the End
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 46; Reunion of Roars
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 47: Happiness Reflected on the Water’s Surface
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 48: Love Me Down to My Blood and Guts
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 49: Choose Me
- Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 50: Offbeat Steps under the Moonlight
It was nice of you to share that your son is deaf, crow. Raising a deaf child must have been tough.
My impression of the episode is that Emilia did not fall for Subaru. She was just emotionally vulnerable and felt abandoned and was screaming at Subaru to give her a reason to trust him, and the only way Subaru felt he could prove his “love” was by kissing her. I still think what he feels is closer to infatuation thought instead of being love. Subaru and Emilia are probably not going to suddenly become a couple after this. With that being said though, Emilia’s eyes reflecting Subaru at the end probably shows that she believes in Subaru now much like Subaru believes in Emilia.
I’m not really into the Subaru/Emilia relationship as I feel that what Subaru feels for Emilia is basically puppy love.
I also have a theory about why Subaru has such unwavering affection for Emilia based mainly off of Episodes 18, 21, and 25 of Re:zero.
In episode 25, Subaru said if Emilia mentioned 10 things she hated about himself that he’d tell her 2,000 things he likes about her. In episode 18, Puck told Petelgeuse that if he wants to kill them he needs to generate a thousand shadow hands, half of what Satella could, which is 2,000. This suggests that perhaps the reason Subaru thought of that specific number is that Satella influenced him subconsciously. Given Emilia is discriminated against for looking like the Witch, I think it was insensitive of Subaru to use that number even if Emilia doesn’t know that number is associated with Satella, and the only logical explanation I could think of for him doing so was that he wasn’t of sound mind when he said it.
I’m positive that Satella can influence Subaru given that she can read his mind and determine if his intent is to reveal Return by Death, which shows that subconsciously, there is a connection between them even if Subaru has no access to Satella, the Witch of Envy’s thoughts. So if Satella can make Subaru think of the number 2,000, which is associated with her, it’s possible that part of the reason Subaru’s affection for Emilia is so strong is because Emilia looks just like Satella, and Satella is subconsciously making him obsessed with someone who looks just like she does.
In episode 21, when Crusch offered to Subaru to become one of her men, he turned her down and said it wasn’t about loyalty or allegiance, but his faith lies exactly where it should. This shows that his reason for supporting Emilia perhaps does not have a very solid foundation if loyalty has nothing to do with it. It shows that Subaru is personally making it his mission to make Emilia the ruler because he’s doing it for his own ego since he thinks of himself as the main character of a story.
I want to state clearly now that I’m not saying that the entire reason Subaru is attracted to Emilia is because of Satella. He does have a thing for silver-haired girls as shown by his taste in anime heroines, and Emilia did show that she had very good character when he first got summoned to the world and was struggling by himself in a foreign land, but I do think what he feels for Emilia is partially a result of the Witch of Envy’s influence.
I say this taking into account that Subaru believes in video game tropes and thinks of himself as the main character of a story, even going as far as saying Emilia would slowly fall for him in episode 25 as if it was a given that it would eventually happen much like what happens for most male isekai protagonists. And Emilia even treated him kindly when no else would and eventually gave him a lap pillow, which was one of his otaku dream fantasies, and given his natural inclination to silver-haired beauties, it would make sense that he would fall for Emilia. However, I just think there might be something more sinister going on underneath the surface regarding Satella.
“It was nice of you to share that your son is deaf, crow. Raising a deaf child must have been tough.”
Thanks. The most difficult aspect is probably how other people reacted. That, and we had to move to so he wouldn’t need to ride the bus for an hour and a half to get to the school where they taught American Sign Language (ASL).
It’s interesting. Several months before he was born, my wife thought it would be a good idea to go to a local college class teaching ASL. There were no deaf individuals in her family, and we had no clue our own son would be deaf. So when the doctor confirmed that he was profoundly deaf, we had a life line. We knew some of the language we could teach him instead of English.
I talked about most of your ideas in this comment when you posted it on Irina’s site. However, I did want to mention something about this idea of yours:
“My impression of the episode is that Emilia did not fall for Subaru. ”
The more I think about this, the more I think you might be right. She might just be lost and vulnerable. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out!
Yeah, I didn’t even find that kiss scene romantic. The scene pleased people who are actively rooting for Subaru and Emilia to be together, but I sensed a huge power imbalance in that scene with Emilia wondering whether she’d even still be the same person after all her memories come back and with her frantically bawling and asking Subaru why he broke his promise and wouldn’t make her trust him. Subaru also mentioned things in loops that only happened to him, which confused a vulnerable Emilia even more. He also went on a rant about why she can’t be as cute as he wanted her to be, at which Emilia told him not to talk to her as if she was a doll. My takeaway from that scene is that Subaru gave Emilia the strength to move forward, not that it was some amazingly romantic scene, even after considering the use of that pink glow and that Emilia’s eyes reflected Subaru at the end. It was like what Rem did for Subaru in episode 18, only it wasn’t as raw and great given how Subaru refused to tell Emilia what he was doing instead of staying with her after she had asked him to. For Subaru and Emilia respectively in episodes 18 and 40, they both needed someone to build them back up after their belief in themselves had been shattered. I know Rem and Subaru’s confessions were very different, but the purpose of their confessions were to give the recipients some strength to move forward instead of running away from things.
Oh, I didn’t even realize it, but Subaru asking Emilia why she can’t be as cute as he wants her to be shows that he still thinks of himself as an isekai protagonist with Emilia being his heroine who is supposed to reciprocate his love. So that answers the question you posed to me at Irina’s blog. His time with Irina has not changed the way he sees himself in that sense even if after undergoing the trial means he no longer has as much of an inferiority complex compared to before.