Quick Summary of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 49
Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 49, “Choose Me,” Emilia emerges from completing the trial to find a snowstorm. Does that mean what we think it means? And if it does, what will become of the townsfolk who had come to cheer her on? Elsewhere, Roswaal tried to come to terms with what had just happened — both to Ram and to the book that Echidna had left him. Can he handle the aftermath? Meanwhile, in the burning mansion, Subaru tries to rescue Beatrice, but she’s still quite upset about Subaru not being “that person.” Will she run out of anger before the mansion — and Subaru — are burned to ash?
Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 49: My Turn to Host!
Welcome to our collaboration review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2, Episode 49. Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime and I have teamed up to give you twice the number of thoughtful insights. That’s a good deal in a single review!
Irina, how has your week been going? Any opening thoughts?
So far so good!
You know, I realize that reZero is really not for me. I was pretty much over it back in part 1 and by now there’s nothing at all left that I enjoy. But I’m here watching episode 49 so it’s kind of on me, you now. So I’m going to be honest but in a positive way.
I’m really sorry to hear that. Not because I think it’s a good and disagree with you, but because I don’t like the idea of you not enjoying yourself.
I’m pretty surprised you didn’t know. I’m sure I mentioned it a few times.
Yeah, but folks don’t always read these in order, and who knows who’ll find this in a few years through Google. I wanted to acknowledge your effort and dedication!
Review of Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 49
A Multitude of Ryuuzus
I liked this episode. Despite what I’m about to say, I really enjoyed watching this episode. But by the second (or third or fourth) time Beatrice blew Subaru out the door, I admit to feeling impatient. I mean, honestly, I got it: She was pissed. For a show that does a lot of showing but not telling, it can sure get verbose.
But that’s out of order, so let me take a step back. You may remember from the end of the previous episode that when Emilia finished her third trial and emerged from the graveyard, there was a bunny-spawning snowstorm happening. The townspeople weren’t exposed to the elements, because someone had erected a wall to protect them. Emilia touched the wall and, I guess by reading the residual magic traces, realized that someone had been Puck!
Stopping at the chamber where the original Ryuuzu hung encased in crystal, the sheer number of Ryuuzus shocked Emilia. I had to laugh when she said, “That must’ve been really rough on your mother.”
Emilia’s a considerate soul.
Long story short, one of the Ryuuzus had a duty with the crystal, and it involved both her and the crystal disappearing. That seemed to complete dismantling Sanctuary’s shield. The other Ryuuzus were sad. Emilia impressed me by saying there was time for crying, and now wasn’t that time. They told her were to find Ram. Flanked by a troop of Ryuuzus, Emilia set off.
Emilia was surprisingly concerned about Ryuuzus’ mom! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Emilia’s New Assertiveness
Are you liking Emilia’s assertiveness, Irina? And did you find the mass of Ryuuzus as funny as I did?
I think that showing a wider range of potential for a main character is a good thing. And in future seasons they can develop her personality and character to explain the change and really flesh everything out.
I also love a good Monty Python reference. I know we already pointed that out back in part 1, but it’s always a good time when there’s killer rabbits. It’s also sort of cool how their little red eyes glow in a mostly white and blue tones scene. The contrast makes them pop out. I bet it would have been even better if it was a darker nighttime scene. I know that glowing red eyes in the dark is ultra ciché, but I’m a simple girl and it’s imagery that I still find effective.
Since reZero does embrace a lot of classical tropes and storlines, it really wouldn’t have been out of place either. Well, they still have another episode to go so it might happen.
The many Ryouzou’s didn’t strike me at all. I was under the impression that we had seen many similar scenes in both part 1 and earlier this season. Maybe I just imagined it.
A Tomeless Roswaal
I liked what happened next with Roswaal. For decades/hundreds of years, that Tome had guided his life. Now that Ram tossed it in the fire, Roswaal felt utterly lost. He didn’t have any idea what to do. There was a shot of him kneeling beside the fallen Ram, her head resting on his legs, in the middle of the crater from his last attack. The snow had partially covered the blasted ground. The shot conveyed a serious sense of desolation.
Emilia arrived and found Roswaal listless. Emilia knew the bunnies were coming and they had to get back to the graveyard. But he didn’t want to move and said that nothing mattered anymore.
Previously meek Emilia grabbed the dude by the collar and yelled right in his face: “There’s not a single thing that doesn’t matter anymore!”
It was nice seeing Emilia giving the lecture. I like the new motivated and confident young half-elf.
Emilia gave Roswaal a stern talking to! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Unfortunately, the bunnies appeared at the edge of the crater. Interestingly, Emilia wasn’t scared. I expected even the New and Improved Emilia to hesitate in the face of the vopral bunnies, but nope. Realizing they were either following her because she was a witch or because she had Puck’s gem (one of the Ryuuzu multitude had given it to her), she just started blasting to cover the Ryuuzus and Roswaal as they carried Ram to the graveyard.
Roswaal’s State and In Memory of Rem
Irina, what’d you think of this scene? What’d you think of Roswaal’s state?
I didn’t really understand what was happening. I guess we are meant to infer that Ram’s sacrifice caused an ideological rift in him that left him so deeply conflicted with his ancestral loyalty to Echidna that he was half catatonic. I wish they had established that in some way in previous episodes.
There is still the chance that he will snap out of it and go back to his much more interesting morally compromised character though, so it’s a little early to tell.
I sure hope they actually spare a bit of time to wake up Rem in the last episode. This whole season has been a bit of a slap in the face to that character. I wonder if it was to make sure the fans wouldn’t be too disappointed that Subaru chose Emilia over Rem. If she’s out of the picture for the time being, it makes the choice much clearer and easier to get behind, you know.
That’s always tricky with love triangles and it makes me wonder why authors love them so much. Generally I find that stories that have them either have to make one option super unlikeable or just unrealistic or they risk alienating half their audience. I sure am happy they didn’t choose to make Rem’s character unlikeable, I actually prefer the magical coma to any character assassination. That was a good choice!
I was under the impression that Roswaal felt lost without the Tome, since it seems to have been telling him what to do. But there’s ambiguity there. Like you said, a little more work establishing that would have helped.
Beatrice Says Goodbye to Subaru — Several Times
I’m pretty sure Subaru was done with being blown back into the flames. I’m surprised he didn’t pull a Cartman. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Now we get to the part that I liked, but that still annoyed me. Remember how Subaru had denied that he was Beatrice’s “that person” and she had blown him out the door? Well, in the unlikely event that you forgot that scene, this episode showed us several variations. I get Beatrice was angry, but I was ready for the plot to move on.
So was Subaru. Poor guy had to be suffering from smoke inhalation. He’d almost convinced her to escape the flames with him, but she was so married to the idea of “that person” or no one (I think) that she seemed to sever the library from the remains of the mansion. Subaru figured otu that when the last door in the mansion burned, it was curtains for Betty. He headed for the last door — the one in the frozen cellar.
She let him into the burning library. He seriously burned his hand on the handle. Flames can make things pretty dramatic! In this case, they were a perfect backdrop for Subaru playing the most Subaru card of all.
Instead of trying to convince her to come with him for some BS “happy happy joy joy” reasons, he simply said, “Beatrice. Please save me.”
It worked. Well, it worked after several back and forths until Beatrice finally said he didn’t play fair, but it still worked.
Subaru Pales by Comparison
What’d you think of that scene, Irina?
I know that Subaru is the audience surrogate character and that’s why he’s so special, but I just think there are so many other interesting characters in the series that it’s a shame all of them seem to only care about what Subaru thinks.
He really should treat that burn wound. It’s going to get infected if he’s not careful! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
I felt so horribly bad for Ryuzu during this scene. From what I gathered, Beatrice and Ryuzu were childhood friends and good ones at that. Beatrice mentions something about humans always dying, which I guess is the reason that she doesn’t really think her 400 year relationship with the Roswaal’s is worth anything, but Ryuzu is always there and she knows a lot about what Beatrice has been going through. She could surely sympathize with her. Regardless what may have happened between them. Why isn’t Beatrice even sparing a thought for her oldest friend?
And on the plus side, being friends with Ryuzu means you get to have like 50 friends. They can help you move or attend your one man show and make the theater look pretty full. It’s kind of kickass having a whole huge posse for the price of a single friend. I really think Beatrice made the wrong choice here going for the one guy instead. Not to mention that if Beatrice has something against people dying, well no one really dies more than Subaru so that was a bit short sighted ;P
Do we know if Beatrice perceives Subaru’s multiple loops? That could get really old for her…
Beatrice’s Change of Heart
Beatrice does save Subaru. She even calls him by name for the first time, which was cool. But she took him from the frying pan into the flame. Emilia stood on the steps to the graveyard. Bunnies packed the snow-covered meadow in front of her. She looked tired; she’d been blasting bunnies for awhile. Then Subaru and Beatrice appeared and said they’d take it from there.
“Don’t blame me for whatever may happen next,” Beatrice said.
Maybe I’m cold and heartless, but I want to see Beatrice burn some bunnies! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Now I really want to see Beatrice burn a bunch of bunnies.
Irina, what’d you think of that ending?
I’m not a huge fan of violence towards animals so I hope we don’t see that. In the last episode when they burned a big monster alive it was really painful to watch.
Even killer bunnies? You’re a lot more kind than I am!
I don’t enjoy watching anything suffer to be honest. Even imaginary picture things. I’m a softie.
Closing
Aside from what an excessive amount of repetition, it was fun watching a revitalized Emilia surrounded by a gaggle of Ryuuzus. I’m really looking forward to a bunny beatdown in the next episode, too! Any closing thoughts, Irina?
I’m really looking forward to the next episode of reZero. There are still dozens of questions left unanswered and plot threads to tie up, so it’s bound to be exciting! In any case, I’m sure it will be my favourite.
Re:ZERO Season 2 Part 2 Episode 49: Other Posts
- Reddit: Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Season 2 Part 2 – Episode 24 discussion
- AngryAnimeBitches: Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Episode 24
- Anime Evo: Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2 – 24
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
TCrow, I think this episode pretty much confirms once and for all that Roswaal and Hector didn’t fuse. Roswaal was speaking like his normal self did 400 years ago and stopped imitating Hector’s speech patterns, and Puck also indicated that Roswaal would never be the Warlock/Devil Hector is.
This episode also confirmed that Echidna’s Authority of Greed is her Tome of Wisdom, and given the examples we have with her Authority of Greed differing from Regulus’s Authority of Greed seemingly being a power that grants him extremely powerful defensive and offensive abilities as well as Subaru’s Invisible Providence coming from the front side of his body while Petelgeuse’s Unseen Hand coming out of his back, I believe it’s clear that individual Authorities do not necessarily have to manifest the same way in individuals. Maybe Sekhmet, who used what appeared to be the Unseen Hand in Episode 38, has the exact same authority as Petelgeuse, but it’s also possible that the two have a difference that viewers don’t know of yet. It’s hard to say given none of us saw her using her hands from her point of view.
I think you’re right about the lack of fusion. You thought before that Roswaal adopted some of Hector’s mannerisms as a reminder to himself, right? Any theories about what happened to Hector?
“I believe it’s clear that individual Authorities do not necessarily have to manifest the same way in individuals.”
That’s the way I interpreted the evidence, too.
“It’s hard to say given none of us saw her using her hands from her point of view.”
Like you also said, whatever she used appeared to manifest in the same way, but it’s hard to tell!
I’m really curious to see why Subaru is so confident that he and Beatrice can take down the Great Rabbit.
No, I have no theories about what happened to Hector. It’s hard to say what happened to him considering he only appeared once, and there doesn’t. at least so far, appear to be any hint about what happened to him since then.
I knew the bunnies were coming. I knew it!
I was kind of hoping we’d see Emilia’s true power. In the OVA she showed a lot more power than this.
I think the reason Beatrice never took out intestine lady in the earlier cycles is because she really wanted to die. Just as she was content to die in the fire this time. Nothing else makes sense. Of course, I may just be making an excuse for a plot hole. Escaping the situation is obviously child’s play for her.
Echidna can be terribly cruel at times, creating an adorable child that can never grow up. She doesn’t WANT to be the lonely loli love interest forever.
Am I crazy or is there a lot of unresolved backstory that is still hanging and twisting in the wind? I need another season at least for closure.
“I was kind of hoping we’d see Emilia’s true power.”
I was too, truth be told. We got to see her blast an occasional bunny, but nothing serious. Even in the first trial, we got to see her use more.
“I think the reason Beatrice never took out intestine lady in the earlier cycles is because she really wanted to die”
That makes perfect sense. I can’t get a good handle on just how powerful Beatrice is, but if we can’t see Emilia cut loose, I wouldn’t mind if Beatrice does the honors. After this many episodes, I would really like some pyrotechnics!
“Am I crazy or is there a lot of unresolved backstory that is still hanging and twisting in the wind?”
There are a _ton_ of details and entire plot lines unresolved. What happened to Pandora? I’m sure she’s still around. Hector? Echidna? And those are just three off the top of my head.
Thank you! I kind of hope Rem wakes up but then again it’s going to be super awkward if she finds out Emilia and Subaru are an item now so I’m not sure anymore.
Good review ! From both you and Irina ✨I’m so excited for the last episode.
Thanks! I’m really looking forward to seeing how they deal with those bunnies. Also, I’m really happy to see Emilia stepping up. She’s still super nice, but now she’s blasting away with the best of them!
It was awesome seeing Emelia talk some sense into Roswaal . Also when I first saw Ram in his arms I had like this crazy thought , what if Rem wakes up and her sister died . I was like woah ! But I think Ram will be okay ✨
” what if Rem wakes up and her sister died ”
That would have been terrible!
At this point, I’m really hoping Rem wakes up soon. I can’t see how they could resolve enough plot points to see that this season. I’m kinda resigned to having to wait for the next season.
Hopefully they’ll fast track season 3 . I do want to see Subaru go after the Greed and Gluttony bishops.