Re:Zero (Starting Life in Another World): Season 1/ Episode 14 “The Sickness Called Despair” – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Overview

After quite a confrontation, Subaru is now just focused on getting stronger. That is until Rem picks up some sort of clairvoyant message from Ram.

Trigger Warning(s):
Dead Bodies

Main Plot (with Commentary)

Topic 1: A Time To Reflect (Subaru)

Needless to say, at this point, we can all agree that Subaru perhaps isn’t the person we fully thought of him as. Yes, we knew he was stubborn, but now he seems ever so slightly entitled. In all the reminiscing of what led up to his fight with Emilia and the fight itself, it seems he doesn’t fully understand his wrongdoing in it. On top of that, it seems he is training to become stronger so that the next time he sees Julius, he will win.

All the while, Rem just watches, Felis tries to heal Subaru as much as possible, and Wilhelm acts as Subaru’s trainer.

Topic 2: Call To Action (Subaru and Rem)

There are two calls to action in the episode. The first comes with Crusch having a dinner with Subaru, and then something Rem says. To begin, let’s start with the Crusch dinner. Now, after Subaru’s proclamation, much less all the girls being introduced, it is only natural to assume he was going to meet them. However, the girls perhaps liking him wasn’t really in play in my mind. Not to say Crusch does, for she acknowledges Subaru’s devotion to Emilia but, like with Priscilla, there is this feeling that despite how embarrassing and impetuous Subaru can be, there remains something appealing to these girls. Especially since they all are single and with them being put out there, proposals are rushing in.

But the point of their conversation is Crusch trying to rebuild Subaru in a way. She tells him to act with confidence and figure out a way to win her back. Felis jumps in too, but it seems as much as they are for Emilia and Subaru when Rem reveals information that is quite a red flag, all the advice given goes out the window.

Topic 3: A Good Time To Rewind (Subaru & Rem)

The 2^nd call to action comes from a message Ram accidently sent Rem through a clairvoyance connection. In the message, she signals something is going wrong and it likely is due to the prejudice against half-elves, which we saw last episode, as well as in this one when it came to Subaru visiting the market. Now, the full extent isn’t revealed until the end of the episode, but let’s just say: If Subaru’s plan to win Emilia over was to dispel any belief that she is similar to the jealous witch, good luck.

Reason I say that is because of what the village looks like when Subaru shows up [1]. Taking a few steps back, originally Subaru and Rem were going to go together, though everyone was telling Subaru he shouldn’t go. However, the boy is stubborn. So, being that he is so stubborn, and poised to get himself killed, around halfway Rem puts Subaru to sleep, as she embraces him in an awfully cute moment, and tries to handle the situation herself.

Unfortunately, though, she was unable to. What seemed to have happened is between this possible white whale fog, the group who massacred Rem and Ram’s village, if not Elsa from wherever the hell she has been, a massacre happened. One which led to dead bodies sitting upright at the dinner table, swords pierced through many a body, and a heap of bodies burned to a crisp. Needless to say the imagery, and blood is quite shocking to Subaru. However, it doesn’t prepare him for the last thing we see – Rem face down and seemingly defeated.

With that, we are led to question if perhaps a rewind is to come. It feels like it hasn’t been employed in forever and while I did say it was being abused, it seems like the best time to use it. After all, despite Subaru’s ego, it does seem the one time he isn’t there beside Emilia is when this all happens. But, here comes the fun part, if he were to die how far back would it take him? Would it take him as far as before he embarrassed himself and Emilia during the selection hearing, perhaps leading to him avoiding the awkwardness which was his fight with Emilia? Or perhaps would it only take him to the day of or night before? Subaru’s deaths, unfortunately, don’t have a consistent spot in which he begins, since there have been only two or three checkpoints, but during the last major one, he did go up to 4-5 days back. So perhaps there may be hope just yet to solve this calamity. That is, assuming Subaru doesn’t decide to just keep pressing forward with Rem dead.

Things To Note

To add, let’s just say, if they, whoever they may be, are willing to go to that extent over Emilia just being a possibility, imagine how they would react if she actually became ruler. Which, as of now, sounds unlikely.

Question(s) Left Unanswered

Who gets to choose the next ruler? Strangely in the marketplace it was announced who qualified, but does that mean the common people will get to vote?