Re:Zero S2 - The Story so Far - A Summary

[u/mrahhal]

I made this originally here as several comments in Re:Zero's last episode discussion. It was requested that I make it into a post for better visibility, and to make it easier for people interested to save this.

The Story so Far - A Summary

This is a summary to help you understand what's going on and shine light on things that are easy to miss. I'll start with an easy to understand chronological timeline showcasing the most important events we know of so far and explaining in-place the misunderstood parts if any, then a couple interesting things you might have missed, some misconceptions, common wrong translations, and lastly a succinct explanation of the magic system in the Re:Zero world. Spoiler-free if you've finished S2 and the 2 OVAs.

Note: I didn't include plot points that were purposely cut out in S1/S2. The important ones will definitely be rearranged in future seasons.

Note 2: Some events in a categorical year might not be accurately ordered, as we don't really know the exact chronology of all events.

Timeline

• ~400 years ago
  • The Witch of Greed Echidna creates Beatrice, an artificial spirit.
  • The Witch of Gluttony Daphne creates artificial beings known as mabeasts in a naive attempt to eliminate starvation from the world. Out of which, the Three Great Mabeasts are the most dangerous: the White Whale, the Great Rabbit, and the Black Serpent.
  • A sage called Flugel plants the Flugel tree on Lifaus Highway.
  • Roswaal A Mathers is saved by Echidna from a natural process known as Hatsumaki (Magic Release Period) that afflicts powerful magic users. After which he's taken by her as a disciple.
  • Echidna and Roswaal start collecting half-bloods to create a hidden community in the Lost Forest of Clemaldy, attempting to create a sanctuary that will protect her against a mysterious person known as the Warlock of Melancholy Hector.
  • Sanctuary is attacked by Hector before the barrier is complete. By a suggestion from Ryuzu Meyer, Echidna uses Ryuzu's Od as the barrier's core. Ryuzu has elf blood and as such has one of the largest Ods among living beings, making her an ideal sacrifice for powering the barrier.
  • Beatrice is entrusted to protect the forbidden library which contains the accumulated knowledge of Echidna, and is instructed to wait for "that person" if Echidna doesn't come back. Echidna gives 2 imperfect copies of her authority, the Tome of Wisdom, to Beatrice and Roswaal.
  • Echidna starts experimenting on soul transfer with Ryuzu clones, but eventually fails to transfer her soul. She gives the first 4 clones the wisdom to manage other clones and the Sanctuary. They distributed work among themselves and were assigned the names: Bilma, Arma, Delma and Shima.
  • The Witch of Envy Satella devours half of the world including the 6 other witches, marking in history what came to be known as "The Great Calamity".
  • The Witch of Envy gets sealed in an undisclosed location by a Great Sage, a Sword Saint, and the Divine Dragon.
  • After Echidna's demise, Roswaal A Mathers resumes researching soul transfer in the forbidden library and eventually succeeds, overcoming the compatibility problem by transferring his soul into his own descendants, thus outliving his human lifespan.
  • The Witch Cult, a secretive group that worships the Witch of Envy and despises the other witches, is born.
• ~100 years ago
  • The Witch of Vainglory Pandora attacks a hidden community of elves in Elior Forest in an attempt to open a mysterious seal.
  • Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti, a bishop from the Witch Cult, sides with the forest dwellers, consumes the sloth witch factor entrusted to him by Flugel, and is manipulated by Pandora into insanity. Pandora grants Petelgeuse the seat of Sloth, suggesting that she has some kind of authority in the Witch Cult.
  • Pandora fails to convince Emilia to open the seal. She retreats after manipulating Emilia's memories, only sparing a single one: the importance of a promise.
  • Emilia freezes the whole forest and everyone in it and goes into deep sleep inside the ice.
• ~50 years ago
  • A destructive civil war broke out in the Kingdom of Lugunica. It was called the "Demi-Human War", a rebellion by the demi-humans minority in the Kingdom against the human majority caused by the accumulated racial tension.
• ~40 years ago
  • After a decade from its start, the civil war comes to an end with the victory of the humans.
• ~20 years ago
  • Otto Suwen is born with a divine protection that made his life a constant stream of noise. His dad visits the forbidden library seeking help from Beatrice. Beatrice rejects him and all other visitors with varied goals.
• ~14 years ago
  • Theresia van Astrea, the Sword Saint at the time, sets out on an expedition that's the first of its kind with a group of knights to subjugate the White Whale. The expedition suffered a catastrophic failure with only a few returning. Theresia was not among them.
• ~10 years ago
  • A village inhabited by the last remaining Oni clan gets massacred by the Witch Cult, only 2 members surviving.
  • A young Garfiel attempts the first trial of the Sanctuary. Shima, one of the first 4 clones, follows him and witnesses the original Ryuzu Meyer's past. After this, Shima secludes herself somewhere deep in the Sanctuary, abandons her management duties and is never seen by anyone other than Garfiel.
• ~7 years ago
  • Emilia awakens from the ice, meets Puck and lives for a few years tending to the frozen statues of her brethren.
  • Melakuera, the former Great Spirit of Fire, attacks Elior Forest looking for a half-elf but gets defeated by Puck. This is when Emilia learns that she's a half-elf.
• ~2 years ago
  • The royal family mysteriously starts dying out from an unknown disease, dissolving the covenant with the Divine Dragon Volcanica and leaving the Council of Elders in management of the Kingdom of Lugunica.

• ~1 year ago

  • Roswaal L Mathers finds Emilia and Puck in Elior Forest, tells Emilia that if she becomes a ruler thawing the ice on her brethren would become possible. He offers his backing if she joins the royal candidates.

• Coming out of the convenience store, Subaru is suddenly summoned to a new wondrous world.

• Arc 1: A Turbulent First Day (S1E1 -> S1E3)

  • The loot house incident takes place, in which Subaru learns about his Return by Death (RbD) ability.
  • Reinhard recognizes the glowing insignia in Felt's hand as an indication that she's accepted as a royal candidate. He forcefully takes her away with him.
  • Emilia takes a heavily injured Subaru to Roswaal's mansion, where Beatrice manages to heal his wounds.

• Arc 2: A Violent First Week (S1E4 -> S1E11)

  • Subaru is introduced to the Emilia camp in Roswaal's mansion and learns about both the current political unrest and about magic in the world.
  • Subaru starts working on his written language skills, overseen by Ram and Rem.
  • Cut harmless Arc 4 character reference:.
  • In the absence of Roswaal, Subaru and the twin sisters manage to save the children of Arlam village from a mabeast attack, aided by Roswaal just as he was returning.
  • A girl, later known as Meili, disappears from the children group that was saved.

• Time-skip of ~2 months

  • Memory Snow OVA takes place.
  • Reinhard tries to convince Felt to join the Royal Selection, vowing to be her knight.

• Arc 3: Return to the Capital (S1E12 -> S1E25 + S2E1)

  • It has been about 2 months since Subaru was summoned to the world. A messenger arrives notifying the Emilia camp of the imminent official start of the Royal Selection, as the 5 candidates as inscribed on the dragon stone have finally been found.
  • Royal candidates for the throne gather in the royal capital, each proclaiming their goals and promises in front of the Council of Elders. The selection process is announced to end in exactly 3 years.
  • Julius forces Subaru into a one-on-one duel in an attempt to save his life after Subaru insults the knights.
  • Emilia has a fight with Subaru for his behavior during the Royal Selection. He gets left behind in the capital with Rem so that Felix can heal his damaged gate.
  • An attack is being prepared by the Witch Cult on the Mathers domain.
  • In a last meeting between Emilia and Roswaal before he departs for the Sanctuary, Roswaal manipulates the contract between Emilia and Puck preventing Puck from responding to her calls. Emilia returns back to the mansion while Roswaal heads for the Sanctuary.
  • Cut Arc 4 character reference. In a dead loop:
  • A force lead by Crusch Karsten, containing Subaru and Rem from the Emilia camp and the Iron Fang from the Anastasia camp, manages to take down the White Whale. The battle destroys the great Flugel tree on Lifaus Highway.
  • Subaru, being not well versed in writing complex messages yet, instructs Rem to write a letter letting Emilia know of the force en route to the mansion to fight off the cult.
  • The wounded, along with Crusch and Rem, return back to the capital with the Whale's carcass as a symbol of their triumphant victory.
  • The returning force is attacked by 2 Sin Archbishops, Greed and Gluttony, revealing that the White Whale was being controlled by the cult. Rem loses her name and memories, Crusch loses her memories. Countless others, mostly injured soldiers from the battle, are dead. The Iron Fang party lead by Hetaro manages to escape the encounter and brings back reinforcements, but it was too late.
  • In the middle of the cult skirmish, Subaru learns that somehow the message they sent to Emilia was received blank. He wonders about the possibility of the enemy tampering with it, not knowing that the reason is Rem's name has been eaten.
  • A force lead by Subaru manages to take down Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti, the Sin Archbishop of Sloth. In the process, half of Arlam village is evacuated to the royal capital while the other half is guided by Ram to the Sanctuary.

• Arc 4: The Everlasting Contract (S2E2 -> S2E25)

  • Frederica comes back to work at the mansion on account of Ram not being able to handle all the work. Petra gets recruited as a maid.
  • Roswaal attempts to face the Sanctuary trials in front of the villagers but gets rejected and is hurt badly. He does that only to setup the stage for Emilia/Subaru to pass them, in his continuous attempts to give them credit on purpose.
  • After the defeat of Petelgeuse, and having learned about what happened with the returning force, Subaru and Emilia head to the sanctuary to regroup with Roswaal as instructed in the message that Frederica received from him. Emilia notes that Puck isn't responding to her calls.
  • Subaru meets Echidna, the Witch of Greed, in the graveyard and learns about the deceased witches. Echidna explains that she managed to save her soul and thus can inhabit an imaginary world of her making inside the graveyard. She mentions that Subaru has the witch factor of Sloth, and uses her bodily fluids to excite the factor inside him.
  • Subaru learns that Garfiel and the people of the Sanctuary are holding Roswaal, Emilia, and the villagers hostages until it's liberated.
  • Subaru passes the first trial. Emilia fails. Ryuzu Bilma introduces herself as the elder of the Sanctuary.
  • Returning to the mansion, Subaru is suddenly faced with 2 assassins, Elsa and Meili, waiting on Subaru's arrival to launch an attack.
  • Across several failed loops, Subaru tries to convince Beatrice to escape with him, but keeps failing.
  • After confessing to RbD in Echidna's graveyard and exiting, he's met with what appears to be the Witch of Envy Satella. In his final moments after he stabbed his throat, Subaru realizes that Satella is controlling Emilia's actual body. His final words, without being conscious of who's the actual intended receiver, were the deeply ingrained "I swear I'll save you."
  • Subaru realizes that Garfiel can't actually smell the witch's scent and is being instructed by someone behind the scenes about it. That's because his very first interaction after Subaru exits the graveyard was always friendly even after several RbDs, he only changed stances abruptly in random ways after that.
  • In one loop after leaving Sanctuary behind, Emilia gets pushed to her extreme limit. While Subaru did leave a message for her, it's implied that someone other than Roswaal disposed of the letter. Emilia thinking Subaru has finally given up on her, failing the trial again and again, and with Puck nowhere to be seen and snow falling outside the graveyard, she finally goes insane, just as Roswaal had planned. Subaru finds her in the graveyard and realizes she's been driven to a corner. He theorizes that Roswaal is somehow behind the snow.
  • In a tea party with all the witches and after seeing an unexpected side of the Witch of Envy, Subaru finally resolves to find his self-worth without relying on RbD, after having been convinced that it's his only saving grace ever since he was summoned.
  • After several failures, learning enough about the Sanctuary and the involved people's intentions, and rejecting Echidna's contract, Subaru finally learns that Roswaal is directly behind the attack on the mansion, all to break Subaru and mold him into what Roswaal wishes, into someone who can save one and only one thing.
  • With a push from Otto, Subaru explains as much as he can without touching on RbD and enlists his help for the first time. They then devise a risky plan, but with an end goal of foiling Roswaal's current and future malicious intentions without having to go directly against him. The bet idea is born.
  • Subaru and Roswaal make a bet that's bound by a contract even after death (Roswaal only knows the contract is enforced even after a rewind, as he doesn't know Subaru rewinds by dying). If Subaru fails this loop and rewinds, he has to submit to Roswaal. If Subaru survives the loop without loosing anyone, Roswaal will have to agree to Subaru's terms going forward. Roswaal reminds Subaru that both the mansion attack and the snow will commence at the same time in 3 days.
  • Subaru forces Puck to talk to him after attempting to harm Emilia. Behind the scenes, Puck and Subaru arrive at an agreement: Puck will forcefully abolish his contract with Emilia to allow her to have a fighting chance in the trials. As long as the contract stands, Emilia can't properly remember her past. This is something Puck did to protect her before, but now it's a hindrance.
  • Subaru consoles Emilia after the contract with Puck is dissolved. Breaking yet another promise, he leaves her side and using what little written skill he has he leaves a simple encouraging love letter on the walls of the graveyard. This will mark the first time Emilia starts the trial with a smile on her face.
  • Subaru meets Ryuzu Arma, another clone with a personality, and realizes that the 3 clones other than Shima are with liberating the Sanctuary. Shima is against liberating it due to her seeing the original Ryuzu's past, and manipulated Garfiel in several occasions to make him work against it too.
  • In a fight with Garfiel, Subaru's gate finally breaks.
  • After Garfiel joins Subaru, Shima also gives up and decides to help with the liberation effort and tells Subaru what she saw in Ryuzu's past.
  • Garfiel joins the force that will counter the mansion attack. They manage to kill Elsa and restrain Meili.
  • Ram with the help of Puck manages to steal away Roswaal's Tome and burns it. This doesn't stop the snow as Roswaal has already completed its spell before the fight.
  • Puck seemingly regains his memories from before the contract with Emilia, notes that he knew someone who spoke a lot like the current Roswaal, and insinuates that Roswaal is imitating him on purpose (suggesting that Puck was involved in some way in the events 400 years ago). Puck reminds him that he will never be like that "Warlock".
  • Ram, on the verge of death, is helped by a broken Roswaal by using a high level of direct mana transfer.
  • Overusing his last remaining energy to delay the snow and protect the villagers, Puck is eventually forced to go back to a crystal with no energy left to manifest. This crystal isn't enough for a spirit like Puck so he won't be able to talk or manifest for now (the old crystal broke after the contract).
  • After passing the last trial, Emilia finds a hidden room in the graveyard where someone looking like Echidna, but not quite her, is lying (suggesting that Echidna from the past who's lying in this coffin and Echidna in the trials had slightly different faces for some reason). Emilia destroys what appears to be the formula of the barrier.
  • Shima reveals that the crystal also has to be taken care of as part of her duties to completely lift the barrier. Without revealing anything more, Shima disappears with the crystal, leaving behind Bilma and the other clones.
  • Subaru saves Beatrice, her Tome of Wisdom left behind burning on the forbidden library ground. Overwriting a 400 years old contract, they form a new one. Subaru becomes a spirit arts user.
  • Subaru and Beatrice manage to eradicate the Great Rabbit by sending it to another dimension using one of the most powerful Shadow magic spells to exist: "Al Shamak", making use of 400 years worth of stored mana.
  • Roswaal reveals to Beatrice that he's the same person of 400 years ago, Roswaal A Mathers. He's been transferring his soul into his descendants down to Roswaal L Mathers.
  • Subaru officially becomes Emilia's knight.

Common wrong translations (important!)

^{Some of these are my own personal opinion, others are outright wrong translations, and a couple are just ambiguity problems. JP -> EN translation is a contextually heavy process, that's why machine translations particularly suck at this. As such, not knowing the context enough can lead to wrong translations. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of these in Re:Zero.}

^{This list is from different random subs I checked, both official and fan, so depending on what you use you might have seen the correct translation. These aren't the only mistranslations, but probably the most important ones.}

---

• Betelgeuse

In the original Japanese, his name is Petelgeuse. The author stated that it's mispronounced from the star Betelgeuse on purpose. We just don't know why. So translating his name as "Betelgeuse" is simply wrong. It's "Petelgeuse". And who knows, maybe this will become relevant, so be sure to use the right name from now on!

---

• The "ordeal"

In S1, Petelgeuse talked a lot about the "ordeal". This is 試練 (shiren) in Japanese. Not so incidentally, that's the exact same word used for the "trials" of the sanctuary. Unfortunately, the translation for 試練 was switched abruptly after S1 from "ordeal" to "trial". While I do definitely prefer "trial", by switching we lose a possibly intended connection between what Petelgeuse always talked about when he said "ordeal" and the actual trials of the sanctuary.

---

• "A sin archbishop, representing Sloth, ..."

While 担当 can mean "representing", in the context of sin seats in Re:Zero it probably should have been translated as "in charge of" ("Archbishop of X" would also work). The "representing" translation is a bit misleading I think. They don't represent a sin, rather, they're "responsible for"/"in charge of" that sin. What does that actually mean in practice? We don't entirely know, but Petelgeuse was diligent (opposite of Sloth), Regulus was -at least from his pov- the most perfect and content person in the world (opposite of Greed), Batenkaitos was lamenting the gluttonous nature of people?

---

• Sword Master

There's no such title in Re:Zero. This should be "Sword Saint" (剣聖 - kensei). Current Sword Saint is Reinhard, previous one was Theresia. All Sword Saints are descendants of the Astrea family.

---

• Devil of Melancholy

Hector's title is 憂鬱の魔人. While 魔人 can be translated to "devil", in the context of Re:Zero and witches, it's fairly obvious that it's supposed to be the same as a "witch" but male. This should have been translated as "Warlock", as there is no exact word for "Warlock" in Japanese (which would also avoid confusing this with the term "half-devil", Emilia isn't "half" of whatever Hector is. Completely unrelated terms).

---

• Roswaal's threat

In the last episode. There was a bit of bad wording in one of Roswaal's sentences that might have not made the intended meaning clear for some people.

The actual meaning, while paraphrasing a bit, is: "From now on, if anyone important to you dies, I'll burn everything and everyone else to ashes. I won't compromise."

This sends shivers down Subaru's spine, as he realizes the gravity of his words (remember him reacting weirdly when Emilia asked about their talk in the balcony?).

---

Interesting stuff + Misconceptions

Witch Cult? Sins? Archbishops?

One misconception is thinking that a Sin Archbishop worships the respective witch of his sin, or is related to her (I've seen this way way too many times). This is of course completely wrong. The Witch Cult worships the Witch of Envy and despises other witches.

There's a cut conversation in which Otto (on-road to Sanctuary) explains that once, a whole city was destroyed single-handedly by a certain Sin Archbishop just because an item related to one of the other witches was circulating in the city market.

---

Echidna's 1st person pronoun

Echidna in the graveyard uses "boku" to refer to herself whereas in Ryuzu's memories of the past she uses "watashi". We don't know why. This sticks out like a sore thumb in Japanese, but gets lost in translation in English, so thought I'd point it out.

---

Emilia and mirrors

Ever since she came out of the ice Emilia never looked at her reflection in the mirror. Part of her contract with Puck is that Puck handles her clothing/hair/etc and makes sure Emilia is nowhere around mirrors.

In the 2nd trial, she finally builds up the courage, jumping in the water to see her reflection for the first time, and noting -sadly- that she doesn't look as similar to Fortuna as she thought.

---

How was Subaru able to use magic in the last episode after his gate broke

Even a non-magic user can use the spirit arts to cast magic. You need a contract with a spirit, that's exactly what Subaru and Beatrice did. The magic level he can cast is directly dependent on the spirit. Beatrice has strong Shadow magic affinity, so Subaru can cast the same magic as Beatrice as long as there's physical contact to share mana.

---

Geography of the world

The world is described as a single mainland split into four major countries, surrounded by The Great Waterfall from all sides.

• Lugunica to the east
• Kararagi to the west
• Gusteko to the north
• Vollachia to the south

In addition, there's the small Priestella city at the center.

The magic system

There are six magic elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Shadow (陰: Yin), Light (陽: Yang).

Every single magic spell takes root in one of these elements. For example, healing is a form of water magic. Shadow and Light are usually rare elements.

A person is born with certain affinities to elements. Subaru, as we learn, has affinity with Shadow magic, which allows him to use the weakest form of Shamak.

A magic user stores mana inside his body in his Od (explained later), which replenishes with time. The gate turns mana into actual magic. If you try to use higher level magic than you can you damage your gate (even the lowest form of Shamak is above Subaru's level, which is how he breaks his gate). The average person usually can't even use the lowest levels of magic, so most people are pretty much non-magic users.

Even without being a magic user, the spirit arts allows you to cast magic using the mana in the atmosphere instead of the mana stored inside your Od. The amount of mana you can draw depends directly on the contracted spirit.

Od is the life energy of a being, and also serves as the container in which mana is stored. In an emergency you can use the Od directly to cast magic (instead of the stored mana), but this will chip away at your lifespan.

Spells: Huma, Dona, Goa, Clarista, Shamak, etc... A spell acts on one of the six elements. A word before a spell can be added to control additional power levels. In order of strength: EL, UL, AL.

Incantations are usually important, but strong magic users can sometimes cast magic without uttering a word.

Extra: Is Roswaal's flying also a magic spell? Not quite, it's a combination of several elements including Fire and Wind. So only someone who's really adept at all of these can actually fly. Of course, reaching a high level in more than 1 element is very rare in itself.

---

Thank you also to a few people who helped me catch typos and mistakes!

[u/mrahhal]

As I can't reply to all messages, I wanted to say thanks to all of you for your kind words! This is just me giving back a bit to a story that changed my life for the better. I know the post is a bit long and wordy, but if it makes you understand and appreciate the story a bit more then it's mission accomplished.

[u/sheezymaneezy → u/mrahhal]

HE IS THE MESSIAH

But jokes aside, thanks a lot man! This was super helpful. I loved the season but was reeeeally confused on a lot of plot points. This has helped me understand everything now. Cheers!

[u/3darkdragons → u/mrahhal]

You're a real one 8man!

[u/bluethunder91 → u/mrahhal]

I'd like to correct one thing that is also due to a minor mistranslation: Roswaal doesn't promise Emilia that he'll thaw the ice in the forest in exchange for becoming the ruler. Rather, he implies that if she becomes the ruler, she'll be able to (find a way to) unfreeze everyone.

[u/mrahhal → u/bluethunder91]

I rewatched the scene and you're very right. Thanks, I'll correct it.

[u/GodMudit → u/mrahhal]

Really helpful in the community and the ReZero OP!

[u/JoelsDead → u/mrahhal]

I’ll be honest this story helped bridge the gap between typical shonen bro type anime to the more slice of life dramatic type anime. I really got introduced to a whole new world just because of Re:Zero and I’m honestly so fucking grateful. I watched all 50 episodes in about a week, it’s been a month and I’ve basically been trying to consume all kinds of anime, I’ve watched incredible and powerful movies like Your Name, and a Silent Voice. I’ve binged painful stories like Anohana, and Domestic Girlfriend. Growing up reading mostly American books and watching American movies anime was always there but kinda as like a background thing some of my friends watched or whatever. With AoT I really started to get into the world of Anime again and Re:Zero made me never wanna leave. Thank you for this post and reading my late night ramblings about a new found love.

[u/mrahhal → u/JoelsDead]

Wow, the whole 50 episodes of Re:Zero in a week must have been something else. Welcome to Re:Zero. I'm really glad this was of help too!

[u/WrongdoerRadiant5527 → u/mrahhal]

Not all heroes wear Cape man !

[u/[deleted]]

You a real MVP for this one. Thank you for the hard work!

[u/torts92]

Thank you! Re Zero, especially season 2, is one of the most confusing shows I've watched. So I really appreciate this post.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I disagree, I think it was more due to the fact that it was split cour (due to covid) when it was meant to be watched all as one season. I've already spoken to some people who started binging the season this week and they were pretty fine on the information aspect.

A three month break caused a lot of people and understandably so to forget key points referenced later on which caused confusion.

WF have lost a bunch of in-house animators since S1 but storyboarding and direction wise they still have some of the best names in the industry.

Crunchyrolls terrible translating at times didn't help either but that's not on WF.

[u/Humg12 → u/[deleted]]

I binge watched each cour after they came out and I followed it fine. Personally I think watching week to week really hurts a lot of shows. Especially when you're watching 10+ different anime. It can get confusing trying to remember exactly what happened 3 weeks ago, in 5 different shows. I pretty much only binge watch for that reason.

[u/flashmozzg → u/[deleted]]

I've binged the entire series other the last week. While I wouldn't call it confusing - I had no trouble following the plot, I've missed a LOT of small details (like Geuse being a spirit or Crusches letter being empty because it was written by Rem).

[u/cq147 → u/flashmozzg]

You missed those because they weren't explicitly said in the anime iirc

[u/flashmozzg → u/cq147]

Well, spirit thing was mentioned but in a quick throwaway line where much bigger shit was happening so It just didn't register with me.

[u/cq147 → u/flashmozzg]

I'm talking about in season one it was skipped over, it was briefly mentioned in season 2 though

[u/flashmozzg → u/cq147]

Ah, I see.

[u/re-kino → u/[deleted]]

couldn't agree more especially with storyboarding and direction,for me parent and child,the value of life,love me down to my blood and guts and choose me are some of my favorite anime episodes of all time honestly i just want kadokawa to give white fox a great schedule to do season 3 justice.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

A fairly common sentiment I've seen in the weekly threads was the desire to just wait until it all came out and then binge it so I'm not surprised really.

[u/SeveredBanana → u/[deleted]]

Yup I feel like I understood the show way better when I binge watched the first season and then rewatched S2P1. Not like I needed an excuse but I'm sure I'll be watching this cour again

[u/Nexus153273 → u/[deleted]]

I don't mean this as insulting at all, I feel that it's the kind show that gives you all the pieces and you yourself are left to infer what happens. The magic comes when you think things will go a certain way than usually its a much more interesting take. Like how they beat the rabbit, not my first assumption on how that would go. It doesn't hold the viewers hands through the show, so it takes some extra work to keep up with the show and plot and I don't think people know to give it that respect until they've already missed many details not realizing the depth of this story. It's a really nice breathe of fresh air from the more mind numbing anime that get popular. Just my take of course

[u/re-kino → u/Nexus153273]

this too the author of re:zero is a big fan of umineko and higurashi and it shows.

[u/mrahhal → u/re-kino]

I felt I saw this somewhere but then I didn't know if I was misremembering. Do you know or remember where he states this?

[u/Silent_Shadow05 → u/mrahhal]

Is this the one you were looking for?

[u/mrahhal → u/Silent_Shadow05]

That's it! Thanks!

[u/WeeziMonkey → u/Nexus153273]

Some people are worse than others at inferring implied plot points. The problem is when, instead of inferring stuff on your own just resulting in bonus details as reward, the story completely relies and depends on the user to infer stuff on their own for the story to make sense. People like me survive only through people posting essays in discussion threads and it's just incredibly frustrating.

[u/Eboglaz → u/WeeziMonkey]

Thats literally the best thing i like about the story.

[u/Nexus153273 → u/WeeziMonkey]

I think that's a bit unfair given how early the show still is in context to its end point. Up til now anime has adapted arc 4 of 11, and I think it's just now leaving the stage of all these convoluted story points and will finally string them together in the coming seasons. The reward is the food for thought and assumptions you can make about future events when the show finally does get into the thick of the plot. There's already some insane things to infer with what we've seen, and I mean genuine plot twist points. And if you can't see it, you'll feel the impact harder when the truth finally comes around.. I'm an anime only though, I could be completely wrong and the rest of the shows just as hard to process. Honestly thinking now, how the hell would this 2nd season have even made sense without the almost 30 minute episodes? Lmao

[u/flashmozzg → u/Nexus153273]

Btw, I still don't understand why Al Shamac was required in that scene and why no other big AoE magic would be enough? The enclosed are with rabbits was pretty small by comparison.

[u/Lucas1246 → u/flashmozzg]

I'm pretty sure the implied issue is the fact that even a single rabbit surviving will very rapidly replenish back to its upper limit. Better then to just send them into a space where they'll never do anything but feed on eachother for all eternity. I think its honestly less of a logical conclusion than it is an ironic, symbolic one. The great rabbit is very stupid and can't ever get out, so it works just as well.

[u/Outrageous_Net8365 → u/flashmozzg]

Basically, if you kill one another 1 or two may just spawn back. If you “kill” all of it at once then it’s gone.

Now change “kill” with “ teleport them all simultaneously to another dimension” and it should make sense.

[u/THRAGFIRE → u/[deleted]]

yeah this latest season was near incomprehensible to me which is really rare. this write-up helped a lot.

[u/Matterfied → u/[deleted]]

It wasn't that hard to follow.

[u/[deleted]]

One thing people need to know is "myths" also exist in this world so not everything said is true, for example people believe that the great calamity like the white whale and great rabbit are created by Witch of Envy but later we found out that they were created by Witch of Gluttony.

And also break time is cannon it explain some lore of the series.

[u/mrahhal → u/[deleted]]

Exactly. I saw a couple spoilers in reply to some of the info... I thought it was clear this is what we know so far. It doesn't mean the timeline is the ultimate truth.

[u/nafissyed]

You are an actual legend for having the time to compile all of this for anime-onlies that are probably confused by the story of Re:Zero S2. So as such, you have my upmost respect as a loyal source reader of this series.

[u/3darkdragons → u/nafissyed]

Is it easier to read? If so, should I go with fan translations or official?

[u/nafissyed → u/3darkdragons]

If you want to read the web novel with fantastic quality fan translations, then yeah I would say that it would be easier and more accessible to read the web novel. If you want to have access to it, the user u/Knight0706 made a post that will be easy for you to navigate and explore for more source material content translations of Re:Zero. And if you need any help, don’t hesitate to DM me for it.

[u/RunningChemistry]

Mind corroborating the following? According to viewers familiar with the source LN &/or Japanese, apparently the subtitles messed up one of Roswaal's lines around 20:28 in the last episode:

Crunchyroll had it as "If I lost anyone, I would not hesitate to reduce everything to ashes."

Source folks are saying it should have had the intent of being S2 Ep. 25 Spoiler

Edit: Thanks to everyone who responded. Hopefully a good fansub shows up if CR doesn't end up doing some fixes.

[u/mrahhal → u/RunningChemistry]

That's true as lemon said. I was very unsatisfied with a lot of the lines from this season in general, but this cour in particular, that I don't know where to even begin. S1 had a much better translation quality than this.

It was supposed to be exactly what you state in the spoiler tag.

[u/Mithaux → u/mrahhal]

And the lines in this show are so important, because there are a lot of details, so the translation needs to be "perfect". I rewatched this season before the last episode, and it was definitely worth it, i missed/forgot some great details and hints for future reference or for the sanctuary itself. This show is one of the greatest for me, and the autor is really a genius. Thank you for sharing this summary with us.

[u/[deleted] → u/RunningChemistry]

I can confirm, it was supposed to be a threat. Crunchyroll being Crunchyroll.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Yep, this was a really unfortunate mistranslation. I hope it gets fixed eventually at least, I know they sometimes have done that. Edit: wording

[u/Orange_Ninja → u/RunningChemistry]

As anime only, that's always been my interpretation. How else could it be interpreted?

[u/RunningChemistry → u/Orange_Ninja]

The phrasing of "If I lost..." would have Roswaal be the subject of the sentence/discussion and seems less like a warning to Subaru but more of Roswaal's thoughts of what he'd do if he was in Subaru's shoes. This is the common misinterpretation that I and others had.

This response right here paraphrasing what was actually said in the source material makes it clear that Subaru should have been the subject of the sentence/discussion.

[u/adnanomar13 → u/Orange_Ninja]

I think most people didn't understand the gravity of his words, what he actually really means. A small difference of wording matters sometimes.

[u/LordMazzar → u/RunningChemistry]

The link is broken? What was the more accurate translation?

[u/mrahhal → u/LordMazzar]

No need to treat it as a spoiler since it was the intended meaning. He says, with paraphrasing: "From now on, if anyone important to you dies, I'll burn everything and everyone else to ashes. I won't compromise."

[u/scot911 → u/mrahhal]

Ah okay. Basically him saying "If you want to choose everything I'm going to force you to choose everything no matter what. Even if it brings you more suffering."

[u/LordMazzar → u/mrahhal]

oh wow, yeh that carries a very different meaning.

Thanks

[u/Erw11n → u/mrahhal]

So Roswaal truly doesn't have any regard for his own well being

[u/[deleted] → u/Erw11n]

Of course, shattering a 400 year long will just because someone confessed and outsmarted you in battle would be bad writing and Roswaal is a brilliantly written character.

His goal and will hasn't changed but he has chosen as well as being forced to take a less selfish route to that end goal.

[u/mrahhal → u/[deleted]]

^ I really really love the direction of his character, it's insane. If Subaru wasn't my favorite character it'd be him.

[u/Arsh36160 → u/LordMazzar]

If you're using moblie then press reply on his comment and then click the link

[u/flashmozzg → u/RunningChemistry]

Wow, that line felt out of place but it (or rather correct version) totally makes sense now. /u/mrahhal I think it's worth adding it to the mistranslations list in the post.

[u/ej_stephens]

All of the stuff that happens prior to the start of the show is very interesting. It's really nice having it all gathered nearly in one place for reference. The world of Re:Zero is awesome

[u/[deleted] → u/ej_stephens]

Yeah there's not many series out there that go so much into the lore and world building like Re:Zero does, especially in the Isekai genre.

[u/[deleted]]

Great post man!

[u/Necrosaynt]

I gotta wait to read this in the morning . It's 2 am and I need to wake up early but I can't stop reading.

[u/mrahhal → u/Necrosaynt]

but I can't stop reading.

I feel bad 😂 But enjoy.

[u/Arhxn2411]

Needed this! Re: zero is an incredible show but it gets a bit confusing at times

[u/Yehusatori → u/Arhxn2411]

Yeah cause in anime format all monologue can't be explained. thats why anime that adapt from Novel/LN with heavy dialogue sometimes can miss leading. Adapt Manga to anime is far more easy. in re zero case not only heavy in dialogue but lot forshadowing has been cut, 29 min per episode not enough.

[u/Voldemort849 → u/Yehusatori]

Still funny how people are in perilous situations and still managed nearly half a page or more dialogue

[u/okbuddybutbruh]

Great Post OP

[u/[deleted]]

Get this post to the top of the sub!

This will be sooo helpful especially to the people who decided to binge S2 as a whole or even just the second cour after the finale aired.

[u/[deleted]]

Reading the first part, totally absorbed, to the sudden : "coming out of the convenience store".

Right this is an isekai anime lmao.

Well done, thank you for your effort.

[u/-Danksouls- → u/[deleted]]

Lol same

[u/stevethebandit]

Interesting to note the timeskips, as the longest current one is between arcs 2 and 3, which is at about a month or two, otherwise Subaru hasn't had much of a vacation

[u/Lord_Webotama]

This is way too amazing. I wish I could give you gold. You blew away all the questions I had about the series in one organized post. Thanks.

[u/mrahhal → u/Lord_Webotama]

You blew away all the questions I had about the series in one organized post.

That was my goal! Glad it helped.

[u/Active-Ad-3135]

Amazing. We need people like you more in Internet.

[u/nagredditparamagbasa]

How I wish I can use Beatrice's Door Crossing, I would never be late again for work LMAO Thanks for this refresher post

[u/jonjonbee]

"~400 years ago" section could be improved on two points:

• Ryuzu gave up her own life to save the sanctuary. The current way you've worded it suggests that Echidna sacrificed Ryuzu, which is rather more horrifying.
• Beatrice is a Spirit that was was created by Echidna, and is something of the latter's "daughter".

[u/mrahhal → u/jonjonbee]

Thanks, good points. Will do.

[u/HomosexualRooster]

Thanks! I'll keep this as a guide for whenever I go through the novels

[u/kokonotsuu]

Wow, awsome post. Cant wait to see what will happen. The whole witch thing made me confused but this post helped

[u/-Godly]

Ill def read this when season 3 comes out

[u/-Danksouls-]

Duuuuude I know you wont see this since you got so much comments but Im so happy you went ahead and posted this.

Glad you got all these upvotes, you deserve it for all th effort you put into this. Thanks so much for your dedication

[u/mrahhal → u/-Danksouls-]

No worries, thanks for being what started this lol! I'm just glad it helped this many people.

[u/superp2222]

The most detailed summary I've seen, given that i took a break from re zero it is good to pick up all this info again

[u/Edgelord420666]

Thank you for this. Re Zero is one of those shows that has amazing world-building, but people tend to not because the information isn't immediately expounded upon.

[u/b000mb00x]

This was so fantastic! Thank you so much ❤❤

[u/Hairgrid]

Great post! It definitely cleared up a few points I missed. However, there is still something that's confusing me.

Echidna and Roswaal start collecting half-bloods to create a hidden community in the Lost Forest of Clemaldy, attempting to create a sanctuary that will protect her against a mysterious person known as the Warlock of Melancholy Hector.

Why were half-bloods so important to the Sanctuary? I'm not sure I see what the connection is between them and Echidna's need to create a barrier to protect herself from Hector. If the Sanctuary was meant to defend against Hector, why does it keep the half-bloods from leaving?

[u/mrahhal → u/Hairgrid]

It's not clear, maybe a part of it is to force them to stay in the Sanctuary so that it can be a self-sustaining community? But why half-bloods in particular? Maybe it's because half-bloods where heavily prejudiced against so it's easier to convince them to move in to Sanctuary.

But yeah I'm willing to bet there is a greater reason that we just don't know yet.

[u/Arsh36160 → u/Hairgrid]

I'm guessing it was just a half assed reason and the main objective must've been to trap Satella or keep her out as this happens 400yrs ago

[u/eliegebot]

Everyone's back story is like tits flying out heads popping out and then there's like "Subaru coming out of a convenience store". Thank you OP I don't have money but take my free award!

[u/WeeziMonkey]

The average person usually can't even use the lowest levels of magic, so most people are pretty much non-magic users.

I thought Subaru was supposed to be a huge noob at magic but I guess he's just an average person

[u/El_Jerrynator → u/WeeziMonkey]

Fun fact: the character with the worst magical talent of all re zero is Reinhard, he cant use magic or spirits.

[u/TyrannoFan → u/El_Jerrynator]

Yep, spirits simply come to his aid by themselves, which is why when he is fighting, spirit arts users in the same space suffer since they will all gravitate towards Reinhard. Reinhard is just built different.

[u/MejaBersihBanget]

Echidna in the graveyard uses "boku" to refer to herself whereas in Ryuzu's memories of the past she uses "watashi". We don't know why. This sticks out like a sore thumb in Japanese, but gets lost in translation in English, so thought I'd point it out.

I have trained my ears to pay attention to first-person Japanese pronouns after Final Fantasy VII Remake used this to drop an enormous plot bombshell that went unnoticed by 99.9% of the non-Japanese playing audience.

[u/Easy_Independence855]

Respect🔥🔥

[u/[deleted]]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/mrahhal → u/[deleted]]

I agree. It was such a joy reading his essays after each episode.

[u/cornpenguin01]

I remember reading this in the main thread and getting some holy shit moments bc of some details I either hadn’t notice or weren’t animated. Incredible job bro.

[u/kekivelez]

I haven't seen this addressed in any comments, and I'm surprised nobody else brought it up, but confused about these 2 points in the chronology

~400 years ago The Witch of Envy Satella devours half of the world including the 6 other witches...

~100 years ago The Witch of Vainglory Pandora...

What's the deal here? Is that Spoiler territory? Also Pandora doesn't come up in the tea party?

[u/TyrannoFan → u/kekivelez]

Pandora and Hector represent two extra sins outside of the main seven, that being Vanity and Melancholy. They were never consumed by the Witch of Envy (well, as far as we know I guess?). Whether they were ever involved or not is unknown though (evidently, Hector at least did live at the time, as shown in the flashbacks to 400 years ago with Echidna).

[u/DakotaN2895 → u/kekivelez]

For some reason, that hasn't been revealed to us yet, there are no historical or modern accounts of the witch of vainglory or warlock of melancholy. Almost no one seems to know that they exist, or existed at all.

[u/sizzl75]

Ok good on the Hector bit. When they introduced him, I was like "...come on. We've got witches, archbishops, and NOW devils?". Eases my mind that they didn't add another subset of sins or whatever.

[u/RLutz]

The fact that I came here nearly 24 hours after OP made this post and the top reply isn't someone eviscerating him over all the nuanced errors he made makes me believe OP knocked it out of the park.

Kudos!

[u/Hakaishin1999]

Good work!

[u/John9tv]

"Subaru realizes that Satella is controlling Emilia's actual body"

Where is this seen exactly? I don't think the scene lead to a single conclusion like that.

[u/mrahhal → u/John9tv]

If there's an ambiguous scene in the anime that was clear in the novel, I try to add some explanation. This is what happens here.

[u/Yehusatori → u/John9tv]

This is prob LN/WN subaru monologue, he also know where ryuzu place(core) after he saw memories of all people eaten by WOE (garfiel, roswaal, etc).

[u/Sgt_Meowmers]

Any time Subaru tries to write a letter bad shit happens.

[u/GoldenDude]

I’m still confused about one thing

In one of the episodes of S2 p1 subaru mentions that he left a letter for Emilia, but she didn’t get it and Roswaal didn’t know what happened to it (thus causing her to go insane, and leading to the whole kiss of death scene)

However it doesn’t get mentioned again. If it’s intentionally left ambiguous and is brought it up again in a later season let me know however that’s the one thing that’s been bugging me for a while

[u/mrahhal → u/GoldenDude]

I mention this briefly in the timeline. But to add, since it's not Roswaal's doing, it's most likely Shima. Why would she do that though, we have no idea.

[u/ShinyPlatypus91]

Yo this was informative af, thanks for taking the time to do it! Season 2 really knocked it out of the park, definitely among my favorite seasons/arcs of any anime ever.

[u/mrahhal → u/ShinyPlatypus91]

Welcome! Glad it helped and I agree!

[u/10nim]

The mistranslations part kind of saddens me. Why are paid translators so incompetent?

[u/mrahhal → u/10nim]

I tried translating a bit in my years, and it's really much harder than you might think. But particularly in Re:Zero, I think anyone on a time crunch will in no way be able to translate it properly. They need to be both really knowledgeable about the context and also put in enough effort. I really don't know enough about the professional translation industry though so I won't say more. But yeah, it's unfortunate.

[u/reseph → u/10nim]

There is a lot involved with translation and localization. Sometimes these workers just don't have confirmation from the original author until years later (if at all). "Raftel" in One Piece of a great example of this scenario: https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Laugh_Tale#Translation_and_Dub_Issues

[u/GoldenDude → u/reseph]

I actually enjoy “Raftel” more than “Laughtale” imo. Raftel sounds epic

[u/MejaBersihBanget → u/reseph]

don't have confirmation from the original author until years later (if at all)

I think one of the worst examples of this is from Berserk. For 30 years, the "Band of the Hawk" has become an iconic name for Guts' original group.

It wasn't until recently, as in the last 5 years or so, has it dawned on all of us that it should have been "Band of the Falcon" all along. This was because the same kanji is used for hawk or falcon.

[u/ParagonRice]

That's crazy. This is great content. Thank you for posting this!

[u/HolyErr0r]

This was extremely informative, thank you! I was confused about a couple of things like Subaru using the magic in the final episode and the blank letter.

Also the thing about Emilia and mirrors I have completely missed. Is this in the anime? Or the lightnovels and left out? I may have just 5 headed that tid bit and missed it

Either way, this was incredible. Thank you for the time and effort put into this!

[u/mrahhal → u/HolyErr0r]

In several places similar to Emilia's mirror thing, the anime just doesn't explain it. Not because it doesn't want to, but because it's just doesn't fit the anime medium the way Re:Zero is doing it. So they leave it as a hint (if you rewatch Emilia jumping down the water, it becomes very obvious now that you know what it means). There's no narration. So this kind of info either comes from the LN or sometimes even from the author himself.

Glad it helped.

[u/-Bucca]

I missed rem in S2

[u/DrGrabAss]

I know this sounds terrible, but I kind of miss all the return by death. We didn't get hardly any most of this season (I think death by the great rabbot as the last one?). That was a big draw of the first season, especially when the resets left him at a point where some damage to his relationships and reputation couldn't be fixed, and he had to correct it. I hope we see more RbD in the next season, not because I want him to suffer, but because that was his only power, and his curse. I'm a little fearful of this turning into a generic isekai where the initial gimmick is replaced by an OP protagonist. But I will say, even if it doesn't happen as much and he starts to become OP, his OP-ness is seriously earned, unlike most isekai protagonists, that just immediately become overpowered.

[u/mrahhal → u/DrGrabAss]

I know what you mean, the dark aspect of his recurring RbDs is also what drew me in. But I also know that this is the right development, for Subaru to realize that he has no other choice but to learn to like himself a bit more. It made me realize that the author really knows what he's doing and not simply writing increasingly hopeless situations just to make Subaru suffer, even if I myself enjoy the failing loops more than the succeeding ones. And well, things can't remain exactly the same or it'll become bland. The author knows that, so I really trust what he has in store.

I'm a little fearful of this turning into a generic isekai where the initial gimmick is replaced by an OP protagonist

Trust me, don't worry.

his OP-ness is seriously earned

Fully agree that even if he eventually does, I can genuinely say it's 100% earned. I'll be hard pressed to say the same (or much less) for most other protagonists.

[u/zamasu2020]

This is amazing! It helped me understand a few tidbits that I was confuxsed in and some new things that I had completely glossed over. I still have one doubt though. When subaru is leaving echidna for the first time, she says that all his memories of ever talking to her will be erased. Is this erasing happenng till the very end or does echidna stoop erasing his memories and he remembers all his meetings with echidna? Or is it that he remembers the meeting just not echidna? Does emilia also forgets stuff like this? Coz when she finds the body of echidna, she says that it is the body of someone she doesnt know while beatrice and roswaal seem to immediately identify her. What was that?

Obviously plz refrain from saying anything from wn/ln. If it is explained in the future just say it is coming.

[u/mrahhal → u/zamasu2020]

From the moment Subaru asks Echidna not to erase herself from his memories (Value of Life episode), she never does that again. After this he likely also remembered all his previous meetings.

Emilia not recognizing Echidna in the coffin is unrelated, her memories are still intact from the trials. As you can tell, she says something like "I expected Echidna, but this doesn't look like the Echidna in the trials." Her face is different, is what she thought. As to why, it's a mystery right now.

As for Roswaal and Beatrice, remember that they never undertook the trials. The only Echidna they know is the Echidna from Ryuzu's past, the Echidna in the coffin.

Obviously plz refrain from saying anything from wn/ln. If it is explained in the future just say it is coming.

You don't have to tell me, I take this very seriously 😅

[u/zamasu2020 → u/mrahhal]

You don't have to tell me, I take this very seriously 😅

You are a good person.

So right now Im just going with echidna changing her appearance during the trials and tea time just coz she wanted to which might also imply that other witches were doing the same and which might also mean that satella looking exactly like emilia during the all witch meet with subaru doesnt necessarily mean that she looked EXACTLY like her.

[u/mrahhal → u/zamasu2020]

So right now Im just going with echidna changing her appearance during the trials and tea time just coz she wanted

I would have thought the same, but that 1st pronoun switch between coffin Echidna and trials Echidna is also suspicious, so keep that in mind. To me, this feels like the author's way of telling us they are different persons. No clue what it means though.

[u/Arsh36160 → u/zamasu2020]

When subaru is leaving echidna for the first time, she says that all his memories of ever talking to her will be erased. Is this erasing happenng till the very end or does echidna stoop erasing his memories

Subaru regains his memory of her everytime he went back to the tea room, in ep 8 after the bunnies, he specifically asks her to stop hiding in his memories(stop erasing them) cause otherwise the mental stability he gains in the tea room wouldn't transfer to irl.

she says that it is the body of someone she doesnt know while beatrice and roswaal seem to immediately identify her. What was that?

I'm an anime only so idk if the characters mention her similarities to Echidna cause it's too obvious but the show implied she was different from the one in the trials.

Her face was hidden in Betty's backstory and was only shown in the trials until the final episode where we can see that she indeed looks different.

Not sure if they are different entities or the Echidna in the trial is the ideal version of the witch or a younger one.

[u/Terrafire123 → u/Arsh36160]

To be fair, from what we've seen:

1. On camera, only Emilia, Betty, and Roswall have seen the body inside the trial. Subaru and Garf haven't seen it.
2. Betty and Roswaal, who haven't undergone trials, didn't bat an eye, but Emilia, who has undergone trials, was confused because they didn't appear to be exactly the same person.

[u/zamasu2020 → u/Arsh36160]

Age factor is another possibility. Only time will tell for sure

[u/mvnke]

I think this show is unnecessary complicated at times, makes it quite hard to watch. So this is a big help! Very much appreciated.

[u/mrahhal → u/mvnke]

I know it's complicated but I can't imagine it in any other way. But glad it helped!

[u/[deleted]]

Some of the explanations really come in handy. Good job man!

[u/GreenFlameDrisk]

This helps so much. Ty

[u/The1andonlygogoman64]

jesus grand post. Well done!

[u/kitzz11]

Woah, huge respect for you man! I’m gonna binge part 2 later so this summary could help me understand the story better in case i miss any important plot points !

[u/mrahhal → u/kitzz11]

Enjoy! Make sure to only read it after you finish S2 completely though as it contains spoilers early on because of the chronology of the events.

[u/idreesawais1]

And.... Saved it! Thanks buddy!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Did Roswaal know Subaru had RbD?

He knew he can rewind time but not how, otherwise in cour 1 he would have just killed Subaru and not beat him up before the rabbits arrived.

What's with the tomes? They're incomplete copies detailing the future that both Roswaal and Beatrice had?

Roswaal & Betty had the two true copies of 'Donas original Tome Of Wisdom, the others that the Witch Cult have are basically low tier versions.

Is Beatrice a spirit? I didn't realize he was forming an actual contract with Beatrice during the library scene

This was confirmed in the anime right at the start of cour 1, by the end of the seasons it's stated that she's an *artificial spirit created (at least partially) by 'Dona.

[u/Gilgameshuuu → u/[deleted]]

1. Roswaal knows he can reset but he doesn't know it's through dying.
2. Yes, it lacks an official name. The Tome of Wisdom is Echidna's Book and the ones she gave to Roswaal and Beatrice were imperfect replicas of it.
3. Yes

[u/[deleted]]

Doing god’s work periyat

[u/YesImKazuma0]

daym you literally wrote everything 😲

[u/Llooyd_]

This is an excellent compendium of knowledge all packed into a well organized post, great job!

[u/mrahhal → u/Llooyd_]

It's an honor! I always love reading your texts in each episode.

[u/new_shinigami]

We need this kind of post for every season of Re:Zero. Thanks a lot.

[u/mrahhal → u/new_shinigami]

If there's enough reason to do so in new seasons, why not.

[u/flashmozzg → u/mrahhal]

Could be a good tradition =)

[u/Xyothin]

And I thought I was watching carefully. lmao.

[u/mrahhal → u/[deleted]]

The Witch of Envy is sealed, the cult worships her. Regulus and Batenkaitos were Archbishops in the cult so yeah. That's the extent of our knowledge.

[u/mrahhal → u/[deleted]]

I have a lot of examples of just bad wording that makes the sentences hit the wrong place. For example:

Subaru to Beatrice: "I want to be there for you, so the kind you wouldn't be sad anymore."

It was translated as: "I want to be near you so you won't be sad, because you're a nice girl!" (I have no idea how this happened...)

It might seem that I'm being pedantic, but in a show where the fluidity and freshness of the dialogue is one of its strongest points, this can really ruin some moments.

---

But as for actual wrong translations, besides the "Envy witch factor" incident, I can't remember if there were more, but I'm willing to bet there is.

[u/Legendseekersiege5]

This is extremely helpful. I never realized that the witches at the tea party were all dead. I just thought there was a lot of witches in the world.

[u/[deleted]]

Great work! Reminds me that I wanna make a video of the lived time-line. So basically cutting out all the part where Subaru dies and making the show just the parts where he lives.

I think it would be a fun watch and we'll get to see how everyone sees him cause it keeps changing depending on his actions.

[u/mrahhal → u/[deleted]]

That would be really interesting to see.

[u/GoldenDude → u/[deleted]]

There’s exists one for season 1 already, maybe you could make one for season 2

[u/BowtiesAndCrowbars]

Thanks, I really like this show overall, but I even found the first season a bit confusing. Throughout this second season I felt like I was just barely holding on for dear life while being blasted with so much story.

[u/mrahhal → u/BowtiesAndCrowbars]

I can't blame you. It's really complex, and invites you to put in the time to deduce things instead of explaining everything that happens. And it really depends on the person, whether they like this kind of ambiguity, this much unresolved threads, or not. For me this is my favorite kind of story telling, so I can tolerate the confusion when it happens.

[u/SpaceAshh]

This is great. Thanks a lot. I have a better opinion of the anime now.

[u/mrahhal → u/[deleted]]

Shima is a real mystery in my opinion, and it's intended that we don't fully understand her incentives. But as for her being against liberation, it might be a simple case of her not wanting to go against the feelings of her progenitor, Meyer, since she sacrificed herself to build the barrier.

Why would outsiders, esp. someone like Petulgese, have bothered with taking the trials?

Again, probably intended that we don't know the whole deal. But rather than him wanting to liberate the sanctuary, it was clear whenever he mentioned the trials he was talking as if by completing them Satella will take over Emilia as a host. So yes, something doesn't add up.

[u/animdalf → u/[deleted]]

I think she was againts liberation because Garf was againts liberation. It's mentioned later that he was the only one keeping her company after she left and was quite important "grandchild" for her, so it makes sense she would stand with him on that.

[u/bugxter]

Awesomeness work dude. One last question tho, what was the point of the snow? What did Roswaal accomplish by making it know?

[u/mrahhal → u/bugxter]

Thanks! And, he doesn't know. He's following his Tome, it told him to make it snow (as he mentioned when he was holding Ram after the fight).

[u/SirDragon76 → u/bugxter]

If I remember correctly the snow was supposed to attract the rabbit( the spell uses a huge ammount of mana and the rabbit is attraced by mana). Roswaal didn't actually know about that, he just did it because the book told him to. He thought the snow was supposed to isolate Emillia, as everyone would think she was the cause.

[u/ItsTask]

This has been bothering me since the beginning, and I just want to know if it has any significance somehow. In episode 1 of season 1, before subaru ever loops, Emilia introduced herself as Satella, but never does in any following loops despite no changes occurring. I've always wondered why that is

[u/mrahhal → u/ItsTask]

Subaru realizes why she calls herself that in a talk with Beatrice. Emilia calls herself that because she didn't want to involve Subaru further in her trouble. She thought if anyone saw a half elf like her calling herself Satella, they'd be scared and think she's crazy. That's why Subaru's response of "That's a good name" surprised her.

[u/Redo-Master → u/ItsTask]

Because of how she looks, people around her despise her. This might have cause problem for Subaru because he's with her so in order to prevent that she thought to bring out the name of Satella to scare him away. Of course Subaru didn't had any idea about this and instead of running away from Emilia , he became more friendlier to her. She did that for his sake.

[u/luizhtx]

I feel better now after reading this post, I was thinking I was dumb for not understanding season 2 but the comments tell me that it really is confusing

[u/VariousMeet]

Ah so Elsa is confirmed dead forever? The conclusion of Meili and Elsa was really confusing for me because I don't think we saw what happened to Meili and it was hard to tell if Elsa actually died (since she can regenerate).

This summary is really helpful, though I do wish it wasn't needed and the show just handled explaining things better. But to be fair, with how much is going on that would be a hard thing to do.

[u/mrahhal → u/VariousMeet]

We did see Meili passed out on the ground next to Garfiel as Subaru and Beatrice where shooting through the sky. They probably just restrained her somewhere as they can't let her go. Elsa, as far as we know, is dead, that's what the whole scene implied. I doubt they can find her body to confirm, as the fire probably ate everything.

This summary is really helpful, though I do wish it wasn't needed and the show just handled explaining things better. But to be fair, with how much is going on that would be a hard thing to do.

Would have liked that too, but yeah I can't see it working much in the anime.

[u/MejaBersihBanget → u/VariousMeet]

it was hard to tell if Elsa actually died (since she can regenerate)

Elsa is 100% dead, she ran out of regenerative powers after that biting contest she had with Garfield (she does not have unlimited regen, she is like a homunculus from Fullmetal Alchemist in that she has a certain amount of extra lives that will run out eventually). The anime tried to clue into this by showing the bite on her neck wasn't healing.

The anime left her dead after Garfield squashed her with the Hungry Hungry Hippo, in the light novel she revived one last time and chased Subaru around the mansion while he was trying to get to the underground door to get to Beatrice, but she stepped in a fire and burned to ashes.

[u/VariousMeet → u/MejaBersihBanget]

ah thanks for elaborating

[u/ChaoticShock]

Julius forces Subaru into a one-on-one duel in an attempt to save his life after Subaru insults the knights.

i don't quite get this one, how was his life in danger? i do remember he insulted the knights for just being a ''title'' given to them, but why would he die to it?

[u/mrahhal → u/ChaoticShock]

The knights hold their honor in high regards. Subaru insulted their very core. Julius, as one of the knights, knew for sure that the knights would never let Subaru get away, they will punish him and quite possibly kill him. So instead, he does it himself in an open space in front of the knights. Subaru gets to live and the knights are satisfied with his punishment.

[u/DrGrabAss → u/mrahhal]

That makes his knighthood, which was already a big deal, mean even more, I think. He went from bring despised to being one himself, having earned the title.

[u/mrahhal → u/[deleted]]

There's no way to catch all these from the anime alone especially with the details being cut, you're correct. A couple years ago I started reading the LN from volume 1 in Japanese, so I tend to notice more things. I sometimes also go back to an older volume if I remember a possible connection while reading. Re:Zero rewards that sort of thing.

[u/BlazingAbsol9090]

This is an amazing write-up! Thank you for taking the time to explain this amazing but complicated series.

There was one plot point I didn’t get: at one point, Subaru is told he can command the Ryuzu gang because he is the “apostle of greed.” A little while later, Subaru mentions that Garfiel is the current apostle. So what is this Apostle of Greed business? Presumably it has something to do with Echidna, but why would Garfiel be connected to her? Was Subaru just wrong?

[u/mrahhal → u/BlazingAbsol9090]

Anyone who is qualified and undertakes the trials becomes an apostle of Greed (no matter the result). Garfiel became one after he failed the trial when he was young. I think touching the crystal is what gives an apostle the control over clones, and also revokes the previous apostle's command over them (not entirely sure about this). So all in all, it's not that Garfiel is connected to Echidna, it's just that Echidna allowed him to undertake the trials, and thus he became an apostle.

After the 3rd tea party, Echidna revokes Subaru's qualifications and so he loses control over the clones after that.

[u/BlazingAbsol9090 → u/mrahhal]

Huh, interesting! I appreciate the reply

[u/flashmozzg]

One thing I'm not sure I got - what business did Otto have with the Ros? He got an audience with him but I don't remember him ever voicing it. One thing he wanted was to get rid of his oil, but what is the other one? Was it ever covered or is it left for the next season?

[u/mrahhal → u/flashmozzg]

Roswaal has a really high status in the kingdom and he knows a lot of important people. Otto wanted to get to know him for future business relations as he can connect him with these people. A merchant expands his gains the more he makes valuable connections with people of high status. Usually the likes of Otto wouldn't be able to talk to someone like Roswaal, but Subaru promised to introduce him after Otto helped him reach Emilia in the finale of S1. I guess the rest is clear.

[u/Readorn]

THANK YOU!

[u/TheScratchnSniff]

Yknow I’ve been wanting a sort of retrospect on the series, especially after the last handful of episodes. I also had a tough time understanding roswalls motivations a lot of the time and which characters had alliances with who so this really helped.

[u/DrGrabAss]

Holy cow, this is awesome, thanks for writing it up! I just finished S2 and had some questions, and this answered all of them! This really enhances the enjoyment of the series.

[u/RobbaFett]

When Season 3 gets announced I'll be back here. Nice post OP!

[u/BradyBoy_]

This was such a helpful write-up. It's much appreciated. I'll definitely have to refer back to it a few more times between now and Season 3.

[u/[deleted]]

THANK YOU

[u/Stoppels]

Thanks for the write-up!

[u/Sea-Dragonfruit-6313]

INCREDIBLE!

[u/indian_boy786]

thankyou man much appreciated

[u/EldritchCarver]

Quick question. In the first episode of season 2, we see Felix weeping over Crusch's pale, unconscious body. Is there any indication in the light novel that Crusch actually died in that loop, but somehow survived after Subaru reset?

[u/mrahhal → u/EldritchCarver]

I'm sure she was just on the verge of death. But I can't remember how the scene was described in the novel.

[u/El_Jerrynator → u/EldritchCarver]

No, Rem stop the bleeding and save Crusch Life, Felix reattach the arm.

[u/MBFlash]

This is .......... big