Re:Zero Season 4 Episode 2 – Desert Journey and Shaula's Debut
Overview Episode 2 of Re:Zero Season 4 finally gets the story moving: Subaru, Beatrice, Emilia, Ram, Julius, Anastasia (now possessed by Echidna), and Meili set out across the desert toward the Pleiades Watchtower. The new OP debuts, the long-teased Shaula (voiced by Faiz Ai Fairouz) gets her first real screen time, and Petra is left behind at the Roswaal estate. Japanese fans on the 5ch general thread had a lot to say. The OP gets generally positive marks for being "sexy and eccentric." Shaula being "the energetic type" lined up with everyone's expectations. But the big chatter is about Anastasia — anime-onlys are starting to clock that something's deeply wrong, while novel readers in the thread are barely restraining themselves from spoiling. The Petra goodbye scene also sparked discussion: Petra didn't say a word to Meili. As one commenter put it, "I guess they're not friends anymore — Meili did try to kill her once." There's also a recurring theme of frustration over the pacing. Some viewers are worried the entire season will be "just traveling through the desert."
Japanese Fan Reactions (22)
New OP is sexy and eccentric — fits the vibe. And Shaula is exactly the energetic girl I was hoping for. Faiz Ai Fairouz nailed her.
Petra is once again left at home = no screen time. She didn't even say goodbye to Meili. Yeah, the girl who tried to kill her isn't her friend anymore lol.
Actually, in the breaks between scenes Petra and Meili ARE shown hanging out and being friends again. Petra is too pure for this world. She didn't even ask for a guard when she decided to forgive someone who once tried to murder her. That girl is going to grow into a legend.
I don't get why they're bringing Meili along. There's no plot info saying she needs to be there. Bringing along someone who can barely move feels like an unnecessary risk.
Yeah and just casually accepting her as a party member? She was Roswaal's subordinate originally, so I guess once Roswaal joined the good side, she came with the package?
So that fox-scarf person (Anastasia/Echidna) — does THAT body even have combat ability? Feels like she's going to be sleeping-Rem-tier dead weight in any fight.
She has to go because the Watchtower stuff requires HER specifically to be there. Combat-wise though? Yeah, mostly dead weight.
Subaru's "Return by Death" win condition is so absolute that there's no tension. The author bragging in that Overlord interview that "we write hard stories unlike other isekai" was honestly embarrassing to hear.
The fun of Re:Zero is that we, the readers, know Subaru is weak — but the locals see a guy who isn't strong yet smiles while staking his life and ALWAYS comes back with results. From their POV he's a freak.
Anime-only here, I only watch each episode once, and I had completely forgotten that Ram has Clairvoyance. Now that Return by Death is back on screen, the show is getting fun again.
Same. S3 only had Return by Death at the beginning — most of it was politics. With S4 returning to the death-loop format, it actually feels like Re:Zero again.
Watching Episode 2 — feels like THIS is where the real story starts. Did we even need Episode 1? Could've compressed all of it into 15 minutes.
The ending theme "Ender Ember" releases on the 23rd, after Episode 3 airs. Reading the metadata, that probably means Episode 3 will finally use it — whether with proper visuals or as a special ED, I don't know.
I read the LN years ago and barely remember any of it. Re-reading would take forever because the word count is insane. Anime adaptation is the only realistic way I'm revisiting this story.
Re:Zero develops even minor characters deeply, and a lot of small details turn out to be foreshadowing. If you ask casual questions online, you'll get hit with unintended spoilers. If you hate spoilers, just don't ask.
I've read every LN volume but honestly all I remember is the broad strokes. Way too much text to revisit. So I'm enjoying the anime almost as fresh.
Old Subaru episode rewatch: just finished S1. Emilia is the heroine who somehow makes Subaru feel cringe when she's near him; Rem is the side girl who makes him look heroic when she's near him. ... Yeah, no wonder she got benched.
Subaru went after the Subaru-killer dragon-tooth attack with that ridiculous voice — but he was genuinely physically capable. We've had him be useless for so long, when he got snatched in the water capital arc I thought "oh come on, again?" — but actually he was pretty strong here.
Wait, what?? Did Reid get... eaten by the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony? But then Reid is so strong he takes over the Gluttony body and runs around freely instead? That's such a Re:Zero kind of setup. I can't wait for that anime arc.
The water-capital sequence had Beatrice yelling "Subaruuu! Don't dieeee!" then BLAM, hit from behind, sparkle-sparkle — laughing at that scene is awful of me, but it cracked me up.
Apparently in the LN, Subaru goes through a really gloomy internal monologue post-death-restart — "are they not saying anything, are they giving up on me?" then snaps out of it. Anime cut it. It's fine — the next scene resolves it anyway.
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