Re:Zero Season 4 Episode 8 - Memory-Wiped Subaru Dies Over and Over, and Japanese Fans Couldn't Be Happier
Overview
Episode 8 drops the audience straight into the nightmare set up by last week's cliffhanger: Subaru has lost every memory and every scrap of growth he ever earned, and he has been deposited at the top of the deadly Tower of Trials with no tutorial, no allies he recognizes, and no idea that dying is not the end for him.
The result is the most relentless run of "Subaru suffering" the series has served up in years. He is pushed off the tower from behind by someone he never sees, mauled by Reid, and has his insides toyed with - dying repeatedly while a Return by Death he does not understand keeps yanking him back. The Witch of Envy, Satella, stirs in the background; Shaula's eyes shift into an unsettling compound-eyed "auto-kill" mode; and Ram treats him with a coldness that cuts deeper than any monster.
For a vocal chunk of the Japanese fanbase, this was a triumphant return to form. After arcs of a more confident, capable Subaru, watching the original frightened shut-in get ground down felt like the show remembering what it is. Others bounced off hard, calling the amnesia plot a frustrating stall. Below are the raw reactions from Japan's largest anime message board, translated into English.
Japanese Fan Reactions (28)
Yes, yes, YES - this is Re:Zero. That was so good.
Return by Death, baby. It's just not the same without it.
They reset him from peak, fully-resolved Subaru, so his tolerance for dying is back to zero. Brutal.
Subaru-torture again... how many times are we doing this? Funnily enough, Meili was the friendliest one to him in this whole mess.
Natsuki Subaru is just dying nonstop, lol.
That's what you get for skipping the tutorial (the gut-harvesting one).
So much Subaru-suffering this episode. I'm too happy.
Ahh, THIS is it! Subaru's gotta be miserable and die a horrible death! It had turned into a generic isekai-harem 'I'm so strong' anime and it was stressing me out.
Losing his memory isn't Subaru's fault, but the viewers' frustration at the stalled plot gets vented by killing him over and over - kind of pitiful. Anyway, this week was great. Keep it up next week too.
So who pushed Subaru off from behind?
I assumed the one shoving him off was Shaula... but wait, Gluttony's here!? And Shamie is Gluttony's little sister - so Subaru's amnesia is Gluttony's doing too?
I remember this stretch being all about who killed Subaru. Suspects: Meili (she's an assassin), Echidna (sketchy because she's Echidna), Gluttony (impersonating someone?), Lust (snuck in transformed into a dove?).
Meili was raised by magical beasts, then picked up by the Sin Archbishop Capella, who made her call her 'Mama' and, in the name of 'love,' turned people into flies and meat and taught her to kill - so she never learned what ordinary affection even is. The only person she ever grew attached to was her older sister, Elsa. So when Subaru - supposedly the enemy who killed Elsa - doesn't try to harm her, she can't comprehend him, fears him, and kills him.
Compound-eye Shaula is gross. So she shifts into auto-slaughter mode, huh.
Shaula's compound eyes got under my skin more than Subaru's gory death - that cluster-of-holes crawl.
lol Emilia. And Ram's been cold to him this whole time.
When you think about how Ram must feel, you get why she doesn't want to believe it.
I was starting to love big-sis Ram, but something felt different this time. Whether it's bias or her reading too much into things, it's like she doesn't trust him at all.
It's not that she doesn't trust him - she doesn't WANT to believe it. This episode makes it so clear that the fact Subaru remembered Rem was Ram's emotional anchor.
The part where he talks about his mom was the hardest to watch. His parents back in his world are still searching for him every single day, right?
It's so well-crafted how the old Subaru's absence shows you just how much he'd been holding everyone up.
Resetting all his growth and dropping him into the current situation at level zero is just too sadistic, lol.
Worst difficulty in the series + New Game on a weak save is straight-up hell. Descend and you're stuck, climb and you're stuck, stay put and you starve - death is basically guaranteed.
Reinhard is strong, but his power maintains the world, so he can't save people. Subaru is weak, but his power rewrites the world, so he can.
What is this trash method of opening on sudden amnesia and a self-introduction that just leaves the viewer behind? It's infuriating.
It's finally heating up. Can't wait for next week's episode.
Re:Zero's Return by Death is more than a save-me cheat tool - it doubles as the cage that keeps mob-tier Subaru, who could otherwise only run, pinned to the chessboard of fate. That's exactly why it lands hard for people who love collecting bad ends, and why it goes over poorly with the impatient crowd who just want it resolved.
Source:■