Re: Zero - S02/E36 "The Taste Of Death" REACTION

This episode made me want to physically curl up into a ball and cry myself to sleep. Not even Edge of Madness (ep15) did that for me. These chapters hit really hard in the WN as well but the scoring, direction, and performances from the VAs took it far beyond. Satomi Arai's performance as Beatrice was absolutely perfect here. Never once have we seen her like this. We've seen her aloof, annoyed, angry, and sad, but nothing like the complete despair she shows here. Arai captured that flawlessly. And that's just one VA performance - there's Kobayashi's performance as Subaru, incredible as ever, and the direction, and Suehiro's soundtrack too. The piano track played during this scene is my favorite of the whole season. Unfortunately I can't name it yet as its title is a spoiler. In just the first half of this episode alone, it crushed my soul. Then there's Emilia. Yes, that's Emilia. That's not Satella taking her over, that's Emilia after her mind's been shattered by the trial, it's evident by her situation here. Subaru barely got through his own first trial and that's AFTER he'd resolved his biggest weakness. Here we see just a hint of how cruel the trial can be to someone who's lived her whole life in the shadow of the most feared entity in history. For the past two days she's been throwing herself at a sadistic trial hopelessly. Worse yet, she's completely isolated in it. Garf and the villagers have gotten sick of her trying after seeing her fail so much. Ram is distant. Roswaal hides in his room. Otto doesn't know what to do. Puck, her own adoptive father, has left her alone when she needs him the most. Even Subaru, the one person who would always stay by her, is gone, abandoned her for some unknown reason. That's more than enough to cause just about anyone to snap.

Roswaal is a man of extreme commitment, as we saw his goal means more than his self, what he means is he thinks Subaru needs to show the same level of resolve in their mutual goal. He is terribly misreading our boys situation.

Unalive J