Re:ZERO – The Frozen Bond

Re:ZERO – The Frozen Bond

Re:ZERO - The Frozen Bond anime movie cover art
Re:ZERO – The Frozen Bond

Movie Overview

Re:ZERO – The Frozen Bond (Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu – Hyouketsu no Kizuna / Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活『氷結の絆』) is an OVA movie that falls directly after the Memory Snow OVA chronologically. It also released before the second season, so you should probably watch it before that (but of course I didn’t).

I watched The Frozen Bond after episode 29, and I can safely say that you didn’t miss out on any context for the first few episodes of season 2 if you haven’t watched the movie yet. However, it’s my understanding that the contents of this movie will be relevant for season 2 in the near future, potentially as soon as episode 30.

The reason why this movie matters is because, although it comes directly after Memory Snow, it tells the story of Emilia’s past. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s her origin story, but it provides a lot of context for her relationship with Puck and how she interacts with people outside of Roswaal’s mansion.

While the Memory Snow OVA seemed to have a few small hints that will be relevant in the future, it was generally a fan service episode. That’s not the case with The Frozen Bond.

The Girl From The Forest

Emilia has a stranger past than I could have ever imagined. We all knew she was a half-elf, the same as the Witch of Envy, Satella. But beyond that, I never really gave much thought to the logistics of being a half-elf. She’s not an elf and she’s not a human. That much is straightforward, but how did she come to be? Who were her parents?

These aren’t questions that are answered in this movie. Instead, more questions are raised instead.

One day, Emilia awoke in the forest to find that everyone else around her was frozen. She didn’t remember anything about her past, but she had an understanding that these frozen statues were her people. But as it turns out, that’s only half right. These were true elves, so how Emilia, a half-elf, came to be is still a mystery.

Obviously one of her parents had to be a human, but was this human accepted by the other elves? Did the humans and elves have a good relationship before Satella appeared? Probably not. Was Emilia an outcast among the elves as she is among the humans now? We simply don’t know.

Emilia from the anime movie Re:ZERO - The Frozen Bond
Emilia

So what do we know? We know that humans and demi-humans fought a war at some point in the past and that the humans won. This would imply that humans and elves didn’t have a good relationship. And this further means that Emilia is probably hated by humans for two distinct reasons.

First, we know they hate her because she’s a silver-haired, bluish-purple-eyed, half-elf just like Satella. But, we now can also assume that another reason she’s hated is simply that she has elf blood in her veins. Even if she didn’t resemble Satella, she would probably be an outcast.

I’m hoping that the history between humans and demi-humans is expanded upon further in the future. I’m really interested in finding out how exactly someone like Emilia was born in an age when humans and elves seemingly don’t interact at all.

Melaquera, The Mediator

Melaquera is a new character introduced in the movie. From what I can tell, he’s a greater spirit just like Puck. However, while Puck primarily uses ice magic (I don’t think that’s all he can use), Melaquera is a fire spirit.

But despite both being greater spirits, Puck and Melaquera couldn’t be more dissimilar. On one hand, you have Puck, who Melaquera refers to as one of four great disasters. I forget the actual word he used, but I’m not going to go back and figure out what it was — great disaster is close enough.

On the other hand, we have Melaquera, who refers to himself as the mediator. What exactly he mediates seems to be the state of the world. He views Emilia as something that needs to be destroyed in order to protect the rest of the world from destruction. And according to him, this is something he’s done in the past.

Puck vs. Melaquera from the anime movie Re:ZERO - The Frozen Bond
Puck vs. Melaquera

As Melaquela states, Emilia has the potential to become a witch and is connected to Satella in some fashion. Just as Subaru has the Sloth Witch Factor after his dealings with Betelgeuse, Emilia was born with some sort of connection to the Witch of Jealousy — not a Witch Factor.

The best comparison I can make to explain Melaquela’s role in the world is The Darkness from the Monogatari Series. The Darkness is an entity that serves the sole purpose of “correcting” anything that could pose a threat to the state of the universe.

Melaquela appears to perform the same type of role. Witches are seen as calamities that could bring about the ruin of the world, so Melaquela’s job is to eradicate them before they awaken their full power.

Unfortunately for the world, Puck killed him.

Puck and Lia

Puck and Emilia form their pact at the end of the movie (spoiler), but even before that, they were connected. He’s been watching over Emilia ever since she awoke in the forest, and it’s implied that he was watching over her even before that — she just doesn’t remember.

There’s a lot we don’t know about how their relationship began, and I assume more details will be revealed in the future. But what we do know is that Puck made a promise to someone that he would watch over and protect Emilia. We don’t know who that person is or why they wanted Emilia to be protected, though.

However, since coming up with theories that are probably wrong is my specialty, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

Puck and Emilia from the anime movie Re:ZERO - The Frozen Bond
Puck and Emilia

I don’t remember if this happened before or after Puck met Emilia, so I’ll just assume it happened before. Remember back in Memory Snow when it was mentioned that Puck and Roswaal fought for multiple days before their battle ended in a tie? What if after this fight, Roswaal was the one who asked Puck to watch over Emilia?

Roswaal probably knew there was a child who had a connection to Satella and also the qualities needed to become the next ruler. So he tasked Puck with protecting that girl until the time was right for them to make their move and enter Emilia into the ruler selection process.

Also, the fact that Roswaal fought Puck to a tie implies that he’s even stronger than Melaquera, which is no small feat.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this review is coming out just in time and the content within The Frozen Bond becomes relevant in episode 30 (which will be reviewed later this week). But if not, it’s still nice to know more about Emilia’s background considering she’s one of the most important characters in the series, if not the most important.

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