Re:ZERO Episode 31

Re:ZERO Episode 31

The Maiden’s Gospel

I’m not quite sure what the title “The Maiden’s Gospel” is referring to in this episode. It could be referring to Petra as a maiden, or the maids of Roswaal’s mansion and their duty to protect the domain, or something else entirely. But when the word “gospel” is used in Re:ZERO, so far it’s had to do with the Witch’s Cult.

As I’ll discuss later on in this review, there is potentially a new sin archbishop featured in this episode. And with that being the case, it could refer to her gospel. But even if that’s true, this episode, in particular, didn’t have anything to do with it, so it’s an odd choice for the title.

Title aside, this was definitively the best episode of season 2 so far. I’ve been feeling like season 2 has been slow as most of it feels like the build-up for the second cour of the season — just like how the first cour of Steins;Gate is building up everything for the second cour. So with that in mind, this episode included some refreshing excitement.

Petra greeting Subaru and Ram from the anime series Re:ZERO season 2
Petra greeting Subaru and Ram

Before getting into some of the new content this week, let’s first go over two of my predictions following last week’s episode that turned out to be true. I don’t know if I mentioned these in the review, but they were definitely mentioned during our discussions over on Discord (which is why you should join our server).

The first prediction I made was that Subaru’s respawn point would be directly after he completed the first trial. Any time after that point seemed like it would be too soon for a different outcome to occur. And any time before that would have invalidated the emotional impact of Subaru seeing his parents because he’d get to do it again.

My second prediction was that Subaru would offer to complete the trials in Emilia’s place. And I also mentioned that if he were to do this, Emilia wouldn’t be happy about it because he would be undermining her and effectively saying he doesn’t trust her.

Beast Transformations

There were a few key pieces of information given to us regarding beastmen in episode 31. We learned that Frederica and Garfiel are siblings (which should have been obvious), that Frederica isn’t plotting against Roswaal (allegedly), and that beastmen have multiple forms which they can take.

That third bit is what I really want to talk about in this section. I don’t think there’s much to say about Frederica’s and Garfiel’s relationship at this point and we still don’t know why Frederica has been acting the way she has. It probably has to do with the fact that Garfiel is trapped and she isn’t, though.

Okay, so beastmen transformations. From what we’ve seen, they appear to work just like Zoan Devil Fruit users in One Piece. By this, I mean they have a human form, a hybrid (partial beast) form, and a full beast form.

Frederica's partial beast transformation from the anime series Re:ZERO season 2
Frederica’s partial beast transformation

Every beastman we’ve seen before this episode has been in their human form. They still have some beast-like traits, such as the sharp teeth, but aside from that, they appear human. The partial beast form is when they become what I would call “true” beastmen. This is when you can really tell they’re half-human and half-beast.

When Frederica is in her hybrid form, she has a tail and paws. I’m also going to assume that all of her stats are increased when she’s in this form compared to her human form. If that wasn’t the case, there would have been no reason to transform into this form as soon as combat began.

Finally, the full beast transformation is exactly what it sounds like. Frederica, in particular, turns into a large, yellow, wolf-like creature (I’m assuming there are different kinds of beastmen). I think we can also assume that she’s at her strongest when in this form since she uses it as a last resort.

Who is Maylie?

At the end of the episode, after Frederica, Petra, and probably Ram, have all been killed, Elsa locates Subaru. When she does this, she mentions the name of someone who she doesn’t want to lose against: Maylie. So who is this Maylie person? Well, it turns out it’s probably someone we met back in season 1.

Before I get to the reveal of when we (and Subaru) previously met Maylie, I have to take you through the process of figuring all that out.

The first step is to determine who Elsa could possibly be competing against. There’s only one other thing within the mansion also trying to kill everyone, and that’s the large mabeast. So, does that mean Maylie is a mabeast? Not exactly, but that could be very close to the truth.

One thing you may have noticed is that the large mabeast is surrounded and followed by bat-like creatures. These are just as important as the mabeast itself. The reason for that is that those bat-like creatures are also featured in the OP surrounding a small girl with long, blue hair — likely Maylie.

But, just because Maylie is shown in the OP for season 2 doesn’t mean we met her back in season 1. This is where the large mabeast comes into play — what other mabeast played a major role in the series? The small dog that cursed Subaru and was leading a pack of mabeasts to terrorize the townspeople.

Subaru and Maylie (probably) from Re:ZERO season 1
Subaru and Maylie (probably) from season 1

And guess what? If you go back to that point in season 1, you’ll find that the girl who carries that dog around looks exactly like Maylie from the season 2 OP. So, my prediction is that this girl is Maylie, she can control mabeasts, and perhaps she can even transform into the large mabeast we see in the mansion (similar to Frederica’s beast transformation).

Betty Ruins Everything

The final topic I want to discuss regarding Re:ZERO episode 31 is how Betty ruined everything by rescuing Subaru at the end of the episode. Sure, in the long run, Betty’s intervention is probably for the best — especially since Subaru was told of a secret phrase that he should say to her.

But if we ignore that and we look at the situation from Subaru’s current perspective, Betty couldn’t have appeared at a worse time. So, why is that? Why didn’t Subaru want to be saved?

As far as I can tell, there are two main reasons. The first reason is that Subaru had already decided he was going to make his final stand defending Rem. Yes, Subaru knew Elsa was going to kill him, but he also knew he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he didn’t do everything he could to save Rem despite it being futile.

So although the outcome still would have been death, Subaru wanted to throw away his life to “save” Rem at this time. Betty took that away from him.

Beatrice from the anime series Re:ZERO season 2
Beatrice

The second reason is probably less important to Subaru but is the more important of the two realistically. This, of course, is that Betty could seriously ruin everything if Subaru’s respawn point gets updated because she saved him. We still don’t know exactly what triggers his respawn point to update, and that’s why this is so serious.

If Subaru died trying to save Rem, he knows that he would respawn directly after completing the first trial in the Sanctuary. But now that he was saved, he can’t be sure if he can go back to that point. And he needs to go back to that point because if he doesn’t, that means Petra, Frederica, Ram, and Rem are all dead for good.

So while Betty rescuing him is probably for the best in the long-run, it’s completely understandable why Subaru wouldn’t see it that way in the moment.

Conclusion

What do you think about Re:ZERO episode 31? What do you think the title, “The Maiden’s Gospel” refers to? Do you think Garfiel’s full beast transformation is a large wolf as well? And, do you think my theory about Maylie is right? Or do you have a different theory? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

4 Replies to “Re:ZERO Episode 31”

  1. The big thing that stuck out to me this episode was Elsa indicating that she was supposed to time her killings of 2 maids and 1 shut-in (Frederica, Petra, and Beatrice. Rem is not one of them since only Subaru remembers her) with Subaru’s arrival, which suggested that she knew Subaru would definitely return to the mansion and have an idea about when he would return, suggesting that whoever Elsa was hired by has knowledge of the future, and the only method that can get you a glimpse of the future as far as viewers know of is by reading a Gospel if you are a Witch Cult member. If you recall, Petelgeuse tried to see whether his Gospel foretold of Subaru interfering with his Ordeal, and he was distraught that it didn’t. The difference in this loop compared to the previous one is that Subaru went back earlier compared to last time because he knew Elsa would eventually arrive. So if Elsa is acting according to someone’s Gospel, it’s not foolproof since Subaru can defy what the Gospel predicted with his knowledge from previous loops.

    I don’t think “The Maiden’s Gospel” refers to anything in this episode since there was no preaching by any of the female characters or an actual Gospel. I’ve previously watched a show that had an episode title named after something that came in the next episode, and this could be an example of that.

    I think Frederica’s transformation looks more like a mountain lion than a wolf, and I expect Garfiel to have a similar transformation.

    I agree with most of your theory about Maylie except for the part about her potentially transforming into a mabeast itself since I don’t think that is possible. Since mabeasts were created by a witch, I doubt they can reproduce with humans.

    1. If Elsa is being directed by a gospel, then it’s probably Maylie’s gospel. And as for Maylie turning into a mabeast, I no longer think that’s the case either. I think she simply has the ability to control them. It was pointed out to me that a mabeast that looks just like the one that attacked the mansion also appeared (and died) in The Frozen Bond OVA.

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