Re:ZERO Episode 45

Mana Swapping

It’s probably not surprising to anyone that I thought this was a good episode of Re:ZERO. But what you may be surprised by is that my favorite part of the episode was actually the music. There were a lot of good music choices in this episode, including quite a few songs I believe we heard for the first time.

Now, moving from something I enjoyed to something I have mixed feelings about, there’s the intro scene of Roswaal and Echidna. I’m not a huge fan of the choice to make that scene black and white (with the exception of Roswaal’s blush). However, I do understand why it was done — at least in part.

I think the primary reason they did this was to differentiate it from the flashback that comprised the main portion of the episode. This was a flashback within a flashback. And since Roswaal and Echidna look the same in both flashbacks, the older one was made to be visually distinct so the viewers could tell the difference between the two.

Not only did this intro scene show us why Roswaal is a devout follower of Echidna, but it also explained that he suffered from having too much magic. This concept was previously explored with Puck in the Memory Snow OVA. And, I think Emilia has the same condition, but to a lesser extent (I forget).

But most important of all, we can now officially say that Re:ZERO and Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya take place within the same universe. Why do I say that? Because in both series, mana can be transferred from one person to another via bodily fluids — most notably, saliva.

Checkmate, anyone who says Prisma Illya is gross just because it has lolis swapping mana.

Hector, Devil of Melancholy

Something I kind of like about Re:ZERO is that it introduces characters and ideas that are major twists, but acts like they’re no big deal. We previously saw this with the introduction of Pandora. And we now saw it with the introduction of Hector. Hector is kind of a big deal.

Crunchyroll’s translation of Hector’s title is Devil of Melancholy, which could have been correct. Roswaal referred to Hector as “Yuutsu no Majin.” One of the ways to write that is 憂鬱の魔神, which literally translates to Devil of Melancholy. However, I checked the official kanji writing of Hector’s title in the novels, and it’s actually written 憂鬱の魔人. The difference here is that rather than being a devil, he’s a demonic person.

But, what does this title mean within the context of the series? Well, the word for witch is “majo” (魔女). Both majo and majin come from the root “ma” (魔) which is a demon or evil, magical spirit. There are also other terms that come from this that you may be familiar with such as mahou (魔法) and maou (魔王) which mean magic and demon king respectively.

Basically, both the Witches and Devils are evil magic users. But, I would like to point out one other thing regarding the term majin. While it doesn’t really translate to wizard or warlock (the male versions of witches), it seems to effectively be used as such within context. All of the Witches are female and the only known Devil is male.

Also, Hector’s name probably comes from the 624 Hektor asteroid, which would make sense considering the origins of the Witches’ names. However, the fact that Echidna is afraid of Hector may imply that the Devils are stronger than the Witches. Or, at the very least, Hector is stronger than Echidna.

And one final thing I want to mention about Hector is that Roswaal seems to have combined with him. Modern-day Roswaal dresses like Hector, has one eye that’s the same color as Hector’s, and even speaks with the same voice inflection as Hector.

Sanctuary’s Core

After writing about Hector, writing about Ryuzu Shima becoming the core of the Sanctuary’s barrier feels pretty mundane. But, this part of the episode was still very good. As some of you may know, Betty is my favorite character in this series. So any development she gets is good as far as I’m concerned.

I’ve been enjoying all of this Betty background information despite the fact that she’s back at the mansion in the current timeline. We didn’t get any Betty info last week, but two weeks ago we were introduced to the fact that Betty and Ryuzu Meyer were friends 400 years ago.

Then, in this week’s episode, we saw that Ryuzu volunteered to become the core that powers the Sanctuary’s barrier. While Betty knew that Ryuzu could fulfill this role, it seems that she didn’t believe it would actually happen. However, it was implied that Echidna always planned to use Ryuzu for this purpose.

Anyway, why does any of this matter? Well, Ryuzu’s combining with the magic crystal to make the barrier’s core is probably what caused Roswaal and Hector to fuse into one being. I’m not sure exactly how. But maybe in order to not be repelled by the barrier, Hector somehow jumped into Roswaal’s body and then Roswaal regained control.

Also, it means that Betty is likely to ally with Subaru after this whole business in the Sanctuary is complete. She allied with him before, but that was in a previous timeline. In this timeline, she’ll probably ally with him much more willingly.

Why is that? Because by helping to take down the Sanctuary’s barrier, Subaru will have effectively freed Ryuzu from her 400-year imprisonment. I guarantee that Betty will be thankful to him for that (even if Emilia is the one actually completing the trials).

I should also point out that I don’t think Ryuzu Meyer will be returning as a character. Her body will probably disintegrate or something when the barrier is released. But in death, she’ll be free.

Conclusion

What do you think of Re:ZERO Season 2 episode 45? Would you rather swap mana with Echidna or Roswaal? Do you think Roswaal has the power of a Devil within his body? And what do you think Betty’s response will be to the Sanctuary’s barrier being destroyed? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.