Whether judged by viewership or audience ratings, Re:Zero had already secured its place as the second most successful anime of the season.
Surpassing Dragon's Breath, that monstrous hit which had already reached a 5.28% rating, had never truly entered the calculations of Tokushima TV or Yume Animation in the first place. Back when Sora had said things like that, many people had dismissed it as overconfidence. But circumstances had changed, and the results now spoke for themselves. He had not been exaggerating. In any other season, Re:Zero would have had more than enough strength to compete for the top spot.
The problem was that this season happened to have a monster standing in its way.
Aside from Natsuyuki Shirasawa's fans, who regularly showed up in Yumi's comment section just to mock her, even the harshest anime media outlets no longer bothered ridiculing Re:Zero for being stuck in second place.
Because, honestly, the staff had already done everything they could.
It was not that Re:Zero was lacking. It was simply that Dragon's Breath was too strong.
August 8 arrived, another Friday.
After work, Jin had dinner, took the subway home, showered, and then sank into the sofa, waiting for Episode 6 of Re:Zero to begin.
Maybe the hottest anime of the season truly was Dragon's Breath, the latest work from the Touga Kuze and Natsuyuki Shirasawa duo. But for him, the one he cared about most was still Re:Zero.
That explosive protagonist in Dragon's Breath, blessed with powerful bloodline, natural talent, and a life that practically felt like cheating, simply did not resonate with him. Jin had always been quiet, introverted, ordinary. He had grown up as nothing more than an average person. Natsuki Subaru, however, was different. There was something deeply convincing about a protagonist who had to claw his way forward through sheer effort, repeatedly staking his own life just to gather information, correct his mistakes, and inch closer to a solution. That kind of story matched his values.
Even so, Subaru's death in last week's episode had been cruel to an almost excessive degree.
"I just hope Kantoku Sora gives Subaru a break this week... Don't torture the guy any more than this."
Jin shook his head, half helpless, half resigned.
At exactly eight in the evening, Episode 6 of Re:Zero began airing.
As always, the first image was Subaru waking up and staring at the ceiling.
That was his save point in the mansion arc. Every time he died and returned, the scene began there. And just as expected, the next moment brought the two maids he always first met upon waking: the blue-haired Rem and the pink-haired Ram.
Subaru had already seen that scene three times.
After an opening song that lasted more than a full minute, the story resumed with Subaru once again seeking out Beatrice, the spirit hiding away in her room, trying to get closer to her.
The most powerful aspect of Return by Death was exactly that. With every new loop, Subaru could adjust his behavior based on the knowledge he had gained before.
And this time, the change was obvious.
In the third attempt, in order to uncover how he had died in the previous two loops and identify the hidden enemy lurking inside Roswaal's mansion, Subaru chose not to work there as a servant. Instead, he remained as a guest, trading the role of employee for greater freedom to move around.
The moment he saw that, Jin frowned.
If Subaru did not work at the mansion, then he would lose all the natural opportunities to interact with Rem and Ram during their daily routines. The scene of all of them peeling potatoes in the kitchen would never happen. The moment where Rem said she would personally trim his hair would disappear as well. Ram's quiet, heartfelt conversation with him would be gone too.
That single choice meant that, in this loop, there would be no emotional development at all between Subaru and the two sisters.
And even knowing that, he still chose this path.
Jin fell into thought.
Maybe that was part of what made this anime so compelling.
If Subaru managed to solve the mystery behind his death in this loop, then the bonds he had believed he built with Rem and Ram in the previous two attempts would forever remain nothing more than dreams - memories that had only ever existed for him.
Was that what the script was trying to say? That every choice in life matters, yet no matter what decision you make, you still have to move forward without regret?
The thought left a faint ache in Jin's chest.
After finding nothing suspicious inside the mansion, Subaru finally announced on the fourth day that he intended to leave and make his way to the capital.
But he did not truly leave.
After departing, he hid himself on a nearby hillside and stayed there, watching the mansion from a distance.
He could not let go of Rem. He could not let go of Ram. He could not let go of Emilia, or Beatrice.
If he really walked away, then the presence that had killed him in the previous two loops might turn its malice toward his friends instead.
On the screen, the sunset stained everything a dense, blood-red hue. Little by little, the art style itself grew more disturbing, almost grotesque. Subaru watched the mansion with unease written plainly across his face, while the background music, at some unnoticeable point, began to warp into something sinister.
Jin was still trying to process the mood when everything shattered in an instant.
A morning star on a chain tore through the forest and slammed into Subaru, throwing him off the cliff.
Luckily, he had tied himself to a safety rope beforehand, and the drop was not too high. He hit the ground without dying immediately.
But what followed was even worse.
Forcing himself to overcome the terror left behind by the previous loop, when he had been brutally slaughtered by the owner of that weapon, Subaru pulled out his knife and stared into the forest with hardened resolve. Then he seized the chain connected to the weapon and yanked hard.
Out from the woods stepped a beautiful girl in white stockings, leather shoes, and a maid uniform, her long blue hair swaying softly.
Rem.
Her expression was cold.
Jin's mouth slowly fell open without him even realizing it. In that exact moment, it felt as though something important inside him had quietly slipped away.
Rem?
Why?
Why did it have to be Rem?
So... the one who killed Subaru in the last two loops was you?
His mind became a complete mess.
He was a Rem fan.
She was the character he liked most.
So why?
On the screen, Subaru could hardly believe it either. With shock, sadness, despair, and that almost childlike sense of betrayal twisting together inside him, he asked the exact same question Jin wanted to scream.
"Why are you trying to kill me?"
Rem's answer came without hesitation, cold and absolute.
"Better to kill by mistake than let one slip through."
Not let one slip through...
At that moment, Jin remembered Subaru's behavior in this third loop - how he had refused to work in the mansion and instead wandered around as a guest, quietly probing for information.
From the perspective of Rem and Ram, who were meeting Subaru "for the first time," that really did look suspicious. It looked like espionage. It looked like enemy infiltration.
But what about the previous loop?
Why had he been killed then?
And the first one?
That time, Subaru had practically done nothing. He worked, he slept, he lived honestly - and still he had been murdered.
So did that mean you, Rem... and even Ram... had been deceiving Subaru from the very beginning? Deceiving him... and deceiving the audience too?
A sharp pain clenched in Jin's chest.
It hurt.
It hurt exactly the way it seemed to hurt Subaru.
Up until now, whenever the protagonist died, few protagonist died, few viewers had taken it too seriously. After all, he always came back. He always got another chance.
But now?
How could this not matter?
How could anyone still say it was no big deal?
Among the people Subaru desperately wanted to protect were Rem and Ram - the very two he had believed were his friends in the previous loops.
And yet, Rem wanted to kill him.
On screen, Subaru let out a crooked, self-mocking smile. His eyes were wet, his face looked broken.
"I'm pathetic... I really thought I was doing everything right..."
Then he ran.
He ran without thinking about anything else.
He wanted to escape. Escape from that mansion, from that cursed cycle of endless repetition.
He only wanted to leave.
He just did not want to be killed by someone he thought was his friend.
But Rem did not allow him even that mercy.
With a single blow, she shattered his leg.
And in a cruelty even more unbearable for the contrast it carried, fearing he might bleed out before answering what she wanted to know, she used healing magic to stop the bleeding.
It was cold. Methodical. Inhuman.
What came next was worse.
The iron chain crashed into Subaru again and again with pitiless force.
Jin's eyes widened. He could feel tears gathering at the corners, hot and uncomfortable.
He genuinely liked Rem. He truly did.
So how could she do something this cruel to Subaru?
"What exactly was your goal in getting close to us?"
Subaru tried to explain. Once. Then again. And again.
Each attempt was cut short by another savage blow from Rem's chain.
Bones snapped. His arm gave way. His spine seemed ready to crumble.
The scene was so brutally graphic that Jin realized he had started holding his breath.
Then Rem finally spoke the truth behind it all.
"Don't play dumb. You reek of the Witch, yet you still pretend none of it has anything to do with you."
In that instant, Jin understood.
He understood why Rem was treating him this way.
Every time Subaru returned by death, the scent of the Witch on him grew stronger. To the people in Roswaal's mansion, who only ever knew him at that "first meeting," that alone was more than enough to make him suspicious.
How could someone like that not seem dangerous?
And then came the words that pierced him completely.
Seeing her sister speak with Subaru, Rem revealed a fury and unease she could no longer suppress. To her, anyone connected to the Witch Cult - the same kind of people who had ruined her sister's life - deserved no peace, much less shelter within their home. Even knowing that Ram was only pretending to look after him, only pretending to be close to him, Rem could no longer endure it.
Jin felt his heart twist.
This episode was too cruel.
On the surface, it looked like yet another round of torment for the protagonist.
In reality, it was tearing apart the audience right alongside him.
So that was it.
Everything had been false.
The precious memories Subaru carried from the earlier loops, the friendship he believed he had built with Rem and Ram - they had only ever been real on his side. To them, he remained someone revolting, someone steeped in the scent of the Witch.
Lying on the ground, his body ruined by Rem's relentless attacks, Subaru smiled through his tears and said in a weak voice,
"I... can peel vegetables now without cutting my hands..."
Jin recognized the line immediately.
It was a memory from the first loop, from the days Subaru had worked in the kitchen with the sisters, when they had seemed genuinely worried whenever he hurt himself.
Then Subaru continued, barely able to breathe.
"I also learned how to read and write... just the basics, but I learned. I kept my promise. I've already started reading fairy tales... thanks to you."
Another memory from those quiet days that had meant so much to him.
Rem answered without the slightest change in expression.
"I don't remember any of that."
Of course she did not.
This was the third loop.
Lying there on the ground, ignoring even the agony ravaging his broken body, Subaru finally shouted.
"Why don't you remember?! Why does everyone keep doing this to me?! What did I ever do that was so wrong for you to hate me this much?!"
And then came the line that struck Jin right in the heart.
"Even the promise to cut my hair..."
That was the promise from the second loop. The moment Subaru had believed, at last, that he had become friends with Rem, and she had promised to help trim the messy hair that no longer fit the image of someone serving in Roswaal's mansion.
The next second, a sharp flash crossed the screen.
Subaru's neck was cut.
Ram had beheaded him.
His head fell.
His final sentence came too late, unfinished, dying together with him.
"I... what I love most..."
He could not finish it.
But Jin knew.
He knew what would have come next.
Subaru liked Emilia. He liked Rem. He liked Ram. He liked Beatrice.
He saw them as precious people. As true friends. And even though he was someone deeply terrified of death, he was still willing to wager his life again and again to uncover the danger lurking inside the mansion and protect them all.
That was exactly what made everything so absurd.
So cruel.
So tragic.
As the ending credits rolled to the rhythm of STYX HELIX, heavy and unforgettable, Jin remained frozen on the sofa, as though he still had not fully returned to himself.
What kind of plot was that?
How could an isekai fantasy anime hurt that much?
It was too painful.
Even Jin, who almost never let his emotions show, felt as though his chest was being crushed.
And the worst part of all was that the episode ended right there.
At that exact point.
At the deepest wound.
What kind of heartless scriptwriter cuts an episode there? Had they never heard of fans wanting to mail razor blades to the studio?
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