Anime episodes can be very high on the scale of hit-or-miss. Sometimes you love one episode immensely and hate the very next one with a passion. Or sometimes an episode just rubs you the wrong way, so you give it a lower score than usual in your mind. Re: Zero season 3 episode was just like that for me. If you want to know more, continue reading my episode review for Re: Zero season 3 episode 5. As usual, this is not a detailed recap, but just a collection of my notes and thoughts on the installment.
Re: Zero Episode 55: A Dark Torrent
Episode Rating: 6/10
My episode ratings are based predominantly on personal enjoyment, and there was a lot I didn’t like in this episode. I felt consistent discomfort throughout its runtime and didn’t enjoy many of the character interactions or encounters. I’m not sure why my personal enjoyment level was so low. Maybe it’s just that I hate Capella. She is extremely easy to hate. For one thing, her character design is basically what’s wrong with Re: Zero as a whole. Furthermore, she’s loud, cruel, and insufferably annoying.
Another thing that bothered me was the way Capella kept sexualizing Crusch while she was unconscious. At first, I found this completely unnecessary, wondering why it was there. It took me a minute to remember that Capella is the Arch-Bishop of Lust. Now it makes sense, but it’s still not pleasant to watch. Crusch and Ram are my favorite female characters in Re: Zero. So, it’s only natural that I hate seeing either of them being insulted or violated.
(Side note: Capella’s words might have been especially disturbing to hear for someone like Subaru, who probably feels shame for normal attraction to women when he’s sworn to love only Emilia. Subaru is intensely loyal and rather naive, so he likely doesn’t know how to feel about “lustful thoughts.” It should go without saying, but Subaru and others in that situation shouldn’t feel ashamed as long as they are keeping it to themselves. It becomes innappropriate when you actively sexualize women in your behavior toward them, but just having thoughts is normal and healthy.)
Now let’s talk about another aspect of this episode that sucked. Emilia has apparently lost all her progress on being assertive. She’s not doing anything to fight her situation. (Granted, she should not need to fight, but that’s in an ideal world where creeps don’t kidnap women to be their forced wives). I’m also irritated that in the last year, since kissing Subaru, Emilia has made no effort to learn basic sex education. I doubt Emilia will ever get educated, but there’s still hope she will prove her strength and spirit by fighting to escape from Corneas.
Emilia might also find some motivation as she continues to interact with the servant called “Number 184.” (I suspect the numbers are the “body count” of Corneas.) Number 184 has clearly been cruelly brainwashed, even erasing her natural smile to please Corneas. Perhaps Emilia will feel inpsired to help Number 184 and the other women enslaved here. If there’s one thing I know about Emilia, it’s that she’s likely to work hardest when she thinks it will help others.
The fight scene with Subaru versus Capella was hard to watch, since she wiped the floor with him (and Crusch). She also dealt major psychological damage by transforming the hostages into giant flies. But there was something I didn’t understand in this scene. Is the black dragon part of Capella? Do they share consciousness? Can she control the dragon’s body? It also looked like the dragon started helping Subaru and Crusch at the end, allowing their escape. I don’t understand that yet.
As for good things about this episode, I liked the scenes with Anastasia. I’m happy that she’s still alive and that everyone is fighting to protect her as the city becomes a watery battleground. Also, Felix figured out how to save Mimi, using a forbidden spell of some kind. (I think it divided the damage of the wound between the three triplets, so Mimi has a less serious injury now.) On a final note, Felt was cool in this episode. It’s funny how much she hates Zodda bugs.
All in all, while this episode wasn’t fully bad, much of it made me frustrated or uncomfortable. I hope next week’s episode is better. Thank you for visiting Anime Rants. Sayonara until next time!
~Thanks for reading~
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