Hello and welcome! This post covers the episodes released between approximately May 3rd to May 9th, 2026. Also bear in mind that TenSura season 4 episode 6 was delayed. No other notes for today.
- Re: Zero Season 4
- Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 3
- Go For It! Nakamura!!
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4
- The Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4
Re: Zero Season 4
Episode 5 (AKA 71): Stick Swinger
Subaru and company began to explore the mystic library in the tower. They eventually discovered that each book was a record of a dead person’s life. The books could only be read if the reader had met the dead person before they died. Otherwise, the letters in the books appeared scrambled and unreadable. When Subaru read Typhon’s book and when Julius read that one general’s book, they vicariously experienced the dead person’s life and roots. Thanks to this, we finally learned the story of one of the great Witches – Typhon, the Witch of Pride. For some weird reason, the narration referred to her as a grown woman (Japanese Onna) instead of girl (Onna-no-ko), making it feel like we’re supposed to treat children as women? Talk about making the story icky no for reason.
Complaints about framing aside, the story of Typhon was fascinating and unsettling in a good way. This is the kind of creativity I love to see from Re: Zero. Even though Subaru learned the story of one of the witches, the group decided it would take too long to sort through information using the books of the dead. But this was only the first floor of the tower, so they decided to go to the next one. After Emilia found the staircase, the group proceeded up and began the exam to access the second floor. Instead of receiving a riddle from a disembodied voice, they heard words from a long-haired man who suddenly appeared before them. It was Reid Astrea, the original Sword Saint, who was supposed to be dead. I’m not yet sure what to make of this development, but Reid could be an interesting character. He was played by Tomokazu Sugita, a popular and prolific VA whose voice I adore. We’ll find out more about Reid next time.
Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 3
Episode 6: Stone to Space
This episode was slow to begin with, but by the middle, it had me hooked with its emotional appeal. I even got a little teary-eyed during this episode as I empathized with the characters, even during some of the sillier plot points. After their last stop in Indonesia, Senku’s group was finally headed back to Japan to build the rocket. They were all sentimental about returning to their homeland. Before going to mainland Japan, the crew stopped at “Treasure Island” to reawaken Soyuz and everyone else there. They also grew a fuck ton of rice. By the time they went to mainland Japan, they had been gone for ten years. That means the tour around the world gathering materials took about three years. During this time, Chrome and Suika worked hard to learn math under Sai’s tutoring.
Finally, Senku unfroze Ruri and the people of Ishigami Village. The reunions were great. Seeing Kohaku embrace Ruri was so emotional and gratifying. Suika got to be reunited with her pets from ten years ago: Chalk the dog and Sagara the pig. The impossibly intelligent animals had built a protective wall of rocks around the petrified bodies of the villagers. (See what I mean by sillier plot points?) Ruri and the villagers had been working on a dam before they were petrified. This was where Senku planned to start a hydroelectric plant to provide the power needed for making aluminum. The dam was complete already. Now it was time to build the rocket and the launch site. The episode ends with an inspiring speech by Ryusui.
Go For It! Nakamura!!
Episode 6: I Want to be “Friends” With You!!
The episode began with a dream sequence. In the dream, Hirose ignored Nakamura to go talk excitedly to his teacher, Otogiri-sensei. Then a giant evil version of Icchan, the pet octopus, told Nakamura he was nothing to Hirose – an NPC. Nakamura awoke from this nightmare on the bus to Yokohama. He was determined to make friends with Hirose. In this episode, Nakamura “goes for it” and makes significant progress, officially becoming friends with Hirose at the end of their Yokohama Field Trip. There were several good scenes, but the highlights were the aquarium scenes and the ending scene in which Nakamura finally told Hirose that he wanted to be friends. I also loved the part where Nakamura grabbed Hirose’s wrist and told him he didn’t have to ride the ferry with Takeuchi if he didn’t want to. It was a beautiful sunset scene.
In the end, after Nakamura gathered his courage and said his words, Hirose said he thought they were already friends. They posed for a picture together with Otorigi taking the photo. Speaking of Otogiri, there were some scenes of him earlier in the episode smoking and being “cool.” I can’t help being suspicious of Otogiri even though the story wants us to admire him. He made the terrible word choice of saying “I like children,” as his reason for becoming a teacher. However, he clarified later that he wanted to be a teacher to guide children who were going through rebellious phases without any support. It was because he wished a teacher had supported him during his younger years. I really hope the subplot with Otogiri just goes away. I don’t like him being in the picture at all. Nevertheless, this episode was truly something special to me. I love seeing happy LGBT+ youth.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4
Episode 6 was delayed and will release May 15th
The Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4
Episode 5: Concert Preparations
As the title suggests, most of this episode was about preparing for the concert and making the program (handout) that Rosemyne planned to sell. Rosemyne hired two blacksmiths to make the machine needed for creating uniform wax paper. One was the quiet and humble Johann and the other was a newer, more passionate craftsman named Zack. Ferdinand didn’t like the idea of his image being on the program, but he agreed to it after Rosemyne explained and it became clear that this concert was important to Elvira and Florencia. Wilma drew the official image of Ferdinand and got to see him playing the harspiel in person for inspiration. Despite not liking men in general, Wilma was smitten with Ferdinand. In fact, most of the ladies (and even some of the men) were completely charmed by the high priest’s handsome features.
In the second half of the episode, Rosemyne was finally allowed to see her older sister, Tuuli. Having learned much in the ways of noble speech and etiquette, Tuuli came to deliver a new hair ornament in person. She had a great time chatting with Rosemyne over tea. Afterward, Rosemyne treated Dirk’s devouring disease with a tau fruit and had a small group of boys (led by Lutz) harvest the trombe needed for paper. The secret of the tau fruit and the trombe was successfully hidden from the nobles for now. At the end of the episode, Rosemyne revisited the blacksmiths and viewed their designs for the wax-coating machines. They chose a slightly altered design by Zack after Johann said it was the best option that he could build. That’s all for this installment. It was fairly entertaining.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 