DO NOT DISCUSS SPOILERS OR CONTENT NOT YET IN THE ANIME. IF YOU ARE DISCUSSING SPOILERS YOU MUST TAG THEM APPROPRIATELY. Try not to confirm or deny any theories, encourage people to read the source material instead. Thanks!
The 10th volume of the Re:Zero light novels comes with a new arc (the 4th) so that means we got new characters, a new setting and new problems to get solved.
After defeating the White Whale and the Witch of Jealousy Cult we get back to Mathers’s manor only to find that the village people are still gone, and that the only one left is Beatrice and a maid called Frederica, who used to work for Roswaal.
Strange things are happening, such as Puck sudden disappearance, and Beako giving a hint of knowing Petelgeuse, since she looks affected by his death. And of course, the fact that nobody has memories of Rem.
They travel to a Sanctuary that it is in fact the grave of the Witch of Greed, Echidna. In here, Subaru makes the first contact with her and they share a few words that bring nothing but questions. Meanwhile, Emilia kind of blocks out and when she finally wakes up, Subaru and the others meet a wounded Roswaal, Ram and the villagers.
Roswaal and Subaru have ‘a talk’ in which they both share their opinions on leaving the manor left alone. If Roswaal, the greatest magician in the whole kingdom, was there to protect them, the White Whale wouldn’t have attacked them like it did. Yes, they won after several tries, but they did have casualties and that’s something Subaru cannot forgive. Still, Roswaal only says that it served its purpose. That way, Emilia protected the village people and improved her image on to them. But, was that really necessary? The questions, like I said, remain unanswered.
Moving on to the second half of the novel, they found out that being in the Sanctuary means that they cannot escape. It was a trap, and only if they defeat the magic around it, they will get out of there. Actually, this is why Roswaal was injured, since he tried to get through the barrier without success.
Emilia accepts the challenge, and since she is half-breed, the magic accepts it as a rival. But, as you can imagine, she takes too long to get out and Subaru decides to go after her. And when he goes there, he finds himself in his home. And I mean, his real world.
He gets to meets his parents again, and share an emotional moment with them, which are my favorite scenes in the book. Apparently, part of the challenge was to face your past fears, the things that wounded your heart and didn’t let you move on. Subaru, thanks to the people that are now in his life and all the things he’s been through, accepts that he was in a dark place, but that he is good right now, in this world. He’s not perfect and never pretended to be, he’s just a guy that really wants to try his best and be a good man to the girl he likes.
Talking to his parents makes him realize that his life is not worthless, and that even after all the pain he suffered with all those deaths and the loops, he is a better man now. Now, I happen to believe that no matter how old you are, you’ll always be a child in your parent’s eyes. And sometimes, they’re the only people who can heal your wounded heart with a few, sincere words. This was probably the novel with less action in it, but, like I said, it was important for his character development, and I really want to see these scenes animated in the upcoming S2!
Anyway, the 11th volume will be published until 10/29/2019, and I can’t wait to read it! I need answers!!!
PREVIOUS REVIEWS: Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4 | Volume 5 | Volume 6 | Volume 7 | Volume 8 | Volume 9
light-novels
365 reviews262 followers
August 10, 2020
It has been a joy reading this alongside the new season of its anime adaptation and I'm glad I got started on the light novels. There's something so lyrical about the way this author weaves his words together. Every scene, whether it be a landscape, building or just simple character design, is so vividly described that imagining it comes incredibly easy to you. This volume has pretty much been a set up for the main play which, from my experience, will leave a lot of anime-only watchers frustrated and shocked but that's to be expected when you look at the premise of this series 😅
Though, the ending of this particular volume is just plain out torturous to say the least.
anime manga-light-novel
June 3, 2020
A short review:
This light novel (LN) picks up directly following the defeat of the Witch Cult. This volume also marks the start of Arc 4 and introduced a few new characters. For context, it is recommended that one reads the webnovel (Titled: Arc 3, Interlude 2 [Let's Eat] ) by Tappei Nagatsuki which serves as an interlude to the anime and this LN.
The Dialogues The translation for this book was readable yet felt awkward at times. This is understandable as it is rather difficult to translate a piece of work whilst trying to keep it completely unaltered in its original meaning. Due to this, however, some level of subtlety was lost and some dialogues felt like they were out of place. Reading this LN again in Japanese, certain dialogues felt more coherent compared to the translated version.
The Story The story was solid, with good pacing for the most part. The only issue I had was Chapter 4 which introduced the parents of Subaru. This was meant as a character development arc as well as giving the reader an insight into how Subaru become the character he currently is. This could have been a great character arc as well as a time to catch a breath before the climax of the story. However, it turns out this is the climax but a very drawn out one at that. This was the most difficult chapter to pull through solely because of the sheer amount of dialogues that was supposed to demonstrate how close Subaru is with his parents. Subaru then proceeded in the last half of the chapter reminiscing how he was before he was 'isekai-ed', which was the most compelling part of the chapter as the readers get to see how his personality evolved after he was 'isekai-ed'. This is where the issue started to set in: Subaru was looking for emotional support and seeking closure from his parents. The entire first half of this chapter was devoted to this purpose of character development. Unfortunately, Subaru's dad was the typical over the top annoying character which just looks like a carbon copy of Subaru, except with no other redeemable qualities that Subaru has, which is ironic considering Subaru mentioned how he took after his dad. Not only does he appear to superficially care for his son but he essentially told Subaru to suck it up and quit being a wuss. We were also led to believe that his mom knew what his son was going through all this time. THEN WHY did you let your son suffer alone? These issues were never addressed and Subaru was completely fine with them. Even though Subaru eventually coming to terms with his past, it wasn't because of the 'comforting words' from his parents but rather because of memories of Emilia that gave him braingasms. Essentially, you could remove the involvement of Subaru's parents and still get a decently well-written character arc while saving more than 20 pages for something else.
Subaru Subaru was developed satisfyingly throughout this LN and was evident from his interaction with Roswaal towards the end of the LN. This was the highlight of the LN for me.
Overall, a readable LN for fans of the series but I'd probably recommend waiting for the anime.
RATING: 3.5
fantasy light-novel
Author 3 books97 followers
September 28, 2020
This volume opens a new arc, one that is still ongoing in the second season of the anime adaptation as of today (up to its twelfth episode). It features a new main character whose scenes I always look forward to. While the previous arc involved a capital full of people and fighting prolonged battles, this arc is set mostly in an isolated, mostly uninhabited area that most of its inhabitants can't even escape. The battles are mainly psychological: who knows what, who is hiding what, what extent of probing can a mind tolerate before it breaks, etc.
We start at the main character's mansion. It's lord, clown extraordinaire Roswaal, had been absent for most of the previous arc while the protagonist, a mostly unimportant and powerless guy who can travel back in time whenever he dies thanks to a witch's curse, prevented an all-out assault on the mansion and the nearby village, that would have killed all of them. Nobody knows why the lord, one of the most powerful magic users in that world, wouldn't have set countermeasures to deal with the invaders: the Witch Cult, a malevolent group of religious crazies that want to bring back some terrible spirit from the afterlife.
Currently in charge of the mansion we have formerly absent servant Frederica Baumann, a half-beast shapeshifter that in general seems a bit shady. The protagonist focuses on making sure that best girl / demon maid Rem, who ended up in a seemingly permanent magical coma at the end of the previous arc, is taken care of, and afterwards they need to figure out what has been going on, and why their lord has disappeared. They know it must have something to do with the Sanctuary, a place that Roswaal had mentioned a few times even in the earliest volumes. Both the protagonist and the heroine convince Frederica to give them directions there, although they will need to go by themselves. She also gives them some magical artifact without explaining its use.
Regarding the protagonist and his beloved heroine, the last time they had seen each other at the beginning of the previous arc he had broken a couple of promises to stay put and not embarrass her during a meeting of royal candidates, only for the protagonist, back then in his early stages of development regarding his own arc, to sneak in, proclaim his undying support of the heroine, insult the royal guard in the process, and end up getting beaten down to a pulp by a knight. When the protagonist, angry and ashamed, failed to justify his actions properly to the hurt heroine, she said that their relationship was over, and that he shouldn't come back to the mansion. It took the protagonist securing a major alliance, killing a four hundred years old mythical monster, and erasing from existence an entire branch of the worst terrorist group in that entire world, for the heroine to accept him back. He admitted his love for her, and she allowed herself to rely on this guy to the extent that she almost begged him to accompany her in whatever sufferings they'll end up going through in this arc.
A couple of days later they depart in a carriage towards Sanctuary, which is located somewhere in some isolated forestry area. As the third wheel we have Otto Suwen, a terrible merchant who had ended up taking part in various failed runs during the previous arc, and who seems to have joined the main group not only as a mostly entertaining comic relief, but also as a possible male friend for a protagonist in need of that kind of support. When the three approach Sanctuary, the magical artifact that the heroine was holding begins to glow blindingly. The previous experiences of the protagonist with glowing crystals meant a big explosion was going to follow, so he snatches the thing and runs away. The crystal ends up teleporting him near to some very old ruins. When he wanders inside, he loses consciousness and wakes up in a dream scenario woven by one of witches of old, likely the most powerful magic users that used to exist. They died four hundred years ago, killed in mass by one of themselves, and this tomb inside Sanctuary is their final resting place. However, their spirits remain, and whoever wanders inside could end up having to deal with them if they so please.
The so called witch who inserted the protagonist in her death dream is the Witch of Greed, named Echidna. This world being one in which platonic concepts get imbued into certain people at birth, usually one at a time, this restless soul was the recipient of the maximum exponent of greed. While in the West we would have immediately taken such a character as someone with a dragon-like need to amass money, that's not the case of Echidna: she's aching to get a taste of all the information and experiences in the world. In her current state, having been dead for four hundred years, she is cut off from any new sources of information, which is driving her nuts.
In any case, although so far she knows nothing about the protagonist, he's a human that managed to enter her dreamworld, while normal humans were supposed to be shredded to their bones if they ventured into the tomb. On top of a grassy knoll she has prepared a little tea party for the protagonist, with a beverage made out of some of her unspecified body fluids (it's even a plot point that plays out later). In an interesting conversation, she's first surprised and then distraught at the protagonist's lack of interest for her wealth of knowledge; the protagonist has no interest in the witch's perfect recall of all the events of past ages, and only wants to be allowed to leave and find out what happened to the heroine. In any case, Echidna is intrigued, and grants him the protection to be able to participate in a trial that takes place in the tomb, whatever that trial implies. This is part of that scene from the adaptation, depicted in the typical anime fashion.
When he leaves the tomb he meets Garfiel, the only person that those that had spoken to the protagonist about the Sanctuary had warned him about. The guy is an irritable, violent hick who can also shapeshift into a gigantic, unstoppable feline. His weird, sometimes incomprehensible idioms, his unpredictability and the surprising cunning he displays make him another character that tends to monopolize the scenes he's in. After he roughs up the main characters that he had taken for invaders, we learn that this guy is Frederica's brother, and that he's hosting both Roswaal and his senior servant Ram. Turns out that the magical barrier that protects Sanctuary (which is a broken-down, hundreds of years old town) prevents any person with mixed blood from leaving. That includes the heroine, who is a half-elf. It seems that originally it had been set up to protect those half-bloods from persecution, but now we have people who have unwittingly ended up trapped in a cage. For some reason or another Roswaal, along with his senior servant and half of the refugees from the village near the mansion, had ended up in Sanctuary, and now they are treated as hostages by Garfiel himself: he sees in this the opportunity for any one of the intruders to pass the trial at the tomb, which would destroy the magical barrier, setting them free. Garfiel is far too strong. Roswaal, in order to prove himself as a lord to his subjects, had attempted to enter the tomb, just for most of his body to end up shredded. Now he's resting from his terrible wounds, although he remains as much of a shady bastard as he used to be. He clearly sees an opportunity for the heroine, who can't even leave due to the magical barrier, to pass the trial, which would gain her the support of the villagers as well as some fame towards her royal candidacy. Garfiel is therefore set up as a villain of sorts, altough an understandable one: he wants to leave a jail cell that will never open on its own, and he'll gladly help the main people along the way with anything they need.
The protagonist focuses on supporting the heroine as she deals with the villagers (who had repudiated before for being a half-elf) and promises them that she'll break the barrier and lead everybody home. For someone who is intended (or used, more accurately) to become the next ruler of her kingdom, she's too shy, unassertive and emotionally unstable, tending to implode whenever things get rough. I suppose future volumes will deal with her development. In any case, one night the main people gather in front of the tomb, and she ventures into it to pass the trial. Some time later, however, it's clear that something had gone wrong. The protagonist, despite knowing that humans get shredded by the magical defenses if they enter the tomb, and having had his memory of his previous encounter with Echidna wiped from his mind by the witch, runs inside and locates the heroine, who has fallen and seems to be having a nightmare. Having himself entered the tomb, though, his trial starts.
Echidna's intention in setting up these trials is very clear: she uses it as a license to scour through and store in her mind the memories and knowledge of every participant in the trials, as part of her innate wish to acquire as much of both as possible. She's also the mad scientist type, and wants to put people through psychological trials to see what makes them tick, whether they can grow out of their miseries, etc. The first part of the trial consist on making the participants face their pasts in something like lucid dreams. In the protagonist's case he goes back to living with his parents as a sort of hikikomori, when he had given up going to school for complicated reasons, and every morning he had to face parents he knew was disappointing. He had no clue how to get out of that hole, nor did he see a future for himself. That whole sequence ended up being very moving (brought out tears in most of the YouTube reactors for the corresponding episode), and thanks to Echidna's dream the protagonist managed to say goodbye to his parents; after all, he'll likely never see them again. When Echidna considers that he's passed the trial, we see she's more interested than ever in the protagonist: she's found out he's from another world (the unmentioned issue is whether she has also discovered that he can return to the past through death). When she expects him to get enraged at her for having put him through that psychological pain, he thanks her for the opportunity of seeing his parents for the last time. The protagonist had already gone through his Dark Night of the Soul back in volume six, so this part of the trial was mostly an opportunity to say out loud what he wanted to say to his parents; that partly annoys Echidna, as she had expected it to be some major psychological gauntlet. He states that, however, he won't continue with the trial: he had just gone into the tomb to rescue the heroine. She's the one supposed to pass that trial.
When he goes back to reality, the heroine is in distress as she had never been seen. The lucid representation of her particularly traumatic past might be too much for her mind to integrate, something that only worsens as this arc develops. Link to that brief moment as depicted on the adaptation. From now on the protagonist is troubled between merely witnessing her mental state worsen as she forces herself to face that psychological trauma, or convincing her to give up to go himself through the trial in her place.
The protagonist finally has a chance to speak man-to-man with the clownish lord, a now very injured Roswaal, about why on Earth would he have gone missing during a crisis that would have destroyed his mansion and everybody they care about. Roswaal opens up about having set up the stage in order for the heroine to gain some clout as a royal candidate, and for the protagonist to prove his value; Roswaal had trusted that the protagonist would have exhausted all opportunities to secure an alliance with military lady Crusch Karsten, and would have figured out a way to defeat the Witch Cult, despite having proven themselves an almost unstoppable foe. Although the protagonist, flabbergasted and enraged, wants to make the lord understand how reckless and insane it was to leave the defense of the mansion on his hands, an insignificant and powerless nobody he had known for two months, Roswaal seems confident in a way that hints at him knowing that the protagonist isn't powerless, and that he has the means to go through hell over and over in order to secure a good outcome.
The heroine attempts and fails the trial four or five times. Both the protagonist and Garfiel are disheartened and troubled at witnessing her increasingly worsening mental state. The protagonist manages to convince Garfiel to just let the villagers go; after all, the heroine will have to break the barrier anyway in order to leave Sanctuary. The protagonist leaves on the caravan towards the mansion. I have already forgotten why he needed now to go to the mansion, but I guess he intended to speak with Garfiel's sister in order to clarify why she had given a shady magical artifact that the heroine was supposed to have possessed when the teleportation went off.
When he gets to the mansion, the protagonist can't find anybody, and all the doors have been left wide open. It's clearly a crisis situation. Near demon maid Rem's room, where she's supposed to be resting in a coma, the protagonist gets gutted and he tumbles over his own intestines. Turns out that the killer is none other than contract killer, bowel hunter and overall malignant cocksnatchia Elsa, who back in the first extended episode of the adaptation was the first significant enemy that the main characters had to face: link to one of those scenes from the first season. As other volumes had, this one ends with the protagonist dying.
Now that the author has introduced four more characters with significant screen time (I didn't mention a very old elf-like being who also lives in Sanctuary), including that sequence with the protagonist's parents, I'm awed at this author's talent with characters. They all sound different, they all have their defined set of beliefs and principles, they behave in internally consistent ways, etc., something that was always difficult for me as I don't really care about people. I'm inclined to invoke the Witch of Jealousy for some comeuppance.
fantasy fiction manga
211 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2022
For the true beginning of the Sanctuary Arc, it's good, I don't hate this anywhere near what I'm about to complain, all the characters and actors in the series are well written and decently done.
But gosh darn it if Tappei has a trope it's build up, almost all of this volume is build up for whats happening in Vol 11, we get the touching stuff with Subaru and a slow as all hell burn for Emilia but nothing much else, heck the volume ends without anything being found out at the Mansion. I know why he's doing this, it's the massive action packed stuff I'm reading in Vol 11 right now but...
I'd like a bit of a curve ball every now and then, maybe have things work out differently than "calm-to-mystery" every once in a while.
And yes Echidna is cute in this, I get why she has a fanbase, she's the cute seductive one and it works.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
body-horror fantasy favorites
132 reviews1 follower
November 1, 2022
Echidna, a Bruxa da ganância, a encarnação da sede pelo conhecimento
Esse volume de Re:Zero explorou (pelo que me contaram) elementos que ocorreram depois da primeira temporada do anime e a abertura de um novo arco super emocionante. E a cena surpreendente no meio do volume me deixou extremamente surpreso e sem palavras. Aliás, adorei conhecer a Echidna. Vou continuar muito ansioso pra os próximos volumes. O ponto aqui é que eu tô lendo quase que sequencialmente os últimos cinco volumes e eu tô vendo que agora preciso passar pra uma outra história até continuar, só que preciso achar algo no Kindle também.
49 reviews19 followers
September 23, 2023
Este libro marca la transición del tercer al cuarto arco de manera bastante impresionante.
Al principio de este hay un adelanto en el que conocemos a una chica que resulta ser muy relevante, pero al terminar con esa sección se retoma el final del volumen 9.
Este segundo capítulo sirve como conclusión del tercer arco y se nos dan algunos indicios de lo que nos depara en el cuarto.
Así, que llegasen a su lugar de destino marca el inicio del cuarto arco y nos brinda bastante introspección conforme al protagonista y a Emilia.
Sí, bastante fácil de leer; el nuevo personaje no me terminó de gustar... Le pusieron acento sureño o algo así ajjaja
August 15, 2020
After watching and reading the novel and the tv series adaption. I got to say, Re: zero has got to be my best read novel of all time. Without a doubt, this novel has stolen the special spot I've placed Evangelion on. In this novel and the rest of them introduces a cast of characters that blew my mind away, although it wasn't something I've never seen before, but the way the story makes them interact with each other just blows my mind. This is my biased review on the current state of Re:zero 2020.
August 20, 2022
Ayant traduit ce tome en français, je peux dire que je l'ai lu un nombre assez grand de fois... Et je pense pouvoir dire avec certitude que c'est à ce moment-là que Re:Zéro révèle son réel potentiel. L'arc 4 représente une charnière avec le reste de l'histoire, et les choses deviennent sérieuses. On est plus sur des grandes batailles, mais sur des enjeux psychologiques et du développement de personnage, ça fait du bien
462 reviews3 followers
July 28, 2019
This book begins the 4th Arc of Re:Zero. I will do a spoil free review: Subaru shows some real growth as a character, the political scheming is better than ever, Emilia is more honest about her feelings and the ending... awesome!
light-novels
Read
November 23, 2019
Im trying to not thinking about this but.... if tea was ekhemmm, so what is the cake made of ?!
89 reviews15 followers
July 17, 2019
Briefly, Subaru accompanies Emelia to the tomb of Echidna, the Witch of Greed originally murdered by Satella 400 years before. Therein he meets her trapped soul. Things go well at first and he's acknowledged as a knight. But then things get harsh as royal politics and the Witch Cult 's past shadow the plot. So, who is Beatrice exactly? Look closely. Seriously, my admiration for the writer and the story developments' complexity grows greater with every volume. The ending is brutally horrifying.
japanese-lite-novels
128 reviews2 followers
August 11, 2020
No sé como decir que me encanta Echidna, es tan... compleja. Un personaje sumamente interesante. Con cada aparición me hacía sonreír con ganas, en verdad tenía muchas cosas que decir y me la imaginaba hablando sumamente rápido cuando se apasionaba con algo.
No sé como describirla porque siento que aún quedan partes por conocer de ella. Ahora, dejando de lado a mi nuevo personaje favorito.
Emilia no había tenido tantas apariciones y aún a riesgo de equivocarme, me parece que al menos yo no tenía una opinión real sobre ella. Era más como el personaje que ayuda a que el protagonista tenga una meta y la historia pueda seguir. Si me hubieran pedido describirla, de acuerdo a lo poco que sabía podría haber dicho "Es una persona solitaria que lucha constantemente por ser aceptada", sin transfondos ni quedado nada más por decir.
NO OBSTANTE, este fue el volumen donde pude conocerla, vaya que me sorprendió su lado amigable y tierno. Su relacion con Subaru avanzó, pude darme cuenta que confiaba un poco más en él con ESOS pequeños y fanguirleables gestos que tenía hacia él.
Escribo esta reseña luego de haber terminado el siguiente volumen y solo puedo decir que LA AMO, eso para no spoilear.
En cuanto a Subaru, quise golpearlo cuando se pusó a la idea de la poligamia, tuve que dejar de leer el libro de lo molesta que estaba. Esto en la primera parte del libro, a medida que fue avanzando deje de lado ese tema y me concentré en sus notorios cambios. Quedé muy sorprendida y admirada de lo que puede cambiar una persona. Aquella reunión que tuvo me hizo llorar a mares, ni siquiera se en qué momento empecé a lagrimear de lo absorta que estaba. Por igual, pude verme reflejada en el porque hacía las cosas tanto en su vida anterior como en la actual, aunque la verdad es que hasta ese momento no sabía que me parecía tanto a él.
Podría decir que es mi libro favorito de Re:Zero, pero creo que este unido al siguiente son MI LIBRO FAVORITO.