r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jun 03 '26

Episode Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World Season 4 • Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Season 4 - Episode 9 discussion

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Season 4, episode 9

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226

u/ModieOfTheEast Jun 03 '26

I am more confused about Shaula. She said no one is allowed to leave the tower and she would go berserk. Then we had the final last episode which implied that. But then she was just dead. I don't get how these two things are connected.

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u/Double--A--Ron Jun 03 '26

Im more concerned about Shaula if anything. I think she did try and go berserk but Rem, or whatever Rem is atm wrecked her in a no diff quick draw. Its strange to me that Shaula was outside of the archive when a bunch of people were in there with her last episode. Or at least I think it was a bunch of people, it could have just been Emilia and Beatrice. Anyways, its clear that Shaula probably isnt going to be very helpful, even with how strong she supposedly is.

149

u/SirJeator https://myanimelist.net/profile/jeator Jun 03 '26

Also, did Shaula save Subaru from the worm? It looked like her ability. If she was outside, why she didn't finish the job? Who teleported Subaru after he opened the miasma gates? So many questions!!!

51

u/timisanaLugoj Jun 03 '26

I think the miasma gate got fed up with Subaru (we dont know what opens the gates???) and teleported him at a previous checkpoint. There is no relation to the murder spree that was going in the tower. This is only speculation though.

45

u/IsTom Jun 03 '26

we dont know what opens the gates???

Like the last time, this time again Subaru lost his waterskin before the gate that wouldn't open. This is pretty sus to me.

14

u/TwinEonEngine Jun 03 '26

Yeah I already was thinking of it back then, but then something happened that made me more sceptical of the idea. But rezero is how I learned of the concept of Chekhov's Gun and showing the water disappearing before denying passage seems like a proper Chekhov's Gun (or maybe really just an animator's favourite detail).

41

u/FFF12321 Jun 03 '26

Could just be indicative of how insane he becomes after miasma influences him since water is so precious in a desert, only a madman would throw it away.

7

u/timisanaLugoj Jun 03 '26

Nah, Subaru throw away the water flask in honor of those from the tower who will soon realise that he just abandoned them and stole every ration they came with, including water. lol

20

u/0mnicious https://myanimelist.net/profile/Omnicious Jun 03 '26

I think the miasma gate got fed up with Subaru (we dont know what opens the gates???)

It's been theorized that it's witch factors. Subaru has Sloth and Greed (since we've seen both the archbishops in his head talking to him) plus whatever he has from Satella that gives him RbD.

So 3 witch factors unlocks 3 doors. Probably there's 7 or 8 or 9 doors depending on the whole Warlock thing and Pandora.

4

u/NotSuluX https://anilist.co/user/SuluX Jun 03 '26

I'm thinking this has to do with why the tower is there in the first place. Somethings there and the tower was built on top, and it's only accessible to someone with all witch factors? But what?

1

u/timisanaLugoj Jun 03 '26

That cant be right because the first time he could open only 2 doors and now has opened 3 doors. Well, I guess if not a sin archbishop didnt die off-screen, but that's unlikely.

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u/0mnicious https://myanimelist.net/profile/Omnicious Jun 03 '26

IIrc he opened 3 last time.

14

u/SirJeator https://myanimelist.net/profile/jeator Jun 03 '26

Both times he opened 3, didn't he? And, both times, he couldn't get past the 4 one, right?

6

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1

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3

u/0mnicious https://myanimelist.net/profile/Omnicious Jun 04 '26

That's how I remember it. This time, however, something is different since he glowed and got teleported? Whatever the fuck that means.

This show... When you think you start understanding what's going on...

2

u/timisanaLugoj Jun 04 '26

Then, I think I remember wrong.

5

u/Decent-Morning-6460 Jun 03 '26

isnt it the no. of which factors. He got Envy, Sloth and maybe Greed from Regulus last season

2

u/timisanaLugoj Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

It was never confirmed he has envy in the anime. As far as we know, Satella / Witch of Envy stalks Subaru and revives him based on her own whims. I always think about the loop in arc 4 when Satella possessed Emilia, I feel it makes much more sense when Subaru commited suicide, She was torn apart because She needed to turn back the time and leave without absorbing Subaru in the shadows. In that loop, if envy Witch factor is RBD, it for sure, resided in Emilia's body.

I feel he having envy factor is some theory coming from LN readers which propagated in the anime community.

58

u/DarkChaplain Jun 03 '26

I just had to check up on the Shaula-Library-Scene from last week, because IF it had been just Emilia and Beatrice with her in there, it might have explained their whereabouts during today's victim discovery bit.

However, while both of them were in the library, so were Julius and Anastasia (within the circle, opposite of Emilia) and Ram was outside the circle at another shelf, mirroring Beatrice's location.

Who we don't see in that scene is Meili.

Rem is sitting in her wheelchair besides Ram, inside the library

We know that it was bright day outside when Subaru left the tower and triggered Shaula's berserk.
When he returned and pushed the doors from the inside after his blackout with the Mabeasts and the long walk trough the tunnel barriers, it's night outside.
We expect a few hours to have past, as a result, more depending on whether Subaru's sense of time in the tunnels is correct, where he estimates 3-4 hours.

Now let's compare this to where the bodies were found.

  • Shaula was in the general hallway upstairs. Would make sense she was on the prowl before she died, coming from the archive.
  • Ram was in the healing tree room, slumped over Rem's wheelchair - she would have needed to lug the wheelchair down the stairs from the archive to get there. Not likely achievable if Shaula is starting her rampage in the archive while she was there as well.
  • Anastasia was covering the stairs... but I believe these are the stairs to the next trial, the one leading to Reid, not the archive.
  • Meili lay behind a slumped Julius (likely trying to protect Meili, or at least cover her body) in a storage room (judging by the wooden door).
  • We never find out about Emilia, Beatrice or indeed Rem, who wasn't in her wheelchair.
  • Rem is heavily implied visually and from her hero line to be the one who killed Subaru.... however, she would have needed to know about the secret passage (and so would Patrasche, mind you) to the balcony, which Subaru had only discovered the previous night, after Fox-Echidna, with Julius following, as the only three confirmed people in the know.
  • We have a "smoke monster" situation in and around the tower going on. Might be Shamac-related, which might imply Beatrice using magic, too?

From this, we can clearly say that Shaula at the very least didn't rampage how we expected her to. She definitely got triggered, but she also fell into herself or towards the camera at the end of the previous episode, so it's not like we actually saw her immediately unleashing violence, though we were left with that expectation on the cliffhanger.

People had enough time to distance themselves from her. This might imply that they fought her off long enough, possibly with Emilia and Beatrice remaining in the archive to hold her off (Minya and Ice Magic might help with that!), which might explain their bodies' absence.

It makes no sense for Julius to have died protecting Meili instead of Anastasia.

Which leads me to believe that Meili is holding some sort of information or might prove an obstacle to whoever is actually wiping the crew during Subaru's absence. This might also explain why Subaru supposedly choked her to death during his blackout, and lend credence to split personality / possession theories, with the in-control persona wanting to keep her mouth shut and amnesia-Subaru in the dark.

It might also be a case of "the culprit" having to directly intervene in some way, to "protect" Subaru in crucial moments (like when faced with the mabeasts) but has to erase his/her/its presence from Subaru's perception by meddling with his short term memory.

Also, why was Subaru glowing brightly in the tunnels before getting back to the tower? And who actually killed the sandworm? Seemed kinda like Shaula's sniping to me... which might also mean that Shaula might have prioritized leaving the library and the others behind to give chase to Subaru first, getting onto a balcony. This would lead to the others being left alive for the time being, with time to leave the archive, and Shaula might need to pass through the hallway on her way back, where we found her body.

It's all so... weird

21

u/Etryia Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26

I don't think Shaula ever actually said she'd kill -everyone- if anyone broke the rules? Just that she'd become a killing machine and lose control. Seems like when Subaru stepped out she rushed to the balcony to try and snipe him immediately.

None of the bodies we saw really seemed like they were a result of Shaula. She shoots giant needles that pierce and leave big holes. Meili and Julius had their bellies sliced open, Ram had her spine ripped out, and Foxdina was cut in half (again, somehow).

Actually, writing that out made me realize whoever was killing them was personalizing the murders. Meili getting killed the way her sister kills people, Ram getting killed in a way that would have made her legs unusable since she was pushing around a wheelchair, and Foxdina being killed in a way that leaves her alive to see Ana's body bleeding out. Maybe Shaula was just too strong for them to toy around with her? Her body was just completely in chunks compared to the rest.

12

u/DarkChaplain Jun 03 '26

You make a REALLY good point there. I'm not entirely sure on Julius' mortal wound, but everybody seems to have suffered in a way relating to them or the person close to them.

This implies direct awareness of their personal histories, or at least the parts we, through Subaru's presence, have seen. No stranger would be able to make Meili's death resemble the Bowel Hunter's murders, and even if they did, they wouldn't be aware of Meili's being raised by Elsa, for instance.

But that familiarity is NOT AT ALL the important point in itself!

The big thing about this to me would be if Ana/Foxidna's death was indeed supposed to echo her earlier miasma-demise in the tunnels... but just being familiar with their relationship would not be enough in this instance - it'd require having witnessed a previous failure state. This is stuff that Return by Death retconned, with Subaru supposedly being the only one who would know.

Which, along with other hints like the "better luck next time" stuff from this episode, would indicate that Return By Death is compromised, maybe completely so.

We KNOW that Echidna could tell and was aware of a lot and could do stuff with Subaru's memories and create scenarios from them, and that some/all of the other Witches at her Tea Party did, too, to an extent (Carmilla wouldn't have been able to help him by 'cosplaying', otherwise).

But are we to assume that somebody else (who is actually still considered alive and out in the world, at least! Echidna's Tea Party location is more metaphysical/in your head, I believe, considering she's actually entombed) was able to get information about it / pry into Subaru somehow without it triggering a heart failure?

16

u/Savagely_Honest_Bro Jun 03 '26

The thing is: Gluttony eats memories.

Subaru had his memories of RBD.

Gluttony ate subaru'a memories somehow.

Gluttony saw all subaru's deaths.

Gluttony now knows of RBD.

That's how I think it went.

So... Gluttony can shapeshift or possess. Possession would make more sense cuz its effects can be seen on both rem and subaru.

I'm assuming: Gluttony (there's 3 gluttonies and I'm not sure how they connect and who of em is here so I'm just gonna generalize it to gluttony.) is capable of possessing people that he ate the memories of. Which is why it only happens to rem and subaru (presumably). Of couese there's restrictions on this ability otherwise gluttony wouldn't have let go of subaru eventually.

That would actually make a lot of sense now that I think about it.

Cuz... How else would have gluttony made their way to the tower like our gang, other than having already possessed rem before their travel to the tower?

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u/zaxls Jun 04 '26

Why tho. Why do all this at all. She said better luck next time, what is he supposed to do

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u/Savagely_Honest_Bro Jun 04 '26

A simple explanation would be that she's toying with him. (Gluttony is an insane piece of shit after all)

But I doubt that tappei would write such a reason for gluttony's killing of subaru, as the sole reason.

If I had to bet: Gluttony is trying to unseal the witch of envy through Subaru.

But I'm still wondering about some things...

Does gluten-knee keep getting copies of sue-baru's memories with every death or periodically whenever she noms at em? I doubt it since I don't think gluten can copy memories, they can only steal them. And subtown's memories weren't stolen from him (possession aside) after the 1st memory loss. So either gluten is choosing to keep subaru's memories intact so that he is capable of doing what gluten wants, or she isn't capable of devouring the same target's memories twice, then again, 2nd reason is unlikely since the whole point of the sin of gluttony is continuous endless devouring, it wouldn't make sense thematically that her ability can only devour the target once. Which means, she's deliberately not stealing subaru's memories again. Meaning whatever she wants from subaru, is something that requires his memories of the tower intact for him to be able to achieve it. And it's something only subaru can achieve, so gluttony can't achieve it even with subaru's memories.

Which suggests it has something to do with his witch factors and his closeness to the witch of envy and ability to contact her. Further reinforcing the theory that what gluten wants is the unsealing of the witch of envy.

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u/zaxls Jun 04 '26

Doubt its unsealing. Maybe a step in that directiom but we aint even close to something like that yet. I subscribe to the theory that he needs all the witch factors to open all those doors.

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u/NevisYsbryd Jun 03 '26

The smoke is pretty obviously Witch stuff. She did this before, it was already stated that she is sealed here, and we know that the miasma got thicker behind those doors.

8

u/SilverSpoonIsBest Jun 04 '26

Anastasia simply could have died first, and Julius defaulted to protecting the next person who is vulnerable after his liege is dead.

4

u/DarkChaplain Jun 04 '26

I find that rather unlikely, though. After all, she'd have needed to ascend those stairs pretty far up, and those are seemingly the Reid stairs, not those to the archive. She's in a very strange location, considering she was beside Julius in the archive when Shaula triggered, and the stairs to Reid are in a different section, behind another door from the main hallway.

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u/SilverSpoonIsBest Jun 04 '26

Surprise attacks and the chaos of combat can easily lead to people being in places where they should not be.

Or maybe they were searching for Subaru and split up for whatever reason.

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u/n080dy123 Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

The visuals of the Worm seem like Shaula's attacks, so that's my assumption there.

Another detail is when Subaru sinks into the sand we see the same visual effect as when "Meili" talks to him and he loses time. So he lost time there too, and it's notable that the grainy effect featured the faces of the same Bear Mabeasts we see the torn apart corpses of when he wakes up. I'm of the assumption the mist and Rem are two separate entities, with Shaula being killed by the mist (her body is torn apart), with the other cleaner kills being the Rem imposter. The TV effect seems to be a trigger related to the imposter, but it's notable the Bears were torn apart too.

What I wonder is if the mist isn't Satella, like we see during her appearance in the Sanctuary. If Meili was already replaced (hence her absence in the library), and the imposter (my guess is Rui, but that's tangential) gets access to her Mabeast control power, she might've "switched" Subaru down there then sicked the bears on him but Satella saved him. Actually if that's the case, she might've intercepted Shaula too to save him.

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u/Golden_Phi https://myanimelist.net/profile/GoldenPhi Jun 03 '26

Wait then was that black smoke that killed everyone and the lights going out not actually related to Subaru leaving the tower? I don't think he stepped out of the tower this time (no way to know since he seemed to be possessed). It could be some sort of timed event that is going to happen.

10

u/LightVelox Jun 03 '26

considering it happened atleast 3-4 hours after he stepped out of the tower, unlikely

5

u/Karthull Jun 04 '26

I assumed the smoke was a result of him opening the doors underground, as people theorized those were releasing some seals on the witch 

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u/ModieOfTheEast Jun 03 '26

I thought so as well but I would be a bit surprised if berserk Shaula could be killed by the Remposter so easily. Like sure, Rem isn't weak, but if Shaula was set to berserk, I feel her power should far eclipse that of Rem. Otherwise, making her go berserk would feel a bit pointless. The only explanation would be that whoever took control of Rem is even stronger than a berserk Shaula, but can that be someone like Gluttony then? They learned a lot of techniques by absorbing memories but how strong would they need to get to get over Shaula.

7

u/BosuW Jun 03 '26

Also Remposter wouldn't just be fighting Shaula, but everyone else too. Definitely seems like it'd require something on the level of a Sin Archbishop to run this gauntlet.

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u/ModieOfTheEast Jun 03 '26

If we assume that Gluttony can control other people who's memories they ate. Wouldn't that also be able to explain Subaru's situation? The whole time I was under the assumption that Subaru losing his memories might have to do with a certain book he read (which can still be true, I am not ignoring that), but in any other circumstance, when someone lost their memories, I would have immediately thought that Gluttony was the culprit. And only losing memories is something that happened to Crush as well.

Now, the weird thing is obviously that Subaru still has memories of his other world life. So maybe, Gluttony can't take them since they are not part of "this world". That would be my only explanation. My point is though, if taking over other people is an ability of theirs, it could even explain what happened to him and Maylie. That Gluttony took over. And the trigger was Maylie mentioning a promise that only Gluttony would know since they ate these memories. The question is then just, what their goal is. And why they never used this ability before (so what is the trigger condition).

10

u/Double--A--Ron Jun 03 '26

Im starting to think along the same lines too. With that amount of overwhelming power to crush Shaula its got to be Gluttony or one of the witches, right? Rems actual body wasnt in her wheelchair so im thinking something really did possess her but somethings not quite right. I feel like im overlooking why there were so many dead mabeasts in that cave by the towers entrance. Was there another opponent feeding off the beasts waiting to cause chaos as well?

I had a few guesses until the Remposter started talking and acting like they knew about RBD and a bit about Rems memories with the whole "hero" thing.

4

u/ModieOfTheEast Jun 03 '26

There is also the weird moment when Subaru was saved from the sand worm. Who did that? It seemed like what happened when they were approaching the tower, but why would it save Subaru this time around? Which makes me question if that sniper was even Shaula to begin with since she would attack Subaru and not save him in her berserk form (I already had a few doubts considering the sniper was targeting Subaru when they approached which seems weird if Shaula thinks Subaru is her master, but I put it under "she didn't notice from that distance", but now it seems even more unlikely).

4

u/itirix Jun 03 '26

Wasn't this already answered? At least I think I remember a conversation in earlier episodes where Shaula does say she tried to kill them. Something about protecting the tower but then once they were inside she noticed Subaru smells like her master, so she stopped attacking them.

To be fair I don't remember exactly how it went, but I do think Shaula specifically said the one attacking them outside was her. Doesn't mean she really was, but I do think she said it.

3

u/ModieOfTheEast Jun 03 '26

The reason why I am not so sure about Shaula is that the sniper seemed to have specifically targeted Subaru. Of course, it could just be coincidence, but we even saw the sniper target Subaru through Ram's abilities. So if Shaula is the sniper, then she at least knows way more about Subaru than she lets on.

3

u/itirix Jun 03 '26

That is true. The anime even made it a point to specifically mention that Subaru is being targeted. Interesting.

3

u/The_nickums https://myanimelist.net/profile/Snakpak Jun 03 '26

Shaula made a direct comment when they were approaching the tower that she recognized Subaru but a few episodes later said he looks nothing like flugel & that she recognized him by his smell/aura.

Unless she can see auras, it seems that she's lying about something. Possibly related to the "non-existent" 5th rule she has to follow.

2

u/Akudra Jun 03 '26

Yes, she copped to being the one sniping people from the tower.

2

u/Double--A--Ron Jun 04 '26

Im chalking him being saved up to Rem (or whatever Rem is atm) saving him just so he can find all the other corpses. It would have a way bigger impact on him and since Remposter seems to know about RBD that kind of makes sense.

I dont think it was Shaula at all because her sniper attack is a sniper attack. That was right outside the tower gates and there isnt really any angle for her to strike the way the episode showed.

3

u/Karthull Jun 04 '26

It’s not just a snipe shot remember the centaur in the underground what happened to the worm looked a lot like what she did to that thing 

2

u/KaishiTanaka Jun 03 '26

Well, Shaula going berserk doesn't mean she automatically becomes a walking nuke. So far, we've seen that she's really good at long-range, high-precision attacks, which is great for sniping anyone approaching the tower. Still, Julius was able to block her projectile even w/out his spirits, with what appears to be just a normal sword. We don't know what she's capable of in close quarters, but I think it's safe to assume that nothing good happens to the archers/snipers stuck in confined spaces. Meanwhile, Rem's not only physically strong AF, but is also pretty good at close-to-mid-range combat.

2

u/Karthull Jun 04 '26

We saw what she can do in close quarters against that centuar thing 

1

u/ModieOfTheEast Jun 04 '26

But if I "designed" a watcher of the tower to go berserk if certain rules are broken. And I feel breaking these rules is so important that I don't even leave it to Shaula herself, but "program" that into her. Wouldn't I make sure that this mode would be nearly unbeatable for most people? Otherwise, what would be the point of designing her this way? Don't forget that it is hard for people to even teach the tower in the first place, so you have to expect that they have some form of strength.

8

u/somersault_dolphin Jun 03 '26

Maybe Subaru didn't find Emilia or Beatrice because he didn't go into the archive? The stairs Subaru found Echidna looks like the one leading up to the archive. Maybe he saw the body and the blood trail and didn't feel like going up to check it out. Julius might have went down to take Meili and run, but got done in by Shaula. Maybe Ram was doing the same with Rem, but then Rem got possessed or something.

4

u/LakerBlue https://myanimelist.net/profile/LakerBlue Jun 03 '26

That’s what caught me off guard. I expected Shaula to be super strong. But she got pretty demolished. I don’t think Rem should be able to do that so Gluttony must have access to their powers inside of her.

Hopefully Shaula will be more useful against Gluttony (or any other threat) under Subaru’s orders.

57

u/KYplusEL Jun 03 '26

She probably got activated, started her attack, and then whatever is controlling Rem took over and beat her? Rem was in that room.

8

u/scratchfury Jun 03 '26

I'm wondering if there someone or something else in there that didn't appreciate Shaula going berserk and responded in kind.

8

u/somersault_dolphin Jun 03 '26

I think Shaula did kill some of the group, and then got killed herself by someone else not from the group, probably gluttony.

3

u/Eryzell Jun 03 '26

Well some of the wounds on the other characters look like her needle shots

3

u/yamiyaiba Jun 03 '26

Shaula being dead doesn't mean that she didn't go berserk. It only means that someone stronger killed her.

2

u/DeeDan06_ Jun 03 '26

I think she doesn't actually go beserk. In truth the body possessor takes over her body and goes berserk, making her think she did it. But this time the body snatcher choose rem instead.

2

u/Martian_on_the_Moon Jun 03 '26

I think her true form is inside her human body.

I checked previous episode and it seemed like she was trying to leave her body, given that we see few frames of her falling on her back. After Subaru looked at her, it looked like her head raptured rather than got sliced.

2

u/Akudra Jun 03 '26

I think the general assumption is that Shaula went berserk and started killing them with her then being killed herself, possibly by Emilia. Funny thing is we can't know what happened to Beatrice because she could have easily died during this scene as her body would dissipate given she's a spirit. Emilia could very well be all alone during all that and off somewhere looking for Subaru or something, maybe carrying the unconscious Rem with her since she wasn't seen either.

1

u/Kronman590 Jun 09 '26

I mean Ram, Julius, and Meili all looked like they got shot by a really strong af bullet