Title: Re:Zero, Chapter 3: Truth of Zero Vol. 9
Author: Tappei Nagatsuki (Story), Daichi Matsuse (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Genre: Shounen, Battle, Fantasy
Publication Date: December 10, 2019
The Story
The time to take the battle to Petelgeuse’s fingers has begun. The scene is the village just a short distance away from the mansion where Emilia resides. The battle is fierce as Petelgeuse is bouncing from person to person. Emilia ends up showing up and giving a display of her power. With Petelgeuse gone, they believe that everything is fine until Subaru runs away. He felt something strange within him which is revealed with Petelgeuse takes over his body! Even though they don’t explain it, it is most likely because he has one of the books in his possession. Those gospels are probably the link that Petelgeuse needs in order to bounce from person to person. Subaru knows no other way out of this and asks Julius to kill him, which he reluctantly does.
This triggers Return by Death in which Subaru has a brand-new save point. With the knowledge of the events to come, Subaru sets a new plan into action; however, the question is… will it really work?
Even though the volume does conclude with what looks like the final battle between Petelgeuse and Subaru, the fact that the volume didn’t conclude it gives me suspicions that this truly isn’t the end. We are pretty deep into this series and we know that in every single arc, Subaru has died over and over and over again until he moves his save point. With this being the first Return by Death after a new save point, it’s a bit hard to imagine that Subaru is going to get this right on the first try. I expect him to die multiple times before we unravel the true mystery behind Petelgeuse. If not, then this will be a huge step forward for him.
Characters
The bond between Subaru and Julius that was created in the last volume deepens even further… so much so that you could feel the pain that Julius was experiencing when he knew that he had to kill Subaru to save him from Petelgeuse. You can just tell that there’s a good friendship forming there… even if the two of them don’t want to admit it.
Emilia received some time to shine as it is extremely rare for her to show her combat prowess. She reminded us just how overpowered she really is… especially with her ability to detect the unseen hands without actually seeing them. The only other person to be able to do that was Wilhelm. Also, good to see Puck again!
Outside of that, no real development for any other characters… including Petelgeuse. They may have discerned how to stop him from jumping but outside of that, there really hasn’t been any depth added to him or anyone else for that matter.
Final Thoughts
This was a more action-packed volume of Re:ZERO that had a nice little twist in it with Subaru getting possessed. I feel as if this will start a new series of Return by Deaths, except, I have a nagging suspicion that this may be a one time deal this time around. Unless they have a really interesting plot point to make the mystery of Petelgeuse’s body-swapping worth expanding upon, I can’t see this arc being dragged on for too long. We already know the character, he’s already established, therefore it’s time that we just end this one and move on.
We’ll have to wait until Volume 10 to see if that happens, though. Still, this arc continues to be a bit slower in pace. Even though the action helped things all around, I can’t say that I’ve been too invested in this one. The white whale battle was more thrilling than with Petelgeuse but the saving grace is that we did get an interesting tidbit about The Witch that puts things into perspective. One little sentence kind of blew open an entire theory about the whole series and why Subaru got summoned to this world. I’m wondering if they will expand on that once Petelgeuse is dead and buried for good. I hope so because this series has danced around the main plot without touching it in detail for far too long!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
