#JanchoRZ #Arc6 Re:Zero Volume 25 (WN) ✅ The greatest volume ever written. The most amazing, legendary, divine, epic, satisfying, emotional climax to the greatest arc in fiction. Arc 6 has the most spectacular ending with the most incredible plot twist I’ve ever witnessed. I will spend a lot of time writing an in-depth review covering the entirety of Arc 6. Due to IRL issues, I won’t have much time in the next few weeks and won’t be as active on Twitter as before. But I will post that final Arc 6 review eventually. Here, I will talk about my overall thoughts on my favorite volume of all time and share some of my theories on the ending. I won’t go into too much depth here as there’s simply too much content, and I don’t have the time to analyze everything. The big analysis will be in my Arc 6 review, so please look forward to that. Volume 25, where do I even start? This volume is a culmination of everything I love about Re:Zero, which can be said about Arc 6 in general. But this final volume in particular embodies everything I could ever ask for in a story. It doesn’t fall short in any category. Character development, plot progression, worldbuilding, lore, reveals, mysteries, drama, hype, action, high stakes, emotional payoffs, and more. Everything about this volume is at the pinnacle of fiction. Volume 23 was my favorite volume before, but it didn’t have as much action or lore as the mysteries weren’t revealed yet. Volume 25 has a lot of action and many reveals while also adding new mysteries. Of course, the main focus of Re:Zero is the characters. This volume not only has Natsuki Subaru’s highest peak and greatest character arc conclusion. It also focuses on all the other characters in Arc 6 while concluding their character arcs perfectly. All the characters in Arc 6 get their shine, even the less important side characters. Natsuki Subaru dies 15 times in this volume, more than in any other volume up until now. And 14 of those are in a single chapter at the beginning. It’s safe to say that this is the worst situation he’s ever been in. He’s never been cornered on this scale before. However, everything changes once he finds his own Books of the Dead in the Taygeta library and goes through all of them until he comes face to face with himself, “Natsuki Subaru”. Amnesiac Natsuki Subaru and “Natsuki Subaru” have my favorite dynamic ever. This interaction between them is the culmination of Subaru’s entire character and why he’s my favorite protagonist in fiction. Natsuki Subaru calling himself an amazing guy is the most impactful character moment ever. And the two of them fusing into one ultimate existence, combining both his old and new memories, is the perfect payoff and conclusion to the greatest amnesia character arc ever written. Subaru isn’t the only highlight of this volume. We also learn about Rui Arneb’s background and motivations, making her my favorite antagonist in Re:Zero. The lore between Rui and Subaru is one of the most complex and misunderstood situations in the series. But I find it incredibly fascinating, so I spent multiple weeks studying it to write a detailed analysis with my interpretations on it. But I’m not copying that analysis here. After the newborn, perfect Natsuki Subaru gets sent back from the Corridor of Memories to the Pleiades Watchtower, we get all the final matchups to overcome this deadlock: • Julius vs. Reid • Ram vs. Lye • Emilia vs. Volcanica • Subaru, Beatrice, and Meili vs. Shaula All of these battles have much greater meaning, buildup, stakes, and payoffs than the ones in Arc 5. This is the most epic endgame of an arc I’ve ever experienced. My favorite fight in Re:Zero is Julius vs. Reid. It’s not the action itself that makes it so good. It’s Julius Juukulius’s character development and dynamic with Reid Astrea that truly resonates with me. Julius accepting his role as the Finest of Knights, defeating Reid and Roy at the same time, while restoring his relationship with Anastasia, is simply magnificent. Eridna is also an incredibly underrated character who finally discovers her purpose in life. But of course, Julius is the MVP. Other than Subaru, he has the greatest development in Arc 6. And with this perfect conclusion, he has become my favorite side character of all time. My second favorite fight is Ram vs. Lye. This is the most brutal slaughter fest ever. Ram has also become one of my favorite characters in Arc 6. Her becoming the reincarnation of the Oni God through the support of her sister to kill the monster in possession of Rem’s memories and name is such beautiful writing. Ram finally killing Lye and avenging her sister is the most satisfying payoff ever, as we’ve been anticipating this for three arcs. Emilia vs. Volcanica is one of the most epic fantasy battles I can think of. The fact that the literal Divine Dragon Volcanica is on the first floor Maia is mind-blowing. The most interesting part of this whole situation is the lore and new mysteries we get, but I’ll talk more about that later. The battle between Emilia and Volcanica in order to rewrite the rules of the tower is very creative and fun, as Emilia uses ice soldiers replicating Subaru’s body, which shows Emilia’s love for her knight. There’s a ton of great action with the potential of peak animation. So I hope Vincent Chansard animates this fight in Season 4. Emilia is an absolute MVP as she ends up becoming the administrator of the Pleiades Watchtower after setting the new rule “for everyone to get along”. Subaru, Beatrice, and Meili vs. Shaula is a super precarious situation with very high stakes. Witchbeasts are all around the area, and Shaula is in her Crimson Scorpion form. Fortunately, Julius arrives after defeating Reid. And after Emilia rewrites the rules, we get a legendary climax with all of these characters working together to corner the Crimson Scorpion. Subaru’s use of Cor Leonis is a highlight. However, Shaula unfortunately ends up “dying” as she turns into a tiny scorpion. So Subaru doesn’t fulfill his goal of saving her, which is truly tragic. The ending of Arc 6 is utterly insane. After it’s decided to seal Roy Alphard with the same method as the Witch’s Shrine and the remaining issues surrounding the tower are discussed, we get the most unexpected and mind-blowing plot twist of all time. It’s the biggest turning point of Re:Zero yet. That’s why I’m not even mad about any unresolved plot points. This is still the greatest arc finale I’ve ever experienced. Out of nowhere, Rui appears in the Green Room and replaces the room’s spirit. At the same time, the Witch of Envy attacks the tower, the final obstacle we thought was dealt with. Then, Volcanica also makes his entrance to stop the Witch, after which Subaru, Rem, and Rui are teleported to a random place far away from the tower. Volcanica vs. Satella is exactly what I was asking for, and this moment had me super hyped. And finally, Rem wakes up! But there’s a twist, she has lost her memories and doesn’t recognize Subaru. This is the moment we’ve been waiting so long for. It’s the biggest payoff after three arcs of Rem sleeping. The fact that she hasn’t regained her memories is sad, but it leaves a lot of potential for great character development in the next arc. Arc 6 ending on Subaru and Rem once again starting from zero is so beautiful and perfect. This is the most I’ve ever cried reading a novel. I genuinely shed tears after finishing this masterpiece of an arc. This isn’t exactly a happy ending. It’s a bittersweet one, but that’s what makes it so impactful. Now, I want to discuss the lore and give my theories on some of the remaining mysteries, partly based on the information I’ve gathered from other people’s interpretations. First of all, let’s talk about the ending. What happened to Rui? Why does she appear in the Green Room? Why is she in a state where she can’t think or speak properly? Well, last time we saw her, she was completely traumatized due to experiencing Return by Death and fought her other self, who didn’t go through it. I believe the memories of the former are then completely consumed by the latter. The amnesiac Rui is made to hijack the spirit in the Green Room. That’s why the spirit disappears the moment Rui shows up. And this is also what allows Rui to escape the Corridor of Memories since the spirit gives her an actual body. The reason she is now acting like this is simply her amnesia. However, I can’t explain how Rui got access to this spirit. This definitely needs an explanation in the future. Subaru hypothesized before that Rui is the reason the Witch of Envy shows up, since Rui knew about Return by Death while inside Subaru’s body. In previous loops, after Rui had already suppressed Subaru’s memories, it always took some time until the black shadow consumed the tower. My interpretation is that while the Witch immediately appears once someone other than Subaru knows about his Authority, she is something like a time bomb that only attacks after a certain amount of time has passed. But since Rui was gone during the majority of the final loop, she never actually attacked, but still remained in the outside world, waiting for the moment to attack once someone breaks the taboo. So when Rui manifests in the Green Room, the Witch immediately launches her attack as the specific time has already passed. However, this Rui has seemingly lost her memories, so she shouldn’t know anything about Subaru’s Authority. That’s another thing I can’t explain. But perhaps my theory of her having lost her memories is incorrect. We will see once it’s revealed. Now the big question is, why is Rem back but without her memories? If we go by Ram’s theory, it takes a certain amount of time until the “food” eaten by Gluttony is “digested”. My interpretation is that this refers to the memories and names eaten by Lye or Roy to be sent over to Rui in the Corridor of Memories, which doesn’t happen immediately. But once she receives them, the memories and names of those people won’t return after killing Lye or Roy. The reason Emilia’s name returned is that her name was only recently eaten, so it hasn’t been digested yet. But neither Rem’s memories nor her name are back due to them being digested long ago. It’s extremely difficult for me to say why she has woken up despite not regaining her name and memories. But there are three possibilities I can think of. The first one is that the Witch of Envy somehow did this by teleporting Rem with Subaru and Rui to this strange place, which I assume is Vollachia. We know that Satella summoned Subaru to this other world, so she probably has a teleportation ability. And maybe she can awaken a Gluttony victim as well, who knows? But this theory seems very unlikely and far-fetched. What is more likely is that Volcanica is the one who teleported them and also woke up Rem. He saved them from the Witch of Envy due to the new rule of the tower, as the Witch doesn’t get along with the others. The Divine Dragon having the ability to wake her up makes more sense given the power of the Dragon’s Blood. The last theory is that Rem is connected to Rui. So Rui’s appearance somehow caused Rem to wake up. But I really don’t know how exactly that would work. Still, the latter two theories seem more likely to me than the first. What I’m almost 100% certain of is that Lye being killed has nothing to do with Rem waking up. Next, let’s dive into the situation with Volcanica. First of all, I absolutely love his design. Otsuka cooked here like never before. And the amount of aura he emits is truly divine. Anyway, it’s stated that his soul is about 90% absent, so he’s basically asleep. He doesn’t seem to be “senile” like Emilia says. But once he and Emilia enter the uppermost stratum of the Pleiades Watchtower, even above the first floor Maia, he regains his mind and starts speaking words other than the ones he kept repeating. I first thought this highest layer of the tower would be the zeroth floor Merope, which was once mentioned by Shaula. But after studying some star lore and the meaning behind the seven sisters of the Pleiades, as well as rereading Shaula’s statements regarding Merope, it’s pretty much confirmed that the zeroth floor refers to the underground cave underneath the tower where Satella is sealed on the right path. So this area is a part of the Pleiades Watchtower. It was built after Flugel left, meaning Satella wasn’t originally sealed in this underground area but was only later brought here. Anyway, let’s get back to the uppermost stratum of the tower, which should just be an extension of the first floor. There in the center is a monolith with six handprints on it. These are seemingly the handprints of Flugel, Reid, Shaula, Farsale, Satella, and one other unknown person. Perhaps the identity of the final handprint is a human form of Volcanica. But it could be any historical figure. What stands out is the fact that Satella’s handprint perfectly matches Emilia’s hand. And Volcanica calling Emilia “Satella” can’t be a coincidence either. We know that Emilia and Satella have the same appearance. But are they truly the same person, just from a different time? Tappei is really making me believe in this theory, but he could just as well be deceiving us. One of the most unexpected and funniest bombshells that came out of nowhere is Volcanica recognizing Patrasche. This once again supports the theory that Subaru and Flugel are the same person, which is much more believable than Emilia being Satella. I’ve said it before, but my theory remains that Flugel is a future version of Subaru who travels to the past 400 years ago. The story of Re:Zero is basically one big loop. Subaru named his earth dragon “Patrasche”, which is a name from our world. After collecting all seven Witch Factors and becoming the Sage known as Flugel, he brings Patrasche to the past, where they meet Volcanica. That is why the Divine Dragon knows this earth dragon and is surprised to see her. Again, this is just my theory, but it seems plausible to me. In the final chapter, Beatrice says that the Dragon’s Blood in the Royal Castle is the blood that spilled from the last beat of a dying Dragon’s heart. So it doesn’t refer to Volcanica’s blood since he’s still alive. I wonder who that other Dragon is. It seems that the blood of a dying Dragon’s heart is far more powerful than normal Dragon’s Blood. That is probably why Roswaal wants to kill the Dragon. His goal is to revive Echidna, and the blood of a dying Volcanica could fulfill it. Although I don’t think Volcanica was ever been mentioned to be the Dragon Roswaal wants to kill. And there’s also the fact that Ram could’ve done something since she saw Volcanica with Emilia. However, Emilia’s goal is to use the Dragon’s Blood in the Royal Castle to unfreeze her people in Elior Forest, which Roswaal supports. To achieve this goal, she has to win the Royal Selection and become the next monarch of Lugunica, which is only possible when Volcanica is still alive due to his covenant with the kingdom. Roswaal will only kill Volcanica and carry out his goal of reviving Echidna after Emilia has fulfilled her goal. And Ram probably knows that, which is why she doesn’t do anything to the Divine Dragon yet. Lastly, I want to talk about my only minor criticism regarding Arc 6. What is up with the libraries of Electra and Maia? Just like Taygeta, I was expecting these floors to become libraries after completing the examinations. But nothing of that sort was mentioned. I believe the reason why Electra didn’t turn into a library is that Reid possessed Roy and thus was no longer tied to the examination. And Emilia also didn’t complete the examination of Maia. Following the fifth rule, she destroyed the examinations by rewriting the rules of the tower. But when this happened, Julius was already helping in the battle with Shaula, and we never saw what happened to Electra afterwards. Maybe it has turned into a library, but we just don’t know. And maybe the Maia library also exists, but is hidden somewhere on the top of the tower. I believe this is all future content since the Pleiades Watchtower will continue to be explored. So this really isn’t a big complaint. With all that being said, Arc 6 has changed my life forever. I can’t thank Tappei Nagatsuki enough for creating this legendary masterpiece. At almost 3K words, this is my longest post ever. But my Arc 6 review/analysis will be even longer and more detailed. Again, you can expect to see it sometime in the next weeks. For now, I want to thank everyone who has been sticking with me on this amazing journey. Don’t forget to share your thoughts on this review and my theories in the replies. Thank you very much.