Re:Zero - Episode 43 Review - Petelgeuse and Fortuna Fight Against Pandora and Regulus

Warning: Spoilers for the episode below.

The episode doesn’t start off immediately with Emilia as we saw her in the last episode. Instead, it starts with Subaru and the gang chatting outside of the trial. More of the mystery behind Sanctuary is unraveled by Ryuzu Shima. 

Shima recalls the original Ryuzu Meyer’s memories of Sanctuary before it was called that. In them, Ryuzu Meyer met Beatrice, who looked exactly the same as she does today. Ryuzu Meyer seemed like a kind servant girl who was captivated by Beatrice’s looks. Beatrice acted haughty towards her, but actually, she craved Ryuzu Meyer’s friendship. And that friendship was adorable! I love Beatrice so any excuse for her to get more screen time is fine by me. Especially when things are peaceful. 

Echidna was also on Sanctuary grounds at this time, attending to some business. We see just how loyal Beatrice is to Echidna, calling her Mother. And Beatrice retrains from pulling that haughty attitude with Echidna.

Last but not least, Roswaal makes an appearance in these memories! But Ram calls him a Roswaal of many generations ago, which I guess means it’s not the Roswaal we know but an  ancestor? That part’s a bit confusing.

Anyways, these peaceful times come to an end, leading to the reason the place is called Sanctuary. We’ll have to discover more about this later, because the episode switches over to Emilia reliving the past while taking the trial.

We left Emilia, Geuse, and Fortuna meeting a sinister-looking character named Regulus Corneas. He was bad enough, but another character appears that enrages Fortuna immediately. That character is Pandora, the Witch of Vanity. I didn’t even know another Witch existed! I thought we had met them all! Pandora shares some physical traits with Echidna, which makes me think there’s some special connection between them.

Fortuna strikes both Pandora and Regulus with a powerful killer attack. But it’s as if neither can be killed. Geuse tells Fortuna and Emilia to escape while he tries to hold them off. That’s when Geuse uses an item that gives him his famous invisible hands technique we’re familiar with. The power hurts Geuse, but he’s willing to sacrifice his life to protect Emilia and Fortuna.

Fortuna entrusts Emilia with Archi so that she can go back and help Geuse fight a losing battle. It’s a heartbreaking farewell between child Emilia and her surrogate mother, Fortuna. Archi does his best to run away from the forest with Emilia, but he’s stopped by the Black Serpent! It looks like Archi sacrifices his life to aid in Emilia’s escape.

But little Emilia doesn’t want to lose everyone she loves. Instead of escaping, she runs to the Seal, hoping to give it up as a way to save everyone. Creepy Pandora is waiting for her.

Pandora seems to be able to rewrite reality to whatever she wants it to be, making her perhaps the most powerful character we’ve seen yet!

(image source: Amazon)