Title: Re:Zero, Chapter 3: Truth of Zero Vol. 8
Author: Tappei Nagatsuki (Story), Daichi Matsuse (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Genre: Shounen, Battle, Fantasy
Publication Date: August 27, 2019
The Story
The white whale has been defeated so Subaru and the group turn their attention to the Witch’s cult. Julius joins them and prefers to be called Juli the Wanderer but Subaru doesn’t oblige. In fact, the two of them are still pretty much at each other’s throats due to what happened between the two in the capital. Still, they manage to co-exist long enough to confront Petelgeuse. The battle against him was rather short and uneventful which was kind of a letdown; however, the events to follow show that the battle is, indeed, far from over.
At first, talk about the 10 Fingers of Sloth was thought to be the camps controlled by Petelgeuse; however, different cultists were suddenly taking on Petelgeuse’s personality. Each one of them wore a mark upon them and even though the marks were different, they all seemed to be interconnected to each other.
Ram ends up making an appearance, attacking Subaru and Julius. Apparently, there was a misunderstanding involving a letter sent by Subaru to the castle which means they need to head there in person to sort things out. On the way, they end up stopping by the village Subaru used to frequent. Once there, they learn that the Witch’s Cult has infiltrated it already! Another battle looms ahead!
Not much to the story in this volume. Simply moving from one battle to the next all while trying to unravel the mystery behind Petelgeuse and why his conscious keeps jumping from person to person. They already gave us a clue about the marks so it has to be something to do with that. Not much of a mystery. For as much as they were trying to set up in this volume, this was kind of a sleeper, to be honest. Nothing really felt natural. Some of the events just felt rushed.
Characters
The only real development here was between Subaru and Julius. Even though they hate one another, they eventually come to a mutual understanding. Right when Subaru is about to make amends with him, they are placed under an illusionary spell. Julius does help free himself and Subaru from the spell but his methods didn’t take Subaru’s well-being into account and that caused more friction between them. Rather than build off of that, it seems that things were immediately patched up. It was a great opportunity to build even more animosity between them but the result still ended up with them making amends. I would have saved something like that until after their resolution as a bit of a reminder of the way they used to be rather than try and feign a speedbump on their road to recovery. It just felt a bit out of place.
Outside of that, we didn’t get much out of our other characters. Even Ram’s appearance didn’t warrant any development of her character. I feel that everyone is pretty established at this point so there really isn’t a need to flesh characters out. Still, I would have liked to see something more with some of our cast.
Final Thoughts
As I said, this was a sleeper volume for Re:ZERO. While we did get some action, it was very short-lived. Even if it was to set up the soul transfer mystery, the battle against Petelgeuse was very anti-climatic. It should have taken up the entirety of the volume. For as much as they built him up in the past, he deserved a better battle. Also, if they struggled against him that much, just imagine the impact the soul transfer mystery would have had if they learned after a fight that grand that it was far from over? Even the second “Petelgeuse” was cut down way too fast. It really caused the impact of this arc to really lose a lot of steam.
Hopefully, things will get more interesting in the next volume. With the way this one ended, the village is the site for the next battle. What happens there might have huge implications. Of course, thanks to the other timelines, we already know how this ends if left unchecked. Now that Subaru has intervened, the alluring mystery of what the new outcome will be looms on the horizon!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
