Re:Zero episode 29 has our Subaru awaken not inside the strange temple Emilia ran into but instead his comfy bed in his clearly otaku themed room. In mere moments, Subaru is pounced on not by a threat but his father—who we learn is named Kenichi Natsuki—who shows how much love he has for his son. From here things seem eerily strange as we are then introduced to Subaru’s mom—Naoko—and the trio share a strange albeit comical breakfast. The normality of everything seems quite unlike the previous episode of Re:Zero but what comes next is the missing element of the series…Subaru’s past.

After some time hanging with his dad—begrudgingly—Subaru ends up with his father on a bench where we, at last, hear more about what made Subaru the person we know today. Subaru admits that in his life he has made it through by skating through challenges, a feeling many viewers probably can relate to. At first, Subaru was like his dad as he could win races at school, score high grades, and was genuinely seen as a great kid in school. Unfortunately for Subaru, this success didn’t follow him through life and as time passed, our boy went from prodigy to class clown/delinquent. Subaru would spray graffiti everywhere, fail tests, and rarely excel at anything he tried. The bottom line…Subaru became a shadow of his father and began to hate school.

What makes this episode so relevant is that as Subaru explains why he began to change—mostly from his arrival in this new world—all these elements he discusses feel extremely relatable. Subaru began to avoid school and began to despise his parents because they refused to “not love him” as he mentions. Instead, Kenichi and Naoko end up treating him with even more love and continue wishing only for his best. Subaru’s parents let their son figure out how to battle through life and only watch as he battles internally with his own weakness. With his heart poured out, our hero finally says goodbye to both his parents and his past—the former he won’t see again since he’s been transported to this strange world—and moves on to overcome his last battleground…school.

Episode 29 wraps up with Subaru arriving to class but instead of fellow students and teacher he meets a recent friend. That’s right, the unusual Witch of Greed, Echidna. Why is she in Subaru’s memories? What fate awaits our hero next? These questions will have to wait for another episode but we can now talk a bit about what made this episode of Re:Zero so incredible.

Re:Zero has always been an emotional thrill ride with Subaru’s many deaths/revivals to him losing allies and having to witness their deaths numerous of times. However, episode 29 is focused on the hardest battle Subaru has dealt with in the sense that he had to overcome his own failings to realize he isn’t a bad person or a weak person for having these flaws. As Subaru’s mom says, what makes our hero so amazing is that he is the best halves of both of his parents. Added upon that, Subaru himself is incredible which means he isn’t a bad person or a weak one but a soul who is trying to find his goal in life. Episode 29 excels not for cool animation or epic battles but for the relatable themes that it allows its viewers to share while watching it. Needless to say, we are only on the fourth episode of this current season and if this series continues to produce great episodes like this one, season 2 might be anime of the year worthy!