Arc 3: Return to the Capital
Subaru convinces Emilia to take him back to the capital, amidst an important meeting on the candidates to royalty. Things go south when Subaru causes a scene in front of the other candidates and the high ranking members of the kingdom, prompting Emilia to leave him behind to be healed and away from her. Another loop starts when Subaru returns to the mansion to find the entire village and the people in the mansion killed by cultists.
Tropes
- Accidental Murder: Subaru finds out that if he powers through the pain and explain Return By Death to someone, they'll die after hearing it when he accidentally kills Emilia with it.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The first two arcs are hardly light, but this one packs a heavy punch, with much worse things happening to Subaru, worse ways for him to die and for him to have to witness his friends die, as well as forcing him and the viewer to take a hard look on how he had been treating Emilia so far.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The many scenes of merchants entering and leaving Crusch's state during early loops. It turns out she's been buying armor and weapons to fight the White Whale, which Subaru is capable of figure out and use to recruit her to take down the whale.
- Ram informs Subaru that Emilia tried to help the village by changing the protecting stones around it. Subaru is capable of using one as part of attracting one of the Fingers to the woods and let the mabeasts attack her.
- Death of a Child: The kids of the village try to find shelter in the mansion, but that doesn't save them in the first and second loop.
- Hope Spot: Downplayed. In Episode 23, Subaru has to be killed by Julius after being possessed by Petelgeuse right after they defeated all the fingers, which seems like will undo all the work they put towards defeating the whale and saving the village. While the village is endangered again, at least his save spot was updated, and he comes back right after the White Whale had been defeated, surrounded by the forces he is to bring to the village. The anime even plays into this by hinting that he will come back to Kadomon's fruit stand before turning out the older male voice he had been hearing actually belonged to Ricardo.
- Humiliation Conga: This arc makes it very clear to Subaru that he is at the very bottom of the totem pole. His attempts to talk big in front of the court end with him being publicly smacked around by Julius and by extension humiliating and pissing off Emilia who turns her back to him. When he tries to take some initiative and communicate with the other Royal Candidates each of them finds a different way to put him down further and illustrate how out of his depth he is in the story: Crusch calls him out on his shortsightedness about Emilia's desires and that he is being self-serving and not really thinking about Emilia, only on his own personal goals; Priscilla demands him to kiss her feet and is pissed off about his willingness to do so, calling out his lack of dignity (which again reflects poorly on Emilia), and Anastasia casually manipulates him into giving her information in exchange for a carriage while subtly needling him about his lack of skill in negotiations. In one loop, Puck directly kills him, calling him out for being useless and incapable of keeping his promises to him and Emilia.
- Literally Shattered Lives: How Subaru dies often. His entire body is frozen over by Puck's powers, and he is subsequently shattered.
- Meaningful Background Event: During Anastasia and Subaru's negotiation, the viewer can see a few people in the background that wear something similar to her vice-captain. The end of the negotiation shifts the camera to the whole restaurant, revealing that Subaru did not notice he was surrounded by her forces the entire time.
- The Reveal: The massive creature that Subaru had previously seen in the mansion turns out to be Puck's real form.
- Secretly Selfish: Emilia accuses Subaru of this, mentioning how she never asked or wanted him to do most of the things that he ended up doing, accusing him of doing it all for himself. He breaks down and says that all that he has done for her is something she can never repay, confirming her line of thought.
- Wham Shot:
- Subaru coming back to the village to see that the entire population has been slaughtered.
- Subaru carrying Rem's corpse into the mansion to see a massive creature rising from behind it and looking at him before he dies.
