This episode turned out to be quite weak due to a poor balance between key events and unnecessary inserts. Instead of focusing on the main conflict-the confrontation with Regulus-the writers wasted an enormous amount of screen time on Liliana's flashback, which adds nothing of value to the story. As a result, the episode's pacing completely fell apart, and the tension built up in previous episodes was completely drained.
But the biggest issue here was the animation. It was simply terrible, especially the scene with Priscilla-one of the worst animated moments I've ever seen in Re:Zero. It felt like the animators rushed through it, with little attention to detail or fluidity. The fight with Regulus was already cut short, and in the remaining scenes, character movements were stiff, attacks felt weightless, and facial expressions were sometimes completely lifeless. It gave the impression of an unfinished product, especially compared to previous episodes, which featured decent fight sequences.
While the visual presentation tries to maintain the masquerade atmosphere, the animation flaws and poor direction ruin the immersion. Regulus still looks menacing, but since his fight was significantly reduced, he doesn't feel as threatening as he should. Ultimately, the episode does not provide any meaningful progress-it simply drags out the runtime with unnecessary scenes and leaves the viewer frustrated.
If the animation had been at an acceptable level, Liliana's flashback had been removed, and the fight with Regulus had been shown in full, this episode could have been at least average. As it stands, it's one of the weakest episodes of the season.
