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COVERAGE
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For argument sakes, I will consider Re: Zero’s entire series but will only be discussing season 1 here. My claim that Re: Zero is a masterpiece is indicating the whole series, not season 1; season 1 is not a complete story. Therefore all arguments against Re: Zero pointing out unexplained, untied ends and unaddressed plot points, issues, etc, are automatically rendered null as I am talking about the series as a whole, not season 1 by itself, however, in this blog I will only talk about season 1.
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NARRATIVE
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Re: Zero falls under the sub-genre, “Isekai”, I say that because Isekai is not really a genre, it’s more of a trope, and just like every trope, it is overdone, but that does not mean all anime with tropes are bad. I will assume those of you here have already FINISHED the anime, if not, come back when you have. Here I will talk about the “plot” of the first season. Well, the first season of the anime seemingly does not introduce us to any overarching “plot” or goal for our protagonist. This is a common complaint among anime-only Re: Zero critiques, however, as I have said before, I am arguing about the whole series including light novel and web-novel, when those are taken into consideration, Re: Zero does not lack plot, it has a complex and thought out the story it is trying to tell, a story not like many others, a story about someone who is not put upon a pedestal, a mundane-normal person like us and his struggles in another world. The first season, as far as I can see, does an excellent job of setting up for the main narrative of the series, it expands the world and can effectively introduce us to some important characters to the story, the main heroine, Emilia, and other side-characters that may be more important than you think they are. In season one, the anime sets up multiple plot points but does not address them, the royal selection, the mystery of the witch and Subaru’s powers, and remember Elsa? That woman who never came back after the first three episodes? Yeah, she will come back in the future. Season 1 is more of a prologue to our story, so complaining about Re: Zero lacking it is really not a criticism that holds up when you take into account the whole series (LN WN).
A lot of people also complain about how the loops where Subaru repeats the same things feel repetitive. I do not think it is repetitive at all, I believe this is more of due to personal patience and attention span than it being repetitive, each loop is never the same, Subaru always does something different. The most repetitive parts of the anime can be said to be the first arc and the mansion arc. Episode 1-6 if you will. The author uses these loops effectively and helps expand upon the world in which Subaru resides in, each loop, we are met with new information about the world. And each loop allows us to see the different interactions and situations that occur based on Subaru’s actions. For example, Subaru’s first time as a butler went horrible, he consistently cut his finger on the job, but by the third loop, where he tries to retrace his steps to gain the sister’s trust, he was cutting potatoes masterfully. These subtle changes from the first loop to the third loop may not seem significant, but it serves to make Subaru more suspicious, as, in the first loop, his incompetence in basics of housework makes him seem less capable and therefore less suspicious. But on the third loop, him being able to do them makes it so that he seemed more capable and therefore is more likely to be a spy, which, plus the witch’s smell that comes off of him, makes Rem kill him brutally. It is really not until you rewatch the series you start noticing all of these minor things that you never noticed before, which only makes me like the series more. I was never bored when rewatching the series.
The series also does a very good job in hooking the audience, well this is more subjective really, as where and why you get hooked is different for everyone. But the series likes to tease the audience with snip bits of information, using our natural curiosity against us, every time we learn something, we have a new question.
Lastly, the emotional and psychological aspects of the plot. This is arguably one of the most powerful parts of the series. Re: Zero is one of the only anime that consistently give me feels, there are so many powerful and emotional scenes. As even though we know Subaru was a piece of shit, rewatching the scenes when Rem murders Subaru, Ending of Episode 7, 13, 21, All of episode 15, 18, and don’t get me started on Wilhelm and his wife’s story. Every time I see Subaru’s cry and the music starts playing, the emotions come back to me, many may say because Subaru is so dumb and a bad person, it is hard to find sympathy for him. And I understand that, but instead of trying for sympathy, try empathy, put yourself in his shoes, unless you are some psycho that is cold and calculating, does not bend to pain or emotions, you cannot go to harshly to criticize Subaru’s choices. And the end of the day, remember, Subaru is not your typical shounen or almost every other protagonist, with minor or no flaws. He is a person, and people have flaws. Remember he also has good sides, he may be selfish, but he is not a bad person. He cares about those that helped him, heck in episode 7 he jumped off a cliff, facing his fears of death, not even knowing if he can come back again for Rem, even though Rem killed him last time. I would like to go on but really, I'll save the rest of Subaru’s character for the actual section. The point is, if you don’t feel a little bit of sympathy or empathy for Subaru, you are either a very cold person, or you just need to see Subaru a little more like a real person.
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CHARACTERS
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Re: Zero is full of memorable, unique, and interesting dynamic, round characters. Get that shallow stuff out of here and make way for true character writing. As this pertains to season one, I will only be covering characters from season one.
N A T S U K I S U
B A R U
——ツキ・スバル——
I know many of you guys hate or do not like Subaru that much, however, personally I love Subaru as a character. The main criticism I often hear is about Subaru being a shitty person, or being too stupid. Now let us address these criticisms one by one. First Subaru is not a shitty person, this may sound like a subjective opinion of mine, but hear me out. Subaru is a complex character, with flaws and good points. We must not tunnel vision on only his bad points and see his good points as well; because his bad points become more apparent in the anime than his good points. Subaru like all of us is flawed, there is no perfect person, most people have some sort of inner selfishness, and note I say MOST because I cannot speak on everyone in the world’s behalves. The author wants to portray Subaru as a normal person like most of us, having selfish fantasies and ugly feelings. The series shows us both sides of Subaru, the beautiful, and the ugly. It is just that the ugly is much more eye-catching than the beautiful and often overshadow Subaru’s good points. The author executes Subaru’s character development in a way that blows my mind, the brilliance in Subaru’s character development should not exist, yet here it is.
It is apparent from the beginning, Subaru is this corny, semi-self centered person, who after being summoned to another world, thinks he is the shit, the protagonist of an isekai story where he has overpowered abilities and gets all the woman. Well, that sure did turn out well for him didn’t it. He dies on the first day. Subaru quickly learns how powerless he is, with an ability that is not so convenient. Even though Subaru knows he is powerless, He still tries to save Emilia, partly for Emilia’s sake, but mostly for himself, he sees Emilia as someone that needs his protection, his pride, and overconfidence in his ability to make things right because he thinks he is the protagonist blinds him. And to be honest, why wouldn’t he? Most of us are swept away by the idea that we can become a heroic person of some story, saving a beautiful girl. And if you suddenly got isekaied, and gets an ability like Subaru’s, wouldn’t you think of yourself as some main character too? I might, and I know a lot of people may too, not saying everyone will, but some may. So Subaru’s pride and self-satisfying fantasy-driven actions are not too far fetched. Up until episode 13 and even in episode 14, Subaru believes everything will work out in the end, and if he is just given the chance, he can fix things with Emilia, he has the power to reset things after all. This toxic belief is caused by Subaru’s desperation to fix things with Emilia after Subaru’s cringeworthy and selfish actions in episode 13.
It is where Subaru’s ugly side truly becomes transparent to the viewer. What I love is that this ugly side was always there since episode 1, we could tell this flaw of Subaru’s character, it just did not catch most of our attention as it did not stick out and cause many problems. But here we see it causing problems for Subaru himself and Emilia. I can go on about Subaru all day, but I should probably cut this short.
Subaru can be selfish, but he is not a bad guy at heart. As Rem puts it, Subaru has many good qualities. He can be altruistic, a really good trait, he is optimistic, and dogged. Subaru’s persistence and perseverance are some of the things that Rem fell in love with. Hence Rem did not want to run away with a Subaru that has given up in episode 18, as she would be abandoning the Subaru that she fell in love with. Subaru is altruistic, in episode 7, despite being killed by Rem before and now being hated by Ram, Subaru sacrifices himself to save Rem. How many of you guys are willing to jump off a cliff, facing the fear of death and pain to save someone who BRUTALLY murdered you because you smelled weird and is suspicious when you did not do anything? TELL ME THAT DOESN’T MAKE SUBARU A GOOD PERSON!!
Now to address people saying Subaru is too stupid, yes he did some really stupid things, but given the circumstances and his confusion, I don’t think it’s unnatural, humans make irrational decisions all the time from emotion. If you think Subaru is TOO STUPID, then you must really have some unrealistically high standards of human intellect. Subaru went through more pain physically and emotionally than most of us will experience in a lifetime. In episode 16 he becomes desperate, his mind is blinded by rage and pain. And he is not thinking logically, we can easily be blinded by emotion. We as humans are easily influenced by emotion and often cast away logical thinking, think how many times you did something dumb because you were angry or sad. Others complain about Subaru taking 3 deaths to realize his ability, which is a ridiculous criticism. Who in the right mind would easily think after what happened to Subaru that “OH I MUST HAVE A SPECIFIC ABILITY TO RESPAWN IN A CERTAIN CHECKPOINT BACK IN TIME AFTER I DIE?” We the viewers have the POWER of synopsis, we go into the anime knowing his ability. Subaru is visibly confused the first time he respawned, not even knowing if he really died or he got reset back in time and heads off to save Emilia, the second time he is even more confused and states “I don’t know what is going on anymore.” and faints.
Subaru after episode 18 is why I like him, he readjusts his priorities and changes his attitude, he is still the same person, but he is trying his best to change and slowly becoming a better person, he makes up with Julius, uses his previous deaths to successfully negotiate, etc. He did not change instantly, he is slowly going down the right path for his character, it is a journey. Subaru is a hero, someone who betters himself for the benefits of those around him.
E M I L I A
——エミリア——
Emilia gets a lot of hate for doing absolutely nothing other than because Subaru rejected Rem for her, which is a very stupid reason do you not agree? She is a timid, kind, and naive girl, which is really cute in its own way. Emilia even tried to save people that wanted to capture her to sell her as a slave in Frozen Bonds, which is a kindness on another level. Emilia is not stupid, she has her own ambitions and independent thoughts. She breaks up her relationship with Subaru in episode 13 because she is smart enough to see that the relationship between them is toxic, Subaru has become unhealthily attached to Emilia, and it causes her a lot of trouble too. To Subaru, Emilia is the first person in this world he came into to show him kindness. However because Subaru died, the part with the bandit never occurred and Subaru has these emotions and memories that Emilia does not have, which is why It hurts Emilia to see Subaru get hurt trying to white knight here. Even after what Subaru did, Emilia is still showed kindness to him, making a contract with her rival, Crusch, to heal Subaru. All of Emilia’s life, she has been treated with prejudice and she is very lonely, yet she continues to show such kindness, it really breaks my heart, if you ever get the chance, watch Re: Zero Frozen Bonds, it really makes you empathize with Emilia.
R E M
——レム——
Rem really is an essential character to season 1. Rem was there for Subaru and believed in him, she listened to him and supported him when Subaru most needed it in Episode 18. She told what Subaru needed to hear and not what he wanted to hear. Against her own wishes to be with Subaru, Rem rejected Subaru’s effort to give up and just run away. Before she met Subaru, Rem was haunted by the guilt of when she felt happy that Ram’s horn got cut off by the witch’s cult. She worked harder than anyone as a sort of punishment for her feelings. She suppressed her true personality. Ram sees this in Rem as well, and the two are always worried about one another. Subaru saved Rem by telling her it is ok, she did not need to feel guilty, that she can move on. Subaru opened the door that has been closed for Rem for years and “started her time again.” Subaru saved Rem from herself. She told Rem she should look towards the future and not the past, and that she can rely on others. I find it really neat that just as Subaru saved Rem in episode 11, Rem saved Subaru in Episode 18.
O T H E R S
This is getting pretty long, I could go on all day, but let us wrap this section up. The other characters of Re: Zero all have their own story and lives. Every character has depth, they feel like real people with their own goals and life, as you will see later, a character you thought was a side character can end up being important to the story.
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SETTING
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The world of Re: zero is full of history, lore, and depth. We learn a lot about the world in season one but that is only a small slice of what the world has to offer. The magic system, politics of Re: Zero is unique and sophisticated. The series does an excellent job to introduce the world-building naturally, not through overflowing expositional explanation by characters, which can feel overwhelming, but slowly, only giving us a bit of information each time, leaving us wanting to learn more about the world. One of the most intriguing things about the world of Re: Zero is its rich history. Especially on the witches and beasts, well that's spoiler territory.
The world seems to go on even without Subaru there. And if you really want to dive into just how deep Re: Zero’s world-building is, you can dive into the wonderful world of Re: Zero IF stories, where a small change in decision by Subaru leads to a very different future, from a Subaru becoming the “Purge King” to a Subaru that burns down the capital of the kingdom. Despite all this, something really peculiar is the lack of an official Re: Zero world map. For such a well thought out world, to not have released an official world map yet is odd, hopefully, we will get on in the future though, for now, we will have to leave that to our imagination.
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T H E M E
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Re: Zero has many themes. The main themes can be said to be not giving up, hopelessness, and loneliness. Throughout the series, we can see these things clearly reflected in Subaru.
Subaru feels hopeless in episode 18 after experiencing so much pain and hardship, it seems like he has hit a wall that no matter what he does, he cannot get over. Every turn he goes leads to despair. The white whale, the witch’s cult, his own ability. Subaru felt so hopeless that he breaks down in episode 18.... giving up.
But Rem sees things differently, she does not know what Subaru has been through but tells Subaru that giving up is not the way. The theme transitions in 24 minutes of emotionally and brutally honest dialogue from hopelessness to optimism. Another even more literal representation is the end title cards, throughout the series the title cards are black, but at the end of episode 25, it is white, is that not just beautiful? Not to mention having the title cards at the end brings a whole different meaning to them in many cases. Like in Episode 13, if we saw that title in the beginning, “Self Proclaimed Knight, Natsuki Subaru” versus seeing it at the end, the context and tone that the title card gives off changes completely.
The theme of loneliness comes into question when we consider just how sad Subaru’s ability is. Think about how lonely it is, you are the only one that remembers the bond, memories, hardships, and happiness you experienced because when you died, all that progress is reset. Think about how painful it is that all that time and effort got reset, no one remembers it happening, you are the only one that remembers, can you even be sure all of it really happened? Subaru cannot tell anyone of his abilities, no one, as of season 1, can truly understand Subaru; It is a lonely existence.
Many people say Re: Zero is “edgy” because of these things, but really it is not. Edgy is when something is overly dark or depressing, often to the point that it becomes humorous. However, that is clearly not the case for Re: Zero, it has a dark message, but it is followed by a hopeful and light message. It never becomes too dark as the series balances it with hope.
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CONCLUSION
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