Re: Zero Season 1 Review

When it comes to holidays, one of the few things you can do is to binge watch an entire season of anime. Back on my Winter Break, I managed to catch the full season of Re:Zero and it was one hell of a ride. Truth be told, when I first decided to watch the series, it was for Rem-chan, because apparently she is quite popular and I have no idea where she came from. I want to get to know who this character is so I decided to delve into the anime.

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu is an anime about a guy who got suddenly transported into a fantasy world. Initially, I thought that this was going to be another typical adventure, shounen anime similar to Sword Art Online. However, I was very wrong and this mistake of not knowing what I am about to watch was one of the best mistakes I have ever done.

What do I like about the anime?

Have you guys ever watch the Sci-Fi movie titled "Edge of Tomorrow" that was inspired on a light novel with another title called "All You Need is Kill"? One of my favorite things about the movie is a concept of being able to repeat your day when you die. This anime delve into this power even further, constructing a psychological narrative that utilise this concept so well that it amazes me. The anime is not afraid to play around the power of resurrection (which is kind of OP), yet at the same time it conveys the helplessness of the main character.

Which brings me to another point that I like about the anime, it's called focus. This anime has a unique genre that is rarely seen and requires a really good plot to be good. They adopt the genre, Psychological Horror, and they commit to it until the end. It is true, that this anime does not have a lot of flashy action sequences (well there are some), and the main character doesn't seem very appealing as a character in overall, but that is exactly the point. This anime was not made to be an action adventure anime, it is a psychological horror anime. It is a hard genre to execute well and the anime managed to maintain focus and commitment until the end of the season.

Another thing to point out that is commendable, is how connected you are to the main character. He is undoubtedly one of the most overpowered character in the anime, yet at the same time he can be the most hopeless as well. The anime managed to convey this feeling of power and helplessness well in the appropriate moments.

What do I not like about the anime?

I don't really like the pace at which the anime is going. I mean, I understand that it is a difficult genre to pull off and the concept of the story itself is unique. However, the fact that this anime focuses so much on a plot within an arc, the main story feels rather undermined. By the end of season 1, I feel that there are more plot points and narratives within an arc compared to the main arc itself. It is true that the anime tried to connect the arcs with some interludes, but due to the focus shifting more towards the plot within the arc, viewers may seem to not care about these moments in the interlude. Personally for example, I am more interested of what's going to happen when the main character dies and how is he going to repair his mistakes compared to how exactly does he get transported to the world in the first place and how the hell does he get his powers.

Speaking of which, those last two questions remain unanswered throughout the season and I feel that there is no proper closure to the season. I don't like this because it feels that the story is just chopped out of nowhere. I guess some good examples of animes with a proper closure within a season is Oreimo. 

I also don't like the fact that some of the aspect in the anime feels over-simplified. Especially regarding the main character's power. It is not clear how his powers work. The anime made you believe on a certain way his powers work but in the third arc, it seemed to have worked differently. I don't like this especially when the anime put this lack of information as their advantage to over-simplify things that could have created huge plot holes. One a sidenote, it is actually a good thing for them to do it this way because otherwise they'll spend a lot of time explaining some plot holes and it may ruin the entire plot in the first place.

Judgment

I am giving this anime an A. It is such a good take on the genre, and it is capable of capturing the attention of the viewers throughout the season. The emotional roller coaster provided by this anime is a new experience and something definitely need to be tried by people. I do recommend that you should binge watch an entire season instead of watching like an episode per week, because truly, the strength of this anime comes from how good it manages to play with your emotions due to the nature of its genre, and one that is well executed.

I really can't wait for season 2. This anime is one of the most emotional anime I have ever watched and I really look forward to what's next. I really hope they are going to do season 2, probably after they have enough material from the light novel!

From this point onwards..... SPOILER ALERT!

Well, guys, I know that sometimes I convey these detailed aspect of the anime in a broad manner and sometimes it's not exactly a spoiler. Well, that is because I am trying to avoid it becoming a spoiler in the first place. I do however put a spoiler alert, just in case, I wrote something important to the plot point because some things are indeed very difficult to explain without the entire plot laid out to you. That being the case, I will re-arrange my sections, starting with plot first so as to ease understanding in the sections that follows ahead.

Plot

Re:Zero follows a story about a guy named Natsuki Subaru who was suddenly transported into a fantasy world. He was given this power to reverse causality when he died and repeat the entire events from a checkpoint. Now, one thing to take note is this checkpoint doesn't seem to be properly defined throughout the entire season which is one of the major plot holes in season 1. So, Season 1 was divided into 3 arcs (I feel that it is 3 arcs). 

The first arc was when Subaru initially reached this mysterious world and met a girl named Emilia. This arc's plot follows his journey to find Emilia's insignia that represents her as a candidate for the next queen of the kingdom. Of course, Subaru didn't know it at first. Now, in this first arc, it introduces many characters which I believe are vital later on in the story, but they weren't used a lot in this season. I am talking about characters like Felt and Reinhard van Astrea. This plot is simple, there is only one problem and it needs to be solved. It is comparable to level one of a puzzle game and its purpose is to introduce the viewers of what's more to come. I believe it manage to fulfill this job as it got me hooked instantly.

After the end of the first arc, Subaru was brought to Emilia's mansion where a bunch of supporting characters emerge. Now one of the supporting characters is Rem, which was the initial reason why I came to see the anime in the first place. Rem in this arc however, plays a vital role. Now, this arc is not as simple as the first one and there is more problems to be solved. The first being, why Rem wanted to kill Subaru, second is the presence of the a curse, and these two are the major problem. This arc is much more intense than the first one and it shows a lot of character development for Subaru as well as his relationship, particularly with Rem. It is a remarkable arc, and is the first real challenge for Subaru and viewers that bother to think of the possibilities of the source of the problems. I am telling you, it is fun if you join in the thinking process on what could be the problem in the story. The entire second arc revolves around the mansion and the characters involved are the people in the mansion so the scope is still reasonably small.

The third arc, is honestly one of the most mind-fucking plot I have ever seen. I apologise for the vulgarities, but honestly, by the end of this arc, I am mentally exhausted due to the intense emotional roller coaster I have just experienced and the many WTF moments that happened. The third arc, increases the scope dramatically from a mere mansion, to a kingdom (at least half of it). It involves a lot of people, the people in the mansion, and one of the candidates for the queen of the kingdom. This arc is huge with many key problems for the puzzle. The first being, the genocide in the mansion, second being, the trouble with the White Whale and third, how the hell is Subaru supposed to gain Emilia's trust once more. Within these problems, there are of course smaller problems that Subaru need to take account of and this is one hell of a ride. I really can't say anything more because it will ruin the entire arc, but seriously go look forward for this final arc. Also, I feel that it is one of the turning point for Subaru from being such a pathetic character, to someone who actually is willing to think on his actions.

What about the overall plot? I seriously have no idea. Right now, the season stops with this upcoming election of the next queen of the kingdom and that is probably what they will be going forward into in the future. Honestly, you won't really care about this part of the story yet when you watch the first season because you will be focused on the plots of each arc.

Characters

Natsuki Subaru

As I said, he got transported into this random fantasy world. Furthermore Subaru has no powers whatsoever except the ability to reset the events of his life when he dies. Now the drawback of this power is, nobody excepts him can know of the existence of this power, or else they die, and nobody besides Subaru knows the alternate events that could have happened if he didn't die. It sucks for Subaru because he needs to solve problems literally by himself. 

At the beginning of the season, I see Subaru as quite a capable individual despite the fact that he has no powers. Subaru still shows the will to fight on and he is still willing to help people. As the story goes on, and the problems grew larger, he is portrayed as someone more pathetic, someone who can get easily overwhelmed by the problems. This is a unique character development because, instead of portraying a character to become someone who is more capable, it downgrades Subaru by well, a significant amount. By the end of the second arc he shows some fighting spirit but it was short lived as he was once again bombarded by an even bigger problem in the third arc. I am expecting this to be a common trend towards the entire series in the future, but I really hope they don't stay within their comfort zone too much because it may eventually gets boring. Of course feel free to continue if they can keep it interesting and engaging all the time, after all it's been successful till now.

Emilia 

Yep, she does not have a last name. I wonder what it is though, it may probably be a plot point. This is primarily because of Emilia's appearance and race. She is a half-elf with a silver hair which is identical to a witch that everybody fears in this fantasy world. Emilia is one of the main character of the series, and is the Subaru's love interest. Subaru fell in love with Emilia during his first day in the fantasy world, which was eventually reset. Thus, unfortunately, Emilia has no idea why Subaru loved her in the first place. I do think this is the plot point the story is going forward into eventually, but by the end of season 1, it is not deeply explored yet. Anyway, Emilia might be the main character of the series because she is the love interest of Subaru, but season 1 does not explore her deeply in any of the arcs. I can see some character development for Emilia in season 1 but it's not much. Which brings me to what was meant to be a supporting character but instead takes the spotlight.

Rem

She is the younger twins of the maid twins in Emilia's mansion. As I said, Rem was meant to be a supporting character, but instead she took spotlight due to the sheer amount of impact she has in the second and third arc. She has a lot of character development especially in the second arc, and through her character, Ram, her sister's character is also developed. This is probably one reason why people I know prefer Rem compared to Emilia. By the end of the second arc, you can see how deeply developed her bond is with Subaru and in the third arc, it is even further developed. She got rejected by Subaru however, haha, because I guess Subaru considers his first day in the world with Emilia (which never happened) is much more meaningful than all the things that has happened with Rem (which legitimately happened, damn Subaru is a retard). Anyway, I do expect Rem to step down from the spotlight for Emilia in the future as I feel that her role is for now, completed. Season 1 is successful however, to develop her character so much so she gain a lot more love from the fans compared to the main heroine.

Other Supporting Characters

There are definitely other supporting characters, such as those who live in Emilia's mansion. Okay, correction the mansion doesn't exactly belong to Emilia, it belongs to a dude named Roswaal L. Mathers. Then there are also other characters such as the Candidates for the Queen along with their knights. In season 1, I don't feel that they took a lot of significance, except maybe for one named Crusch Karsten. Fun fact though, each of these candidates represents different approach of ruling, for example Emilia represents democracy while Crusch represents meritocracy. Anyway, I am just going to give a list of the characters each from their group.

Roswall's Mansion Group:

1. Rem and Ram; twins, their history is explained in the second arc. Ram's character is developed mainly through Rem.

2. Roswaal L. Mathers; owner of the mansion, he seems like a powerful entity as he protects his entire region. There's definitely more from this character and I am looking forward to it. He might be a potential antagonist in the future though, just a feeling.

3. Beatrice; she is the librarian in the Roswaal's mansion. Her existence seemed to be limited only within the library and the mansion, but she is a powerful mage.

4. Puck; this is Emilia's pet and protector. He took a form of a cat, but he is definitely some sort of a deity, can be seen from the third arc. He scared me.

Candidates for the Queen and their Knights:

1. Felt and Reinhard van Astrea; Felt plays quite a major role in the first arc as she was the person who stole Emilia's insignia. Reinhard was also given some glimpse of his power in the first arc. Felt represents an anarchist kind of rule as she aspire to break the system.

2. Priscilla Barielle and Aldebaran; I don't know much about this pair but I know Priscilla is a bitch. She represents totalitarianism.

3. Anastasia Hoshin and Julius Euclius; Anastasia is also kind of a bitch but at least she helped out during the third arc with Subaru's struggles. Julius however, plays quite a major role in the third act and I am looking forward to see more of his character. Anastasia represents capitalism.

4. Crusch Karsten and Felix Argyle; amongst the candidates this pair plays the biggest role in the third arc. Initially Crusch was being a dick towards Subaru as well, but she opens up and she shows the heroic part of her. Felix is a trap, nuff said. Crusch represents meritocracy.

5. Emilia and Subaru?; they represents democracy. 

Coherence

Let's head to the main problem of this anime. While there are indeed attempts to connect the dots between one arc to another, the viewers doesn't seem to care about it. In fact, the plot within an arc is so immense it feels that it overshadow the main story in the first place. Indeed some may say that, this is why the anime is good, due to an immensely strong plots within the arc, but I believe that it is not right to neglect the main story as well. 

It is true that these plot within the arcs is also meant to contribute to the main story as a whole, otherwise what's the point right? However, due to the nature of this anime, focusing on Subaru's power to relive the events of his life, the timeline in the narrative gets repeated over and over and over again so much so, it becomes easy to lose focus with the main story. Honestly, I believe that it is fine as long as the author is still capable to make a significant link towards the main story and make the main story as impactful as these problems incurred in individual arcs.

Effects

I have to say, they make Subaru's death explicit. I believe that this is right to do, because it actually abuses the fact that he will eventually be "resurrected" and his death never happened. Making each of Subaru's death to be explicit allows the viewers to feel damaged as technically it is only Subaru and the viewers that get to experience those death. These explicit deaths enhance the negative emotions you have from seeing the anime. It enhances the emotion of desperation and hopelessness.

Animation wise, really well done by White Fox. I am pretty sure that this is my first time seeing their productions and yes I know they make some godlike anime titles like Steins Gate and Akame ga Kill but I haven't watched them, maybe sometime. I believe that the expressions on the character's faces are really well-drawn, once again contributes in the emotional enhancement. Here, let me give you one look of Subaru's pathetic desperate face. 

Emotions

Ah yes, the strength of this anime. This entire anime is an emotional roller coaster. At every beginning of an arc, you will feel neutral but you damn well know that something bad is going to happen. As the arc goes on, you will feel so pissed by Subaru, sometimes because of his stupidity on certain actions, other times just because he felt like giving up. Subaru is so pathetic you feel pissed watching the anime. However, coming to an end of an arc, when Subaru starts doing things well, you can't help but to support him with all your heart, especially when you know that he can finally do it! I really can't put a clip from youtube or anything to express these set of emotions because watching an individual section won't give you the whole experience, so go ahead and watch the entire season.