TribstyAnn
Me.
Towns Folk
Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World (I'll just call it Re:Zero) is an anime based off a Japanese light novel series of the same name, written by Tappei Nagatsuki and illustrated by Shinichirou Otsuka. The anime was directed by Masaharu Watanabe and written by Masahiro Yokotani, with animation by the studio White Fox, airing from April 4th to September 19th 2016. And now with all the boring who cares about any of it out of the way, on to the actual review.
This series follow Subaru Natsuki as he is randomly pulled into another world with no explanation or reason. He then has to adapt to this new society, and relearn pretty much everything from scratch. Basically starting a new life from zero. While helping one of his new found friends he dies. He just, like, straight up, dies. But instead of being dead, he just kinda pops back to a time before he died, leaving him to relive the time before he died in an effort to find a way to not die. He dubs this ability "Return by Death".
I don't feel like actually summarizing the entire story because it is kinds hard to with the way it is repetitive. Instead I'm going to talk about aspect I did and didn't like of the show, as well as some other opinions I've heard about it.
I really enjoyed the way the used the "Return by Death" ability to round out the story and characters. Instead of it just repeating the same things again, Subaru always does things differently in an effort to not die the same way again, leading to different interaction with different characters that let you see a side of them you didn't before. Instead of felling like it's retreading old ground, it feels like it getting a different perspective on characters and their motivations.
I also enjoyed the use of twists. While they did happen very frequently, about the end of every episode, it really kept me hooked on the series. I was so hooked that I had to keep watching; the series wouldn't hardly let me get away to watch something else or take a break. One other thing with twists is that they have to make sense. Too often a movie, book, or TV show will have twist just for the sake of having them, and not for any coherent reason. I felt like most, if not all, of the twist in Re:Zero were well though out, and fit well. If they weren't previously set up in the show by some detail, they were then later expalined in a way that didn't feel forced.
I also loved the characters. I've heard some people say that because of Subaru always repeating days over that characterization is lost. I feel the complete opposite. We get to see multiple sides of characters in ways we didn't see before. The characters are diverse and interesting. Rem and Ram were so funny and cute. Betelgeuse was incredibly creepy and disturbing, he made me shiver every time I saw him. And Subaru, while some have called him bland, I though was very deep and incredibly human. The way he reacts to death, and having people not remember the special times he shared with them is incredibly heartbreaking to watch, and in a good way. This show did an incredible job of making you feel for the problems the main character was going though, and having him react in a normal, natural way.
One thing that did irritate about the show was the way it dropped characters. Some characters that I really liked, and thought were going to be frequent characters were only in the first three episodes, and then only one more later in the series. One character who I though was going to be a villain integral to the plot was never seen after the first few episodes. It kinda felt like the creators forgot about some of the people they created and just decided to replace them with new ones as the show progressed.
One other minor nitpick I had was that the magic abilities didn't seem incredibly well defined. Subaru's "Return by Death" ability was defined well, and always fit into certain boundaries, but the other characters magic abilities were often left undefined. I didn't feel like this hurt the show too greatly though. Instead of focusing on the magic and way it worked in this world, it focused on the characters, their problems and feelings, which was more important.
A complaint I've hear about the show is that it over uses twists. While I can understand this criticism, I didn't feel like it was true. Personally I didn't feel like they were over used, because they all seemed to fit. I don't remember one that kept me irritated for very long. As soon as I watched the next episode i usually felt like it was rounded up well.
One other complain is that his powers are ill defined, and don't make sense; that we never know who pulled him into this world or why, and where his "Return by Death" ability comes from. While this is true, I don't think it really matters. The premise is that Subaru is dragged into a new world that he has no knowledge of and has to start from zero. Him getting pulled into that world for no reason is the catalyst to the premise, only there to start the story. It may play a bigger part in later season, but for now it just feels like a way to start the story.
In conclusion, I feel like Re:Zero is an interesting anime. It has deep and interesting characters characters with understandable motivations, interesting abilities, and just keeps you hooked till the very end. It also has a few problems with it, but they didn't hurt my enjoyment of the show. Yes, they were sometimes annoying, but I still though this show was fun and interesting to watch. I would recommend this anime for people who like fantasy anime, or just want a good story with memorable characters.
Final Score 7/10
This series follow Subaru Natsuki as he is randomly pulled into another world with no explanation or reason. He then has to adapt to this new society, and relearn pretty much everything from scratch. Basically starting a new life from zero. While helping one of his new found friends he dies. He just, like, straight up, dies. But instead of being dead, he just kinda pops back to a time before he died, leaving him to relive the time before he died in an effort to find a way to not die. He dubs this ability "Return by Death".
I don't feel like actually summarizing the entire story because it is kinds hard to with the way it is repetitive. Instead I'm going to talk about aspect I did and didn't like of the show, as well as some other opinions I've heard about it.
I really enjoyed the way the used the "Return by Death" ability to round out the story and characters. Instead of it just repeating the same things again, Subaru always does things differently in an effort to not die the same way again, leading to different interaction with different characters that let you see a side of them you didn't before. Instead of felling like it's retreading old ground, it feels like it getting a different perspective on characters and their motivations.
I also enjoyed the use of twists. While they did happen very frequently, about the end of every episode, it really kept me hooked on the series. I was so hooked that I had to keep watching; the series wouldn't hardly let me get away to watch something else or take a break. One other thing with twists is that they have to make sense. Too often a movie, book, or TV show will have twist just for the sake of having them, and not for any coherent reason. I felt like most, if not all, of the twist in Re:Zero were well though out, and fit well. If they weren't previously set up in the show by some detail, they were then later expalined in a way that didn't feel forced.
I also loved the characters. I've heard some people say that because of Subaru always repeating days over that characterization is lost. I feel the complete opposite. We get to see multiple sides of characters in ways we didn't see before. The characters are diverse and interesting. Rem and Ram were so funny and cute. Betelgeuse was incredibly creepy and disturbing, he made me shiver every time I saw him. And Subaru, while some have called him bland, I though was very deep and incredibly human. The way he reacts to death, and having people not remember the special times he shared with them is incredibly heartbreaking to watch, and in a good way. This show did an incredible job of making you feel for the problems the main character was going though, and having him react in a normal, natural way.
One thing that did irritate about the show was the way it dropped characters. Some characters that I really liked, and thought were going to be frequent characters were only in the first three episodes, and then only one more later in the series. One character who I though was going to be a villain integral to the plot was never seen after the first few episodes. It kinda felt like the creators forgot about some of the people they created and just decided to replace them with new ones as the show progressed.
One other minor nitpick I had was that the magic abilities didn't seem incredibly well defined. Subaru's "Return by Death" ability was defined well, and always fit into certain boundaries, but the other characters magic abilities were often left undefined. I didn't feel like this hurt the show too greatly though. Instead of focusing on the magic and way it worked in this world, it focused on the characters, their problems and feelings, which was more important.
A complaint I've hear about the show is that it over uses twists. While I can understand this criticism, I didn't feel like it was true. Personally I didn't feel like they were over used, because they all seemed to fit. I don't remember one that kept me irritated for very long. As soon as I watched the next episode i usually felt like it was rounded up well.
One other complain is that his powers are ill defined, and don't make sense; that we never know who pulled him into this world or why, and where his "Return by Death" ability comes from. While this is true, I don't think it really matters. The premise is that Subaru is dragged into a new world that he has no knowledge of and has to start from zero. Him getting pulled into that world for no reason is the catalyst to the premise, only there to start the story. It may play a bigger part in later season, but for now it just feels like a way to start the story.
In conclusion, I feel like Re:Zero is an interesting anime. It has deep and interesting characters characters with understandable motivations, interesting abilities, and just keeps you hooked till the very end. It also has a few problems with it, but they didn't hurt my enjoyment of the show. Yes, they were sometimes annoying, but I still though this show was fun and interesting to watch. I would recommend this anime for people who like fantasy anime, or just want a good story with memorable characters.
Final Score 7/10
