After Thoughts - Re : Zero kara Isekai Seikatsu

DISCLAIMER: These are my thoughts on the anime adaptation, not the light/web novel series, so keep that in mind when you read this. Are we clear on this? Let's jam!

Welcome back to the "After Thoughts" segment of this blog! If you don't know, "After Thoughts" is a segment where I talk about my thoughts on the anime and it contains spoiler. This is a review (kinda), but more unstructured compared to my usual reviews. If I go spoiler review, I'd talk about the details on the things that I review just like my review on BvS. This time, I'm going to talk about the anime that people won't shut up about it on the internet on 2016, Re:Zero kara isekai seikatsu or Re: Zero for short. It's a 25 eps anime, while the first episode was 50 mins long, and the other one is normal episode length.

This is probably the second anime that I talked on my blog that contains "Re: " as a title. Which is Re Life. We had a lot of  anime that started with "Re" on this year to be honest lol.

So, this anime is about a guy named Natsuki Subaru that suddenly out of nowhere thrown into the fantasy world. And for some reason, he have some special gimmick when he transported into that other world. Every time he dies, he respawned at a certain moment, and everything will reset from the start. It's kinda like playing a game. When you reach a checkpoint and you died before reaching the goal or the next check point, you'll start from the checkpoint. The thing is, Subaru can't tell anybody in the world that he has that kind of gimmick. Why? I dunno, Some kind of magical power grabbed his heart whenever he tried to say that. (no, seriously tho)

The concept alone is not really new, since there are a lot of anime these days that used "Trapped in the other world" as the setting, Probably because most of the otaku author didn't really know how real world works, so they make their own world for their story. But personally, I also enjoyed some of those setting. And the time loop concept is already used for other series as well like, All you need is kill (or the Hollywood movie version, The Edge of Tomorrow), Steins;Gate (which is handled by the same studio that made this anime, White Fox). or Madoka Magica. I can't help but to compare Re: Zero to those 3 series (which is you should check it out if you haven't read/watch it).

Okay, here's my thoughts on the series. Watching this anime feels like watching a Let's play series on Youtube and the"Let's players" (LP) is playing a Visual Novel. And he played it pretty badly which makes him end up on "Bad end" situation. Or LP who played Dark Souls, and the LP didn't learn anything from his previous encounters. So he died a lot and he didn't progress that much. Subaru made a lot of bad decisions that led him to a very bad situations and even worse, leading to his own death. And most of the time, he didn't really learn from his experience that he gained before.  

The first 11 episodes stories are entertaining to be honest, establishing how Subaru's gimmick works on that world, World building (by world building, I mean, the general idea, it doesn't go into details, they are just too vague about it). Side characters back story, especially Rem (which is my favorite character in this series). But the first episode, as I mentioned earlier, took like 50 mins, And that is the amount of time that Subaru learns about his gimmick. Maybe Subaru is just a little bit too slow on understanding what is actually happening to him when he died. But strangely enough that he grasped the idea of "Oh, I'm in another world now"- so quickly.  

After the first 11 episodes,

it goes downhill from there (until episode 18), 

from episode 12-18, I really hate Subaru as a character. He is very obnoxious (He is an obnoxious person from the start, but at this point, he just become more obnoxious). He doesn't really listen to other people, a self-centered person, and he feels that he is so important because he thinks that he is the hero that other world deserves but not the one it needs right now (*the dark knight intensifies*). On episode 12, he really doesn't know his place. He self-proclaimed himself as a knight of representatives for Emilia (which is his main love interest in the series) in front of the Saint knights of the kingdom. Julius, one of the Saint Knights, questions Subaru's knighthood. To that, Subaru's responded with "What's so good about knight anyway?". Julius got triggered, and later on, he challenges Subaru for a "sparring session" . And Julius whap the shit out of Subaru. Normally, if the main character got tortured, we will feel empathy towards him/her. But this time is different. When I watch it, I feel like 

"YES! HE DESERVES THAT!" 

And there's eps 15, or I must say "the lowest point of Subaru", where he witnessed his friends died and he died horribly on the previous episode. He just lost his mind at that time, And because of that, Rem decided to brought him back to the Emilia's mansion. On their way there, they are ambushed by the witch cultist. Subaru was captured, and Rem tries to save him. And then he witness Rem got tortured and she had some "twisted" experience and she died horribly (and became a meme) 

just to clear things up, the twister is not actually showed up on the actual episode

Subaru snapped when he saw Rem. He manages to escape from the witch cultist and went to the mansion, carrying Rem's dead body and suddenly there's a blizzard. He witnessed that everyone has fallen as a witch cultist victim. And then he saw a large monster, and it killed him.
That particular episode was too depressing seriously. But somehow that is one of my favorite moments in the anime. I just love to see Subaru suffer. XP

And finally, episode 18, where Subaru shares his sorrow, he admits that he is not a good person and made a lot of bad decisions. He tried to be important and he admits that he is not. and then Rem confess to him. "Don't worry Subaru, if that's how you see yourself like that, I see you in a different way, I see good things from you, because I love you/" But Subaru be like "Rem, plz, I love Emilia". and that phrase, (you guessed it) it became a meme.

probably the best thing I've found on google search hahahaha

And they love Emilia before it was cool! They love Emilia since 2012! Own it, Subaru!

And after he rejects Rem, He asked Rem for help to help him helping Emilia. (my god). After all that Rem has done to him, Really Subaru? what an asshat.

But his personality gets "better" after eps 18. He finally starts to listen to other people, he learns a bit from his past death experience. And even he apologize to Julius befriended him. But yeah, took him long enough. 

This series has its good points, well the story made me care about the side characters like Rem and Wilhelm (Not to be mistaken as Wilhelm Scream). Wilhelm's backstory is really touching, his quest for revenge to his deceased wife to the White Whale was awesome. I find it kinda similar to the legendary Moby Dick story. While Rem's history is based on a Japanese "Red and blue demon" with a twist. Things that I enjoy the most is seeing Subaru changes from an optimistic self-proclaimed hero at the beginning into a mentally broken protagonist. Seriously tho, with his attitude, he deserves to suffer! X'D
The animation quality is consistent throughout the series. The voice acting are fantastic. The soundtrack is fitting with the situation. Especially that one soundtrack that always played when Subaru screw things up.

This particular soundtrack is too creepy. But it fits the tone seriously hahaha

As for the OP and the ED. Well, It's not my kind of music. It's good for some people, I guess. The character designs are cute, especially Mimi. Her character design is just too adorable!

                                                   

I can haz cheezburgerz! NOM!

But despite of those good points, this show has some major issues as well. for example:

1. It really bugs me that how well Subaru adapted himself to the other world that he just suddenly got into. It feels so "inhuman". I think normal person would react "Oh what is this place!?" or at least shocked in the first place. While Subaru be like "oh yeah, this must be a fantasy world! I must have magic or some shit" and he feels that "It's my destiny to be the hero of this world now!" without questioning "why am I here? how could this happen to me? why me?" Which makes it hard (for me, at least) to relate to him as a main character. . 
2. There are a lot of major plot hole that is left unexplained, why do people fear and hate the jealous witch so much? Why there's a cultist who worships her? Why Subaru can't tell his gimmick to other person? Why does Subaru have that kind of gimmick? At the finale, what did Subaru write on the gospel's book? Was it beetlegeuse's name? After he did that, beetelguese suddenly dies, so does it work just like Death Note? Because I think Beetleguese's death is kind of an asspull.
   
   
   
   if anyone can read that, please tell me what he wrote there.
   As I watch this series until the end, a lot of questions appeared. And sadly, it didn't have some explanations to it. 
3. I really don't know how this series will wrap up. Usually if a series goes like this, I'd be very happy theorizing and guessing how will this series end. But really, I don't know how this will all end. I mean, what's the end goal to this story? What's the point of this series? What's the point of Subaru's suffering? If I have to compare it with "All you need is kill" the main character looped in order to beat the aliens. Or like Okarin from Steins;Gate, where he must do the time loop in order to undo everything that he has done by time travelling to save his childhood friend. While Re: Zero? I don't really see the end goal. To save Emilia? To make Emilia the ruler of the land? To make Subaru get into Emilia's pants? ^_^;
4. They don't really spend a lot of time in the world building. I'd love to know the detail about the world that they live in, especially in a fantasy world setting. The political situation, what kind of creature or species are they? Why do they have special abilities? Where do they come from? What do they eat besides Ringa and hambagah? What kind of sorcery/technology that they used when they fight the White Whale? I mean it has beams and shit. They have 25 episodes, and they can manage to fit in 1 episode just for Subaru rambling about himself, why don't they spend 1 episode on world building? I do hope the original source build the world better  
5. It's not clear how the checkpoint works. I mean, the checkpoint is always realized when Subaru is dead. and he always respawned perfectly on a certain "story arc" before he start screwing things up. I think that is too convenient. It feels that Subaru is a walking Deus ex Machina (plot device). He is there because the plot said it and need him to be there in order to "progress" the plot. There's no explanation why does the checkpoint started on that exact moment or what kind of condition that Subaru have to achieve first in order to reach the checkpoint? Is it boss battle? Or kill someone? Well if you played Crash Bandicoot, we know that we have to destroy the box with "C" marking on it. Or In Dark Souls, you have to light up the Bonfire. You get the idea.
6. Continuing from last point, Subaru feels like a walking deus ex machina, because whenever the plot need him, he just do it to continue the story. When the plot must progress, suddenly he became the smartest person ever. But like I said before and I feel like I'm repeating myself again, most of the time he is just too stupid and made a lot of bad and stupid decisions which led him to his misery and suffering. When he suddenly became clever, it feels out of his character, really. 
7. Subaru's love for Emilia is kinda weird and feels like a forced love story. It looks like he is just a horny teenager who wants to get the first girl that he saw. I mean, Emilia literally did nothing to him and he just met her. You can argue "But she saved Subaru at the first episode and she is nice to him! And don't forget that lap pillow that Emilia always give to him!", But that's just it, right? Just 1 saving moment, and she's generally being nice to everyone. Lap pillow? Well, that's really helpful when witch cultist suddenly attack them. If those are the reason why he is head over heels about her, that is way too cheesy! It sounds like Disney's Frozen when Anna and Hans met for the first time and suddenly they decided to get married. Yeah, seems like a believable love story to me. (-_____-);
   This entire show is all about Subaru saving Emilia. But his motivation to fall in love that deeply and trying that hard to save Emilia is just too weak. If Emilia did anything just like Rem did, I think that is enough reason for Subaru. Because she is the girl who is worth dying for. Without that, Subaru choosing Emilia over Rem sounds idiotic. Because Rem is the best girl, and she deserves to be loved like that. Which leads me to the next point. 
8. "Rem is best girl", well yes, that is true. But why did I put her in the "issues" section? Just because she is the most fleshed out character among other characters. Other characters are actually interesting and have their unique traits and personality, but we saw a lot of Rem instead of other characters. So yeah, Rem is obviously the best girl just because the show gives her a lot of spotlight instead of other characters. 
9. The ending is "go read the LN" ending. But all the material (up to the release of the finale of this anime) is all used up based on this article. It definitely needs another season, but knowing that the material is not yet finished and already used up, it won't come any sooner. Please anime industry, adapt some material that is already finished. T_T

So  here comes the final verdict, should you watch Re: Zero? Maybe. myeh.... I guess, 

Don't get me wrong, it's still a good show, barely. It's not-"Oh, dude! You should totally check this out!"-kind of good. Mediocre at best. Slightly above average. Barely passed my passing grade. But for me, it doesn't live up to the hype on the anime community and it's not a masterpiece at all since it has a lot of issues in it. If you enjoyed it, well good for you! But personally, I'd better rewatch The Edge of Tomorrow, because that movie is awesome! 

okay those are my after thoughts on Re: Zero. I hope you enjoyed this segment. This is Reikichi, signing out!