Original creation date: 3/12/25

Spoilers for Re:Zero S3 up until Ep12

I dropped it.

You know, it's often rare for me to drop an anime this late into it's run, I've gotten accustomed to knowing when an anime is going to be a waste of time before it gets this bad, but I didn't expect this to turn into such a catastrophe. No, not my beloved Re:Zero...

But the writing was on the wall, this season for some reason was only given 16 measly episodes to cover what is one of the most complicated, dialogue heavy arcs of the story, at least that's what I've heard from light novel readers. Add on top the obnoxious marketing ploys like Emilia's "buffed chest" and starting cour 2 with an unnecessary undressing scene, it just reeks of monetary exploitation and otaku pandering. I feel bad for any one who has their name attached to this project. It's not as bad as some other projects, but it's disheartening to see regardless, and I blame entirely the greedy execs who wanted to ship more merchandise to line their pockets instead of giving the staff the time to make something worthwhile.

In fact, that first episode is exactly what the story should've been, all the reoccurring characters are reintroduced, we see how the city functions and the factions on the board, we even get some interesting character development for Wilhelm and Reinhard, as well as introducing homicide induced trauma into Garfiel, as well as a potential lead for finding his mother. And that Subaru death scene was just pure kino.

The reason I'm dropping it now however, is that the quality of the adaptation simply isn't up to par with what I expect from Re:Zero as a story. It would be an insult to Nagatsuki to experience his story that I love so much in a way that doesn't convey any of what makes it so good. This may seem petty, but in the words of the visual novel youtuber Meirin, "Stories can only be experienced for the first time once" and I'm deciding to get out now before I let this adaptation spoil what's left.

In truth, most of the issues rear their head in the 2nd cour, but there were still signs that this season didn't get enough time in the oven in the 1st, I'll cover those before I expand upon that horrible Regulus fight.

So the first couple episodes were actually pretty well animated, the Capella encounter was a particular stand out, but it's hard to notice all the rushed plot lines. Immediately after dying in episode 1 he gets into sleuthing around like nothing ever happens, then dies AGAIN, and right back to normal. It's honestly kind of sad to not see him in pain for what should be a traumatic experience, it just feels like forced optimism. You see we don't have the time to have Subaru doubting himself, cause we need to get this plot moving baby! Even though it's an integral part of his character. In fact he doesn't die AT ALL after this, you know, literally the main power mechanic this show had over all the other generic isekai? How the hell did he survive getting his leg pulverized by Regulus? Or the time Capella just fuckin ripped it right off? And then gets thrown into a god damn river? Still alive, because he has the power of plot armo- I mean, dragon blood, I guess. We then get treated to this lovely work of animation.

▶ Video

This was an oddity among clips in the show, but I have no idea why something of such low quality is even in Re:Zero, I guess QC missed that one some how? At the time I just laughed it off, but it was a sign of things to come, but we'll get to that soon.

The point I was making is that the series doesn't have the time to delve into more nuanced emotions, Subaru's character is essentially dumbed down to pre-Rem season one levels of incompetent (made even worse since this season takes place 1 year in canon after season 2). He's hot headed running into battle like a dumbass with a god damn whip and a loli, and then he gets blown the fuck out and I'm supposed to care about his flesh wound that is totally deadly and lethal and stuff. And the speech, yeah take 10 minutes to have all the characters hyping him up, before he gets on mic and fumbles his way through one of the dumbest speeches I've ever heard in an anime. He literally says "I'm not anyone or anything at all." YOU LITERALLY KILLED A SIN ARCH BISHOP, YOU'RE EMILIA'S KNIGHT, and then he says "I know there must've been someone better suited to talk to you." Except all the people in that very room elected him to do it? Look I understand why there is such nuance to this scene, but it doesn't come through at all, I just remembered previous seasons and how hypocritical and selfish it is of him to whine when it's his job to create hope in the city, especially with how that level of introspection wasn't present at all in this season up to that point.

Now other issues, remember Reinhard's dad? He kinda just showed up in the first episode and then disappeared. I was waiting for him to be an integral part of the show since there has to be something to nerf Reinhard in some way, since his character up to this point has been the OP super nice plot device with the personality of cardboard. Well he kidnaps Felt which I hope would lead to some character development for both of them, only to get knocked out and tied up immediately. This kind of sums up like half of the characters, who kind of just exist to team up and split into different battles in the second cour. The only character that got remotely any development was Garfiel, and it's nothing compared to what he went through in season 2. It's honestly so weird the way that Priscilla's egotistical sociopathic personality is toned down into a harmless side waifu that helps out Subaru in a pinch. Like I kind of get it with Anastasia but she has no reason to be so forgiving. And did we really need Rachins and those other thugs from the first season? It feels like they wanted this to be a "le everyone is here" type arc but without the ability to properly flesh out any of them, it just reeks of fanservice.

Now, new characters. They're... fine. Liliana was extremely annoying but it's clear there was thought put into her character in episode 11, as well as a role to fill in defeating Sirius's hypnotism. There's also her handler, and we get some leads with Garfiel's mother that talk for a bit in episode 3, Regulus's 59 wives, and the 4 new Sin Arch Bishops. Of course with the cast already so bloated it would be difficult to make any of these people stick, but Regulus was surprisingly good. Having any character strike some level of fear into the cast is what villains are for, so it's good having some one that isn't obviously insane in a way that makes the protagonists just ignore whatever they're saying, it's why Roswaal was such a good villain in season 2. We also get the necessary added context of how he treats his wives, putting Emilia through some kind of strife. Also that Roblox smirk of his lives in my head rent free.

So with that, watch as they turn his character into a complete joke, in one of the worst anime fights I've seen in years.

It's honestly astounding how incoherent and idioc the entire sequence was, and I was face palming every 2 minutes at the sheer stupidity on screen. Put simply everyone is a complete moron in this fight, but since Regulus is OP, Reinhard is OP, and Subaru has plot armor (extends to Emilia) we get some of the most mind numbing choreography I've seen in an anime. In fact, I can just show it to you.

▶ Video▶ Video▶ Video▶ Video ^ ok I kinda like this one ngl ▶ Video▶ Video▶ Video▶ Video ^ he's fine btw :) ▶ Video▶ Video▶ Video▶ Video ^ I hate EVERYTHING about this ▶ Video

I mean, what do you want me to say?!

This is some of the most unserious animation I've ever seen, it's like I'm watching Looney Tunes or some shit. And before anyone makes the Gear 5 comparison. 1. Re:Zero was never like this so why would it make sense to animate your fight like this (unlike one piece which was always cartoony) 2. The animation itself is all cost cutting, time crunching, suspense ruining, logically incoherent crap, while Gear 5 got some of the best animators in the industry (We've all seen the Re:Zero Chansard clip, so why do we have to assume that this fight had to turn out like ass while other parts of the anime get S+ treatment?)

I'm not sure who decided to make the fight like this, maybe it's actually in the novels, and if so, I could have at least used my imagination to conjure up animation that would fit something so comical. I mean just look at the clips and think about whats even happening on screen. It unironically looks like something out of a parody isekai, like "I got reincarnated with maxed out endurance and evasion!"

It's strange because the Sirius fight was actually good, without any of this ridiculousness, and it got me to care about Liliana. This isn't a high bar and it still managed to fumble the bag. I don't feel like I even need to discuss what any of the other characters are doing at this time, I'm sure they were given well thought out plans to take out the Bishops of Gluttony and Capella, but none of that came through in the crumbs of screen time afforded to them.

I simply don't have the time or patience to be watching this show anymore, and I feel like the entire arc was created without any understanding of what made the previous seasons so memorable. I'm gonna be reading the light novel from now on, since I still have faith that the story continues to evolve in unique and interesting ways. Well, not right now, I need sometime away from this story to properly appreciate it again.

In conclusion, I'm never watching an episode of Re:Zero ever again.

Thanks for reading.