Spoilers ahead! Warning!
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This first season consists of the first three arcs of Re:Zero, it is my favourite anime as of writing, although this first season is my least favourite, contrary to popular opinion. I feel that Arc 1 is a great introduction, but Arc 2 just slightly isn’t as good, and sometimes I like to be a bit picky, but it still is totally amazing. Arc 3 is the first “long” arc, it impresses to great lengths and was an amazing watch.
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Arc 1:
The series starts with a fantastic, long form episode, I felt this episode was a nice introduction, although Subaru really seemed to be accustomed to being transported to another world, he seemed as if he quite liked the idea which was strange, although in retrospect, it helps to contrast the simple fantasy Isekai from the one that Subaru is forced into. The world building is immediately really good too, I felt this world was alive and real from a first glance. Subaru was a very likeable guy from the get-go too, his personality shone and reflected onto the other characters pretty well. On the topic of characters, I think its pretty funny that Emilia (known as Satella by this point) also claimed to be in just as a pickle as Subaru.
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.From here, Subaru tastes death for the first time, I think from here was when I got hooked on the series, it only took them what would usually be the length of one episode to do so. The horrifying sight of what he had seen really helped to put into perspective how terrifying Subaru’s power was. The place he had returned by death also showed that they probably wouldn’t have much sympathy for him through this ability, it shoved him right back into the world, and this made for a stark contrast to the ghastly scene which had been seen before.
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This second run let us meet the thief girl, Felt, as well as the old man who we had seen lifeless before, Rom. The trading dynamic they had also let Subaru show a little he had brought back from his world, a bit of typical Isekai. After this, it went downhill again. The lady from the night before turned up and killed them all, with some resistance this time.
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This next restart really puts into perspective the bad side of the restart, the girl he had been with before, and wanted to save, was now rejecting him, since she had actually told Subaru a fake name, and this was the first time the Witch of Envy was mentioned. The credits rolled to end an amazing, and long first episode.
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Subaru’s next death came very quickly into the next episode, he was stabbed to death by the thugs, as he provoked them too far, which also helps to show the rough nature of this power he has even further. His next restart with the thugs went better though, he didn’t need to fight, but instead called the guards, the guard in question being Reinhard van Astrea, the sword saint and seemingly the most powerful guy in this world. His next encounter with Felt after dealing with this was a bit more rough, and he got beaten up, when he returns to the loot house, Emilia enters during the negotiations, she gets really confused when Subaru seems to not be working with Felt.
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.When Elsa comes to the loot house, she catches Emilia by surprise, but through one of my favourite moments of this arc, Subaru calls for Puck to shield her, even though in reality, Subaru hadn’t even met Puck yet in that world. This brought about the first real fight of the series too, as Elsa and Emilia were pretty well matched. Subaru’s heroics were shown too, he saved Felt and even Emilia said she recognised that Subaru was there doing his best. Although in the end, this wasn’t enough, Reinhard from before shows up and fights Elsa and wins. Although she comes back from the rubble, and Subaru saves Emilia’s life. This allowed him to finally ask for Emilia’s name, she seemed pretty happy to tell Subaru, after he so dramatically asked. This sentimental moment leads to the end of the arc, leaving Subaru satisfied with his reward after dying so many times, although it turns out he got a big hole in his guyt, and needed to be taken back into Emilia’s mansion.
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.Arc 2:
This arc starts with a reference “I don’t know that ceiling”, in the same sense of “an unfamiliar ceiling” in Evangelion. Subaru wanders about the mansion and meets the first resident of the mansion, Beatrice, who was totally cold toward Subaru. After we also met Ram and Rem, the nice thing about all the characters introduced is that they all become super important, the whole cast of side characters have huge roles in the plot as well as demonstrating their own unique character. The head of the mansion is called Roswaal, he is really weird, he wears clown makeup, and by his voice actor, you can tell something is up with him.
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.Subaru is pretty funny himself here too, he opts to being a servant for the house, instead of choosing to freeload in the house, this lets him do loads of hard work, which he is judged heavily for by the maids. By the end of the night Subaru had asked Emilia on a date.
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The next sleep, Subaru wakes up with no injuries from the past few days, and back in the same position he was in a few days ago. This sets up the idea that the mansion isn’t safe either. Subaru himself was really upset at this. He felt that taking the same route as before would end him up at almost the same place, but instead his panicked start to the morning led to loads of things changing. It seemed that Subaru got along better with the maids this time around, Ram was willing to teach Subaru how to write in the script of that world. Rem even seems to be warming up to Subaru, as she seems to be willing to give him a haircut, which had displeased her for the most part, and they even had a moment when they walked back from the village. Subaru manages to set up another date too, but by night he dies again, only learning that someone was killing him this time.
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.The next time round, he is very upbeat, and has loads of fun with Puck. He feels that he needs to find out who the assassin is, and so wants to be a freeloader this time. He first finds out that Beatrice knows about the sort of curse that might’ve affected him and then Ram visits him. This story he told next was pretty good, it was about a red and blue ogre, which seemed representative of Ram and Rem, these details make it seem pretty detailed and so enjoyable to watch. In the end, Subaru ended up leaving, in the hopes he could spot the assassin. After a relaxing moment, it turns out the one with the spikey ball who attacks Subaru, was Rem. This next moment was really important, Subaru didn’t get angry, he just got sad, sad that no-one could remember his powers, and the people he met seemed to be leaving them behind whenever he died. He was also upset that Rem couldn’t understand this and seemed to just kill him. The most shocking part is Rem greeting him as soon as he woke up from death.
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.On his next loop, he tried to tell Emilia what had been happening to him, the scary sight which followed really highlights how frighting the concept of returning by death was. He managed to get Beatrice to protect him, which lead to the death of Rem, who we assume was done by Beatrice, however, in retrospect, we find that it was not. Rem’s death was important as it showed to Subaru the consequences of his actions, even if they weren’t really his doing. Subaru contemplates suicide for the first time and in a heroic moment, he explains he would be able to save everyone, and jumps off a cliff in front of Ram and Beatrice. This scene showed that Subaru was able to have a strong personality, which had been built up from the start, and this sort of monumental moment this early on goes to show how much the development of his character can be pushed.
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.This final loop of this arc started off in a really positive way, Subaru feels more happy, and has more control over his situation. This upbeat nature creates for some nicer and higher energy scenes, yet this also tires him out completely. Emilia notices this, he gets a lap pillow, which sells himself to the maid girls as they he him sleeping like a child, which makes them pity him. This embarrassing scene made Subaru feel hopeless but was pretty important in winning on this loop. He then went to the village with the maids in hope of finding out where the curse that had killed him before came from. This time it feels like he wouldn’t die simply due to the amount of important developments which he had undergone in this loop. It also applies for the other characters, I think Rem seems more fleshed out in this loop and she respects Subaru greatly for his courage in saving all the children. Rem is also revealed to have some crazy power by the end of this episode, and yet, it still saved by Subaru from a Mabeast attack. Him waking up this time was very obviously not returning by death, but he was in a bit of peril, as the curse hadn’t been lifted and to do so required killing all the Mabeasts in the forest, which led to Rem going out to kill them all herself. When Subaru and Ram went out to find Rem, it seemed a bit like the last episode, but instead it was Ram and Subaru acting together. His relationship with the children was also shown, as they believed in him. When Subaru used his power which attracted all the Mabeasts (enhancing the witch’s scent) they managed to find Rem, bloody and bruised and in her horned state. He did have a super plan to win, but he messed up, which meant he had only one chance to save Rem. The backstory told about Rem next went to show how much focus went into each and every character, making every single one an enjoyable and likeable character. Subaru had a brave moment in front of Rem, and put his life on the line, which Rem wasn’t happy about at all, he managed to stab the biggest Mabeast, but it lived and Roswaal had to save himself in the end, this was important as it showed Subaru was brave, but also highlighted that he wasn’t very strong and still needed to rely on others.
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.The speech he made to Rem at the end of this arc was amazing, it highlighted where their relationship had come, it linked back to the backstory told before, showed Subaru’s ability to cheer people up, and his long speech showed that they would be able to rely on each other in a “demonically-inspired” way. There was a mention of an evil plot by Roswaal at the end, he wants to kill the dragon, which seems evil, but nothing seems to come from this. Subaru gets his date in the end too.
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.Arc 3:
The longest arc of the three in season 1 begins in the village, but on returning to the mansion, an important meeting is taking place, with visitors from the capital. Subaru gets cheeky and so meets Wilhem, he asks if he felt his wife was the most beautiful in the world, this is important as we later find out how important she was. We also meet Ferris for a bit, who is pretty interested in Subaru. Rem also backs up Subaru heavily in convincing Emilia to let him come to the capital. What I found really cool is that Wilhelm described Subaru as being someone who has seen death many times. Once in the capital, Subaru also meets Priscilla, who has a very peculiar personality. He manages to meet Rom again in this situation too, as well as Priscilla’s knight, Al.
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.In the royal selection, Emilia didn’t let him come, but Rem overlooked it when she was gone, and he hitched a ride from Priscilla which was pretty funny. The amount of characters being introduced by this point is pretty overwhelming, but it also managed to be pretty realistic as a royal selection of that sort would feature loads of different people. His hatred for Julius also comes through here, due to their opposing natures. The royal selection was also a bit overwhelming to understand.
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.This next episode was really a make or break deal. It was pretty difficult to take, Subaru acted with real emotion and motive, as we had seen before, but this time, he lacked the strength to back it up, which was his overall downfall. It showed that this world was very much real, and he has been able to die and restart in order to save people, but now when he is in a situation in which that doesn’t apply to, it means he has to live with the consequences. His humiliation to Julius was a pretty character defining moment and goes to show the strength difference between him and everyone else, and also how much pride Subaru had compared to everyone else. The other candidates also seem completely unsympathetic towards this too.
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.In the final scene before Emilia leaves him, he struggles to explain why he felt so strongly about her, and it feels as if he will struggle to make real connections with people in this world, if he can’t explain why he acts in certain ways because of his ability. It really grounded him and showed that what he did for others, may have been done to suffice his own pride, and this surprised me, as I was under the same impression he had been under, so this episode came as a huge blow to the idealistic view I had built up so far.
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.This next episode goes to show how hard Subaru is to influence, he receives so many warnings, but still decides to go back. Him training with Wilhelm made him seem like he was trying really hard, but it just makes him seem a bit pathetic, as he is almost just feigning hard work. Rem stays with Subaru anyway, this shows how close their relationship had come. Despite Subaru’s abandonment by Emilia, he still defends her in front of everyone, so he very obviously still sees her as his love. Ferris himself says that he should make up to Emilia, but even by the next day, he is giving Subaru firm warnings. Rem stays by his side, as we will learn to see is what she wants to do most. We meet Otto for the first time too, but in a situation in which he had been abandoned by Rem, as she felt that she should fight, rather than Subaru, but this made Subaru feel completely alone in this world.
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.When he returns, the village has been slaughtered, and we see the unsightly scenes of Rem’s dead body to start the next episode. This episode was the best in this season, it made for a very horrifying sort of episode. It showed how Subaru couldn’t make problems disappear by trying his hardest, and would instead be broken by what he saw. The effects of return by death hit him pretty hard. The way in which the village and mansion were shown to no longer be safe havens for Subaru shows how real and major this threat was. Upon his death, Subaru had been completely broken, and so the only one to take care of him was Rem, as he was incapable of doing or thinking anything himself. This situation he was in was presented really well as they really made it seem hopeless for him. It also showed how good Rem was. The villain of this arc was introduced too, Petelguese Romanee-Conti, he was absolutely insane and acted as a really good dynamic with Subaru’s insanity in this episode, the voice acting helped to seriously portray him as a madman. Even Subaru’s insanity is criticised, it hits him as Petelguese explains how he thinks he is simply feigning insanity, and insults him as a prideful person, who receives so much love despite this. Rem’s sudden death came as a surprise, but it brought Subaru back, as it made him realise he could no longer do nothing.
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.From when Rem crawled to Subaru, her melody began, it was composed so beautifully from here, and acts as one of the most insane moments of the series. Upon Rem’s death, Subaru melancholily walked with Rem’s body, hopelessly back to the mansion. As it began to snow, it showed all of the terrible scenes, the snow was really atmospheric and represented how cold the situation was. To finish off this masterful episode, Subaru screamed Petelguese’s name, and a strange monster (Puck) beheaded Subaru. The credits role after this as the Elegy for Rem played, creating a beautiful and overall, a pretty devastating scene to end the episode.
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.Upon Subaru’s restart, it shoves Rem back into his face, alive and well, as he appreciates her very greatly, but being interrupted by the shopkeeper, in a moment which separates this episode from the events which are about to come. Subaru’s next goal is to get help fighting the witch’s cult, but he really sucks at doing so, he is unprepared and barely has anything to offer. He instead just gets a bit angry at both Crusch and Anastasia, and humiliated by Priscilla. He instead just opts to evacuate the village from the witch’s cult alone. However, after getting Otto, the White Whale appeared, which Rem claimed to be certain death if encountered. In this first fight with the whale, anyone attacked was forgotten about by everyone but Subaru. Rem then sacrifices herself for Subaru, yet again. Somehow Subaru escapes and expresses how much he didn’t want to die before finding out Otto had been killed by the witch’s cult. He actually made it to the village before everyone was killed though and met Ram in the mansion, although the big twist was, that her sister, which she should’ve been so angry about, was completely gone from her memory, showing the tragic nature of his summoning from another world. Upon meeting Emilia again, Subaru was very nervous and panicked completely in his explanation of why they have to leave, he hadn’t solved the problem from before and Emilia still didn’t believe in him, yet she could still see when Subaru was crying in pain while Subaru berated her. He finally breaks with return by death to explain what had happened, he felt he was ready to take whatever would happen to him, but instead this time, it was Emilia who was punished, and Subaru had killed her, it showed how the harder he tried, the more likely he was to fall harder. Beatrice didn’t get angry, and refused to kill Subaru, all she could do was send him away, showing she clearly has something important with Subaru. When he was transported away, Petelguese praised him for killing Emilia, and so tried to grab Subaru, his unseen hands power was seen by Subaru, which totally freaked Petelguese out, and showed that Subaru was clearly special. Puck then goes and kills Petelguese as well as Subaru, while heavily criticising him and speaking of the sins he had committed.
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.Subaru then sets up his plan, he wants to run away with Rem, and avoid all of his problems. It ends up being Subaru being rejected, as Rem believes it is not what he wants, and a brighter future can’t be achieved with Subaru running away. Rem describes the whole future they may have, but instead rejects it, while Subaru complains how Rem said it was easy to give up, this was really touching, and Rem backed it up by saying it definitely was easy to give up, but it wasn’t part of Subaru’s character to do so. Rem praises Subaru, while Subaru dejects himself, it shows his absolute self hatred, and his pure ego being criticised by himself. I liked how Rem believed in him throughout and the namedrop of the series was done perfectly. This whole episode had no action, just speech, and yet was so good, showing that fights aren’t needed to have a good anime.
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.The negotiations take place again, taking place with a very prepared Subaru who takes complete control of the situation. He sets up the battle to kill the white whale, which everyone loves him for. The situation we find Wilhem to be in really draws out his character, especially since it had been touched on so much before. When the fight begins, the white whale is shown ominously, and Subaru’s phone ringtone plays creepily. Despite the fear in everyone in this scene, Subaru runs off with full confidence, showing his heroic part he will play in the battle.
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Wilhelm’s focus created a nice pace for this fight, they also managed to build his character really well in a short amount of time and made him seem really cool in battle. The initial assault on the whale made it seem like they would win easily, but instead they began to have huge losses. The fact that Subaru still continued fighting after this made him seem really admirable, in the sight of the huge threat of three White Whales he still believed he could win, which Crusch really admired him for. Her speech backed this up too as she managed to motivate everyone pretty well. The conclusion to Wilhelm’s conflict at this point was nice to see and it means no matter what happens next, he has already got his happy ending. We also leave Rem behind after this fight, and she leaves very reluctantly and in tears over Subaru.
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.This first witch hunt seemed like a fantastic run, he fell so easily, and Subaru managed to act so confidently in front of him, the conversation between Julius and Subaru was also good, as it showed they realistically didn’t like each other, but could respect each other in that time and would give each other all they could offer. Subaru was also backed up by Wilhelm, as despite all the people dying in the raid, Wilhelm told him to fight. The introduction of other fingers makes this seem like it will be a lot harder than it should be though. After they had eliminated the fingers, it turns out Subaru became one himself, this erased the development which had came between Subaru and Julius, which had been so good till then and ended his heroic run.
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.This final run was brilliant to watch, it was planned very well, Emilia was depicted pretty well in this final run, and her troubles were solved by Subaru himself. The children being so happy with Emilia made her seem a lot better off too, as she lacked loads of confidence due to her appearance. The plan to fight Petelguese was a lot better this time, Ferris pranked him which I found amusing and while it did seem the plan took longer this tile, it worked out as Julius and Subaru worked together really well and Subaru made sure to deal with the possession by Petelguese completely. The meeting of Petelguese and the witch showed that it was the witch’s cult which was evil and it was not the witch herself making this happen. The heroics of Otto to get Subaru to Emilia made for a really good scene. Subaru beat the remnant of Petelguese all by himself and returned to Emilia, saving her life, and while she was so confused, Subaru could simply blame his actions on the fact that he loves her. The season ends with one final lap pillow, and Subaru admitting to all of his mistakes, showing he had became the better man, and expresses how much he wants to help Emilia. The post credit scene sets up the next season. Who is Rem?
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.Best Episodes:
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Best Characters:
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Overall, these first 3 arcs created a perfect introduction to the series, which would never let me put this series down. The amount of emotion showed in this first season got me completely attached to each and every character and especially Subaru himself. I conclude by saying, that this is one of the best series to watch!
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