This has been a rather strange experience on my end. I'm already fairly aware of what happens due to my experience with the source material, but this adaptation turned out far worse than I would've preferred. I'm inclined to believe that the first season, while largely imperfect as an adaptation, was handled far better in comparison. I'll separate my overview into distinct sections for ease of reading.
The characters are arguably the most privotal aspect of any series. Hence, I'll start with this for convenience. There's a lot to unpack, so I'll focus on one character at a time.
-Subaru: He is the only person that the series attempted to give any meaningful characterization in this season. The fourth episode even incorporated his backstory. He essentially grew up under loving parents but his pride got the better of him, and he progressively became a hikikomori much to his frustration. He initially viewed himself as someone who could do anything, almost like someone with a savior complex, before slowly coming to terms with the fact that he's just an average person much like most others. In any case, I don't really have strong opinions against or in favor of this characterization, since he fundamentally doesn't change much from his existing character.
Instead, I'd rather focus attention to the myriad of stupid decisions that Subaru has made over the course of this season.
There's plenty of other incidents, but I think everyone gets the point by now. Subaru has taken plot-induced stupidity to another level by his sheer inability to follow through with the most basic hints. I know Subaru is not a particularly intelligent person, but many of his actions feel contradictory to his character (e.g. not asking Echidna about a possible way to save Rem). Maybe this doesn't bother other people. However, as someone who wants to be invested in the story, I find this very bothersome.
-Beatrice: In the eleventh episode, Beatrice dramatically explains to Subaru about her contract. She purportedly expresses feelings of anguish and begs for him to kill her. Unfortunately, neither Subaru nor the audience understands enough about her situation for this scene to generate enough emotional impact. Why does she hate being bound by the contract? It's true that she's been bound to that location for hundreds of years, but it's never made clear why her contract is supposedly so unbearable.
This scene is made even worse with Ryuzu's formal backstory. Ryuzu explains that she's been alive for over four-hundred years to oversee the Sanctuary, much like Beatrice in regards to the library. Both were also created by the 'Witch of Greed' Echidna. However, unlike Beatrice, Ryuzu sees no issue with her situation. She even delights in drinking tea while overseeing her territory. So then, why does Beatrice feel so negatively about her situation? Neither Subaru nor the audience understands enough to sympathize with Beatrice's pleas for help. What is so insufferable about curating a library? The worst idea that comes to mind is sheer boredom, but that isn't severe enough to attempt suicide. I hope that someone sees the problem here.
On the one hand, the series will go to great lengths to flesh out intricate details of its lore. And yet, it's not even devoting a fraction of that time to properly flesh out most of its characters. It's worth mentioning that this is a huge recurring problem that is not unique to Beatrice.
-Emilia: From the first season, it can be assumed that she wants to prove herself as a capable leader and win the Royal Selection. She even visits the Sanctuary in order to rally the locals and increase her influence. However, her motivation to accomplish these goals are never properly explored in detail. The series often alludes to her troubled past to incite the audience to garner sympathy. However, much like with Beatrice, neither Subaru nor the audience understands enough about her situation to generate an emotional impact. What is so tragic about Emilia's past that makes her incapable of completing the first trial of the Sanctuary? Given Nagatsuki's track record, this question will likely be addressed far later in the series. However, at the moment, it only serves to detract away from Emilia's relatively empty characterization. I want to like her character, but the series continuously makes it difficult for the audience to truly understand and empathize with her struggles.
-Ram: She was busy serving Roswaal while Subaru was busy dealing with the 'White Whale' in the first season. She doesn't resurface in this second season until Subaru visits the Sanctuary and comes across an injured Roswaal. She occasionally assists Subaru on Roswaal's behalf, such as instructing him to visit Beatrice and even assisting with Subaru's escape from Garfiel during one specific timeline. However, most of her screen time boils down to delivering obnoxious one-liners to Subaru.
The first season benefitted from Rem's presence because it balanced out Ram's otherwise static character. Needless to say, Rem is no longer present in the series. One would think that this would be the prime opportunity to flesh out Ram's character. But no. She's effectively the same as before with arguably even less reason to serve Roswaal. In one specific timeline, Roswaal ends up killing Ram for no reason other than to make him look evil. He could've easily impaled Garfiel, someone that he acknowledged was a potential threat, without sacrificing her by moving a few inches to the left or right. In any case, Ram remains as arguably the most static character in the entire series.
-Garfiel: He is a relatively new addition to the series along with his half-sister Frederica. However, unlike the latter, Garfiel ends up receiving copious amounts of screen time due to his presence at the Sanctuary. He is seemingly on bad terms with Frederica, but their relationship is never explored in great detail. Across most of his appearances, Garfiel is seen directly caretaking the Sanctuary. He even captures Subaru and holds him hostage due to suspicions of him collaborating with the Witch Cult. Needless to say, Garfiel either remains neutral or becomes a direct threat depending on the timeline. He essentially flip-flops between a murderous and chill Bakugo throughout his appearances that it's hard not to call out his generally inconsistent character.
-Roswaal: In the first season, it's made clear that Roswaal has a secret agenda. He despises a certain dragon and wants him dead, but otherwise his goals have been relatively obscure until now. However, this season alludes to his true character. He was seemingly aware of the Witch Cult's actions and directly masterminded events so that Subaru has to deal with the 'White Whale.' While he does assist Subaru on occasion, he makes himself clear that he is no ally. He will even cruelly kill his subordinates without remorse, such as the instance that he killed Ram. He is appropriately villainous without being fashioned as an actual villain. Neither Subaru nor the audience trusts his words or actions, but it's seemingly necessary in order to progress with the plot. He is arguably closer to a plot device than an actual character, since nothing can happen either directly or indirectly without Roswaal's intervention.
-Echidna: The first season introduced how there were seven 'Witches of Sin,' and the 'Witch of Envy' Satella in particular killed the other six preceding an event labeled 'The Great Calamity.' It's unclear exactly what happened here, but it's understood that the deaths of the other six Witches were partly to blame. In this second season, Echidna introduces herself as the spirit of the deceased 'Witch of Greed.' Several other Witches are also introduced, but she is the only one that is particularly relevant to the story. On the surface, she somewhat resembles Emilia with her long, white hair and relatively cute appearance. She never ends up as a damsel-in-distress and is always thinking several steps ahead of most others in her immediate vicinity. She also prefers intellectual pursuits over anything fleeting like romance, honor or vengeance. She spends most of her screen time toying with Subaru via quick-witted and sassy remarks. However, all of this serves to detract away from her deranged inner-self.
Ryuzu mentioned that Echidna created her and several hundred clones in an attempt to research immortality. The research itself proved unsuccessful and effectively abandoned after her death. Echidna is also mentioned to have created Beatrice as an artificial Spirit to caretake her personal library. Echidna forces Beatrice to stay in the hopes that someone would latch onto her, even though Echidna herself doesn't know who this person may be. In effect, Echidna is essentially a sociopath who cannot understand the feelings of others. She has no qualms about employing sophistry and deception to satisfy her curiosity towards the unknown. In one particular instance, she meddles with Subaru's handkerchief, so the latter will have means to kill himself after being ensnared by Satella's advances. Needless to say, Echidna is fashioned as neither friend nor foe. She is arguably an even greater plot device than Roswaal, since Echidna is indirectly involved in every aspect of the story.
In any case, Re:Zero is blessed with dozens of unique, quirky characters but most of them are littered with the same few set of problems. Out of the group, the only one that gets any reasonable amount of characterization is Subaru himself, but the series continually writes him in such a bewildering manner that he ends up as nothing more than the dictionary definition of plot-induced stupidity. He goes through hell, breaks down, gets up, and then immediately breaks down again ad nauseum. There is no lesson learned, and the way it ends is proof of that. There is no good feeling of accomplishment on any front.
The second season is devoted primarily to one task: worldbuilding. In a series where the plot essentially grinds to a complete halt after the third episode and the characters range from somewhat developed to utterly one-dimensional, it's absolutely essential to succeed in this front. Unfortunately, this is arguably the weakest aspect of this season, primarily because the series gives little reason to care about most of the superfluous information that's being conveyed.
For example, let's consider Ryuzu's discussion with Subaru in the tenth episode. She informs Subaru that she is one of many clones whose "replica bodies are built upon cores of artificial od that has been produced by magic. Those cores are wrapped in mana and given physical form, resulting in these bodies.” I want to take a moment and truly digest what this actually means. First of all, it's clear that she is merely a clone produced through magic. However, she never explains the bit about 'artificial od.' What is this? This is the first time that this term is directly mentioned in the series, so I assume that it's important enough for the audience to understand. However, it's left ignored after she finishes her purported origin story. This is merely one of several instances of botched worldbuilding.
Another example pertains to Echidna's conversation about the 'Witches of Sin' in the third episode. For example, she speaks of the “Witch of Wrath, Minerva, who struck people to heal them as she lamented the state of her war-torn world.” Likewise, she mentions the “Witch of Sloth, Sekhmet, who drove a dragon past the great waterfall just for a chance to rest.” The other Witches get similarly summarized. On paper, this is plenty of neat information that people might find fascinating. However, neither Subaru nor the audience has any reason to concern themself with these details.
For clarification, I have no problem with the series introducing plot points to be expanded for later use. Good worldbuilding in high fantasy entails of expanding on a story's lore, while also providing the audience with a reason to become interested. However, that's clearly not what is happening here. It's a huge problem when the worldbuilding consists of nigh-endless references to inconsequential characters and seemingly unimportant mysteries that the series has no intention of making relevant in the foreseeable future.
In the absence of anything worthwhile in the writing department, the production quality itself is the last bastion of defense. However, this area is also seemingly butchered beyond belief.
Remember the beautiful shots of Rem whipping her flail in her battle against the demon beasts in the forest? Remember the clean visuals in the final fight between Petelgeuse and Julius? Remember the incredibly dynamic and expertly choreographed animation in the confrontation between Elsa, Emilia, Subaru, and Reinhard? All of that extraordinary animation is almost completely absent this season. The only scene with remotely comparable animation is found in the first episode during Rem's battle with Lye Batenkaitos, the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony. The rest of the series amounted to still images and various other questionable production decisions. Visually, it is undeniably a huge step-down compared to the first season.
I can excuse poor visuals as a byproduct of production delays due to COVID-19. However, botched directing is an entirely different story. For example, consider this scene from the fourth episode.
Why would someone choose to frame the scene this way? The conversation is happening in the background, but the foreground is instead intent on highlighting the kitchen. Is there something important at the kitchen that the audience should care about? Apparently not. It's never directly mentioned or touched upon at all. The kitchen itself doesn't even look amazing enough to warrant all this focus. So then, why even bother focusing on this particular location? This is exactly my point. A competent director would try to direct focus on the important parts of each event, but that's clearly not what's happening here.
Here are a couple of other examples that I screenshotted to get an idea of how offputting this looks. The frames are consistently misaligned, which ends up causing confusion on where the audience should focus its attention. Consequently, the show progressively looks worse with each passing episode.
For my final point, I have chosen to address the general pacing of events. Is it too fast? Is it too slow? It's quite frankly neither and yet both at the same time. Let me explain.
As an adaptation, this season covered events from the end of the ninth LN volume to the middle of the thirteenth LN volume. In other words, this is roughly a four-volume LN adaptation with some occasional alterations for convenience. On paper, this isn't any different from the standard one-cour LN adaptation. However, it's somehow even worse than the established norm because of what the production crew chooses to keep and cut out. For all intents and purposes, Subaru has remained perpetually stuck at the Sanctuary for over ten episodes. Across the four aforementioned LN volumes, very little has actually changed on the surface. One could effectively cut the number of episodes in half and nothing of value would be lost. However, while this remains true, it's also worth mentioning that the adaptation itself is still unnecessarily rushed.
The dialogue in particular bleeds with sheer pendatry when touching on Subaru's actions. For example, let's consider the general chain of events. Subaru questioned Roswaal's actions, so Frederica told him to seek Beatrice for assistance. Beatrice refused to say anything useful other than to visit the Sanctuary for answers. Consequently, Subaru goes to the Sanctuary with Emilia and ends up trapped and forced to undergo trials sanctioned by Echidna. Subaru encounters an injured Roswaal and Ram, who confirm various uncomfortable truths regarding their situation. Ram later tells Subaru to confront Beatrice and ask her "Roswaal said to ask the question." In response, Subaru visits Beatrice but conveniently forgets to bring anything up. Later, Roswaal tells Subaru to tell Beatrice "I am that person." Upon his second meeting with Beatrice, Subaru yet again fails to bring anything up. And so forth. In any case, the general set of events come across as heavily disjoint without any sense of cohesion. There's so much that physically happened, yet ultimately nothing actually progressed in the grand scale due to plot-induced stupidity.
And to make matters worse, the original LNs contained several nuances that got tossed aside without much actual explanation. For example, the twelveth episode toys around with the idea that 'Return by Death' may have inadvertently created many alternate worlds wherein he and his friends died horribly. Subaru essentially revisits those worlds and sees the aftermath of his various deaths. However, about 90% of the content pertaining to Rem and Julius inadvertently gets cut out for no reason. Similar decisions have occured throughout this season.
I initially started this series with legitimate interest in isekai with a 'Return by Death' concept. It could've been handled in so many different ways to explore various aspects about the world and characters. But unfortunately, there's very little effort put into characterization for both primary and secondary cast members. There are many attempts at worldbuilding, but they only ever amount to references to inconsequential characters and seemingly unimportant mysteries that the series has no intention of making relevant in the foreseeable future. Even simple stuff like visuals and pacing ended up disastrously botched due to bizarre decisions from the production crew. Ultimately, I can't help but label this as a massive disappointment on all fronts.
Written and edited by: @sabre
Proofread by: @AkumaRemu
117.5 out of 185 users liked this review
