I started watching Re: Zero in the season in aired in Spring 2016. Initially, I hated it, and dropped the show. At some point, I did finish it, just to get my fix of traumatic animated death. Since then, I re-watched it once or twice. The time away to calm down made it so I could appreciate the show much more during the re-watches. By now, I have a much more balanced view of Re: Zero. I even watched season 2 (both parts!) and enjoyed them much more than the first season. Anyway, I want to make it clear that although this still isn’t my favorite anime, I have tried to be as fair as possible for this review.

My reviews generally follow the same structure. I look at five categories (Visuals, audio, story, characters, and personal enjoyment) and give them each a score from 1-10. The average of those five numbers will be the overall score. With that, we can move on to the actual review of Re: Zero.

Note: There are spoilers in this article, so beware!

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~Visuals: 8/10 Great~

The art and animation are quite nice in Re: Zero. I enjoy the color pallet and character designs. I’ll never forget these character designs; especially Roswaal and the Oni sisters. The fantasy world look is pulled off very well, and the occasional CGI is not too off-putting. There were some well-animated action scenes. The face expressions of the characters are great; they may be slightly over-the-top, but in a way that I appreciate. Like in most anime series, some scenes look better than others. Still, the overall appearance of Re: Zero is modern and polished. It definitely holds its own for a 2016 anime.

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~Story and Themes: 7/10 Good~

The plot in Re: Zero is not perfect, but it’s more than adequate. There are no huge, gaping plot holes that I can see; only some holes in our information that have yet to be explained. (For example, why did Satella summon Subaru to this fantasy world in the first place?) The sequence of events felt choppy sometimes, and did not flow into each other gracefully enough to feel like one story. However, there are lots of shounen anime series that get away with doing separate arcs in the same season, so I think it’s fine.

The first few episodes can be considered its own arc, wherein Subaru must save Emilia from Elsa. The transition from that to the next arc– Roswaal’s mansion– was very clear. It was so clear it felt strange to me. The arcs don’t always have as clear of a transition, but they are still roughly organized in this way. In general, each arc had an exciting premise of surviving and/or saving someone else. It kept me interested enough to keep watching. That being said, sometimes the arcs were taking too long, didn’t fit in right, or had too many unneeded details. I’ve heard other people make similar criticisms of Re:Zero, especially in the early arcs when people are still getting used to the particular narrative style.

The feel or climate of the story is also important to mention. While there are few major psychological plot twists, there is a strong atmosphere of trying to elicit shock using violence. Most of the time, it’s effective and exciting. I realize that for some people, it gets too dark at times, particularly during the arc where Subaru deals with Petelgeuse. If a show tries too hard and showcases too much shocking violence, it will come across as edgy, over the top, and in some cases, humorous. In my opinion, Re: Zero walked a fine line between thriller-level violence and complete edginess, but it never completely cross that line. Still, I can see how it would feel off-putting to some people.

Besides plot pacing and atmosphere, the story category is also concerned with how well balanced different elements seem to be. For example, looking at the humor in an overall serious show, or looking at the psychological drama in an otherwise lighthearted Isekai. For Re: Zero, the romance aspect was pretty weak, despite the show trying to push the idea of Subaru and Emilia liking each other. The humor aspect was rarely funny. (You might say that’s subjective, but so is basically everything in this review.) The drama elements and character development was pretty good, and the action and suspense were great. The overall balance was somewhat skewed, but definitely acceptable for an anime experience.

The themes explored in Re: Zero include classic shounen themes like hope, courage, and good morals. The narrative itself is not preachy about it though. Sometimes Subaru is too sappy with these ideas, but that’s part of his character. There are also some more nuanced and less common themes, such as sibling interactions, jealousy, humility, ambition, redemption, and acceptance. However, these additional themes are only lightly touched. Personally, I found Re: Zero thematically weak. There’s nothing truly thought-provoking or profound there, and my type of psychology/philosophy stuff doesn’t exist in this anime. The excellent world-building helps balance it out though.

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~Audio: 9/10 Magnificent~

The music and songs in Re: Zero are enjoyable and memorable. The first opening song is “Redo” by Konomi Suzuki. The second opening song is “Paradisus-Paradoxum” by MYTH & ROID. Both are awesome songs and easy to remember, though I haven’t learned the words yet. “Redo” is an upbeat and epic rock song with powerful female vocals. I really love the song and it’s my favorite of the Re:Zero season 1 songs. “Paradisus-Paradoxum” is not my favorite but it still sounds pretty cool and I like the eerie, chant-like background vocals.

Where Myth & Roid shines more, in my opinion, is in the first ED song, “Styx Helix.” This is another completely awesome rock song with great guitar solo and the cool vocal effects that make Myth & Roid sound so recognizable. There are a few other other songs that occur in the middle or at the endings of selected episodes. These songs include “Stay Alive” by Rie Takahashi, “Straight bet” by MYTH & ROID, and “Theater D” also by MYTH & ROID. I enjoy “Stay Alive,” for calming music since it’s emotional and slow, and I enjoy “Theater D” for a faster sound. It’s an amazing song.

The instrumental OST was composed by Kenichiro Suehori, who had only done a few anime OSTs at the time, usually working on live action television shows. Regardless, it worked out great. I absolutely love the OST for Re: Zero. I listened to the OST (parts 1 and 2) for season 1, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some of my favorite pieces were: “Train of Thought,” “Sloth,” “Dragon Kingdom Luginica,” “Touching You,” “Requiem of Silence,” and of course, “Call of the Witch.” There are many other good pieces too. I recommend going to YouTube and listening to some Re:Zero OST, or buying the OST discs from online somewhere.

Then there’s the voice-acting; it’s every bit as impressive as the music. Yuusuke Kobayashi plays Subaru, and since the success of Re:Zero, he’s taken more lead roles in anime like Senku from Dr. Stone. His acting is good, and his enthusiasm and vocal energy is astounding. Kobayashi really pulls off the character of Subaru excellently well, and is capable of imbuing his words with intense emotion, whether positive or negative. He’s also, of course, good at screaming in pain.

Most of the other voice acting was good too. I think the ones who did best were Satomi Arai (voice of Beatrice), Mamiko Noto (voice of Elsa) and Inori Minase (voice of Rem). Noto in particular dazzled me with her performance of being a sadistic and terrifying serial killer. I was also happy to hear some anime voice-acting veterans like Takehito Koyasu as Roswaal, Yui Horie as Felix the cat-boy, and a personal favorite, Yukari Tamura as Priscilla. Overall, I’m extremely impressed with the music, songs, and voice-acting in Re: Zero.

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~Characters: 6/10 Fine~

If nothing else, most of the characters in Re:Zero are certainly memorable. There’s also quite a variety of them if you include the supporting cast. I mean, just look a sampling of these characters. There’s the colorful, odd, and charismatic Roswaal, a human lord. There’s the gentle but wise and determined Emilia the half-elf. There’s Puck the lively and mischievous spirit who brought a smile to my face frequently. Rem is the dutiful, loving, and nurturing maid who’s actually an Oni (type of demon). Ram, the snarky and frank sister of Rem, is personally my favorite of all the characters. I like Otto the merchant too, and Felt the thief, and the order of knights. There’s such a colorful assortment of characters.

There were, however, issues with the characters. The main issues are that 1) there were no characters I deeply connected to; 2) the female characters are not realistic or very well-written; and 3) Subaru pushed the line too much with “being an annoying protagonist.” The first objection is entirely subjective, but it’s an important part of how people judge character quality in media. If there’s nobody you can deeply connect to, you will have trouble enjoying the show overall. Ram and Krusch are my favorite characters. I admire Krusch immensely but can’t relate to her. As for Ram, I can relate on some level, but there’s simply not enough time spent on her character. Rem took the spotlight.

The second issue is key to my judgement of the character category. With a few exceptions, the female characters feel much more like male fantasies than actual, fleshed-out characters. Emilia is not very believable. The same goes for Rem, although in Rem’s case, at least we were given some background and reasons for her poor view of herself. I’m not saying that a female character can’t be devoted and sweet, but they need more to their character than just that. And there need to be reasons for their insecurities, flaws, and aspirations. Sadly, Emilia is not a well-written character like this. It feels like she’s written simply to be perfect for Subaru, rather than a complete character on her own.

Now let’s talk about Subaru. The creator purposely wrote him to come off as annoying, at least before you understand him well or get used to him. But frankly, they took it too far. Subaru is just too goddamn annoying. I hated basically everything he did and said. Season 2 does a much better job giving you some things to like about Subaru, but this review is for season 1 only. I think the makers of Re: Zero kind of shot themselves in the foot by making their protagonist so obnoxious. Despite all my criticisms however, I would still say the character category deserves a 6/10 and no lower. That’s thanks mostly to the presence of Ram and a handful of supporting characters I also love.

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~Personal Enjoyment: 5/10 Mediocre~

To be frank, there was a lot that annoyed the crap out of me in this series. It wasn’t even a lot of things, actually, but just a few that colored my experience of the entire show. The first time I watched this anime, I hated it. Now I can appreciate some aspects of it, but it’s still not going to place very high in personal enjoyment. That being said, let’s talk first about the few things I did enjoy.

Rem and Ram were both characters I could appreciate. Showing us their backstory was one of the best things Re: Zero could have done. As someone who grew up very close with my sisters, I understand that sibling relationships are complex and can be difficult. The effects of what happens when one is a child can be far-reaching. It was heartbreaking to watch Rem’s self-hatred over having a selfish thought that night about her sister’s horn. The way she blamed herself for Ram losing her powers was painful. Ram was put in a difficult situation too, having no magic anymore, but the emotional pain that Rem made herself endure as “atonement” was probably worse. I enjoy interesting character psychology, so even if these events were sad, they helped me appreciate the anime.

Besides the demon sisters, I also enjoyed some of the fantasy world-building, the character of Krusch, the idea of the competition over the queenship, and the character of Roswaal. As I mentioned in the opening, I also sometimes enjoy watching animated violence when I’m in a dark mind-space. Re: Zero is a great show for that kind of satisfaction. Now let’s move on to the things that made me writhe with disgust and shake with rage. The two main issues were Subaru’s character, which I already mentioned, and the way this anime is often sexist.

I don’t have time or motivation to detail everything I hate about Subaru with specific examples. But in general, I find him loud, rude, frustratingly dense, monumentally arrogant about everything, and chauvinistic. In addition, I tend to dislike characters who act overly cheerful or enthusiastic at all times. Subaru and similar characters are just completely over the top. There’s something very fake and also overstimulating about dealing with these senselessly happy characters. Now I think I’ve said enough about Subaru for the moment. Let’s move on to the sexism in Re: Zero. I have two concrete examples, starting with the case of Wilhelm van Astrea.

It’s actually a bit difficult to express how deep my hatred runs for the character of Wilhelm. He is a very unpleasant, toxic, and distasteful misogynist. During the group fight with the White Whale, we see the story of Wilhelm and his wife Theresia via flashbacks. Let me briefly relay the series of events. Theresia was a powerful hero called the Sword Saint. Very few could match her in terms of skill with the sword. She was also conventionally beautiful with a very sweet-looking face. Meanwhile, Wilhelm was a nobody who decided to take up the sword to protect others. He doesn’t sound bad yet, but just wait.

Wilhelm met Theresia one day while training with the sword alone. The two got along alright, and met there many times. But Theresia didn’t say who she was. One day, Wilhelm was about to get killed by a gang of fierce bandits who invaded the town. Naturally, Theresia intervened, saved him, and dispatched the invaders. Wilhem’s reaction the next day was absurd. Instead of being grateful and respectful, he yelled at the hero and said she shouldn’t be wielding the sword. He was clearly upset that she was better at fighting than him. (Can you imagine being that fragile?) Theresia had no trouble disarming the aggressive sexist and throwing him to the ground. Wilhelm only got more stubborn and made a vow to take away Theresia’s sword from her. What a pig.

For a long time, Wilhelm was gone. He reappeared years later and was now skilled enough with the sword to beat Theresia in one impromptu duel. Then he basically said that because he’s better, Theresia has to stop being the Sword Saint. In return, he would protect and marry her. However, he won’t even tell her “I love you,” to her face, due to toxic masculinity telling him he shouldn’t express love. (Not that I believe he had anything remotely like selfless love. Nor did he originally fight to protect people as he said. His actions and words make it clear he only ever fought for his sensitive pride.)

Now, here’s the important part. Re:Zero frames this story as an incredibly romantic and inspiring tale. It would be one thing if this was just backstory for some random supporting character who happens to be a complete asshole. But that’s not how the anime portrays it. Instead, Wilhelm and his actions are romanticized. The misogyny in this story is one significant reason for my reduced enjoyment of Re: Zero.

Another much briefer example of sexism is during the Roswaal mansion arc, when Subaru is at his most annoying. He says something along the lines of “It’s women’s job to look pretty for the men.” I don’t even need to say anything else about that example. But hopefully, these two examples serve to show that there’s a pattern of casual sexism in Re: Zero. Unfortunately, casual sexism is still very common in Japanese media. Sometimes, I’m able to ignore it and still have high appreciation of a show. But when it’s this in-your-face, it’s just too gross and obvious to look past. That’s why the personal enjoyment category gets 5/10.

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~Overall Score: 7.0/10.0~

Re: Zero season 1 has some strengths and some major weaknesses. I’m glad I watched it to practice my critical analysis as well as appreciate the elements that are enjoyable. Furthermore, the second season parts 1 and 2 improved upon the first season noticeably. I plan to write a review of the second season soon, so be ready! Thanks so much for reading and have a great day.

Thank you for reading~

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A slightly different version of this post first appeared on my Wix Blog, Mono’s Anime Rants, on Aug 17 2022. Once I republish it on WordPress, the original will be deleted.
Sorry for any confusion.