Re:Creators

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: Re:CREATORS 〈レクリエイターズ〉

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 22

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 8, 2017 to Sep 16, 2017

Premiered: Spring 2017

Broadcast: Saturdays at 23:30 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Magic Capsule, Shogakukan, ABC Animation

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: TROYCA

Source: Original

Genres: Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Themes: Isekai, Mecha

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 7.55¹ (scored by 191,809 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1605²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #433

Members: 486,776

Favorites: 3,498

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Synopsis

Humans have designed countless worlds—each one born from the unique imagination of its creator. Souta Mizushino is a high school student who aspires to be such a creator by writing and illustrating his own light novel. One day, while watching anime for inspiration, he is briefly transported into a fierce fight scene. When he returns to the real world, he realizes something is amiss: the anime's headstrong heroine, Selesia Yupitilia, has somehow returned with him.

Before long, other fictional characters appear in the world, carrying the hopes and scars of their home. A princely knight, a magical girl, a ruthless brawler, and many others now crowd the streets of Japan. However, the most mysterious one is a woman in full military regalia, dubbed "Gunpuku no Himegimi," who knows far more than she should about the creators' world. Despite this, no one knows her true name or the world she is from.

Meanwhile, Souta and Selesia work together with Meteora Österreich, a calm and composed librarian NPC, to uncover the meaning behind these unnatural events. With powerful forces at play, the once clear line between reality and imagination continues to blur, leading to a fateful meeting between creators and those they created.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:

Re:Creators

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Altair

Main

Toyosaki, Aki
Japanese

Österreich, Meteora

Main

Minase, Inori
Japanese

Upitiria, Selesia

Main

Komatsu, Mikako
Japanese

Mirokuji, Yuuya

Main

Suzumura, Kenichi
Japanese

Kanoya, Rui

Main

Amamiya, Sora
Japanese

Mizushino, Souta

Main

Yamashita, Daiki
Japanese

Talker, Blitz

Main

Ono, Atsushi
Japanese

Chikujouin, Magane

Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya
Japanese

Kirameki, Mamika

Supporting

Murakawa, Rie
Japanese

February, Alicetaria

Supporting

Hikasa, Youko
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Aoki, Ei

Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Series Composition

Aketagawa, Jin

Sound Director

Katou, Makoto

Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation, Assistant Director

Arai, Kazuto

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

	1: "gravityWall" by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Tielle & Gemie (eps 2-11,13)
	2: "sh0ut" by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Tielle & Gemie (eps 14-22)

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Ending Theme

	1: "gravityWall" by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Tielle & Gemie (eps 1,22)
	2: "NEWLOOK" by Mashiro Ayano (eps 2-12)
	3: "world Étude" by Aki Toyosaki (eps 13)
	4: "Rubikon (ルビコン)" by Sangatsu no Phantasia (eps 14-21)

Reviews

Sep 17, 2023

RESOLVING_POWER

Recommended

I watched Re:Creators. Here are my thoughts:

The premise of this 22-episode anime is quite cool and exceptionally unique. Superficially, Re:Creators is a so-called 'reverse-isekai' show, but in reality it is much more than this. All I can say without going into spoilers is that characters from a diverse variety of fantasy/sci-fi stories appear in real-life Japan, where they interact with one another and meet the creators of their respective stories (side note: I think this would be a great premise for a comedy anime too).

This is a very dialogue-heavy show. There are few actual action scenes, which is more than fine with me but ... did (pleasantly) defy my initial expectations. If you go into this anime wanting action scenes, you will be disappointed. This anime is far more a fantasy drama than it is an action show.

Sometimes this anime can be very exposition-heavy. In particular, the early episodes of both cours contain heavy exposition dumps. Very little effort is made to make these exposition dumps more palatable for the viewer. As I recall, there are multiple >10-minute exposition speeches that take place in a dull conference room with zero visual flair or anything to add entertainment value. My geeky sperg self was completely fine with this (and I was extremely interested in this anime's writing), but a different viewer might find it hard to swallow. The exposition is fascinating (in my view) and all necessary for the later story developments to make sense, but the delivery could have been handled better. Despite this, the conversational nature of this show is a major strong point, in my opinion. The dialogue is often very thoughtful and contains many memorable lines. During some scenes the script is absolutely phenomenal. I really do mean that; at its best, this anime contains some of the finest scriptwriting I have ever witnessed.

All of the fantasy characters in this ooze personality, and their interaction both among themselves and with their creators is one of the best features of this anime. However, the MC is kind of bland and lacking personality, aside from being your typical useless cowardly teenage-male anime protagonist. Thankfully the cast is quite large and he doesn't speak that often. In fact, even referring to him as the MC is exaggerating the significance of his character (arguably the real MC is Meteora). Even so, he was definitely a weak aspect of this anime. I would even say he is the weakest link in the show; in general, this anime is at its worst when the focus is on the MC. However, his presence is necessary for the plot to work, so perhaps I shouldn't be so harsh. Also, although this is fairly minor, I found the involvement of the government-official woman to be annoying. The involvement of the military/government in general made it feel like a generic anime action show, and sucked away screentime from the show's true strengths. I get that it was necessary to include the government to have the plot make sense, but I found their on-screen presence to be excessive.

Overall the plot is great, and often creative and inventive, although some of the details can be a little wonky or confusing. Re:Creators is very ambitious in what it seeks to accomplish with its story, so I'm willing to be lenient about some hand waviness. If you put every little plot mechanic under a microscope, you'll definitely find things to nitpick. From a broad view it's excellent though, and I was always interested in the story and eager to see what would happen next. In fact, I burned through episodes of this anime and struggled to turn it off, and couldn't stop thinking about it. Literally, this anime kept me awake at night staring at the ceiling. I was totally hooked, which surely is evidence of a great story. On the surface, the plot resembles a typical 'battle royale' story in some ways, but there is deeper meaning lurking beneath this.

Beyond the mundane plot details, Re:Creators explores unique thought-provoking themes in creative ways. The writing incorporates themes such as the relationships between a story and both its creator and its reader, comparisons between fictional worlds and real life, the emotions of a fiction creator and the creative process, the experiences and feelings of a self-aware fictional character, and the nature of how a character develops within a story. These writing themes connected with me on a deep personal level and touched me emotionally. I felt very strong emotions while watching this anime.

It was so enjoyable to watch all these characters from different fictional worlds interact with their creators and one another. There are elements in the writing and script that are clearly meant to appeal to storywriters and other content creators. In some ways, Re:Creators feels like a celebration of fiction itself.

In terms of visuals, this show is nothing special. The character designs are good, and there are some occasional nice moments during action scenes. Otherwise, the animation quality is adequate at best, and there are tons of sloppy frames. Conversely, audio is a stronger component of the show. The sound effects are quite well done; even mundane stuff like the sound of background noise in rooms is implemented with detail and care. The soundtrack is good, and both the OP songs are absolutely terrific (I replayed the OP sequence at least 100 times, not exaggerating). The voice acting is alright; nobody's voicework really stood out to me besides Meteora and Magane (she has great facial expressions too). Meteora provides a lot of the exposition, so it's good that her voice is nice.

My overall rating: 9/10
Re:Creators has a fantastic premise that is executed well, albeit with some minor plot wonkiness. The story is exceptionally creative and engaging, while also exploring fascinating abstract themes about fiction itself. It truly is a unique artistic creation. The fantasy characters and their interactions are very enjoyable, and the dialogue is often thoughtful and memorable. This anime is exceptional in many ways. I eagerly burned through the episodes like they were popcorn; seriously, this is the most binge-watch-inducing show I've seen in years. For me, Re:Creators was such a joyful thrill. During its best episodes this anime is mind blowing.

The emotional side of me wants so badly to rate this 10/10, but I can't ignore the fact that there are some weaker episodes and that the show does objectively have some minor flaws. Regardless, I really do believe that Re:Creators is a very special one-of-a-kind work of art that deserves far more appreciation.

The premise of this show is potent imagination fuel. Can you imagine meeting the characters from your favourite stories IRL? We can only dream. If fiction is something that's personally important to you, then you should watch this anime.

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Mar 23, 2023

Franktamas

Mixed Feelings

The premise was interesting, and the world building was more or less consistent.
The plot is dragged somewhat, which was weird in the way that there was enough for 22 episode yet some arc got rushed, while others dragged.
A couple characters were really interesting, but most were just 2 dimensional/cliché.

The one I would underline is Magane, she started as interesting, but became really boring in the second half. [Also even the anime is forgot about her existence, as she just stopped getting included in the episodes and nobody reacted at all, about searching for her whereabouts.]

The ending was great (especially the emotional beats), even with the ...

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Jun 2, 2023

ThatAnimeSnobRE

Not Recommended

Re:creators used to be the highest rated and most hyped series of the season it aired in, after the obvious three 99% of viewers were watching (Attack on Titan s2, My Hero Academia s2, Dragon Ball Super). Gradually, the interest in the series kept dropping to the point more people were talking about garbage tier light novel adaptations (Akashic Records, Eromanga Sensei) which were nowhere near the catchy premise of Re:creators.

This is extra strange when said premise is basically Fate/Stay Night all over again. No, seriously, they are the exact same story.
A bunch of famous personalities, each one using superpowers, are brought into modern Japan, ... where they are having a battle royale, with the winner getting a reality warping wish. Most of the plot is short skirmishes, followed by ridiculously long monologues where they are infodumping rules, discuss philosophies, and have cockteasing moments regarding a bland self insert lead being surrounded by pretty chicks.

On paper, Re:creators should have been regarded as a thought provoking masterpiece, just like that porn game adaptation. And yet it wasn’t. In fact, it was being mocked for being exactly that. What happened? The answer is, Re:creators was not tapping into as many layers of pandering as Fate/Stay Night did. It followed the same formula, but didn’t have the same ingredients. And by ingredients, I mean:

1) The pretty colors
Studio Troyca was nowhere near the level of Ufotable. Without jaw dropping animation, the sakuga audience didn’t care about it, and thus found reasons not to like it. Meaning, Re:creators didn’t have the illusion of making itself seem way better than what it actually was.

2) The source material
It didn’t have one. Unlike Type Moon which had a huge fanbase of porn gamers overhyping its bullshit for over a decade, Re:creators was an original work. Nobody was blowing out of proportion what it was all about, it had no fanatic fanbase attacking anyone who dares to speak against it, and thus it was open to all forms of criticism. As it should be the case for any title.

3) The archetypes
The fighters of Re:creators were essentially representations of typical heroes and villains from well known genres. This made them monolithic, dry, predictable, and one dimensional. The heroic spirits of Fate/Stay Night were based on historical figures, which were giving off the illusion of being multilayered and with a rich backdrop story, even if we didn’t see it and it was all implied. Meaning, the fan fiction nerds didn’t care about the cast of Re:creators, because they were just bland archetypes. In Fate/Stay Night, when they were hearing characters talking about ideologies and philosophy, their imagination was having an orgasm by seeing people across history coming together to have a fight with cool superpowers. In Re:creators, when characters talked about ideologies and philosophy, they just saw a typical magical girl talking to a typical medieval knight.

4) The competition
It came out at the worst possible moment, since the other 3 shows 99% of anime fans were watching, already had everything Re:creators failed to tap into. Pretty colors, a fanbase from the source material, and characters who did not feel like bland archetypes, because of how they were fleshed out from previous seasons.

5) The pacing and the infodumps
The above reasons explain why Re:creators fell from grace, in comparison to other shows of that time. They don’t explain why as a stand-alone show it was still not a very good watch despite sounding really amazing at first; so lets clarify that as well. Most of the duration was comprised of really long and boring monologues about the concept of the show, instead of its execution. The audience was constantly being told what was going on instead of being allowed to see it. The characters were mostly sitting on a table and talking about what they will do, instead of doing something about it. It was a really big chore to get through the constant talking, and the pacing was snail-slow.

The final episodes were filled with the battle royale action we were promised, but even then it came down to everyone versus one, instead of an actual “all for themselves” type of deal. It was hollow and insignificant, since nobody was actually dying but was rather returning to his fictional world. There was nothing really at stake and all the blame was thrown at the person who initiated the whole fuss. Nothing was grey or thought-provoking as it seemed to be at first, since it demonized an individual and deified everybody else, thus losing the grey morality it was going for.

So yeah, it’s not nearly as good as it sounds and it makes sense why it was quickly dropped by most. Its concept was interesting, but the execution came down to a dull line of endless monologues and tensionless battles.

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Poll: Re:Creators Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - May 27, 2017	265 replies	by basskiller »» Yesterday, 10:49 AM
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Re:Creators

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Österreich, Meteora

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Chikujouin, Magane

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