Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 3rd Season Episode 1 Discussion

Baffled at the score this has here. I know sequel bias is at play here but even so come on.... The first 2/3 of the episode was boring, endless dialogue and introducing or reintroducing characters that may or may not end up being relevant at the end of the story. There's too many of them for sure and half of them are too campy or over the top. And well, Subaru is still the same old Subaru. He's always gong to be a bit of cringefest .
Yes, the ending delivered in spades, but that was like 5 minutes of goodness in a 90 minute package.

Watched the first episode after rewatching the last seasons and I honestly still do not like how Subaru gets mad at any comment. Other than that this season looks with like its gonna be fire.

@Farabeuf Interesting to see that the ending is what many people really liked about the episode, so it makes me wonder how a certain arc that will be covered relatively later in S3 will be received, since it's the biggest nightmare fuel in the series thus far IMO.

@Nafis_Syed It's not that I just relish nightmare fuel for the sake of it. I just thought that half of the episode was pretty slow paced with a lot of exposition but also a lot of needless coming and goings of several characters that felt inconsequential. I lost track of all the lolis that showed up and had to pause twice to check the wiki to read who they were and why they were important (if at all).

@Nebucad it's more like, something called reputation. If you've read 3 volumes of berserk, you get a gist of what to expect and how the 4th volume will be, that's something re:zero has constantly delivered since it's release till the end of arc 4. Although yea it's true, arc 5 is a dip in quality compared to the previous arcs, still they're Hyped up. It's thier choice to change thier rating with Every Episode or Rate it all at once...... what's the problem?
As for those who writing negative reviews, they're equivalent to non-existent if you don't respond to them. As for those who're rating it so high, they're just expecting something they've experienced before yk..... it'll keep on changing eps by eps, don't worry too much.

Re:Zero S3E1

My feelings toward this opening are mixed.

For the most part, I was disappointed by its quality. From the very beginning, it feels like a continuation of the story-telling issues from season 2. There isn’t a hook or clear direction for this episode, it is mainly exposition. That is completely understandable given it’s the beginning of an entirely new arc, however, even then it’s executed poorly. Important details were simply told to the audience via dialogue lacking visual aid or subtlety. Moments of characterisation felt rushed through, failing to capture my empathy and thus feel engaged with said characters.

Garfiel especially suffers from this issue, given his characterisation in season 2 was already subpar. At the same time, the portrayal of his self-perceived insufficiency is not done effectively. It is too easy for him to move on from the problem, there is a significant lack of struggle on his end. Similarly, as much as I love Wilhelm’s character, too much of the conflict between him and Reinhard are explained in dialogue, failing to fully capture the tension between them.

The idea that there was another character of Japanese origin before Subaru also suffered from the poor execution, with it simply being revealed in a single line of thought. It is not even delivered in a questionable tone, but rather with confidence and a lack of intrigue.

It was incredibly hard thus to remain focused. If I were to compare it to anything, it reminded me of the beginning of the Namek Saga in Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z manga.

That is not to say there wasn’t any moments that were commendable. I did enjoy the late night discussion between Wilhelm van Astrea and Subaru. The introduction of Liliana was also done quite well. Although, the humor felt awkward most of the time, I also did enjoy some of the jokes.

What I loved about this episode the most was the ending.

The general ‘slice-of-life’ moments shared between the characters set an enjoyably ‘happy go-lucky’ tone that lulled me into a false sense of security. During the reveal of the next Sin-Archbishop, their theatrical; non-threatening attitude combined with that security, conflicted with my knowledge that such figures are meant to be terrifying. This was further reinforced by the unassuming soundtrack, which initially made her appear insignificant. Although I didn’t realize at the time, this emotional confusion was a perfect reflection of her character, dangerous yet manipulative.

What interested me the most was how her audience reacted. At first, they appeared not to take her seriously and neither did I due to the aforementioned circumstances. When she revealed a tied up child, however, I did. Yet, they didn’t - not even Subaru. It finally encouraged me to be actively engaged, by asking questions about what was happening in the moment. Then it was revealed that they were somehow under her control. My curiosity was satisfied and I felt genuinely afraid for the characters, given how helpless they appeared. Then they all died after she killed the child, adding more mystery to fuel that curiosity.

Subaru resets. His shocked expression and nausea make it evident he was conscious the entire time. The severity of the conundrum is solidified and the episode ends.

We have returned to the exhilarating nature I fell in love with in the first season. I am looking forward to with excitement to the next episode.

??? Why are you mad ??? Also regardless of the fact that this is an isekai, its proven already through S1 that its able to achieve both of the things you’ve told me not to expect. I’m sorry but I don’t understand your perspective

fanservice? really?

9.01 for this? Are rezero fans okay in the head? This is what they consider the peak of the series? A 90 minute fanservice reunion special where nothing happens except the last five minutes?

It was smart of them to merge the first four episodes into a single special. Just imagine if you had to sit through FOUR weeks of nothing happening except old characters getting together and Subaru acting like insufferable cringelord. This would have been the absolute low point of the series, yet people rated it higher than any other rezero season or movie.

is this first episode only or 3 episodes combined?

@shuffle_017 first episode only

@Yang_Wenli We can't really do much since this series has so many fanboys here who rate anything even closely related to Re:Zero with 10/10, no matter the quality. Even worse, they feel like everyone else who dares to criticize their favorite show are obvious haters and they also act haughty to anyone who didn't read the novel.

I mean I like this series but not to the point I would be uncritical to it as it also has it share of flaws. Credit where credit is due.

S2 and both movies was actually pretty good (a lot better than S1).
But that's exactly why I was disappointed here because I had some expectations which certainly weren't met.
I mean, I know I would be disappointed if I saw this episode in theatre.
It pales greatly in comparison with, for example, Memory Snow which also had the same slice-of-life focus but still managed to deliver enjoyable self-contained story and still dropped some serious foreshadowing.

I know I will rate some episodes higher if they get better.
But by rating 10/10 right now those fans are basically saying that as long it's Re:Zero it doesn't matter how good or bad each episode is.
It also means there is no room for improvement in their eyes.
All the people who are singing the unconditional praise here - imagine if they would cut last five minutes - would you still rate it the same?

tl;dr: Current high-scores on this season are nothing but hype.

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On completely unrelated note - I still don't understand why Garfiel's supposed mother is calling her daughter onee-chan. Even if she has obviously lost her memories of him it makes no sense to call her own child that, right? (and subs even put her name in instead, even though it wasn't even mentioned in the original). I can imagine very specific situation in japanese when mother would call her daughter like that (as in, replying to overheard topic) but she actually addressed Rafiel here in this scene, otherwise she wouldn't be asking a question whether Fred already came back or not in the first place.

@Yang_Wenli We can't really do much since this series has so many fanboys here who rate anything even closely related to Re:Zero with 10/10, no matter the quality. Even worse, they feel like everyone else who dares to criticize their favorite show are obvious haters and they also act haughty to anyone who didn't read the novel.

I mean I like this series but not to the point I would be uncritical to it as it also has it share of flaws. Credit where credit is due.

S2 and both movies was actually pretty good (a lot better than S1).
But that's exactly why I was disappointed here because I had some expectations which certainly weren't met.
I mean, I know I would be disappointed if I saw this episode in theatre.
It pales greatly in comparison with, for example, Memory Snow which also had the same slice-of-life focus but still managed to deliver enjoyable self-contained story and still dropped some serious foreshadowing.

I know I will rate some episodes higher if they get better.
But by rating 10/10 right now those fans are basically saying that as long it's Re:Zero it doesn't matter how good or bad each episode is.
It also means there is no room for improvement in their eyes.
All the people who are singing the unconditional praise here - imagine if they would cut last five minutes - would you still rate it the same?

tl;dr: Current high-scores on this season are nothing but hype.

---------------------------------------------------------------

On completely unrelated note - I still don't understand why Garfiel's supposed mother is calling her daughter onee-chan. Even if she has obviously lost her memories of him it makes no sense to call her own child that, right? (and subs even put her name in instead, even though it wasn't even mentioned in the original). I can imagine very specific situation in japanese when mother would call her daughter like that (as in, replying to overheard topic) but she actually addressed Rafiel here in this scene, otherwise she wouldn't be asking a question whether Fred already came back or not in the first place.