Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-

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NO PLOT SPOILERS

While I’ve read the Manga, my review will be based primarily on the Web Novel, which I consider to be the most enjoyable way to consume the Re:Zero story due to the more intimate understanding you receive of the characters' internal thoughts and feelings as the plot progresses.
Thus, art will be excluded from the rating.

Story - 10

Anyone hoping for something quickly gratifying will not find it with Re:Zero. The story is very slow to progress. In fact, 15 volumes in, and questions we’ve been asking since chapter 1 have yet to be answered. On the contrary, it is at a faster pace that ... more questions are added than answered. However, that’s not to say that it wastes time or fails to provide information. In fact, it does a marvelous job of ensuring that every chapter is a necessary inclusion. (Mayo on the side) This story is one to be savored, and I dread the day that it wraps itself up.


Character - 9

Natsuki Subaru is a flawed character; and that is intentional. You may get impatient, and you may facepalm in disgust, but there are real consequences for his personality failures, and like anyone who grapples with their own shortcomings, he will struggle and adjust in order continue on for himself and the people he cares for. Be ready to suffer and struggle with him. He very much progresses from the person he starts out being.

The other characters naturally endure their own faults. However, that does not necessarily mean you won’t find them charming or enjoyable. Re:Zero does a very good job with showing how changes in environment or knowledge can alter a character’s reactions and priorities. It fleshes out the supporting characters’ dispositions, and allows the reader to truly understand who they are and why.
There are exceptions to this, but for the most part, every character introduced in the story is cherished by the author, and breathed life into.

Enjoyment - 10

Personally, I very much prefer concise stories with dissimilar arcs and zero fluff. So it’s a testament to Re:Zero’s ability to maintain the flow of itself over its many volumes that I find such a slow progressing story to be the #1 most enjoyable in my collection.
I’ve chuckled, I’ve cringed, I’ve cried many times, I’ve had my perceptions changed, and Re:Zero constantly reminds me that it’s not afraid to rob me of what I expected to be a happy ending.
It is addictingly refreshing, and I’ve yet to find anything which can satisfy me in the same way.

Starts out promising but quickly loses focus and descends into mediocrity. The premise has potential and the story beats are fine but the writing is severely lacking on a technical level, most notably in the web novel. The light novel is better but not free of the issues, and apparently has numerous inaccurate translations. In both stories it feels like the story quickly loses its broader direction. Dialogue is often boring or painful to read, the endless flirty banter does nothing to establish sympathy or connection to the characters. Many locations give the impression of existing only as a backdrop for character actions, without establishing ... context in a broader world that would give the actions meaning. Antagonists are given annoying verbal tics to use in every line, undermining any emotions their presence ought to convey. Subaru and other characters are given bursts of meaningful and well-motivated character development, some of which are very good, but their infrequency and the surrounding filler makes them difficult to appreciate. All of this makes the experience of reading incoherent – the main cast fights the arc’s villains in a set of disconnected locations that don’t feel like part of a broader world, and for reasons which are only nebulously connected to a long-term objective. After ~7000 pages I don’t remember any lines, descriptions, or locations that particularly stood out to me. Ultimately the good just doesn’t come close to justifying the length. The main cast is memorable, but I don’t have much interesting in seeing the continuation of their story. A good editor could probably cut 2/3 of the web novel content and a good translator could probably rewrite the rest into something pretty good. As it is, it varies from mostly unimpressive (light novels) to often unreadable (web novel).
The light novels are a ‘mixed feelings’, if you like the idea of Re:Zero and don’t take issue with some of the aspects of the writing I did you might really enjoy them. A lot of people certainly seem to. The web novel is a definitive ‘not recommended’.


Disclaimer:
My opinion might change on this, this review replaces a previous different one and though I skimmed back through some light novel and web novel volumes to refresh my memory it’s been a while since I read from the start through Arc 6. I also switched to the web novel pretty early, maybe the later light novels improve. I might give Arc 7 a try when the light novels come out, and I could change my mind.

[Spoiler Warning]

Go to another world stories are easy to write, it is an undead horse that will keep having people ride it, hit it, mock it, praise it. At this point even "subversions" have become its own cliche.

So anyway, Re:zero, a show that is pretty bad, which was basically torture porn for 2-cour. A lot of people already shat on the anime so I may as well do it for the source.

At the time of writing, I have finished all the LN and gotten into the next arc of the WN, and ohhhhhhhhhh god is it horrible.

Plot - 3

First of all, the writing is ... terrible and no it is not the translation's fault, the actual writing is bad, as it is hard to keep track of what the scenario the author is describing. It is very bland, descriptions lack the whimsical charm of LN but are not artistic enough to be taken seriously. In addition the pacing is atrocious. Three arcs in and around 10 theoretical vols, we still have no idea what's the story behind this world or get any progress in the king election. In fact the story introduce a bunch of witches who explains...roughly nothing important, and serves only to provide more mystery.

And that is what Re:zero is, it is a dumb mystery that is really generic if they just explain it straight to you. In fact 3 arcs in, the main plot could be explained pretty much as "yandere girl (probably Emilia as a twist) likes scum, so fuck up world for scum, probably due to time travel or something."

And there is no funny plot or hijinks or anything interesting besides the shitty mystery and torture porn.

Character - 2

Oh boy Subaru, fan boys defend him for being "super realistic teen" and all that garbage. But then you find out he is the chosen one, oh yes, turns out the book that the witch cult have prophesies his action or something like that. And he have high compatibility with witch powers, what ever that is.

Did I also mention the witch did all the crap for him to make him feel better about himself?

Yeah, excuse me for not sympathizing with a scummy whiner whose the source of the problem!

Oh yeah, and his whining never get better, in arc 3, he had a talk with his father in a dream illusion. And you would think he is now a changed man as his father says he is proud of him. Nope, next few chapters he is sprouting hate speech at the twin tail loli from the mansion for saving him, being a vile scum once more. This isn't realism, this is an edgy teen with bipolar disorder. And you know what the author rubs it in by saying, he meant to create such a scummy character and it was quote on quote a deconstruction and criticism. I don't think making a straw man counts as criticism, as much as I hate these go to another world story, few of them sink to the despicable low of Subaru, at this point you are no longer making a deconstruction but a hate fic. Not helped that Subaru suffers or succeeds on a whim, when he fails it is because a random bullshit pop up, like the rabbit monsters in arc 3, when he succeeds it is through luck because a character suddenly does exposition for him telling him literally what he needs to do next.

Yeah fuck Subaru, as for the other characters, they don't get much spotlight cause this is Subaru's story so we are stuck with this asshole forever.

Overall - 3

This novel is garbage, whether in WN or LN format. There are ways to have a scum MC, if you are tongue in cheek about it and satirizes it. But that is not what this is doing, this is having torture porn and scum MC while being 100% serious, resulting in everything being unlikable and characters acting like they are complete morons.