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Jun 24, 2025
Review for full season's 25 episodes (first part I'm rating 5, second part I'm rating 6, and overall I'm rating the season a 6):
Aside from the problems I had with the previous season's gratuitous violence and characters behaving at the whim of what the MC needs rather than how characters would believably behave, this season (which assuredly persists with these same problems) surfaces with another pretty significant problem: pacing.
This season relies on the usual premise of Subaru using his power to rewind death and solve several mysteries while keeping as many people he cares about safe, though there're differences that makes it less compelling than
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the previous times. A big difference is that this is the fourth iteration of the same premise, meaning its lost its novelty factor; another big difference is that the mysteries are uninteresting. Personally, I didn't care about Sanctuary, its history, its founding, and its guardians. I chalk up my disinterest to the pacing, as the season is frontloaded with exposition (practically all the way up until the last 3 episodes of the season), and most of it is either incomprehensible or irrelevant. It'd work if there was character-building and plot developments woven in and happening alongside it, but the only significant character and plot developments happen in the concluding episodes. Given that, it's basically a tiring slog of waiting for Subaru's "right" attempt for things to work.
It's not great that the new characters are largely unengaging. As aforementioned, they pose as obstacles for Subaru, but are incomprehensible for the majority of the season (again, up until the concluding episodes). I noticed the characters tend to be written with this frustrating formula of being incomprehensible in their actions, likely to maintain the air of mystery, and then once resolution arrives they're given motive retrospectively. It'd be nice if a character, like Garfiel, was given something, anything really, to be relatable or likeable alongside his repeated (and, again, incomprehensibly stubborn) obstacle-ness for the MC. But, alas, most of the new characters are given no such qualities until it doesn't really matter anymore (minor spoiler: I didn't care that Garfiel had a hard time with his family by the time the pacing decided to provide that info, and I also didn't find such backstory compelling, even retrospectively, in explaining his actions). The only exception among the new characters being actually interesting was Echidna, the Witch of Greed. As for already introduced characters, Otto was a standout (though he suffers a similar odd and unearned fondness for Subaru much like Rem did in the 3rd arc of the first season), and Subaru continues to be pretty decent. The rest... well, they're okay, I guess, though I was unimpressed with Emilia's trials (likely due to the Re:Zero movie priming me to regard her character as just an object of motive for the MC (seriously, that film was such a nothingburger)).
So, yeah, in sum the pacing really crippled the season. I can't count how many times I asked myself, "Are they going to leave Sanctuary yet? They're still there?" Followed by internal (and sometimes external) groans. I'm rating the first part as "fine" since I only found it boring rather than bad or egregious; I'm rating the second part slightly better due to it actually having payoffs, even if the pacing really took the excitement out of said payoffs. I'm hoping for a tighter plot in the future, as the show seemed to work best when there wasn't more than a few major plot threads going on all at once (i.e., the first two arcs of the first season).
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 24, 2025
Review for full season's 25 episodes (first part I'm rating 5, second part I'm rating 6, and overall I'm rating the season a 6):
Aside from the problems I had with the previous season's gratuitous violence and characters behaving at the whim of what the MC needs rather than how characters would believably behave, this season (which assuredly persists with these same problems) surfaces with another pretty significant problem: pacing.
This season relies on the usual premise of Subaru using his power to rewind death and solve several mysteries while keeping as many people he cares about safe, though there're differences that makes it less compelling than
...
the previous times. A big difference is that this is the fourth iteration of the same premise, meaning its lost its novelty factor; another big difference is that the mysteries are uninteresting. Personally, I didn't care about Sanctuary, its history, its founding, and its guardians. I chalk up my disinterest to the pacing, as the season is frontloaded with exposition (practically all the way up until the last 3 episodes of the season), and most of it is either incomprehensible or irrelevant. It'd work if there was character-building and plot developments woven in and happening alongside it, but the only significant character and plot developments happen in the concluding episodes. Given that, it's basically a tiring slog of waiting for Subaru's "right" attempt for things to work.
It's not great that the new characters are largely unengaging. As aforementioned, they pose as obstacles for Subaru, but are incomprehensible for the majority of the season (again, up until the concluding episodes). I noticed the characters tend to be written with this frustrating formula of being incomprehensible in their actions, likely to maintain the air of mystery, and then once resolution arrives they're given motive retrospectively. It'd be nice if a character, like Garfiel, was given something, anything really, to be relatable or likeable alongside his repeated (and, again, incomprehensibly stubborn) obstacle-ness for the MC. But, alas, most of the new characters are given no such qualities until it doesn't really matter anymore (minor spoiler: I didn't care that Garfiel had a hard time with his family by the time the pacing decided to provide that info, and I also didn't find such backstory compelling, even retrospectively, in explaining his actions). The only exception among the new characters being actually interesting was Echidna, the Witch of Greed. As for already introduced characters, Otto was a standout (though he suffers a similar odd and unearned fondness for Subaru much like Rem did in the 3rd arc of the first season), and Subaru continues to be pretty decent. The rest... well, they're okay, I guess, though I was unimpressed with Emilia's trials (likely due to the Re:Zero movie priming me to regard her character as just an object of motive for the MC (seriously, that film was such a nothingburger)).
So, yeah, in sum the pacing really crippled the season. I can't count how many times I asked myself, "Are they going to leave Sanctuary yet? They're still there?" Followed by internal (and sometimes external) groans. I'm rating the first part as "fine" since I only found it boring rather than bad or egregious; I'm rating the second part slightly better due to it actually having payoffs, even if the pacing really took the excitement out of said payoffs. I'm hoping for a tighter plot in the future, as the show seemed to work best when there wasn't more than a few major plot threads going on all at once (i.e., the first two arcs of the first season).
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 25, 2025
After bingeing isekai after isekai, I finally got around to this one I've heard many say as being among the best ones out there. I can definitely see why it's considered this way, though I do find it to be lacking in several ways.
Pacing-wise, it's pretty great. Things never feel slow, or if they do they at least feel necessary. Plot-wise, the first episode was a great hook and the first arc overall was satisfying. The second arc started to present minor issues that grew exponentially in the third arc, but still was compelling with the promises set up initially regarding the MC solving several
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mysteries while under the threat of prevalent death-triggers. The third arc was where the story almost lost me, not due to the MC. I honestly don't get the criticisms of Subaru, as he is a believably flawed character with largely understandable actions and qualities. For me, it's the other characters' actions towards Subaru that aren't believable.
Though I overlooked it for the most part as it was an interesting twist, Arc 2's death-triggers involving Rem were pretty insane. Like, her character had to be insane to go the lengths of what she did to the MC. I didn't really buy the justification of "protectiveness" because there are tons of other options before that. It came across as not only nonsensical but cruel. I also didn't really buy her later unconditional, self-sacrificial devotion in arc 3. Though her character presented my biggest complaint, several other characters showed this shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach that seemed unreasonable, and not so much actions characters would take and more so plot obstacles for the MC to address conveniently thanks to his ability.
So, arc 3... Yeah, it dialed up the nonsensical brutality and antagonism to the MC to eleven. Mid-arc I was uncertain whether I had accidentally gotten myself into anime torture porn, it was so gratuitous. I get the point, to throw the MC into utter despair, but with literally everyone (except Rem) being needlessly cruel to the MC it was ridiculous (and, coupling the douchebaggery of characters and monotony of every route leading to death, it was bleak). Two (somewhat spoiler-y) examples that come to mind are when Subaru makes a reasonable effort to ask (1) Crusch and (2) Priscilla for help. In (1) Crusch simply distrusts Subaru and is cutthroat about her competition which is fair enough, but her BS excuse is that he "didn't once" give the reason to save Emilia. B*tch, he literally premised the request on saving Roswaal's domain, which includes Emilia. In (2) Priscilla offers the MC the option to leave and receive no help or to debase himself by licking her foot in order to potentially receive help. The MC, obviously out of options, goes with the latter, and she has the audacity to blame him for apparently making the wrong choice. She, too, gives a BS reason that labels Subaru's motives as being "disloyal" and "greedy." B*tch, everyone is acting for their own self-centered interests. She, herself is so embroiled in self-interest she treats everything as an amusement that only has the potential and purpose to benefit *her*. I don't accept that these bints have the right to call Subaru out on not being altruistic seeing as they themselves act toward their own ends (in an ironically unself-aware and supercilious manner) and, if that were the case, he wouldn't know Emilia's name nor be there. Again, I get everything is to put the MC in dire straits, but the story doesn't have to make characters into ridiculously cruel and hypocritical mouthpieces for the writers of the show to tell the audience what psychological obstacle the MC has to overcome before anything can go his way.
Whew, that sort of turned into a rant. Anyway, I'd summarize my problems with the show being the way characters outside the MC are written. They come across as arbitrary and dependent on what obstacle the MC should overcome at a given time. Otherwise, the animation quality and soundtrack are nice.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 23, 2025
Like a good raccoon, I am drawn to the trash heap.
I don't know why this is both popular and disliked. Isekai are a dime a dozen, and this is undoubtedly one of the isekai anime to exist. So far the list of tropes are being checked off slowly and surely: MC got into another world, he got peculiar powers, generic evil bandits did generic evil bandit things, and generic non-human characters did generic non-human things. Story-wise, it's not unique at all. But for the trash-rummagers like me, it's another piece of trash to rummage through.
The sole unique aspect of this tale seems to be the
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character of the MC, him not being from the "real world" and rather some sort of blended sci-fi and fantasy world where he was also a king. His particular arc that's been set up involving learning about empathy is interesting, but it's not something worthwhile enough for me to say this anime stands out in the trash heap (yet).
The animation is pretty bad, but that's not particular to this anime as there are many others with a similar if not worse animation quality. The music is also whatever.
So far, this is a show I wouldn't say is good but can be mildly entertaining to have playing while doing something else more interesting.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 3, 2024
After a mid first season that at the very least established an interesting premise, setting, and motive for its main character, I thought the second season would provide the meaty goodness of what the first set up. I was wrong.
The rules are inconsistent and stupid. Characters change personalities, emotions, and motives on a dime. The plot is bad. What's frustrating is it has all the ingredients to make a solid show, and leaves it all uncooked.
I had low expectations for the rules given the premise of a hyper-popular game that also serves as a form of income doesn't just favor richer players, it makes players
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broken. Still, there had to be some balance of power, mediating factors, or internal consistency that could ground all the player abilities, rewards in the game, and goals of the game... right? No. Suigin, the main character, has a special scarf that coincidentally BS's him out of any situation. Not only that, he randomly has other convenient abilities like creating an illusion of himself, teleporting, and, I kid you not, summoning a giant wall whose power is determined by his money. He actually uses this money wall power to protect himself from a car whose power is also determined by another player's money but because Suigin had more money his wall successfully blocked the car from running him over. Brilliant. The rules are pretty much Hunter x Hunter's Nen if it were developed by a toddler.
As for the characters... they're stupid. The main character is the main culprit of stupidity. He goes from carefree to serious, confident to insecure, calm to worried, etc. etc. It's not bad that he has human emotions, it's bad because they're so inconsistent with his own personality and the surrounding circumstances, as well as being volatile. What's more is that he is super unlikeable. He gets everything handed to him--literally over a billion dollars in money--a "Guardian" title, and his broken Raven Scarf item. He works for none of it. Is he grateful? Does he do his best to "earn this" à la Saving Private Ryan? No. Things happen to and around him, and he's aggravatingly inactive until he has to react to something. It's a massive pet peeve of mine when a character can do something to solve a problem or move the plot forward *and the character doesn't do anything*. The show also repeatedly commits the cardinal sin of going against a simple rule: there's a time and place for everything. Examples: it's not appropriate for the MC to turn his back on someone else pointing a gun at him; it's not appropriate for the MC to run straight up to a malicious-looking mirror that was conjured by another character that just kneed him in the face; and it's not appropriate for characters to be standing and talking while they're under attack. The supporting characters have similar capricious tendencies that seem determined by the tone and plot rather than what the character was established to be and behave like. Examples: the MC's shapeshifting partner (another BS pseudo-power he has) ricochets between being a ditz and a floozy; a game instructor goes from being a knowledgeable and capable player to an impotent sidekick; and a blood boss thing goes from being an intimidating and aggressive... boss thing, to being a polite and demure exposition-giver. The other player characters and their motives don't make much sense either.
I said the plot is bad, and it is bad. A significant plot detail from the first season involving a rare flower from a game that shut down is forgotten about and I guess served no real plot purpose. This new game that's integral to the MC finding and rescuing his "princess" just throws him into a stage where he is given his "Guardian" stuff for no reason other than the plot demanding he have the title, and this is somehow before he has a chance to learn anything about the game or get through the "beginner" stage which is never explained. Conflict repeatedly arises when characters underestimate the MC in some manner of, "Oho, I have x amount of money, you couldn't possibly defeat me!" and conflict repeatedly resolves in some manner of, "No way! He has more money than I do!? Nooooooo!" Doing it once would be fine, but even then it's unsatisfying for the conflict to resolve by no means of the main character. He just flaunts his money and wins, or has his shapeshifting partner do things for him, or gets some literal plot armor that can tank a ridiculous attack. Speaking of that latter thing, after he gets the armor he has the chance to go rescue the kidnapped "princess" character (due to another character randomly changing motives and deciding to help out) and instead runs off to fight another character who is intent on attacking other players. I guess this was to show the MC is altruistic to a fault, but it makes no sense. They're all players *in a game*. If a player decides to attack others in the game, who the hell cares? His "princess" was *literally* kidnapped, presumably by people who *literally* murdered his grandfather. What makes it more stupid is that the climactic fight between the MC and this lunatic player is deferred because the lunatic suddenly decides he doesn't want to kill the MC and instead fight another player because reasons.
The plot has tons more I could criticize. I didn't even get to the part where the show completely jumped the shark and introduced some nonsensical supernatural element that blurred the virtual world and real world. It was sort of foreshadowed, but it made no sense. Anyway, the animation itself was decent and the soundtrack was whatever. Altogether, it was a frustrating waste of time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 26, 2024
I had the impression this would be a unique story in the way of setting up and fleshing out a cast of characters as the main focus with the apparent MC augmenting each of them rather than the usual routine of the MC taking the primary focus to be developed while being supported by the cast, but it doesn't really do that. In fact, it doesn't really do anything. The MC has no apparent personality and his one defining trait is being selectively mute while the rest of the characters are typical caricatures. The promises set up in the opening episode get lost in disjointed
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plot threads that randomly take the wheel and what's left is a disjointed, meandering mess with an odd slice-of-life feel that doesn't really work in a fantasy setting. I wouldn't say it's bad, but the story and characters are a significant letdown and the plot just loses its focus. The animation is pretty good, at least.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 16, 2024
A unique show with a promising premise that loses itself to incoherence.
What's interesting is that while what is going on makes next to no sense it remains engaging. It's like I don't know what I'm watching but I'm somehow still entertained. It's strange. I'm not sure if the final episodes will pull all the pieces together, but I worry that if they do it'll cause the story to look like a patchwork mess.
So, while the story and worldbuilding rival the delirium of The Boy and the Heron, the characters are somewhat more coherent. At least, I understand that the MC wants to find a place
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where she belongs and others have varying levels of investment and stakes with her primary plot.
The music and animation are pretty good. Maybe they both provide the dynamics that cause the show to remain engaging while I wonder what's happening. As for pacing, I guess it's bad because if the story spent the time to explain most of the things happening I'd know better about what's happening; but it's also good because there's action?
I don't know, this show is just weird.
Edit: Finished it, and it didn't make sense all the way up to the end. There's a lot of impressive-sounding dialogue, but in the end it amounts to the kind of pseudo-philosophical ramblings of someone like Russell Brand. I don't know why this of all things is getting a second season, but I guess there are worse shows out there.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 17, 2024
The premise given by the title seems unique--a human not only working alongside demons but commanding their respect--but it nosedives straight into a subpar generic plot.
It's impressive that the anime with the most unique title/premise turned out to be the most generic out of a lineup of fantasy and isekai anime with far more generic titles. Granted, I'm only 4 episodes in, but a lot of the promises that were set up in this anime's story have been broken. Of those promises: the MC who is the human in the demon lord army and who is designated the "strongest" is not shown to be the
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strongest (or smartest or otherwise having any sort of interesting quality) in any of his actions; and (not really a spoiler but if anyone truly cares this is a very minor SPOILER) his race being human being a secret to the other demons is not actually a secret and it doesn't even matter.
The problem with an uninteresting character goes beyond the MC. It's not entirely due to the characters themselves, as the plot and pacing tends to breeze by events and moments that could instill character development. And stakes. Golly gee, the characters treat the stakes with minimal care, which subsequently just leave the conflict feeling so benign and unengaging. An example: the MC was given a test on behalf of another character he cared about that put her life on the line. None of the characters treated it as important including the character whose life was at stake, and the MC anticlimactically completed the test in a totally unimpressive way that defeated the purpose of the test.
Outside of plot and characters, the animation and music aren't things I'm going to complain about but they aren't great either.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 10, 2024
Pretty entertaining throughout, and then ends with what is one of the best single episodes of animation I've ever seen.
Story-wise, it's pretty simple--and naturally so, as if the plot constantly had characters on the verge of death without room to breathe (pun intended) it'd be a pretty unbalanced series. Speaking of puns about breathing, this season was a breath of fresh air after seeing Jujutsu Kaisen S2; I was worried modern anime had dipped in the quality of its storytelling and had placed all its focus on how it looked visually, but this pairs decent storytelling with fantastic animation. Granted, some of the training does
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feel disjointed at times and missing some of the gratification of a sense of progress that can be gotten from your typical shounen training arc, but there are indeed emotional payoffs.
Pacing and tone-wise, the first episode gives a really enticing hook with a sense of foreboding and mystery due to the seeming disappearance of demons. The middle episodes prior to the final one may've worked even better if they'd cut some of the "comedic" bits (e.g., Zenitsu's character in general) since I've never found them particularly worthwhile or funny. Otherwise, I think the parts that deviate from the seriousness, foreboding, and mystery of training and anticipation for finding and fighting demons are solid, particularly thanks to Tanjiro. The moments he brings to humanizing some of the other characters are nice. And, again, the final episode is pretty much perfection in my eyes.
I've had long-lasting complaints about some of the characters in this show, the hashira being among them. Their introduction in season 1 gave the impression they were stock characters (e.g., the constantly chipper insect breather, the constantly crying stone breather, the constantly angry wind breather, the constantly lustful/sexual love breather, etc.) and I was put off by them being lazily written. This season did well in rounding more of them out (except for the angry wind breather) and I was overall pleased with them being less archetypal.
This was a good season. Yay.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 28, 2024
Season 1 is among my favorites of all anime and season 2 remained strong in terms of my enjoyment. This season felt a bit off while still being overall enjoyable.
In terms of world-building and the magic system, this series is among the best. There's complexity to the story that makes it refreshing despite it involving high schoolers. What initially made this show compelling was the premise of an unrecognized OP character who didn't value recognition which made his motives interesting and every event that involved him revealing more of his abilities entertaining. By season 2 there was still more to reveal about him alongside a
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compelling rival and foreign affairs plot. This season didn't exactly have the same compelling plot since the MC is already established and as a result the formerly entertaining events of people underestimating him aren't as entertaining.
Without the same driving force, I was hoping for some of the supporting characters to shine a bit more. Some did and provided a few standout moments that made me interested to see more of their characters (e.g., Kokonoe Yakumo and Kudou Minoru). Outside of that, characters pretty much were serviceable and went through the motions. I think the culprit that was detrimental to this season was the pacing, as I can't really fault either the plot or characters. Things were happening and they were interesting, but I can't say things were given the necessary time to build upon or bring about significantly emotional moments. The antagonist of the season had quite an interesting skillset, though his climactic moment was short and... well, anticlimactic. I expected more of a battle of wits given the MC is not going to lose a contest of power, but it was pretty straightforward and unsurprising. The antagonist didn't really get development to come off as threatening or otherwise interesting, which also didn't help it be as engaging.
So, I guess by "off" I'd say this season felt disjointed and undercooked due to its pacing. Though it's still doing enough to be solidly good in my book.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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