[Note: Spoilers in later sections. Also, this is about the JP audio.]
This was a weird one for me.
I went into this show HIGHLY skeptical of all of the praise and attention, due to not being a particularly big fan of the source material (the video game at least) or Studio Trigger works and their style in general, and I expected to really dislike it.
But what actually ended up happening was that while I DID end up having a lot of issues with the show, there WERE a handful of aspects/parts that were honestly a lot better than I expected given my low expectations. The biggest
...
issues I had actually came not from the parts that were as lame/mediocre as I expected, but from the parts that were almost GOOD, until they were sabotaged by the show's pacing or highly questionable direction decisions.
# SETTING AND VISUALS
For a Cyberpunk setting, I found Night City to be simultaneously underwhelming and over-the-top. While there were occasional far shots of the futuristic skyline and neon lights, the majority of scenes took place in pretty nondescript locations. I realize that that's partially the point, that Night City and its surroundings are meant to have a sort of dilapidated, run-down look, but it still felt like the whole Cyberpunk setting was established more through the wild and wacky character designs/tech than the world itself. Speaking of which, while the character designs overall did help to sell the setting, there were also a lot of eye-roll-inducing over-the-top elements thrown into the mix to try and push the edgy, NOT FOR KIDS setting of the anime. I quickly grew tired of the background characters slumped over ledges in the streets moaning with their VR headsets and automatic onaholes strapped on, for example.
Also, while I would say that I personally vastly prefer the vibrant look and feel of the anime's rendition of Night City over the game's, I wouldn't necessarily say that that's a fault of the game or whatever either. The game certainly does leaves a lot to be desired in that area, and it shares a lot of the same issues as the anime as far as being surprisingly bland and nondescript most of the time (which I suppose is where the anime gets it from), but at the same time, the game was also just aiming for a pretty different aesthetic. The game gives me more of a Blade Runner-esque corny 1980s live-action Cyberpunk vibe, while the anime is obviously leaning more into the more modern, vibrant and neon anime Cyberpunk style. As such, I find myself conflicted on how I feel about the anime's visuals, because while it looks fine in a vacuum, I also feel like there's an argument for it being a questionable stylistic adaptation of the game's setting. It simply does not feel like the same world at all.
# STORY, CHARACTERS, AND OVERALL PACING
Due to the format of the show, I feel like I have to talk about these elements as a single package.
I thought the overarching story was... mediocre. Most major events were set in motion in a way that I can only describe as "contrived" and "rushed". David's backstory of losing his only family was predictable yet still comically rushed. The whole "Sorry, we could have saved your mom, but you're too poor lol. Also, you can't afford to bury her, because you're too poor lol. Should have been born rich I guess, tough luck kid." speech from the doctor had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer and was pretty unnecessary given how self-evident his situation already was, especially with the similarly unsubtle Trauma Team scene that had just taken place.
David's introduction to and subsequent induction into Maine's edgerunner crew was set up well enough, but then everything becomes a blur, as only a single episode is dedicated to his training days before he immediately enters into a relationship with Lucy after what seems like a single genuine conversation. This warped sense of time and things moving too fast is actually supported by the show itself, as seen when Tanaka off-handedly mentions that his son had just been released from the hospital, presumably after David busted his face up at the academy. This actually confirms that everything that had happened since David punched Katsuo, encountered and worked with Lucy for the first time, joined Maine's crew, trained, did a few jobs, and since Lucy fell in love with him had somehow happened in the span of time it took for Katsuo to get his busted nose fixed up enough to be released from the hospital. With the highest tier of paid healthcare available paid for by his high ranking corporate executive father. In a futuristic world where cybernetic body part replacements are a part of everyday life. It's honestly hard to imagine that taking longer than a week or two at most.
Then, right after the Tanaka situation begins, Maine IMMEDIATELY succumbs to cyberpsychosis, almost instantly and out of nowhere. The episode was good in a vacuum, but because it's so sudden and it happened practically right after Maine was introduced with little-to-no slow burn build-up, it loses most of the impact it could have had and just feels like a "oh, well I guess this is happening now" moment.
Following THAT, David promptly makes all of the same mistakes as Maine without a moment's hesitation, stuffing his body full of cyberware and blindly trusting Faraday's shady job offers. All of this is supposedly explained by David being blinded by his desperate belief that he is "special". While I get that he is young and impulsive, the level of goldfish memory it takes to stare down the exact circumstances of his mentor's downfall and go "hmm... yeah idk, sounds good to me" without a second thought is certainly "special" in its own right. The pacing and lack of justification really works to the detriment of the story, as it makes it a lot harder to get invested in David's journey and personal struggles in the later half of the show.
Lucy and her relationship with David also felt rushed and lacking in impact. As previously brought up, the way it begins out of nowhere is a bit jarring. They do get to share a few tender moments after that, which were honestly pretty good, but then, after the timeskip, the times that they are on-screen together are few and far between. Other than some generic conversations about Lucy being worried about David, and David being sad that Lucy won't/can't confide in him about the secretive tasks she is undertaking alone, there isn't much development in their relationship in the latter half. Lucy and David's respective lack of development individually and as a couple cheapens the impact of the final act significantly.
Furthermore, Lucy specifically has some of the most misleading character introduction/presentation in the early episodes that I have ever seen in media, or at least in recent memory. She is initially presented as some kind of smug and unhinged Manic Pixie Dream Girl, exemplified in the stretcher/highway scene in episode 2. After that episode, she basically never acts even remotely like that ever again, being one of the most level-headed and somber characters in the show. I cannot see this as anything other than bait to hook viewers early on with a punchy and memorable wacky waifu scene, and, especially in such a short show, and considering how little she gets after the first half, it really acts to the detriment of her characterization.
By far the biggest surprise and the biggest stand-out to me was Rebecca. Kurosawa Tomoyo's performance was actually really, really good. Going in, I expected to really dislike that character based on what I had seen already from impressions on social media, a really pushed "cute but foul-mouthed gremlin who swears like a sailor (but actually has a heart of gold!?)". Her dialogue, and especially the JP voice performance, really nailed her intended personality without it feeling too forced. Her feelings for David were presented pretty naturally, as were her reactions to his antics and his anguish. By the end, she was easily the most likable character, and she pretty much carries the final act with her unwavering devotion to David, especially due to David and Lucy themselves feeling pretty underdeveloped by that point.
# QUESTIONABLE DIRECTION CHOICES
This deserves its own section. Beyond the overall rushed pacing, the show did an impressive job of ruining several of its own remaining impactful/good moments with really questionable directorial decisions. A couple of examples stand out pretty prominently. For one thing, the in media res opening of episode 4 was, in my opinion, extremely unnecessary. Now, obviously, I assumed that the show would not just be 10 episodes of David hanging with his crew and having a great time. But I also don't understand why the show chose to essentially spoil the outcome of episode 4 for you, so that from the very beginning, you knew that something was going to go wrong by the end of it, and that David's newfound peace and purpose would be abruptly shattered. They couldn't even wait until after David's one episode training arc montage was over. It felt pretty comparable to some smug asshole who has already watched a show that you just started whispering to you "Oh, you like that part/character? Yeah uh... no spoilers, but I wouldn't get used to that, LOL".
The other awful thing that the show did, and it did this one several times, was the use of those stupid triple replays every time someone got blasted. Like, I get it. Blood and gore, very cool. But I'm trying to watch a show here, not the Mythbusters speed camera replays, so could you please stop replaying every single instance of gratuitous violence three times like I didn't catch it the first time??? I'm not saying that every single replay was unwarranted. Some of the real-time replays of the Sandevistan action were cool, for example. But some of those moments were bad. Real bad. And none of them come even close to how bad the replay was when Adam Smasher pulped Rebecca in the final episode. Up until that moment, I was actually feeling really good about the pacing of the episode, and the death itself was appropriately brutal, sudden, and instant. It actually had quite the impact, driving home the reality of the protagonists' situation. BUT THEN, the triple replay played like I was watching a slapstick gag in some South Korean variety TV show. The emergency brake was swiftly applied on all of the good momentum that had been building up, and her death turned from a shocking, somber moment into a complete meme. The show rolled unceasingly towards its ending 5 minutes later, and by the time the credits rolled, I found myself stunned and slack-jawed, still unable to process what had just happened.
# CONCLUSION
The show had some cool ideas, and executed some of them pretty well. The overall plot wasn't groundbreaking or anything, but at it's best, it did successfully convey a sense of bleakness and nihilism without completely drowning itself in its own ego and edginess, which is pretty rare. I went into the show thinking that the creators had made a sensible decision to take advantage of its digital-only release and stick with a compact 10 episode story, rather than forcing themselves to fill out a full cour of 12-13, but ironically I think the show would have benefitted significantly from 2-3 more episodes to smooth out the pacing. Most unfortunately, the writing and direction definitely could have used some work too, as the critiques above ultimately made the overall experience feel like it was designed with a strict assumption of absolute zero viewing comprehension, and it REALLY suffered for it.
Nov 18, 2022
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings Spoiler
[Note: Spoilers in later sections. Also, this is about the JP audio.]
This was a weird one for me. I went into this show HIGHLY skeptical of all of the praise and attention, due to not being a particularly big fan of the source material (the video game at least) or Studio Trigger works and their style in general, and I expected to really dislike it. But what actually ended up happening was that while I DID end up having a lot of issues with the show, there WERE a handful of aspects/parts that were honestly a lot better than I expected given my low expectations. The biggest ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 8, 2019 Not Recommended
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie - Rebellion, as a direct follow-up to the series of the same name, tarnishes its legacy by completely overturning the series' conclusion, themes, and characterization. It doesn't even respect the original work enough to devote the majority of the film's runtime to that purpose, as more than half of the movie is essentially revealed to be irrelevant filler once the central plot finally begins to reveal itself.
The film's biggest problem, besides the horrendous pacing and allocation of time, is the completely unwarranted about-face of Homura and Sayaka's motivations and personalities. As the most compelling characters in the series by ... far, it was incredibly disappointing just how incongruent their personalities in the movie were with prior established developments. The way Sayaka and Kyouko were suddenly treated as a romantic pairing without any pretext or build-up was extremely distasteful and inconsiderate of the emotional depth and complexity of their (decidedly non-romantic) relationship in the series. The implied in-universe justification that "things change with time whether it happens on screen or not" was decidedly unconvincing, especially considering how much screentime was wasted on shallow popcorn content instead of justifying such a significant change. As for Homura, her "descent" into becoming Devil Homura is conceptually interesting. There are certainly ways that such a transformation could have been introduced in a manner consistent with Homura's character, and could have been used to establish an obvious foil relationship with Goddess Madoka. The movie certainly does not pursue any of those possibilities. By the end of the series, Homura had developed and repeatedly demonstrated incredible determination and tenacity. The reveal which "cracks" her in the movie is something that probably should not have even fazed her current self, given her prior experiences. It's almost comical how easily she folds under the pressure and tosses her carefully cultivated ideals and perseverance to the wind. Perhaps her internal conflict might have been more believable had it been more thoroughly expounded upon instead of immediately resolving itself as quickly as it began, thanks to the limited remaining runtime. Despite being the purported main event, it comes off as an afterthought. Rebellion gives the overall impression that it was conceptualized as a fanservice movie with the ultimate intention of marketing paired Sayaka/Kyouko and Goddess Madoka/Devil Homura merchandise, and was developed backwards from there. The end result is a disconnected first half that feels more like a sakuga clip show (the longwinded magical girl transformations, the Homura fight scene, etc) than a story, and a second half that scrambles as fast as it can to reach an endgame where Sayaka x Kyouko and Devil Homura are justified. Despite being a direct sequel, critical developments from the series are treated as mere guidelines, resulting in the perversion of a respected and highly regarded series in the pursuit of mass appeal and merchandise marketability.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Oct 17, 2016 Not Recommended
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS.
It should be treated more as a critique for those who have already finished or do not plan to watch the show and are browsing for opinions, rather than a "Should You Watch". INTRO: Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu. At one point, I had high hopes for this series. It was announced to much fanfare and excitement from source Light Novel readers who hailed it as an intelligent deconstruction of the Isekai (Parallel World (typically) fantasy) genre/setting, oft-mocked for being oversaturated by mediocre tales of self-insertable Gary Stus flung into fantasy worlds and quickly finding themselves with a harem and overpowered ... abilities. Despite this, I should point out that I generally bear no ill will towards Isekai series despite these criticisms, and have no issues enjoying them if they are executed well enough. Overall though, I do agree that the genre is laden with tired tropes, and I was looking forward to seeing how Re:Zero would topple or at least subvert them as advertised. Unfortunately, that is not quite what I got out of it. Watching this series was certainly a unique experience. I struggle to remember the last time such a well-received anime so utterly baffled me in the complete disconnect between its supposed intent and its delivery (with perhaps the sole exception at the time of writing being the first season of Oregairu, though that is a story for another day). It is a story with so many blatant contradictions woven into that I could not help but assume that it was a deliberately satirical work, and yet it is clearly meant to be taken at face value. Were it not for the comparatively exciting and entertaining presentation of the first arc in episodes 1 through 3, I would have most assuredly give this show a sum score of 1/10. That is how much ill will I hold towards this show and its betrayal of expectations. It is so consummately deplorable that I feel compelled to waste my time writing this, my first MAL review. Though I have heard various opinions regarding the quality of the anime adaptation versus the light novel, I will be treating the show as an independent product with no comparisons to source material. Contradiction and contrast, as I said before, is the name of the game here, and will be the central themes of this review. ART AND ANIMATION: Let's begin here. In the typical anime, particularly one with fight scenes, the quality of the art and animation is understandably expected to fluctuate due to time and budget constraints. The greatest peaks can be expected to occur during the attention-grabbing climactic episodes of the first arc and last arc, with smaller peaks throughout. However, that is not what happened in this series. Though the animation in episode 3 (the end of the first arc) has some particularly striking moments, it is in fact one of the only episodes I would label as noteworthy throughout the entire show. There are many instances throughout the series of significant scenes that are weakened by lack of detail and/or fluidity. The series also makes ample use of CG elements, such as the crowds in towns, that do not blend in well at all. Most viewers, myself included, would likely forgive this, simply assuming that they are conserving their resources for another set piece moment. Yet... that moment never comes. No battle scene ever comes close to that of episode 3, in animation or even in dramatic tension. After it was all over, I felt cheated, as though I had been bait-and-switched by episode 3 and its glimmer of potential, waiting for a return to form that simply never arrived. Apart from more objective qualms, the series also makes very heavy use of less-than-subtle visual metaphors and direction cues in an attempt to stir emotion. Examples include: supposedly emotional moments being punctuated by rays of light and brightness filters that look like they would be right at home on Instagram or a JJ Abrams film, a single flower conveniently left blooming on the barren battlefield to segue into a floral-themed flashback scene, frequent use of flashback flickers in almost any conversation where past events are even lightly touched upon, and a literal flock of doves during a particularly forced emotional scene. While not dealbreaking flaws, these heavy-handed additions certainly detracted from my viewing experience. SOUND DESIGN AND MUSIC: The series often opted to skip the OP, the ED, or both, presumably in an ill-advised attempt to cram in more dialogue or events into each episode, so I never got particularly attached to any of them. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the OPs and EDs more were they actually played more than about 3 times each in their respective single cour runs of 12-13 episodes. This was especially evident when the show went for "OP drops" during critical scenes, and I would suddenly hear a vaguely familiar song I had not heard in several episodes, not realizing for several moments when I had heard it before. In my opinion, the decision to shun the general convention of ~1:30 Opening > ~20 Minute Episode > ~1:30 Ending is not something that should be taken lightly, as eschewing the traditional restrictions on the medium in a "director's cut" fashion often leads to issues with pacing or bloat, along with the aforementioned issues of song memorability. It's a shame, because they were fairly unique as far as OP/ED tracks go. As for the OST, a few tracks were of note, but their impact was often dulled due to being used in conjunction with the heavy-handed visual direction I was not a fan of. In those same scenes where the lighting was turned up to max, more emotionally charged music tracks would be played at a noticeably higher volume than the usual. In many scenes, I found myself irritated and distracted that the show was TELLING me how to feel about what was going on on-screen instead of allowing me to form my own opinions. It was almost as though the show was accompanied by a commentator shouting at me "Hey! Look, this scene is sad!" or "Oh man! Things are getting heated!" at regular intervals. Most shows do this to some extent, and it is difficult to describe in words why exactly this show in particular was so egregious, but the real problems came when what the show was telling me to feel directly contradicted with how I was actually feeling about the scene. STORY: The premise of Re:Zero is actually quite interesting. The "hero" is thrust into the fantasy world, but does not possess any hidden overpowered talents. He has the ability to reset, but not without very serious drawbacks. Subaru wishes to be just like the heroes of typical Isekai stories, in self-referential meta fashion, but finds himself grossly underprepared to do so, and this is how the story begins. The first arc, the Auction House Arc, is very fast-paced and clear-cut. As Subaru awakens in the new world, he has several immediate issues that need resolving. First, getting his bearings in an unfamiliar environment. Second, discovering and understanding his "Return by Death" ability. And third, discovering and preventing the sinister threat lurking at the auction house. Though I have my complaints of how Emilia is introduced and immediately converted into a forced plot device with whom Subaru is instantly infatuated with and motivated to act for, the conflict is developed organically from there, with these three elements introduced and expanded upon simultaneously in a fairly sensible manner. This is, without a doubt, the peak of Re:Zero's storytelling. Sadly, as the show goes on, the plot becomes progressively less focused, less interesting, and more longwinded with each new arc. The second arc, the Mansion/Maid Arc, has two main conflicts, the mystery of the curse and the mystery of the killer with the flail. By the end of the arc, it's clear that both conflicts had very little impact on the plot and world as a whole. Instead, they were meant as character development for Subaru and the new characters, especially Rem. It's not necessarily a bad thing for a show to treat overall plot progression within an arc as a secondary to character development. However, that is only true if the character development is interesting or satisfying in some way, or if it helps to develop sympathy for a character's situation. It is very difficult to sympathize with Subaru in this arc, despite his gruesome deaths and mounting paranoia. Throughout the arc, Subaru's rapidly unraveling mental stability as he is struggling to make sense of why he keeps "resetting" is conceptually interesting, if not perfectly executed. However, it is difficult to truly root for Subaru when he makes a point of making exceptionally rude comments to almost every individual he meets for the first time, and enjoys showboating and generally making himself appear highly suspect during a canonically tense time where everyone is wary of spies and traitors. It is also hard to feel surprised or sympathetic when Subaru finds himself dismayed and shocked at the mistrust -- and worse -- that he receives. This is compounded by the extremely harsh contrast between drama and awful "humor" in some episodes, as well as Subaru's panic being portrayed through his increasingly frequent, very loud, very grating, false displays of bravado. I understood what they were going for, but it doesn't feel natural or well-done at all. On the other hand it's also quite difficult to see why Subaru feels so attached so quickly to those antagonizing him, despite having little to no significant conversation with them. His shift from utter fear and distrust to gratitude and compassion is so abrupt and ill-considered that it's more comical than the show's actual attempts at humor. This will be elaborated upon in the Characters section. STORY (cont): The third arc, the Whale/Cultist arc, is by far the longest of the three. And yet, there are again only two or three main conflicts, and they certainly aren't any more compelling or developed than those of the second arc even given the extra runtime. Not only does this arc quickly introduce and abandon the Royal Selection subplot, which is the first truly significant event that could move the overall story forward, it takes an entire cour to tell its story, if it can be called that. By the end of the arc it did not feel like much ground had been covered at all, even compared to the first arc, which had perhaps a quarter of the runtime, if that. This is where my dislike of the "director's cut" approach comes in. The frequent cutting of the OP and ED was presumably done to fit in more story, so it is baffling to see how much time was actually wasted on drawn out exposition and repetition. Several antagonists are revealed in this arc, all tied to the Jealous Witch and her Cult, but are all either so uninteresting or so over-the-top villainous that it is really difficult to care at all about what is happening. The way the resets are presented, each antagonist is introduced and reintroduced several times before the conflict is resolved, taking away all gravity from their final appearances. Even the final battle of the series is underwhelming, and not just because of the fairly unimpressive animation, as mentioned earlier, but because that enemy had already shown up and been "defeated" multiple times in rather anti-climactic fashion, draining all potential excitement for his last duty as a jobber. Even after all of the conflicts are resolved, the finale of the third arc, much like the second arc, leaves the overall progression of the plot at nearly the same place that it began. There is some minor development of character relationships between Subaru and the side characters, most of which consists of Subaru making them hate him, and then trying to make amends, but that's all. By the end, we know about as much of the world, Subaru's "condition", and the motivations of each important character as we did when they were introduced. And yet, that still is not the worst of it. Despite the fact that, episode for episode, the story of the second cour moves quite slowly in comparison to the first and does not contribute to the plot progression, it still somehow feels rushed. Along the way, Subaru spends a significant portion of each episode rebounding between drowning in self-loathing and defeat, to soaring on hubris and bombast. These mood swings into depression are typically triggered by yet another death, which by this point in the series are tossed out like candy and are harder to care about each time. Each time this happens Subaru then receives a pep talk from a character who notices his despair, which cheers him up until the next soul-crushing event happens. I would estimate that, on average, each episode in the second cour contains 1-2 such pep talks, with the final speech-giver tally including almost every side character of any significance. This gets repetitive quickly and takes up quite a bit of runtime. Despite this series getting two cours, two extra-long episodes for the intro and finale, and skipping the majority of its OPs and EDs, conflict resolution still feels rushed. Every time an issue was resolved for good, I found myself questioning if that was really it. All of these factors combine in a way that, when viewed as a whole, gives the feeling of a story that hits the ground running, but then spends two cours slowly choking and grinding to a painfully dull stop. CHARACTERS: Suffice it to say, I felt that the characterization in this anime was some of the worst I have ever experienced in any medium, and certainly not remotely worthy of being hailed as deconstructive or subversive where tropes are concerned. In fact, the characters I enjoyed watching the most were mainly just entertaining side characters that had very little plot relevance, such as Wilhelm, Beatrix, and Ram. This is because, paradoxically, the more personal interaction a character had with Subaru, the less sensible or developed they felt as a character. Then there are characters such as Felix, whose crossdressing habits seem to be purely for viewer pandering towards fans of "trap" character. There is not the slightest hint towards progressive themes or rationale that could suggest otherwise and make Felix an interesting character, an odd choice for a show supposedly avoiding typical character tropes. To make things easier on myself, I will split the focus of this section into three pieces for the characters I believe shoulder the burden for the vast majority of the criticism I can level against this series: Emilia, Rem, and, of course, Subaru. EMILIA: Emilia truly bordered the line between main heroine and non-character. Despite the series repeatedly pointing out that she is an independent and powerful Spirit Arts user who is more than capable of defending herself, the way she is presented in the series is not all that different from a damsel in distress. These are the main facets of her character: Subaru's savior who was the first to reach out to him (this is the peak of her character, and it lasts for exactly one episode -- the first episode); Subaru's ideal girl that he wants to get closer to; the girl Subaru most wants to save from danger (this is the most common way she is presented and is a major motivator for Subaru throughout the show); the girl who sometimes acts cold, but is actually just suffering due to prejudice that Subaru wishes to defend her from; the girl who gets angry at Subaru but has a soft spot for him and is inwardly worried sick about him. There is an obvious common thread between all of these. Emilia's character, despite the show's protest to the contrary, is solely defined by what Subaru is doing at any given moment, and how his actions relate to her wellbeing. She is treated essentially as the trophy Subaru wishes to win for his victory against cruel fate. While she is not particularly unlikable, she is also far too pristine and unbelievably irreproachable to be compelling. Everything that Emilia is simply comes together to form the "perfect" heroine for Subaru to fight for, and she is never developed beyond that. REM: As much as Emilia was a forced "perfect" heroine and romantic interest candidate, Rem is a thousand times more so. She is introduced without much characterization at all, and what characterization we first get is that she truly hates Subaru. She resents Subaru who has shown up and taken up residence in her home with suspicious intentions, even staining the mansion with the "Scent of the Witch" she hates so much. She resents him so much, that she is more than willing to murder him, and refuses to listen to his "excuses". The way the series treats her character and relationship with Subaru from there on is, in a word, contradictory. First, Subaru is to be given a reason to fight for this girl who, even given his many repeats, he has known for a matter of weeks. And on Rem's side, she must be given a reason to appear sympathetic despite displaying murderous intent towards someone who, in her timeline, she has known for less than a week. Surely, such a feat would be quite difficult, given the established relationship they share. Suddenly, in an amazing feat of Deus ex machina, Subaru has a flashback to a memory he didn't even know he had, reminding him that Rem and her sister held his hands at his bedside when he was ill. The striking realization of this truly earth-shattering display of human compassion is apparently enough to overwrite the fact that she literally murdered him, so much so that Subaru becomes more than willing to die to save her. And that's just the beginning. In a single episode, Rem is given the opportunity to dump a 10 minute monologue of tragic backstory that, again, apparently redeems her past homicidal actions unconditionally. And then Subaru responds with a canned motivational speech to cheer her up, which somehow shakes Rem so deep down to the very core of her being, that she instantly falls completely and madly in love with him. Everything in the show up to this point, I could forgive. Rem's backstory was fairly enjoyable, and was certainly the most development a single character gets in this entire series. I can certainly understand that she, who has lived her whole life trusting basically no one but her sister, would be moved by Subaru's kindness, even if that kindness came in the form of a generic support message. I can even entertain the possibility that this could lead to her giving Subaru another chance to make her trust him, and lead to her opening up to and maybe even falling in love with him, given the proper additional development. What I truly cannot comprehend is that I, as the viewer, am expected to believe that this single backstory dump and the speech Subaru makes in response justifies making Rem into a completely different character overnight. So much so, that in the span of perhaps two weeks to a month in-universe, she now has an exhaustive mental list of all of Subaru's best traits, and all the things that made her hate and want to kill him are now "so cute". So much so, that, in that span of time, she has prepared an entire itinerary for how she and Subaru could elope and spend the rest of their lives together in idyllic happiness. So much so, that every word she speaks in favor of Subaru directly contradicts how she acted not a month prior. And the worst part is, the show is actively cognizant of this fact. There are instances where Rem, after a marked moment of hesitation, proudly proclaims her ability to discern the truth behind Subaru's words at any given moment, or that she has never once doubted Subaru's intentions despite to the "Scent of the Witch" lingering on him due to the revival curse. Both of these are direct contradictions to actions she took in the past, such as literally murdering him without giving him a chance to explain himself. It's so absurdly contradictory that I initially truly believed that she was supposed to be a satirical deconstruction of typical Isekai heroines, unhealthily affectionate towards and dependent on the first man to ever show her genuine kindness. I thought her character had the most potential to be genuinely interesting, and was curious to see how she would be developed. But as the show went on, I realized that it was all just a pipe dream, and that the show clearly did not see anything strange about her character. With how close Rem and Subaru get, and all the tender hugs and nose-nuzzling moments they share as the series goes on, a viewer seeing their new relationship out of context would be hard pressed to think that Rem is anything other than the primary love interest. But oh, how wrong they would be. SUBARU: This is it. The crux of the review. Everything prior led up to this singular purpose and end goal: to provide the appropriate context to discuss why Subaru is one of, if not the worst anime protagonists I have ever had the misfortune of watching, and for 25 excruciating episodes at that. As Subaru is a difficult character to sum up, I will instead follow his characterization as the show progressed, from beginning to end. But first, some disclaimers. I am fully aware of the concept that Subaru is intended to be a flawed protagonist. I understand that he is supposed to be a "weak" character who does not have the typical hidden reserve of power that an Isekai protagonist is expected to have. I understand that he is supposed to be an ordinary guy who is placed under the extreme mental duress of experiencing countless painful deaths. I understand this, but despite all that, he is still a truly awful character. In the first arc, Subaru is actually pretty decent. He is rather annoying, loud, cocky, and brash, but if you do accept what the story is telling you, its not that hard to believe. You know that he is operating under the presumption of being a NEET who is finally living the dream, summoned to a fantasy world to save the realm and get the girl. You know that, while weak by fantasy standards, he is actually fairly physically capable and quick thinking as far as normal humans go. As the first arc progresses, he is humbled by his lack of power and accepts it, resolving not to give up despite that. He understands that he put Emilia on a pedestal, but still believes that she is someone worth saving. I actually like the Subaru of the first arc. Everything changes as soon as the mansion arc begins. From the outset, Subaru seems to have completely forgotten all notions of caution and wariness he had just finished picking up. He bursts through the mansion, laughing and often insulting or harassing its occupants. Even after learning of the country's precarious state, and being told outright how suspicious he appears as a traveler of mysterious origins, his behavior does not change. He is unable to grasp why he is being targeted, and instead of confronting the situation directly, continues "trying harder" in the hopes that the winds of fortune will somehow blow in his favor. Finally, he calms down, overcomes the trauma and panic, and buckles down to work together with those who suspect him to solve the problem. At this point, I thought the worst was over, and he had finally developed as a character. But again, I was wrong. At the start of the third arc, he once again regresses as a character, so far backwards that he is in an even worse position than the Subaru at the beginning of the show. I suppose the explanation is that he was soaring on the high of victory from arc two, but that is not enough to explain how he once again completely forgot everything he learned and backed himself into a corner. Completely ignoring his promise with Emilia, Rem's advice, and even Julius', a third party's, warnings, he humiliates both Emilia and himself in his misguided quest to act as a heroic knight. This would perhaps be acceptable, had he not supposedly overcome this hubris on two separate occasions in the previous arcs. Even a flawed character has limits. If I really stretched my patience, I would still be able to accept the situation were it clear that Re:Zero is a deconstruction, and Subaru was rightly debased for his wrongdoings. Instead, after the fallout, we get scenes of Emilia regretting being "too harsh" on him, and Rem comforting him and telling him he had the right intentions. What follows is four full episodes of Subaru once again proceeding down the wrong path, despite both verbal and physical beatings and chastisings from other characters on multiple occasions. Again, even for a flawed character, there are limits to what is acceptable before it becomes gratuitous. It got so bad, that the only way to make Subaru a sympathetic protagonist again was to introduce a villain that was so comically off-the-rails psychotic and evil that Subaru couldn't be anything but the hero. Somehow, even up to this point, I was willing to accept Subaru as merely "a bad character" the kind of generic throwaway used in many shows, ironically the type Re:Zero supposedly satires. And then I watched everyone's favorite episode. Driven to the breaking point, Subaru asks Rem to run away with him and start a new life together. Rem, though very flattered and tempted, refuses to accept, knowing that Subaru's heart was not in the request. What followed was a long sequence of Subaru berating himself with surprising accuracy, and Rem comforting him with the the aforementioned praise and affection. I thought maybe, finally, Subaru had awoken for the last time, and become the protagonist he was meant to be, the protagonist that should have already existed after arc one. Instead, I got that line. That infamous line that was so egregious, it spawned countless memes: "I love Emilia." This character, this man, had just finished listening to Rem pour out her misguided feelings, after first directly asking her to run away with him, and his first reaction after getting his spirits back up due to said girl was to reject her. Even then, even after all of this, I still naively thought the worst had passed. Instead, the Subaru of the following episodes acted in the following ways: asking Rem to support him in his quest to win Emilia's heart (she smiles and calls him terrible while he laughs it off); asking Rem for a knife to carve his and Emilia's names on a tree; nuzzling noses with Rem after a rescue; outright telling Crusch that he has a #1 and #2 girl in his heart. By this point, Subaru had transcended my worst imagination, and gone from a simple flawed character, to an absolute scumbag. But the series never acknowledges this as wrong. In the final episodes, everyone, including Rem, treats Subaru as the hero he always wanted to be perceived as. We even get a heartwarming confession scene from Subaru to Emilia that was so similar in tone to the scene with Rem, it was as though the series pretended that the previous confession had simply never occurred. The way Re:Zero condones Subaru's near two-timing behavior and his treatment of Rem actively promotes the idea that it's okay for a guy to perpetuate an emotionally abusive relationship with an emotionally unstable girl who debases herself and accepts that she is his second choice, but still idolizes the guy just because he reached out to her once when she was vulnerable. This was what I found to be the absolute most vile and deplorable aspect of this already flawed show. Sometimes, when I think about the time I wasted watching and thinking about this dreadful anime, I wonder if I would like to have the Return by Death ability myself, if only so that I could kill myself and reclaim that lost time and blissful ignorance. But honestly speaking, knowing that a show this offensive and terrible exists serves as a great benchmark, and makes me appreciate the ones that I like even more. 2/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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