Many people seem to enjoy this show, but I feel this show isn't really that great. Although it is not finished yet, I have read some spoilers about what will happen next and I believe around the 15 episode mark is a good place to make a judgment upon a series. Even though I am in the minority about this not being a great show, I still want to offer my opinion on the show in case it helps anyone out.
[Disclaimer: There are spoilers about the series below. Read at your own discretion.]
Story: 4/10
I feel like this anime, so far, really has no end goal in mind. It really is just Subaru trying to find a way to survive. With a lack of focus on any sort of plot, I have no idea what kind of ending this series is supposed to have. If we go each arc at a time, I find that first arc is pretty decent. While it has its flaws, I can still find some enjoyment in it. In this arc, Subaru is introduced Emilia and has to find her pin that she lost. Using his past experiences as a guide, he is able retrieve it. This arc serves as a decent introductory arc to what the series can be, but it is lost potential from there. The second arc is totally useless and provides almost nothing to the main story. The only bit of story is from the first episode of the arc. Other than that, it totally deviates from the main story and can easily be skipped without missing out on anything. The characters introduced here are forgettable and so bland, you don’t even need their introductions to know them well enough, but I’ll go into more deeper in the character section. With the second arc, we can begin to see the Subaru break down as a character, as he becomes more obsessed and broken. I was forcing myself to watch this second arc, but the lack of focus this has on anything made it a major chore on me. The third arc started okay, but delved deeper into meaningless and boring territory, with what I think, no way out. We learn about the priestess selection ceremony and how Emilia is part of it. But as we go further into the arc, it delves away from this and instead goes into another meaningless arc with Subaru’s action being really cringe-worthy and eventually is just Subaru wanting to return to Emilia’s mansion, with no focus on the storytelling anywhere else to help deepen the plot and world.
Characters: 2/10
The characters beside Subaru in Re:Zero are bland and have very little personality. They are not interesting and have generic backstories. I do not feel attached to any of the characters at all because we, as viewers, aren't given any reason to do so. For example, the maids Ram and Rem are introduced and we learn they are demons. Their backstory is not compelling and is essentially the writer trying to force emotions onto us when it is working due to the genericness and the way it is presented to the viewers. As for their personalities, they don’t really any. They are just maids and do maid tasks to varying degrees of success. There is nothing interest about that at all. Theses characters are truly forgettable. As for the main protagonist of Sabaru, although he does have some semblance of personality, the way he acts and behaves makes me exasperated at him and the show. Firstly, he does not even question how or why is transported into this world. Instead, he acts like it is completely normal and is surprisingly chill about it. He does not even contemplate about his past life and the things he has lost, like his family and friends. Over the course of the series, Subaru begins to acts more irrationally and puts emotion over logic, which greatly affects him both physically and mentally. Although experiencing death is taxing to an extent; the way Subaru lets his emotions control time and time again leads him to make stupid decisions which ultimately leads to a preventable death and therefore less stress off him. Subaru’s main motivation to is for a girl he met, Emilia. Over the course of the show, Subaru obsesses over her constantly, without being given an actual reason to, besides the fact he finds her hot. His actions are a main reason that this show really is off-putting, since a rational person would not act like he does. Character death is supposed to be used to draw emotions from the viewer; but instead, Re:zero uses it as a plot convenience instead of its intended purpose. This is because Subaru can alway die to prevent his own and other’s deaths. And although an element was added in a recent episode that worked around this flaw, I find it to be stupid due to it seeming to be going nowhere.
Art: 7/10
For an anime to come in 2016, the animation is fair. It isn't great, but it isn't bad either. The animation is fluid and the colors are nice to look. Overall, it's pretty decent. The character designs seem really generic and I don't really feel any uniqueness from them.
Sound: 5/10
None of the tracks are memorable, but they aren't bad. They are just there. The opening nor the ending really stands to me. The voice actors are pretty good and they portray the characters well while delivering enough emotion where it isn't too much or little. Overall, the sound is just mediocre, there is nothing special to it.
Enjoyment: 2/10
I really forced myself to watch this show because of the large amount of people saying it was worth my time. While watching, I was forcing myself to try and find the good parts of the show, but they were few. The characters, plot and world were all bland and boring. I did not enjoy how the story did not expand to anything more than Subaru doing a small task, while the bland and tasteless side characters made this show more of a chore. The animation and sound did not help my enjoyment of the show at all.
Overall: 3/10
Overall, RE:Zero could have been much better, if it decided to flesh out many elements and put more effort into building an actual story. With this and better characters, this show would have a lot better and I would have enjoyed even more. Unfortunately, this show fails in these aspects and does not live up to the hype it has built for me personally. This is why I am giving RE:Zero a score of 3.4/10.
