Re:Zero's flawless execution, lovably unique characters, beautiful art, and good soundtrack leaves very little to be desired as it captures your heart and takes you on a unique psychological fantasy adventure. This is an anime that has become one of the many outstanding gems of the Anime genre like common fantasy/psychological favorites like Code Geass, Madoka Magica, Katanagatari, Shinsekai Yori and I want to say SAO but people give that so much hate for no good reason.
Story:10/10
Suddenly summoned from this world to another world, what should you do? Subaru answers these questions using his broad, grand otaku knowledge. He gets ambushed by some typical thugs and gets saved by the beautiful half-elf protagonist, Emilia thus beginning his happy-happy, lovey dove, overpowered fantasy world story. Unfortunately for him, that's the opposite of what actually happens. In a fantastic twist, he's your thrown into a series of gut-opening horrific tragedies that earn this anime the right to call itself a psychological anime. In this fantasy world, Subaru has only one power: the power to return to a certain point in the past by dying. He tries desperately to be the story's hero, but like many fantasy games will teach you playing hero can cause you tons of... well... Damage---See what I did there? ;) ;) ;)--- Subaru has many difficult obstacles to overcome, they're so difficult to overcome that they can actually cost a guy his life! He meets a large variety of outstanding characters, all of whom have depth to their personalities; there are almost no typical characters in sight. Pacing is outstanding, I feel the pacing is designed to make you feel the desperation and agony of the main character where even small actions can be event changing (butterfly effect).
The comedy is absolutely fantastic. The progression of events has a major degree of realism to it, contrary to many anime out there. Honestly, everything about the story is outstanding enough that I could talk any the series' premise and plot progression is for several paragraphs without any spoilers
Characters 10/10
Nearly every character is memorable and unique! That's extremely difficult to achieve and ice only seen a few anime succeed at it.
Just to go over a few:
Starting with Rem: I won't say too much but know that Rem is a truly fearsome character. She's skillful at performing maid tasks and un-trusting, but she's also loveable to the point where she has won the heart of most Re:Zero watchers. In contrast to her red haired twin sister Ram who's laid back and relaxed, but trusting and less lovable.
Subaru: What makes Subaru special is that there's nothing special about him and he's actually pretty immature and dumb. Like really dumb. He's just an average guy that's kind and wants his happy fantasy life and the happiness of the people. No special powers). No superhuman reflexes. He is just like me and you. He does his "best" despite being faced with so many tragic events which are quite honorable. He's also one of my least favorite characters in the series, but hey! Still unique!
Emilia, a lonely introverted loving half-elf that's been mistreated and ostracized by the general public due to their fears of the legend of the witch.
Everybody in the mansion, the Knights, the villagers, the villains, the princesses, all of them are outstanding.
A certain bae-tleguese will even reach out to you with open arms!
You may get a new favorite character from this series!
Art: 9/10
The art makes you feel with the characters, the animation is fluid the facial expressions are believable, everything is top notch quality. Some scenes will make you cringe. The only reason I can't call it a 10 is because of Fate Unlimited Bladeworks and other similar quality anime or unique styled anime like Katanagatari. Character designs are beautiful and interesting. There are funny speaking magic clown lords, maids, catgirls, cat traps, queen-like characters, tomboy lolis, bae-tlegueses, this series has it all!
Sound: 8/10
Unfortunately, the sound is the weakest aspect of the anime. The sounds are really good, don't get me wrong. But imagine if the music was as unique and memorable as Kill la Kill, Madoka Magica, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece etc. I know I named the big three, but seriously their soundtracks are outstanding if you've ever paid attention to them. The battle effects are top notch. Voice actors and actresses are great. But the music contains some pretty mediocre cinematic music. Unlike a certain "coffee soda toffee pasta." (if you don't get it, it's from SAO gleam eyes fight by the lovely Yuki Kajiura)
Enjoyment:9/10
Only a few moments went by that I didn't think this anime was outstanding. I was hooked by episode 4. I'm an adult, but at certain scenes, I cringed so hard that I actually couldn't watch them. That has never happened to me in any anime that I've seen. Never once. This anime has earned its spot as rank 10 on my top 10 anime list. I really believe that you will enjoy it if you like psychological, fantasy, action, Mystery, Game, or any of the anime that I've mentioned so far.
Overall:9.5/10
It would be a full 10 if it had a better soundtrack, but the soundtrack thing really doesn't matter to me much since everything else is simply outstanding. I highly recommend that you put this one on your watchlist if you haven't already! ^.^b There will likely be a season two because of this anime's popularity worldwide so see you next time!
