Offering a nice comedic break after the more serious climax of Arc 2, Memory Snow is a well-timed lighthearted departure from Re:Zero’s first season. Some may take issue with its lack of impact or its goofy, fanservicey nature, but what it accomplishes is something the main anime could have used a bit more of in its later portions.
Review in full:
The story of Re:Zero is first and foremost a psychological thriller. Love it or hate it, the subgenre carries itself on overall serious tones and introspective queries into its setup, themes, and most of all its characters. That said, too much dreariness can get overwhelming if that’s all a story delivers, and one way to relieve the issue is with comedic breaks. Re:Zero already had a few in its original run (primarily in its first half as is typical) but the shift from the ultimately positive ending of Arc 2 into the darkest portion of season 1 was too drastic in the minds of some viewers.
Enter the Memory Snow side story. Originally premiered as a movie after season 1, sold as an OVA, and later aired on TV as a part of season 1’s director’s cut rebroadcast in 2020, there’s a good reason why it ended up becoming so prolific. Taking place in between arcs 2 and 3, it provides that much needed break with a light, comedy-oriented little story and some extra moments with many characters whose roles were mostly locked to Arc 2. Is it filler? Yes. Is it fanservicey? Fairly. While such terms often carry a negative connotation, they aren’t inherently bad traits. In this case, some lighthearted filler makes for an excellent buffer between serious portions, and that’s a sentiment that holds up if one were to watch it later than “intended” as well.
With a cleanly simple plot and a happy-go-lucky tone, Memory Snow delivers most of its humor by having the characters bounce off of each other in silly little interactions. This more character-oriented focus does some interesting things that the main anime struggles with, including adding little sprinkles of character definition via implied intent through their actions and putting them in situations where they can act looser (and therefore more honestly). The goofiness of the jokes and the ship-bait elements of some of the situations are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but as what is essentially a collection of connected skits, Memory Snow manages to have a fair share of slice-of-life-esque fuzzy moments thanks to its simplicity and delicacy.
The production values of this solitary episode don’t particularly stand out from the rest of the season, which isn’t a bad thing either. There isn’t a lot of action to encourage grand animation scenes or tense moments to put dramatic music into, yet there are scattered spurts of visual creativity at play and plenty of opportunities happily taken by the vocal cast to act out the characters in ways they rarely got to during the main anime. Overall, it makes the whole package come off as something of a fun process for the production crew and not just some tacked-on cash grab in the wake of Re:Zero’s popularity.
Verdict:
Memory Snow is good filler, the sort that holds its own and makes you appreciate the rest of the story more. Unless you seriously hate the characters or Re:Zero’s humor in general, it fits right into its spot in the director’s cut (i.e. after episode 11 of the original broadcast), though one doesn't need to watch it at any particular point after Arc 2 to get the intended effect either.
