I was wrong.
Fast forward many years later, I'm sitting home by myself, I have a busy schedule tomorrow at work, but how do I kill this hour of time until I fall asleep? I know, watch something generic that my eyes would better shut off for the day. I ended up sleeping 8 hours later and almost missing work that day. But that's not for a good reason necessarily.
“Shock value” is a big factor that contributes to a lot of other shows and movies, but Re:Zero knows how powerful it can be and this, abuses the shit out of it. Every episode makes it hard to stop there, and therefore basically spells it out for you that you should proceed to the next episode, it's both an effective way, and a trying demeanor that gets old real quick but nonetheless, helps the binge positively. Basically put, one of those shows that would have done more damage had I watched it weekly back in the day.
To call Re:Zero a masterpiece would be a slap on the face for many incredible shows out there, but the show is far from being a bad joke on a Saturday evening. For than anything, to the naked eye, Re:Zero really is a mediocre attempt at a modern Isekai, a shameless reskin to your most generic blueprint for what makes for the Isekai of the season, but really across the board, a lot of stereotypes are flipped on their heads, something very much appreciated is how Subaru is NOT the overpowered hero that saves the day and advocates the power of friendship every chance he gets, it feels more like a curse than an adventure for him and the viewer.
Powers that rewind time can be very tricky to handle, but the fact that Subaru makes the least effort to divert and showcase different perspectives for the same event countless times does lessen the boredom of rewinding over and over again. It also adds to the loneliness and despair that contribute to his massive, non-ending character development.
The art screams of 2016, a wild lawless era where every show took on the same form factor and abandoned any sense of innovation. Really, nothing can be said about either the animation or the character designs, there is a certain mainstream fantasy aura that all Isekai seem to inherit, and Re:Zero is by no means special in that regard. In my earnest opinion, it's passable.
I was 🤏 close to dropping the score for audio-related production, but damn, was the voice acting masterfull in this one. I feel like Subaru's Seiyuu in particular was recorded during extended sessions of medieval torture, the screeches that escape his voice in some of those scenes bring about a special kind of shivers that has the perfect amount of disturbance to deliver on the suffering moments. And then there is Emilia's and Rem's tingly soft voice that I couldn't get enough of. More praising to the star here, Subaru's constant shift between confident, delinquent lines to the utmost desperate and apologetic screams of agony and despair sold the show for me.
First of all, I'm glad I get the Rem memes now.
Subaru as a case of study character brings about something that I'd say was the only arguable original spin the show had on the Isekai formal. Hate him however you want, Subaru is probably one of the most relatable protagonists out there. We love him because he presents there good in all of us, and we hate him because he exposes the bad in all of us. He's a selfish, self-centered teen that strives to better his outlook on the world and close friends and loved ones by overcoming and reliving the most horrifying realities that come up his way. Some of the actions he makes stand for the cringiest, strongest second-handed embarrassment out there, but the glow-up and the growth he gets when he overcomes them are satisfying beyond belief.
It's hard to state what really drew me into the show, the easiest guess is the shock value, but even that does get old super quick, it's almost the faint desire and self-reflection that you might see in Subaru, you want the poor soul to succeed, you want to see him succeed, it's sympathy more than anything else.
Overall: 8.0/10
