Subaru's cynicism shows right away. "That's where they pull you in," he says, glancing over a manga. On isekai world Lugunica he calls out tropes incessantly. Subaru is eager to identify tools of manipulation and prone to meta-analysis. A young man whose intelligence shields him from wisdom is a familiar character. "Heartfelt" isn't a word in Subaru's dictionary. Emilia provides contrast: she's selfless and giving. They argue over whether to help a stranger. Rational Subaru weighs pros and cons while Emilia deploys a powerful trump card: "look, she's crying." Subaru thinks Emilia's 'wasting her life,' and the feeling is mutual. It's a tried-and-true archetypal pairing.
Lugunica is mortally treacherous. This is "not too bad" because Subaru respawns at checkpoints with his memories intact. Re:Zero uses this premise well at first by focusing on political intrigue and asymmetric information. The enemy could be anyone. Subaru seeks information at first then applies this knowledge when he respawns. Since Subaru is a total stranger, enlisting help is tricky. This sustains narrative tension. What does *not* sustain narrative tension is "shounen protagonist and friends fight enemies so evil that everybody knows it." This is a massive unforced error. The entire back half of the season uses the worse blueprint.
[SPOILER BELOW]
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The turn is the reveal of the curse. The perpetrator is someone in the mansion (or village) whose unknown motives can be explored. We learn it's a mindless beast who, oopsie, got through the magic walls. The follow-up is "kill as many demon beasts as possible in a direct contest of individual strength to survive." This is one of the worst directions to take the story.
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[SPOILER END]
Subaru quickly realizes his respawn can be used as a tool to gain information. A dramatic plot twist drives home the need for him to be politically savvy. Remember, Subaru is initially characterized as an intelligent skeptic who points out tools of manipulation. Frankly, his personality is perfect for this task. The writers wrongfoot us and Subaru acts like an idiot instead. Unfortunately, inconsistent characterization of Subaru is just getting started.
Having just:
- passed a checkpoint focused on making friends of strangers and not making unnecessary enemies and
- expressed regret over ignorance, resolving to fill in knowledge gaps in the future
Subaru forgets all of that. He follows immediate primal urges, alienating vast swaths of people with no perceptible benefit. New acquaintances are generous to him, but he ignores this opportunity to expand his knowledge of Lugunica. This is wasteful storytelling because the audience needs help filling out the setting. If the actions of other characters can't be put into some sort of context, they lose all meaning.
Subaru then forgets that his respawn ability is an information-gathering tool, meandering through timelines with no apparent interest in getting anything out of the experience. I haven't read the light novel. Perhaps the author describes Subaru's psychology and it gives purpose to these scenes. If so, the anime failed to communicate that. The audience thinks this suffering has no meaning beyond intel gathering. Re:Zero hams up each tragedy anyways, pretending it's thematically important. This insults the viewers and wastes everyone's time.
Flawed main characters aren't a problem. Directly contradicting established traits and previous lessons is a big problem. It makes the story incoherent. Subaru's behavioral trajectory is nonsensical.
The visuals and sound are pleasant. I love Rem along with everyone else. I also like the red oni, the drill loli, and the gay clown. I actually think Emilia-tan is a good female lead. Unfortunately, the respawn mechanic means Subaru has almost all the agency/free will. He is by far the most important character, and Re:Zero botched his progression. The end product is an opaque mess with oodles of wasted potential.
