Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Part 2

“I love who I am.” The final line of the opening’s chorus, as well as the ending’s titular “Believe in you”, form the thesis and backbone of this season of Re:Zero. This cour shifted its focus away from the usual Subaru character study, delving more into worldbuilding, developing its side cast and delivering its core messages. Why does Re:Zero, within the abundant sea of modern isekai, stand out like a shining beacon of light 5 years later? Some will argue it’s the breadth of its “best girl” selection, others will say it’s the impactful thriller elements. Re:Zero’s true strength lies, if you were to ask me, in the humanity of its characters and the messages it imparts. These aspects are in the limelight in this cour. The previously established Trials mechanic is used to explore characters’ histories and motivations, all the while sprinkling in setups upon setups leading up to the grand picture of the series. Subaru, as the protagonist, takes a back seat; he lends a hand to the other characters, gives them a push, and yet it remains up to them to make a choice and save themselves. Yes; Re:Zero Season 2 is about self-reliance — but it is also about the fact that when you do decide to take that first step, whether it’s to change, to save or improve yourself, there are people out there who will cheer you on. The message of this cour is a deeply positive one, hence the show momentarily forsaking its usual gimmick. It’s also a very satisfactory watch, after the feeling of deadlock within the first cour, as the characters smash through insurmountable odds set up by the charismatic villain of Part 1. Due to the nature of the show, some spoilers will follow. Cour 1 revealed the antagonist for this season to be Roswaal, behind both the Sanctuary situation and the mansion attack. I would, however, say that beyond specific characters, the true antagonist in this arc is a symbolic, or abstract one — the idea of “stagnation”, which happens to be behind every obstacle of the arc. Roswaal is stuck in 400 years past, believing in the permanence of feelings and chained to the past, intent on fostering that same weakness which he believes exists in others to manipulate them; Elsa is on a desperate hunt to recapture a feeling of warmth from her past; Beatrice remains bound to a 400 year old contract; Garfiel is terrified of the world being too big for him to protect everyone and decides that the Sanctuary should remain closed off. Re:Zero acknowledges that the status quo is attractive — is it not normal to stay attached to the beautiful Witch who saved your life, to want to recapture a feeling of relief from one’s past, or to want to keep your world small where you can control and protect everything? — before pointing out that it is also deeply self-destructive and dangerous, from the impending doom in the form of a carnivorous rabbit horde to the mental degradation of Roswaal and Elsa’s characters. All of these ideas are conveyed with no shortage of symbolism, the most striking one for me being the use of Beatrice and Roswaal’s Gospels. In order to overcome these barriers, Re:Zero asks its characters to find the balance between “dangerous self-reliance” and “toxic dependence”. Subaru, unable to overcome anything by himself despite his abuse of Return by Death in the first cour, realizes something in the second thanks to a friend; the gears of victory start spinning only when he reaches a hand out to his allies and starts valuing his own life. The main heroine Emilia takes the opposite path, beginning her growth only when her dependence on Puck and Subaru is broken. From there, this hero-heroine duo constitute the heart of the anime, spurring everyone else into action. Characters argue and fight; ideals clash, sparks fly. This would be around the part where the average viewer would call the dialogue overlong and repetitive, without any effort on their end to connect with, or at least understand the situations at hand. I couldn’t disagree more. The dialogue forms the heart of the arc; when a character speaks, their lines aren’t artificially tailored for some 3rd party viewer. The core ideas, themes and motivations aren’t spoonfed; they’re inbetween the lines, asking a degree of investment and attentiveness from the viewers. Camera angles assist the viewer in finding meaning, if not to simply immerse them into the scene, like the series’ iconic eye reflection shots that convey “understanding” or “trust”. The argument between Subaru and Emilia in EP40 is probably the strongest display of that particular strength of the series, from the sheer rawness of it to how real it felt as an unreasonable clash of emotions, all the while allowing the two characters to overcome their emotional hurdles. It wouldn’t be difficult to argue that the Sanctuary premise, and the mansion situation at hand, are only present to allow all of these clashes and character explorations to take place, and the attentive viewer will most definitely appreciate this setting that goes beyond the isekai fantasy norm. From a purely script-writing perspective, a lot of these moments overshadow the first half of Season 1, and come close to even the legendary, all-dialogue episode 18. This is all, sadly, from a purely script-writing perspective. While the directing throughout the show is generally good (with sadly more dips than usual in this cour — and no, this isn’t referring to the liberal use of filters, which I didn’t find too bothersome as someone used to such things), the animation is insufficient to carry the weight of certain moments. Anime is, first and foremost, a storytelling medium, but even the best story will fall flat if poorly translated on screen. While Part 2 certainly doesn’t fall to that level, the feeling that something is *missing*, or to be more precise that the characters are too static to properly elevate the scene is certainly there. It also certainly doesn’t help that the downgraded character designs, making most of the male characters hard to look at compared to Season 1, have carried over from S2P1. Re:Zero has had segments even heavier in dialogue than this cour before (again, the pure dialogue-heavy EP18 comes to mind), but a lack of dynamic animation on top of the increased complexity of the writing will inevitably lead to some false perceptions for the average viewer. These production-related issues, along with some cuts to the source that may negatively affect the flow of scenes for some, make it so that I cannot give this a perfect score; nevertheless, White Fox persevered admirably, trying their utmost to stay faithful to the source with consistent 30-minute episodes, this entire season reaching up to 33 episodes disguised as 25. While cracks in the production are present, series director Watanabe managed to balance out ambition with a schedule that didn’t require a crunch to the finish line like other popular gems of this season. But I digress. Making up for the more static animation is a soundtrack that may just match AoT in its movie-like feel; the “fantasy” aspect of the series shines through in almost every track. The voice acting is stunning, from Yuusuke Kobayashi’s emotional performances to Rie Takahashi’s more and more confident and energetic voice, matching the arc of her character. Let’s also not forget to praise Takehito Koyasu, who managed to convey every facet of Roswaal’s character with skill. To top it off, this season came with two character insert songs, both used fittingly and beautifully. In a season as focused in fleshing out its cast through numerous backstories, character arcs and climactic moments, these are some of the most essential components, and I can only be glad the production remained stellar on that front. Overall, if I had to sum up in a sentence what this arc of Re:Zero imparted in me, it would be, once again, “when you finally decide to take the first step to make a change, there will be people willing to help and encourage you …

Bravo, Re:Zero. Bravo. First of all, I would like to give a huge thanks to the staff at Studio White Fox for giving us such a passionate adaptation of Re:Zero Season 2, to the Author, Tappei Nagatsuki for writing this brilliant series, to the Voice Actors for their incredible performances as the characters, and everyone who worked on this show. As a huge fan of the series, seeing Re:Zero Season 2 receiving such an amazing adaptation like no other, it's honestly like a dream come true, and I couldn't have asked for more. With that out of the way, let's proceed to the review. Re:Zero Season 2 is back after an agonizing 3-month break, honestly was the longest 3 months of my life, while I had a lot of Fall shows to indulge myself in at the time, none were able to fill the empty void inside my heart left behind when Re:Zero S2 Part 1 ended, and now starts another agonizing wait for Season 3, I'm truly going to miss watching this every week. This season starts, literally immediately where Part 1 left off with the Otto punch of friendship and giving Subaru the confidence he needs to overcome the problems Roswaal meticulously set up this season. With a new profound determination to not die and have the people that care about him suffer because of him, he resolves to save everyone in this final loop and makes a bet with Roswaal, it was a long shot, the stakes are high, it was risky, but Subaru was ready to take that risk. A common criticism of Re:Zero is that the story focuses too much on Subaru that it leaves no room for other characters to shine, that was true for Season 1 and Season 2 Part 1 that was focused primarily on Subaru's development, Season 2 Part 2 fixes this problem and gives every single character a much-needed character development and each and every one of them gets to have their time to shine this season. Whether it'd be Otto being best bro, Emilia and Garfiel learning to overcome their traumatic past, Ram wanting to save Roswaal from his 400-year obsession, Beatrice finally letting go and breaking off the shackles of her past that bound her soul preventing her from moving forward, and this. This is what makes Re:Zero special, it's not just a story about Subaru but everyone else around him, it's a story of him starting a new life from zero, how the actions of others affect him and how his own actions affect others. Re:Zero is not a story about suffering, nor is it a story about being the strongest, killing the demon lord, and getting a sweet ass harem. No, Re:Zero is a genuine and emotional story of growth and self-improvement, learning to accept and love yourself, everyone has flaws, no one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, but that's not a bad thing, it's precisely because you are imperfect, that you have flaws that make you human. I feel like a lot of people have a bias against modern shows, and I get a lot of people will disagree. But Re:Zero IS a DEEP series, deep in the sense of its emotional and psychological themes, there are genuine underlying messages portrayed in the show, and I have mentioned some of them already in my previous paragraph. One of the central themes of Season 2 is the idea of obsession and stagnation. Roswaal is the embodiment of this ideology, and every character in the series shows a part of this in their respective personality, they are stuck at a point in time unable to move forward, unable to change. A lot of people complain about Season 2 being stuck in the sanctuary for 25 episodes but that is the point, that symbolizes stagnation and directly parallels the stagnation of some of the characters, they are stuck in time, in one place, and after this season are able to move past all of that and change, that is the main theme of this season. These are examples of those characters; Roswaal's 400-year obsession with Echidna, Ryuzu Shima's wish to respect Ryuzu Meyer's sacrifice, Garfiel's trauma that leads to him to hate the outside world, resulting in him resolving to keep the Sanctuary closed off forever. Emilia is bound by her traumatic past, Beatrice's stubbornness to keep her 400-year contract with Echidna, to wait for a person that doesn't exist. A lot of people have also been complaining about the pacing of this season, I don't understand why. They are completely missing the sheer significance and importance of this arc, before you start complaining about the arc being so long, ask yourself. Why is this arc in particular so long? Firstly, it sets up important plot points and mysteries for the future. Secondly, give some context and revelations of some questions we've been asking back in Season 1, and finally, It serves as a turning point for the Emilia camp as a whole. If Season 1 focused entirely on Subaru and his development, then Season 2 focuses on building up and strengthening the Emilia camp through character growth for the side characters. The Emilia Camp was all over the place during Season 1, and they aren't really united and especially Emilia herself was a problem, she didn't possess the necessary qualities that a Ruler should have, no solid foundation, this Arc not only develops Emilia's character, but it also serves to develop and unite the rest of the Emilia camp that will help and support her in the future. Emilia back in Season 1 as we know is a very immature person, she was very naive and had very idealistic goals for the Royal Selection, as she was then, she was unfit of becoming the Ruler, and that's a big problem. She doesn't have the best leadership and has problems with self-confidence because of discrimination she has faced due to her Half-Elf lineage and looking exactly like the Witch of Envy. Even the determination she lacks, unlike the rest of the Royal Candidates. However this season she has learned to become more mature and start to become better as a person, slowly becoming someone who can lead the country in the future. Through the 1st Trial she found the resolve and determination to make her wishes come true, through the 2nd Trial she learned to fully accept herself and to not be afraid of what others think of her, and finally, through the 3rd Trial, she gained the confidence to overcome the disaster that may come. The characters are the best part of Re:Zero. They feel genuine and real, not in the sense that their personalities are realistic, but instead in their character flaws, and psychology. The author gives a lot of thought into them, even the characters that may seem very insignificant at first glance. Apart from the characters, the story is solid as well. Season 2's plot is complex and tightly written, unlike the first 3 arcs in Season 1 which were more simplistic and straightforward. Part 1 served as the build-up phase by introducing the central mysteries and problems like Elsa, Meili, Mansion Problems, Rabbits, Witches, and Roswaal's true intentions. While Part 2 is the emotional climax and development, and it was well worth all the build-up. The songs and OST this season is amazing, the opening and ending are both really good too bad they're not played much often, we also got some really nice Insert Songs by Emilia and Ram's VAs, and some new tracks courtesy of Kenichiro Suehiro and are honestly some of the best of the series. Animation is a step up over Part 1, might not be the same quality as Season 1 but there is one fight, in particular, this season that I believe is the best-animated fight of the series thus far, Kazuhiro Ota is a god, and is carrying all the fight scenes on his back. All in all, this season of Re:Zero has been spectacular and I feel it far surpasses Season 1 in almost every aspect that's not animation. It has everything that made Season 1 so good and improved upon it and also fixes a lot of problems people had with Season 1. This deserves a 10/10 rating. If you've lasted until the end, thank you very much for reading, and I hope you liked my review. Have a good day!

At the apex of the isekai genre, one series stands head and shoulders above them all. Season 2 Part 2 of Re:Zero kara hajimaru isekai seikatsu, shows the world exactly why it’s one of the best selling LN series. If you liked Re:Zero s1 in any capacity. From its unique take on the isekai genre, world-building, characters, mystery, etc., you will love season 2 and find it an upgrade in every possible way. Re:Zero’s first season, which covered arcs 1-3, was only a teaser into the masterclass in writing that is arcs 4-6. Re:Zero has been my favourite LN series for years and I couldn’t be more pleased with how White Fox handled this season. Every episode had masterful direction and finale quality. Re:Zero’s biggest appeal lies in the struggles and triumphs of Subaru, it’s MC. Over the course of the first 3 arcs, we saw him fight and die over and over again all in an effort to protect those he cares about. In the latest season, Subaru’s growth is exponential. The literal and figurative trials he goes through force him to grow as an person, but also to let go of the past that still lingers with him. This is arguably the most important arc for Subaru’s character development in the entire series to date. Never before has he had to face such insurmountable odds. With his back up against the wall and seemingly no one to help him, Subaru defies fate and creates a happy future for everyone. As I mentioned earlier, White Fox have really shown how much Re:Zero means to them over the past few months. Most episodes have omitted the OP and ED in favour of a longer runtime and more storytelling. I think the way they were able to make this seamless transition between episodes due to the lack of an OP in most episodes was beautiful. Although some people complained about it, you can always download the OP and listen or watch on Youtube. If I had to nitpick anything, the animation and art did suffer a few times, particularly in the beginning of the second cour. There were some really funny looking still shots and some choppy animation. Overall, though, the show looks great and features a great OST. I can not thank White Fox enough for the way they beautifully crafted this season of Re:Zero. Yes, there will always be imperfections when compared to the books, but for the most part I have no complaints with how this season was done. With Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei getting great adaptations this year, the future of isekai is in great hands. Re:Zero S2 P2 gets 10 Dona tea cups out of 10.

Most I know of lost interest in the show and the few who lasted until this season were largely bored of it. Despite the plot remembering to move forward for a change and although it is presented as important in-series, a large portion of the audience did not get what it liked at first, and therefore got bored of it. They just didn’t care about the flashbacks that flesh out many of the minor characters, or the explanations of things that happened in the past which led to the events in the present. And sure, fleshing out the minor characters and answering whatever questions you had thus far sound very interesting and a positive thing for any show to have, but the main reasons most were watching the show for were the suffering and the waifus. It wasn’t the minor characters or the world building, which were frankly very passable and hardly got attention until this point. The average fan of this series began watching it because it had waifus and goreporn. He didn’t give a shit about the past of unimportant characters and he sure as hell didn’t care about the lore. Similar things happened with the politics of Attack on Titan, the war of the underworld in Sword Art Online, and every arc that shows what nobodies are doing in Overlord. If these shows had given more focus on secondary characters and plotlines since the very beginning and if they were not mindless softporns and action flicks, then people would indeed care when there is a flashback that fleshes out minor characters and answers questions. But they didn’t do that. They were focusing too much on dumb shit for 40 episodes or so and then tried to move to other people and aspects that were completely overlooked thus far. Guess why the average casual won’t care about any of that. It’s the same thing as having a 12 episode flashback about Yamcha from Dragonball where they explain the reasons why he eventually became a baseball player. Would this flesh him out and explain a few things about him? Sure. But would anyone care about any of that when the main appeal of the show is Goku and Vegeta changing haircolors as the audience tries to calculate their power levels for over 30 years? Despite adding to a show, a lot of things are not the main appeal of the show and thus they are boring for the vast majority of the audience. Stop wondering why every show that tries to go beyond its main appeal becomes boring despite ‘becoming better’. If I sound like I am rumbling all this time, it’s because I said all there is about Rezero in the previous seasons, and all that was left for this one was the above remark. That aside, Subaru didn’t die a single time, the problem was solved by resetting enough times until he once again gets a perfect playthrough, and a bunch of stuff happened to other characters for which I don’t give a damn about and neither do most others. The finale left everyone with an expressionless face, since we all expected it to be like that and it took forever to get there by constantly side tracking for things we didn’t care about. ZZZ out of Misery, won’t bother to remember anything about it.

"Re:Zero is boring." Three words you've likely heard before or said yourself. But why? Why do people find Re:Zero boring? If you already love Re:Zero, I hope this review will help you understand the other side of the audience. If you don't love Re:Zero, I hope to provide some clarity as to why. From my observation, most people who dislike Re:Zero are anime-only viewers, whereas the dedicated fans have read the source material: This tells us two things: 1. The story, characters, and themes hook specific viewers to the point of delving into the meaty source material (which includes 11 manga volumes, one video game, four character-focused side story light novels, and a total of 26 light novel volumes). 2. The viewers who don't get hooked by the story will lack the background knowledge to make the characters more nuanced. I fall within the latter category. While watching the first season back in 2016, I despised it and rated it 3/10 overall. I made a concerted effort to understand the fanbase's point of view by supplementing missing information with Youtube analyses and Wiki articles; that's why I immensely enjoyed Re:Zero despite the show's flaws. After stewing with my thoughts, I've concluded the show itself overall has a subpar presentation, despite providing intriguing and nuanced characters. First of all, the screenplay is bloated. Most of the characters talk the same. I don't mean they have the same voice, but the same way of speaking, which makes it obvious the same person wrote them. Of course, they were all written by Tappei Nagatsuki. However, it breaks my immersion when every character speaks esoterically with additional words and phrases added on top of what is, at times, a simple script. Characters such as Roswaal and Beatrice demand to speak superfluously because for narrative purposes. Roswaal speaks in riddles because he is manipulative, enigmatic, and a liar. Beatrice hides her anxiety and abandonment issues by not cutting to the chase and saying "I suppose" at the end of every sentence—it's not simply a cute quirk. Some reasons become apparent with time. Side characters such as Regulus Corneas, the eccentric and terrifying archbishop, speaks like a conservative senator attempting to filibuster by spouting rhetoric about "free speech" and his "rights" before mercilessly killing innocents. He does so because his psychopathy and hypocrisy befit the archbishop of greed—the reasons are very clever but entirely missing in the anime. The choice to leave out this and other content threatens to obscure each scene's meaning. To the uninformed viewer, all of these behaviors, meaningful or not, are annoying. It doesn't help that when the more sane characters speak, the dialogue is delivered slowly and with a drab presentation. The production is to blame for this. That brings us to the second issue: animation: There is barely any. When it really counts, such as the combat scenes with Garfiel, Elsa, and memorable moments in Emilia's backstory, it looks good—but for the rest of the time, it's hard to sit through. Frames freeze for minutes on end, with simplified versions of the beautiful character designs. There is motion, but the animators rely heavily on motion tweens, camera pans, jump cuts, and digital zooming. White Fox only drew a few angles of the main casts' face, so whenever the camera is at an angle that deviates from the norm, the characters look messy and off models. Often, fans of the series are frowned upon for criticizing the lackluster animation, but I believe they're 100% valid. If these people complain about the cafe scenes in SAO, yet they ignore similar problems in Re:Zero, they're hypocrites. In this case, they're not at a table, but somewhere: In front of the Sanctuary and the forest. Episodes go by, and people will be in the same place talking. Whether they're telling a story, explaining their secret motivations, or telling a story someone told them. If you've already gotten hooked by the characters, the information you'll learn is fascinating. Thankfully for me, I am invested. My favorite characters, Garfiel and Otto, perhaps got the best side-stories barring Emilia's trials. Garfiel yells to compensate for his short height on the surface. Due to developments, his earlier actions got recontextualized. He has a grudge against his mother, who left him behind. He believes nothing will get better, even if he leaves the Sanctuary. Letting people go would be admitting he can't protect them all. Even though the animation was as bad as usual, it still pulled my heartstrings enough to make me cry. If you told me Re:Zero would make me cry four years ago, I would've laughed in your face—and that's why I think it's worth putting in the effort to understand why people like the characters so much. I acknowledge the characters are motivated by friends and family, and that's not very complex writing. However, it is in keeping with the show's themes. It tackles the cycle of abuse, trauma, grief throughout multiple character arcs. If Re:Zero did not have this thematic throughline, I would've been more critical of its simplistic aspects. Another gripe I have with the director is the use of comedy; I like the occasional quips and humor, but sometimes it falls flat. When Subaru interrupts dialogue to yell or one of the girls squeals like a VTuber, I can't help but roll my eyes. This kind of humor may be suitable for most people, but for me, it only detracted from the show. Intillialy, I despised Subaru for how he betrayed Emilia's trust in episode 13 of season 1; nevertheless, he has indeed grown. Nearly every one of my wishes for his character, and everyone else's, came true. Emilia claimed the center stage and had her own agency, for once, and Subaru provided emotional support rather than overshadowing her accomplishments. I will always decry his objectifying of her, especially when attempting to get taken seriously, but I believe the author will remedy this issue in the future. This was my favorite season of Re:Zero. On a surface level analysis, I could point to the happy ending; it scrapped the Return By Death plot mechanic, Emilia had a heartfelt backstory, and how they saved violence and gore for critical scenes. Ultimately, what really made this season was the leaps and strides in character development. Even for the passive viewers, you will likely find the ending of Re:Zero Part 2 worth sticking around for. I'm in a difficult predicament—where I both love the characters, but multiple aspects hinder my enjoyment of the show overall. The truth is, it is more enjoyable for me to talk about Re:Zero, and analyze its complex characters than it is to watch it. For that reason, it failed to meet my expectations.

"I am the Frozen Witch, born in Elior forest. I won't give in to the malice of a fellow witch" -Emilia SPOILERS BELOW Story:- With how much of a suffering cour 1 had, cour 2 instead has the feeling of accomplishment and joy. It is like fighting a Dark Souls boss. You die countless times in doing so. You feel sad, disappointed and frustrated. You may even feel like giving up. But the moment you defeat that boss, you get an intense feeling of joy and happiness. You get rewarded for your relentless dedication. This is how you may feel when you watch this anime. With how much suffering Subaru had in cour 1, it is time for Otto to talk some sense into Subaru. Now with Subaru getting back his motivation, he confronts Roswaal and is ready to fix the problems in both the mansion and the sanctuary. There are also some mysteries that are revealed in this cour. With Emilia being one of the most mysterious character in this series, we finally get to see her backstory. And it has that mix feeling of happiness and sorrow. I really cried watching it so brace yourselves for it. It really gives Emilia a lot of character depth and makes her one of my favorites. We also see some insight into Roswaal's and Betty's backstory. It really gives them a lot of character development too. Also, one of the most enjoyable characters from season 1 is back in this cour. I wouldn't spoil their name. Although, the character is now a little different. Story:- 10/10 Art:- The art is not too appealing compared to season 1 or the OVAs. But some scenes are nicely done. Art:- 7/10 Sound:- There are some new OSTs that are beautiful, especially "Door" which was played in second episode. Ram's "insert song" was also great! Overall, the other songs are also decent. Sound:- 9/10 Character:- This cour really shows a lot of character development especially for Emilia, Subaru, Betty, Roswaal, Ram, Otto and Garfiel. We see how insecure Emilia is when Puck leaves her and considering Emilia's past of being isolated and shunned, she actually breaks down because the only person who loved her is gone. With Emilia being at her lowest point and not being able to complete the trials, we have the "reason to believe" episode. Just like a phoenix, "the witch of frost" (Emilia) rises up again and confronts the "witch of greed" (Echidna), now with confidence that is unshakable. That was a really badass scene. Otto's backstory was really well done and provided a lot of depth to his character. Garfiel's trial was really emotional and I loved it. His relationship with his mom really brought me to tears. Apart from these three, Subaru and Ram also had their moments to shine. Furthermore, Betty and Roswaal's past was also beautifully done. The relationship between Emilia and Subaru has also developed a lot especially after "reason to believe". Btw I especially loved smol Emilia and the cute Emilia x Subaru dance. Adding to that, the Ram, Puck and Roswaal scene was really badass and awesome. Also, Subaru and Betty scenes were really good! I wouldn't want to spoil it though ;) Character:- 10/10 Enjoyment:- I really enjoyed each and every episode. It is filled with sorrow, despair but at the end of it all, it has that rare feeling of accomplishment and joy which makes this anime really enjoyable. Enjoyment:- 10/10 Overall:- Just finish part 2. It is gonna be amazing, I promise. EMT! Overall rating:- 10/10

Re:Zero's second season's worst aspect is revealed through each episode's runtime. A little under 30 minutes and most episodes do not include an OP or ED. At first glance you might think this means every episode is packed, but in reality every episode is not packed but rather bloated. Bloated with what? Information, lore, backstories, exposition. The story doesn't move until the last couple of episodes of the second part of the second season. The lore itself isn't bad, at times it can actually be quite intriguing, but it's just one mystery after another. I don't mean mystery as if you as the viewer are given hints and you can hypothesize on what's going to happen or take a shot at guessing missing information. The mysteries you're given are impossible to interact with, they're just there to make you question why what's happening is happening, but there's nothing to help you make sense of it all, it's all just one big confusing mess. *SPOILERS* Take Emilia's trial for example (also the trials are a lazy story telling tool for revealing information), we're introduced to the Witch of Vanity, who is she? No idea. Petelguse an ally of Emilia's family, why? Why does he care about them? What is he doing in the witch cult? No idea. Everyone's worried about 'The Seal', what's 'The Seal'? no idea. Emilia's the only one with access to the key for 'The Seal', why? no idea. Now don't get me wrong, I don't expect the show to spoon feed me answers and reveal everything without keeping a sense of wonder. The problem is that this type of story telling is constant across almost the entire season. You are constantly bombarded with scenes such that you simply have no idea what to make of them. At a certain point it just gets overwhelming and I simply didn't care to know what anything means anymore. Re:Zero's lore is reach and grand, but the way it's revealed is lazy, inorganic (Characters will just constantly spill out information for no reason that makes sense) and it's just too much lore and not enough actual story. A good mystery keeps you in the dark while keeping you intrigued and following a certain kind of logic, Re:Zero keeps you in the dark and you're just forced to wait until it decides to let me some light in. One big reason for why it's so hard to understand the lore is because it's given through a huge cluster of eccentric dialogue that sounds really deep but is really just too complicated for it's own good. For some reason every character speaks in the exact same way, it causes the dialogue to unnecessarily drag on for too long, hence the long runtimes of each episode. Beneath all of this horrible story telling though, lies a beautiful world and epic fantasy. Hopefully next season's plot will be tighter.

Let's see if I can make it through this review without dying and having to restart from 0. Speaking of that particular number, you know what else gets a 0? This season of Re:Zero, except add a 1 in front of it and BOOM! 10/10 baby. Haha, get it? It's a number joke! If you like that, be sure to SMASH that helpful button like Garfiel SMASHED Elsa, if ya know what I mean~...HellLyter was killed by his embarrassment, awful taste in comedy, and desire for pitiful likes. How greedy. Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought... Alright, reset time, lemme start over. Re:Zero has been a shining light in the anime industry since its first season debuted back in 2016. It's effective characterization, world building, and sheer entertainment value among other things have been top notch throughout the seasons. The care and detail that Studio White Fox has been putting into its production has also been apparent and much appreciated. I mean, 30 minute episodes? And removing the op and ed during most episodes to include even more content? Awesome in every way...except for the fact that I don't get to hear the opening theme Long Shot that much. It's a seriously good song. I just love the tone and voice quality of the singer Mayu Maeshima. I even like the way that her voice kinda cracks at the end of each phrase. Is it weird to say that I find it cute? Yeah, probably. Anyway, I hope she gets hired to do more theme songs down the line! If you're expecting a lot of death and Subaru suffering from this, then you're watching the wrong season. The previous season is the one that established the set up for this arc as well as where everyone stands...it's also the one that has ample portions of delicious Subaru pain and torment for those of you who get your sick kicks from watching the poor dude's anguish. This second half primarily details how Subaru breaks through this seemingly impossible situation despite what an incredible long shot it is. And let me tell you, it's quite the exciting journey. But you know why the anime isn't perfect? It's because it doesn't have frickin Rem in it!!! I mean, come on man! She only has like one line this entire season...and it was a pretty great one to be honest about the proper usage of prayer, but anyway. WHEN IS BEST GIRL GONNA WAKE U- ...HellLyter was killed by Rem haters for bringing up a character who is completely irrelevant this season. His inability to get over her is kinda creepy. How lustful. Ok, let's backtrack a bit and try again, but without the fanboying this time. What, you thought I was gonna reset to the very beginning? Nah...Hey, I gotta give myself some checkpoints like Subaru has or else this review will go on forever. And no one wants that! What truly makes this season are the characters. We already know the setup and dynamic of the Sanctuary, we understand the plot elements revolving around this arc, and if last season was anything to go by, we certainly know the stakes due to Subaru's numerous deaths in this loop. The focal point of this season is definitely portraying character growth for the vast majority of the cast. The theme is all about coming to terms with your past and moving confidently towards the future. Slight spoilers for the rest of this paragraph if you want to just skip it, but I just gotta give a shoutout to some of the prominent characters who evolve for the better. Subaru begins to rely on his friends instead of return by death. Otto gets over his fears and isolation. Garfiel comes to terms with his family's past and moves forward with his life. Ram stands up to the one she loves and confesses her pent up feelings. Beatrice finds a meaning to live. Hey look, actually solid and believable character growth! Good job Re:Zero. And then there's Emilia. The girl dependent on everyone, yet whom no one relies on. Not gonna lie, I found her to be pretty underwhelming in the previous two seasons. Sure, she's a cute nice girl who has some comedic scenes, but she's been pretty stagnant over the course of the series, and a lot of the side characters have had more depth and intrigue than her. In fact, why is she getting so much attention now anyway? Dontcha think it's a little too late for this? Does Emilia-TAN really deserve main character privileges??? ...HellLyter was killed by Emilia stans for dissing their best girl because he's STILL not acknowledging her massive growth, or maybe he's just jealous of the amount of focus she's getting. How envious. Ok, I can't deny it, Emilia has really come into her own this season. Did it happen a little abruptly? Sure. Was I still squealing like a schoolgirl when Subaru told her exactly what she needed to hear as White Fox flexed their ability to show them reflected in each others eyes and they, to avoid explicit spoilers, proceeded to do the thing that anime girls falsely believe gets them pregnant? Maybe...b-b-b-but anyway, I definitely appreciate Emilia more as a character this time around. She came to accept her past, present, and potential future, and is now finally being the one who others can rely on. Good stuff. Ok, ok, fine, I'm gonna say it. EMT! EMT! EMT! Of course, there are still some issues with the anime. The biggest one for me personally is the flashbacks. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy a look into the past of characters to garner a better understanding of their history as well as to see why they act the way they do. The showcasing of Subaru's past from part 1 of season 2 was one of my favorite segments in the series. And honestly, these were generally solid flashbacks. Though Emilia's was far and beyond the best and had the most plot significance. My issue is that there were just so many of them, and they occured in sequence with nary a break in between episodes to cover important current events. We get Otto, then Garfiel, then Emilia, then the combo of Beatrice, Roswaal, and Ryuuzu's backstory, and even get a glimpse of Elsa's past. It was ultimately just a bit much, and the tight-knit agglomeration of flashbacks was a microscopic blemish in author Nagatsuki's typically picturesque narrative composition capabilities and...*yawn* ...HellLyter was killed by the boredom induced by his own writing. He didn't really feel like taking the effort to make his content sound exciting or creative, and was just being plain dull and critical here. How slothful. SMOL EMILIA PEOPLE! She was clearly the highlight of all the flashbacks. Sure, there were a lot of them, but they were necessary in developing the colorful and expansive cast. And speaking of development, Emilia has certainly gotten bigger from her loli days. And it only took her like 100 years too. They grow up so fast! Well, technically she was frozen in ice and stuff through most of it, but...wait, Ima put up my no spoilers barricade before I go too far. Anyway, I really enjoyed Emilia's first trial. Seeing Geuse not being a psychotic maniac and actually being a caring individual was refreshing. Plus his dynamic with Mother Fortuna and Emilia was great. Which made the abrupt ending of their happy days that much more heartbreaking. Dem feelz tho. But most importantly, Emilia got stronger through overcoming her past and developed. No, no, I don't mean the getting older and and gaining boing boing kind of development this time! I mean in the character department, and it was a pleasure to watch her grow...because she was just so short in the past, you know? What can I say, Re:Zero continues to dish out high quality content, and I just can't help but want to see where the story goes from here. Seriously, they better announce a season 3. I need MOAR! Also, I better not see anyone hating on this excellent franchise OR ELSE-...HellLyter was killed through his unhealthy and impatient desire to consume more content, and also through his laughably pathetic attempt at threatening those with a different opinion then him. How gluttonous AND wrathful. Alright, alright, I definitely went too f…

The second season amplifies the first's problems while dragging out its story. The Sanctuary arc introduces Echidna as yet another addition to the potential harem, complete with manipulative tea parties that try to be unsettling but end up feeling like another romance flag. Can you imagine drinking someone sperm? No, right? Why would you drink her disgusting stuff. If Subaru took up her contract, it will be If route: Greed, Subaru would died 100 mil times of cheap death which is a viral sound on tiktok. Absolutely lame Emilia yaps more. Despite her supposed power and importance, she constantly needs Subaru's help. Do you feel this is like blind lead blind? Pathetic. Her past trauma but never quite delivers on making her a fully realized character. Beatrice's storyline is weird, she choose to be alone and wait for THE ONE, she can even just die inside the castle BUT subaru has to safe her because she can also become his harem partner. The "choose me" scene aims for emotional impact but leads to awkward parent-child dynamics, just because he choose to save everyone. A 400 years old women stuck in an underage girl's body, he constantly hugging her and hold hand like she is a child. If this not promoting pedophilia behaviour, I don't know what is.

Tldr: set up Echinda as a very interesting character in part 1, realize it’s too complicated to properly write her and instead refocus part 2 on boring shit happening inside a backwater village while also planting seeds for better seasons to come and of course completely killing the pacing of part 2 by doing so. I very much liked the introduction of Echidna into the story in part 1 of season 2. I liked the idea of giving the story a new layer to keep it interesting since we explored the basic premise thoroughly in the previous season. I was hopeful that the powers Echidna brought to the table would help create a new perceptive on how and for whom Subaru should use his power. A clash in ideologically so to speak between her and Subaru. But unfortunately that is not the case and Echidna gets done dirty here. I feel like they cut her out of the story or at least drastically reduced her screen time because writing two morally complex characters having multiple back and froths about their differences in ideologically is way more complicated than having to write Echidna is evil because she is evil. Simply just sidelining her completely also works here as well. It feels to me that they bit off more than they could chew in part 1 by introducing Echidna and therefore tried to fix it in part 2. They made the decision to sideline her in order to put more empathize on what’s happening inside the sanctuary which is fine if the sanctuary would also add to the premise of the show which it doesn’t. We waste most of the season in the sanctuary talking to some very powerful furries and mushroom people. To top that of the clown who played a rightfully small role in the previous season because he isn’t that interesting as a character gets his own story arc here. Personally I don’t watch the show because I’m interested in Roswaal L. Mathers and I don’t think many people are. In fact I know that many people aren’t interested in him since he has been favored by 472 people while Echidna is looking at 4,918. We also see a lot of important events in flashbacks which will presumably become relevant for the story in the next season? Which brings up the question to why have them here if they are not relevant for the main story at all. This makes part 2 feel horribly paced until the part where they leave the sanctuary which is pretty much at the end. Because as we leave the sanctuary behind us the show gets instantly interesting again. This makes the sanctuary feel largely like filler. What a waste of time. They should have cut everything that happens in the sanctuary into like 2 episodes and instead moved on to the interesting stuff but we don’t do that here because we plan to make 15 more seasons with interesting marital worth to make only 5. With the good shit reserved for later seasons and over exploring the stupid backwater, out in the sticks, nobody gives a shit about village that is conveniently cut off from everywhere and everything we are given about 2 out of 12 episodes which are genuinely interesting to watch and drive the story forward in a meaningful way. All in all a waste of time and potential with some tidbits of important information sprinkled across which completely brake the pacing. Season 2 part 2 virtually screamed there will be 15 more seasons so better keep watching because some good shit will happen eventually. Meanwhile here watch this garbage or you won’t understand some things later on. Enjoy. No i am not a Echinda simp it just happend to be that she was the only character introduced in the season who had meanigfull dialog that sticked with me even a year later.

Please note this review is intended to be read by those that have finished watching Re Zero’s second season entirely and while care has been taken to minimize story-related spoilers there may still be spoilers within character analysis. You have been warned. This review has slight spoilers regarding the movie Re: Zero Starting Life in Another World – The Frozen Bond. Based on a popular light novel of the same name Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd season is the second season of the critically acclaimed first season of the series that premiered in the spring of 2016 and allows us the excellent opportunity to once again follow the lives of our heroine the beautiful but stubborn half-elf Emilia and Subaru Natsuki her saviour/would-be knight in shining armour as they upon their return to their home after surviving a deadly attack by the dreaded witch-cult are forced once more to retreat in the face of sudden powerful assaults and forced to seek refuge within the realm known simply as Sanctuary. Though the realm true to its name is one that is a place of refuge for its many inhabitants the realm unknown to them both is also one that holds not just many mysteries regarding the world as Subaru and Emilia see it but also ones that pertain to trials that are linked to the mental struggles that both struggle with deep inside their hearts trials that both must be able to face down and overcome if they wish to triumph over not only the machinations of the witch-cult but also save some of their dearest of friends and allies from the delusions that chain them to the past. Only then will they be able to face down the true challenge of facing down the enmity of the people of a kingdom and try and change their views by the virtue of their deeds. Back in the spring of 2016, the prequel of this season was broadcasted and while the series started off relatively slow gradually got increasingly interesting and tense as the story expanded and more and more characters were introduced that served to create many new fans among its viewers including myself. While on the surface the premise for Re Zero can be said to be a typical Isekai albeit one that features a grand fantasy setting and an extensive array of characters what served to draw my interest to it and ensure that I will be a fan of the series for many years to come is Subaru and Emilia’s shared sense of determination to not only face down the many challenges that bar their way but also learn to master not only the many unique powers and abilities that they wield but also learn to snuff their sense of pride and learn to work effectively with their allies, friends and rivals and face down the bigger picture. This potent combination when used in combination with Emilia and Subaru’s own personal struggles as they sought to find the courage to face down the innermost fears that they hid in their hearts I felt really made that first season unique and helped set the stage for the premiere of the long-awaited second season which not only expanded greatly on the lore of the world but also reveal to us the truth about Subaru’s powers and the truth about the nature of Emilia’s painful past as well. The first episode of the second season I felt was an excellent one that while doing well to welcome us back to the world of Re Zero by reintroducing us to the main cast also served in true Re Zero fashion to create an episode that was easily able to enthrall its fans once more via its skilful usage of the potent combination of sudden attacks by powerful new enemies, overwhelming sense of loss and a sense of overwhelming despair that threatens to once more overcome them a fact that I felt it succeeded easily and ensure that this is a series that I will watch till the very end. Subaru Natsuki Subaru Natsuki portrayed by veteran voice actor Yuusuke Kobayashi of Darwin’s Game and Fuuka fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the primary protagonist of the series. A human being from his earth who after purchasing daily consumables from the local konbini and embarking on his journey home was rather than reaching home safely to continue his life of being a shut-in was instead reincarnated in a brand-new world with a most peculiar ability. In his initial appearances, Subaru was shown to be a kind-hearted, considerate and intelligent person by nature who while preferring to sidestep troublesome problems when encountering them was shown to have an interesting knack for solving them in unexpected ways that will serve to allow the best outcome possible for him and his allies which is perhaps best shown in the alliance that he managed to forge between the Emilia, Crusch and Anastasia camps during the hunt for the white whale and his attempt to break through the long closed-off heart of Garfiel that had been borne out of the mistrust that he had of the outside world that he viewed as being responsible for stealing everything that was dear to him. While these accomplishments showed well his quick thinking nature, determination, and stubbornness to never accept defeat unless all avenues of approach had been attempted this ability to forge bonds and negotiate with others on an innate level also showed well both his bravery at interacting with dangerous characters and situations as well as the loyalty and care that his displays towards his friend's people that he despite wanting nothing more than to live a carefree life with the girl that he loves will ensure that he will do his utmost to help no matter what. As a result of the many trials that Subaru had to face and overcome in the previous season, Subaru was shown to as the series progresses gradually mature both in terms of personality as well as in how he interacts with others. In the beginning of the series Subaru due largely due to the circumstances that surround his arrival in this world was shown to have a degree of selfishness in his actions and indeed was shown to have an innate desire to help others to achieve a sense of self-satisfaction in the progress a fact that served to strain his relationship with Emilia when this becomes apparent. However, as a result of the many struggles that he had managed to overcome over the course of the journey this sense of selfishness was shown to have been largely replaced by a sense of humility and a genuine desire to help those that he sees as genuine friends. At the same time while never completely mastering the sense of fear that comes from facing down both the fearsome foes that bar their path as well as the sense of dread that comes from interacting with the powers that are associated with the feared witches Subaru though still feeling it was shown to be able to control it better and indeed unlike before was shown to be able to not let it dictate his actions and instead be able to bounce back from sudden situations faster and much more effectively than his past selves and in the process be able to provide much more emotional support to his friends and allies when they require it. When used in conjunction with his newly gained traits of humility Subaru as an individual was shown to have become a much more steadfast and reliable person a fact that allows him to easily take centre stage when his allies require his help. However, despite being able to control his fear better Subaru is not immune to the sense of despair that he experiences when facing down terrible enemies and revelations which when used in combination with his reluctance to involve his friends for fear of losing them can have the effect of causing lockup within his psych a fact that is shown well in ep14 within part 2 of the season in which Otto had to remind him sternly what his primary motivation was. Largely as a result of this rather stern lecture from Otto who he initially pegged as a minor supporting character that Subaru was able to realize that in his stubborn desire to protect everyone by himself that he had made the cardinal mistake of …

Season 2 Part 2 is just not redeeming at all. There were so many things that went wrong. (spoilers) Story - 2 I have so many problems with the story, in fact I started keeping a list while I was watching because I just couldn’t believe how many bad things about this show were piling up. But the biggest problem, and maybe root problem, is again, how slow this season was. This entire arc could have easily been cut in half and it would have been much more enjoyable. Now, let me get to some of those problems. Some of these may have been things that occurred in part 1, but were left unresolved in part 2, hence why they are an issue. - There is a small plot point that is introduced and then completely ignored. At one point in season 2, Ram tells Subaru that if he tells Beatrice that “Roswaal asked the question” when he asks her a question, Beatrice will always answer. This scene is a little dramatic, showing some foreshadowing. But then Subaru goes to see Beatrice and... doesn’t use this phrase. Okay. Fine. It will be used later, and was just introduced early. Or maybe forgotten about. Well, then later on in season 2, Roswaal himself tells Subaru the exact same thing, that if he asks Beatrice a question, he can say that Roswaal asked the question and Beatrice will answer him. Again, this has some emphasis put on it. So Subaru goes to see Beatrice, and again... doesn’t use this. And it’s just never talked about again. Like why will Beatrice 100% answer a question if she is told the exact words “Master Roswaal asked the question”? And why is this even brought up if Subaru doesn’t use this? There wasn’t even a scene of Subaru realizing he forgot to say the phrase, or thinking of saying it but deciding not to for some reason. Nope. It’s just brought up TWICE but has no actual significance. This disappointed me because I was really trying to follow along this slow, boring story, and when I do, I see that plot points just disappear. - Why did Puck have to leave Emilia for a while? This didn’t seem to be explained and it was so abrupt, and then Puck just shows up again later and it’s not explained where they even were. - What the heck happened to the royal selection? Please, why would you introduce a part of a plot that included some nice side characters and was involved in the world building, and then just completely wipe it from existence in season 2? - Ram loves Roswaal?? Gosh this is HILARIOUS because when Ram is talking about her love for him, they show some flashback-esque scenes but there are barely any so it’s super short and some of them are repeated... why? Because there was nothing to show! This show has never hinted or shown any type of chemistry between Roswaal and Ram! - Can’t bring myself to care about the Ryuzu plot line no matter how hard I try. All it is is dialogues. And I don’t care. - Satella is the witch that brought Subaru into this whole return by death mess. But she just doesn’t matter. We see her like three times through the whole season and she’s just covered with black clouds and sounds like Emilia. Um, okay? Why can’t we have some dialogue between Subaru and Satella, instead of it always being with Echidna? I’d actually like to learn why Satella likes Subaru and made all of this stuff happen, but I guess she just serves to be spooky. - There is SO much dialogue during literal battles. I’m sitting there watching and it’s like, um, why hasn’t their opponent just killed them yet? Like they are standing their talking to each other while their opponent just... watches? - Emilia’s third trial is that she has to see the bad possibilities of the future. While the other trials took literal episodes, this is don’t in a couple minutes and is so much less dramatic than it could have been. It’s just random voices with tension in them. Oh my gosh, can Emilia fathom that there might not just be happiness in the future?? - By the way, why did Emilia take FOREVER to get through the first two trials?? Like I’m sorry but have you ever dreamed before?? I have dreams about my last and what could have been my present all the time. It is not that difficult to get through, especially since Emilia KNOWS she is in the trials so she knows what’s happening isn’t happening in real time. Emilia loves to talk about how she hates being helpless and wants to be the one to do the saving, but she can’t look at her past. Gosh. - WEREN’T WE GOING TO SAVE REM??? The whole sanctuary arc should have been a side quest, 12 episode max. Why would you open the anime with having Rem be forgotten and Subaru wanting to save her, and then literally never talk about it again for the rest of the season? I understand that maybe this stuff happens later in the manga which hasn’t been animated yet, but then why start off the season as if saving Rem is going to be the main goal? It’s just so disorganized. Also, I should not have to read all the light novels and the next arcs in order to enjoy the anime. Art - 8 I like the art style, it’s as good as usual to me. Sound - 5 I didn’t care for the opening or ending, the soundtrack in general is okay. A bit less repetitive than season 2 part 1 which I like. Characters - 4 Ryuzu is not likeable, neither is Garfield. However, I do like Otto and Petelgeuse. I actually love them. Their stories are so nice and they are just great characters. Then we have bland old Emilia. You know it’s bad when you show the backstory of a character, and it only makes me care/love the characters that I just met within her backstory - aka Fortuna and Petelgeuse. WHERE IS FELT??? A character I liked! And it seemed like she wasn’t just going to be a part of arc 1, because she showed up in the royal selection. I really wish she had at least some part in this season. I have no idea how someone could have made the decision to take out the character that viewers love the most, when a HUGE complaint about the anime itself is about how bland/bad the other characters are. Of course, I am talking about Rem here. If Rem had been in this season, it would have been so much better. But no, she had to be taken out because the writer accidentally made Rem a better match for Subaru than Emilia. Enjoyment - 5 While the story has a boatload of problems, the mansion scenes are kind of fun to watch. I liked the flashbacks for Emilia that involved Fortuna and Petelgeuse. I liked when Petra awkwardly asked her friend, now enemy, to please let her go, and later stuck her tongue out at her when she got away. That was actually one of the best moments of the show, and that says a lot. Overall - 4 While Re:zero season 2 part 2 was entertaining in some parts, the story is just so slow and terrible and many of the characters are still bad, mostly the MAIN characters which is a big problem. This was a mess.

I already made a review on Part 1 of Season 2. Most of the things I said in it not only still hold true for Part 2, I think it even surpasses them. There might be some spoilers from Season 1 and Season 2 Part 1 but I'll try to keep Part 2 spoilers as vague as possible. After a 3 month-long break White Fox returns with their Re:ZERO adaptation. The cliffhanger of the last Part was a bit odd and you could kinda tell that Part 1 & 2 were supposed to air back to back. I would've preferred to review both Parts together as a complete season as they complement each other and I also didn't want to repeat myself on some things. But obviously, it couldn't be helped considering the state of the world. I guess now it doesn't matter since Part 2 is here anyway and has finished airing. Now the actual review. The first thing I want to get out of the way was the lackluster animation of the previous Part. Since animation switched from studio to home after Episode 5 of Part 1 the quality noticeably took a dip. After the 3 month break, the animation actually improved. Honestly, I'm even more shocked that White Fox was capable of delivering 29:30 minutes long episode for weeks on end. Apparently, Kadokawa paid off ads so that Re:ZERO could fill up the entire time slot for the TV channels it was airing on Japan. I haven't been watching anime for too long but something like this is basically unheard of to me. So I thought this deserves some praise. There are still some weird frames here and there but their numbers are low compared to the last part. Those awkward frames don't take away from the enjoyment too much as the quality holds up in places where it matters the most. Episode 23 "Love Me Down to My Blood and Guts" and Episode 24 "Choose Me" are by far the highlights of Season 2. And this wouldn't be possible if not for outsourcing partners such as A-1 or ufotable studios. Once again, the OP and ED have only been played twice each. So when I said 29:30 minute episodes it means that most of them were actually pure content. White Fox easily could've sacrificed pacing and shove OP and ED in every episode but they didn't. Anyone who watched this season would tell you that their passion for this show is genuine, and I can get behind that. The ED visuals were fantastic, OP visuals were a bit lackluster according to many but I'm shocked that we got an OP at all, to be honest. Since I was talking about OPs and EDs I might as well start talking about the OST. As I said before, music has always been good in Re:ZERO. Do I really gotta say any more? Well, like it or not, I'm gonna. Even though there was a lack of OP/ED visuals in most episodes we still got to hear some of them in the background. And the most notable instances for them were definitely during the Emilia episodes and "Choose Me". I can't talk about OST without mentioning 'Door' by Rie Takahashi and 'What You Don't Know' by Rie Murakawa. Both of them delivered fantastic performances for their insert songs <3 If you haven't watched Part 2 yet and don't know who the latter is, you're in for a surprise. The last bits of "Love Me Down to My Blood and Guts" parallels Episode 18 of Season 1 "From Zero" in many different ways. I just wish Arai Satomi got an insert song too :( The overall OSTs were also phenomenal. You're doing yourself a disservice if you watch the episodes without a nice pair of headphones! But something that was even more amazing was the cast's portrayal of their characters. Once again Yusuke Kobayashi knocks it out of the park with his performance. But his and Maaya Sakamoto's highlights were mostly in Part 1. In this part, we got an amazing portrayal from Rie Takahashi and her voicing various transformations of Emilia which I'm trying hard to not spoil! Other notable performances include Arai Satomi as Beatrice and Takehito Koyasu as Dio- I mean Roswaal. Let's talk about the characters. I strongly believe that Re:ZERO isn't a plot-driven but a character-driven show. The plot revolves around the characters and the characters revolve around the plot. If you can't really see their relation then you might not be able to appreciate the true genius of Re:ZERO. Re:ZERO puts its characters first above all else and that's where the heart of this series lied since Day 1. The character development of Emilia is undoubtedly the highlight of the Season. She went from a mostly off-screen "main" character from Season 1 to a useless pathetic crybaby in Part 1 of Season 2 to one of the most beloved and memorable characters in a short time with organic development. She has definitely cemented herself as one of the two leading characters of Re:ZERO (finally)... but whether or not she's "THE best girl" is still up for debate, according to some folk anyway. Subaru went from a useless pathetic crybaby (like Emilia) to one of the chaddest of chads in no time as well. Anyone who unironically used to call him a "self-insert main character", "weak mc" or a "simp" (despite Re:ZERO predating the term ironically) is literally proven wrong by the 2nd episode and again in the last two episodes. Even I used to think Subaru was somewhat of a self-insert main character while watching Season 1. But he has successfully established himself to be his own character which is something very rare to see in modern isekai shows. If your definition of "strength" exclusively relies upon physical strength then I can see why you'd still say those things and completely miss the point of the characters. Again, Re:ZERO isn't a typical shonen d@#k measurement contest about which characters can bust the largest nut like let's say in Dragonballz. It's not an action, power fantasy isekai harem show either. (sorry for the random rant) That being said there was a surprising bit of action in the last few episodes which were well-animated. Other highlighted characters of the season include Otto (BEST BOI), Garfiel (dammit, both Otto and Garfiel best boi), Roswaal, Ram (best girl?), Beatrice (also best girl) and many other characters whom I might not mention because of spoilers. Re:ZERO isn't about its waifus, nor is it about torture porn for sadists. It's about the characters. Even if you can't fully invest in all of the characters, you should still be able to acknowledge their growth at the very least. If Part 1 was about the buildup, then Part 2 is about the delivery, and boy does it deliver. The tension is at an all-time high but not in the same way as Part 1. After the first episode, and ESPECIALLY after the 2nd episode, you get the gist of what's to come and you can't help but smile and still be surprised as things play out. Re:ZERO Season 1, and by extension Part 1 of Season 2 covered the worst qualities of the protagonist Subaru. Not many shows have the balls to address the weaker aspects of their main character, at least not in the way Re:ZERO does. Part 1 also dealt with Emilia, but if Part 1 was Subaru's part then Part 2 is Emilia's. She's the second main character of Re:ZERO. It was unfortunate that Season 1 didn't focus more on her, leaving Rem to take up all the spotlight after the first half of Season 1. But now Rem being in the state she is in not only leaves the door open for Subaru's growth but also Emilia's. To some people that might've been a terrible sacrifice but to me who never really watched the first season solely for Rem it's actually worth it. I don't think I made it clear in my last review cause of spoilers so I think I should now, Rem's exclusion from the main plot of Season 2 isn't a weakness. Too many people before Season 2 used to say, "Subaru's RBD is too OP", "it's not an interesting power", "it's a plot device which ruins the story and makes it boring" etc. Rem's comatose state and Subaru's inability to save her right away expose the fundamental flaws of his RBD, something that can be called a curse. It's not his own power and he certainly can't control it, he never could. By repeating loops we can see sides of characters …

Re:Zero has a dialogue problem, which is an issue for a series that's largely made up of planning, discussing and reflecting. I wanted to like Re:Zero, I found that a lot of the major plot beats were fun, it leveraged its own premise effectively, and there was obviously a lot of consideration put into both the characters and the world they live in. By isekai standards, it's still one of the better shows, and it clearly aspires to greater things, which is probably why the rough character writing feels so notable. Unfortunately, the way almost everyone speaks is stiff, overwrought, melodramatic, uncomfortable, inorganic and borderline alien. None of these characters feel like real people, which is, again, a problem for a series with themes that revolve around personal growth and becoming a well-adjusted, complete person. A list of gripes in no particular order: Most of the characters are very "anime". they all fit an archetype. It's clear the show aims to subvert your expectations for these archetypes but the moment to moment interactions remain grating throughout the entire show. Emelia, Rem and Ram, Elsa, Puck, Garfiel, Beatrice I suppose. Almost every character. Tsubaru will at times say things that are awkward and nonsensical on multiple levels, such as speaking of a past life while saying something anachronistic, being far too familiar with characters, or saying a 10-20 word sentence that should have been 2-5. It often feels like internal dialogue that he just says out loud. At best this will get a brief acknowledgement, but often goes unnoticed. A normal response would be "what the **** is wrong with you". Half of his dialogue would be appropriately responded to with "what the **** is wrong with you". Many might say that this was intentional, and Tsubaru is just supposed to be very weird and immature. Unfortunately, a lot of other characters are also awkward, and as time goes on, its clear that everyone acting nonplused by Tsubarau, mixed with his continued awkwardness suggests this is just how the author writes. Characters will make "jokes" that are not jokes, they're at best observations or canned phrases, other characters will laugh and act as though a joke was told, when there's practically nothing to laugh at. The banter is typically two characters saying canned phrases back and forth. Zero charm, lack of brevity, just overall uncomfortable to behold. Everyone feels as though they're written by the same person. Ricardo, the beast man captain, is a great example of this. He's clearly meant to have an aggressive, overbearing personality. Good natured, but scary. He, at one point, while waiting to fight the white whale, says something to the effect of "Let's get going or when I get back my old lady will be old and gray". and then says "awww come on, that was my best joke" which then gets a laugh. That just sounds like something Tsubaru would say, it's also not funny. It's never funny. The funniest part of the show was noticing that Garfiel turns into a big orange cat. The emotional scenes are extremely repetitive, and everything is overstated. There are some core nuggets to many conversations that are good, but they're often wrapped up in inane and unsubtle dialogue. The series clearly lacks confidence in its own ideas and in its audience. A better anime, decent novel or typical HBO show would convey the quailty of ideas at play here without really spelling out any of them through use of direction, metaphor, setting, plot, character details. By being so explicit, it ironically undermines itself. You're spoonfed character intentions and feelings, and then given several more spoonfuls after you're already full. If you look at shows like Sonny Boy, Odd Taxi or the Apothecary Diaries, it's like night and day. Even shows like To Your Eternity or Ranking of Kings, which can often wear their heart on their sleeve, feels leagues ahead of Re:Zero in terms of refinement and subtlety. Hell, I've been watching another isekai with my kid, it's called Amphibia, it's a kid's show about a girl that gets transported to a frog world. I think it might actually do a better job. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with occasionally making subtext into text, but Re:Zero does this so gratuitously, and with such saccharine or dramatic delivery, that it makes you feel almost nauseated. Another major gripe is that, while sometimes characters act in line with their established personalities, other times it's very clear they do or don't do things to move the plot forward in a way that suits the author's intentions. Sometimes a character will do something odd just so they learn a lesson or have a nice character moment later. By trying to flesh out the characters this way, you actually undermine their integrity. Tsubaru especially very rarely asks the normal questions to ask at the appropriate time. His intellect also varies wildly based on convenience. This mostly feels like a series written by a socially awkward individual who is going through a period of self-discovery, and is learning a lot of valuable life lessons, such as self-worth, humility, working smarter not harder, authenticity, people are not the picture in your head, etc. Unfortunately, that hasn't really improved their social aptitude, and as a result everything still feels like a parody of normal human interaction. To sum it up: it's cringe The animation is also mediocre this season, which definitely hurts the watchability. I considered giving it a 7, but I was honestly just not enjoying myself by the end.

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Part 2 I like Re Zero, it's an anime that I would love to see multiple seasons of. It's interesting and can be very compelling despite its flaws. HOWEVER, I don't think Re Zero is a good anime. The concept is interesting and has great potential, but the author is not able to use it efficiently. As a result, a lot of character development potential is wasted, in this part, for example, it would be Echidna. I still don't understand what her presence in the series is for and why she was degraded from an interesting character to a comedy character. Or why they should have dragged this arc to 25 episodes. Re Zero is a fluctuating series between bad and good, which sadly leaves me sad. That being said, it has enough strengths to win me and many fans of the series over. Unfortunately, this is not enough to pass as a good series. This season finally wraps up Emilia's character development and clarifies her past. And I did like it, it was delivered decently. Not just why she is the way she has been. But also what her fears reflected. The fact that she is now becoming more like Suberu is just a chef's kiss in my eyes. I love it when characters behave realistically. That loving couple copying each other is something perfectly normal and beautiful. I haven't seen something like that in anime and manga in ages, where the female protagonist has realistic personality traits. Likewise, Subaru impressed me as a character over and over again. Unfortunately, I didn't like how he kept switching from depressed to super heroic. The transition from that was always a bit weak. Likewise, this entire arc finally wraps up here with a passable ending. I honestly expected more in terms of how the arc came to its climax. It was satisfying, but significantly weaker than in season 1. [Conclusion 5] I don't want to accuse the author of too much. With Re Zero he created something really interesting, but sadly he also wasted an awful lot of potential. And didn't try to make up for the constant mistakes. However, since it was enough for me, I'm more than satisfied. [Enjoyment 7]

Re:Zero is a masterpiece of storytelling that is about nuanced characters. Despite many clever ways to grow the characters always suffered from Return by Death's erasure of narrative. The story is done masterfully. The new details create parallels to the past, making you rethink everything about Re:Zero. The liberation of Sanctuary is the center of the story, its execution is delightful. Constant threats are always held, making the escape of Sanctuary feel exhilarating. I loved emilias backstory, garfiels backstory, and ottos backstory. The whole cour is amazing. Seeing Subaru's actions fall into place is unforgettable. Overall I would give this season a 10/10.

TLDR: Don't bother unless you've read the source material first. It doesn't take much for me to like anime. I'm not one of those pretentious individuals who demands top-tier animation or prize-winning stories to leave a decent review. I've enjoyed everything from Monogatari to DxD to NGE to 'In Another World with My Smartphone'! So it came as a bit of a shock that something as well received as Re:Zero would be so disappointingly unfulfilling. To be fair, S1 started out reasonably well with a decent experience across all the factors that make an anime good.. animation, art, sound, directing, music, pace & plot. You we're left at the end of S1 with the distinct impression there was so much more to the story to look forward to in S2. So what went wrong? Well to put it simply, S2 is written, produced and directed for the hardcore fanbase. It relies heavily on viewers to have an established understanding of things that can only be known from reading the source material. Scenes are confusing in their presentation and frequent hopping back and forth between events make it extremely hard to follow. References are frequently made to events or individuals that are never covered or further digressed upon. Motivations and decisions are confusing in their presentation carrying unseen and unexplained significance. Comedic interjections are poorly placed and very out of place. The constant shouting (by Subaru) used to emphasize emotion is frankly just lazy and really starts to grate. Above all however, the excessive laboured expositions and lengthy diatribes on important matters, whilst work well in written format just don't play out as well in the anime. The choice to include so many for so long plays squarely to the fans who've read the material and are hungry for certain scenes. However for anime-only viewers, the frequency gets so tiresome you find yourself no longer emotionally invested or at worst outright bored. At the end of all this having lost a large chunk of interest, you're left with a large expanded story and many more plot threads that leave you feeling confused, dissatisfied and with many questions. With nothing but derision awaiting for being ‘oblivious’ should you venture into the fanbase forums, the best advice I can give in hindsight is to read the source material first. This anime is by the fans, for the fans, and as the more positive reviews demonstrate a much richer experience awaits if you go into it well armed with a decent understanding beforehand.

Re;zero WAS, sorta, this show with some great qualities, action, growth, evil witches, despair, loss of hope, but also rebirth of hope. All that good mumbo jumbo gumbo and what not. But now its a harem with friends instead of waifus. If you asked me if I wanted to re-watch this show I'd tell you that I'd re-watch it re-zero times! The conversations in this show are so cheesingly overly complicatedly bad and shamelessly written that the very love interest of suburu himself, who is Amelia thinks that babies come from kissing each other. - This is a great analogy for every other shallow conversation that takes place. - Also that was easily an entire 5 minute conversation between the two of them over something,,, really stupid truthfully. Suburu also gets some great character development, if you call development the fact that he learned a new pokemon attack like gengar the ghost pokemon when he totally boner punches a purple hand from his chest to a dude with an X on his face and radical past, his name is Tinsel, Garfiel - and he was taken in by these clones, one is named - Shima, Ryuzu - and they're just there to give you past plot advice and garfiel is just there to abuse these clones as a misunderstood orphan child so he can get character development. Why does Garfiel need this development? - I don't know, because it was never used. I guess we're waiting until next season so moving on with this review, like this show moved right on along without doing anything with that. Yeah that purple hand by the way, you know the one right? The witche of ENVY'S purple hand that was tormenting him and feeling him up? Squeezing his heart! And threatening his life! - Yeah! Its on his side now! Along with a slow simmering and new found witch harem on our hands. This plot man, I'm telling you, its gets so deep and revelating, I can't even begin to fathom how much greatness you'll witness! Yeah, so anyways. The evil guy who looks like he's gonna put on a terrible magic show, Romanée-Conti, Petelgeuse - whatever kind of name that is - is evil for most of these episodes and then all of a sudden out of no where is apparently no longer evil at some point - this isn't really a spoiler - because you won't know when he's good, he goes from good to evil about twenty times. I mean if you don't think this guy is bipolar as shit by the end of this season, were you really ever watching it? And anyways, why did he become good? Well, its the same reason why everyone else becomes good this season. Its all because Suburu said some things to him and now he's a brainwashed minion of the main character. - Suburu is like kirito levels of god mode this season without doing anything godmode except giving pet talks and listening to their feelings, because he inspires everyone and turns evil people good and pure evil people are no match for him so they just get defeated when need be. I mean really this is sword art online with extra steps people! Then the rest of the show can basically be summed up Every single character you don't really care about - goes to the temple sanctuary and completes a trial - usually they suffer abuse or have been tricked and they have to learn how to cope with the evil of the world. What is truly amazing is how this is somehow an entire sub plot to the main plot and the writer totally forgets about blue haired rem whose in a comma and almost never seen this entire season, but pink haired ram gets some screen time as a possible, idk, she was either attempting to join in on the fun of Suburus friendly harem of sorts, or trying to be some type of supporting character? Really every one is just support for suburu, good or bad, they are here for suburu to act like a bitch then for themselves to act worse to make an already terrible main character, aka suburu, look better. I feel like I'm trying to write a car add with this guys name - eitherway the story this season gets like a 5 for effort. I don't hate it but I don't love it. Characters get a 2; Because I've grown to hate them, they have this sense of something interesting going on but the biggest issue is that its all padding, all they do is talk about the plot and then never show the plot except for some still frames and a rare fight or two - most of it is just talk talk talk, exposition and all that. - Have you seen the new reincarnated as a slime season? If not I won't spoil it, but it does the same thing, talking but never showing, so does some seasons of attak on titan, - especially season 3 - with a buncha talking, and like 30 seconds of the actual fight showed that they spent the last 15 minutes talking about. This show gives you twenty minute conversations with 4 minutes worth of showing you something they're actually talking about that matters besides the woods or the background of a house where they're at, just so, they can sit there and tell us what's happening, simply tell us, with a rare spice of rarely ever showing it. - Only when we are lucky enough, or they're not lazy enough, do we get to see it in reality. Actually its deeper, the padding is so strong with this one! Its like a force, that you can't even see! - That even when something happens! It just doesn't matter! - Because the story is still on this sanctuary side quest - that has nothing to do with the main storyline. - Amelia and Suburu do go further with their relationship i think is part of the goal of this season, but with them barely talking most episodes, why not skip all the damn filler and just develop it already. - Because half of the conversations feel forced and the ones that don't actually don't really have anything to do with their relationship besides them half assedly complimenting each other or arguing, - I mean that's not development unless we're counting fake development because whoever is too lazy to write something meaningful so lets fill it with slogs worth of padded dialogue that amounts to something that moment but 90%-95% of the time it matters to nothing else ever again. Someone said season 1 was 9 volumes and season 2 is 3 volumes. - And you know, they're right about another thing they said, I actually hate this show... - and i never thought I'd really have to say this either... - I hate it for being a faithful adaption... Its so boring its so slow its so much of all these things happening while nothing is really ever happening that matters - and that's why I hate it! I thought sword art online or fire force was shallow and empty and void of a real meaning or goal, but I'll be damned if this didn't just trump ALLLLLL of those shows at their own game!... How the hell did it comes to this? - I don't know... But another thing I thought I'd never say is that - these 25 episodes could of simply been 12 and it would of been twice as damn good.... OVERALL; 2 Overall that is the entire show, forgive your enemies, make them your friends, bulldoze down plots and previous set story lines with plot armor and story mound bulldozers and you get this. - A perfect main character, who acts like a total bitch, gives a bunch of meaningless pet talks to every other character in the show, even ones he never talks to again - and talks that no one in their right mind would ever truly listen to - and then with their combined friendship they he forces upon them like a needy fish - they move on with the story. What story you wonder? We won't know! Not till season 3! hahahahaha = FULL BLOWN SCARCASM I mean really, I've tried not to hate this show, it once had some thrill, gore, good action and an interesting plot, but as I've watched this entire season twiddle away at everything its done.... Completely turning its entire premise on its head. Which could of been a great plot twist, its just handled so boring and drawl that its not. - That I just have no choice but to hate it at this point And that's all I have to say... I'm left with disappointment.... A very upset God-Of-Wolves is done for the day, because anime this year, has …

This shit garbage no cap, even fairy tail is better than it. Bitch, moan, cry, talk, talk, talk, bitch, moan, cry, more empty dialogue and speech whilst crying - rinse, repeat. The only people who like this have to be 12 years old. SAD! I had a better time watching 10 hours of lectures on environmental policy than I did watching this abysmal show that has a completely terrible story. Painful. noga furereru, my boy betelguese was right... this show will make your brain melt. Back to fairy tail for me, I'm sorry I ever doubted you Natsu. Pain. Give me a panadol, vaccinate me with autism because I would rather live with that than knowing that I watched this show. 0/1000. I am having trouble breathing after watching it. I have now been diagnosed with clinical depression and asthma. ETERNAL SUFFERING.

Worst season of the show by far. In the previous season, we were stuck trying to figure out why people in their memories. As such, I was looking forward to diving into this season seeing that this is an enemy many were looking to understand. What a fucking bummer. We spend the whole season stuck in "The Sanctuary" with some unbelievably terrible pacing. Each episode being 30 minutes long did not fucking help because we were stuck in one scene for the whole episode if not multiple. The characters just whine and scream and cry and repeat. An endless genjutsu I never want to experience again.