Re:Zero: A fresh take on the "endless eight"

Re:Zero is an isekai anime where a Japanese shut-in named Subaru is transported without explanation to a fairly generic magical world. However, the unique element in this series is that our main character is actually trapped in a time loop. Each time Subaru dies, he is magically whisked back to a previous point in time to try the day (or week) over again. This continues until he manages to get through a given event without letting himself or any of the other major characters die. Then he will spent several episodes fighting through the next time loop.

The series is essentially a romantic dramedy since almost all of Subaru's actions are motivated by his love for Emilla the female lead.

The series is actually pretty engaging as it juxtaposes some bright colors and tones with truly gory death scenes each time Subaru screws up. The animation is great and the soundtrack is pretty good. In point of fact I picked this series up because I learned that the composer was the same one who scripted Puella Madoka Magicka and Sword Art Online among others.

The time loop has some interesting effects on characterization as well. Since each loop he is essentially meeting the characters for the first time, there are a lot of opportunities to see how they would treat him under different circumstances. Friends can become enemies and enemies can become friends.

Most of the minor characters are actually interesting and engaging, the series's largest stumbling block is with its main cast. Time loop shows are always difficult to script because the main character essentially needs to carry the series all on his own; other characters suffer from little development due to the way their lives and story arcs constantly reset.

Sadly while Subaru is initially a fairly likeable unlikely hero, by the middle of series he's testing the audience's patience. Subaru takes a long time to grow out of his selfish behavior and live up to his proclamations that he wants to help people. Subaru's really a coward for most of the series. That's not unusual for an unlikely hero but Subaru is effectively immortal. His deaths are extremely painful to him but never permanent. Subaru constantly worries that he may not resurrect if he dies again which may be realistic for a person to think in this situation but after the sixth or seventh death and resurrection, the audience isn't buying it anymore.

We never see any sign that the time resets and resurrections are a finite resource. Subaru's desperate attempts to spare himself from these deaths just seem foolish and selfish. He suffers numerous nervous breakdowns that we as the audience have a hard time emphasizing with because, again, he's immortal and as traumatic it might be to suffer and die or watch his friends suffer and die, he appears to have an unlimited number of do-overs.

Beyond that, because of the time loop mechanic while we sometimes feel sorry for Subaru and the others, we're never actually worried about them. We know if things go wrong, they'll just reset and try again so the scenes seldom have any real tension in them.

Subaru is also fairly childish and immature for most of the series. When he thinks Emilia is being ill treated by the nobles, he steps up claiming to be her knight (without discussing it with her first AND breaking a promise to her to stay out of this extremely important conversation with the court).

This scene is painful to watch because not only can Subaru not fight in any way (and so he simply gets beaten to a pulp by the real knight who challenges him for illegally proclaiming that he himself is a knight) but he's actually sabotaging Emilia's chances by embarrassing her in front of the court. He's not assisting Emilia, he's just trying to do something big and impressive 'for' her in the hopes of getting her to like him. This scene establishes Subaru as childish and self-entitled as the series makes clear that he's not even fooling himself that this is for Emilia's benefit as opposed to his own. After getting beaten senseless for no gain and damaging Emilia's position, he goes on to demand that she feel some affection for him since he did this 'for her.'

This moment really establishes the moment Subaru crosses the line from unlikely hero to unlikable hero. Subaru does become more heroic later in the season but it's a major error to make the audience this disgusted with your protagonist for any length of time.

Eventually Subaru does man up and become more of a heroic character by the end of the series. He manages to save the day by using his brain and by organizing people to help him rescue Emilia and he openly proclaims his love for her in a mature way. However this brings me to Emilia who is the other real problem with Re:Zero.

Emilia is some cute waifu bait but she's basically the generic Elven princess you meet in every fantasy setting. She's kind, patient, brave, dedicated to helping others and....that's about it.

She has little personality and that's a real problem for a series that is using the relationship between Subaru and Emilia as the main way to drive the plot.

We don't understand why Subaru falls in love with her, except that she's pretty. With the series trying to pitch this as a great legendary romance, we as the audience need to understand why he fell in love with her. We need to see what traits she has that he so adores and why he adores her for possessing them.

If you want to see a good example as how this is done right, watch Toradora.

(Off topic I know but I will never not share that meme)

Toradora is probably the best anime romantic comedy out there right now and it does a great job focusing on how relationships are built and what makes us chose a given partner. It goes into the differences between crushes and actual romances and it comes up with some satisfying answers. As Toradora puts it: "Adoration never leads to a stable relationship."

A good piece of general advice for writing romances is this: Love at first sight is boring. Loving someone is an active choice, not just a blast of hormones, and we as the audience need to see why Subaru has chosen to try and build a life around Emilia. If we are to root for them to overcome enormous odds and get together, we need to see why this relationship is special. This isn't just a requirement of star-crossed romances. Any relationship worth its salt has to be special to the people inside of it at least.

Maybe Subaru, who by his own admission has wasted most of his life doing nothing, is inspired by Emilia's commitment to helping others. Maybe this wakes a deep seated need in him to also be live a more meaningful life and to help people who are suffering. Maybe Subaru is a coward who is finally inspired to become the kind of person he never thought he could be by Emilia's example. Any of these would be a reasonable foundation for this overwhelming admiration he claims to feel for Emilia (if not necessarily a good foundation for a long term relationship) but the series never delves into what he DOES love about Emilia. Does she remind him of someone? Do they share a common activity that they enjoy? Is there something about her he thinks is wonderful? None of this is explored and it makes the love he claims to feel for Emilia seem superficial and contrived.

All in all, Re:Zero really was a great show although the middle section drags a lot. I binge watched it in two days. Definitely worth a try.

Final Score: 8/10