Let's have a moment of silence as an appreciation for the incredible events in the final episode of Re:Zero, one of the greatest possible ways to end a season.
I love Re:zero so much and enjoy it, that I'm ready to write an essay on this site just to help more people enjoying it, which is something I never did for any other series, so I thought that I will write my reasons here and answer some of the popular negative opinions about this show. So if you are looking in the reviews to see whether you watch it or not, trusting the words of a random MAL account, then yes you need to watch it. And here are my reasons:
"It's a story well thought out and at every corner, there's a new mystery that drags you in. One thing that I really like is that it's hard to predict what's going to happen, there are so many twists and turns in Re:Zero.
Just as in previous seasons, the art is on point and is in my opinion some of the best we have ever seen. Everything from the world itself to the characters and everything in between.
VAs are extremely talented and passionate, this is really one of the most impressive parts of the anime.
I enjoy every second of each episode, there's always something going on that keeps you on edge, jumping from sheer joy or just crying." -Zynapse
the characters are all real, they won't worship the protagonist when he's being selfish and naïve and disrespectful and rude (as most anime side characters do, in one way or another, directly or indirectly), they scold him when he misses and tell him his size, they don't just say: "It's Ok to be dumb and rude with higher people, as long as you unlock your secret powers and beat the bad guys". The protagonist learns a lesson from each incident he faces and grows.
Re:Zero isn't the type of story that reveals all of it's cards from the beginning, it has a lot of major mysteries that will be answered later at the end of the journey, while dealing with minor ones throughout the trip, but even with this high amount of mysteries, the story doesn't solely rely on discovering these mysteries to keep you interested, both the journey and the unknown for now goal are extremely interesting, engaging and entertaining. And you will never feel bored.
The story has a lot of hints and small details that foreshadow future events that you might not see until the ending or near it, which shows you how coherent the story is, and that the author isn't milking the story with new ideas out of nowhere just to extend it, but actually planned most of it perhaps before even beginning to write it.
Also, it doesn't rely at all on fanservice to get attention (Unlike most of the fantasy stories); the fanservice is 100% absent, there aren't any nudity scenes or Ped_ph_lia jokes (Unlike most of the Japanese fantasy stories), the female characters are all well-written and they aren't just some cheap fanservice material, the male characters aren't a bunch of degenerate pervs who can't control their desire to throw some heavy s_x jokes (or worse) every five mins (Which is usually used as a plot device from the typical fantasy writers just to bring the reader back to the wish-fulfillment escapism and nudity).
The gore is usually censored and not that detailed, and in the first place, Re:Zero is a light novel, which means it doesn't have that many illustrations, and no one reads the light novel just to say: "OMG! I can't wait to see that gory chapter in the anime form"; because it's not confirmed to have a sequel; so you can't say that people read/watch Re:Zero for the blood and the gore or the shock factor; because it's just a description using words. If not, then the light novel won't sell as much as it does, and the fans will only wait for the anime.
One of the main criticisms about Re:Zero, is that it's not an original idea or a story with an original premise; since it's not the first Isekai (being transported to another world) story, and if it had a time-travel twist, then it's not the first time travel story, and we won't even know if it's a time travel story until probably the finale, if it had gore then it's not the first to be gory, and so on. And I can't argue with facts; the web novel of Re:Zero started at the beginning of 2012, and there was enough material for three seasons and a half before the anime aired. Understood?
<< ANIME SPOILER ALERT>>
Three seasons and a half before the anime; so don't make silly jokes like: "The author cut Rem out of the show just to force Emilia X Subaru", or that "The author saw after the anime that Rem became popular but he prefers Emilia so he tried to shift the spotlight from Rem to Emilia", etc. The web novel had already established Rem's disappearance, along with the whole plot for multiple seasons ahead before Rem became popular due to the anime. Some people really believe in this, skim the 1-point reviews in this section.
But I think that the realism of the story is paying off for the non-original premise, both the dialogues and the interactions between the characters are one of the closest in anime, to our real life, they don't use some characters as a plot device to explain how amazing is the author, and explain the whole plot of an arc using the mouth of one of the characters, which definitely takes the viewers out of the story to remember that it's just a story written by an author who tries to impress the readers/viewers by how amazing they arranged their story behind the scenes.
Unlike that, in Re:Zero, the story doesn't even try to impress you by what's going on behind the scenes; it both drops the questions and answers them casually and make very interesting parallels between multiple events and characters. That casual attitude is the reason why a lot of the consumers who don't pay close attention, might underestimate its depth.
But that casual attitude is one of the highlights and the advantages that separate Re:Zero from any other story in the eyes of the people who realize it; because it's closer to our real life that we don't get an answer without searching for it, and paying very close attention (rather than being explicitly shown to our screens as a flashback or an info card), also because I feel like this attitude flexes on the other stories that just try to impress the consumer.
Unlike the majority of the brilliant stories that are usually cursed to be relatively very short, Re:zero will be a very long series, so far the anime has covered less than the third of the overall story; the author has stated that the story will consist of 11 arcs total, and season 2 is the fourth one only; so please restrain from accusing one of the seasons to have unsolved mysteries; because the finale is nowhere near where the anime is right now, and everything either already got explained or eventually will. Approximately, if fully animated, Re:Zero can reach around 200 Eps from the main storyline alone, and it gets better every arc (I have no reason to lie).
Not to mention that the author wrote multiple timelines called the (IF routes) named after the deadly sins, (Pride IF, Greed IF, Wrath IF, etc.) that explore what happens to the main cast if a certain incident was handheld in a different way from the main path.
<If stories synopsis>
i.g: (Sloth IF), it's the longest IF story, it explores what would happen if Rem agreed to run away with Subaru in (EP18) and travel to (Kararagi) rather than rejecting him as in the main route, probably can be adapted in a 12eps series, (Pride IF): explores what will happen if Subaru joined the witch's cult as the sin archbishop of pride rather than joining the Emilia faction. Aside from the IF stories, there are tons of side stories and 4 EX volumes that can be adapted into OVA's or movies or specials.
However, unlike the majority of the long and the very long stories, the more the story progresses, the more the significance Re:Zero's beginning holds, which is a common feature, only the short masterpieces share. The story doesn't have to end with a time-travel twist to remind you how important the beginning is; let me explain:
We know that Subaru, the main character, has the power of returning by death, but what's exactly return by death is? In mins (21:29) of (EP38) Roswaal refers to it as an "Authority", and we know that the authorities resemble the (9) deadly sins, so what authority does RBD resemble? It's implied in (EP34) that it has a connection with Envy. And from where did Subaru get it? In (EP25) the holder of the Sloth witch factor (Peteleguese) died, and in (EP41) Subaru could use the authority of Sloth (the unseen hand), and in the very first episode, both Emilia and Subaru died in the loot house, and in the same episode he started to use return by death. So, could it be that just like how Subaru absorbed the sloth witch factor after the death of Petelguese, he also absorbed the envy witch factor from Emilia's dead body in (EP1)? If that so, then could it be that Emilia had the Envy witch factor without knowing about its existence; because she never died? Or was she returning by death the entire time before she met Subaru and he took it from her? Well, maybe. But the point is that the beginning's importance increased as the story progressed:[ after (EP41)], and it will keep increasing in the future seasons.
This is what separates Re:Zero from the "mediocre" or just "excellent" stories, it's one of the few series that forces you to use your brain and theorize, otherwise you will feel lost, not a lot of series can do this without looking like it's events were forced, or arranged by an author. And if it was just an "excellent" story, or just a "very good" long story, then the deeper we dive into the story, the less significant the beginning becomes, unlike in Re:Zero; thus even though the story isn't finished yet, you can't blame the people who consider Re:Zero a candidate to become a masterpiece once it proves itself when it finishes.
And that's why I usually recommend people to rewatch Re:Zero and they usually change their minds after that; so you better do that since it's an anime with so many timelines that you might forget the real one or might not catch some of the easter eggs and foreshadowings on the first watch.
But if you don't want to, or perhaps rewatched it and you still have some issues that need to be addressed, then please continue to read ahead:
The negative opinions:
-Subaru's character
A\"The main character is a deeply flawed person and I don't like to watch the journey of this kind of character, he ruined the story for me"
OR
B\ "He begins as a flawed character and I can tolerate with that if he changes but he never changes"
OR
C\"His character growth happens and then when another arc begins he goes through everything again so it's a repeated growth which is boring."
Subaru's character growth is so realistic (not slow), maybe he begins as a flawed person, but he changes. Keep watching. One of the main reasons why I love this series is Subaru's character, I'm very glad he didn't go through the (evil transformation) stage, after (EP15); because usually, anime characters are dumb and naive until some of their friends start bleeding, then they unlock their evil side and become the most cold-blooded edgy genius badass savage that will solve any problem with ease. Which is cliché and predictable. And any show after that is just an easy mode playthrough which is the definition of boredom. Rather than beginning as a morally perfect character (like most protagonists are) which is something you will get sick of, from pretty much all the Shounen genre, you will see Subaru's journey and how will he be the humble person, after he was arrogant and prideful, the nice person after he was rude and disrespectful, the smart person after he was naive and dumb, which is more entertaining and realistic than watching a perfect person that never misses, and always Is right to the degree that you can't relate to him, or even think he exists in real life.
To B and C I will list the major characterization stages, and judge yourself:
First, (EP1-17) Subaru is arrogant; he thinks he's the main character of his world, that he's been SUMMONED to another world. (EP1) and instantly expect everything to fall into his hand, but he pretends that he's cool and deep and interesting and humble. But you can see his mask falling in (EP13), and his UGLY nature appears there. He believed that nothing can be done without his assistant, and he has to do everything alone BECAUSE HE'S THE CHOSEN ONE and everyone else is useless.
Second, (EP 18-25) Subaru acknowledged his shortcomings and how much he lacks in every different aspect, and he knew that he's been arrogant and he always causes troubles and he's useless and that he needs other people's help for the easiest tasks.
Third, (EP 26-33) Subaru's loss for his friend (Rem) made him hesitate to ask anyone for help anymore, and his realization of his little size, made him underestimate his value and think he's less than a normal human, which made him cling to the only thing that could make his life valuable, which is his only ability. The authority of Envy (probably), also known as "Return by death". He started using his life as a tool to save everyone, but he forgot to include himself in the term "everyone", but the only thing that made him hold back a bit from abusing his lives to the fullest extent, was his fear of running out of lives; he didn't know whether or not his authority will continue to provide him with endless lives forever. Every time he dies or kills himself, he's not sure if he will return or will just die forever. Maybe he has a respawn limit, maybe if he died three times it's over, or some weird condition, he never knew.
Fourth, (EP 34-38) Finally Subaru had the answer for his question that was like a safety belt for his humanity: "Probably there isn't a limit for your lives" (EP34), now he can die as many times as it takes to save everyone besides himself, even if he threw multiple lives only to gather information (EP35) or used his "current" life as a set up for his next lives; because there are no consequences. He can finally become the machine that he wanted to be, that was made to create his perfect future. A future that he can reach without losing any one of his comrades, "As long as we reach the future without losing anyone then I'm OK with dying over and over." (EP38)
In (EP37) Subaru saw in the second trial that there might be consequences for his deaths, maybe the world continues after his death and he's not the only one who will suffer but everyone else as well which is something he couldn't comprehend; because they have no reason to love him or to grieve for his death, right? His only value was in his return by death, by saving everyone without any mistakes, so if he failed to save everyone or failed to come up with a game-changing plan, THEN they won't care about his fate; because from everyone's point of view, Subaru is the mysterious guy with unique timing or knowledge that will solve their issue whatever it was (EP40).
His low self-esteem is the reason why he kept asking (WHY?) every time someone helps him, in (EP33) he said (WHY?) to Otto and the villagers when they were saving him, in (EP36) he said (WHY?) to Beatrice when she pushed him to save his life. In (EP38) he said (WHY?) to Patrashe because she dragged him out of the tomb and damaged herself. If they appreciate me because I save them, then why would they put their lives in danger to save me?
Fifth, (EP 38-End) Subaru finally learns that he has a value, that he isn't just a dying machine that suffers so his beloved ones won't. That people can love him for himself, not for his authority. "I don't want to die anymore; if I might have any value (other than my death) to them, then I will search for it, so I can repay them with some way other than death." (EP38) he finally learns that he has been loved for himself, not for his usage, and that he can love himself a bit, and that it's not arrogance to love himself a bit more and go easier on it.
Obviously, that's not repetitive, he learns what he needs to learn to get better and better gradually. Rather than starting as perfect which is impossible.
I didn't mention the minor ones because there are so many: (e.g: when Emilia told him she wants to undergo the trials, and that she wants him to believe in her, or Otto's punch, the Julus' apology, and more.)
-Subaru's love for Emilia
A-"Subaru out of nowhere fell for Emilia on their first meeting and always simps for her and she ignores him and mistreats him."
OR
B-"He does everything only for Emilia"
A/ First of all, Subaru had no one in this new world to rely on, and the only one who helped him (actually saved his life) was Emilia when the thugs were robbing him, not only that but she healed his injuries and asked for nothing. Then Subaru dies and everything is reset and you know what's the first thought in his mind? (EP1) he literally says that now Emilia has nothing to do with him and he owes her nothing and now he can focus on selling his stuff and becoming the richest guy in the capital. Does that seem like worshiping Emilia?
Then why didn't he just forget about her? Because she would literally die if he left her. Doesn't that seem like a logical reason to help someone? And then even after saving her (EP3) he says that all of his pain was awarded with only a smile from a random girl and that it was an unequal compensation. Does that seem like "simping" for her?
Then after Subaru saved her she felt indebted to him because she doesn't remember the first loop when she saved his life; so she took him to where she lives and he didn't have a job or a home so he wanted to stay there, and Subaru is again indebted to her. What's wrong so far? Nothing, it's just a normal friendship but Subaru was always trying to flirt or be funny and act like a clown to get attention (EP29). But the turning point was the lap pillow scene (EP8) when she let him cry on her lap literally.
And she's almost the only one who hasn't killed him back then, so why will he hate her or treat her as a normal person after everything she has done to him? Actually, if he hasn't loved her (doesn't have to be in a romantic way) then he would be 10 times worse person than he is after loving her. And Subaru himself hasn't realized that he loves her until (EP18) after Rem's confession, and you can see that in the ending of (EP13) when Emilia asks him why did he do what he did and he answers "it was because you saved me and I did everything only for you." BUT after he developed from (EP18) he knew the reason and when she asked him again in (EP25) (Why?) he said "because I love you, I did it for my sake. I was wrong)
B/ he doesn't do everything for Emilia; he said to Emilia that she's just as important to him as Rem (EP27) and he always tries to save everyone.
-Subaru's reasons to save his new family
A\"Subaru has no reason or commitment to keep dying and enduring all of his pain to a bunch of strangers he knew for like a month or smth"
OR
B\"It doesn't make sense that he will use his power to save some people rather than exploring the world"
Subaru in the previous world had already lost hope in life, he has no reason to keep going on and stay alive. He needed a reason so he can be attached to. (EP29)
No one will leave his house for exploring the world. Especially a shut-in Otaku. Saying so, means that the people saying this, are really interested in the world of Re:zero, but exploring the world will be basically (exploring the imagination of the author until he runs out of ideas) which is not interesting to be the main topic of a series. Being in one place is more realistic, but nonetheless, they do change locations every arc.
-The power system or how magic works or the power scaling is left vague, so the author suddenly makes some character have a secret power so he can make Subaru either suffer or succeed according to what the plot requires. / There's not that many foreshadowings
Unfortunately, the anime did cut a lot of lore and world-building and foreshadowings and hints that give you a vague picture about the ending of the story or how will future arcs begin or end or where will it take place, from the light novel, the LN did explain everything, and went into a lot of depth and backstories and inner monologues and characterization moments for a lot of the side characters to show you their motivations and why they act the way they do.
but nonetheless, the anime still has a lot of hints that might not be obvious at first watch or even second one, so you can't watch it one time and judge it. And I didn't face any problem with understanding the power system (Authority from the witch factor/Magic from the gate/Blessing from nature) when I was an anime-only, and even the children can understand the scenes perfectly without the inner monologues or the narrator's comments.
Just to put you in the picture:
The first season adapted 9 volumes of the light novel into 25 episodes:
[22eps of 24mins + 2eps of 26mins + 1ep of 50mins] and they played the opening in 10 episodes and the ED in 8 episodes; so reduce 1:35mins multiplied by 18, basically, slightly above 10 hours total of pure content, or 29 regular episodes of 21mins without OP or ED (Regular anime episodes are 24mins, 21mins of content and 3mins for the OP and ED)
However, in the second season the anime adapted 6 volumes into 25 episodes, and as you can see that most episodes are longer than the regular anime episodes, actually, there were 12 episodes of 30 mins in the whole second season, which alone gives us 6 episodes above the normal episode count of two courses season, so not only the amount of the volumes is shorter but the duration of each episode is longer, however, even after all of this, still there are a lot of cuts in season 2 as well, but not as major as in season 1, season 1 covered the first three arcs of the story:
Arc 1: Vol.(1) EPs (1-3) / Arc 2: Vol. (2-3) EPs (4-12) / Arc 3: Vol. (4-9) Eps (13-25)
So basically, the anime skipped half of arc 3; because both arc 3 and 4 are covered in six volumes of the light novel, but arc 3 (V 4-9) was adapted into 13 regular Eps, and arc 4 (V 10-15) has been adapted into 25 long Eps (over 30 regular EPs) which is season 2.
Which is the answer for the people who say that the ending of season 1 felt sudden and rushed (because it was), or the second season has a slow pace (if you compared it to season 1, yes, but story-wise it's almost a perfect adaptation).
Some foreshadowings you might miss at first watch
In (EP36), Beatrice talks about waiting for "That person" to come, this was foreshadowed in (EP4) which is the episode that covers Subaru's first meeting with Beatrice and his first day in the mansion, in minute 9:10, when Roswaal says that "it's very rare for Beatrice to exit her library and eat dinner with other people", which shows to you that she was investigating whether or not Subaru is that person, also it's day clear that she suspected him to be "that person" in the same episode in minute 23:10, when Beatrice says: "So he didn't come for me after all, I suppose".
Another one regarding Subaru and Beatrice's contract, we were told since episode one from Emilia's mouth that Subaru has a strong affinity to spirits since he could touch Puck casually, when Puck and Emilia introduced themselves to Subaru. That's also the reason why Subaru could always find the door that leads to Beako's library every time he tries (EP4) from mins (14:40) to (15:20), Julus also mentioned that in (EP23) from mins (10:45) to (11:55)
So if you thought that the author pulled that Beatrice contract stuff out of nowhere, then sorry to ruin the party for you.
In (EP40) in Otto's backstory, we find out that he can talk to animals via his blessing (Soul language) that was foreshadowed in (EP25) from minutes (7:40) to (8:10) he literally told Subaru his backstory but the shortcut version, and told him about his blessing, it's a bit long; so I won't include it; go rewatch it.
Also, it might not be in the anime, but the reason why Otto could find the prison that Subaru was kept in in (EP32) is his blessing; because Garfiel said: "no one knows about this prison", so Otto used his blessing and communicated with animals to reach Subaru, however they showed Otto using it in the same episode after the ending in minutes (25:48), he used it to make sure from the animals around him, that Garfiel is watching the tomb and they can run away, but unfortunately the sanctuary's eyes, aka the Ryuzu clones (EP33) informed Garfiel that they ran away.
Again, if you thought that the author pulled that Otto blessing stuff out of nowhere, then sorry to ruin the party for you.
In (EP38) Roswaal states that he's the one who sent the assassins to the mansion to compel Subaru to make a sacrifice, did he suddenly send some assassins to the mansion or was it foreshadowed before? Well, Roswaal was always sus since the beginning; in arc 1 when Emilia went to the capital, Felt stole her insignia, however Felt was hired by an assassin, whose name is Elsa, who was also hired by another person but we don't know who he is, In arc 2 Roswaal was the one who ordered Rem and Ram to kill Subaru If they felt he was a spy, and when Roswaal left for a "Business" Subaru and Rem found out that the barrier that protects the village was mysteriously down and the girl that controls the Mabeasts who is Elsa's partner [as It's implied in (EP36)] could enter and she was the reason why Subaru died from the curse at the end of (EP4) and the reason behind Rem's death in (EP7), in arc 3, after Roswaal publicly stated that he supports The half elf candidate, it was natural that the witch cult will attack, however Roswaal didn't defend his domain or Emilia or even informed her about a possible attack, he just left, and above all of that, he literally said that he planned the attack of the witch's cult (EP30), so I would be surprised if someone told me that Roswaal suddenly became evil, it was obvious since the beginning.
In (EP22-23) Ram attacks Subaru and the army that's accompanying him; because Subaru sent them a blank letter from Crush's domain, the blank letter was blank because Rem is the one who wrote it, and at the time the letter reached Roswaal's domain, Rem has been already erased from existence (EP26) and we know that when someone's existence is erased, all of their tracks will be erased (EP17), so the ink that Rem put on the paper is erased, not the paper itself, and since sending a blank letter is a declaration of war (EP23) Ram attacked them, and Emilia went to the village to convince them to evacuate (EP23) in minutes (9:23) so Emilia thought that crush is the one who's going to attack not the witch cultists and the reason is the sin archbishop of gluttony attacking Rem miles away.
These examples show you how intertwined and complex the story is, which is closer to real-life than to a simple story.
Seriously I can't believe that some people can give Re:Zero less than 10 without being Tsundures
-Re:Zero Is about Subaru, the story is revolving around the main character, even if we agreed that he has character development, other characters don't, they're shallow, basic, cliché and boring.
Almost all characters in Re:Zero change, calling the characters boring in a specific stage is nitpicking flaws either before their development begins, or before it finishes the only privilege that separates Subaru from the others, is that his character developed before the others, which was necessary because he will be an important factor in developing other characters; so he had to solve his problems before solving other people's. You can even say that it was intentional to make you feel away from others or that they're shallow [just like how Subaru felt in (ep36)] when Roswaal killed Ram and Garfiel, maybe you're surprised and shocked, but not sad; because you know he can reset after all, so if you felt their death didn't bother you, then you're feeling exactly what the story wants you to feel at that specific point.
What I wrote above, is the answer to the people who say that the characters are shallow, if the word "shallow" meant that they don't change, however, the word shallow can have a different meaning, which is that you don't see the backstories of these characters, now if you're watching season2 part2 then you should know that we had Otto's backstory in ep 40 which explains what his motivations are, and gives more depth to his character, the same happened in ep 41 for Garfiel, the same for Emilia, Ryuzu, Beatrice, Roswaal, Echidna, Guese, from ep 42 and what comes later, so unless there's another meaning for this word, sorry; because "Shallow" doesn’t belong to Re:Zero
Not only that, but every backstory that has been shown in the anime will be expanded on later, but I won't spoil who are the characters that you will get their backstories in future seasons or whose backstories that will be expanded on when the time comes.
Fun fact: the author wrote 4 EX volumes so far; to give more depth to the side characters:
< EX (1-4) volumes synopsis>
The first volume covers Crusch's growth into a noble duchess vying for the crown, her vassal Ferris's struggles with knighthood and family, and their love for the warm-hearted prince who inspired them both.
During the royal selection, Duchess Crusch Karsten declared her plans for the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica: to destroy the covenant with the Dragon and rebuild the nation stronger than before. But where did her radical vision come from? Why does she want to change the country so badly?
Volumes 2 and 3 cover Wilhelm and Theresia's backstories. Long ago, a great war raged between the royal military of Lugunica and the demi-humans. On that battlefield, a noteworthy young warrior was born---Wilhelm Astrias, dubbed the Sword Demon. But despite his skill with a blade, the boy would need to grow much more before he could become a true hero. This is the story of a legendary swordsman--and how he learned the proper way to become a hero and truly appreciate someone.
The fourth volume covers the journey of Felix, Julus and Reinhardts to the Vollachia empire.
It's irritating to know that an author wrote over a thousand pages purely for the side characters (without mentioning what he wrote for the side characters in the main story), just for some people to call his writing Sh~Al~Lo~w.
-[ The characters always mention and praise Subaru in their dialogues, which means...
RE:ZERO SELF-INSERT CONFIRMED!!! / Emilia's character development is all because of Subaru; so they make him look cooler somehow or smth, I don't know man; I'm running out of respectable critiques anyways bad show... OH! yes they don't play the opening so the episode always feels incomplete, BaD! also my back and eyes hurt me when I watch 30mins episode, also my brain isn't developed yet so the story doesn't make sense to me, like seriously, every time I skip an episode or two, or ignore the episode and fall asleep, I feel like I'm missing something, What's going on? So confusing bAd BaD! learn from Shounen anime's how to waste 2mins for the recap of the previous episode and make people beat each other to save the world orrr..ahh.. just because fighting is cool. If I don't see some kids unlocking their badass evil side through the fight then their friends will beg them to return to the Gucci side, then the story doesn't make any sense -1/10 and above all of that, whenever I insult the show and mock it and tell people to give it low ratings, the fans tell me to drop it if it's not for me, and ask to give them a respectable criticism and have an objective discussion!! Seriously! What's wrong with them?! ]
In real life, it's only natural to praise someone you think deserves the praise. That doesn't mean that your life revolves around that person because you praised him, and if you really love that person and appreciate what he did, then you will even praise him more than what he deserves. But if you're bleeding from your hate for my man Subaru, then you will surely hate to know that he's being praised, for example, Subaru in (EP26) stayed by Rem's side for a total of five minutes, apologizing to her, recalling her daily routine, blaming himself for what happened to her and crying while promising he will get her back, now, if you hate Rem then you will hate what he did, however, if you love her or just neutral about her, then you will know that we all do this in our daily life, whether it was praising your friend or remembering someone you love or feel sorry for. Another example in (EP27): Subaru was talking with Beatrice about Roswaal's mindset and how he thinks or did he plan something or not, "OMG! they can't stop praising Roswaal!" Why did nobody say that? You don't hate Roswaal? Do you just hate Subaru? The same happened between Subaru and Emilia about Garfiel when Frederica warned them from him, they couldn't stop thinking and talking about him in (EP27), also Subaru kept praising Emilia in front of Echidna in (EP28), AGAIN whether the world revolves around Emilia now or not, that will depend on how do you feel about her.
Also, Subaru indeed helped Emilia overcoming her insecurities in (EP40), but didn't Emilia do the same for him? in (EP8) she literally let him cry and sob in her lap until he slept, also did we forget about what Rem has done to him in (EP18)? or what Otto has done to him in (EP39)? Just like how Rem, Emilia and Otto helped him, he also helped Emilia and Garfiel to overcome themselves.
And I'm sure that the same people who said this criticism, will call Subaru "Useless" and always "dependent" on the others, and that he's the only one being helped, had he not helped Emilia or Garfiel.
Also, anyone who claims that Re:Zero is self-insert, just watch (EP13).
-The dialogue is "Bloated" and feel "Forced"/I don't think that the dialogue deserves that praise, a lot of dialogue-heavy series easily overcome the dialogues in Re:Zero/ most of the dialogues here are skippable and boring and they don't hold any significance to the plot.
Actually, it's the exact opposite; most of the dialogue-heavy series have dialogues that are nowhere near our language, each and every line seems to be thought about for hours before being put into the story, and surprisingly all the characters answer in no time with other words that will open the door of another subject that they will keep talking about for the next minutes, as if we're watching a debate between two highschoolers pretending to be philosophers.
Unlike that, the dialogue in Re:Zero is the same as any other dialogue in our casual life, all the interactions are real, they don't seem like they were forced or put by an author, they all interact just like how we will in our real life, or if we were put into similar circumstances to theirs.
But of course, the dialogue climaxes are masterful and I wouldn't be surprised if the author took his time for them unlike the other pieces of dialogue.
Complains that don't deserve to be mentioned :
-I found a plot hole!!! It doesn't make sense for Pandora in (EP44) to be incapable of opening the seal, considering that she can rewrite reality, she could've just erased Emilia's memories and made her forget her promise!
No one said that her power is absolute, and that she can rewrite reality in the first place or rewrite reality limitlessly; if she couldn't open the seal, then it's only natural to assume that she has limits or conditions that she can't surpass. When her power gets explained, then search for a plot hole.
(Although, I doubt you can do it if you thought this was a plot hole).
At the end:
As a novel reader, I guarantee that things will go PLUS ULTRA, I liked every single second of Re:Zero, and what comes after the anime is EVEN FURTHER BYOND.
Hate it or love it, but the episode time run is speaking for itself. What Whitefox is doing is something no other studio does/did or is ready to do. (Thank you) is not enough! even though I find some stuff that deserves less than 10, but I gave it 10 because of their hard work and diligence; more studios should learn from them.
Yes, the opening and the ending are great but you don't have to waste 3 to 4 mins of the episode repeating them (as all studios do). I can search for them on Youtube if I wanted. So I think Whitefox deserve 10/10 as respect for skipping them and extending the REAL content of the episode that all of us came to the anime for. Therefore, Whitefox is my favourite studio and nothing can change that, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't discover this series or love it as much as I do now, or no one will translate the web novel that the author writes it for free. Show everyone some appreciation!
Also, the OST's alone are enough to bring me to tears, both the music-composing and the musical choices aren't natural, they fit with the scenes more than perfectly. The voice acting is on a whole other level from any other show, and of course the backgrounds and character designs.. can we all just agree that they're top tier? even if you don't like the story you can't lie to your eyes.
And finally, in this part, Subaru's character is not unlikable in any single department; he's improved enough to be considered one of the very few likable but also realistic MC's at this point. I don't say he won't get EVEN better, but now you can't hate him, but if you think he's the same guy from episode 1...
(Just because his hair hasn't turned white, or he hasn't become evil and betrayed his friends, you can't say he hasn't changed. his character development is SO realistic and deep NOT SLOW)
...Then please rewatch everything (Without skipping any ep). you won't believe how much I liked the series more after rewatching it; a lot of the Un-Answered questions turned out to be answered in front of me but I couldn't catch it the first time.
Here are all the episodes so far with an opening (with visuals) from the 50 total:
2 , 4 , 6 , 8 , 10 , 14 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 23 , 27 , 30 , 33 , 44 , 46.
[Redo]: 5 times
[Paradisus-Paradoxum]: 5 times
[Realize]: 3 times (Lol)
[Long shot]: 2 times (Bruh)
(Credits to Someanime from MyAnimeList)