Re:ZERO: Starting Life in Another World Season 2 - Reviews

Boring as F. trash butt anime

Now as someone who considers himself a big fan of the first season of Re:Zero, it gives me no joy to say that this second season was somewhat of a disappointment. Not a crushing blow, perhaps, but given that I've already suffered two disappointing high-profile anime sequels this year in the form of My Hero Academia Season 4 (not the best arcs in the source material and some dodgy animation and pacing) and Oregairu Season 3 (endless repetition of the same damn scenes), I have to admit to a bit of a sinking feeling in preparing to write this review.

Let's start at the beginning; Re:Zero follows young Natsuki Subaru, who has found himself in a fantasy-style world inhabited by elves, land dragons and, on occasion, flesh-eating monstrosities of eldritch horror. Subaru learned in season one that the feared witch of Envy, Satella, had bequeathed unto him a mysterious power allowing him to return to a save point-style moment in his own timeline each time he dies, and it was with difficulty that he managed to reach a future in which he was able to save everything he loved. Or so it seemed.

As season two opens, we learn that Subaru's Return by Death power has actually caught him out, as he finds himself stuck beyond an unfortunate save point and unable to help one of his closest confidants. Now, journeying to a fabled Sanctuary where a number of characters from the first season have holed up, having fled the dastardly Petelguese and his minions, Subaru ends up meeting a whole host of new characters who may or may not shed light on the... oh god, I don't even know how to progress with this one.

Frankly, the... plot, let's call it? The plot of Re:Zero has always been bizarre, confusing, often obfuscatory in terms of what the point of everything was and where it would all end up. The first season navigated around the issue of story arcs being very abrupt in their introduction and interpolation by, well, being excellent. But even then, there was a long stretch in the middle which was seemingly just endless failure and emotional trauma on Subaru's part, which seems to be part of why the series has endeared itself to people but which also ends up being its greatest weakness, in my opinion. The best arc from the first season was by far the White Whale subjugation and everything thereafter, as it was the culmination of everything that Subaru had been through, learned and suffered until that point, and allowed the diverse cast and impressive animation and atmosphere of the show to shine. What happens with season two (part 1) is that, through being both shorter and somehow even more erratic and strangely paced than the first season, the whole thing ends up being a bit of a drudge.

That's not to say that Subaru hasn't developed at all from season one, but his most annoying traits (and his most annoying framings) are still all here, and it no longer feels cutting edge to have a protagonist gurn, scream and die horribly every episode without some indication as to how he might progress. Some death sequences are especially nasty and visceral here, but the twelve episodes end without any real indication as to where we go from here, nor a whole lot of positivity. Sure, there are some 'rely on people more, look after yourself' scenes which might under other circumstances be seen as a turning point... but they don't really signal a turning. As in, the show falls into a groove of 'have character lift Subaru up a bit and then everyone fucking dies again and we are no nearer to finding out how this whole mess will be sorted out' which is not very appetising at all. And then it ends. Abruptly. 

There are a number of new characters, and unfortunately neither they nor any of the returning cast members really get a chance to shine, such is the continued and (insofar as themes and context) repetitive focus on Subaru. Emilia is sorely needing in development as a love interest and female lead, but all of her moments are front-loaded into the second season and the later episodes feature her so little that its almost possible to forget that she's around. Otto from season one gets a look in from time to time, but all of his big moments seem to just be the same big moment with different backdrops. It's always great to see Petra, Ram, Beatrice and the rest in action, but because the season jumps between the first season's mansion and the Sanctuary with such irregularity, we never really stick around with one group of characters enough for their arcs to feel developed in the same way that certain characters (Rem and Julius spring to mind from season one) were developed last time. And I'll be honest, I find Garfiel to be one of the most annoying cast additions to a promising franchise since Mineta minced his creepy grape arse into my super high school good boi series back in 2016. The only new character who is especially interesting is probably Echidna, and I'll say no more for fear of spoilers, but I can at least appreciate why some have grasped onto her as a talking point.

The animation quality is good, the voice acting good, the world building very wonky (there is way more exposition than I would like for certain plot points, not all of them even very compelling, especially given how much backstory was implicit in the first season). I must say that while the action is usually short lived and its much more a season about grim, torturous melodrama rather than the mixture of tragedy and more high-octane combat that the first season balanced out, there is at least one great sequence (don't remember which episode its from but it includes another new, sharp-toothed character whose name begins with an 'F') which in and of itself almost dispersed any qualms I had about the early season.

All things considered though, and TL;DR,  I must reiterate that this is not the second season that I was hoping for after how much I enjoyed the first. I understand that a second cour is coming early next year (frankly, I suspect that half of the stuff that should have really been in this cour will be in the next, given how aimless and incomplete these episodes end up feeling at the back end) but I can't really base my impressions on what might be, nor the source material, which is of course immaterial in an anime-centric review.

Give it a go by all means, as I seem to be the only fan here who wasn't blown away, but just take heed that it's not as out-and-out recommendable as its predecessor.

Ok this is my first review, but after watching ep 8 I just have to do it.

More than deciding whether give it a 10/10 or not, I was waiting to see what s2 has to offer and if it can fulfill my expectations. And I can now say for sure that it did. I feel like it bested s1 and it's not even over yet!

I am still kinda fresh, full of emotions. I want to scream,cry,laugh,run... It's so extreme feeling that I can't even express it properly. Re:zero might be the only anime where you wish for MC to die, but at the same time when death finally comes to end his suffering, he suffers even more and with re:zero doing so great job at expressing how character feels you start to feel his pain too.

Re:zero is complete rollercoaster of emotions, you can go from laughing to screaming in matter of seconds and I absolutely love it. Will end this, for some might seem overhyped, review. Just wanna say two things.

1) If you are deciding whether watch s2 or not. Just go and give it a try and decide for yourself if you like it, ppl's tastes always differ, but there is high chance that you will ^^

2) Hmmm... I wonder... Rabbits, What do they eat?

What good is Re: Zero without REM? 

The concept of this anime is interesting, but despite some minimal character growth and really pointless plot this anime isn't worth spending the 50 episode time investment on. Eventually I just wanted to see how it ended and just stuck it out. 1/10 would not reccomend.