Want to live a game?
While I’ve
always liked Tom Cruise’s action movies in general, I feel one stood out both
as inventive and yet somehow underrated. ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (which is actually based on a Japanese LN) was a great movie
that incorporated the respawning element of games and showed a comparatively weak
protagonist who learnt (just like a gamer) how to actually win against an
unrelenting and powerful antagonist.
This was
actually what initially drew me to Re Zero and with its completion at the end
of September, I can say it was a good choice to make despite my reservations
with the fantasy genre. What actually separates it from most anime I’ve watched
is that the protagonist can’t actually be called a hero – he’s heavily flawed
and more often than not is called out on his arrogance and selfishness.
Subaru
Natsuki is a normal guy – in the strictest sense possible. Lost in endless days
of grocery shopping and LN gaming, he hardly expects to be suddenly transported
to a world drawn right out of his video games with humanoid animals, witches,
orcs and medieval soldiers. Initially, it’s all a game to him as he encounters
a witch and starts helping her out with a quest to retrieve her insignia.
Just a game
right?
Not really.
Things take
a sinister turn as he somehow manages to get himself murdered alongside the
friend he made, only for him to apparently return to a point before he met her.
With
multiple deaths, he comes to know more and more of how to navigate his way
ensuring everyone’s survival – ensuring new allies who help him survive the
fatalistic fight. This leads him into Emilia’s life.
There’s a
great character arc to Subaru as he starts from cocky hero acting to actually
becoming very possessive of Emilia so much that he ignores her warnings and
gets into situations that lead to her leaving him. It’s doubly troubling as the
‘Return by Death’ ability he has seems to be guarded by a powerful magic – with
Subaru unable to share this secret with other people. At the middle point, we
see Subaru struggling to find a way to both show his love for Emilia yet be
respectful of his place in this new world.
The allies
themselves don’t get fleshed out that much with Rem the ogre being a critical character
who does get backstory and also becomes Subaru’s most powerful ally both
physically and emotionally. The episode in which Subaru starts to lose hope of
ever getting Emilia out alive despite his ability to actually go back and
change events, and Rem comforts and supports him is easily the highlight in a
series that deals more with alliances, rivalries and deaths than actual
conversations.
Another
character we get to see in detail include Wilhelm the ‘demon’ – but sadly the
rest are very lacking in characterisation, especially Emilia, who never goes
beyond her half elf stigma and being the object of affection for Subaru. Though
that may be by design given her apparent deep connections to the mystery
prevailing throughout the series of the Witch.
Its
intriguing to see Subaru’s psychological journey as he realizes despite his
ability to go back and change things, his weak physical strength and ignorance
of the customs of this world prove to ensure he’s unable to effect things too
much. At first, he lives in denial and in a bull headed move charges forward,
sometimes being effective but more than that proving a liability. It is only
when he finally starts learning from his mistakes and takes Rem’s help that he
starts to actually be the ‘hero’ he can be in this story.
If there are
any proper villains of this story, they only show up at the end as the witch
cult – with the main antagonist Satella the witch remaining ambiguous even at
the end of the series (despite clear hints of her having connections with
Emilia and she being the person who gifted Subaru the ‘Return by Death’ ability).
The Sin Archbishops are delightfully weird and I’ll remember Betalguese, the representative
of Sloth, as one of more memorable villains I’ve seen in anime.
Some of the
B-plots that may slowly weave their way into the story in the future is the
Royal Selection for the new king of Lugnica, of which Emilia is a part, and her
half elf heritage proving to be a liability due to comparisons with Satella.
The
animation is a little erratic, with budget constraints becoming apparent during
some weakly rendered fight scenes. But Re Zero at its best is amazing to watch
and a visual treat. The voice work, especially of such a difficult character
like Subaru, conveys perfectly the emotions the characters are going through.
The biggest
issue anyone might have with this show is that how much of the lore is left up
in the air. Why was Subaru brought here? Who is Satella and how is ‘Return by
Death’ actually connected to her? Whereas ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ had a constant
check point, this actually seems more faithful to the update your save system
some games have.
So the final
intriguing thought – is this all a game? I really hope we get a sequel to this
which answers all these questions.
For now
though, Re Zero has been an excellent yet somehow incomplete story – especially
thanks to the unique characterization of Subaru.
So, I give it 8.0 out of 10.
+The
protagonist and his journey
+Some
amazing visual moments
+The intriguing
comparisons to game like elements
-Inconsistent
animation
-Thinly
developed cast
-Too many
plot points left unanswered
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