Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World

Subaru Natsuki is an ordinary high school student who is lost in an alternate world, where he is rescued by a beautiful, silver-haired girl. He stays near her to return the favor, but the destiny she is burdened with is more than Subaru can imagine. Enemies attack one by one, and both of them are killed. He then finds out he has the power to rewind death, back to the time he first came to this world. But only he remembers what has happened since.

Source: Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World in AnimeNewsNetwork

About

Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World is a Japanese light novel series written by Tappei Nagatsuki and illustrated by Shinichirou Otsuka. It was adapted into an anime television series by Studio Mad Fox running from April 2016 to September 2016 with a total of 25 episodes

Thoughts

"The only thing worse than dying once is having to die again."

...is the perfect summation of this anime into 12 words. Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World tells the story of a reclusive shut-in NEET who was suddenly sent into a fantasy world minutes after buying some things in a local Japanese convenience store.

Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World starts off with a very cliche and a very predictable vibe. A painfully plain, boring, shut-in, reclusive and clueless guy who was suddenly transported into another world wherein he immediately met and befriend a very pretty silver-haired elf-girl who unsurprisingly have some kind of hidden connection to the worst evil witch in history. Pretty cliche so far right? We have seen this kind of formula before, but is this anime worth continuing?

YES! Minutes before meeting the beautiful silver-haired elf girl who initially introduces herself as Satella, who is in the process of looking for a thief named Felt who supposedly stole her insignia. Hearing Satella's predicament, our plain clueless male lead agrees to help her and the two ended up at the city slumps wherein they were both brutally murdered.

You read that one right! Half-way through the first episode our main leads are already dead. They where killed right off the bat! Where else could you see an anime like this one? This is what makes Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World interesting and unique. It also starts to shine out at this point.

It turns out our male lead have a very unique ability called "Return by Death" which enables him to go back to a previous point in time where he is still alive and safe from any harm which can only be triggered if he dies. The worst part about this is that only he can remember all the memories and experiences he gained from his previous life.

Clueless about his ability, Subaru believed at first that everything was just a dream and everything was only a dejavu. He then met again Satella for the second time and was surprised when she hated being called Satella. It turns out that Satella is not her real name but was the name of the worst evil witch in history who unsurprisingly looks a lot like her. Subaru then again heard her predicament and offered again his help on which the two wind up again in the city slumps to search for the thief but ended up being brutally killed once again.

The premise of Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World is somewhat like a character in an rpg game wherein the moment the character dies he is reincarnated at the last checkpoint where he is forced to complete the said mission to escape the repetitive loop.

Subaru must use this unique ability of his to save the people around him by using trial and error. Gaining the knowledge and experiences from his last life, Subaru can easily predict what will happen and can then make logical choices based on those.

At some point this little decisions of his and minor change in one's action can have a huge impact in the flow of the projected story. Subaru must then use this advantage to help defeat his opponents and understand what the hell is going on with him.

Overall, my thoughts above might not do justice about how awesome this anime series is. It's hard to talk about something while holding back major information btw just so to avoid spoilers. But one thing is for sure, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World is a very awesome anime that one should watch in his lifetime. The art and animation is good. The characters are all adorable and none of them are annoying. The battle scenes are surprisingly well done and the plot is decent enough for one to enjoy and it has a good pacing too. Moreover, they have characters in a maid outfit, so..