The Poet’s Corner - Re:Zero Season 2!

Poet's Corner
Written By Ryan

Welcome to the poet’s corner! This week I would like to talk about one series I am quite fond of: Re:Zero.

This week is very exciting for the japanese animation loving community, as a lot of series that were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In case it wasn’t obvious by now, I’m a great fan of good stories regardless of their shape or form, and anime is definitely not an exception. So without further ado, let’s talk about Re:Zero!

Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World from Zero, more conveniently referred to as Re:Zero, is about to air it’s second season. Here’s the Season 2 trailer for those that already watched the first season:

Pretty lady in the thumbnail, they know what sells.

“Ok but what if I haven’t seen it?” Don’t worry I come prepared! Here is the season 1 trailer:

WTF face dude in the thumbnail, they really learned their marketing for the next season!

Since I’ve never watched either trailer, I really hope those were actual trailers and not AMVs (Anime Music Videos). Anyway you are probably thinking “Ok. The premise sounds good, but what’s so great about it?” I think there are a lot of things but, if I had to pick one, I have a nice anecdote which perfectly exemplifies this.

Generally speaking liking anime beyond Pokemon or Dragon Ball is much less of a taboo nowadays as compared to 10 years ago, thanks to cool shows like Naruto or Attack on Titan, however there are still people with a natural resistance to watching shows. These people refuse to watch any kind of anime due to outdated social biases, which is fine since everyone can watch whatever shows they are comfortable with. However, there is a more unique group which only watches 1 or 2 anime, and are afraid to watch more as they feel that would make them join the category which the aforementioned group has said social bias on. Typically, they start with the anime “Death Note” (great show by the way) and want to watch another show which is better or at least as good as that one, but think the judgmental group is bigger than it actually is, so in their hesitation they talk with their peers to find someone who can guide them towards the show they are looking for, to avoid the feelings of guilt from looking it up themselves.

Well, in this case one such friend came to me, and given that the show was about 3 episodes away from the finale I decided this was a good suggestion. How good was it? After a week the man not only caught up, but urged me to watch the episodes so I could discuss them with him. Two weeks in he was sharing memes about some characters. Such is the power of this show.

That was like 20 episodes right in the middle of the semester

That was like 20 episodes right in the middle of the semester

There are a lot of good things about the show. It’s visually well done, the music and sounds effects are stellar. But I think where it really shines is in the story itself. So I’ll give three points about the story and let you decide.

Themes

Season 2 will air on Wednesday July 8th at 6:30 am PDT. I’m very sure that the release time makes a lot more sense in Japan, which if I’m not mistaken should be at 10:30 pm Tokyo time. Which brings us to our first point: This is not a children’s show. The show exposes various themes, which at times feel very real. I am amazed and perplexed at how real a show set in a fantasy world and naturally occurring blue and pink hair gets. The show explore’s self-worth, relationships, power, trust, among many other themes, resulting in some of the best character development I’ve ever seen. It leads to many questions, such as: Is it really that good to be sent to another world? Does having a unique power make you strong? When we save people, is it for them or for us? I’m afraid I won’t go into the specifics since I really hope you make time to watch it. Just know the really long title makes perfect sense, and the show is much deeper than what this article’s thumbnail makes you believe.

I wonder what will happen.

I wonder what will happen.

Attention to detail

The story is originally a webnovel which was released in 2012 and continues to this day. That’s 8 years of publishing stories in the internet that people actually read, which is already an achievement in and of itself. The author then started to release light novels (novels which feature a few illustrations within the text) and finally landed the opportunity to have a 24 episode anime, when typically one is 12 episodes long. What’s impressive is that despite keeping up with both the web novel and light novel releases, the author personally supervises the script for the anime, carefully checking it’s an accurate adaption of the novel. This translates beautifully on the series itself as every little detail, from the opening to the objects in the backgrounds, have a reason to be there. This ultimately makes the series worth a re-watch, to understand all the foreshadowing and details hidden throughout the frames.

Additionally, Re:Zero aims to make very realistic characters in a fantasy world, on which he is ultimately successful, particularly in the case of the protagonist, and thus pave way to an amazing story.

Did you know? The Opening theme “Redo” can be played in a perfect loop?

Did you know? The Opening theme “Redo” can be played in a perfect loop?

A world that continues

The series was so well received, the story received a re-release of the director’s cut with added content (mainly 2 extra episodes) which is the one I recommend you watch. On the other hand, the web novel has 8 years worth of content that is still being updated, resulting in 5 completed arcs with the 6th ongoing. The first season has currently animated the the first 3 arcs, however the second season aims to animate the fourth arc, which in length should be equivalent to the previous three. This means arcs five and six are still available plus whatever the author writes between the next season’s (hopefully) production and what is currently done.

What does this mean? Even if they didn’t add extra episodes (which they did in the director’s cut) the story has a lot of story to continue. This with the fact that the author is very careful the content of the series is the same as the book, means the probability of a different ending for the sake of finishing the series is low, as was the case with Game of Thrones and many others out there. So there is a lot of good stuff and it will continue for a while!

Who’s Rem?

Who’s Rem?

Conclusion

There is much more I could tell you about the show, the world setting, the character designs, the funny meme-worthy moments, but I believe that a good story speaks for itself. So I’ll take a step back and stay in the role of “the guy that puts it on your radar” and let it show (hehe) you why it’s so great.

If you are willing to give the series a try it’s available for free and legally in both crunchyroll and funimation, to which I’ll leave the links right here (For those unfamiliar they are like the netflix and hulu of anime):

Crunchyroll: https://www.crunchyroll.com/rezero-starting-life-in-another-world-

Funimation: https://www.funimation.com/shows/rezero-starting-life-in-another-world-/

Just give the show a try and remember, there is a reason for eveything.

And now this week’s poem:

The Oath

A snow white goddess,

I met in another possibility,

The everlasting promise,

On that hill of tranquility.

The day finally comes,

Where I keep my pact,

Did my actions sum,

The desire of your heart?

Thanks for reading.

I wish you the best, see you next week!

Images:

Videos:

Ryan

Head of Writing and Programming

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