So season 2 this was split into 2 parts due to COVID. I watched part 1 last year and wrote about it. Part 2 ran early this year but I decided not to watch week by week but instead binge it in one shot after it has finished airing.
I finally did over the past few days. Finished the 12 episodes in part 2.
And oh my goodness. It was well worth it. What a treat. How is it so good!?
Characters
In my previous post, I focused a good deal on the plot, and about RBD as a plot device. I talked about how the story is amazing. The downside was that the characters could be a little annoying in season 1.
Now that I'm done with season 2, I need to say this: Re:Zero has AMAZING characters.
I realise that in many initial introduction to characters (many of which unfortunately happens in season 1), it's easy to build up a shallow impression of what they are like. It's regretful that people will be more likely to be put off by the show in season 1.
Season 2 focused heavily on fleshing out many of these characters. Turns out each of them are unique individuals, with their own lives and stories. We see people grow, we unearth their motivations, we appreciate their history, we understand how they think and feel.
I think that is really interesting. The protagonist has RBD as his only power. Essentially the advantage that gives you is knowing what will happen next, and knowing things that you normally shouldn't know. You might think because of that, that the way the story unfolds will be that the protagonist would after many trial and errors finds a 4D chess solution to somehow resolve everything.
But no, season 2 was not about that. It was about trust. It was about facing the past. It was about overcoming personal struggles. There was no big brain play, just a lot of heart.
I think if the story had went down the 4D chess route it would have been boring. After all having the protagonist do calculus and find the exact perfect course of action would at most make you go 'wow so smart'. Instead, the way everything was resolved was incredibly refreshing.
Mysteries
The world of Re:Zero is intentionally mysterious. Like the protagonist, you are thrusted into a world with no understanding of its culture, norms, and history. There are also many secrets that are not known to the common man. The shows makes you constantly go 'what is going on man' and you want to find out. You seldom get explainers or answers immediately, you just gotta go along with the wild ride. There are big mysteries, but there are also little ones.
There are also plenty of little things that are slipped in throughout the course of the story that you might not even remember or notice, only to realise the significance of it later.
Through much of Re:Zero, you feel like you're not very sure what is going on, but in a good way. I mean even as season 2 resolved many of the core issues that were introduced in the season, it clearly also raised tons of questions. Like being introduced to a new character with no context whatsoever, and you're just left guessing. Questions about how certain things work. And of course, what really is driving the actions of various characters.
My favourite moments though, are definitely the plot twists. In the midst of the mysteries, there are things that you thought you knew, but turns out you didn't.
The best part is - it all makes sense.
These reveals (and oh boy there are plenty of them) don't come out of the blue. Some of them are answers to earlier mysteries. Some are things presented to you earlier and you made your own assumptions, but they were incorrect. They can blow your mind because they make you go 'wow I did not see that one coming', or perhaps 'why have I never thought of this that way'. It's great.
Final Comments
Finally, I just want to say three things:
1) The animation studio did a fantastic job. They clearly loved the product. Fun fact, almost every episode was a full 29 minutes - the implication being they cut the opening song, closing song and more importantly ALL adverts, just to squeeze more time in for content. How many shows would cut their advert time? There are plenty of shows that cut content or have poor pacing in order to meet the time constraints. The studios instead chose to sacrifice things that make them more money to deliver a higher quality product. It definitely paid off.
2) I read along with the old reddit posts from months ago for each episode, and it was hilarious. Part of it was the show had some really funny moments as well, and they played on that. Part of it running jokes. Re:Zero has some pretty dark / gruesome / tragic moments, and the dark humour running jokes playing on some of these really crack me up heh.
3) I've really refrained from spoiling in what I write, because I hope that people will watch this show. It's just too good.
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