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What is even going on anymore? So many new characters are some form of obnoxious loli, which is starting to feel like overkill. Then there’s Emilia, who suddenly sounds like a Genshin Impact character. Especially during combat scenes, her “cute” battle screams come across as cringe and overly try-hard. This feels like a director’s decision rather than an issue with her performance, as her seiyuu is capable of much more.

Greed’s appearance is also strange, with his odd comments toward Emilia that just feel uncomfortable. Subaru, on the other hand, seems to have transformed into some kind of Indiana Jones, suddenly preferring a whip as his ... weapon of choice. We only see him training with it briefly, and there’s no real explanation as to why he’d choose it as a weapon. The foreshadowing around Sirius’s identity also feels forced, with obvious zoom-ins that spoil any suspense (If I am even right with my guess here).

Seasons 1 and 2 of ReZero balanced foreshadowing, mystery, drama, and action excellently, but now it feels like every character is trying to act like an edgy Gen Z teenager, and it just doesn’t work. Garfiel’s chuunibyou moments were less cringey, and now even Julius looks like a Japanese e-boy or femboy for no apparent reason, while Emilia looks like she’s had a random growth spurt. Pricilla remains as unlikable and annoying as ever, and the bard girl is one of the most obnoxious lolis I’ve seen in anime. The only thing I appreciated about Lust so far is that her dragon form was hand-drawn.

Episode 1/2 was mostly good, though. Wilhelm’s scenes, as always, were heartfelt and beautifully done. His continued love for his wife and desire to get closer to his grandson were some of the season’s strongest moments so far.

Overall, it feels like we’re missing a lot of development in terms of characters’ abilities, personalities, and connections. This may have been covered in the novels, but here it makes it difficult to care about characters who only appeared briefly in previous seasons. The rushed new character introductions don’t help either. I’ll keep watching because I enjoy ReZero, but if these issues continue, my interest might drop, especially with more cringey performances from Emilia or Lust. The voice cast is solid, but the direction seems to be way off.