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One of my issues with Modern Anime is that they lack sophistication when it comes to the story and dealing with various subject matters. Characters in newer anime tend to be clichés with no depth or psychological complexity. Plots lack self-awareness and cling to contrived plot-devices, for the sake of setting up epic battles or shocking plot twists. Overall, they lack any sense of realism and creativity, as they force unrealistic character choices and situations.

Unfortunately, Re:Zero is one of those animes. While Subaru has been hailed as a realistic character by it’s fanbase, I don’t believe this to be the case at all. His ... psychology makes no sense at all as he comes off as unrealistic, inconsistent, and just plain dumb for the sake of being dumb. The rest of the cast isn’t that great either as many of them are just one-dimensional characters, with many of the females either being loli’s or considered “cute waifus” by some.

Characterization (3/10)
The characters in this anime, for the most part, are terrible. None of the characters have any complex or nuanced views (especially those that challenge moral and ethical boundaries). Good characters are creative in the sense that they challenge the audience to think about topics from certain perspective that they never realized.
Before speaking about Subaru, I do want to speak about the characters in general first. One example I want to bring up is the Royal Selection episodes, which really did a crime on the characterization of some of the major characters. It could have been a great opportunity to showcase a cast of characters fleshing out their life philosophy and how they could solve the ills of their world. Instead, it ended up being a showcase of waifus. Some of the Royal Selection Candidates completely blurted out their thinking and admit to being downright greedy and selfish, without thinking about the consequences of their words. Even Donald Trump, who is known for being extremely bombastic, is better at being a politician than most of the Candidates as he knows how to attract voters and market himself. Additionally, one of the characters (Felt) didn't even want to be there so I don't understand what the point of even writing her in was, if she's not going to provide any depth to the scene. Of course, this doesn’t matter to some as them being cute suffices enough. While Crusch was the only character to show some sanity (as she wants to change how the world is governed), it’s not enough to salvage whatever is left of this scene. Unfortunately, things get worse once Subaru starts opening his mouth.

From season 1, we can see that the purpose of Subaru’s character is to show that any “otaku or NEET” character can succeed, no matter how imperfect they are. However, the show doesn’t accomplish this too well. Subaru comes off as extremely naive, to the point that I get the impression that he hasn’t properly developed any level of emotional comprehension. He never engages in any level of critical thinking. While it’s understandable that one may want to portray Subaru as someone who isn’t perfect, the writers really take it to the point where it just comes off as forced and unrealistic (as with most executions in this series). When he first enters the world of Lugunica, he never sits back and really think about how he came into this world. He just nonchalantly accepts it, thinking it’s a dream or some sort of video game. Even when he goes through his terrible experiences, he never thinks back about how he’s even came to this world nor does he ever experience some level of homesickness. I mean, even if his modern life sucks, it should at least be better than a medieval world where people’s idea of morality is not nearly as advanced as how we understand morality today. Another example of his ignorance is when he first meets Rem and Ram. His first few meetings with them results in them killing him a few times. While Subaru is initially terrified of them, after having some bonding moments with them, he somehow grows enamored towards them, somehow forgetting that they have butchered him in cold blood in the past few days. If Subaru was more realistic, he would have never forgiven them for what they did to him, or he would be extremely cautious. It would have made more sense if Subaru was only pretending to be their friend for his own survival, as he would have people he could live with and be sheltered (he could have forgiven them down the line but I’d expect it would take ages for that to happened at best).

Getting back to the Royal Selection episodes, Subaru’s character really goes downhill from there. Subaru acts completely goofy during the Royal Selection Meeting, even after being told by Emilia to keep quiet. He has no professionalism whatsoever, which again shows his lack of understanding his environment. When Subaru yells at the nobles for discriminating against Emillia, it’s understandable that he would do this as he is trying to stand up for her. The problem is what happens after, which is when Subaru proclaims himself as Emillia’s Knight, while doing a cringey pose. It doesn’t make sense to me why Subaru would do this, as he just comes off as narcissistic and self-centered, especially after protecting Emilia’s. He goes from being self-less to selfish in a manner of minutes. Not only does this show character inconsistency but it also shows an inconsistency in the show’s tone because it awkwardly shifts between a serious and comedic tone. It’s hard to know whether to take this scene seriously or not.

It’s not until episode 18 that he realizes that what he did in the episodes preceding it were arrogant and dumb, as if it was never obvious. While this scene has been praised as one of Subaru’s best moments (in some cases, it may be), it really doesn’t hold any value because all he really said was common sense. It wouldn’t have come to this if the writing was decent. Therefore, I find it hard to sympathize with Subaru because he’s just so stupid and naive to the point that it’s nearly unrealistic for someone his age to be that dense. I’m not expecting Subaru to be Einstein or anything. But he should at least engage in some form of critical thinking more often and have a more logical thought process. I’m not advocating that Subaru could swiftly solve his problems much faster (although this is true to some extent), but at least his decisions and choices could potentially be more realistic.

Story and Plot (4/10)
A story’s character and plot go hand-and-hand. A Mediocre cast of characters compromises the story as it will struggle to resolve logically if illogical choices and actions are initiated by the characters (hence why plot conveniences tend to happen). Because of this, the plot engages in literary gymnastics to try to deal with this. A good plot takes time to craft and perfect. However, what we see here is nothing short of a mess as a result of lazy writing.

As I’ve mentioned before, Re:Zero shows a lack of self-awareness within the world itself. It’s hard to take this show seriously. The show doesn’t question any events or character behaviors that would come off as illogical or implausible (especially in terms of choices the characters make). A well-written plot consists of a series of events and elements that come together logically, which allow for a greater level of impact and realism. The Royal Election episodes, which I’ve used as an example throughout, is a victim of this issue, as the various scenes that take place make no sense. The writers should have done more in-depth research on medieval politics, which could have helped make the scene more realistic.

Another example of this is the Whale Arc. Subaru somehow convinces everyone that a whale is about to attack all the villages, just simply by “yelling” at each of the candidates. Typically, to form alliances, you would expect some politics to be played here in the form of strategic diplomacy. All he really does is beg and cry that a whale is going to come and attack. His feelings are understandable but in a real-life situation, he would come off as being crazy, as he didn’t have proof for his actions. But somehow, everyone found it in their heart to accept what he says. The plot never forces Subaru to really engage in any productive and/or reproductive thinking. He can be as much of a simpleton as he wants, and the plot will somehow work itself out to ensure Subaru achieves his goals. Again, this compromises the story because you are sacrificing logic and realism for plot-convenience.

The last aspect of the plot I want to talk about is the “Return by Death” plot device, which facilitated Subaru’s “Trauma” resulting from the various death’s he experiences throughout the story. We really don’t know much about the origins of his ability, which may not ruin the integrity of the story. However, the fact that we don’t know how the reset point is determined creates an opportunity to contrive the plot, as the writers can bring back Subaru to any point in time. This sacrifices the consequences of some of his actions as he can just do everything from the beginning of a reset point. While it does provide an opportunity for Subaru to develop some emotional complexity, as a result of his constant deaths, the issue ends up being that he only suffers from Trauma in the short term. After an antagonist is defeated, his mindset stays in-tact as if he never went through the horrible things we see him go through. He doesn’t know any long-term effects of PTSD and his mental facilities seem in place until he dies again. PTSD doesn’t always last a long time but for someone who experiences death repeatedly, you would expect that at some point down the line, his mental facilitates would go completely out-of-whack. No normal person can handle what Subaru did and stay sane for long.

Worldbuilding (4/10):
The worldbuilding is important for a story as it is essentially a backdrop for the plot. Therefore, it’s important to really flesh out the worldbuilding. It shouldn’t just include people, places and things, but should also include the philosophy that drives the regions of that world, as well as the political, social and economic aspects of each place within that world.

With regards to Re:Zero, the worldbuilding is very basic and very surface level. We know the world is governed by one dragon, although we don’t know the exact nature of the politics of the world. We also know that there is discrimination within that world, specifically towards elves. Bringing it back to the “Royal Selection”, this would have been a good opportunity to really flesh out the political aspects of this world.

While we have a general idea of the world, that’s really where the worldbuilding ends. We don’t really have an idea of what individual villages and cities are like from a political or economic aspect. And in 26 episodes, a lot more could have been done. Heck, I’ve watched short OVA series that are less than half the length of S1 and they manage to have more worldbuilding than Re:Zero.

Final Thoughts (Final Score - 4/10):
Unfortunately, Re:Zero’s narrative fails at being anything worth taking seriously. The plot and characters have too much going on and lack any level of realism, and the world is largely empty. If you want to spend your weekend’s watching something gruesome and entertaining, I would recommend Re:Zero just for that. However, if you want a strong narrative, there are other places to look. For a good Isekai anime, I would recommend either Escaflowne or Dunbine.