The Fall 2024 Anime Preview Guide

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World Season 3

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A year has passed since the events in the Sanctuary. Now, Subaru, Emilia, and friends are off to a meeting in Watergate City with the other king candidates. But little do they know there is far more to what's going on than mere political posturing. The Sin Archbishops are in the city, bringing death and destruction with them.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- season 3 is based on the Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- light novel series by Tappei Nagatsuki with illustrations by Shinichirō Ōtsuka. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Tuesdays.

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Richard Eisenbeis
Rating:

You know, thinking back, Re:Zero was the start of this whole double-length premiere thing that happens regularly in the world of anime these days. And when it came to the first episode of Re:Zero, it was a brilliant choice. It allowed for a slow burn so that when everything went from typical isekai schlock to grimdark time loop, it was all the more shocking, leaving an impression that made viewers want to return in the following weeks. On the other hand, this triple-length episode seems to exist for another reason: to get all of the "boring stuff" out of the way as quickly as possible.

These three episodes are just a big pile of setup for this arc. We get a one-year time jump and a new, if impractical, location. Then, we are reintroduced to all the various candidates and their knights, as well as more than a few personal stories related to these characters. Moreover, we also get introduced to some new characters (who will certainly be important to the plot going forward) and wrap things up with our newest Bishop of Sin killing a ton of people in a graphically gruesome way.

Honestly, I can't fault the creators for starting with this mega episode. It was the only way to adapt the story fully—and all its admittedly fun character beats—and get right to the action. I can't imagine how many people would have dropped off the series if it had been spread across three weeks. However, that doesn't mean it wasn't a bit of a slog to get through. I personally had to break it up into two parts to get through it.

I guess I'd file this episode under "a necessary evil." It's done nothing to turn me off of the series, but I am glad it's behind me.

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Caitlin Moore
Rating:

I'm kind of mad about how hard I've turned around on Re:Zero since I first watched it. When I saw the first season, I thought it was interesting but found Subaru repellent and was frustrated at how Rem mollycoddled him. But then I watched the second season, and goddang it, I enjoyed it a lot. Maybe it's because Subaru has shown some actual character growth. Maybe it's because Rem has bowed out of the plot for now, forcing him to grow up. Maybe it's because nearly every isekai that has come out since makes it seem better by comparison because there's some fairly intricate storytelling happening in Re:Zero instead of self-indulgent leaning on gaming abstractions and well-worn character archetypes. Whatever it was, somewhere along the way, I became invested in these chumps and what happens to them.

However, the downside to Re:Zero's intricate storytelling is that you really can't leave anything out if you want it to be coherent later. I assume that's why the anime's producers chose to subject us to a quadruple-length premiere, clocking in at nearly 90 minutes without commercial breaks. While I get that they wanted to go out at the moment the episode ended – a tense, horrific encounter with the Archbishop of Wrath – there's a lot of uninterrupted setup leading up to that scene.

The episode covers the first few chapters of arc 5, with the candidates for queen and their attendants traveling to Priestella, a city in the middle of a lake with canals that resemble Venice, as Subaru points out. There's some bickering between the candidates, of course; while historically, I have some issues with how Re:Zero writes women, they're all certainly fun characters. I was delighted to see Felt, who I've wanted to spend more time with since her very first appearance, and Anastasia is a rare opportunity to hear Kana Ueda's signature thick Osaka accent, even though Ueda seems to be mostly retired. There are some developments about the troubled relationships of the Astrea line, a fun scene where a bunch of characters learn to make okonomiyaki, and the best girl, Otto, gets multiple hangovers.

What can I say? Your mind is probably already made up about whether or not you're going to watch Re:Zero's third season. It's certainly not a good place to jump into the story if you're thinking about starting now, but if you've been following it before, it's pretty much exactly what you've come to expect.

But man. Quadruple-length. There has to be a better way.

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MrAJCosplay
Rating:

This was a long premiere, but I can see why the staff behind the scenes decided to do what they did. It's been a while since we've returned to the incredibly popular and marketable world of Re:Zero. I can't wait to go on more adventures in this magical fantasy world where nothing bad ever happens and we don't put our main character through copious amounts of psychological torture. I'm kidding, but it's interesting that we don't get any of that until the final ten minutes of this extended premiere. This episode was meant to catch the audience up to speed and put out as much exposition as possible before things kick off into high gear.

I like that the premiere doesn't devolve into a straight recap. Instead, it uses conversations between characters to establish a new status quo. I find that approach more natural for getting the audience up to speed because it respects their intelligence more than just a cold opening with a bunch of recaps. Most of these conversations felt natural, whether it was Subaru's contract with Beatrice, Priscilla's position of power, or some of the history between Wilhelm and Reinhard. I loved the characters' dynamics with the sharp banters and very wholesome moments of genuine pathos that make this group feel like a family.

However, a part of me still winces whenever something charming and wholesome happens because I know there's something around the corner waiting to tear it apart. I love this franchise's ability to twist the knife when we least expect it, and that probably explains why those final moments are some of my favorites. You could immediately tell from the directing and soundtrack that something was off, but how things progressively got more and more unhinged right up until that final point was haunting, as though slowly winding up a guitar string, waiting for it to snap.

This episode may be tedious and a bit long, given how much the characters sit around and talk, but it's a necessary evil. However, my impression of this premiere will depend on how well the rest of the season is handled. Is the momentum going to be presented in a far more engaging way now that we are past the hard stuff? Or could we potentially see something more inconsistent moving forward? I hope it's the former because I know there is a lot of material here that Re:Zero fans are looking forward to, and they deserve to eat well.

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Kevin Cormack
Rating:
Can you believe it's been over three and a half years since the end of Re:Zero's excellent second season? Considering the four-year gap between first and second seasons, and the fact the very first episode aired in April of 2016, I do worry that many of the show's original fans have drifted away from anime and will never experience the narrative payoffs apparent even from the beginning of this third season.

Recently it's become de rigeur for prominent anime to boast extended premieres, from Oshi no Ko to Frieren. In Re:Zero Season 3's case, I feel this choice is entirely justifiable – after all, this ninety-minute premiere spends a lot of time table-setting, reintroducing long-absent characters, and re-establishing relationships, before climaxing in that horrifying, gut-churning way only a Re:Zero episode can.

Narratively, it's been a year since we last left Subaru, Emilia, and friends after their trials and tribulations at the Sanctuary, and it seems like Subaru has managed to escape emotional devastation, brutal humiliation, repeated death and traumatic resurrections during that time. He's now fully accepted in his role as Emilia's “knight”, and he's formed a contract with the spectacularly cute magical spirit Beatrice, who is now finally able to leave the confines of the Roswaal Mansion's magical library. Subaru and Beatrice's sibling-esque double act is adorable, as they're now so attentive and supportive to one another – without crossing lines into creepy territory. Although one new character does refer to Subaru as a “little girl user”, which is hilarious, and technically accurate.

This arc looks to continue the Royal Selection storyline introduced in the first season, and a trip to the watery city of Priestella, and a suspiciously Japanese-style inn, functions as an excuse to draw almost the entire extended cast together to bounce off one another entertainingly. It's been years since I watched the first season, but I'm still able to recall who most of these people are – from the royal candidates themselves, to their assigned knights and various other hangers-on. Unlike some anime with huge casts, Re:Zero works hard to distinguish the personalities and appearances of its many players, of whom there are too many standouts to list here.

New “songstress” character Liliana is a lot of fun, and her presence means we even get some bright and breezy musical numbers to accompany the gorgeously detailed, summery background visuals. Re:Zero has never looked so good as it does here, which bodes well for the future of this adaptation (which is rumored to eventually cover both arcs five and six of the novel series).

With so many moving pieces to maneuver into place, this premiere threatens to become overwhelming at times, but apart from a brief interlude involving self-titled “Gorgeous Tiger” Garfiel and some kids, we see almost everything through Subaru's perspective. (Though couldn't Subaru have found another outfit during the past year? Surely that tracksuit must be getting seriously tattered?) This focus helps keep control of the central narrative, the serious nature of which rears its deeply unsettling head in the final tonally disconcerting minutes of the premier. Suffice to say the episode concludes at absolutely the right moment to whet the viewer's appetite for another season of crushing emotional torture. I, for one, cannot wait!

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.