By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.
I’ve talked before about how the way that these books come out in Japan vs. America can sometimes hinder the English-speaking reader. The afterword to this volume says that the 5th Ex book will be a great thing to read to explain much of what happens at the end. Which it absolutely is. The trouble is that here it came out before the final volume of the 5th arc, and also I’ve forgotten most of it by now. Not great, though I understand why Yen cannot simply match another country’s publication schedule to help the wiki-consulting reader. On the other hand, sometimes we can actually get a release schedule helping us out. The last Re: Zero I reviewed was the third short story collection, which has the debut of Natsumi Schwartz, Subaru’s cross-dressing alter ego. And now here we are with the 2nd book in Arc 7, and who should appear to save the day (well, somewhat) but the same Natsumi Schwartz? I expected to see “her” again, but not this soon.
Subaru wants nothing to do with Abel’s crusade, and so he, Rem, and Louis ask the Shudrack to help them reach the nearest town, which they enter thanks to a brother-sister team of eccentrics. Unfortunately, Subaru then dies. Over. And over. And over again. Without quite figuring out what’s going on, which does not help his state of mind at all. Once he’s able to finally realize who is doing this, he manages to break out of the city and go BACK to Abel – as Abel had predicted he would do. That said, he also brought along Flop and Medium (yes, those are their names, it’s a bit Baccano, methinks), which allows Abel the possibility of actually winning his next battle. Unfortunately, Flop proves reluctant to help, so it’s up to Subaru to remember what he’s best at: dumb-sounding plans that work brilliantly.
This is another book that gets better as it goes along. The first half is basically Subaru learning a lesson the only way he knows how – by dying over and over again till it sticks in his head. And that lesson is that this is not a war that he and Rem (and Louis, who Subaru is finally realizing he cannot simply treat like a criminal anymore) can run away from. Honestly, the best parts of the book are him and Rem. This makes sense, given how much ground Rem lost to Emilia over the last fifteen or so books. She’s still grumpy and distrusts Subaru’s smell, but she’s starting to see what his morals and ethics are… and is there to help support them when needed, and criticize him when he varies from them. Subaru worrying she was going to run away from him again, and begging her to stay not for him, but for all the others who love her, is fantastic.
The cliffhanger suggests we’ll be getting a lot of a certain Royal Selection candidate soon… not a surprise given who Abel actually is. Unfortunately, it’ll be till at least December till we get more, as Yen’s schedule lightens up. Till then, this is great in the second half, and OK in the first.
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