There might not be someone in the world more dismissive of a "genre" they haven't really began to explore, as I am of the "isekai" genre/theme. I had forgotten that I saw the first season of KonoSuba (spoiler alert I was not a fan) and therefore thought I hadn't watched a single one of these shows, but even before it, I felt fully confident in the view that it was the kind of "trash" genre I'd be wasting my time exploring. Re:Zero, recommended to me by my younger brother, who I trust more than anyone when it comes to anime/manga/light novels, as "the only Isekai that could be worth checking out", was an anime show I just randomly felt like watching and knowing how disappointing most of them are, I had to take the opportunity to see it while I was in the mood. So, does it manage to prove to me that I was wrong about Isekais? Well, no, not really because there wasn't anything I saw in it that told me the more I familiarize myself with more works of genre, the more I'll understand it or come to appreciate it more. That being said though, my brother was right to an extent because I'm not going to pretend that I didn't find the show enjoyable and entertaining overall even with all of its numerous flaws. Do you know that feeling where you come from seeing a film with a friend you both enjoyed and you ask them how it was, and you both realize you thought it was a lot of fun? In that moment you think to yourself "oh they enjoyed it too, that's great!" and then your friend goes a step further in their excitement of the moment and tells you “That has got to be the best movie I've ever seen!". You know that feeling when you quickly realize maybe they got a little too carried away and should probably chill a little bit on the hype train? That's this show. Re:Zero is a fun fantasy (isekai really) anime show that you should mostly enjoy at face value unless you are 15 or something, in which case you are allowed to think it's deep, profound, unique or inspired. Unfortunately I haven't been 15 since the 2000s, so for this show to be something I'd consider inspired, it would have to go beyond what has been done to death in various other anime shows, let alone television shows and cinema in general. Does Re:Zero beat the harem allegations? The harem allegations in this show feel like they chase it throughout a forest and as it is ecstatic because approaches what it thinks is the end of the forest, it turns out to be just a small clearing and ahead of it is the continuation of the forest. Try as it may, from the moment the show introduced our love interest aka waifu, it put itself in a category it at times tried escaping, but felt too comfortable staying in. I find this harem type shit really guts the female characters so much they struggle to rise beyond the tropes and clichés they are made out of. Emilia it can be argued hasn't fallen for the protagonist charms, but it isn't really because she's a well written character, it's because she hasn't had enough time to be absorbed by his personality. It is a matter of when and not if, with her. The show pretty much backed itself into a corner when it gave the secondary waifu or "best girl" so much more screen time in the moments that it matters. I say backed itself into a corner because it will now have to turbo boost Emilia's development in the second season to try and make sense of our "MC's" obsession with her. In a way, that episode where Subaru (I just realized I was struggling to remember his name but I might not in the future given the automobile relevance to his name) finally shows an interesting and admirable level of self-critique, damaged Rem's character because even if we understand her change of heart, it feels so jarring and that her development doesn't match up with her personality. It is one of those things that simply work better if we give the characters more time together, but as it is it feels a little bit like her insane obsession with Subaru is nothing more than the protagonist charm. None of the other female characters can help me alleviate that feeling of "dude is collecting these harem candidates like they are Pokémon" because Subaru is either hated or adored, but never ignored. Catgirls, "lolis", waifus etc., it's all just so cringe. The general character writing in the show isn't particularly inspired, but there are some, such as an old man who has a Moby Dick type vendetta, that I did enjoy and find moving. I enjoyed most of the characters but only really on a superficial level. Subaru himself isn't necessarily a standout protagonist but I did find some of his jokes to be funny (like realizing his shadow technique is just debuffs). As with so many anime shows in the 2000s and 2010s, it seems to want to put its protagonist through the wringer trying to be Neon Genesis Evangelion's Shinji, but forgets cheap tricks such as gore and torture, will get you closer to Tokyo Ghoul's protagonist instead. As I said, these are things I find to be cheap tricks that are effective if you're a teenager. Seeing characters you know get brutally killed all in the name of giving your MC a traumatic arc isn't inspired and often exposes your own lack of writing skill. It's funny because even though this entire fantasy setting is the selling point, I ended up finding small moments such as some people in a village being thankful for Subaru constantly helping them, to be far more touching and genuine than big ones like a proclamation of love in the final episode. The worldbuilding isn't anything special, the animation is serviceable (except all the CGI usage in backgrounds and on the models which was just bad and very noticeable), the score is decent I suppose but unfortunately the story doesn't end up carrying those elements. Subaru's overpowered yet somewhat inconvenient ability is fun, but not something to really critique, hence not something I feel should be praised as being well written. It's contrived in such a weird way where his "check points" are always convenient to him and it never truly feels like he is completely stuck at any point. I probably had more to say but I'm tired, sleepy and I'll add on more thoughts when I do get around to the second season. When I learned it wasn't a single season after having seen several episodes, I felt a little let down because It's already close to a decade and it's just starting its third season. I don't really want to add more currently airing anime shows on my backlog. I sound negative, but even if Re:Zero doesn't do anything ambitious on a narrative level, I still found it an entertaining enough watch for me to consider it pretty decent (6.5/10).