Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

Few isekai anime series have defined the modern conception of the genre as much as Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World. While most stories of this genre have opted to explore the well-trodden path of wish-fulfillment fantasies, White Fox’s adaptation of Tappei Nagatsuki’s light novels stood out with its focus on psychological thrills, rich characterizations, and the sheer endurance of its protagonist.

The Director’s Cut version of the first season, which compiles the entire original twenty-five episodes into thirteen extended ones, provides ample opportunities to revisit the subtleties of the production. It streamlines some of the lesser moments while providing the crucial ending that serves as a transition point for Season Two. The way in which the first season establishes the story and characters is close to perfect in its execution, which makes the runtime incredibly difficult to dismiss.

Crunchyroll’s SteelBook version of the Director’s Cut delivers the highest possible quality in both video and audio while providing a fitting packaging presentation for the series. The value is there for those who want it, but casual viewers will likely find the release unnecessary.

Subaru Natsuki’s ordinary life abruptly ends when he gets transported to a medieval fantasy kingdom of mages, demi-humans, and political intrigue. As Subaru thinks he has become the protagonist of a typical isekai fantasy, he learns to quickly adjust to the new world and its harsh reality.

After meeting the half-elf Emilia, Subaru gets caught in a never-ending cycle of dying and respawning at the same point in time with no one else realizing it. While the repeated deaths and rebirths are brutal, Subaru continues to move forward, learning from his mistakes while trying to protect those he cares about.

What makes Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World so different from other isekai anime is that Subaru does not have any advantages over the locals aside from his knowledge of future events. Instead of getting stronger with each respawn, he feels defeated and frustrated by his inability to change the outcome of the situations that leads to his death. It is in the depiction of trauma and how it affects Subaru that the series truly shines. While the character can be annoying, rude, arrogant, and emotionally unstable, these traits are the results of his experiences. Watching him grow as a person and learn to put others’ needs before his ego is one of the most enjoyable parts of the series.

The same can be said for the rest of the cast. Despite being the damsel in distress at first, Emilia is a strong character with a beautiful and complex personality. Rem is an amazing support character whose development is handled with care and precision. Other notable characters include Beatrice, Roswaal, Crusch, Wilhelm, Julius, and many others. Even the villains, Elsa, Petelgeuse, and the Witch Cult, are truly memorable.

The villains’ motivations are not purely evil, and their actions are rarely done without reason. Petelgeuse is one of the most memorable anime villains of recent years thanks to his unstable psyche and the incredible voice performance by his voice actor.

The Director’s Cut version of the series, which runs at thirteen episodes as opposed to twenty-five, allows the story to breathe better. With the removal of weekly openings and endings, the serialized nature of the story allows the character development and emotional moments to resonate more.

The extended episodes also feature several improvements to the animation and visual effects, as well as the crucial post-credits scene that serves as the setup for Season 2. While these changes may seem minuscule on paper, the changes improve the overall viewing experience.

Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World is a series that truly strives to challenge its characters and viewers at every step. It is not afraid of complex themes and emotions, as it balances the beauty of hope and the inevitability of tragedy. Long after its initial release, Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World  Season 1 is still one of the most remarkable fantasy anime series.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The extended cut looks fabulous, as White Fox has once again demonstrated its excellent digital painting skills.

Things start strong, as the show retains very good clarity and line definition throughout all episodes, which is not a small thing given the amount of expressive character animation each episode contains. The character designs themselves are sharp and clear at all times, with barely any loss of detail in close-ups.

The kingdom of Lugunica has some truly beautiful architecture, forests, interiors and landscapes, all of which are painted in vivid detail. Even with extra time given to each episode, the show retains a cinematic style, it manages to give all of the above more time to breathe than the regular release did. As for colors, the colors remain just as vibrant and well-saturated as one would expect from the show, as the silver locks of Emilia, the blue tones, the extravagant makeup of Roswaal, and the bright colors of many of the magical locations all look good on this release.

On the other end of the spectrum, the show handles darker scenes well without looking overly gray or desaturated, with lots of night-time battles and horror-themed moments retaining good clarity and detail in the shadows. Contrast is excellent throughout, helping the already good black levels avoid black crush.

With regards to the technical quality of the encode itself, there are barely any compression issues worth mentioning. Even with the extended run-time of each episode, the bit-rate is high enough to retain excellent detail in both dramatic moments and the fast-paced action, with barely any noticeable artifacts at all.

It should be noted that animation quality can vary from episode to episode but the Blu-ray retains whatever level of detail was intended without further issues.

The improvements of the extended episodes are mostly subtle, with some animation and editing changes being made, but nothing that would change how the animation looks drastically. Either way, this is yet another excellent looking Blu-ray that does right the animation and production values. Blu-ray provides superior video compression and presentation quality and the overall results are astonishing.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both the original Japanese and English dubbed soundtracks are presented in lossless Dolby TrueHD 2.0, both of which sound very good indeed.

The Japanese cast is outstanding, with Kobayashi giving Subaru a very expressive voice, effortlessly shifting between comedy, terror, despair and determination. Rie Takahashi is perfect as Emilia, while Inori Minase's portrayal of Rem is one of the best performances in recent anime.

The English dub is also very good, with Sean Chiplock capturing Subaru's vacillating emotions well and Kayli Mills, Brianna Knickerbocker, Ryan Bartley and the rest of the cast all delivering strong performances, too.

Dialogue is easy to understand, with the music and sound effects also being very good. The dynamic range is excellent, despite the 2.0 stereo mix, with all the sound effects having nice impact, the environments providing good atmosphere, and the fights all being very well staged.

Kenichiro Suehiro's wonderful score steals the show, with the piano and orchestral arrangements providing the perfect accompaniment to the on-screen action. The Blu-ray's audio presentation captures the music very well too, with excellent clarity and warmth. The presentation benefits a great deal from lossless audio encoding. Lossless audio is one of the greatest strengths of the physical media format.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The main attraction of the release is, of course, the presentation of the episodes, the so-called Director's Cut, which offers an alternative edit and comes with additional scenes popular among fans.

The Steelbook also comes with a collectible booklet and special packaging, which makes it much more desirable than a standard keepcase version. The steelbook is stunning and looks great in person. Holding it in hand, the steelbook has a fantastic design that is sure to please fans. Crunchyroll offers an appealing SteelBook that immediately distinguishes itself from the past standard Blu-ray versions.

The artwork on it draws attention to Emilia and Subaru and uses bright fantasy-like colors that enhance the attractiveness of the release. The inside of the packaging also impresses with quality all around. The additional collectible value of a booklet adds more to the set. Overall, the SteelBook looks attractive and durable and is an amazing addition to the collection of a fan of this anime series.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World stands as one of the most remarkable anime series of the genre, at least in the first season. Its audacious premise, complex character relationships and motivations, psychological depth, and technical production quality all set it apart from numerous other fantasy titles.

While the Director's Cut does not reinvent the first season entirely, the tweaks to the pacing, the superior presentation, and the expanded conclusion all contribute to making this version more definitive. Thus, the first season's Director's Cut serves as both the perfect introduction to the series for those who are about to watch it for the first time and as an incentive to re-watch it for the fans of the first season and its original version.

The SteelBook by Crunchyroll is a fantastic choice for viewing this enthralling anime series, featuring remarkable video, pristine lossless audio, a beautiful package design, and an overall excellent presentation of the epic tale.