Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Re:Zero: Season 2 continues the action-packed adventure of the first season of the hit anime series. The series features animation produced by WHITE FOX (Akame ga KILL!, The Devil Is a Part-Timer!) and the series was streamed on Disney+ in Japan. Created by Tappei Nagatsuki, Re:Zero: Season 2 features character designs by Shinichirou Otsuka. Re:Zero: Season 2 features opening theme music performed by Konomi Suzuki. The series features ending theme music performed by nonoc. The music production is by Kadokawa. Re:Zero: Season 2 features voice performances by Yūsuke Kobayashi, Inori Minase, and Rie Takahashi.

Rem (Inori Minase) is now reaching towards death while in a coma. The coma could be the end of Rem. The light of life could be coming to a close at any moment. Despite being on death bed, Subaru Natsuki (Yūsuke Kobayashi) makes sure to always remember Rem. Even though death might pose a challenging change, Rem might have to face death as a new beginning.

Subaru may have been able to use powers to help bring Rem back before but this time it won’t work. Determined to try and come up with a solution to death anyway, Subaru decides to set forth on a new mission – one that takes Subaru to a Witch of Greed. A series of trials will go underway. Can Subaru save Rem from dying forever? Or will death be forever (as a new chapter begins)?

The character designs are a highlight of the production. The design work is colorful and creative. The aesthetic certainly fits the personalities exhibited by the characters. The character designs by Kyuta Sakai (Selector Infected Wixoss, Strawberry Marshmallow) certainly enhance the production. The designs feel essential to the series and its second season. This is one of the reasons the series is successful with fans.

The animation is impressive and a highlight for fans of the franchise. The animation features worthwhile art direction by Yoshito Takamine (Fire Force, Matoi the Sacred Slayer) and chief animation direction by Kyuta Sakai (Humanity Has Declined, Kase-san and Morning Glories). The animation adds to the production in spades. There is certainly quite a lot for fans of the series to appreciate with the animation. The animators have fun with the stylistic world and add to the energy of the series showcasing good line art and detail.

The cinematography by Kentarō Minegishi (Goblin Slayer, Yuki Yuna Is a Hero) is colorful and robust. The cinematography is quite impressive and this is one of the reasons the show has a compelling style for fans to enjoy. The style is bold, aesthetically pleasing, and fun. Minegishi did solid work with the production. There is no doubt that series fans will find the art style beautiful.

The score composed by Kenichiro Suehiro (Goblin Slayer, Comic Girls) works as decent background music. Though the score might not stand out from the crowd as particularly compelling when one compares to other series, the score still has some nice elements. The music works as background production music and it adds to the action-adventure quotient. Suehiro isn’t the most ambitious composer around but the music is decent for what it offers – enhancing the action scenes.

Written by Masahiro Yokotani (Deltora Quest, Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club), Re:Zero: Season 2 continues the journey where the first season left off. Fans of the series will find the series has a fun storyline to continue to appeal to the main target demographic. The scripting has fun with the action-adventure elements. The fanbase will enjoy continuing the ride.

Directed by Masaharu Watanabe (Granbelm, Wakaba Girl), Re:Zero: Season 2 is a decent anime series and one that established fans will certainly want to continue enjoying. The series has some fun with exploring the saga for the target fan base. Re:Zero: Season 2 will provide more of the same fans are looking for – a continuation.

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Re:Zero: Season 2 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The Blu-ray release has decent picture-quality. The release has a somewhat soft appearance and this appears to be source related. The animation looks a bit soft in spots and is not as robust or crisp as some might wish to experience. The animation simply doesn't look as breathtaking as one might envision. This is an underwhelming aspect of the release – even though the release is still impressive on other areas.

Certainly, the encode is decent enough even if the source animation could have used some better production elements in terms of clarity and sharpness. The encode also has some banding that is cumbersome at times. The animation would have looked better with some sharper imagery and the underwhelming elements make this a presentation that simply doesn't stand out as well. A decent presentation but one that could be better if the art style was more robust. Despite some quirks, the presentation is decent and still deserves a solid score as the softness appears to be source- related for the program.

Though the video presentation is a bit underwhelming because of the soft source, the video quality is still going to be superior to streaming video platforms. Viewers should remember that streaming video services only provide heavily compressed data streams with lower bit-rates and inferior encoding methods. In order to eek out the absolute best presentation quality possible, one will want to opt for the Blu-ray disc experience – even if the disc version only offers a marginal improvement for a presentation like this one, it is still superior – and something that adds an enormous amount of value for fans.

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The lossless audio reproduces the series soundtrack. The score is certainly robust and crisp on the release. Dialogue is well reproduced. The sound direction by Jin Aketagawa (anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Blade Dance of the Elementalers) capably reproduces the sound elements in the production. The encode by Crunchyroll is effective. The presentation is superior to streaming because it offers lossless audio encoding. Streaming audio is comparatively garbage-in and garbage-out. True audiophiles who value the best audio quality won't accept substandard garbage from streaming video platforms. The awful sound quality on streaming platforms is usually lossy MP3 quality and there is nothing remotely pleasing about the experience. Fans can be assured that the Blu-ray presentation offers a superior encoding option for experience the series with lossless audio.

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The one area of the release that is underwhelming the most is the supplemental package. The release offers a somewhat standard/average supplemental package. The release could have used some more bonus features to round out the package and entice fans with some behind-the-scenes material (such as audio commentaries, interviews with cast/crew, and documentaries). Even some art galleries may have been a nice addition to the release and fans would have appreciate such an inclusion on the box set. A disappointing on disc supplemental package makes this one area of the release that doesn't stand out. 

On the plus side, the release does come with a nice o-card slipcover. Fans of slipcovers will appreciate the design of the slipcover and the art featured on the release. This adds a nice collectible element to the package. 

Promo Videos (HD, 8:00)

Commercials (HD, 2:27)

Textless Songs (HD, 6:06)

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Re:Zero: Season 2 offers fans of the action-adventure anime series more excitement with plenty of fun for the core audience. The establishes series fans will find more to enjoy with the adventure. For those new to the series, the second season might not seem like the best place to start the journey. Those new to the series might wish to begin with season one before journeying to the second season of the series. Established fans will want to continue the journey on Blu-ray and the release offers a respectable video and audio presentation. Fans of the series will want to consider picking up the release for their Blu-ray collection. Recommended.