Re:Zero thoughts

Pic of all Re:Zero volumes stacked on-top of each other: https://twitter.com/Ewnid/status/1335030599300485121

Most people will be familiar with Re:Zero from the anime, so let's preface this post by stating that the LN series is basically a completely different work. Not just on the level of how the narrative prose adds enormous amounts of depth to Subaru's character or how there's so much subtle foreshadowing and worldbuilding lore that wasn't adapted, but how entire scenes and characters are completely cut and simply don't exist in the anime. Basically, if you liked the anime that's a pretty sure sign that you'll love the LNs, but even otherwise you should be willing to go into the LNs with an open mind, you'll likely be pleasantly surprised.

As epic fantasy series go, Re:Zero is pretty undeniably one of the largest-scale and most ambitious, purely in terms of wordcount it's one of the longest series on narou, and it's not even remotely close to done right now. But what makes it so impressive is not the length but how consistently and aggressively good it is. It's not the sheer number of characters but how they all get so much development and backstory and motivations and growth, it's not the depth of the setting in terms of magic system and unique creatures and places and items, but how they're effortlessly woven into the narrative to create a super rich and unique experience.

On a technical level, the prose is honestly extremely high level, especially in the later arcs which have some very poetic and elegantly written scenes. Tappei is a writer who constantly strives for perfection, in some of the afterwords he talks about how when rereleasing stuff he's written previously he always has to meticulously go through it and rewrite everything to reach his newly improved standards, and it really shows, every arc is a whole tier above the previous one. Unfortunately this does mean the early arcs don't really do him justice in showing how talented he is, while they're still good it takes a fair while before you get to the really masterfully written scenes. It's 100% worth it though, you'll see how wonderfully his lines flow into one another and some rich and precise use of rare vocab for maximum effect.

In true epic fantasy tradition, Re:Zero doesn't just have one story and one group of characters it follows, it presents a vivid world of different people living their own lives and interacting with one another. Honestly I think this is one of its biggest strengths, how everyone has their own backstory that gives believability and depth to their character, and their own motives and values that give logic and meaning to their actions throughout the story. Coupled with Tappei's knack for writing good character voices and the sheer number of side stories you get a really vibrant and interesting cast that bring you into the series and gets you invested in all these characters and what will end up happening to them.

The downside of this is progress in the main storyline is slowed down a fair bit by having to go through all the side arcs, and while a few of the scenarios are SoL fluff a lot of them have essential character building or carefully placed foreshadowing so you can't really miss them. While I had no problem with this since I'm all for taking your time to build up an interesting and complex world, I could see some people preferring a more focused and streamlined approach. The side stories are good in their own right though, I'm especially a fan of Ferris in EX1 and EX4 the themes there are really elegantly handled and heartwarming.

All this screentime for side stories doesn't mean the primary cast is underdeveloped though, if anything it's completely the opposite. Subaru is such an amazing protagonist for how relatable he is, how he gets neither some OP isekai power nor flawless rational thinking, but instead he's a real person going through real emotional struggles. He's flawed for sure, he'll make silly mistakes and act out of passion and instinct, but he also cares about everyone and is willing to never give up for them, in the same way that real humans have worked together to build families and societies across millenia. His lack of confidence and his worrying about how others think of him, his being encouraged by praise and support and a cute girl's smile, his primitive fear of pain and loss, his wanting to be accepted and recognised and loved, it's all so relatable and meaningful to us.

Emilia is in my opinion one of the cutest girls ever written, not just her every line of dialogue but also the very narrative prose describing her is pure and bright, Tappei conveys through Subaru's perspective writing how much she means to him and makes it believable through super "moe" characterisation, presented in contrast with how dark and grim her past is and how determined she is in trying to make the world a better place. She's every bit as rich of a character as Subaru, from the way her interpersonal relationships with everyone grows across the story and how intricate the depiction of her command of magic and weaponry is, to how much focused emotional conflict and resulting coming of age and character growth she gets and how that directly ties into the central progression of the overarching story.

And it's not just these 2 of course, it's not even just all the main heroines, everyone from the male knights to the peasant girl maids get this level of depth, and notably the antagonists too. One of the points Tappei's writing stands out the most is when he's writing insanity, when he's writing characters completely detached from common sense and societal norms and pure basic reason. He captures this concept vividly with unique character voices and he makes it believable and real with consistent unwavering purpose. Just because they're different from us doesn't make them random or meaningless, they have their own value system and their own reason for being, and while it's completely original and creative Tappei deftly weaves in explanations for how they became the way they are and what they're trying to achieve with their seemingly insane actions, I think it's such an interesting portrayal.

Thematically I feel like the most similar writer I know is Shumon Yuu, from Kissumi and Itsusora fame. They both depict this warm and heartfelt idea of caring about your loved ones and desiring to protect them at all costs, they both show the darker and more destructive side of human emotion while presenting hope for moving past what you've been through and finding a brighter future, both works are about the value of interpersonal relationships and overcoming a relentlessly unfair and cruel fate to find meaning in tomorrow. Fans of Re:Zero should definitely try Shumon out, and vice versa.

Is it the best book series ever written? Well if you compare it to Iriya no Sora, Iriya is a lot more thematically focused and refined. Every line and every word has clear and directed meaning, it's a pure work of art focused solely on showing the beauty of the central underlying themes. In contrast Re:Zero isn't even finished, it's not even close to finished, and it contains plenty of scattered bits and pieces of different ideas and arcs, while each individual one is really good and while just reading the first 3 arcs or first 6 arcs in isolation from the remaining ones is a satisfying full story with a stunning conclusion, it's not I feel as "perfect" as Iriya in the format it is currently.

It's worth noting that it's certainly not like Tappei is unable to write a shorter, consistently thematically focused work though, as proven by the Sigururi prequel LNs. They present their own vivid and intricate world and follow a defined story directly underlined by the central wartime themes, and every line and every word is in tune with this idea and builds up to the overarching conclusion in a really incredible way, I think the existence of them is undeniable proof of Tappei's sheer talent as a writer. Although lacking the freedom that Re:Zero has in terms of pure length and time, it goes without saying Re:Zero is able to be so much more complex and intricate and in-depth and cover so many more ideas across the massive number of volumes it has available, I wouldn't say one is better than the other since they both have their own unique strengths.

In any case I could write essays more about Sigururi but this post is about Re:Zero, it's one of the most popular light novel series ever for a reason. The anime is also extremely popular, although it doesn't go into anywhere near the depth of the LNs the ideas behind it are just so good and the direction especially in the first season is pretty well done, there are definitely a lot of scenes I'm really looking forward to seeing animated and hearing the amazing monologues voiced, even if it's with the background knowledge from the LNs giving the necessary context to them. I think it's an absolutely stunning series and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in well-written Japanese novels.

TL:DR: EMT!