The isekai boom has provided anime fans with a number of memorably crafted series. From early classics like The Vision of Escaflowne and Digimon Adventure to straightforward, fully-aware titles like Sword Art Online and So I'm a Spider, So What?, chances are there's an isekai series to meet even the pickiest viewer's needs.
One such series that's taken the anime market by storm is a gritty yet glossy tour-de-force known as Re:Zero -- Starting Life in Another World. Re:Zero boasts all of the basic isekai building blocks: a protagonist who's been transported from our world to a new, swords-and-sorcery themed one, an incredibly attractive magic-user to guide him, and an adorable but incredibly powerful familiar. However, despite surface appearances, Re:Zero has much more to offer than a run-of-the-mill isekai -- most notably, a lead who has died and returned to life a horrifying number of times.
Straight from the outset, Re:Zero sets itself apart from other isekai titles. At he conclusion of the first episode, it's revealed that protagonist Natuski Subaru, a social isolate and hardcore gamer, has the power to return from death to a fixed (though unpredictable and uncontrollable) point in the past. Subaru's Return by Death ability is most closely modeled after dying and returning to a checkpoint in a video game, and offers a number of benefits.
Principally, Subaru retains his memories of the events that took place before and up to his death, giving him the foresight to change or even avoid certain incidents in the hope of creating a better outcome. That said, Return by Death isn't without drawbacks.
First, while Subaru himself has knowledge of the events that transpired before his death, other characters don't. Depending on when he's been reset to, Subaru may have to reconnect with primary characters and rebuild pivotal relationships, which can prove frustrating in the extreme. Additionally -- as the name suggests -- Subaru has to die in order to activate the ability. While it may exempt him from staying dead, Return by Death doesn't prevent him from experiencing the (often incredible) pain and fear that come with dying. As such, Subaru has faced degrees of terror and suffering the likes of which would have any isekai hero looking for the nearest portal home.
One of the most gruesome examples takes place right at the start of Re:Zero. Toward the end of Episode 1, Subaru and his Half-Elf counterpart Emilia are attacked by an unseen assailant. As Subaru is bleeding out from a fatal, excruciating stomach wound, he reaches for Emilia, pleading for her to stay alive, all the while fully aware of his own inevitable death. Throughout his ending, he has no idea he'll return to life. He believes these will be his final moments, and his fear is as palpable as his confusion at realizing he's been revived in the next scene.
Another of Subaru's more devastating deaths comes by his own hand. Later in Re:Zero, he discovers that Rem -- another main heroine -- was attacked by the Witch's cult, causing her to fall into a coma and disappear from everyone's memories. Subaru slits his own throat (illustrated to unflinching detail) with a broken sword, hoping to reset to a time when he can save Rem from her fate.
However, he resets to a point after Rem's altercation with the Witch's Cult, and in so doing realizes he's unable to rescue her. In addition to undergoing the emotional strain of taking his own life (not for the first time), this particular death is made all the more taxing by the futility in the end result. Despite his effort, intentions and peculiar power, Subaru still failed to prevent Rem's fate.
All told, Natsuki Subaru has died 17 (!) times throughout both seasons of Re:Zero. Excessive as that may seem, Subaru's frequent untethering from the mortal coil is simultaneously what sets him apart from other isekai protagonists and Re:Zero from other stories in the genre. Re:Zero keeps killing its protagonist and resetting him at seemingly random points in time. As such, the series is free to play with time in ways that benefit the narrative overall, adding creative complexity without muddying the waters.
Repeatedly killing and reviving Subaru also adds richness and depth to his character by developing both his physical and emotional strength in a way few other anime -- let alone isekai -- manage to articulate. Brutal as his story has been so far, Subaru and Re:Zero as a whole are made all the more gripping for it, consequently changing the metric by which future titles will be compared.
