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EP. REVIEW: Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-

And finally, Subaru turns really obnoxious when he slides into his geeky mode. This story works better when it doesn't resort to being “meta” and distances itself at least a bit from wallowing in light novel clichés. Of course, given the source material, that may be too much to ask.

To me that came across as pent-up frustration at having been killed by her 3 times already. That's "normally" a situation where you'd want to keep a low profile, but he thinks she can't permanently kill him, so he just let all the insulting things anyone would love to say to her come pouring out, just to get it off his chest. I could identify with that. When you really hate someone, don't you wish you could just spew at them without having to worry about any consequences of saying exactly how you feel about them?

I think I'd be more okay with that idea if Subaru was shown to be more cavalier towards death, even just a little bit, but he's terrified of dying again, and understandably so, so shouldn't his priorities be more skewed towards survival?

I dunno, it just feels like these were very obviously parts of the original (web?) novel that had dialogue in it, and the show takes these awkward little pauses to incorporate it when it would make more sense to make that dialogue internal, or just excise it completely. Like when Subaru and Emilia are talking about her trump card; I half-expected the very competent Bowel Hunter to take advantage of their distracted conversation to attack one of them, but she very politely lets them finish.

Same for the bickering between Felt and Subaru; for all the sounds of battle in the background, not a single errant dagger flies towards the two engaged in a silly conversation? It just strikes me as odd and jarring.

Still, there's enough intrigue, mystery, and world-building to keep me invested, but yeesh, do I wish we had a different protagonist.

She doesn't attack them because she is too busy fighting Emilia. What would be the point of doing that and leaving herself randomly open?

I just get this vibe that the show allows these poorly-placed talky moments that tend to interrupt the flow of the show, or downplays the competence of certain characters. It just really undercuts the tension for me, and tends to skew a little too close to "because the plot says so" or "plot armor" for me to take it as seriously as the show seems to want me to.

Iron Maw wrote:

She doesn't attack them because she is too busy fighting Emilia. What would be the point of doing that and leaving herself randomly open?

Because she's later shown to be proficient enough that she won't leave herself open? I just get this vibe that the show allows these poorly-placed talky moments that tend to interrupt the flow of the show, or downplays the competence of certain characters. It just really undercuts the tension for me, and tends to skew a little too close to "because the plot says so" or "plot armor" for me to take it as seriously as the show seems to want me to.

If that were the case she wouldn't been driven as far back she was now until Reinhard showed up. Here's funny thing most anime have bad habit of invoking the "Talking is a Free Action" trope in where the participants would enter a would attack then stop to talk each and attack pattern over and over again. This episode actually avoided all that by have not having dialogue boggle the battle down and instead weaving it in between the action with few breaks. Furthermore if someone was being allowed to have small a conversation that was because in most instances opponent was dealing somebody else. Subaru and Felt were allow to talk because the strongest member in the room was fighting Elsa whose full attention was on her (not to mention the fact that they were in the corner of the room). There is no plot armor there. Your just nitpicking pointlessly at something that was reasonable most part moreso than most shounen.

Iron Maw wrote:

If that were the case she wouldn't been driven as far back she was now until Reinhard showed up. Here's funny thing most anime have bad habit of invoking the "Talking is a Free Action" trope in where the participants would enter a would attack then stop to talk each and attack pattern over and over again. This episode actually avoided all that by have not having dialogue boggle the battle down and instead weaving it in between the action with few breaks. Furthermore if someone was being allowed to have small a conversation that was because in most instances opponent was dealing somebody else. Subaru and Felt were allow to talk because the strongest member in the room was fighting Elsa whose full attention was on her (not to mention the fact that they were in the corner of the room). There is no plot armor there. Your just nitpicking pointlessly at something that was reasonable most part moreso than most shounen.

You can call it nitpicking if you like, but it is seriously hampering my enjoyment of the show. As Key pointed out above, I am well aware that Talking is a Free Action appears a lot in media that doesn't make a successful leap into anime form, but here it just feels unusually prolonged to me. It's like if, during Steins;Gate, the side characters just let Okabe ramble on during one of his diatribes instead of cutting in with a "Yes, yes, get on with it". Whereas in this show, it feels like everyone happily indulges these long ramblings.

That might not be a big issue for you, but for me, it's a little too obvious that Re:Zero seems, at present, mostly concerned with being a blow-by-blow adaptation, rather than thinking about what does and does not work in a different medium. But like I said, it's enough to bother me, but not deter me.

I am, however perfectly happy to agree to disagree with you on that front and just leave it at that.