Re:Zero

• 1. Introduction

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  Subaru Natsuki is walking home from a convenience store when he is suddenly transported to another world. That moment opens Re:Zero, a Japanese light novel series written by Tappei Nagatsuki. It is also known, less commonly, as Re: Life in a Different World from Zero. Subaru is a hikikomori, a person who has shut himself away from society, and nothing in that description sounds like a fantasy hero. How did a story posted on a user-generated website grow into novels, manga, television seasons and video games? What made an editor take notice of it? And why did readers embrace what looked, on the surface, like a familiar kind of tale?

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• 2. Return by Death

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  Just after arriving in the new world, Subaru is dead. He is killed while trying to help Emilia, a young half-elf he has only just befriended. She is a candidate to become the next ruler of the Kingdom of Lugunica. Then Subaru revives some hours in the past. After dying a few more times, he understands what is happening to him: when he dies, he can turn back time.

  The power comes with a heavy cost. Subaru suffers the pain of every death, and he alone carries the memories of events that everyone else forgets once time has been turned back. Armed with this ability, he succeeds in helping Emilia. He then settles in as a butler at one of the mansions belonging to Roswaal L. Mathers.

  Out of gratitude and affection, Subaru keeps using his power to protect Emilia and to support her ambition of being appointed queen. He also helps other friends he makes along the way. The author who imagined this loop of deaths had begun by writing fan fiction for a different series.

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• 3. Born on Narō

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  In the late 2000s, a light novel series called The Familiar of Zero (Zero no Tsukaima) inspired a wave of fan fiction on the website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. The site's name means "Let's Become Novelists", and it is commonly shortened to Narō. Tappei Nagatsuki began there by writing Familiar of Zero fan fiction. He then built on its isekai concept, meaning "other world", to create an original web novel of his own.

  That web novel was Re:Zero, and it began serialization on Narō on the 20th of April 2012, under Nagatsuki's username.

  In April 2013, an editor at MF Bunko J named Masahito Ikemoto first noticed the story when it began appearing on his Twitter feed. He was immediately struck by its use of Return by Death. He called it a "depressing, yet surprising, twist on the fantasy genre". Ikemoto then began working with Nagatsuki to turn the serial into a printed light novel.

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• 4. The Editor's Cut

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  Most light novels run to about 250 pages, yet Nagatsuki's manuscript for the first book ran to more than 1,000. Ikemoto had to edit it heavily. The two also differed on emphasis. Nagatsuki wanted to build the world early, while Ikemoto felt that readers first needed to become attached to the characters. In the end, Ikemoto rearranged the story so that the passages about the world and its lore were pushed back to the third arc.

  Faces came next. The illustrator, Shin'ichirō Ōtsuka, had earlier worked on video games, so he drew the backgrounds first when illustrating the series. After reading the web novel, he sent Ikemoto a set of designs for the major characters. His first Subaru looked like a delinquent, and Ōtsuka later described it as "not the face of a boy in his teens". Ikemoto asked for someone "more friendly and less fierce", so that audiences could sympathize with Subaru during emotional scenes.

  Emilia's first design looked extremely plain, so several features were added to make her more interesting. Ikemoto specified that she must fit the "archetypal heroine" mold. Ram and Rem changed too. Their first drafts lacked their characteristic hair parts, and their maid uniforms were longer and more "traditional".

  The first light novel volume was published on the 24th of January 2014 by Media Factory, under its MF Bunko J imprint. By March 2026 the main line had reached 44 volumes. There were also six side story volumes and thirteen short story collections. On the 2nd of December 2015, Yen Press announced on Twitter that it had acquired the English-language license, and it later took the Re:Zero EX side novels as well. Media Factory's magazine Monthly Comic Alive would carry the story in picture form later in 2014.

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• 5. Pages and Panels

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  On the 27th of June 2014, Monthly Comic Alive began running the first manga adaptation, drawn by Daichi Matsue, in its August 2014 issue. Its final volume was released on the 23rd of March 2015. Square Enix's magazine Monthly Big Gangan started a second version, drawn by Makoto Fugetsu, on the 25th of October 2014. Its last chapter appeared on the 24th of December 2016, followed by an extra chapter on the 25th of January 2017.

  Matsue returned for a third adaptation, which began in Comic Alive's July 2015 issue on the 27th of May 2015. It ended with a final chapter on the 27th of September 2019. On that same day, a fourth series began, with art by Haruno Atori and composition by Yu Aikawa. Yen Press publishes the first three manga in North America alongside the novels.

  A fifth manga, titled Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Chapter 5: Stars that Engrave History, began on the ComicWalker website on the 19th of February 2024. It runs under the Comic Alive+ label.

  Media Factory also published anthologies written and drawn by different artists. The first appeared on the 23rd of June 2016, the second on the 23rd of September 2017, and a third volume on the 23rd of March 2018. Nagatsuki and Ōtsuka produced short side stories for Monthly Comic Alive as well. The first, in August 2016, focused on the character Elsa. A story about Petra Leyte followed on the 26th of November 2016, and one featuring Ram and Rem on the 27th of January 2017.

  A further manga, illustrated by Minori Tsukahara, adapted a novel and was packaged with the Blu-rays of the first anime season. It was released from 2020 to 2021, and Yen Press licensed it too.

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• 6. Anime and Radio

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  In July 2015, Kadokawa announced a television anime adaptation, with the studio White Fox handling the animation. Masaharu Watanabe directed it, and Masahiro Yokotani wrote the scripts. Kyuta Sakai served as both character designer and chief animation director. Kenichiro Suehiro composed the music, and Jin Aketagawa directed the sound. The first season aired from April to September 2016, and its opening episode ran a full hour.

  Two original video animations followed, in October 2018 and November 2019. The second season arrived in a split-cour format, meaning two separate runs. The first half aired from July to September 2020, and the second half from January to March 2021. The third season used the same format. Its first half aired from October to November 2024, and its second half from February to March 2025. A fourth season premiered in April 2026.

  The characters also appear in Isekai Quartet, a crossover comedy drawn in a chibi style. It brings them together with figures from other Kadokawa light novel franchises, including KonoSuba, Overlord and The Saga of Tanya the Evil.

  On the 27th of March 2016, a weekly Internet radio show promoting the series began broadcasting. It aired every Monday and was hosted by Rie Takahashi, the voice actress for Emilia. Guests included Yūsuke Kobayashi, who voices Subaru, and Inori Minase, who voices Rem. Others were Yumi Uchiyama (Puck), Rie Murakawa (Ram), Satomi Arai (Beatrice), Chinatsu Akasaki (Felt), Kana Ueda (Anastasia Hoshin) and Yui Horie (Felix). The show ran for 33 episodes and concluded on the 19th of December 2016.

  Four radio CDs collected the episodes. The first, covering episodes 1-8, was released on the 27th of June 2016. The second, covering 9-16, followed on the 28th of September 2016, and the third, covering 17-24, on the 30th of November 2016. The fourth and final disc, covering episodes 25-33, was released on the 29th of March 2017.

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• 7. Games and Spin-offs

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  A day after that final radio disc, on the 30th of March 2017, the series' first video game reached Japanese stores. The visual novel, from the developer 5pb., had been announced in August 2016. It was first scheduled for the 23rd of March 2017 on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, but "certain circumstances" delayed it. The game tells an original story that differs from both the light novels and the anime.

  Players choose between routes featuring Emilia, Rem, Ram, Felt, Beatrice, Crusch, Priscilla or Anastasia. Pre-orders came with downloadable content that swapped the characters' costumes for swimsuits. The opening theme was performed by Suzuki, who had sung the anime's first opening. The ending theme was performed by Minase and Murakawa. Famitsu gave the game 30 out of 40. The limited edition included a soundtrack CD and an SD figure of Ram on the PS4 version or Rem on the Vita version.

  Virtual reality followed. An app letting users interact with Rem was released for iOS and Android on the 26th of May 2017, and a version featuring Emilia arrived on the 6th of June 2017. The game was later ported to PC and to PlayStation VR.

  Mobile and console games kept coming. A role-playing mobile game called Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World: Infinity, made by Tianjin Tianxiang Interactive Technology and authorized by White Fox, launched in China on the 14th of January 2020. Sega released its own mobile game on the 9th of September 2020. Players can become Subaru and relive the anime, then branch into "What If" stories. A new story written under the full supervision of Nagatsuki was added as well.

  In January 2021, Spike Chunsoft published a tactical adventure game developed by Chime for PlayStation 4, PC and Nintendo Switch. Its original story was produced under Nagatsuki's full supervision, with illustrations by Ōtsuka. It was the first official Re:Zero game to get an English release. A browser role-playing game from DMM Games launched on the 14th of July 2021. On the 14th of March 2022, DMM announced its shutdown, which came on the 14th of July 2022. The mobile game Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World: Witch's Re:surrection was announced at AnimeJapan 2023 and released for iOS and Android on the 26th of August 2024.

  Printed extras filled the shelves too. On the 24th of October 2016, alongside the tenth novel, Kadokawa published Re:zeropedia, a 272-page guide to the first three arcs. A KonoSuba crossover book, Re:Starting Life Blessing This World, appeared on the 21st of December 2016 with interviews with both series' authors and illustrators. A fanbook of episode commentary and cast and staff interviews came out on the 31st of December 2016. Bushiroad released a Weiß Schwarz card set on the 28th of December 2018.

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• 8. Numbers and Verdicts

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  By June 2016, according to the news website LN News, the series had 1 million copies in print. It passed 2 million by September of that year and 3.1 million by May 2017. By January 2022 it stood above 11 million. By March 2023, light novel and manga volumes together, digital editions included, exceeded 13 million copies in circulation. The anime has sold more than 70,000 copies on home video.

  The yearly rankings show the climb. Between November 2015 and May 2016, the novels were the tenth best-selling light novel series in Japan, with 263,357 copies. In the year to November 2016, the series ranked fourth, selling 1,007,381 copies. Its first three volumes placed fourteenth, 21st and 30th among all volumes, selling 155,363, 127,970 and 110,574 copies. In 2017 the series ranked third with 925,671 copies, and in 2019 it sold 550,202.

  Critics were more mixed. Theron Martin of Anime News Network reviewed the first book and praised it as a somewhat fresher take on the "transported to another world" idea. He criticized its bumpy, awkwardly timed dialogue and a tendency toward redundancy. Broader praise has gone to the fresh handling of isekai, the fleshed-out characters, the complex world and lore, and the thought-provoking themes.

  The light novels and the anime each took first place in their respective categories at the 2017 Sugoi Japan Awards. In a survey of Otamart users, primarily women, the series ranked second among the most successful media franchises of 2016.

  The story that began on a free website is also still unfinished. As of the 25th of May 2026, the web novel stands at 782 chapters, with nine arcs completed, six EX side stories published and the tenth arc in progress.

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