Re:Zero Volume 1

Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World Volume 1 by Tappei Nagatsuki (translated by ZephyrRz). Originally published by YenOn, July 2016. Approx. 228 pages.

As much as I love my anime and light novels, I have to admit how far behind the curve I am on newer titles...and by newer, I mean pretty much anything after 2000, when I had to curtail my anime viewing to work extra jobs and raise kids. But, I've been trying to catch up; and luckily, I have a good work friend who comes by every week or so to watch 6 or 8 episodes at a go, of one or two titles at a time. We've knocked out some good titles, and have a bunch in the queue. Sadly, with the current Coronavirus panic, our viewing sessions are on a temporary moratorium. Ergo, I'm taking the time to try and catch up on the every increasing TBR of light novels on my shelf (and in Rubbermaid buckets).

Whew, that was long-winded. Point being, Re:Zero is, I know, a title that is already a few years old (according to Wiki, it was Crunchyroll's most viewed title of 2016). My friend and I have it in the queue, but it's taking forever to get to, so I decided to cheat a little and grab the first volume of the light novel off the shelf.

I'm pretty sure most of you who might be reading my light novel reviews are already familiar with Re:Zero from either the anime or the manga; but still, I will be trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible. Therefore, it might be a bit of a short review, but, I really liked it so I figured I'd put in my two cents.

So, before my quickie review, here's the blurb from the back, which gets as spoiler-y as I'm gonna go with this review:

Subaru Natsuki was just trying to get to the convenience store but wound up summoned to another world. He encounters the usual things--life-threatening situations, silver haired beauties, cat fairies--you know, normal stuff. All that would be bad enough, but he's also gained the most inconvenient magical ability of all--time travel, but he's got to die to use it. How do you repay someone who saved your life when all you can do is die?

Well, that was a bit simplistic, but I suppose you could argue that the story (so far) is pretty simplistic. Re:Zero, at least Volume 1, is another drop in the ocean of isekai stories. However, what distinguishes it is a higher caliber of writing. The prose is engaging and brisk; therefore a lot of credit has to go to the translator. There is a distinct comedic touch to Re:Zero, though it is not the primary focus, a la Konosuba. Also, there is a real grandeur to the action scenes; especially the climactic ones.

As mentioned in the blurb, the basic idea is that a young man, one Subaru Natsuki, magically transports into a prototypical fantasy setting while headinf home form the convenience store. After an unfortunate encounter upon 'landing', he becomes embroiled in the theft of a precious item from a beautiful, mysterious silver-haired girl. Luck is not upon his side as he seeks to return this item; and he finds out that his only superpower is.....tenacity? Resilience?

Subaru is a fun enough protagonist; especially falling under the umbrella of 'snarky, not quite-hikkimori, yet not quite-delinquent, snarky yet not-obnoxious, tracksuit-wearing teen' (hi, Kazuma!). He has enough experience with these types of worlds via video games, manga, and anime; and therefore can grasp the basic gist of what's going on, however, being broke is a severe impediment.

The 'mystery girl' is an interesting enigma - cold and standoffish, brutally honest, yet with some undefinable charm.

The supporting characters are instantly identifiable from similar titles, but still fun enough, due to the better-than-average writing.

Back to the writing, Nagatsuki puts a lot of focus on descriptions; from ever aspect of Subaru's thought process to every facet of his overly-dramatic physical responses.

I'm guessing that a huge reason this review is going to be short is because the entirety of the novel revolves around a) Subaru wrapping his head around what is going on, and b) trying to get the girl's item back. That's really it. Like I said, I haven't watched the anime, so I'm wagering that this entire novel likely fit into one, two episodes tops.

So there you have it. I'll definitely be going back for Volume 2; however, Amazon is not delivering anything until late April, so we'll have to wait and see.

Cover:
Shinichirou Otsuka's cover and interior illustrations are beautiful, evocative, cute, and well-constructed, effectively bringing Nagatsuki's vision to life.