About Re:Zero
Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World is a Japanese light novel series written by Tappei Nagatsuki and illustrated by Shinichirou Otsuka. It began in April 2012 as a web novel on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, a site where anyone can post fiction; Media Factory has published it in print under its MF Bunko J imprint since January 2014, and Yen Press publishes it in English. Studio White Fox adapted it as a TV anime, which ran to four seasons and 85 episodes between April 2016 and September 2026. Masaharu Watanabe directed the first two seasons and Masahiro Shinohara the third and fourth, with series composition by Masahiro Yokotani and music by Kenichiro Suehiro.
Subaru Natsuki is a seventeen-year-old shut-in who is pulled into the Kingdom of Lugunica, a fantasy world, on his way home from a convenience store. Within hours he is killed while helping a silver-haired half-elf, Emilia, chase down a stolen insignia she needs to stand for the throne, and he wakes up a few hours earlier with every memory intact. He calls the power Return by Death. It is no gift: each death is real to him, he cannot choose where he returns to, and whenever he tries to tell anyone about it, something stops him. He stays at Emilia's side, takes a job as a butler in the mansion of her sponsor, Roswaal L. Mathers, and uses each failed attempt to work out how to keep the people around him alive.
Each season widens the story. Season 1 moves from the capital to Roswaal's mansion, where a curse and the twin maids Ram and Rem put Subaru to the test, then to the royal selection, the hunt for the White Whale and a war with the Witch Cult, fanatics who worship Satella, the Witch of Envy, whom Emilia resembles. Season 2 takes the cast to the Sanctuary, a settlement sealed by a barrier whose trials make Subaru and Emilia face their pasts. Season 3 brings the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishops down on the water city of Priestella, and season 4 sends Subaru across a desert to the Pleiades Watchtower to find a cure for the people they have harmed. Critics have singled out how far Subaru is from the usual isekai hero: instead of winning easily, he fails, suffers and has to change.
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What the Re:Zero Quiz Tests
Our Re:Zero quiz covers the White Fox anime's four seasons and 85 episodes, with nothing from parts of the light novels the anime has not reached. Easy levels cover the premise and the main cast: Return by Death, Emilia and Puck, the twin maids Ram and Rem, Beatrice's library, the royal selection and who made the series. The middle levels follow the first two seasons in order — the curse at the mansion, Subaru's disastrous outburst at the royal selection, the White Whale, the Archbishop of Sloth, the Sanctuary and its trials, and the contract that ends season 2. The hard levels go further: the deal that wins Crusch's army, Julius's spirits, the Three Great Mabeasts, Emilia's childhood in the Elior Forest, the director's cut, the stars behind the villains' names and a riddle from season 4.
Key Characters
Subaru Natsuki is an unusual lead for an isekai story: impulsive, self-centred and convinced at first that he is the destined hero of his new world, he has nothing to fall back on except the ability to die and try again, and much of the series is about what that does to him. Emilia, the half-elf he falls for, is gentle and earnest but has spent her life being feared for looking like the Witch of Envy, and doubts she deserves anything better. The twin oni maids are a study in contrasts — Rem, devoted, capable and at first deeply suspicious of Subaru, and Ram, sharp-tongued, proud and devoted to Roswaal — while Beatrice, the spirit who guards the mansion's library, hides four centuries of loneliness behind rudeness. Around them stand Roswaal, a clownish noble with a long plan of his own; Otto, a luckless merchant who turns out to be one of Subaru's truest friends; Garfiel, the Sanctuary's hot-headed guardian; and Reinhard, the Sword Saint. The villains are just as distinctive: Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, the Witch Cult's frenzied Archbishop of Sloth, and Echidna, the Witch of Greed, who offers Subaru tea, sympathy and a contract.
Available Quizzes
Re:Zero Trivia
50 hand-crafted questions across 5 categories. 10 levels of increasing difficulty.
Which Re:Zero Character Are You?
Answer 10 questions to discover which Re:Zero character matches your personality!
Random Mix
Questions from all 43 anime including Re:Zero. The ultimate challenge.
Characters
Subaru Natsuki
Emilia
Rem
Ram
Beatrice
Re:Zero Fun Facts
- Tappei Nagatsuki began Re:Zero in April 2012 as a web novel on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, after first writing fan fiction of The Familiar of Zero on the same site. He posted it under the pen name Nezumi-iro Neko, a 'mouse-coloured', or grey, cat.
- His manuscript for the first light novel ran to more than 1,000 pages, where most light novels are about 250. His editor, Masahito Ikemoto, cut it down and pushed most of the world-building back to the third arc so that readers would get to know the characters first.
- Subaru is named after the Pleiades star cluster, and the royal capital of Lugunica was modelled on Prague.
- The anime overtook the books. The last episode of season 1, broadcast on 19 September 2016, used material from the ninth light novel, which did not go on sale until four days later.
- Director Masaharu Watanabe gave composer Kenichiro Suehiro three rules: use human voices in the Return by Death scenes, score the emotional scenes as he would a drama or a film, and pull out all the stops for the tense ones. Both men are admirers of Ennio Morricone.
- Rem was voted Best Girl at the first Crunchyroll Anime Awards, and Yūsuke Kobayashi won the Japanese voice-acting award at the fifth for playing Subaru. The third season won Best Isekai Anime at both the 9th (2025) and the 10th (2026) awards.
Re:Zero Quiz — Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes of Re:Zero are there?
Eighty-five, across four seasons. Season 1 has 25 episodes (April to September 2016), beginning with a 52-minute first episode. Season 2 has 25, aired in two halves: 13 from July to September 2020 and 12 from January to March 2021. Season 3 has 16, split into the Attack Arc (October to November 2024), which opened with a 90-minute episode, and the Counterattack Arc (February to March 2025). Season 4 has 19, split into the Loss Arc (11 episodes, April to June 2026) and the Recapture Arc (8 episodes, August to September 2026). There are also two OVAs, Memory Snow (2018) and The Frozen Bond (2019).
Is Re:Zero finished?
No. The light novels are still being published, and the web novel they come from was in its tenth arc in 2026. The anime's fourth season ended on 30 September 2026 after adapting the sixth arc of the novels, set at the Pleiades Watchtower. When we checked the official anime site on 22 October 2026, no fifth season had been announced.
What order should I watch Re:Zero in?
In release order: season 1, then seasons 2, 3 and 4. Season 1 also exists as a 2020 director's cut, which re-edits the same 25 episodes into 13 hour-long ones with some scenes changed, so watch one version or the other, not both. The two OVAs are optional extras: Memory Snow is a side story set between episodes 11 and 12 of season 1, and The Frozen Bond tells how Emilia met Puck. Both came out after season 1 and are best watched after it. Isekai Quartet, in which the cast meets characters from other series, is a separate comedy.
Where can I watch Re:Zero?
Crunchyroll streams the series outside Asia, and Muse Communication holds the licence in South and Southeast Asia. Availability differs by country and changes over time, so check your local services.
What is Re:Zero about?
Subaru Natsuki, a teenage shut-in, is pulled into a fantasy kingdom and discovers that whenever he dies, time rewinds to an earlier point and only he remembers what happened. He uses that power, Return by Death, to protect Emilia, a half-elf competing to become the kingdom's ruler, and the friends he makes, against assassins, monsters and the fanatical Witch Cult. It is a dark fantasy that takes the cost of all those deaths seriously.
