The explosive production quality of the first episode of Dragon's Flame Breath instantly pushed the anime to the forefront of the summer cour, turning it into the title countless fans across Japan's anime scene had already begun calling the season's undisputed ruler.
And honestly, no one found that surprising. There had never been any reason to doubt the pairing of Touga Kuze and Natsuyuki Shirasawa. Across their entire careers, they had never once produced the kind of work that opened with a dazzling first impression only to collapse halfway through. If those two were involved, then viewers expected excellence from beginning to end.
Just a few days earlier, entertainment outlets across the industry had still been talking about a head-to-head showdown between two genius Kantokus this quarter: Sora and Touga Kuze.
But by Monday, people had already forgotten Sora.
All at once, the conversation shifted, and the entire industry began showering Touga Kuze with praise.
Naturally, the fans of Touga Kuze and Natsuyuki Shirasawa didn't let a chance like that slip by. They flocked to the comment section of Sora's account, posting one after another just to show off and mock him in public.
The idolization and factionalism in the anime world had become that severe long ago. And this time, the situation really wasn't on Sora's side. Even with more than three million followers across the internet, his fanbase had no room to talk back. They could only swallow their anger and watch others ridicule him in silence.
Over on Yumi's side, the situation was no better. A crowd of people also showed up there to cause trouble, but unlike everyone else, she had no intention of putting up with it quietly.
Just like always, she believed in Sora completely.
If he said that Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World would rise later on, and even overtake its rival, then she had no reason to doubt him. Not only did she believe it, she even made a dedicated video to argue exactly that.
Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World will surpassDragon's Flame Breathin popularity during the later half of the season.
That video was laughed at so viciously by fans of Dragon's Flame Breath that it ended up climbing all the way into the top three of the day's video popularity rankings.
Then, over the next two weeks, the second and third episodes of Re:Zero aired one after another.
In the first arc of the story, the key turning point lay in the arrival of the strongest cheat in the entire series: Reinhard, the blessed child of the world itself, a man born with dozens of divine protections. And during the third loop, Subaru Natsuki finally manages to form a bond with him and bring him in as an ally.
After all, the Bowel Hunter's strength was no joke. Even within the world of Re:Zero, she stood among the very top class of elite fighters. Neither the silver-haired heroine Emilia nor her contracted spirit Puck would have had an easy time defeating her. Against someone like that, only the appearance of an absurdly overpowered monster like Reinhard could crush everything in an instant.
And once people actually looked at Reinhard's settings, it became obvious just how outrageous he was.
Any long-range attack he launched would unfailingly hit its target. Enemy curse effects were weakened around him, support magic became ineffective, and elemental magic - fire, wind, earth, water, darkness, light, and more - lost eighty percent of its effect against him. Fatal sneak attacks he failed to notice would automatically become invalid. Attacks he could not see would never work on him. And if an attack method he could see failed to kill him in a single blow, then every attempt after that using the same method would be nullified as well.
But the truly terrifying part came after all of that.
He possessed the Blessing of the Phoenix.
Even if some overwhelming force actually managed to kill him, he could revive on his own and return even stronger than before.
So once a character like that entered the scene, the Bowel Hunter's eventual defeat and retreat were inevitable.
At the same time, during those three weeks of broadcast, the audience had also begun to grasp the setting of Re:Zero more clearly, and with that understanding, they finally started to see why Subaru Natsuki had fallen so hard for Emilia.
In the middle of Subaru's previously ordinary and unremarkable life, Emilia had been the only person who truly treasured him, the only one who smiled at him from the heart, the only one who treated him with genuine kindness and warmth. To him, she was that once-in-a-lifetime girl, the pale moonlight that appeared in a dull life and made it worth reaching for.
And when faced with someone like that, who wouldn't be willing to risk everything for her?
Strictly speaking, the first arc of Re:Zero was only the story of how Subaru Natsuki and Emilia met, and how a bond was formed between them.
Subaru had fallen in love with Emilia.
And he had made up his mind. No matter what happened in that world from now on, he would protect her - once, and then again, and again after that - so that in the future, she could keep smiling just like she did now.
After the third episode aired, Re:Zero's ratings across the fourteen-prefecture coverage area of the Southern Alliance TV Network rose to 4.39%.
It still ranked third among the season's newly airing anime.
But The Man in the Mirror, the show in second place, was only at 4.43%.
At this rate, once the fourth episode of Re:Zero aired, it would very likely surpass The Man in the Mirror and claim second place for the quarter.
Because of that, an indescribable wave of excitement spread through the entire production department of the Southern Alliance TV Network.
Second place.
No one had imagined that in less than four weeks on air, Re:Zero would already be in a position to challenge that ranking.
Kantoku Ryo Yukishiro truly deserved his reputation as the department's anchor. Back then, when he had pushed through all opposition and convinced the various factions inside the station to go all the way to Tokushima to find Sora, it had really been a stroke of genius.
As for first place in the seasonal rankings, though, no one at the Southern Alliance TV Network even dared to think about it.
There was no way they could swallow a mountain in one bite.
Dragon's Flame Breath was simply too overwhelming right now.
Three weeks into its broadcast, its rating had already reached 5.23%.
There was no need to say anything more about the quality of that anime. It was only a matter of time before its final performance surpassed Dream of the South, the work Touga Kuze had released more than a year earlier. And once the Blu-rays went on sale, there was even a chance it could challenge the staggering milestone of three hundred thousand copies per volume.
At that point, the entire anime industry was already treating this year's Best Kantoku Award, Best Anime Award, Best Screenplay Award, Best Music Award, and several others as if they already belonged to Dragon's Flame Breath.
Then, at the end of July, the fourth episode of Re:Zero aired.
This episode mainly told the story that followed after Subaru's encounter with the Bowel Hunter. Because of that ordeal, the bond between Subaru Natsuki and Emilia had deepened, and along with it came the first faint stirrings of romantic feeling between them. Emilia brought him to the mansion of her supporter, a noble of the kingdom and a powerful mage - Roswaal, a beautiful man with an overly flamboyant air and a fondness for makeup.
There, Subaru met Beatrice, the shut-in spirit girl who stayed hidden away inside the mansion's library and who would later become one of the story's key figures.
And then -
Rem.
The most beloved character in the original work.
From beginning to end, the fourth episode was filled almost entirely with everyday scenes.
Subaru and Emilia grew closer. In order to survive in this world, Subaru began working as a butler in Roswaal's mansion. At the same time, the blue-haired and red-haired maid sisters, Rem and her older sister Ram, started interacting with him on a daily basis.
The sisters' first appearance, with their natural innocence, slightly airheaded charm, and gentle kindness, stirred the hearts of countless viewers almost immediately.
Even so, at this point, most people still felt that Emilia, as the main heroine, was the more lovable one.
And just as television audiences were beginning to believe the anime had finally moved on from the bloody tragedy of its first arc and settled into a lighthearted daily-life atmosphere -
the ending of episode four struck.
Subaru Natsuki woke from sleep.
And once again, he found himself back on that same morning.
His first day at Roswaal's mansion.
His first meeting with Rem and Ram.
The wound on his palm, the one he had received while working at the mansion, had completely disappeared.
And the unfamiliar look in Rem and Ram's eyes, the way they looked at him like a stranger, filled Subaru with fear.
He realized it immediately.
He had returned by death again.
And the viewers sitting in front of their televisions realized it too.
Subaru Natsuki had died.
At some point during his sleep in the previous loop, he had been killed by "someone."
Once again, Return by Death had triggered.
And with that, the second arc of Re:Zero officially began.
This was also one of the arcs that had pained Sora quite deeply in his previous life. It might not have reached the crushing brutality of the Sanctuary Arc that came later, but even so, it had been enough to leave him feeling miserable for a long time when he first watched it.
Because it was in this arc that the audience was shown, for the first time, the true cruelty hidden behind Subaru's seemingly convenient ability.
With every loop, the people he risked his life to save would forget everything they had shared in the previous worldline. They would no longer understand him. The memories of growing closer, the promises they made, the moments when their hearts finally connected - all of it vanished without a trace. And sometimes, those very same people he had desperately tried to save would even be the ones to kill him with their own hands.
The damage that kind of pain could inflict on a person's mind was only now beginning to reveal itself to the audience.
That very night, after the episode aired, the comment section of Re:Zero's official account on NatsuYume suddenly exploded with activity.
"Here it comes - the long-awaited Return by Death. I honestly thought the story was about to shift into a fun slice-of-life direction, but Kantoku Sora really didn't disappoint. Out of nowhere, Subaru gets killed again. Hahaha."
"What's so funny about that? Don't you think it's sad? In this loop, Subaru and Emilia spent such a beautiful night together under the moon, and their feelings clearly got closer. Subaru was also learning how to manage the mansion with Ram and Rem, learning how to clean, building a relationship with them too. And now all of it has to start over. Don't you feel anything? That's heartbreaking."
"So what if it starts over? What's the big deal?"
"Do you people still not understand what's tragic about the protagonist's power? The first meeting is always the most precious one. The first conversation, the first smile, the first moment of understanding, the memory of becoming friends for the first time - those are priceless things. But when you carry your memories and live through that stretch of life again, can it still be called a first meeting? The promises you made in the previous loop, the feelings that deepened, the instant you both opened your hearts to each other - everything is gone. And worst of all, those memories can never be recovered, because you're already a second-loop or third-loop version of yourself. You can never truly have a 'first encounter' with that person ever again."
"I don't know. I still can't really understand why that's supposed to be sad."
"When you put it that way... if I had that kind of power, and then in the second loop, the moment where my girlfriend said she liked me for the first time disappeared, and only I remembered it... damn, just imagining that hurts."
"It's just an anime. Do you really have to take it this seriously? Maybe in the second loop, the protagonist will get along even better with Emilia, Rem, and Ram."
"But what if he gets along with them even worse? Like, what if for some reason Rem, Ram, and Emilia all end up hating Subaru? Then in the third or fourth loop, he'd have to face girls who once smiled at him warmly, but now can only look at him with disgust."
"There's no way. Kantoku Sora isn't some sadistic lunatic. Why would he ever write something like that?"
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