YMMV / Re:Zero

• Accidental Innuendo: In one of the everyday conversations in the second arc, Ram tells Subaru that "the skillful fingers of Rem will give him divine pleasure." It's not what it sounds like.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Many people have theorized that Subaru's love for Emilia is as shallow as it was in the beginning because of her connections to Satella. Yes, he may see more character in her and he does see her as a "heroine", but because of their similarities some people think that there may be foul work at play. This view has also become a breeding ground for the emergence of the theory that his "love" for Emilia is only the result of Satella's spell with the aim of helping the Witch back to this world. This may be the reason for the blindness and obsession of his feelings and the fact that the farther away from Emilia he is, the less he is inclined to show his Love Makes You Dumb features, and he's quite capable of thinking rationally or even falling in love with Rem.
  • Did Subaru actually go crazy after the events of Episode 14, or was it a ploy to get Rem to take him back to the Manor as quickly as possible, to convince Emilia to leave before the assault by the Witch Cult?
    • Tappei has confirmed that the former interpretation is true. He [Subaru] really did mentally crumble, Betelgeuse not recognizing it as such is more a case of him [Betelgeuse] not understanding different forms of madness.
• Arc Fatigue: The Sanctuary story in Arc 4, part of the longest arc in the series. While it's the point at which the series starts to sink its teeth into the meaty parts of its Myth Arc, this comes with the downside of most of the action and intrigue being left on the back burner to favor flashbacks, exposition dumps, repetitive dialogue, and background elements that hurt the story's flow. To put it in perspective, the first season of the anime took 25 episodes to cover the first three arcs; the second season takes that same amount just to cover this one, and that's not even taking into account the fact that every episode in that season has anywhere from six to ten minutes of extra content per episode. While the arc introduced fan-favorite characters and offered big developments, its slow pacing and large amount of padding sometimes make it a slog to sit through, particularly during its first half.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Requiem of Silence", the ending theme of Episode 15, is considered by many to be one of the most hauntingly beautiful and sad music pieces heard in anime in years. The full-length version takes this to an unprecedented level.
  • The first ED, STYX HELIX, is well-regarded by the fanbase, especially for its lyrics and how they relate to the story.
  • The first opening, "Redo". The lyrics are about being trapped in the past but still fighting for someone's sake. The recurring guitar riff may have helped it too.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Subaru has become the biggest one in the fandom as the series has progressed:
    • The first point of contention regarding him is his non-reaction to being transported to another world. Some people don't mind it and consider it not important to the story as it is. Other people find it ridiculously unrealistic even by fantasy setting standards, and that it sets Subaru's character for a very bad start. Among readers of the LN it's a bit better, since the issue is at least addressed, albeit not really explored.
    • Albeit at first the split was more or less moderate, it became much larger since the start of the third arc (starting in the 12th episode). One half of it despise him for his idiotic behavior, his quasi-stalkerish obsession over Emilia and his stupid choices, which lead him (and others) into trouble. Plus, many argue that those idiotic choices are plot-driven, instead of character-driven. Or in other words, "Subaru behaves like an idiot when it's convenient for the plot", which is a pretty common comment among detractors. The other half likes the guy because of how realistic they find his behavior and defend that Subaru acts like a flawed human being rather than acting like an idealized, typical fantasy world protagonist. Episode 16 only added more fuel to the fire, as his rage clouding his mind made him do, in some people's eyes, even more stupid decisions.
    • More in general, people put Subaru's motivations into question, particularly those regarding Emilia. Supporters claim they're perfectly understandable, since they have more than enough interaction for Subaru to genuinely fall in love with her, and it creates a solid foundation for the story to brutally depict Subaru's character archetype. Some compare this to how people can become infatuated with others, and blindly "loving" someone for shallow or little reason. Especially in Episode 14, where Emilia mentions, "the version of me inside of you must be amazing", which many supporters say is justified, since Subaru has seen Emilia in more ways and has had more intimate moments with her throughout his loops that she's not aware of, but Subaru is. Detractors, on the other hand, disagree that they have enough chemistry to justify Subaru going to such lengths for her, which, coupled with his aforementioned non-reaction to being in a different world, makes him feel artificial. And that's before including Rem in the equation, which takes things up to eleven.
      
      In particular, by the second half of the show, many viewers complained about Emilia growing into a Living MacGuffin and the nature of her and Subaru's relationship/his love for her being little more than explicable religious fanaticism, while Rem the fan favorite character formally remained on the sidelines, even after Subaru confesses his love equally to both girls. At the same time, some Rem fans seem quite satisfied with such author's superficial attitude to Subaru and Emilia, believing that much more concretized SubaRem attitude can give hope for future better chances for Rem, than at the moment.
    • Did his breakdown in Episode 13 show that he was an entitled dick or was it just him grasping for straws as his mental trauma surfaced due to the sudden fear of being abandoned, rendering all his former suffering for naught and then leaving him alone with it?
    • At the end of the third arc, Subaru decides to start taking things more seriously and become a true hero, and manages to succeed, with some help, in defeating the White Whale and the Witch's Cult. Many fans are up in arms about this being the typical self-insert harem protagonist played straight and claim it to be the worst incarnation of Subaru of all because he's not losing. Others claim that his development is realistic and doesn't go into tensei hero territory, and after all that has happened to him over the course of the story, letting the poor guy succeed and save the ones he cares about is the least the writer could do. And others know the actual ending to Arc 3 (which the anime has yet to cover) is one of the main sticking points against this point of view.
    • The above point brings to light the fandom's divide on Subaru's successes. Some fans believe that Subaru having some success here or there doesn't detract from the story's dark elements, and are okay with him making things better before he's gut punched by the next Diabolus ex Machina. Others are against the very idea of Subaru succeeding at anything, winning any conflict, or even learning to be a better person because they see that as playing into a standard isekai series.
  • Emilia is disliked by part of the fandom because they see her as a bland, generic love interest of the main character, claiming that Rem, who during the first season was more fleshed out and had a more active role in the series as Subaru's sidekick, should be Subaru's main love interest instead. Others in the fandom claim that this is justified as part of the series's handling of the "trapped in a different world" genre, and argued that Emilia gets more fleshed out in the future, which turns out to be the case in the second season as well as an OVA centered on her and her relationship with Puck. Web novel readers instead perceive her as too immature, with the writing reflecting that in her interactions with Subaru and her being better received during the flashback chapters when she actually is as young as her mental age. It is justified due to her mental age not lining up to her physical age due to being frozen and unconscious, but whether or not it's well written is a matter of debate.
  • Rem also often gets a similar attitude outside the fandom of the series, especially because of her unexpected huge popularity. In particular, while many viewers consider her to be literally the perfect girl and the romantic partner they would like to have in real life, another part of the audience criticizes her for the excessive hype, an artificial change of accent from Emilia as the main female character, and simply sexist Pandering to the Base for that exact reason of being "waifu bait". Some even say her status as a Love Interest is just as archetypal as Emilia's, but she's forgiven for it due to being the "devoted" character rather than the "devotee". The fact that she's received the most merchandise out of every character so far doesn't help the case at all, nor does the imbalance of focus, story relevance, and popularity between her and her twin sister Ram despite the two having been introduced as a pair at the same time, leading to some deeming Rem a Spotlight-Stealing Squad.
  • Betelgeuse is either an effective villain you Love to Hate or an overly narmy villain that is hard to take seriously. Some fans actually like him for immediately establishing himself as one of the most threatening villains in the series and find his crazy antics and hamminess to be amusing. Others find him to be a one-dimensional villain who's only crazy for the sake of being crazy and tries way too hard to come off as frightening, and who only gains more interesting dimension to his character in flashbacks that occur well after he's been killed off.
  • Ram, after the flashback showing her and Rem's childhood revealed the depths of her devotion to Roswaal. Either it provides an interesting facet to her personality and gives her room to explore and revisit those feelings without Roswaal around, or it ruins her and makes her an ultimately hypocritical character.
• Broken Base:
  • The show's various attempts at making self-aware jokes. Some don't mind them since "trapped in a strange world" anime usually have a tendency to take themselves very seriously and it shows ambition on part of the writers, who want to make sure it stands out from other similar anime. Others think it's one of the weaker aspects of the show, as they think none of the jokes are funny, and much like Akame ga Kill!, it completely disturbs the darker tone that it's going for. Arc 3 ends up getting rid of the self-aware jokes entirely as the Genre Shift kicks in.
  • The beginning of the Roswaal mansion arc, since most of it is spent in the mansion since Subaru keeps on respawning there. Some like it since its focus on character interactions gives the viewer time to better understand the characters, making future scenes even more brutal. Others think it's the weakest part of the series due to the fact that it could have made its point in a shorter time-span, and how it constantly repeats the same events while rarely ever leaving the same location.
  • Whether or not the series went through Seasonal Rot in the third arc. Most viewers find it to be among the best in the series due to how brutally it shows the "trapped in a strange world" concept and how the Genre Shift allows the show to take itself more seriously by dropping the humor from the first two arcs, to later on give Subaru a much-needed Character Development that gives a satisfying resolution to the arc. There are some people however who feel that the series goes downhill during this arc in two different ways in its two halves: in the first half, the criticism is that it gets so bleak that it borders on torture porn and lacks the humor from the first two arcs, which causes it to lose its charm from early on, and Subaru's increased idiotic decisions, which many argue are so due to plot contrivances instead of genuine character flaws. As for the second half, there are those who think that the show becomes a generic "isekai" story filled with generic "good guys against monsters or bad guys" action scenes.
  • Subaru being the one to finally defeat Betelgeuse in the end of Season 1: Is it deserved payback for all the suffering the latter put the former through and a way to show off how Subaru has grown as a character, or is it a cheap, unearned victory designed to make him look good at the expense of other, stronger characters?
  • Part of the fanbase also considers the anime to be a controversial or even bad adaptation in the context of material handling, which is especially evident in accusations of Flanderisation of Subaru as an even more silly idiot, cutting off most of the romantic subtext between him and Rem, and replacing the Downer Ending of the third arc with an almost artificial happy ending. Especially because of this, the scene in the hall of royal elections suffers, along with the conversations Subaru has with Rem before and after the battle with the White Whale, and, of course, the whole ending of the third arc, which is perceived even by anime fans as a huge missed opportunity. The announcement that the first season would be getting a recut prior to Season 2 with additional footage doesn't help.
• Critical Dissonance: Among anime fans, this show is very popular and very well received. In fact many viewers named this show one of their favorite anime of 2016. Despite its popularity and acclaim among the anime viewing community, opinions on the show have been generally split among anime reviewers. On the one hand, r/anime and reviewers like Gigguk, Arkada, Mother's Basement, and Theron Martin of Anime News Network all enjoyed the show. In fact, Theron Martin and Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network both named it their favorite anime of the Summer 2016 season. On the other hand, reviewers like Beatrice the Golden Witch, That Anime Snob, and many My Anime List reviewers were a lot harder on the show, either finding it to be So Okay, It's Average or just plain bad. Some of the harder critics have also compared this show to ERASED, finding that both it and Re:Zero have similar issues.
• Die for Our Ship: Rem, being a side character, almost completely eclipses Emilia both in terms of popularity among spectators and in terms of developing a relationship with the main character. Moreover, all the romantic moments Subaru has with Emilia are immediately duplicated with him and Rem, and vice versa. In the end, this causes regular conflicts and mutual accusations, despite the fact that Subaru repeatedly declares his equal love for both girls. On the one hand, the fans of Rem accuse Emilia of having no personality other than being a soft, archetypal love interest, as well as barely participating in the second half of the anime's first season. On the other hand, Emilia fans blame Rem for coldly and brutally killing Subaru in Arc 2, as well as an unjustifiable shift of focus in Arc 3 due to the excessive popularity of Rem outside the context of the work.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Elsa Granhiert the Bowel Cutter is immediately established as someone who is... not well. Thanks to her coolness and sex appeal, you'd really have to watch the show or read the novels to know of her true nature.
  • Betelgeuse has seen some lighter portrayals among the fandom as well, especially given his memetic status.
  • Satella is probably the biggest example from this series. A Witch who has committed many unspeakable evil deeds in the ancient past and is heavily implied to be the one who kidnapped Subaru from his real world is portrayed by many fans of the series as "the best girl" because Satella "truly loves Subaru" in her own ways. Some people go as far as saying that Return by Death is actually a gift of sincere love from Satella and not a Witch's Curse. Having Rieri's gentle and cute voice in the anime adaptation escalates her popularity even more than before, as well as the anime negating any mention of her having a Split Personality.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • The sloth soldier who appeared after the White Whale's defeat gained a lot of popularity after his Death by Irony at the hands of Sloth. People were ecstatic to see him return in Episode 24.
  • Subaru's parents turned out to be very popular during the episode where they appeared, both for being incredibly nice and supporting parents to Subaru and for giving to the viewers one of the most emotive episodes of the whole series.
• Even Better Sequel: Season 2 is widely considered much better than Season 1, as it covers Arc 4, considered by most fans to be the best arc in the series in terms of content despite the Arc Fatigue.
• Evil Is Cool: A lot of viewers were immediately drawn towards Elsa, who had the crowning achievement of killing The Protagonist as soon as he encountered her.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • While the two shows are completely different in genre and theme, there is a rivalry between fans of Re:Zero and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure over which show is better, since both began airing in the same season and immediately received universal praise. The rivalry was only amplified when the 2016 season of JJBA was based on Diamond is Unbreakable, one of the most well-liked parts of the manga. The fact that on many anime websites Re:Zero managed to gain higher ratings than JJBA didn't please many fans of the franchise^note Since the 2012 TV anime reboot began, JJBA has consistently been one of the most highly praised recent anime with each season that has aired, while Re:Zero fans didn't seem to get why JJBA fans were getting so hyped up about the current season of the anime.
  • Fans of Berserk and Neon Genesis Evangelion have not been pleased with the comparisons people have been making between those shows and Re:Zero. For many years both Berserk and Neon Genesis Evangelion have been some of the most well-liked and respected series in the anime community for how they use dark and mature themes to create realistic characters and scenarios. Fans of those series however find that Re:Zero is just another otaku-pandering show that tries to take itself more seriously than it is but doesn't understand how to tackle darker themes in a mature manner, or how to make Subaru's breakdowns feel realistic.
• Fan Nickname: In some circles, Subaru's name is often replaced with other recognizable Japanese automotive names, most commonly "Toyota".
  • "Suffaru" also became a popular nickname for Subaru thanks to his status as The Woobie in the show.
  • From her detractors, Emilia has gotten the nicknames "Mobmilia" and "Gomilia" (calling her an NPC and "Trashmilia" respectively) in the Japanese fandom. Likewise, but to a lesser extent, Rem gets the forum nickname "Gori-rin" in Japan.
  • Betelgeuse is also commonly called Beetlejuice in reference to the titular movie character also named Betelgeuse but pronounced Beetlejuice.
  • Tappei Nagatsuki, the original author, has been nicknamed the "Japanese George R. R. Martin", above the likes of Hideaki Anno, Mohiro Kitoh, and even the Urobutcher himself. Make of that what you will.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Overlapping with Just Here for Godzilla, a portion of the fandom refuses to acknowledge everything after Volume 3, because of Rem falling into a coma and being removed from the plot.
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Many fans would like Rem to be Subaru's love interest instead of Emilia, since Rem is a much more fleshed-out and active character than Emilia in the crucial moments of the first anime series and the third arc respectively, and the level of her love for and faith in Subaru goes far beyond the one Emilia could ever show. To be fair, Subaru does start falling in love with Rem after the third arc and treats her as one of his most, if not the most important person along with Emilia, even saying to Emilia that he loves them both.
  • A lot of fans have taken to the idea of Felt and Reinhard hooking up, up to the point that many fans perceive them as the canonical Beta Couple.
  • The series also has a large number of Yaoi Fangirls who like to pair Subaru with Julius or Reinhard (or for novel fans, Otto). It's so popular that most of the fanart with Julius can be considered BL.
  • Some fans are amused by pairing up Ram and Garfiel because of their relationship being an obvious foil to that of Subaru and Rem, and a number of hints in one of the side stories in the series. It helps that her canonical devotion to Roswall is portrayed as sketchy due to how, exactly, Roswall got her and Rem and why he specifically chose them.
• Fountain of Memes: Betelgeuse. His nonsensical reactions as well his catch phrase have inspired a large number of memes, for example Aladdin references due to him flying with his invisible hands.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • A good amount of fans of Re:Zero are people who were fans of Akame ga Kill! back in 2014 and early 2015 but have grown out of the series either because of the anime adaptation's ending or the Seasonal Rot of the manga.
  • KonoSuba, due to the authors being friends and the similar premise (tracksuit-wearing otaku NEET gets transported to another world and finds out it's not as awesome as they had hoped it was), it isn't surprising that there is overlap in the fandoms. The Memory Snow OVA even features the Konosuba cast in a cameo, and they're two of the four series headlining Isekai Quartet.
• Growing the Beard: Episode 6/Arc 2 is the start of this for Re:Zero, as this is when the series stops being a part-slice-of-life, part-action-fantasy anime and shifts to a darker fantasy take on the Isekai genre.
• Harsher in Hindsight: All of the times that Subaru dies and uses Return By Death are pretty hard to watch to begin with, but they become even worse with the implication that all of his deaths don't actually rewind him to a checkpoint, but actually copy the world and put him at the "checkpoint" in that copied world, leaving all of his loved ones from the previous world to grieve his death.
• He Really Can Act: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka is often criticized by anime viewers for frequently voicing protagonists in light novel adaptations or harem leads without much differentiation to his voice. However, even his most vocal critics were pleased with his performance as Betelgeuse and seeing him dive into Ax-Crazy territory.
• Ho Yay:
  • Subaru x Julius started gaining traction in the fandom after their team up in the last few episodes of the anime. In fact, the pairing has become an example of Take a Third Option among the fans who don't care about Emilia nor Rem.
  • Subaru and Reinhard have some nice moments in the earlier episodes. Reinhard seems immediately taken with Subaru when he rescues him in the alleyway, and later when Reinhard comes to save them at the Loot house, Subaru calls him his friend and there's a little moment where Reinhard pauses and looks either disappointed or pleasantly surprised that he's considered a friend. He also offers to let Subaru stay as a guest at his mansion despite them just meeting that day. In the Dark Lord IF timeline, Subaru's destruction of the country and everything Reinhard loves is partially influenced by his jealousy over Reinhard's skill for heroism.
  • The scene where Subaru rests his head in a human-sized Puck's lap.
  • After the third arc and especially due to the fourth arc, some shippers have taken to pairing up Subaru and Otto because of their friendship.
• Hype Backlash:
  • Although the show quickly became a Sleeper Hit and received a lot of praise from various people and critics, the hype around it very quickly provoked accusations that Subaru was an unbearable character, and that the titles themselves are not only overrated but very bad works in themselves.
  • Thanks for being one of the most popular characters in the character poll and for the huge amount of merchandise made for her, anyone who got introduced to Rem through word-of-mouth and memes of her being the best girl in the 2016 season will find her not as amazing as her fans would claim, and yes, this also includes the people who watched her until the very end.
• Incest Yay Shipping: Rem/Ram. So much so that they are the fan artists' Fan-Preferred Couple over Rem/Subaru. The more or less obvious Pseudo-Romantic Friendship status of their relationship, Rem's occasional Little Sister Heroine-reminiscent behavior, and some of the official art only increases the rising popularity of the ship. Moreover, due to some chemistry between Subaru and Ram in the first half of the second arc, many artists seem to like the idea of a romantic relationship between him and the two twins.
• Iron Woobie: While the frequency of his deaths and other traumatic encounters do not exactly decrease, Subaru does get better at dealing with them as the story progresses.
• It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: Hype Backlash option. A lot of people really hate this show because it has major hype around it and a bunch of fans who consider this anime an absolute masterpiece. On the other hand, many fans of the original novel do not like the adaptation, since it led to a lot of biased hatred for the series and even greater Die for Our Ship controversy than before.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Subaru degrades into one as part of his Heroic BSoD after being rejected by Emilia at the end of Episode 13. Thankfully, he gets a Heroic Second Wind thanks to a Heartwarming You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech from Rem in Episode 18.
  • Puck also has shades of this, considering just how overprotective he is of Emilia that it's driven him to do some pretty dark deeds in the past and even in some loops where he kills Subaru and freezes the whole world over.
• Just Here for Godzilla: A notable part of the audience is so in love with Rem that by their own admission, they will simply not be interested in seeing the theoretical new season without her.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: In addition to his two or three official Love Interests, the fandom also likes to pair Subaru up with almost anyone among his friends, not to mention Foe Yay Shipping.
• LGBT Fanbase: Ferris is very popular among transgender fans.
• Love to Hate: Betelgeuse. His hilariously over the top behavior coupled with the absolutely horrible things he does made him the most memorable villain in the entire series.
• Magnificent Bitch: Echidna, the Witch of Greed, once viewed all living things as her children and despaired when she was unable to save them from death and suffering. Devoting herself to becoming an all-powerful protector, Echidna creates the powerful spirit servants, twists the nobleman Roswaal L. Mathers into devoting himself to her and researches soul transference to achieve immortality. Hundreds of years after her body dies, Echidna meets Subaru Natsuki in her spirit realm and puts him through a series of trials to confront his past and slowly gains his trust as she explains to him the mysterious nature of his "Return by Death" ability. Meanwhile having Roswaal attack Subaru and force him into a dire situation in the real world, Echidna nearly lures Subaru into signing a binding contract with her, only stopped by the sudden arrival of the other Witches. Saving her faithful Roswaal after he is injured and fighting on his behalf, Echidna even makes amends with her wayward "daughter" Beatrice, her soul resting in peace after accepting her.
• Memetic Badass: Reinhard van Astrea, who was confirmed to be the most overpowered character in the entire series by the author himself. His over thirty blessings (when it's considered a blessing by the gods themselves to even get one decent one) include making any projectile miss him, resistances to all magics, instant proficiency with any and all weapons, and being a great cook. Any discussion about this guy will end up talking about how awesome he is.
• Memetic Bystander: The sloth soldier from the assault on the Witch Cult due to his ironic death and then return.
• Memetic Loser:
  • Subaru, due to being so weak and flawed, has become synonymous with suffering. Not to mention, he's often punished for his own mistakes as well.
  • Rem is also this in an extent, as many fans often mocked her being completely non-existent thanks to Episode 17.
  • To round out the triangle, we have web novel!Emilia. Considering how important Rem becomes to Subaru in later arcs and spinoffs (to the point where the sixth is all about getting her memories back to wake her from her coma), as well as the aforementioned light novel revisions, many fans see Emilia as a cheaper heroine trying to ape off of Rem and failing.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Ram flying through the air after Subaru hurls her at Rem quickly became memetic following Episode 10's airing. Ram is seen with open hands extended in front of her, one of the versions of the Up, Up and Away! trope.
  • Twister ^{Explanation (spoilers)} A shot of Rem after she is pulled apart by Betelgeuse modified to look like she's playing Twister.
  • On a more romantic note, the beautiful image◊ from Episode 21 of Subaru and Rem embracing under a blue sky with a rainbow. Many SubaRem supporters asked around in forums for hi-res files so they could put it as their new wallpaper and/or profile image for social media.
  • "Who's Rem?" Because of Episode 17 it has become extremely common for people to make comments about Rem not existing due to her existence being erased by the White Whale, and later when she has her name and memory eaten by the Archbishop of Gluttony.
  • Related to the above, "Who's Emilia?" ^ExplanationThe merchandising zeroing in on Rem caused some to joke about this towards Emilia, especially when several promotions gave her about as much merchandise as the rest of the side cast. Her birthday event coming a year after Rem and Ram's only added to the joke.
  • Rem:Zero, "Rem is the real main heroine of Re:Zero", and other jokes about Rem's popularity ^ExplanationDue to her explosive growth in and focus shifting from Emilia to her in the third arc, Rem suddenly became the most popular character of the series. It seems that even Crunchyroll and other anime media like jokes about this, especially when Rem became the main character for related products dedicated to Re:Zero.
  • This scene of Emilia talking quickly when Subaru suggests cancelling their date has led a significant portion of the fandom to label her a rap goddess.
  • Less than 9,500 PHP. ^note During an anime convention in the Philippines, a large poster with Ram and Rem on it was auctioned off and sold for a whopping 9,500 Philippine pesos (roughly ~200 U.S. dollars), about 20 times more than what it's really worth. Mere hours later, it was discovered that the art on it was stolen from a Pixiv user named Tomato. Cue netizens on Facebook making snarky references to that 9,500 peso poster whenever someone sells Re:Zero merchandise online.
  • "I Love Emilia" ^note As of Episode 18, image macros of people confessing is followed by that phrase as an out-of-nowhere in-your-face love declaration. When applied to other series, the phrase is typically uttered in comments and such whenever a confession is about to happen, especially when a supporting female is deemed "best girl" by the fandom over the actual female lead by a large margin and they expect the latter to "win" regardless.
  • ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL ^note Mass Effect 2 has a primary antagonist named Harbinger, who is known for his penchant for Villain Overrides on random mooks in the game, which is similar to Betelgeuse's power of possessing his followers.
  • GIT GUD^note Due to the theme of chronic deaths and respawning, some fans have deemed the anime a Spiritual Adaptation of Dark Souls. All we need is to add the "YOU DIED" message whenever someone dies...
  • Forgotten Ram Birthday. ^note Advertising events in Akihabara focusing on the oni twins' birthday put Rem at the forefront in near all of them, causing a wave of jokes and questions about where Ram was since the ads ignored the fact that Ram and Rem have the exact same date of birth as identical twins. Even the official birthday chapter got in on it, with Ram justifying in-universe why Rem should get primary focus during the festivities. Some readers felt like it was an easy way to make a Rem-focused event even more about her, since Ram already became "second twin" in the background of the immense popularity of her younger sister.
  • Some people also began to refer to a certain type of female Love Interest as "Local Rem" or "Rem of this title", implying that this girl is a stereotypical "ideal waifu" who, as the romantic line develops, will be rejected by the protagonist, notwithstanding all her devotion or merit.
  • Heaven or Hell End?^note A comparison between the "Rem's Happy Family" What If? chapters with the "Dark Lord" chapter published on Subaru's birthday got a little muddled with a dose of Ship-to-Ship Combat: simplifying the plots, it looked like marrying Rem only resulted in a loving, but sad relationship, but staying devoted to Emilia ended in a Thanatos Gambit involving the complete destruction of the kingdom to make Emilia a hero. Thus: Rem = Heaven, Emilia = Hell.
  • Teapits ^note A fanart of Echidna pouring tea onto her armpit and into a cup has been reenacted by many famous cosplayers.
  • "You have no idea what pain or suffering even are!" ^note Garfiel says these words to Subaru in anger during Arc 4. Fans had a field day tearing into it given how hilariously off-base he is.
• Misaimed Fandom: Subaru is in no way a Stock Light-Novel Hero. He is instead his own character with his own feelings, personality, and flaws. He has no useful powers to use in combat and always got his ass handed to him, often in fatal ways. Initially, he was hated by the fanbase because they couldn't project themselves onto him, but later learned that projecting themselves onto him was never the point and soon grew to love him. However, he still does have several detractors, especially when it came to his interactions with the female characters, and many of them dislike Subaru for how he treats them at his worst while putting them on pedestals and claiming they did nothing but be kind to him. Some even consider Subaru to be irredeemable and ignore that he is broken from what he's been put through. One Youtuber went on a rant-inducing slight on every horrible thing the female characters (sans Emilia) has ever done to Subaru.
• Moe:
  • The twins, especially Rem. Subaru even notes that her smile is worth a million volts. It's no wonder she is so popular with the fans.
  • Ferris' feminine appearance and mannerisms, which is actually invoked. The cat ears and the cat tail definitely helped.
• Narm:
  • Betelgeuse's over-the-top antics always tow the line between creepy and silly, so they can easily reach a point where they stop being creepy and become just plain funny.
  • The Great Rabbit, as a swarm of adorable white bunnies that tear people apart, are full of this. Subaru screaming madly as they kill him is particularly hilarious. This itself can be cranked up to eleven if you saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail more specifically, the Rabbit of Caerbannog and subconsciously thought that Subaru should have packed many Holy Hand Grenades.
• Narm Charm: On the other hand, the archbishop of Sloth's formidable power, depraved cruelty, and sheer psychotic instability also serve to make his otherwise ridiculous antics flat-out terrifying.
• Never Live It Down: Thanks to the anime overshadowing the light novel in public perception there are many viewers who judge Subaru solely by his characterization during the Royal Selection. The four-year Sequel Gap between the first and second seasons, unfortunately, had the side effect of making this the lasting impression of Subaru's character for those who fell off from the series and didn't read the Light novels.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Upon his introduction in the Royal Selection arc, Julius was not well-liked among fans for his Jerkass tendencies and his holier-than-thou attitude towards Subaru. However, the Rivals Team Up between him and Subaru in the last few episodes of the anime got him much more respect towards the fandom due to the Character Development it gives him and even launching a Ho Yay shipping between him and Subaru.
• Rooting for the Empire: With Subaru being an extremely divisive lead, Betelgeuse being a Fountain of Memes, and the general bleakness of the plot, many viewers were genuinely on Betelgeuse's side and wish he'd succeeded in taking over Subaru's body and replacing him in his role as the protagonist.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: Though mostly civil, there are fans who are debating which girl Subaru should end up with, Emilia or Rem. Helps that the series has a healthy dose of Ship Tease for both. Complicating matters is that many fans will also Take a Third Option and ship him with other male characters, most popularly Julius and Otto.
• Shocking Moments:
  • Starts off as another typical lighthearted isekai anime, up until Subaru is killed and finds out that he can repeat past events.
  • Ramped up with later arcs, but Arc 3 in particular is when the shit truly begins to hit the fan, and it barely lets up from there.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Due to the theme of chronic deaths and respawning, some fans have deemed it the closest thing to a novel and anime adaptation of Dark Souls.
• Squick:
  • Elsa touching Subaru's bleeding guts after she slashes him in the second half of Episode 1, all with a sadistic smile on her face showing that she enjoys doing this kind of thing to her victims. Yikes.
  • Betelgeuse licking Subaru's eyeball to try and prove that he is merely pretending to be a vegetable is just as bad, for entirely different reasons. Overall, everything Betelgeuse does can easily be considered this trope.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Kicks in during the later episodes, where Subaru's punishments for screwing up become more visceral. For some people this borders on unnecessary cruelty.
• Trans Audience Interpretation: Due to Ferris's preference for feminine appearance and mentioning as much a few times, Ferris is sometimes read to be a trans woman.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Subaru is disliked even by many fans of the series, who consider him an overly stupid, silly schoolboy who makes mistakes in moments where even another normal person wouldn't. Moreover, even when Subaru begins to win, he does it not because of his analytical abilities, but only because he knows the enemy's actions in advance. In most cases, how much sympathy a viewer has for him or not is dependent on how much of the series they've seen or known about, as beyond his character development in the second half of Arc 3, details about his backstory, his parents, and his life back home aren't given until Arc 4, when a lot of his earlier behavior, personal wants, and still existent character flaws are given more depth and context that cast him in a new light once you know more about his past prior to the start of the series.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Reinhard's battle with Elsa in Episode 3 was universally praised for featuring very fluid animation.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: The series has a similar feel to shonen manga and anime with darker elements such as Akame ga Kill! or Hunter × Hunter, given all of the gratuitous violence. However, while the light novels are aimed at a male audience, it's meant for an older crowd; the manga adaptation is seinen and the anime adaptation airs in a midnight time slot, allowing for more violent content.
• Win Back the Crowd: White Fox went through an Audience-Alienating Era for some viewers following the disastrous Gecko Ending for Akame ga Kill! and Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception. The universal acclaim that this anime received restored faith in the studio for most anime fans, with many putting this show up there with Katanagatari and Steins;Gate as one of their best works.
• The Woobie:
  • Considering all the horrible things Subaru goes through in the story, it becomes pretty easy to feel sorry for the poor guy.
  • Rem as well, considering that her deaths rival Subaru's worst deaths as well as an extremely sad past as The Unfavorite in her village.
• Woolseyism: Because the Funimation dub doesn't use Japanese Honorifics, Subaru calls Emilia "Mili" instead of Emilia-tan there.