The Re:Zero Season 3 anime TV series is confirmed to be in production after years of waiting.
Re:Zero Starting Life In Another World Season 3 (Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Season 3) was finally announced during Anime Japan 2023 on March 25, 2023. Voice actors for Subaru (Yuusuke Kobayashi), Emilia (Takahashi Rie), Puck (Yumi Uchiyama), and Beatrice (Satomi Arai) were featured on the Red Stage.
A new Re:Zero Season 3 PV trailer was released on March 25, 2023.
But when will Re:Zero Season 3 come out? Anime Geek is predicting that the Re:Zero Season 3 release date will be in 2024 at the earliest.
The wait is predicted to be a long one even though the third season has long been openly discussed by Kadokawa producer Sho Tanaka. In fact, in one 2020 interview, he voluntarily talked about the third season without even being asked!
The problem is that Kadokawa and the other companies on the anime production committee have been otherwise silent. For example, three of the main cast members of the anime TV series appeared at a stage event for MF Bunko J Summer Festival 2022 on July 24, 2022, so fans were hoping for any anime-related announcement.
Unfortunately, Kadokawa dumped cold water on the fandom by only announcing an Emilia birthday celebration event in 2022 and merch like a Puck bucket hat (yes, really). By contrast, the TanMoshi: The Detective Is Already Dead Season 2 anime was confirmed to be in production at the same 2022 event.
(Some anime fans may be wondering about Aniplex Online Fest 2022, which took place in Japan on September 24, 2022. Producer Aniplex isn’t involved with Re:Zero so the event had no relevance to the anime production.)
The Re:Zero Season 3 release date may be over the horizon, but at least 2021 provided a complete story arc, I suppose. Listed as Re:Zero Season 2 Part 2, anime Studio White Fox officially released the popular isekai anime again on January 6, 2021.
READ: When Does Rem Wake Up In The Light Novel/Web Novel?
Despite there being a full seasonal break between airing new episodes, the second half of the Re:Zero Season 2 anime was not considered to be Re:Zero Season 3 since it’s a direct continuation of the second season that finishes a major story arc from author Tappei Nagatsuki’s light novel series.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 14 was released as the second part of a split-cour anime.
What’s a “cour,” you might ask? For those unfamiliar with the lingo, a “cour” is a three-month block of TV broadcasting based on the physical seasons usually composed of 10 to 13 episodes.
A “split-cour” is where a single anime season takes a multi-month break before resuming TV broadcasting.
The Re:Zero anime is being produced by animation studio White Fox, which is known for recent popular anime like Cautious Hero, Goblin Slayer, and Arifureta (partially). The studio outsources some of the work to Chinese companies, which is why the second season’s premiere was delayed due to COVID-19 and the 2020 SARS-COV-2 coronavirus pandemic.
The staff for the Re:Zero Season 3 has not yet been announced.
The first two seasons and the Re: Zero -Memory Snow- OVA episode were all directed by Masaharu Watanabe, who was also the director for the 2019 Granbelm anime. Writer Masahiro Yokotani (Accel World, Sgt. Frog, Free!, Rascal Does Not Dream Of Bunny Girl Senpai, World Trigger) returned for the series composition.
Artist Kyuta Sakai (Steins;Gate) returned as both the character designer and the chief animation director. Composer Kenichiro Suehiro (Darwin’s Game, Cells At Work! Season 2, Fire Force, Golden Kamuy Season 3) returned for creating the music.
The Re:Zero Season 2 Part 1 opening (OP) theme song music “Realize” was performed by Konomi Suzuki, who previously performed the opening song for the first season. The ending (ED) music theme song “Memento” was performed by singer nonoc, who has previously performed for the Re:Zero OVA episodes.
The Re:Zero Season 2 Part 2 OP was “Long Shot” by Mayu Maeshima while the ED was “Believe In You” by nonoc.
The Re:Zero Season 3 OP and ED have not yet been announced.
The anime is streaming on Crunchyroll, VRV, and HBO Max. Crunchyroll’s Re:Zero Season 2 English dub premiered on August 26, 2020. New English dubbed episodes were released weekly on Wednesdays. (For more details about the voice cast please see the story in the link.)
The second season of the Re:Zero anime had 25 episodes in total, ending with Re:Zero Episode 50. Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 13 finished the first part or cour on September 30, 2020. The anime continued in 2021 with Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 14 on January 6, 2021. The Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 25 release date was on March 24, 2021.
This article provides everything that is known about Re:Zero Season 3 (Re:Zero Starting Life In Another World Season 3/Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Season 3) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Producer Sho Tanaka discusses Re:Zero Season 3
In July 2020, shortly before the second season premiered, Crunchyroll released an interview with Re:Zero producer Sho Tanaka who works at Kadokawa. The isekai genre may be crowded nowadays, but he said that Subaru’s “appeal” as a character and his “new quality” was the main factor in his decision to adapt the series as an anime.
“I think Re:Zero is distinct from other series thanks to Subaru being such a unique, novel protagonist, but I also think there are certain elements of any series that set it apart from the rest,” Tanaka explained. “What made Re:Zero work out so well was that we brought out all the appeal of the original series to the fullest extent and successfully put it forth in the anime adaptation.”
Still, even the producer was surprised at the popularity of the Re:Zero.
“I always believed that it would be an interesting project, but since it was part of a genre that hadn’t shown a lot of positive results at the time and had a protagonist who wasn’t exactly typical, it came with a lot of challenges and faced a lot of opposition, so I never thought it would earn the immensely positive reaction that it has,” he said.
The fact that they weren’t expecting the anime to be hugely popular probably explains why Re:Zero Season 2 was not planned out in advance. But that decision makes sense in retrospect since Tanaka also believes a producer’s primary job is making and selling animation products in such a way that he makes sure it turns a profit.
The producer revealed that series creator Tappei Nagatsuki and his book editor have “been involved since the [anime] scriptwriting stage” and they “are essentially part of the anime production staff at this point.” This is an important distinction since often-times the original creators are given little input into how an anime adapts their original work.
And the producer believes the author’s involvement in the project is a critical factor to the anime’s success.
“Nagatsuki-sensei’s understanding of how novels and animation differ in their methods of expression, and his involvement in converting the story into the best anime possible; the director’s endless supply of ideas for making the anime even better; and all of the producers and other staff who brilliantly put all of that into a visual format, plotting together to make Re:Zero a great animation and constantly devoting all of their efforts to the miracle of all these people coming together the way they did is the biggest thing that sets Re:Zero apart from other series, in my opinion.”
Most importantly from the perspective of anime fans, Tanaka went out of his way to highlight the Re:Zero Season 3 anime. Crunchyroll didn’t even reference the third season but when Tanaka was asked if he had a message for American fans this was his response.
“I’m confident that you’ll all be clamoring for a third season once you’ve finished watching this one,” he said. “Please look forward to it.”
Re:Zero Season 3 confirmed? While not an official announcement, the producer is definitely teasing the fans. Let’s just hope that also means the producer is already working on the pre-production phase for the third season.
Re:Zero Season 3 release date prediction: Is 2024 or 2025 possible?
As of the last update, White Fox, Kadokawa, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Re:Zero Season 3 release date. However, the production of a third season was announced on March 25, 2023.
Once the news is officially confirmed, this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when the Re:Zero Season 3 premiere date will occur in the future.
Notably, Re:Zero Episode 50 did not make an announcement. Similar to how the first season ended on a happy note rather than the “Who’s Rem?” cliffhanger, the second season’s finale cut out foreshadowing of Arc 5 (see the comparison section below for more details).
The critical issue is that anime productions are scheduled years in advance and studios will be booked up solid for years. Sometimes sequel seasons are planned out ahead if the source material is popular enough, but in the case of the Re:Zero anime series the second season was greenlit for pre-production back in 2017 but actual animation production didn’t actually start until years later.
Of course, now we know that even the producer of the series wasn’t expecting the first season to be an overwhelming success for Japanese publisher Kadokawa.
Even in a time where streaming revenue is more important than the Blu-Ray/DVD volumes, the disc sales were through the roof in 2016, with the first volume selling 11,997 copies in the first week. As a comparison, Re:Zero Season 1 sold almost 5 times as many discs as the first season of the My Hero Academia anime (see our article on the My Hero Academia Season 5 release date), which came out in the same time frame.
The sales figures for Re:Zero Season 2 were not nearly as impressive, but they were still good enough to justify a third season. In November 2020, it was reported the second season’s first Blu-Ray/DVD volume sold 5,387 copies.
Most importantly from the perspective of Kadokawa’s Media Factory subsidiary, they also saw a huge increase in light novel and manga sales. Therefore, it’s very likely that Kadokawa would desire that Re:Zero Season 3 be planned out in advance with White Fox’s schedule.
The only White Fox production in 2021 was Re:Zero Season 2 Part 2. The Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth anime came out in Summer 2022. Otherwise, the Goblin Slayer Season 2 release date is confirmed to be in 2023, but it’s also been confirmed that the animation studio will be changing from White Fox to Studio LIDENFILMS. But that’s good news since it frees up White Fox so they can focus on other projects like Re:Zero Season 3.
Given that the Kadokawa producer was already voluntarily talking about the third season back in 2020, it’s possible they could aim for either 2024 or 2025. Let’s just be glad that a Re:Zero Season 3 production announcement took place in 2023!
Re:Zero manga, light novels, and web novel guide
The story for the anime is based on the Re:Zero light novels by author Tappei Nagatsuki and illustrator Shinichirou Otsuka. The Japanese language light novel series is up to Re:Zero Volume 32 as of December 23, 2022.
Anime-only fans should be careful about looking into Re:Zero Volume 27 and beyond since the cover art contains a huge spoiler about certain characters. But if you still want to see the cover art please click on this preview link.
The story began life as a free web novel that is still being updated even in 2019. Ever since the anime made the series popular, a free Re:ZERO English translation project has been slowly working through the content.
Every April the author also creates an IF chapter. Each one is based on one of the deadly sins and tells a story of Subaru making a different fateful decision based on lust, sloth, etc.
Divided up into seven major story arcs, the fourth arc of the web novel is the longest story arc by far with 135 chapters. As a comparison, the first three story arcs contained 155 web novel chapters and were adapted by the anime’s first season. The seventh story arc has also been long since it has over 101 chapters as of January 24, 2023.
Here is an overview of the current story arcs and how they relate to the anime:
Re: Zero Arc 1: Chaotic First Day
- Anime: Episodes 1 – 3
- Light Novel: Volume 1
- Web Novel: 22 Chapters + Prologue + Interval
Re: Zero Arc 2: The Tumultuous Week
- Anime: Episodes 4 – 11 (OVA episode Memory Snow is set between episodes 5 and 6)
- Light Novel: Volumes 2 – 3
- Web Novel: 49 Chapters + Interval
Re: Zero Arc 3: Return to the Capital
- Anime: Episodes 12 – 25
- Light Novel: Volumes 4-9
- Web Novel: 84 Chapters + Intervals + Extra Chapters
Re: Zero Arc 4: The Everlasting Contract
- Anime: Season 2 Episodes 1 – 25
- Light Novel: Volumes 10 – 15
- Web Novel: 135 Chapters + Prologues + Intervals + Extra Chapters
Re: Zero Arc 5: The Stars That Engrave History
- Anime: Re:Zero Season 3
- Light Novel: Volumes 16 – 20
- Web Novel: 81 Chapters + Intervals + Extra Chapters
Re: Zero Arc 6: The Corridor of Memories
- Anime: Re:Zero Season 4?
- Light Novel: Volumes 21 – 25
- Web Novel: 90 Chapters + Extra Chapters
Re: Zero Arc 7: The Land of the Wolves
- Anime: Re:Zero Season 5 and 6?
- Light Novel: Volumes 26 – 33
- Web Novel: 101+ Chapters
When is the Re: Zero light novel ending? Back in 2016, Tappei mentioned that he was about midway finished writing the story, which means he intends on reaching an ending somewhere around Arc 11 although the length of each arc could vary.
In April 2022, the author once again confirmed that Re:Zero Arc 11 will contain the final chapter of the entire web novel. He’s also planning a Re:Zero “happy ending” for the story, but he refuses to be pinned down on exactly what that means for Subaru, Rem, Emilia, and the other characters (please see the article in the link for more details).
Based on that old info, the author is currently targeting Arc 11 for the ending, although oftentimes creators will change their minds. For example, Overlord Volume 17 ending the book series wasn’t originally the plan.
The Re:Zero manga series has been created by artists Daichi Matsue and Makoto Fugetsu. The manga series has been separated out based on story arcs, with two volumes covering the A Day in the Capital arc, five volumes for the A Week at the Mansion arc, and 11 volumes for the Truth of Zero arc.
The Japanese manga adaptation of Arc 3 finished in February 2020. As of June 2022, there are six volumes for The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed arc.
North American publisher Yen Press has been releasing the official English translation of the Re:Zero manga series. As of June 2022, the English Re:Zero manga was caught up with The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed Volume 4.
With the release of the Re:Zero Season 2 anime, the manga adaptation is now even further behind the anime adaptation. That means fans will need to turn to the English Re:Zero light novel series to read ahead of the anime.
The official English translation by Yen Press caught up with the second season by 2021 and then moved on toward Arc 5 that will be adapted by Re:Zero Season 3 and beyond. The English translation was up to light novel Volume 15 of Arc 4 by March 2021. Volume 20, which finishes Arc 5, is scheduled to come out on October 18, 2022.
Re:Zero light novels compared to the anime’s second season
All in all, the finale of the first season ended near the conclusion of light novel Volume 9. Like most anime adaptations, the TV show had to condense many events from the light novels, including many long conversations.
But White Fox made certain to include certain details. Editor Ikemoto once said that “Re:ZERO has a great deal of foreshadowing and hints scattered throughout that you probably won’t notice your first time around. It’s an anime that will continue to surprise and amaze on repeat viewings.”
The tone of the first season’s ending was dramatically different from the book’s ending since they chose to omit the real ending related to Rem. Instead, they chose to give audiences a happy ending that focused solely on Subaru and Emilia.
Ending this way made more sense since ending on a cliffhanger would have implied a second season when the anime’s future success was uncertain at the time.
The director’s cut version of the first season had an extended ending scene that better matched the books. Of course, the second season began on that very sour note from the ending of Volume 9, as well.
Read: When does Rem wake up from her death-like sleep? [Spoilers]
The second season’s opening episode actually managed to heighten Subaru’s desperation. The anime added the scene where Subaru searched for Rem among the wounded and dead littering the Crusch manor, whereas in the books he was sent to Rem’s room where she lay in a coma.
The anime version also changed the save point for Return by Death, forcing Subaru to endure again the wagon scene where Emilia questioned Rem’s identity. Instead, the light novel sets the save point next to the sleeping “princess”.
This change requires that another scene be modified since it shows many alternatives timelines where Subaru gets to see what happened after he dies each time. The anime did have Subaru eyeballing the knife in Rem’s room, which is almost a reference to how the books originally portrayed events.
Otherwise, the anime added Puck’s explanation about Gluttony’s Authority powers that was in the web novel but not the light novel. In the books, Ferris was also far more hostile toward Subaru and Emilia and the tone of his apology was sarcastic rather than sincere.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 2 jumped into Volume 10 and finished with only the second chapter when Subaru first meets Echidna. The ordering of events in both the anime and the light novel series is significantly different from the web novel, which first had Subaru meeting Roswaal and the villagers before Emilia went in first.
The biggest issue with Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 3 was that the English subtitles streaming on Crunchyroll mistranslated the intended meaning of Echidna’s words. When she said, “I used the Envy Witch Factor on it to strengthen your resistance,” it sounds like she used Subaru’s Witch Factor on the tea. More importantly, it’s supposed to be the Sloth Witch Factor, not Envy.
When Echidna asked for a vow as compensation the anime omitted one last sentence where she said, “You are bound by a similar pact, so it is a simple matter for you, is it not?” This line foreshadowed that Echidna knew about Return by Death.
The most notable thing about Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 4 is that the runtime was extended by about 5 minutes in comparison to most of the other episodes. Given the extended time constraints, some of the dialogue was still condensed, but it shows the care White Fox is giving to the adaptation since the fan-favorite story arc managed to convey the core message related to Subaru’s parents.
In the web novel, Satella makes a brief showing in the school after Subaru leaves and Echidna had to kick her out of the dream world, but the light novel removed that scene. It’s probably best that the anime stuck to the light novel version since Satella’s sudden appearance in later episodes is more shocking.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 4 finished off light novel Volume 10. The anime condensed the theme of the first trial down to simply “facing your past” whereas in the books Echidna elaborates that she accepts any outcome as long as they have the courage to accept their past or make a clean break from it.
The implication is that Emilia is failing the trial since she can’t reach any answer at all, which means there is something in Emilia’s past she can’t bring herself to face. This fact has Echidna all hot and bothered, but the anime focuses on other points.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 6 was probably confusing to Web Novel readers due to all the changes in the light novel. For example, Frederica used gauntlets instead of fully beast transforming, the manner of maid deaths was quite different (Petra originally took a throwing knife to the head), and much of the dialogue was changed.
The anime also didn’t make it clear that a horde of mabeasts was chasing them down since Subaru was in a daze. Still, the first-person perspective of Petra’s death scene was amazing.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 7 hit all the major plot points but didn’t adequately convey just how crazy Subaru was being locked away by Garfiel. Inner turmoil is easier to convey in writing but the anime could have gotten the horror across with cinematography similar to Petra’s death scene. (It should be noted that Ryuzu is the Web Novel’s equivalent of Omega.)
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 8 finally introduced the Great Rabbit death scene in all its gory detail. While the book’s gory description went way, way further, and involved rabbits diving down Subaru’s anal sphincter, the anime version was still horrifying in that a rabbit was shown crawling under his skin.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 9 ended Volume 11 and started Volume 12. The biggest change was that the anime showed Satella’s features whereas in the book Subaru refuses to accept the witch could have Emilia’s face since she’s the source of all his suffering. Otherwise, the witches’ weird actions while not really explaining the motives for their behavior with the exception of Daphne.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 10 pulled off Satella’s rampage to every fans’ satisfaction.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 11 adapted Beako’s big reveal. The episode dived into the so-called “kiss of death” loop where Emilia gives Subaru an awful sendoff, I suppose.
In the light novel, Emilia’s eyes were described as being blank, whereas White Fox drew her eyes with a black fog to depict her mental break into insanity. The anime also skipped a minor scene where Lewes Meyer clones ran around stomping rabbits so Subaru could escape.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 12 had Subaru suffering through seeing the aftermath of all his varied deaths and ended with a witches tea party. The anime showed many of the second trial’s alternate timelines in quick succession, even some of the web novel scenarios that were cut from the light novels, but some of the multi-chapter details were cut short for time’s sake.
Echidna’s speech was also condensed. Interestingly enough, series creator Tappei revealed on Twitter that Japanese voice actress Maaya Sakamoto managed to pull off the recording session in just one take.
“Echidna had a long speech which was approved after a single take,” Tappei tweeted. “Maaya Sakamoto, you’re too amazing. I fall to the ground in worship.”
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 13 ended on a shocking note, but it would have been even more shocking if the anime had not skipped the revelation that Satella and the Witch of Envy are technically two separate entities or personalities. One is “good” and the other “bad” but it’s still Satella who was responsible for the Great Calamity that consumed half the world 400 years ago.
This distinction was made at the very beginning of light novel Volume 13, along with Daphne revealing that Subaru has the qualities to be a Sage candidate. While these details won’t become important until much later, it’s very odd that the anime’s writers cut out such major foreshadowing and it’d be awkward if future episodes mention it in passing.
Anime audiences are just left to infer that this Satella definitely seems different from the Witch of Envy that swallowed everyone several episodes back. Satella is also physically identical to Emilia.
The anime also skips an interlude between the witches where they discussed what happened and the nature of the witches’ own existence.
Re:Zero Episode 38 ended with a scene where Otto punched Subaru. Part 1 ended in the middle of light novel Volume 13 Chapter 2 (or web novel Arc 4 Chapter 86).
The second cour or Part 2 made minimal cuts to the source material. It’s almost unheard of in the anime industry, but Re:Zero Season 2 often adapted a single book chapter with extra-length episodes that don’t use an OP/ED. By adapting the books in this manner, anime fans were treated to literal hours of detail that normal anime adaptation standards would have been forced to skip.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 14 skipped a scene where Subaru me with Emilia in the forest after talking to Otto. It showed Emilia’s resolve to clear the trials on her own, shaming Subaru. When Roswaal and Subaru negotiated their wager, the anime didn’t make it clear what happens if Subaru loses, but it’s implied that Subaru will follow Roswaal and the book in that event.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 15 featured the Subaru x Emilia kiss that everyone has been waiting for. Otto’s backstory was adapted fully, although some parts of the fight with Garfiel were abbreviated.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 16 had an expanded 29:30 minute episode. The biggest change made by the anime was reducing the Garfiel vs Subaru fight to a single knockout style punch, where in both the light novel and web novel the fight was much messier.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 17 adapted a single chapter in 29 minutes. The anime implied that Guese was initially part of a peaceful faction in the witch cult, whereas the books made it more clear there were militant factions.
Also, the book series still hasn’t revealed the name of Emilia’s mother and why Echidna hates so much Emilia. The web novel made it more clear that Echidna was projecting her hate for the mother onto Emilia but not the reasons why.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 18 used sound effects to great effect to amplify just how terrifying Witch of Vainglory Pandora’s Authority powers really are. Also, the web novel and light novels still haven’t explained why Pandora invaded Elior Forest.
On an interesting side note, Regulus really is overpowered. The original creator was asked by fans about power rankings and Tappei Nagatsuki replied that if every Archbishop and seven of the Witches (not including Pandora) were involved in a battle royale then Regulus would be the sole survivor.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 19 finally introduced the new OP, which was filled with spoilers for Part 2 even including Beatrice and Subaru arriving together at the end. The books also don’t tell us what Pandora whispered to Geuse at the end.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 20 adapted a chapter from Volume 14 and also added an official side story called Kremaldy Forest Team, Day’s That’ll Never Return.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 21 didn’t explain that when Warlock of Melancholy Hector defeated the current Roswaal’s ancestor, Roswaal A Mathers, he had the abillity to control gravity with force fields. It’s also never mentioned that Hector is the only male member of the Witches of Sin revealed so far.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 22 didn’t explain why it was so shocking to Emilia when she looked at her own reflection. With people constantly comparing her to the Witch of Envy Satella, Emilia avoided mirrors and Puck’s contract included helping her with grooming so she didn’t have to use a mirror.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 23 actually added anime-only spoilers for future events based on how the third trial was depicted. Fortunately, few of the future events that Emilia experienced were visually drawn out, and some of the lines are potentially from alternate futures in the IF story chapters. But it’s still possible to identify each character that is speaking based on their voice and even some of the locations (which has led to fan theories), whereas in the books the dialogue is written out without identifying the speaker so it’s even more ambiguous.
Speaking of being unclear, the anime went out of its way to avoid showing “real life” Echidna’s face in every scene. Emilia doesn’t recognize Echidna’s dead body in the coffin, but the reason isn’t explained until later.
Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 24 didn’t explain what it meant for Elsa Granhiert to be a “vampire” and her death wasn’t as clear. Technically, Elsa’s immortality and regeneration abilities were called a cursed doll, which is when a person is cursed to kill a target and received immortality at the cost of their sense of self. Elsa managed to cast this curse without losing self-awareness, but by repeatedly dying at Garfiel’s hands, she succumbed to being a cursed doll.
The anime cut out the “zombie Elsa” sequence where her mangled, mindless body still tried to hunt down Subaru only to be incinerated in a fight with the chimera mabeast Guiltylove. But since the anime was pressed for time it was probably better to cut this minor action sequence and focus on the Beatrice scene.
The most notable thing about Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 25 is that it had a happy ending that cut out the foreshadowing. Originally, the ending of Volume 15 introduced Omega, a Ryuzu clone with a very special existence.
Unfortunately, saying anymore is spoilers, so that information is in the spoilers section below.
Overall, the anime adaptation has been very good even though it’s unavoidable that some concessions need to be made due to the limited runtime of episodes, I suppose. The anime even skips the rockin’ opening song sometimes in order to squeeze in more content.
Some fans of the books were worried the anime would suffer from pacing issues but those fears turned out to be groundless, I suppose.
All in all, Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 25 ended with a stopping point corresponding to the ending of Arc 4, which corresponds to light novel Volumes 10 through 15. That means Re:Zero Season 3 will pick up the story again by discussing Omega from Arc 4 and then continue with Arc 5, which was adapted by light novels 16 through 20.
Assuming that White Fox’s writer maintains the same pacing it’s very likely that the Re:Zero Season 3 anime will have two cours again. While there could also be a split-cour Re:Zero Season 3 Part 2 again, the first season aired two cours back-to-back so hopefully a broadcasting break won’t be necessary.
Re:Zero 3 spoilers (Plot summary/synopsis)
The last time we watched Subaru and Emilia they had survived the battle at Sanctuary thanks to Beatrice flexing her full powers and they were happily celebrating their victory together with dancing.
As previously mentioned, the anime’s second season skipped the introduction of Omega, a Ryuzu clone… that contains the soul of Echidna! It turns out that when the clone Shima followed Garfiel into the Tomb she accidentally underwent the first trial. The Witch of Greed managed to attach a piece of her soul to Shima.
Over a period of 10 years, Echidna managed to completely transfer her Soul into Shima after the fall of Sanctuary. With her memories restored into the clone, Echidna decided to rename her new body Omega.
Flast forward in time. It’s been one year after the start of the election and Subaru has been living in peace after the camps were reunited.
Anastasia Hoshin is the head of the Hoshin Trading Company and one of the Royal Candidates in the election (you might remember her from anime Episode 12 as the purple-haired woman wearing all white). Anastasia sends letters and invites the various camps for Emilia, Crusch, Priscilla, and Felt to visit Priestella, the Water Gate City.
In her letter to Emilia, Anastasia claims she and the Fang of Iron mercenary group have information on the Archbishop of Gluttony. They rush to Priestella in hopes of learning of a way of reviving Rem.
At first, everything was peaceful and Subaru spent time catching up with old friends. But then the Witch’s Cult besieges the city and Subaru is confronted by new Archbishops of the Witch’s Cult.
The first is Sirius, the Archbishop of Wrath, a woman covered in chains and bandages except for her purple eyes and her teeth (seen above on the cover of Volume 16). Sirius is among the most physically powerful of the Archbishops and she can control the chains around her body, turning them into flames. Her Authority also allows her to sense and influence people’s emotions.
Sirius has a twisted view on love and she’s a stalker of Petelgeuse, claiming to be his wife. While you would think she’d hate Subaru for killing her “husband”, Sirius mistakenly believes Subaru is possessed by Petelgueuse due to his Sloth Witch Factor!
A surprised and disgusted Subaru is showered with her twisted version of love, but even more surprising yet is the fact that Sirius hates Satella because of Petelguese’s obsession with the Witch of Envy’s resurrection. Of course, that also means Sirius has plenty of hatred toward Emilia due to their physical resemblance.
The second Archbishop is Capella Emerada Lugnica, known as the “Mother” or leader of Gusteko’s Assassin Organization. As the representative of Lust, Capella’s Authority allows her to transform at will and she can heal from deadly injuries, even having her head cut off.
The invasion by the Archbishops throws Priestella into chaos and Subaru’s friends are spread out. The save point created by Return by Death only gives a very short window of opportunity for Subaru to figure out a plan for a counterattack to recapture the City Hall.
Worse, Emilia is kidnapped by the Archbishop of Greed Regulus, the man in white who destroyed Rem and Crusch’s wagon at the beginning of the second season. And even Gluttony makes an appearance. Subaru must figure out a way to unite the various Camps and repel the Witch’s Cult from the water gate city.
Unfortunately, anime audiences will have to wait until the Re:Zero Season 3 release date to watch what happens next, I suppose. Stay tuned!
- Updated April 6, 2023: Re:ZERO Season 3 production confirmed!
- Updated January 25, 2023: Added Anime Japan 2023 info. Light volume 33 ending Arc 7.
- Updated July 24, 2022: Added summary of Kadokawa event.
- Updated July 9, 2022: Added MF Bunko J Summer Festival 2022 info. Added light novel/manga info.
Updated May 26, 2021: Added a link to Re:Zero Volume 27 cover art, not an embedded image, since it contains a huge spoiler.
Updated March 18, 2021: Added Re:Zero Volume 27 release date.
Updated March 9, 2021: Added Re:Zero Volume 26 release date. Added cover art.
- Updated December 4, 2020: Added Re:Zero Volume 25 release date and cover art.
Updated November 19, 2020: Added Re:Zero Season 2 Part 2 OP and ED info.
- Updated November 3, 2020: Added Re:Zero S2 Blu-Ray/DVD sales numbers.
Updated September 4, 2020: Add Re:Zero Volume 24 release date and cover art.
Updated August 11, 2020: Added Crunchyroll’s Re:Zero Season 2 dub info.