Episode 1 - Memory Snow
Subaru Natsuki finally gets to take a breather, but he does not waste any time as he prepares for a
date with his beloved Emilia. He scouts the nearby village for the right dating spot, and with the
help of the village children, he finds a wonderful location. With that, he is well prepared for his
date!
Unfortunately for Subaru, cold weather suddenly sweeps across Roswaal's mansion on his important day,
leaving him with no choice but to postpone the date. Overnight, it becomes even colder and unbearable.
Subaru must get to the bottom of this because, at this rate, his date will be the least of his
worries.
Episode 2 - The Frozen Bond
Covered in ice and snow, Elior Forest is the home to dangerous magical beasts and 50 elves frozen in
ice. One day, the great spirit Puck helps a young girl break out of her ice prison. Her name is
Emilia, a half-elf born with silver hair, long ears, and amethyst eyes—features that resemble the evil
Witch who destroyed half the world long ago.
Shunned by society because of her appearance, Emilia dwells in the forest with Puck as her sole
companion and family. Burdened with a sin of destruction she does not remember committing, she spends
her days trying to find a way to help her frozen kin. But when the great spirit Melakuera, the
Arbitrator of the world, finds Emilia, her right to stay alive is brought into question. Will the
bonds of ice she formed with Puck prove to be the warm thread that defies fate?
The Frozen Bond, a Re:Zero OVA/film, is criminally underrated! Coming off the heels of Re:Zero's first-half of its first season, everything that Frozen Bond has to offer is a huge change of pace from the central premise of the series, and in all of the best ways possible. img(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EAk7PCjXYAEG6OB.jpg) This prequel to Re:Zero focuses on further developing Emilia and Puck as central characters. It gives the essentials of both of their backstories, as well as what their lives were like predating Emilia's inclusion into a more noble, refined life. The emphasis here is focusing on the discrimination Emilia suffers due to her being seen as a terrible witch, and for the terrible magic that she holds within her. Such a long, dedicated runtime allows for good introspection, and the film makes sure that any topic they touch on is with a deft hand. They reveal just enough to keep the viewer intrigued, without giving firm explanations, making things both clear while leaving a layer of mystery yet to be uncovered. Rather than just dumping backstory and lore, this film is more about contextualizing the relationship that has already been developed in the main series. img(https://66.media.tumblr.com/2a4ed935de8a2cdb0d620e6ba99b34c5/03781c764008215a-35/s500x750/d415a277317a7a05e2aab9d3bbd99b677f905989.gifv) What makes this stand out above its own source material, as well as other anime of a similar caliber, is that its self-contained narrative holds on its own. Not only is little context needed from the main series, but instead, the context given in the film only enhances your knowledge of the main series. Because of its deliberate separation from the main narrative, it's free to flex its narrative muscles and explore in any direction it wants, telling a fantastic fantasy story, tinged with levity and heartache. The main series is always mired in its edgy tone, and Subaru's ignorant perspective, and his never-ending cycle of fail and repeat until success comes his way. Emilia takes the reins of protagonist quite deftly, having full ownership, character depth, and character development, perhaps even deeper than her original presentation. img(https://i.imgur.com/EwIJK6D.png) It is not without faults. The art and animation is fantastic throughout, as is expected of a series of its stature. But because of its simple setting - snowy forest with little variation - the backgrounds can be a bit dull. The OST features some unique music as well, but a lot of it is largely forgettable, and struggles to stand out in any way, especially compared to the absolute bangers in the series' soundtrack. Also, don't you dare watch the other OVA included as a part of this: Memory Snow. It's a straight-up fanservice episode, with some goofy scenes and memes of light comedy. But while Frozen Bond is edging just shy of a masterpiece, Memory Snow is criminally stupid, should be avoided if you value your time, and has almost no redeeming qualities. img(https://66.media.tumblr.com/09de1f7d557f975891de37173b9c72cf/db4c2bdf1f9fb222-07/s500x750/d5f76abeefe8906804c4088b416bdc6d0c6034b3.gifv) Any criticisms offered, however, are demonstrably nitpicks on what is clearly a stellar display of storytelling within the Re:Zero world. This is an easy recommendation for anyone already interested in the Re:Zero franchise - much watch material! - but also a good recommendation for those who may be intrigued by the series overall, but are a bit put off by Subaru as a protagonist, or the darker themes of the mainline series. Frozen Bond captures all the best aspects of the Re:Zero worldbuilding, with essentially none of the faults or lag that comes with its source.
This review will contain spoilers for the Re:Zero OVA's Memory Snow and Frozen Bonds. It will also contain spoilers for Season 1. For those who want to know my overall rating without digging deep: Memory Snow: 85/100 Frozen Bonds: 42/100 (Combined Rating: 64) tl;dr ~ Why does anyone even bother reading Arlan's reviews? #~~~__Memory Snow__~~~ ~~~_How to make Re:Zero enjoyable_ ~~~ For those who've read my first season review they know that, while I had some good times with the first season, I also had a lot of bad times. A lot of it didn't resonate well with me, and the way some characters were treated left me feeling quite disconcerted for the future. So when I tackled Memory Snow I had low expectations, especially since those who'd encouraged me to watch it didn't consider it the better of the two OVA. I was very surprised to find an overabundance of good humor, great comedic timing, interesting character interactions, and an overall plot that had a start, middle, and end. What we have with Memory Snow is a sort of microcosm within which we could see the most pleasant potential of Re:Zero. This is the type of fantasy world that the whole series could be, if it'd only abandon the author's need to placate his urge for self-inserted masochism. Memory Snow deals with a Subaru who has begun to earn the trust of those in the mansion, it shows us more about the way everyone in the mansion perceives him, it showcases more about the magic system, it builds on how Emilia is still hesitant to trust Subaru with everything, and even more. The way the townsfolk look at Subaru and Roswaal, the way that Emilia's guilt over Subaru's injuries still haunts her, everything adds to the overall world of Re:Zero and the characters themselves. We're even given hints about Emilia's past, how she was in the forest with Puck alone, and how nobody was near them since they were able to freely release magic that froze things nearby without concern. Yes, this is not the perfect OVA, it goes on for perhaps ten or fifteen minutes too long and some of the humor is a bit too outlandish. But all in all this was a highly enjoyable time that helped me to relax, think better of the series, and leave me with heightened hopes for the future. #~~~__Frozen Bonds__~~~ ~~~_Butchered tedious drek_~~~ Right off the bat I'll be honest with you. I did not like Emilia at this point of the series. Any time she was shown to have some capability as a potentially great character, she was instead shunted into a secondary or even tertiary position. Her ability to ignore or forgive Subaru, her almost seeming need to have him in her life, and the over reliance on him struck a sour chord with me. So here I go, a person who doesn't care much for Emilia, and I'm forced to watch an Emilia focused OVA and it's absurdly long. You can slice out over half of this OVA and still retain every major important aspect of it, every major dialogue line, even a bunch of the more important secondary stuff. This is an over inflated OVA that drags on well past its welcome. The story itself also didn't matter to me. I knew that Emilia had been in the forest with Puck, I knew she had a contract with Puck, I knew that people perceived her as evil or a monster. I knew all of this going into Frozen Bonds. Frozen Bonds, in turn, gave me a few new hints of information(Including a mysterious voice...hello mysterious voice lady), some cute Puck moments, a few beautiful shots that made me want to clap, and that's about it. When I watched Frozen Bonds there were a lot of moments when I laughed, and it wasn't for a good reason. This is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the worst production for an Re:Zero "Episode" in existence. There are a ton of cheap looking and awful techniques utilized. A lot of bad choices were made by whoever animated this OVA, or perhaps they simply had no money or time to work on it. The end result was disgusting animation that made me want to smack the crap out of whoever gave this the okay. Also whoever did those stupid frost crystal flower borders for the flashback/dream sequences needs to be excommunicated from Earth. So not only is this an overly long and bloated OVA, but it's also the worst animated stuff in Re:Zero. Tack on that it's predominately old information, and doesn't really do much except remind us that Emilia is a half-elf and Puck is god damned cute, and it's a miracle I'm giving this a rating as high as I am. Even now, as I type this out, I want to dump the rating down lower.
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# ~~~__Spoiler-free review__~~~