Book Review: Re:Zero: Starting Life in Another World, The Frozen Bond. 1

By Tappei Nagatsuki and illustrated by Shin'ichirō Ōtsuka 

3 Stars 

Re:Zero: Starting Life in Another World Vol. 1 is about a young 18-year-old boy by the name of Natsuki Subaru, who, to say the least, lives quite a depressing life until he is transported to another world for an unknown reason with the ability to "return by death." Causing many struggles and conflicts that Subaru must make it through to save everyone he can. In this world, he meets a colourful cast of characters where he regularly faces the struggles of self-worth and death, with many "ups and downs" throughout the story. In my personal experience this book I enjoyed as well as the series in general. 

I find the protagonist goes through extremely impactful development that changes his whole view on the world, life and death itself, and that is an absolute treasure to witness how Natsuki Subaru develops throughout this beautifully written story. On to some other notes about the content of the story can be somewhat graphic, with each one of Subaru's deaths being quite brutal and quite saddening, though I do believe the shock factor of those deaths is weighed down by the art, which I found to be slightly disappointing compared to how brutal the light novels are. But overall, I found this volume to be quite enjoyable though compared to the light novel or the anime itself, which describes and shows Subaru's suffering in excruciating detail well. Despite all that, I found some positives in this book, and I enjoyed this book, thus granting it a 3.5/5. 

Reviewed by Amare 

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