By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu: Tanpenshuu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

First of all, I appreciate that we have a new translator for the short stories. The plan seems to be to release these volumes one month after the main volumes till we catch up, so putting all that on the same person would be a strain. Secondly, of course, we’re getting this a bit late. This volume first came out in 2014, in between Volume 5 and 6 of the regular series. It also introduces us to Liliana, someone who appears as a major supporting character in the 5th arc and who we are expected to have known about from this story. So, kinda like the Index SS books. Also like the Index SS books, it’s great to see these licensed anyway. They provide a lot of really good fluffy fun, introduce a character who’s important later, and give important backstory to two more supporting characters. And, perhaps most importantly, it gives Subaru a chance to really get in a ton of tsukkomi. Especially in the first story. Comebacks for all.

There are four short stories in this book. Two of them were written to appear in my nemesis, Monthly Comic Alive, and two of them are original for this book. The first, which ran in Comic Alive over 3 issues right after the 3rd volume came out, has a traveling bard named Liliana arrive at the mansion, looking to compose a song about a hero that hasn’t been composed yet. She also, unfortunately, has some people trying to kidnap her, who also come to the mansion. The second story has Subaru trying to give Rem a day off, after seeing how she basically does everything in the mansion, and Rem’s struggles to actually not work. This appeared after the 4th novel. Then we get the two original stories. The first shows Priscilla, having just chosen Al as her knight, returning to her newest husband, and Al learning what said husband has planned for her. The other one shows Emilia falling asleep and ending up in a parody of Alice in Wonderland.

The biggest thing I noticed while reading this book, which I would not remotely have noticed had I read it in publication order, is just how long it’s been since we’ve had Rem in this story. The second story is all about Rem, of course, and the first one has a heaping helping of her. She gets to show off her strength, speed, and pure adoration of Subaru here, and her fans should eat this up. Liliana’s introduction is also good, and she and Subaru have an instant boke/tsukkomi relationship that feels different from the one he already has with Emilia. Emilia’s Wonderland story is mostly silly, but the Priscilla story may be the best in the book. We get another good look at Al’s own “talent” in beating the odds, and we get to see exactly why Priscilla is one of the chosen candidates and why people absolutely revere her. She’s an arrogant, abusive ass, but she earns every bit of the adoration she expects to receive.

So yeah, this was fun. Nothing really serious, apart from bits of the Priscilla story. Fans should love it.

By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

And so another arc bites the dust, as the 6th Arc of Re: Zero ends with this volume. There are more returns by deaths, there are lots of surprises, there are absolute PILES of cool fights, and there’s even a bit of tragedy. That said, there’s still a whole lot of stuff we don’t really know. Some folks who had their identity eaten by Gluttony are restored, some are not. Gluttony, who of course is three siblings, gets sealed away/killed/we have no clue. As for Subaru, well, he didn’t get a 100% victory, but he did his best. And he did it by knowing his strengths, which is cheering people on, taking their own pain as his own, and knowing that everyone else in his party is ludicrously stronger than him. Emilia gets amazing things to do, Ram is awesome, Julius is fantastic. It’s a pump the air sort of book… at least till that cliffhanger. Whoops, new arc.

Subaru may have decided that now is the time for his counterattack, but about 15 more deaths show that he himself cannot actually affect anything. As such, the one thing that helps him out is spotting his OWN book of the dead in the library… or rather the multiple, multiple volumes of books of each of his deaths. The outcome of reading all these books I won’t spoil, but by the end of it Louis is taken care of and Subaru has all his memories back. Now he’s ready to figure out what should be done to win: give Julius the cheerleader he’s dedicated himself to (who it turns out has not so much been in danger of dying as curling up and sulking), give Emilia a huge morale boost that allows her to pretty much be damn near invincible, let Rem fight with her sister in a very real way to take out Lye, and then go with Beatrice to help Meili to try to hold off Shaula till all this can be done. Oh yes, and can anyone pass the test?

This is a long book, with a lot going on. Emilia fans will eat VERY well in this book, though I get the feeling that the next arc may flip the heroines again. By the end of the book, they have won a bittersweet victory, one that is perhaps more bitter for them than it is for me: I can appreciate the tragedy of Shaula’s existence waiting for her master, but her death doesn’t quite land as tragically as I think the author wants it to. The other really good bit in the book was the climax, where they have Roy captured but not dead, and when Subaru suggests killing him to try to get everyone’s memories back, Anastasia is quick to point out that is a very UN-Subaru thing to say. As for Rem, having had a moment of triumph from within a book of the dead last time, she’s still comatose here, though that does not stop her from unconsciously helping Ram to get more power to defeat Lye. the cliffhanger suggests her fate will change very soon, though, so Rem fans, your long wait is almost over.

The next arc is not only the longest in the series, eight books, but it’s also far less popular than the last two. Get ready for almost an entirely new supporting cast. And go back and read Re: Zero EX 4 and 5, you’ll need them. Till then, this was a mostly very satisfying finale to this round of Re: Zero…. oh wait, we’re finally getting the Short Story volumes! See you next month, back in the Arc 2 days of yore.

By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

I had assumed, since the end of the last volume was one of those “I have been a dumbass for a while but now I have turned the corner and am fighting back” endings, that there might be a bit less Return by Death in this book. Hardly. All that means is that the deaths are not “Subaru dies by being an idiot” but are instead “Subaru dies as he tries to figure out how to escape a damn near impossible situation”. Which means going through everything bit by bit and breaking it down into manageable chunks. but it does mean that this book is pretty exhausting, and features a lot of the cast getting their asses handed to them, as well as a lot of supposed allies turning out to be secret antagonists – though honestly, the latter should not be too surprising to a reader who is paying attention. This book is all the detective work, and the payoff will presumably be next time.

Subaru, now determined to fight back, goes back to square one and confesses to all that he’s lost his memories. He’s already worked out how he died the first time, by being pushed off the staircase, and solves that fairly quickly. The next step is to try to find Reid Astrea’s book in the Library, so that they can read his memories in hopes of finding a weakness – what killed him, for a start. Unfortunately, that ends up going badly, as when Subaru goes into Reid’s book he instead finds… another Gluttony. This one is named Louis (pronounced the French way), and she almost manages to break Subaru entirely before he’s saved by the least likely savior out there… and also the most likely, let’s face it. Unfortunately, they now have multiple Gluttonies running around, Reid running amuck, and that pesky killer scorpion. What’s up with that, anyway?

There are many amazing fight scenes in this, which the author has started to specialize in. This arc in particular continues to be a gift for Emilia fans, and that’s despite the fact that she (in one loop) gets her identity eaten by Gluttony. A fight that ends with her sneaking up behind Lye (Gluttony #2) and hitting him with a giant ice hammer while yelling “Sneak Up And WHAM” is possibly in my top five moments in the entire series. There’s also Subaru doing what he does best, which is rallying the troops and getting them to do what they do best… though sometimes even that isn’t enough. It all comes to a head in the final scene of the book, when he confronts Shaula and gets her to admit what she’s been hiding and why. It’s a very sympathetic reason – tearjerking, even – but honestly, I suspect that she’s absolutely correct and knows it. And that’s why she’s breaking down.

The next book is the final book in this arc, and I suspect it will need to be a much longer volume in order to fix everything up. Till then, this was a solid volume, and had a minimal amount of Subaru being a dumbass, which is always my measuring stick for how enjoyable it is.