14. Re:Zero episodes 1 and 2 Reincarnated as Podcasters: an Isekai Podcast

***Spoiler Warning: Cube (1997)***

Colonel, come in. This is Snake. Kept you waiting, huh? Laurens was feeling a bit under the weather so he asked me, Solid Snake (as voiced by David Hayter), to sub for him. He also asked me to make my voice extra gravelly. I'm not sure even a veteran of stealth operations, such as myself, could survive in the cube from the 1997 indie sci-fi horror Cube. Luckily that's not what we debate in this weeks "Is It an Isekai" segment. Instead we wonder how does the claustrophobia and existential horror of Cube relate to Isekai? We get into all of it at (25:25)

I'm afraid I had to tactically dispose of the "Otaku Glossary" segment for this week. Our research pieces will be moved to their own episode down the line in the interest of keeping these episode sleek and streamlined, like my sneaking suit which needlessly accentuates my dump truck ass. So yeah, look forward to that... the research pieces, not my ass.

In this episode we cover:
Episode 1: The End of the Beginning and the Beginning of the End (36:05)
Episode 2: Reunion with the Witch (1:32:51)
Closing thoughts at (1:52:50)

Episode one is actually a 50 minute double episode, hence us covering just two episodes this time. As we find out, this show absolutely needs 50 minutes to lay out the elaborate clockwork of this new isekai world, perhaps even more. The vistas are dense with finely crafted detail, the designs are eye-catchingly elegant and the worldbuilding is woven into the plot with a naturalistic ease. But it is the sheer amount of character banter that makes up the glut of these runtimes. These new personages talk and talk with Sorkin-esque loquaciousness and verve. But does it serve the story and our understanding of these new characters? Or is it all just complicated airflow? I happen to think it's very enriching, but that might be because I - Solid Snake - have already seen the entirety of this anime before (so has Laurens by the way). 
We find that Re:Zero is interested in the little games that people play, the subtle transactions that occur between people all the time without us noticing. Our protag, Subaru, gets to put his internal worldview to the test in another world. Only he might find that world more hostile to his intentions than he first imagined. Luckily he gets a do-over, but at what price?
 
Thanks for joining us on another isekai journey. Don't forget, you can follow us on twitter at @ReincarnatedPod
Or email us at reincarnated.podcasters@gmail.com