Re:Zero -Starting Life In Another World- is a light novel adaptation with a first episode that premieres in two parts. Anime where a shut-in otaku protagonist is pulled into a fantastic parallel world aren’t exactly sparse on the ground, so Re:Zero has to work hard to differentiate itself from No Game No Life, Sword Art Online, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash , and even Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon , which isn’t exactly a parallel world anime but feels similar nonetheless. Despite a lot of time wasted in the hour-long episode 1, I enjoyed watching Re:Zero .

Re:Zero ’s main character, Natsuki Subaru, is a shut-in gamer type who punches out alleyway thugs in his very first fistfight. We are asked to believe that swinging around a toy sword for hours somehow gives him the type of muscles needed to give hulking shantytown loot fencers an eraser burn. It’s easier to believe that people in the parallel fantasy world are made of clay and flobberworms, but whatever. (With characters like Subaru infesting professional media of every kind, it’s really hard to believe people choose to go hard on teenage girls’ Mary Sues.)

Despite that, Subaru has a lot of funny moments thanks to his talented voice actor Yusuke Kobayashi, who plays Arslan in The Heroic Legend of Arslan . When he’s buffeted about in the brave new world he confidently feels is made for him (at first), his expectations of grandeur soundly thwarted in the realization that he’s a nobody here as well, his bratty fit made me chuckle. Even in the alleyway fight where he initially seems to triumph, his cringing reaction when an opponent pulls out knives was another solidly funny moment.

The love interest, half-elf Satella, is an egregious palette swap of Asuna from Sword Art Online . She’s pretty, of course - isn’t Asuna pretty? - and her silver and white color scheme and streaming clothes immediately indicate that she’s the Beautiful Special Love Interest (as Subaru is quick to bleat). Personality-wise she’s kind and nice and blah blah, but she’s trying not to act like it, tsun tsun, but she helps save little kids who are lost, hooray. Satella is not breaking anybody’s mold here.

Subaru and Satella bicker back and forth as they run around the capital city in episode 1, which gives us more time to see a connection grow between the two. Satella also has a little catlike spirit buddy named Puck, with a design perfectly tailor-made for a keychain plush. The character designs in Re:Zero are nothing new, but they’re nothing as bad as the Low Rider Prince from Endride , either.

In terms of technical execution, Re:Zero is solid: there’s plenty of detail work in the busy backgrounds, smooth glowing colors, no jarringly unnecessary CGI ( yet ), characters stay on-model, and there’s a consistent level of animation throughout. Re:Zero maintains this quality and consistency throughout its entire premiere. The music is a nonentity, though later in episode 1, it gets the chance to shine with spooky synthetic beats that add a video game feel to sincerely creepy moments.

The gimmick that Re:Zero counts on is that when Subaru dies, he comes back to the moment he first entered this world. This is an awesome gimmick, especially because Re:Zero doesn’t shy back from showing bloody, gruesome moments - but neither does it dwell on them loathsomely. This tastefulness extends to Satella, whom Subaru is obviously, obnoxiously interested in. But he doesn’t comment on her boobs, we don’t see her panties, we don’t have lascivious pans up and down her body, and he sincerely throws himself into helping her. I’ll take the breath of fresh air while I can, since literally none of these “shut-in gets pulled into fantasy world” anime ever give their female characters even that much respect.

Subaru is quick to pick up on the fact that he’s been pulled into a parallel fantasy world, and he decants this for the audience at length, barely seeming to notice or care that he has no way home. The transition into the fantasy world is as simple as a blink: he opens his eyes and he’s surrounded by demi-human lizard and cat people. What the adaptable Subaru is not quick to pick up on is the achingly obvious fact that he is reliving the same day over and over. He’s so fast to note all the little genre tropes of the parallel fantasy world, so seeing him fail repeatedly to note something so obvious is baffling.

And that’s really my only major gripe with Re:Zero . Yes, the characters are shallow. Yes, the premise is tropey, with only one gimmick to be its saving grace. And yes, Subaru ventures worryingly close to obnoxious, but at least we’re not watching an adult man explain beastiality and cunnilingus to nine-year-olds . Episode 1 leaves me with the hope of an enjoyable high-stakes romp in a fantasy world. Who knows? Maybe Subaru will change or learn something.

Should you watch ‘Re:Zero -Starting Life In Another World-’?

If you’re not yet sick of the parallel fantasy world anime genre, or you’re a fan of anime fantasy, I think Re:Zero is worth your time. The production values are above the norm and the well-worn tropes make it feel like easing into your favorite pair of house slippers. Re:Zero’s gimmick is a little like last season’s Erased , but the fact that the time travel only activates when Subaru dies means there’s a lot of ways this plot could go.

I definitely don’t expect the thrilling tension of Erased from Re:Zero , but there’s an urgency to death as the gateway that hopefully provides for some epic scenes. Subaru seems less concerned about returning to his shut-in life than he is about helping the mysterious Satella, and while the world itself is Fantasy Trope Central, it’s not done badly.

Re:Zero streams on Crunchyroll every Sunday at 2:40 PM EST here .