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Re: Zero 10th Anniversary Space
On April 20th
English Summary
Note: Not everything is translated, it will merely be a very detailed summary.
Pre talk
I usually write extra stories or call for questions on characters’ birthdays, but was quite busy, and as the Web Novel has reached the milestone of its 10th anniversary, I thought I would like to answer some questions about Re: Zero on a Twitter Space.
This is my first time using Twitter Space; I’ve never even listened to it, so please bear with the mess. I received quite a lot of questions so I will be answering as much as I can in about 2 hours, so please listen until the end. I don’t know how many people have been with me from long ago, but I am planning to run until the very end so please keep supporting me. For the 10th Anniversary, I will be answering as many questions as I can. Let’s start.
I got over 1000 replies. Thank you so much. Twitter shows the replies in a weird order so I can’t tell who I will answer, I will apologize for that.
Thanks for the congratulations.
Questions
Q1. By Sugar. You “Doon” sometimes but what do you do when you do it? What changes do you make in the story?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/s_410k/status/1516412062603304967
I “Doon” when the text is weird. I delete what I thought can’t be presented to everyone. That’s when I give up on updating for that day. How I switch over is simply by sleeping. Sleeping is the best. I eat sweet things and sleep to refresh my brain. When it comes to editing, I delete the whole chapter and rewrite the whole thing again. At least, I try to rewrite the same content and when it goes well I don’t “Doon”, but when it sucks again I need to “Doon” and write all over again.
TL Note: “Doon” is basically onomatopoeia for “Boom”. Tappei uses it on Twitter when he deletes an entire chapter he was working on and decides to rewrite it from zero.
Q2. By Uzumaki Uzuma. Where do the names of the characters derive from? Especially the new characters from Arc 7.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/kuroshin_07/status/1516431518809604101
Hmm, the origin of their names… In Re: Zero, there are many characters who have an origin to their name and many who do not. For the names of the Empire Arc… I have an image and vibe for names of each country or region, like Lugunica, Kararagi, the Empire (Vollachia), and Holy Kingdom (Gusteko). For example in Lugnica, Reinhard, Wilhem or Heinkel shows it has a German feeling to it. But regardless I have Vincent in Vollachia so I can’t really say that. Other than the characters named after stars, I name the rest just by feeling and if it fits them in their actions. As a regret of my past few years, I try not to end character names with S (Su) or R/L (Ra Ri Ru Re Ro) but they really keep increasing. Like Julius, Sirius, Regulus… Even Petelgeuse (lol) so I do try to avoid it, but still do it anyway. Other than that, it’s just the feeling and character fitting. Also that it feels good after saying the name, like with Cecilus Segmunt. For Vollachia, since there are so many types of characters and so many people, like demi-human or other races, I deliberately try to make them seem random.
Q3. By Monpe. Does Otto have a favorite hairstyle for girls?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/0tto_0324/status/1516717896952532995
Otto doesn’t judge a person by how they look, like their hair. His first love was a cat. So his crush might not even be a human or might not even have hair. So he doesn’t care. In Re: Zero he might be the most indifferent towards the character’s appearances. He doesn’t judge people by their looks, he judges by how he feels when talking, so the inside. He doesn’t care about how he looks. It annoys me that he knows that he looks good. It doesn’t mean he can’t identify beauty or ugliness. He can say beautiful things are beautiful. He just doesn’t judge things based only on that. He is a merchant, so he needs to be able to identify good and bad. Though he has bad luck. That’s Otto.
Q4. By Yuki. I love the Three idiots. How did they feel when Garfiel called Otto “Otto Bro”?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/yukiottoswen/status/1516683167477997569
By the way, オットー兄ぃ (Otto Bro) is read Otto Anii, not Otto Nii. (This is a pretty famous misreading. A lot of Japanese fans were surprised.) After Otto, Garfiel and Subaru got on well with each other after Arc 4, the ill feelings between them have somewhat disappeared as you can tell after watching the anime.
But it doesn’t mean Garfiel respected Otto instantly after that. I wrote a short story in a Tanpenshuu about it . In a “They weren’t doing well with each other, what to do?” situation, Subaru tried to make them get on well with each other but failed miserably.
But in these events, their relationship slowly changed. Garfiel is a straightforward guy, so looking at how Otto was working in these everyday jobs he slowly changed his recognition of him. Garfiel was probably looking for a good opportunity to change how he called him into Otto Bro.
So I don’t know, maybe in some special event or like a birthday to show gratitude; he probably first called him that during one of those times, and Otto was an understanding guy so he didn’t really say anything, However, Subaru was the one to tease Garfiel. But that is for another story.
Q5. By Toroyama. (She gifted Roswaal land on the Moon. Literally real land on the moon. She has proof of it in a frame and hung it up on a wall.) What things other than Healing Magic is Roswaal bad at?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/yamasan3232/status/1516748232516587523
Hmm, Roswaal’s weak point… He can do pretty much anything, but probably communicate with others. He can tell the good and bad in interests and disadvantages in negotiations, but he can’t understand other people’s emotions or how others feel towards him.
He wants to control other people and thinks that nobody will like him for any reason. Subaru also has a similar trait. This also includes the fact that he is always dressed up as a clown. Dressing up in such a weird appearance gives the other person a bad impression. Subaru also acts like that and is often looked down by others. He does that because it’s easy to treat them when their impression is fixed. Subaru and Roswaal are pretty similar in that they are bad at communicating. They often try to progress things in fields they are good at. That’s why they get confused when someone does something different from their expectations.
That’s probably Roswaal’s weak point. Probably worse than Healing Magic.
Q6. By S･Ｍ･I. Will the reason why Subaru was summoned to this world be explained?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Askkh3/status/1516425753717784576
If not explained, that’d be quite a problem. Of course, I will, so don’t worry. It’s not much of a big foreshadowing but I definitely have to.
Q7. By 🍫. Reinhard uses Mana in the air to make himself stronger but has he been able to do that since he was born? Will he be not able to do it in some situations?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/choco_rkgk/status/1516654428031356931
Yes, Reinhard has been able to do it since birth. For situations in which he will become unable to, I will have to answer, Spoilers. (Mana Circulation Body)
Q-. By Yamataka Morito. (Vivy’s Manga Artist) Congratulations on the 10th anniversary!
Q8. By 넴닝 (a Korean account with a profile picture of Beatrice). When is Abel’s birthday?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/nemjjyang/status/1516407241922195457
Uhhh, I haven’t decided yet. Let’s see, should I give him the same birthday as the Japanese Emperor’s birthday? A day reminiscent of a King… Ok, it will be December 23rd. Abel’s birthday is the 23rd of December. I gave it just now.
I usually give birthdays quite randomly, just by the feeling.
Q9. By Imoika. Can you give a schedule of a day for His Excellency Vincent before Arc 7?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/imoika_/status/1516672672834367489
Well as a weekly schedule he will have: “Mon Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Fri”. Regarding his daily schedule, he probably sleeps very little. Probably only 4 hours. He gets up early in the morning and has a meeting with Chisha and others. Vollachia has a culture of eating proper food. He eats food tasted and checked for poison, then probably has an audience with people, though I don’t know how many come up all the way to the Ruler.
Vincent often casually walks in while camouflaged and slowly steps in the room, watching quietly. He probably walks around everywhere so the guards have a hard time. Chisha is probably taken out everywhere. He probably works and does lots of other stuff until late at night and has very little sleep time until he gets up early in the morning again.
He is quite diligent but people do not often see him working hard, so I’m not sure how others feel about him.
Q10. By Nishiki (Yay – Editor Note: That’s our translator’s question!) I really adore you and your work. How have you been able to continue for 10 years? How did you keep your motivation in continuing for such a long time? Do you have any tips?
Original Question: https://twitter.com/nishiki_opn/status/1516419816764379138
Hmm, being able to continue for 10 years, it’s probably getting stuck in Arc 6 for 5 years. (chuckle) That’s half of the whole. Well, that’s obviously a joke, but hmm, I usually do hope to continue things for a long time, but generally, I don’t aim to start stuff like hobbies for that purpose.
Re: Zero has reached its 10th anniversary, but I never planned to have it go on for 10 years and didn’t start assuming it would. If you guys didn’t know, I wrote the entirety of Arc 1, 2, and 3 in just a year. It was over a million characters. If I could have kept that super fast pace, I probably would have been done with Re: Zero by now. Probably in 5 to 6 years, if I didn’t have the novels and anime in between.
But even if it didn’t get novelized or get an anime, I don’t know if I could have kept writing at that speed. In Web Novels, like by amateurs, there are rare types of people who can keep writing a story forever even if nobody reads them. They keep writing what they want to write, going on for 5 or 10 million characters. I probably can’t do that.
I do like to think that I’d keep writing even without anyone reading, but the power of the readers is very important. It really gives me strength. You can say my motivation comes from all the comments I get from my readers. So my trick for being able to keep working for so long is simply because of everyone. Thus, for me, it’s quite difficult to do anything just by myself.
It took quite some time before I could get into any rankings on Shousetsuka ni Narou. I believe I took a whole month writing Arc 1 with barely anyone reading it. Fortunately, I had finished writing Arc 1 before posting, so it didn’t really affect my motivation; but it’s still tough. When Subaru died once or twice in Arc 2, someone famous mentioned it and it started entering rankings; the number of readers also slowly began to increase.
Now it’s probably Twitter, but back then there was an online forum of Shousetsuka ni Narou where I posted what kind of story I was writing for more people to read and comment on. I do want to believe that if you keep writing a good story it will get popular one day, but because there are millions of stories out there, it’s not easy for people to find your work. It often depends on timing and luck. There’s still the wall, that even if you write something good, people won’t be able to find it because of timing and luck, so you need to work hard to overcome that barrier. As you keep doing this, and readers and comments increase, your motivation will keep increasing. That will make you get into a good cycle, and with that, I could write what I wanted to write, what I liked and will finish it until the end. It’s quite idealistic, but I think that’s how I do it.
TL Note: Shousetsuka ni Narou (Let’s become a Novelist) is the site which Tappei posts his Web Novel to.
Q.11 By Min. The April Fools gender-swapping made me go crazy. Do you think Subaru-chan has big breasts or small ones?
Original Link:https://twitter.com/mintsu_hm/status/1516540805191675907
I think Subaru-chan’s breasts weren’t that big. It would be funny if he, I mean she, had big ones but I still think they should be small. What am I even talking about? I just went crazy. Sorry about that (lol).
But I think it’s quite a common thing in Fan Fics*. I love Re: Zero Fan Fics, so I often wanna make one sometimes and show them to people like “Weey”. Just one of those.
There are other famous cliches with Fan Fics, so I’d want to make extra stories or just throw it into the main story, like how crazy Subaru is doing in Arc 7. But I don’t do it just for fun, instead I try to imply it into the main story logically. For gender-swapping, there was no way I could do that in the main story, so I did it like that. Sometimes it would be fun to do jokes like that.
*Note: The term used is nijisousaku, which in this context likely refers to Fan Fics, it is more literally “derivative works” though.
Q.12 By Vanilla-Shio. In Arc 7 there have been many tough scenes for Subaru, but have his worst experiences been updated?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/bbbanira090/status/1516416038124290048
The worst death of all for Subaru would be the rabbit one. In my opinion, being eaten by something is really, really scary.
The worst death for me as far as I remember when I watched a movie was when I watched Jurassic Park. I can’t watch movies where people die, so I watched it when I was a kid, and the scariest experience of all time was Jurassic Park. When one of the explorers or something went to pee in the jungle, a small dinosaur came chasing after him very quickly; he was eaten and his blood dripped into the river making him realize that he had been eaten. That was so scary to me when I was a kid.
That’s why I have a big fear of being eaten alive by small animals. By the way, the second scariest moment was when a T-Rex was chasing a car, the driver tried to take out a gun, but it went under the seat. As he tried to take it out, two small guys bit him in half. That was very scary to me back then.
I think being eaten by something is the scariest thing to imagine, so I think Subaru would be the same. The worst death recently would be the most recent one (as of April 20, 2022). I would treat the whole thing as one and that must have been insanely stressful for Subaru. I think one from that and the rabbit one would be the worst of all.
My Dad just told me to read the questions slower so I will try to. Sorry.
Q.13 By cereslash from Italy. In Arc 4, do the after-death scenery Echidna shows to Subaru really exist or are they just an imaginary world that she created?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/cereslash/status/1516456478546219018
I guess he is talking about “Behold an unthinkable present”.
Echidna completely read Subaru’s mind and memory and re-created it almost perfectly; after his death, it is quite realistic – but keep in mind that it has some of Subaru’s ideals and his perspective kind of view in that scene.
Regarding that, I can’t completely deny it.
For example, in Arc 2, after Subaru fell off a cliff, the conversation between Ram and Beatrice contained information that Subaru was not supposed to know at that point in time, meaning he probably guessed how they would react after it. Echidna read those and showed them to him, maybe. It might have really happened, or it might just have been Echidna re-creating Subaru’s memory and delusions to harass Subaru for the Trial, as an illusion.
I have no intention of writing about the world after Subaru’s death, so I have no clue what happened. Sorry if it didn’t answer your question.
Q.14 By Tanaka. I love Julius. Will he appear after Arc 6? I would want to see him appear more.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Tanaka_Re0/status/1516410250114760709
Yes. In Arc 6 he had a big moment, with his own named chapter and his revival after his fall.
In Arc 7, he is working with Anastasia on all sorts of things to help Subaru. They might do something good for the situation. Otherwise, Julius obviously won’t not do anything when his friend has been suddenly sent off to Vollachia, so he will come to do something later.
I can’t tell how much he will appear, as his main story was in Arc 6, but he will definitely appear later.
Q.15 By Arthur. How will the story be constructed from now? Are you planning to make all 11 Arcs an anime? Arc 5 and 6 are very dark so please make it an anime.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/arthuredo1/status/1516416500306952202
For anime, I do want to see everything as an anime, but I don’t know where I should convey this will to make it happen. All I can tell you is to rise up and raise your voices. I will keep saying that I want to, so please keep saying that you guys also want it. Thank you for the support.
Q.16 By Tiga (after a character from the Re: Zero game “False king-elect candidate”, with the story being closely supervised by the author). Who are Vincent’s family? What is his relationship with the Abellux family and what did they think about Vincent?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/tigarauleon/status/1516579503253995522
Before Vincent was born, the Abellux family wasn’t the most prestigious family and didn’t have many expectations.
In Vollachia, the top people’s daughters from all over the country have children, and the kids fight and kill each other to become Emperor, which is a crappy system. Before Vincent Abellux was born, his family wasn’t that famous or high-ranking. (A black hen lays a white egg; a kite gives birth to a hawk.)
However, after Vincent’s birth, the Abellux family started to have ambition, but it was like “champagne taste on a beer budget”. Therefore Vincent doesn’t think too highly about his family. Vincent is very intelligent, so he tried to cut off his anxiety for the future – he destroyed all the people from the Abellux family.
Q.17 By Mayo. Which Arc of the story did you have the hardest time writing? Which Arc did you have to rewrite the most? Can you also tell me the reason why?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Muramayo_zero/status/1516421615063822337
I generally have a rough idea of what I want to do in each chapter, like how the plot begins and what happens, and what the characters do to solve the problem. But when I think of a story, I think about the introduction to the Arc, the build-up to its tension, and then its climax.
However, I have a hard time constructing the turning point of the arc. So this part usually just goes with the flow and the situation of the story until that point. Of course, for the climax, if they have to beat a boss, I need to think about the procedures and the build-up to beating said boss.
Even if I plan a story very precisely, it usually just gets destroyed by the story’s flow so I try not to overthink nor make a perfect plan before writing. It’s still a pain to really make it smooth so I really just decide how stuff is roughly. In that sense, I hadn’t planned much for Arc 2 so I had to rewrite a lot for that.
Even for Arc 3, the White Whale wasn’t in the original plan but I added it afterward, so I change and rewrite it each time. Arc 6 went on a completely different route, and for Arc 7 I hadn’t even planned about anyone going to Vollachia.
That’s why my original plot is not really helpful. As for the length, I will probably have to restructure and rewrite Arc 7 the most because the original plan is completely gone now. For Arc 7, I have a rough plan on what to do with the story, but for the details, I am thinking of them while progressing.
Q.18 By Nanashi (a fan since the very beginning). From which part would the Royal Election Candidates eat a Taiyaki from? The head or the tail?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/nanashi111/status/1516419365935390726
Probably the head. The head contains the most red bean paste, and it’s often said that the head has the most content. So probably all of them would eat it from the head.
Q.19 By Rokuhara Tandai. How would Theresia and Wilhelm react if they figured out that they both had fallen in love at first sight?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Re_theresia_riz/status/1516748910093815808
If Wilhelm figured out that they both fell in love at first sight, he would probably die. Wilhelm actually thinks that she had no interest in him at the beginning, but doing all sorts of things made her come to him, so he often worries if Theresia became happy after getting together with him. Thus, if Wilhelm found that out, he would die. Both in a good way and a bad way.
Q.20 By IT Onchi. Can Subaru really never go back to his original world?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/O8zosfUDlFnvH9O/status/1516416942780862476
I don’t know. It’s really not a Spoiler. I really don’t know. Sorry.
Q.21 By Barusu. What do you think about when giving a chapter or arc a title? Do you have any real models behind the characters? How many years did you take to construct the story?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/_0401_Subaru/status/1516557451075543042
That’s pretty greedy. I actually don’t remember how I thought of the title “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu”. Not at all. The “Re:” comes from the old telephone mail – if you don’t change the title the number of “Re:” keeps increasing. Since the story is repeating over and over again I gave it a “Re:”.
For the “Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu”, when thinking about the ‘peaceful’ storyline, I thought it would fit the title. It came out pretty naturally from the top of my head. Light Novels often have the problem of having titles that are too long, so I don’t think mine is, and the short form “Re: Zero” is pretty easy to remember and say.
Regarding what I model my characters after… For example, if I modeled the Sin Archbishops after anyone, then it would be quite insane. Don’t go near anyone who could have the Sin Archbishops modeled after them. The Sin Archbishops are extreme extremists. Sin Archbishops are people who made the “100” “0 or 100” situations super extreme. So I guess the public opinion of our world would be their models.
I didn’t really think too much about the story plot before starting to write. However, regarding what to do in the story in the future, I still keep thinking and planning it now. So I think that would make it ten and a half years.
Q.22 By Rumeto. I really love your emotional depictions in the story. Anyway, how many of your past Ask responses or Tweets are trustworthy?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Oekaki_Rumeto/status/1516716689995739137
I see so you first make me happy in the first half and then destroy me in the latter. As you can tell by listening to this Space, I often decide things on the spot or just by going with the flow.
I talk about the characters in those so they aren’t completely off, but I often just forget some of the settings unless you remind me. I can remember characters’ names or other important names though. For the tweets, I may forget birthdays or hobbies.
However, going back to the Ask questions, I don’t really recommend trusting them too much. Before I started using Twitter, there was this website called Ask where people would ask me questions and I would answer them back. With the answers from those, I was really over the board and don’t really remember much about them, so don’t trust them too much. It’s dark history. Ten years can completely change a person. My cells are all different now too. I’m a different person now.
Q.23 By Shinonome Kumina. Who are the characters who move as you want them to and who move completely out of your control?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/kumina_s/status/1516710476767444992
When it comes to trustworthy characters who act as I want them to, that would be Otto. Although Otto going and punching Subaru was kind of unexpected. And when it comes to the character that acts the most unexpected, that would be Subaru.
Ram also acts as expected, giving a sense of security of her being a woman of determination. Strong and prideful characters might act as expected, but usually, characters act out of my control.
Q.24 By Pika. I am a big fan of Emilia. Just like the Natsuki Rem IF route, will there be a route in the story where Subaru and Emilia get together and have children?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/pocket3104/status/1516749405910540300
Yes. Again to confirm, YES. However, it will be a split route.
Q.25 By Kanou. I don’t know how precisely to make a plot before writing a story. How much do you plan?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/inorin__kei/status/1516410968984948739
It really depends on the person. When making a story it would be a good idea to try to make a detailed one from its beginning to end.
First try and decide on the introduction, the main events, the turning points, and the climax of the story. Go from the main story and then to each arc and chapter.
Start by cutting it in quarters, then make it in eights, then sixteenths, then thirty-seconds. When you split the details into more than 64 pieces, it’s already a well-made story. It doesn’t always have to go this way though. Before I started writing novels on the internet as Web Novels, I used to send long novels to Light Novel Rookie of the Year Awards.
If you write a story that concludes in just one volume, which is 100,000-120,000 characters, it should be divided into 64 different parts already. If you add to that, then you would have daily scenes or conversations included in. So don’t try to write anything too long in the beginning.
Unfortunately, there’s no quick route. I started writing when I was 15 and now I’m 35. So keep writing hard for 20 years, that’s how you can become like me if you want to. I’d want an easier path too, but there isn’t.
Q.26 By Yureika. What is inside the pochette that Puck always carries? After fighting, where does the star beast form of Puck go? What about his pochette then?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Yureika_1202/status/1516663950300962827
Puck’s pochette, Beatrice’s crown, and Aqua’s wand (from Konosuba)… These are things that are drawn in the art but weren’t really planned in the author’s head. So I actually don’t know.
I can’t tell you how Akatsuki Natsume (author of Konosuba) handles it so I will leave that aside. However, for me and Otsuka Shinichiro Sensei, although all the characters and art look amazing, I only tell him rough ideas or just vague images before working on the art. Characters from Re: Zero often have items that I didn’t even know or intend. Puck’s pochette and Beatrice’s crown are not things I came up with, so I don’t know what they are for. I guess the bag has snacks for Emilia.
As for Puck’s star beast body, it consumes quite a lot of calories so it’s probably gone. Maybe eaten. Just like Beatrice’s dress, which is made up of only Mana, Puck’s body or bag is also made of Mana, so even if he gets dirty or hurt, he can instantly change his looks.
Q.27 By Haru. When the Great Forest of Elior was attacked 100 years ago, Geuse said the word “Church”, but will it appear later in the story? Does it still exist in the world today?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/shelburne_1827/status/1516662458764595205
As you can see, the Witch Cult wasn’t originally that bad of an organization. However, due to a change of people at the top, or due to the newcomers’ evil ideas distorting the way of the organization, they are now feared and hated all over the world.
I will go deeper into the backstory of the establishment of the Witch Cult, so the Church will eventually appear naturally. However, the original philosophy and ideas behind the Church are probably completely destroyed by now. So, for people who actually know about the Church it is unknown.
I am planning to write a little bit about the history of the world of Re: Zero, the backstory of 400 years ago, so it might appear around there. A while ago, I wrote a short novel as a bonus for the Anime’s Second Season BD DVD, talking about Beatrice from 400 years ago. Like that, I might give additional information about the past. There are quite a lot of settings and pieces of information which are very difficult to present in the main story, but I do want to explain them sometime, so I think I will give them out when I reckon the time comes.
Q.28 By Nanohana. When you think of characters, what elements do you decide before actually making the character?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/nanoyo_minya/status/1516760015033749505
When creating characters, I think about making groups beforehand. In Arc 2 for example, as Subaru proceeds to the new stage that is the Roswaal mansion, there would obviously be new characters.
Re: Zero has a system of having a different stage when the Arc changes, so the characters who have the spotlight often change. Therefore, when there’s a new stage and a group of characters appear, I try not to make characters have the same position as others, nor ones that are too similar to another, such that they would not stand out.
I decide the roles of each character in the group. So for Roswaal’s mansion, there is the owner, Roswaal, then there are the maids, Rem and Ram, and then the bizarre guest in the mansion, Beatrice. That’s how I decide the position of each character.
In Arc 7, there are many new characters. Each character should have an identity and a role in the group for the stage. I try to put them in their places. Re: Zero often has the Mystery genre in it – though I don’t really think so – the story is based on Subaru’s death, including who killed him or who is trying to kill him.
This trait is strong in Arc 2, so I added weird new characters to make everyone look suspicious, for Subaru to omit them. I try to settle on the characters based on the flow and the situation rather than precisely making them. However, I try not to make any character too similar or have the same role.
As Re: Zero has come to Arc 7, there are so many characters, I believe over 100 of them, there’s no helping it if, for example, a character from Arc 2 and Arc 7 feel similar. That’s why to not let that happen, I try to have a large pool of ideas before working on them. You can avoid the trouble by simply getting yourself a lot of input, by watching anime, reading manga, watching drama, watching movies or reading novels.
Arc 7 has a lot of different races or types of people, thus I can put a lot of diversity in the characters. My favorite character from Arc 7 by far is Olbart. I don’t think I need to say why I like him.
Q.29 By Kakarotto. Do you want Re: Zero to be a live-action? I think making it live-action would make things crazy.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/us7THkbtkZJPsYS/status/1516767672729767940
There are many opinions on this topic, but I personally do not want it to become a live action. Because I think it’s kind of impossible to re-create Emilia’s cuteness in real life.
Q.30 By Rewrite. When will the Echidna who left Sanctuary reappear and meet Subaru?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/inhouseDesignD1/status/1516757572971540481
This is a spoiler for future chapters, so I can’t answer that. But since I made a character appear, I definitely will have them reappear somewhere; they won’t disappear, don’t worry. When they meet, I don’t know if she is going to call herself Echidna or Omega.
Q.31 By Mizuha. How much artistic ability does Otto have? Where would that be placed in the Emilia faction?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/MIZUHA_yukusi_/status/1516768938171920385
Otto can do pretty much anything averagely, so he can probably do it quite well. The best artist in the Emilia faction would be Roswaal. Next place would be Ram, because she can do pretty much everything relatively well. Otto can do pretty much anything averagely well. Ram can do pretty much everything relatively well. So Ram is better. Subaru can draw chibi art quite well, so he would be in a pretty good position in this race. You can call him artistic, but he wasn’t the type of person to get good grades in art classes.
So Roswaal, Ram, Otto, and then probably Subaru. The worst would be Emilia.
Q.32 By Kumao. I think your writing speed has increased. I can imagine you writing non-stop, but what do you think about when writing? Also, does Reinhard have any form of relaxing way to refresh?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/roikumama/status/1516758404173549575
That “also” took quite a leap.
In the manga “Left-handed Eren”, there was something like a creator’s concentration thingy, where it talked about:
(1) The initial velocity when writing.
(2) The time length of being able to concentrate.
(3) The depth of said concentration.
I am the type of person who can concentrate for a long time and quite deeply, but I take quite some time and energy to actually start writing. That’s why I have a routine for that.
Before Covid hit, I used to go to a family restaurant called Bamiyan and start writing there, so I had this weird switch of going to Bamiyan which triggered me into writing. However, with the situation in the world, it’s a bit difficult to go there and stay for a long time, so I have to work at home. I took quite a long time adjusting to this environment, so you said that my writing speed has increased, but in fact, I think it went down. I used to be faster. I could do much better, but not now. (A few months later he went back to Bamiyan and worked from morning to night, calling it the magic of the restaurant.)
Reinhard doesn’t really have a hobby so it’s a bit difficult to answer. However, after Felt became Reinhard’s master, he is often sent to do small jobs by her, like taking care of the garden – stuff that isn’t Sword Saint-like. Until now, the “Sword Saint Reinhard” was required and desired many times, but this “not Sword Saint Reinhard” kind of treatment is quite fresh for him. Thus, though it might be a bit different, he is enjoying this change of pace and that’s how he refreshes.
Q.33 By Matcha. What does Otto think about Frederica? Does he think she is a reliable person?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/1A0oRbDlg1AsNT8/status/1516768254953652230
In this chaotic faction, Frederica is really a proper person with common sense, so Otto relies on her and feels relaxed. Also, Otto is really an earnest and humble person so Frederica relies on him often, but thinks he should do something about his bad drinking habit.
Q.34 By Kamile. I want to know Beatrice’s birthday. If not that, then at least a day to celebrate it.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/kamile_rezero/status/1516602751572385793
Beatrice’s birthday is a spoiler so I can’t say it. Let’s set it as March 17, the day “Choose Me” was aired in the anime… the day to celebrate Beatrice. I think that was a big point for her, so if you want to celebrate her that would be a good day. If we’re going by the novel, it would be July 11. Damn, Arc 4 is so long. And it’s quite different. That has a spring feeling to it, so let’s set it as March 17. I guess this is the day when Beatrice started her new life, so if there would be a day to celebrate, then that would be quite a beautiful date. If you want to use it, you can call it “Happy Subaru taking out Beako Day” or something.
Q.35 By Soga. How much do the language of the real world and the world of Re: Zero differ/are similar? I want to know how much it matches Hiragana or Katakana.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/umaeyu/status/1516761015819829250
Hmm. In the world of Re: Zero, there are the i letters, ro letters, and ha letters; or the i-ro-ha letters. I did not think too much about it, but in my impression, I think the i letters correspond to Hiragana, the ro letters correspond to Katakana and the ha letters somehow correspond to Kanji.
There was a story where Subaru learned the i letters quite fast, but that’s because he just had to remember the new letters and not the sounds. It would get very complicated if I went into the origins of the letters and settings of the world, and honestly, as a writer, I don’t really need to overthink it.
In the anime, for i letters and ro letters, the staff made quite a clean, proper chart. If you look closely in the anime you can find i letters and ro letters in many places, and I think many knowledgeable fans have deciphered them, so looking them up would be a good idea. If you decipher the letters in the anime, you can actually read them. Sometimes there are shows where the staff adds weird letters for no reason, but the staff for Re: Zero has really done it neatly. You might be able to enjoy the anime from edge to edge, from beginning to end, if you pay attention to all of these details.
Q.36 By Towa. How properly do you plan your plot? Did you have a full plot set before you posted Chapter 1? I want to know when your full plot was completed.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/ZCJa2WlcOqcPcGF/status/1516418340197384197
I had a really rough and vague plan, like 10 Arcs with what kind of story to do, but I didn’t really completely think about exactly what to do in these 11 Arcs. With the beginning and the end, i.e. Arc 1 and Arc 11, I decided those at the beginning. I usually make my stories from the end, so I started writing this so that it would start like this, go like this, and end like this. I had my story planned according to that rough plan.
I completed my full plot when the meeting for the anime began. As the meeting for the anime progressed, I talked it through with the staff from WHITE FOX. I did have a rough plan set; they really saw the settings, plot and lore as important, and really collected and organized them. I can’t tell if other studios do this but my experience at WHITE FOX was a really intense one, so I remember it quite well. If they properly knew what was to come, they could organize details and put foreshadowing in the anime.
For example, in Season 2, there was an episode “Choose Me” where Subaru takes Beatrice out. Just like I talked about a while ago, Beatrice always greeted Subaru by sitting in front of the door, as an expression of her emotion of wanting to get out of there, or someone taking her out. Of course, when we were talking about Season 1, no sequels were planned, but yet in Arc 4, we know what Beatrice was thinking about and what kind of girl she was, so from Season 1, I wanted that detail in the anime. After that, they said that just like this, each character might have their own reasons for actions or emotions or personalities, so it was important to know what was to happen later in the story.
Thus, we agreed that it is important to really decide things all the way up to the details; that’s when I came up with a full plot for the story. Of course, many things have changed since then, but the first full plan was in 2015. WHITE FOX might say “Hey, that’s not what you were saying”, but I guess I’ll say a story can keep changing so sorry, and run (lol).
Q.37 By King Lao 2964. After the Ayamatsu route, when the Sin Archbishop of Pride Natsuki Subaru died, how did the Royal Election and Reinhard change?
Original Link: https://mobile.twitter.com/lao2964/status/1516492155862269959
I write IF stories on April Fools, and there’s a route called Ayamatsu where he goes a little wrong on his path and tries to kill people. This route exists where Subaru really messes up and becomes a Witch Cultist, calling himself a Sin Archbishop, and he fights Reinhard and Emilia.
I don’t think it’s elegant to think about what happened after that story, but in that route, there was no way Emilia could emotionally and mentally grow up. Plus, Reinhard lost his pride and fame as a Sword Saint.
Because of chaos and despair, the people call the King and the Sword Saint their heroes and saviors. Emilia and Reinhard might have been the King and knight, but they would have been depressed. If Emilia became King, she has no mental toughness, so nobody knows if she could overcome it. Only God knows if she could get over the challenge, but I am the God of the Re: Zero world, so if I don’t know then nobody knows.
Q.38 By Onisaa. It might be a bit of a weird question, but will Meili or Petra become an adult by the end of the story? Will Schult grow up as well?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Oni_Salmon_ch/status/1516431122494033920
The Royal Election in the world of Re: Zero is supposed to last for 3 years, so for Petra, she is 12 now, so she would be 15 then. That would be the same age as Felt right now, although Felt looks a bit younger than her age.
I really like the growth of children in stories, like how it was in the manga PSYREN. I am planning to make some changes in their characters. Although it is going to burden Otsuka Sensei.
I think when Meili grows up she will try to dress up like Elsa. I wonder how Schult is going to be when he grows up. He is supposed to be a small and adorable shota character, so I can’t imagine how he would turn out. We can’t call him Schult-chan then.
Q.39 By Mahabra Zonrag. How does Reinhard’s Divine Protection of the Phoenix work? Can his body be recreated even if his soul is destroyed?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/MahabraZonrag/status/1516656301169790976
Regarding Reinhard’s Divine Protection of the Phoenix in the world of Re: Zero, if the soul is alive, the body will come back. In this world, if the body is dead, then the person is dead. Also, generally it is impossible to destroy someone’s soul.
For Reinhard, as long as his Divine Protection is there, he can come back to life, even if he physically dies many times. In this world, there are 10 special swords, and one of them is the “Meiken” – the “Life Sword”. If you use this sword to fight, even Reinhard might be in danger. However, if someone points the Life Sword at him, he probably would receive a Divine Protection to counter it. I have no idea how to kill Reinhard. Please think about it and tell me.
Q.40 By Miya Kajikiri. What were the Re: Zero’s characters’ initial settings like in the very beginning?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/kiri_gyouja/status/1516444177697243137
I don’t think I really have any, because I usually thought about them in the story. One thing I can say is about Emilia. In the beginning, like Arc 1 and Arc 2, Emilia had a character of being quite cool and knowledgeable, as if she knew a lot of things about the world and was smart. However as the story progressed, her character changed to be a quite clumsy and adorable type, so I guess you can call that a change.
The very initial, original settings, or ideas, are in the first segment of the Web Novel back then.
Q.41 By Satella the Wholesome Witch. Counting by chapters, how many chapters would there be in all the arcs?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/SatellaTheWoE/status/1516760441158275081
As I have been saying, there are going to be 11 arcs in total. I don’t think it will go up to 12, but the story will keep changing, so I can’t tell yet if it really will be like that.
Q.42 By Nezi. I’m not good at writing stories and keep getting stuck in bad cycles. How do you do it?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/tukihimeNezi/status/1516535073436098560
As I have said earlier, if you are not used to writing novels, I recommend you write detailed and well-planned plots. As you make the story more detailed, there are going to be many plot holes and questions that are going to arise, so completing and perfecting them would make the project more complete. If you are really stuck, talk about it with others, or leave it for a while to refresh yourself.
A good example is when someone keeps writing the prologue or the first chapter over and over again and gets stuck there. It’s a really bad situation if done, so you should leave the work for a while and do something else or try to write a story about something completely different.
You need to think about and plan your plot many times before writing in order to not get stuck. It might not just be the plot’s fault too. If it is the plot, I recommend you write the introduction, the buildup, the turning point, and the climax. Make detailed parts of them and make them more detailed to get to a clean form. For this kind of question, I can only answer my personal opinions. Sorry about that.
Q.43 By Sebastian Hanabi (?). How many English terms are in the world of Re: Zero?
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
Almost none or none. Words derived from English come from Subaru; Roswaal sometimes uses those words. Roswaal surprisingly has quite a number of fans, who support his art or poems. When Roswaal mistakenly uses words which he learned from Subaru, people might try to use and spread these words, but generally, I try not to include any English words in the novel.
If I for some reason include an English word, that is most likely a mistake. There are other characters who use English words, but that would be a spoiler, so I can’t say anything.
Q.44 By Pochi. Petra has been in the mansion for a while, but does she have any daily routine, habit, or practice in magic? How would she be in the Mimagau (gender swap) route?
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
First, it would be her work. The Emilia faction is often under unsafe conditions, like how Elsa came to kill the ones in the mansion. Petra understands that she needs to be able to fight to protect herself and others, so she trains herself daily. Right now she is just 13, so it is difficult to say how much she can do at the moment; however, Petra is the type of girl who can pretty much do anything and has talent in a lot of things, so in 2 or 3 years I think she would grow stronger than Subaru. She would probably even be able to use magic.
Petra can be patient if necessary, so I think she would learn from Roswaal. If she does that, she might be able to use quite strong magic, or she might learn how to use healing magic which Roswaal can’t do, and confuse him.
In the Mimagau route, she would be exactly how she is now but just a boy. She would understand how good she (he) looks and try to use it, so a little sassy there. She would probably try to fake her attitude for the purpose, but still, be honest and straightforward to those she likes. Basically just an adorable character.
Q.45 By Mitsusato. I think both the number and intensity of massive foreshadowing is insane. Do you have any characters who became popular unexpectedly or scenes that people like more than you thought?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/decarine138/status/1516460308482895872
Petelgeuse. Mr. Pete is the first character I got fanart of when I was writing the Web Novel. I got really happy with that, making Subaru die two more times than planned. It really shocked me, and gave me such motivation. It was so perfectly recreated as I had imagined that I showed the fanart to Otsuka Shinichiro and he redrew it and designed it with his own touch.
That’s why I think Petelgeuse has a special place in my heart. Why am I getting so dramatic about that guy?
Q.46 By Sato. What types of impressions make you happy? (As in, direct comments about the story.) Which types make you confused?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/sato_rz/status/1516410087262527488
For the happy one – I have been serializing the Web Novel for 10 years, but people who have been reading from back then are obviously far less when compared to newer readers. New readers, or readers who came after watching the anime, who tell me that they’ve caught up and enjoyed it makes me very happy, since they tell me their passion and love at that moment. It usually takes quite some courage to tell the author their opinions or comments, but their passion overcoming that wall of courage makes me feel great.
For the constant readers from the past, it makes me feel motivated if they talk about the newest arc or stories. Also, when people comment on my favorite chapters, and the ones I’m most confident on, it makes me feel great.
For the most confusing comments, personally, it would be: “I love this second-best in the world!”. I hear a lot of content creators face this. It makes me feel like, hmmm second… So I would like it better if you just said you like it. Not your second favorite.
Q.47 By Shibamasa. Do you have any type of media developments that you would want to have but haven’t become real yet?
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
Well, I got an anime, a movie, and even a game, so I think I have pretty much realized my dreams for media development. So thinking about it, my dream would be the anime running until the end of the story, so everyone please keep supporting and raising your voices. If Re: Zero appears often on Twitter trends, Kadokawa might do something about it.
Q.48 By Stear. Congratulations on making poor Subaru suffer for 10 years. (Laughing Tappei.) What Arc would be the most important in the story? In which Arc can we expect to see the most of Reinhard?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Stearman100/status/1516458344931737602
As I’ve said before, the main arcs for Felt and Reinhard will be in the later half of the story, somewhere in 9, 10, or 11. For important arcs, it would be the first and last one.
Q.49 By Yasei. What’s your favorite line in the story?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/yaseinoponkotu/status/1516430219623604224
“Choose Me”. Definitely “Choose Me”. At least for now.
Q.50 By Night blade. I am interested in the IF routes. Will those routes ever get an OVA? I would really like an OVA for the Pride route. I wish you the best in everything.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/cluxzy_blade/status/1516473715361464320
I really would like to see that too. But I don’t know what I can do or tell what about it. Most of the IF routes require people to read the other Arcs before reading them, so that would be a bit of an issue. At the moment, I can’t do any routes other than Kasaneru. This would also be the sneaky peaky voice-raising type. Thank you. (Being pressured.)
(TL Note: The one asking the question also said they wanted an OVA for Gluttony, but used the wrong word for it.)
Q.51 By Kraith. What exactly is Emilia studying? What does she have to study?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/SleepyWitnesss/status/1516444897309446147
She studies Kingcraft education perhaps. I know it exists, but I have no idea what it is about. I really have no clue what it’s about, but it’s King, not Emperor, so study of being a King I guess. Try asking her in an interview, then you might know.
Q.52 By RokiBat. In the main story, has Subaru already met someone who has Rare Blood other than Frederica?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/rezero_roki/status/1516663994886418432
It’s a spoiler so I can’t say the details, but I’ll say that there is, for now.
Q.53 By Gouyoku Kopi. Will there be a chapter where Reinhard will be given the main attention?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/koooooooopi/status/1516409956706263051
Yes. He will have his chapter. Wait for the “Reinhard Van Astrea” chapter.
Q.54 By paradoxum. Which Arc in the story would satisfy me the most when it comes to the mysteries in the series?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/paradoksyum/status/1516418224195256337
It should be the final arc because I’m planning to collect all the foreshadowing there. At least the main foreshadowing that I have planned. I am planning to resolve all the mysteries and foreshadowing there, at least as much as I can, so I think the final arc will make everyone the most excited, I guess.
Q.55 By Utage. What would happen to Otto if he hadn’t received the Divine Protection of Kotodama?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/hanautage_O10/status/1516727519428308997
Otto is himself because of his Divine Protection of Kotodama, so I can’t imagine how he would be without it at all. If he didn’t have it, he wouldn’t be Otto Suwen.
Q.56 By Alcor. What’s the fastest speed Reinhard can reach?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/AlcorMM/status/1516463847640641536
I think at least up to the speed of sound. He can probably go faster than that. He is accused by Subaru of going to the moon, kicking off the surface and coming back, so it’s the speed of going to the moon and coming back in minutes like during the fight.
Q.57 By KeroLOVER. Other than Emilia, Witches or Sin archbishops, will anyone else come to know if Subaru is Returning by Death?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/frog5296/status/1516436694530428933
I think you’re trying to say if someone will figure out that he is going through Return by Death. But about this, I have a lot of things I could do being planned, so I’ll have to answer that it’s a spoiler. I don’t know if I’ll actually do them though.
Q.58 By Kabocha. In the April Fools Mimagau IF, Emilia’s name had changed to Emilio, but how will Beatrice, Rem, and Ram’s names change beyond Arc 2?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/joyeux4q826g/status/1516605779155259392
Ask me after I finish writing Arc 2 of Mimagau. I can write the IF when necessary and make it up there, so that’s an excuse I can give. Only available in the extra story though.
Q.59 By Akasansei. I really like how you write the descriptive part of the novel, but do you have anything that you take care of when trying to depict the character’s emotions?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/oOmvqQ4cPcSAKvQ/status/1516682278176698369
I write Re: Zero in third-person rather than first-person; however, I don’t just write it as a description, but a third-person view following along with a specific character. So when writing, I try to depict the emotion of the character of which the camera is in perspective at the moment in the description. It’s usually following Subaru’s viewpoint, but sometimes it follows Otto, Ram, Beatrice, or sometimes some other character. Thus, when the camera is following a specific character, I try to not destroy the personality or their way of thinking in the description. Subaru would say Onigiri, however Emilia would say Omusubi. So Subaru and Emilia are good examples; when the camera is following Emilia it usually has a softer or more child-like choice of words and feelings in the sentence; for Subaru it is different.
Q.60 By Shuya Shoya. What was the first Emperor of Vollachia like?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/shoya_shuya/status/1516450129829675011
He was a tyrant. But in the settings, he is set as an intelligent and logical dictator. When I write the story of 400 years ago, those accounts might pop up, so he may show up. He was good friends with Reid.
Q.61 By Gasa. In the Aganau route of Re: Zero LIM (game), how did the Royal Election turn out?
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
There is a gacha game called Re: Zero Lost in Memories (Better known as Rezelos), where I often write some extra stories or IF stories that I haven’t been able to cover in the main story, and Aganau route is one of them. One, where in anime episode 15, Subaru messes up his way home (the mansion) and some things get messed up. It’s like an April Fools IF story.
In the route, the Crusch faction has been destroyed by the White Whale, and the Emilia faction is obviously doomed, so the election will go on between the other three teams. It really depends and who wins can change depending on the situation, so I can’t exactly tell what to expect, but apparently the Anastasia faction has not been in good shape.
Thus, it should have been a fight between the Priscilla faction and the Felt faction. And regarding who won between these two, I have no idea.
Q.62 By Yoshida. Do you have any plans to re-sell the short stories that have not been included in the Art Book’s special books? Also, tell me something about Subaru that is not described in the main story.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/ueeEe_rO/status/1516753150799417344
The shop specials are usually sold as extra books in Otsuka sensei’s Art Books, so I think it will stay in the same format. I personally don’t want to take any money for these shop specials, and since they’re a special pamphlet buyers receive if they go to the store with their own legs, personally, I am not planning to make them into actual books. I wanna see them as extra novels for the Art Books. However, I also feel handy having all the extra novels in one book instead of going through a thousand pages, so please buy them!
Q.63 By Onisereru. Do you plan to write the backstory for Puck?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Onisereru/status/1516771261745369093
I think they mean the settings and history about Puck. Yes, of course I will. Puck will have his own named chapter, so in that procedure to that chapter, I will explain his past.
Q.64 By Rion. Which chapter were you able to write the most smoothly, making it the most beautifully completed chapter? Also, which chapter did you have the hardest time dealing with?
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
Well, regarding the hardest times progressing a chapter, that would probably be the parts where the updates were on hiatus. That would make one of the chapters from Arc 6 to be the most difficult.
For the most well-written ones, in my opinion, the concluding chapters of each Arc tend to settle neatly, like “A Nonsense Dance, Under the Moonlight”. Especially the Arcs that ended on a good note, like Arc 2 and Arc 4.
For the most exciting chapters like “Choose Me” or “From Zero”, I do have a good time writing them, but I often end up clenching my teeth and putting all my emotions in them, which makes me a bit exhausted and relieved after finishing. Hence, I think it would be a bit different from being able to end feeling good or be able to complete beautifully.
Q.65 By Nagatsukichikai. You must get a lot of letters, but do you have any fan letters that left a big impression on you?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/chikai96/status/1516785676267663363
Yeah, I really appreciate the number of fan letters. People who send peculiar letters, like 100 pages of thoughts and impressions, which is quite surprising – those leave quite a big impression. Though I’m not saying you should do something different from others, since I appreciate any sort of fan letter. But when someone sends something peculiar, it does leave a big impression.
There are people who send me flowers on characters’ birthdays or even send land deeds to the moon (lol), and also (this question asker) has sent me a handmade doll of Subaru. Those are quite memorable.
Also for the people who send me drawn arts on paper or postcards, I stick them around my table with pins, so when I take a break and lean back on my chair and look up, the number of gifts fans have sent me often motivates me a lot. So I really appreciate fan letters that have something extra to them.
One of the most surprising and happy gifts I got was a fan letter from a third grader (8-9 year old). I’m not sure if a third grader kid is able to completely understand this difficult story, but a kid sending the first fan letter of their life to Re: Zero makes me happy. They said that they like Rem and that she’s adorable. The fact that they weren’t sending stuff to shoujo manga like Ribon, but instead to me for Re: Zero, was fascinating.
Q.66 By Habmiya. Did Subaru and Ram talk to each other in Oboreru IF?
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
I think Subaru kept talking to Ram, but she kept ignoring him. At least I can assure you there was no heartwarming, peaceful chatting between them.
Q.67 By Shian. What would Emilia pick when playing rock paper scissors?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/shian312312/status/1516785238529445889
I think Emilia would try to think about what to choose, but she ends up picking rock because she puts too much power in her fists.
Q.68 By Ryu Garando. Do you have a plan and conception for the full story?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/sextarou4545/status/1516416381834919941
Yes. I’ve written until Arc 7, so I’ve had quite the time to organize a solid plot from now on. Thus, I don’t think it will change too much from this point. Hopefully.
Q.69 By TonyFantomus. Is there a possibility for all the witches to come to life again? Or is it just Satella and Echidna? Are you planning to let us see Yandere Emilia again?
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
Hmm, you’re trying to peer into my thoughts, interesting. For the witches, I have a basic stance that dead people are dead and won’t come back to life again, so probably not.
For Echidna, she made quite the preparations for her revival, and I can’t exactly say that was a complete coming back to life for her, so that’s it. For Yandere Emilia, or rather the mentally sick Emilia (Yamiria) where Subaru messed up after Arc 4, Emilia is now quite mentally stable so basically probably not. I do like her in that form though. But still, both writing and watching that was quite painful so I don’t know about that.
Q.70 By Owatarou. When will we have a birthday event for Beatrice?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/wowataro_8720s/status/1516406563887804416
I am really sorry but Beatrice’s birthday is a spoiler. Maybe after the revelation in the main story, there might be something like that, but I have no clue when that might be in the future.
Q.71 By Dorou. How much will Arc 7 go on for in the Web Novel? Also, is it still planned to have 11 Arcs? I am excited to keep reading for at least another 10 years.
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
I honestly don’t want to continue this for another 10 years (lol). However, I said I will finish the whole thing in 4 years – 4 years ago… So I don’t know how long it will take to write. Hopefully not 10 years. That said, I am planning to completely finish it till the very end, so if I actually end up taking 10 years doing that, please forgive me.
Arc 7 (as of Apr 20, 2022 – Four Volumes of Arc 7 were released then) is almost around the halfway point. It might get longer, but probably not shorter, so I think the nuance of around or maybe less than the halfway point would be suitable here. The plan for 11 Arcs hasn’t changed.
Q.72 By Cheraumi. What percentage of the population in the world of Re: Zero are elves? Are there other places where elves live, other than the Elior Great Forest?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/tyuraumi_mi/status/1516615972622598147
I never thought about the total population of the Re: Zero world, so I can’t tell you much about that. However, there are only a small number of elves. Since Satella messed up 400 years ago, there have been Elf Hunting incidents; not just half-elves, but all elves, as half-elves come from elves. This caused their population to immensely decrease.
In the Elior Great Forest, in the past, Geuse brought in food and supplies for the elves. Originally, the Witch Cult was trying to protect people like the elves. That’s why they were doing this sort of volunteer work. That’s why there are very few hidden isolated residences for the elves. The Witch Cult was helping them, meaning they knew where they lived, but after the Witch Cult was taken over and went crazy, they started to attack the elves they were supposed to protect. Hence, these elves also went into chaos and their numbers dipped even more.
I try to show elves only very rarely under my recognition, so there are no chances of a random elf encounter. They should barely make an appearance in the future too.
Q.73 By Nagi. Does Julius have a favorite color? How about a flower?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/b66zf/status/1516787583493509125
I think he would like faint, pale colors. It’s just my impression, but he probably doesn’t like strong colors, thus he probably doesn’t like bright red roses. So, a gentle flower with a mild color, like Ajisai (French Hydrangeas.) This is just my personal impression and nuance.
Q.74 By Ranobe Aka Mosao (Light Novel Account Mosao). What do you think about Re: Zero theorycrafting discussions? Do they have any impact on the story you write?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/mosao70313234/status/1516578642381344770
I try to not really look at them. I sometimes see them in the comments and think it’s interesting how people think about it. Since I use a lot of foreshadowing, I think it’s quite obvious that some people would make assumptions that are really close or are right on the money. Re: Zero has gotten this big, thus it’s a bit difficult to change things up afterward. So, just because someone guessed the story, I won’t and can’t change things.
There are a lot of comments, so I try to think that nobody has seen or spotted it, and try to forget it and keep writing. So it doesn’t really affect me, so go ahead and please discuss more. There’s no way I am secretly joining the conversation on another account or anything, so it’s fine. If I make a secondary account, I’d probably mess up and use the wrong account, so I don’t make or use alt. accounts.
Q.75 By Shitto no Majo Satella-House (lol). There are a lot of wonderful characters, but I really like Subaru’s mom. She is still young, but will there be a time when we can see her and Kenichi’s story in their youth?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/haganezko/status/1516554020042600451
Well, to answer if we would see her story in the future, the answer would have to be no. I think I have said this before, but the beginning of love for Subaru’s mom and dad was when Subaru’s mom was about to be scammed by someone in the city and Subaru’s dad helped her. They went to a cafe or something and he said don’t be deceived by those people again, and she said she understood. And then, the next day, he saw her being stopped and trying to be scammed again by the exact same person.
Subaru’s dad thought this girl was in danger, and started taking care of her. Subaru has both his parent’s blood, so he tries to help everyone, just like his dad, but then feels like he needs to be helped, just like his mom. I think that would be it for Subaru’s mom.
Q.76 By Rachi. There aren’t many characters in Re: Zero who call others by their family names, but is there any meaning to someone calling another by their family name or not? Does an attendant calling their master by name have any reason for it?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/light30trhk/status/1516408380231135234
I am sorry if you were concerned about this, but there isn’t much of a reason for it. Rarely, Rem and Ram could say “Margrave Mathers is returning”, but it’s only on the rare occasion, like being polite to someone from outside. But other than that they would call him Roswaal. Felis would also call her Crusch. Others, Felt-sama, Anastasia-sama… It is actually a factor in story-making, but I try to use names so that the readers can remember their names.
So, it’s just for my convenience, and there is no meaning behind that detail. Sorry about that.
Q.77 By Ame. Will Subaru and Emilia end up together?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Ame_ram_chi/status/1516409266919329808
Don’t worry, Re: Zero has a happy ending.
Q.78 By Machita shika katan. What is your favorite line, favorite chapter, and your favorite character?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/starthazime/status/1516442418505457665
My favorite line is “Choose Me”. My favorite chapter is when Subaru and Emilia have a fight. My favorite character is Emilia.
Q.80 By Yura. What are Reinhard’s favorite snacks? Will there be a time when he becomes red from embarrassment? By the way, I like chocolates.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/yura___rezero/status/1516413850736013320
Uhh, then Reinhard likes chocolates. Just joking. I don’t know if chocolates exist in the Re: Zero world. but there’s probably something similar to it. Reinhard doesn’t particularly dislike sweet things, so I guess this alternative chocolate will do. I don’t know about his face turning red from embarrassment, but there will be a time where his true self would appear. So in a chapter around there, we might see Reinhard’s pure feelings.
Q.81 By Maotoro. When is Heinkel’s birthday? By the way, my birthday is on May 17th.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Heinkel_Louanna/status/1516407162318245892
Ohh, what a weird coincidence. Heinkel’s birthday is also on the 17th of May. Make sure to remember and celebrate it. Heinkel should play some role in Arc 7, so wait for when he reappears. He is in Vollachia with Priscilla right now.
Q.82 By GooglyGoose. Will there be a time when we will get a Side Story featuring the dead Sin Archbishops? It would be cool to see their character portrayal.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/flimsyflamingo/status/1516433574630674437
A possibility for the dead sin archbishops… The ones who are dead now would be Petelgeuse, Regulus, as well Rai – No. Let’s end their story when they die. I know some people like them, but they unfortunately have nothing good in them, so I have no plans of writing a good story about them. I’m not even confident in writing one. Sorry about that.
Q.83 By Ichigo. Will Liliana and Archi play any role in the future?
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
Liliana had her biggest role in Arc 5, so nothing bigger than that would happen, but she will appear sometime in the future.
Archi’s reappearance is a spoiler.
Q.84 By Ringo Tashi. When will Hector reappear in the story? Also, I like Toska. I hope he shows up again.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Ringo1748607337/status/1516427537357881349
Yes, the Warlock of Melancholy, Hector, he would show up somewhere later. I can’t tell when he is coming back yet though.
For Toska, he is a character who interacted with Beatrice in one of the BD novels; being a mainstream protagonist type of being, he did have some influences. But unfortunately, an opportunity for him to appear again with his name denoted is probably unlikely. I think the story between Toska and Beatrice was wrapped up neatly in that story.
Q.85 By Spica. About Beatrice’s birthday, when will we be able to know it?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/spica59_/status/1516413209506619394
Yes, sorry, Beatrice’s birthday is a spoiler. I think it will have to wait until the final arc.
Q.86 – By Rakusan: Before being called into this world, was Subaru’s birthday celebrated by his parents? What would he receive as gifts? Also, what clothes other than his tracksuit does he have?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/25_6_raku/status/1516427721559187475
Well, you know how their family is, so he was definitely immensely celebrated by them, and he might have honestly felt a bit bothersome about it.
Birthday gifts… I don’t know what he got, but it is the Natsuki family, so they must have prepared something gorgeous. They must have chosen something that he likes, so if you take a look around Subaru’s room, the things around him might have been a birthday gift from them.
There is a mere chance that his tracksuit was a gift. It has the letter “N” too. Maybe there is a possibility that it is a made-to-order original tracksuit. For Subaru’s private clothes, he wasn’t too interested in clothes, but probably went out to buy some by himself. I don’t know if he had good taste in picking clothes, but I think he thought it was cool to intentionally pick a big dumb T-shirt and wear it. So I think he was wearing clothes with bad taste.
Q.87 By Gomadore (Made a big document about all of Re: Zero). I am very proud to witness a historical moment of an anniversary of a legendary work yet to leave a trail in history. I was wondering if I could hear anything about the Crazed Prince of Gusteko.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/rkEoMNWZl5WlD3B/status/1516596271842467847
I don’t think he will appear in the main story, as of now. He is a true descendant of the Royal Blood of Gusteko. Being strong, he killed 15-16 of his siblings, and is now confined and imprisoned.
Q.88 By Chira. How many years and volumes do you think you will need to reach the end?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/dawnpink12/status/1516427727468912641
I once said I wanted to finish it in 37 volumes, the same volume that The Adventures of Dai (Dragon Quest Manga) ended. However, the next volume is Volume 30, and it is impossible to finish it within the next 7 volumes, so you will have to bear with it longer. I hope I don’t go all the way to Volume 50, but the possibility exists. I don’t plan to continue for another 10 years.
Q.89 By True. If possible, what are the characters who will play a role in Arcs 8 to 11?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Rezero_Shaula/status/1516408397167751168
Now the spotlight is on the Priscilla Faction, next is going to be the Felt Faction, then the Crusch one, and finally, all of them.
Q.90 By Itamemoyashi. You probably hear a lot of screams and cries from your readers, but which of the chapters do you think received the biggest reactions?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/nikuman_main/status/1516789974011883521
Hmmm, I really don’t know, Who’s Rem? I really don’t know, I can’t tell, sorry. But, hmm, Who’s Rem? I don’t know who screamed or made who scream but Who’s Rem? Yes, I don’t know, sorry about that…
Q.91 By DasaniBlue. Will Reinhard ever fall in love with someone?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/blue_dasani/status/1516444640450420743
Will there ever be a day when Reinhard learns to love someone? If you read the School IF, you might find out. I like Shoujo Manga types of stories, and Felt is going the Shoujo Manga route, so I don’t know how it’s going to end up. I think it isn’t weird for him to fall in love, but I am not planning to write anything about Reinhard’s romantic relationship.
Q.92 By Tererimo. In the beginning of Arc 6, Petra said that she is in a growing age and that her height is getting taller and changing. How much taller did she get?
Original Link: Missing. Account may be deleted or private.
As I said earlier, I like writing stories where children grow up, so I don’t know exactly how many centimeters she grew in height. However, she definitely did grow. I have an impression of girls growing their most at around age 13 or 14 and their height stopping around there. Thus, her height has to be quite taller by now. Taller than Beatrice by now, so probably around 150cm or so. Petra, Meili, and other kids from the village will be growing too. I don’t know yet about Schult though.
Q.93 By Fushigi no kuni no Arisu-san. Who is your favorite character? What do you try to make sure and be concerned about when writing them?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/tb5P35/status/1516409922883551234
My favorite character is Emilia; she has to be an adorable character, so I need to make sure about that. Even now, writing Emilia’s lines makes me pretty nervous. I have an impression of her being cute in every line she says, so even though I can write as much as I want for other characters, I need to stop for a moment, take a breath, and think about what to write for her.
Q.94 By Ie. From when you started writing Re: Zero, do you have any characters or plotlines that changed from what you were planning back then?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/ie67899t/status/1516414786321494029
Arcs have changed and increased in the story.
When it comes to characters, from the original plan, the characters from Arcs 1 and 2, like Emilia, Subaru, Rem, Ram, Felt, Roswaal, Rom, and Reinhard, you can see how they changed and where I thought they would fit the best later, and how they went to where by reading the story. That’s how they changed from when I started writing.
If you feel like there’s stuff that’s different from the beginning to now, then please think that there were some edits there for those characters.
Q.95 By Omni. Can multiple Witch Factors or Authorities exist or be possessed at the same time? Can they be split?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Omni94864551/status/1516515532203307014
I guess they think that because Gluttony is split into three. Gluttony is a special case.
Basically, there are only 7 Witch Factors in this world. There can’t be multiple versions of the same Witch Factor, and they cannot be split into parts or anything.
There were successors in both the Sin Archbishops and Witches. They didn’t have the exact same abilities, so you can think the factors gave each character individual, unpleasant strengths that fit them. So for example, there can’t be two Greed Sin Archbishops existing at the same time. There are three Gluttonies, but they share the same ability, so they aren’t different in that part anyway.
Q.96 By Hatopoppo. When did you come up with Re: Zero? Did you have any cues that made you start thinking about this story?
Original Link: Original Link: Missing. Account might be deleted or private.
I started writing it in April 2012, so I probably thought of it 1 or 2 months before that. I don’t really have a specific reason or cue that made me come up with Re: Zero, but there was this boy called Y-san, and I was talking with him in Saizeriya (Diner Chain), and I remember telling him about Return by Death and so on, but I can’t really remember the details.
So, I was talking about it at the beginning of 2012.
Q.97 By Kuroneko. How much of Arc 7 is complete so far? What about the whole story?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/kuroalicesan/status/1516408009857331200
For Arc 7, around half. For the whole story, simply 7/11, around half. Each Arc is going to have different lengths though.
Q.98 By Gunron. Excluding the non-combat characters like Petra or Liliana, who would be the weakest when fighting one on one? I think it would be Minerva.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/Gunrozu_Yutaka/status/1516427440687661063
Minerva can’t harm anyone, but she has a lot of endurance, and she can run away very quickly if she wants to. Thus, she can’t beat anyone, but won’t be beaten by anyone either. So, she isn’t gonna lose to anyone, but not particularly win either.
Wouldn’t the weakest one just be Subaru?
Q.99 By Yu-Yoshi. Do you have anything you eat or drink when writing Re: Zero? I drink Real Gold.
Original Link: https://twitter.com/yu_awawawawa/status/1516416202935095302
I drink Monster Energy. When I’m really out of time and am under pressure with deadlines, I try to deal with it using Monster Energy. However, one of my friends, Mikami Teren, ended up with a caffeine overdose. A heavy headache and not being able to drink caffeine would be a problem. So I try to use that reflection and control it. I rarely drink Monster Energy, only when I really need to drink it.
Q.100 By Fugumaru Nene. Reinhard seems to easily clear off any trouble by himself, but in the Felt Faction Side Story, Felt seems to be troubled with a lot of things. Does she ask for Reinhard’s help?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/FugumaruNene/status/1516612442897326083
Felt doesn’t try to ask for Reinhard’s help, so there is no introduction to any Felt Route there. If Felt asked for Reinhard’s help, her problems would probably be solved easily, but relying on Reinhard doesn’t exactly end up with the 100% best ending. It usually ends up in doing the minimum to take care of one’s troubles and run, so Felt usually doesn’t want that. It’s not just because of that, but she doesn’t want to ask for Reinhard’s help anyway. Due to that, it is a bit of a weird relationship in this master-subordinate relationship, but I think this instead introduces a good balance between them.
Q.101 By Ancha. What is your favorite chapter title from Arc 6?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/ancha_329/status/1516792108224417796
“Good Loser”. Or, “Shaula”. I was also planning to use “Tomorrow’s Tomorrow”, but “Shaula” was a few steps better.
Q.102 By Tano. Congratulations on the 10th Anniversary. You said the named chapters for Subaru and Rem would come multiple times, but will there be any other characters who could also have multiple named chapters?
Original Link: https://twitter.com/YkXgD3zf3ydA4dS/status/1516722767952969729
Yes, there will be. I can’t tell you yet, so wait for it.
—
I think I have reached the end of the page I am looking at now, and I think that would have been around 100 questions or so.
—
Q.103
Also, another thing a lot of people seemed to ask about was why I chose to make Re: Zero a story about Returning by Death, so I will end on this question.
I like playing Novel games, like Gal Games. When playing these types of games, I start by going to all of the bad ends first, and then going back to the checkpoint and choosing the right choice to get the good route at the end.
Re: Zero is pretty much exactly in that format too – you look at all the bad choices or endings, and then reach the good ending. So my playing style for Novel Games has influenced me. Of course, in games, they don’t return by death and they don’t know anything about re-doing, but from the player’s perspective, it looks something like that.
In stories including characters’ death – in those bad routes – they often see who killed who or what the secret was behind the scene. Thus, having that new information, choosing a different option causing a different event to happen, is just like with Re: Zero, something which I thought would be a cool idea. That’s what made up this Return by Death system in Re: Zero.
I think that’s it. (RIP ICE)
It looks like it’s time to end the 10th Anniversary Space for Re: Zero. Thank you for hanging out for two hours.
There were more than a thousand questions, but I could only answer around a hundred, so sorry about not being able to answer them. I thought I could go much faster one by one, but I took too much time thinking about what to say for each question, so if I had taken a shorter time to think and respond, it would have been better.
I really appreciate the number of questions, but apologies for not being able to answer them. I will try to go and take a look at them. I can’t look at all of the replies, but when I read them, if they are problems that can be solved in the main story, I will try to answer those questions there. I will try and answer all the questions one by one, and when Re: Zero reaches the end, I will try and make you think that it was a good story.
So please stick with it from now on as well. Everyone’s comments and encouragement really motivate me to keep working, so thank you for all the support.
At the end of this space, I will end with these final words.
Chapter Updated. 1AM.
Thank you.
See you!
Really interesting answers! Thank you so much for the translation!!! Keep up the great work <3
This was quite the interesting read, and there were a lot of fun answers from this.
Thanks for taking the time to translate all of this, it must have taken quite a bit of time.
BTW Ice, for the question by me (King_LAO2964) where you didn’t find the tweet
Here it is: https://mobile.twitter.com/lao2964/status/1516492155862269959
I think this author is a great example of HOW TO NOT SPOIL WHEN ANSWERING QUESTIONS. *ahem* sorry got a little triggered there, excuse me. Love the translation, keep it up.
thanks for translating this, much love to all of the team for helping us fans connect to his work!
TY for the translation. A lot of interesting Q & A. Keep up the good work guys!
Half of the questions were about Reinhard. This community must be liking him a lot
Thank you for sharing wct I love it so much
Q56 was asked by me. (not Not Arco, but Alcor)
Also here’s the link: https://twitter.com/AlcorMM/status/1516463847640641536
Thanks a lot!
That’s so cool Nishiki was able to get a question answered by him, his answer was pretty great too, thanks for the translation!
He said he has no idea if Subaru will be going back to his world but he also said Rezero will have a happy ending (unless he lied deliberately)…..
personally i really can’t think what will be the happy ending – if he goes back he leaves everything behind & if he doesn’t his parents will be devastated forever…… F**k just remembered about Parent & Child, it does not feel good man (just summon his family somehow & happy ending. )
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