Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 (Limited Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Re：ゼロから始める異世界生活, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu) Season 2 is a 2020-21 television anime series based on Tappei Nagatsuki’s light novel series of the same name with illustrator Shin’ichirō Ōtsuka. The series was produced by studio White Fox, and the staff credits include director Masaharu Watanabe, screenplay writer Masahiro Yokotani, character designer Kyuta Sakai and music composer Kenichiro Suehiro. The season was first aired in Japan with the first cour in July 2020 followed by its second cour in January 2021.

Background:

“Rem’s in a coma, and Subaru is the only person who remembers her. But this time, his power can’t bring her back. Desperate for solutions, Subaru follows a lead to the Sanctuary, where he meets the Witch of Greed and begins a trilogy of harrowing trials.”

Plot Synopsis via Crunchyroll, September 2023.

It has been a while since we have seen anything related to Re:ZERO, which is still relatively popular amongst the anime community. That said, we do have a third season in the works and the light novels are still on-going, so there’s more to come for this isekai series. The second season aired a few years after its first and I enjoyed it a lot, especially given that it adapts one big arc than a few this time around, but like before its all about the journey and challenges that Subaru faces, whether its rabbits or figuring out how to deal with two situations in different locations at the same time. Either way, it’s a wild ride and I look forward to the next arcs.

Crunchyroll has the streaming and home video rights for Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (including the director’s cut for Season 1 as well as the two specials but those currently remain streaming only) but the first season was distributed by Anime Limited for the UK & Ireland during a time where Crunchyroll was separate from Funimation. However, for the second season, with the two distributors merged, Crunchyroll is keeping it to themselves though their catalog is pretty much in limbo. Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 did eventually receive a home video release, not only as a complete season collection but somehow reasonably priced which is unusual.

It doesn’t help that Crunchyroll UK announced plans to release the series, only to them backpedal and say it’s not happening because they don’t have the rights (presumably in reference to home video). As of 28th October, Anime Limited did manage to reveal they were able to acquire the UK & IE rights, but it’s disappointing they didn’t sort this out much sooner. Though it does bring to question how the license was handled, whether Kadokawa/TV Tokyo in Japan only provided Crunchyroll the home video rights for US and Australia this time around.

Limited Edition Contents:

So if you went for the Anime Limited release and didn’t follow Funimation’s model, they provided a limited edition with a booklet, fabric poster and additional physical items for the first season. Crunchyroll kept the idea going for the second season, though without the fabric poster this time around.

The limited edition box set features a rigid box that houses an Amaray case and a slipcase as well as an 88-page booklet and a spare cardboard box that includes 8 art cards and 4 vinyl stickers. While limited editions from Crunchyroll & Funimation sometimes have exclusive artwork, this is just the same as the regular edition which also features different artwork for the main Amaray case. The artbook offers character designs, background and prop designs.

The rigid box artwork is free of any information and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Crunchyroll limited edition releases. The SRP for the limited-edition set was $89.98 and there’s no exact unit count.

I ordered the limited edition from Rightstuf alongside a few other Blu-rays, with the assistance of GotAnime membership for 10% discount. A standard edition Blu-ray release was also released on the same day as this edition.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with slipcase, Amaray packaging and clean artwork
• Info sheet for specification
• 88-page Art Book
• 8 Art Cards
• 4 Vinyl Stickers

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Crunchyroll
Released: 19th September 2023

The limited edition release for Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 contains all 25 episodes across four Blu-ray discs. All the discs were encoded and authored by Crunchyroll.

Audio options include Japanese audio with English subtitles and the Bang Zoom! English dub commissioned by Crunchyroll. The white subtitles are unlockable during playback and the regions are compatible with Blu-ray players set to A & B.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	A B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	4 BD-50s

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 4:

• Promo Videos
• Commercials
• Textless Opening Song “Realize”
• Textless Opening Song “Long Shot”
• Textless Closing Song “Memento”
• Textless Closing Song “Believe in You”

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 is available to order through multiple retailers across the United States. The limited edition Blu-ray & DVD release is available to order on Amazon UK (via AmazonGlobal), Amazon US and Crunchyroll’s store.

(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills. Rightstuf has merged with Crunchyroll’s store & United Publications is retiring from home video sales so they won’t be listed here)