Re:Zero Watch Order: Chronological & Release Date

Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World is a combination of isekai, dark fantasy, and adventure and is one of the more popular anime franchises today. Currently, there is two complete anime season and an ongoing third season of the same anime. There are also two OVA episodes tied into the same continuity and two ONA series that follow chibi versions of the characters and aren’t exactly considered canon.

In this article, we’ll give you the ultimate Re:Zero watch order, both chronological and by release date. After that, we will give you an overview of the all released material.

The Best Re:Zero: Watch Order

Let’s see in what order should you watch Re:Zero? There are two ways you can approach it – by the release dates or by the chronological order. As for whether you should pick the release date order or the chronological order, we advise first-time viewers to respect the original release date order but the chronological order is ideal if you’re going to watch the whole series again after a while.

Re:Zero: Watch Order by Release Date

The watch order by release date is quite clear. You start off with Season 1, then continue with the two OVA movies, and finally with Season 2, which is still running and is set to be completed in several weeks’ time. As for the ONA series, you can watch it alongside the main anime seasons, as these episodes have roughly the same release dates as the anime episodes. This watching order is as follows:

1. Re:Zero Season 1 (alongside Re:Zero ONA Season 1 and Re:PETIT)
2. Memory Snow (OVA movie 1)
3. The Frozen Bond (OVA movie 2)
4. Re:Zero Season 2 (alongside Re:Zero ONA Season 2)

As to whether you should watch the first season in its original form or the “Director’s Cut”, we strongly advise you to watch the “Director’s” Cut”. Not only is there more material, but the animation is also much better and it is overall higher quality work. Since the plots are completely the same, you can easily skip the original season and just watch the “Director’s Cut”.

Re:Zero: Chronological Watch Order

As is often the case with anime series, the whole franchise wasn’t released in the correct chronological order. This is why we have decided to give you the exact chronological order of the whole franchise and here it is:

1. The Frozen Bond (OVA movie 2)
2. Re:Zero Season 1 (episodes 1-11 of the original series, 1-5 of the “Director’s Cut”)
3. Memory Snow (OVA movie 1)
4. Re:Zero Season 1 (episodes 12-25 of the original series, 6-13 of the “Director’s Cut”)
5. Re:Zero Season 2

This is the exact chronology of the materials and if you decide on watching the series in the chronological order, this is how you should approach it. The ONA series doesn’t really fit anywhere in the chronology so you can watch it either as we advised with the release date watching order or just anytime after, there shouldn’t be any issues there whatsoever.

Re:Zero Anime Series, OVAs, and ONAs Overview

In this section, we are going to bring you a complete overview of the whole Re:Zero animated series. You’re going to find out all relevant information about the segments that make up the animated franchise, as well as what each of these elements consists of. We’re going to start off with the anime series and then explain the additional materials.

Anime Series

Directed by Masaharu Watanabe, the anime adaptation of Re:Zero started airing on April 4, 2016 and is an ongoing series currently in its second season. The first season started airing on April 4, 2016 and ended on September 19, 2016 after a total of 25 episodes. Each episode was roughly 25 minutes long, but their durations weren’t fixed and ranged anywhere from 24 to 30 minutes; the first episode lasted for 50 minutes.

The first season was re-released as a 13-episode “Director’s Cut”, with each episode lasting about an hour; most of the narrative was from the original episodes, but there were some additional scenes. The “Director’s Cut” version also had improved animation, which is why it is usually considered to be better than the original first season.

The second season of the anime is also going to contain 25 episodes; its airing was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season premiered on July 8, 2020. The first part of season two (episodes 1-13) aired from July 8, 2020 to September 30, 2020. The second part (episodes 14-25) premiered on January 6, 2021 and ended on March 24, 2021.

Original Video Animation (OVA)

Re:Zero also released two OVA episodes during its run, both of which are in feature length format. The first OVA, Memory Snow premiered in Japanese cinemas on October 6, 2018 and has a runtime of 60 minutes. the second OVA film, The Frozen Bond, was released on November 8, 2019 with a runtime of 76 minutes; it was a direct adaptation of the prequel novel Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Zenjitsu-tan: Hyōketsu no Kizuna.

Original Net Animation (ONA)

Re:Zero also has a spin-off ONA series that is focused on chibi (a specific style of caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way: small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads) versions of the main characters. The ONA has two separate series, Re:Zero ~Starting Break Time From Zero~ and Re:PETIT ~Starting Life in Another World from PETIT~.

The first ONA initially ran from April 8, 2016 to June 17, 2016 with 11 episodes, after which it was replaced by the second ONA, whose 14 episodes ran from June 24, 2016 to September 23, 2016. The second season of the first ONA series began airing on July 8, 2020 and its 18^th episode aired on February 3, 2021; we don’t know at the time whether more episodes are planned.