English Dub Review: Re:ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~ The Frozen Bond

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Before Emilia was a candidate for the throne, she lived in a frozen forest with Puck. Her daily life consists of taking care of the frozen elf statues in the forest. Emilia tries to help people from monsters only for them to call her a witch. Then a group of men seeks her out to sell her at an auction, and the only reason Puck lets them live is because he’s respecting Emilia’s wishes. Meanwhile the great spirit of fire, Melakuera has been hanging around the forest after hearing rumors of ice blooms. He sends parts of him to investigate which Puck defeats to keep Emilia away from the arbitrator.

Then Emilia encounters venom from the Black Serpent, one of the Great Demon Beasts. The sentient venom hones in on her and while she manages to escape by freezing to tells Puck. Puck knows that it’s larger part is still alive. Emilia wishes to save the village where she traded before, so Puck goes in her stead. Puck is caught by Melakuera who is unwilling to listen to Puck and they fight. After hearing the commotion from the battle she rushes over and Puck is attacked by Melakuera. On the verge of dying Puck and Emilia form a contract and defeat Melakuera and Puck starts calling her by a nickname, Lia.

Our Take:

Frozen Bond helps provide context on Emilia’s past in the forest before meeting Subaru. We’ve seen hints of it with the adverse reactions she gets from people in the original series. The animation and voice acting were great as usual. I especially enjoyed it when Emilia and Puck made their contract and Melakuera’s robotic voice.

Now with this long OVA, we get a good picture of the world versus Emilia and Puck. As a result, her desire for people to see her as herself rather than as the second coming of the Witch of Envy is more apparent. The OVA shows us the cruel reality that Emilia has to face because of her appearance with Puck being her only companion. Melakuera meeting her also displays how the world would reject her in terms of the magical side of the world. The great spirit of fire says that her very existence is a sin to the world. His robotic refusal to understand her as a person and his stubbornness to see her as a target to pass judgment on lives up to his title as an arbitrator. Puck standing up for her and denying Melakuera’s words was a great moment too.

Along with that, there are the malbeasts that showcase Emilia’s abilities as a spirit user and her uncontrollable ice bloom ability. It’s a scary ability where ice stems from the wounds of those injured. It shows no signs of stopping until Puck intervenes to stop it or they die. Admittedly I look forward to seeing if Emilia will use the ability again. There’s also her interactions with villagers after the group of men who came into the forest. Even though the man who she traded with sold her out, Emilia was still concerned about their safety. Before she claims the forest as her domain which parallels how Puck does the same thing with Melakuera.

Overall, Frozen Bond shows us Emilia and Puck’s bond against the world that rejects her. Furthermore, the end with Subaru and the others show that she’s found her place in the world with people who care about her.