How Re:Zero Anime Revealed Aldebaran's Background Story

Re:ZERO: Starting Life in Another World Season 3 is currently airing and while the focus has been on Subaru, who is stuck in another loop that he has to solve, fans were quite surprised to find out that Aldebaran’s origin was revealed in a somewhat non-convention way. The Re:Zero anime has an omake series (omake is bonus mini-content that is generally shown after each episode airs and features slice-of-life moments), titled Re:ZERO: Starting Break Time From Zero. The previous two seasons had the short bonus episodes and the third is no exception.

However, these episodes are not included in Crunchyroll’s streaming version of the anime and are instead shared on the Kadokawa Anime YouTube Channel. [SPOILERS AHEAD] Two weeks ago, following the broadcast of the fifth episode, a new short was uploaded. In it, Beatrice and Subaru meet with Aldebaran and Subaru ends up wondering why Al calls him “bro.” After a brief conversation, it turns out that Al was also summoned, much like Subaru, and that he has spent 18 years living in the Kingdom of Lugnica. How he ended up working for Priscilla is still unclear. Check out the episode below:

Studio WHITE FOX is animating the Re:ZERO: Starting Life in Another World Season 3 under Masahiro Shinohara’s direction. With seven episodes out (including a 90-minute premiere), Al’s origin was not mentioned in the main storyline. Whether fans can be expected to look up the Starting Break Time From Zero to get the full context is debatable: on the one hand, social media makes it easy, but on the other hand, the videos on Kadokawa’s channels do not have subtitles. And if it’s not included in the main episode and you are not on social media to see it, how will you know about it unless you read the source material? Al’s origin may or may not be important in this season, but the lack of accessibility for the omake content is quite interesting to see in this day and age and actually encourages fansubs. Some kind souls have been translating the episodes in the comments with timestamps, but that is not exactly a pleasant viewing experience. Kadokawa does share some content with English subtitles and there is no reason why the same couldn’t be done here – especially if it’s as relevant to the story.