Manga: Re:Zero Chapter 2 A Week At The Mansion Vol 1

Re:ZERO Chapter 2: A Week at the Mansion Vol 1
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

After being suddenly summoned to another world, Subaru Natsuki realized he didn't have superhuman strength, no magic, and no special abilities--except for the ability "Return by Death", which brings him to a set point in the past if he dies. He used his ability to help the bewitching Emilia but was injured and brought to her home to recover. Right when Subaru should be receiving his reward for a job well done, he realizes he's never been more threatened before and this time, he has no idea what the danger is. 

Maybe it's just me being dumb, but I honestly expected this volume to completely reset, as it where, the story, and bring in brand new characters except for Subaru to go with the new setting. So I was pleasantly surprised to find Emilia in there, and to discover that while the setting is different...it's a continuation from the first volumes! 

We get so much interesting information in this volume about Emilia and who she is, and what the deal is with her that meant some of her behaviour from the first volume made so much sense! Plus it's got me really excited for the next volumes, to see how everythings going to play out, Emilia's whole storyline but everything else too! 

I loved the chapter long recap of the first couple of volumes, it refreshed my memory and threw me straight back in to the world of the manga and got me back up to date! There are new and interesting characters in this volume. Betty, who I'm totally curious about but she's a librarian and therefore my favourite kind of character! There are the sisters Ram and Rem who are on the front cover, and I'm so curious about them. They're the maids of the mansion and we don't have all that much information on them, so I'm intrigued to find out how they came to be there and what the deal is with one of them and the master of the house. 

Speaking of the master of the house....Roswaal. Loved him. He's hilariously eccentric. But also kind of creepy and clearly not as ridiculous as his appearance would suggest. He really reminds me of Mephisto from Blue Exorcist or Gilles from Devils and Realist. To make him even more intriguing he's the court Magician....I'm expecting great things from him, I'm not going to lie! 

Along with all these new and interesting characters that I need to know more about, we get Emilia back and her friendship with Subaru grows a little in this volume. I totally ship them. They're adorable. But I want to smack Subaru sometimes! His reactions to everything are so authentic though. My one gripe with him is that the little favours he asks for got a little repetitive and seemed a little silly the more it went on. Like working at the mansion. I can't picture anyone asking for that as a reward quite frankly! His reactions to working and the dynamic between he and the sisters where pretty funny though. 

I've got to say, the first arc was fun, but I feel like this arc is going to be even better. It's all going great for Subaru and then the end happens and you're like woaaaahh okay. I have a feeling this is going to be like an old school murder mystery. Ram in the bedroom with the candlestick kind of thing. We've got a small pool of suspects, so it's going to be fun working out which one is the killer. Or you know...killers. 

Re:ZERO Chapter 2 really steps up the plot and takes us in a fun new direction. The new revelations promise to provide some future intrigues and action, and I feel like this volume really builds on the foundations set in the first volumes. I'm excited by the way this manga is going, and I'm looking forward to the next volume!