Exiting the convenience store, Subaru Natsuki emerges to a busy town inhabited by humans and demi-humans. Using dragons and carriages as transportation, the town is clearly not the modern-day Japan that he is familiar with. However, as someone who spends his days engrossed in comics and games, Subaru assumes that he is a protagonist in this new fantasy world, harnessing supreme magical powers.


Much to his dismay, that is not the case and things quickly go awry as he bumps into a group of thugs. Fortunately, a silver-haired beauty named Satella comes to his rescue, while looking for her stolen insignia. In return for her kindness, Subaru offers to help with the search, which eventually leads them to a loot shop. Assuming that the insignia was traded for money, Subaru enters the shop hoping to negotiate with the owner regarding the stolen item. However, much to his surprise, what awaits them is not the insignia but a brutal assassin that leads the two to their demise.


But instead of waking up in the afterlife, Subaru is shocked to find himself standing alone in the midst of daytime, as if he never left the town in the first place. Thus, his life in another world mysteriously begins a second time.

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu has been serialized online through the website Shousetsuka ni Narou since April 2012, and was later officially published in book format by Media Factory under the MF Bunko J imprint beginning January 25, 2014. Much of the web content was trimmed and edited for the light novel release. The series placed second in the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! ranking in the best light novel category in 2017.


The series has been published in English as Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- by Yen Press under the Yen On imprint since July 19, 2016, in Polish by Waneko since April 6, 2017, and in Russian by Istari Comics since March 2018.