Magic Circles

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Rem is a young girl with water-blue hair and water-blue pupils and has a similar appearance with her sister Ram. Her right eye is covered with bangs and only her left eye is exposed, which is the opposite to Ram. Her name derives from the English word "Left" as it's pronounced similarly to the Katakana letter レ (Re). When it came time for the translation of the anime, her name was transliterated to "Rem". During the anime, Subaru nicknamed her "Remu-Rin". At the beginning of the story, Rem is described as a 17-year-old girl, the younger sister of the twin maids and works at Roswaal L. Mathers' mansion. Her birthday is on February 2 and is 5 feet and a half tall. Rem's race is later revealed to be a demi-human as she's partly an Oni. The Oni in Re:Zero are described as adorning a pair of horns on their heads, but because Rem is twins with Ram, they were born with only one horn. Although they are twin sisters, Rem, unlike Ram who was described as a prodigy, doesn't have much personal skills to herself. Due to the gap in ability between the sisters, Rem had been under a lot of mental pressure since her childhood and gained an inferiority complex towards her sister. When Ram lost her horn because of the Witch's Cult attacking their tribe, she felt the joy of being relieved from the pressure of long-term inferiority but also felt guilt. As a result, she forced herself to replicate what Ram did and tried her best to imitate the "life that her sister should have", and her loyalty to Roswaal was only based on "being able to protect her sister". Rem has also shown to take a personal interest in opera and poetry books. Her magical attributes are primarily in water but also can also use healing magic and fire magic for attacking. When participating in active combat, she wields a meteor hammer and can transform into her Oni form but can be prone to confusion at times.

In Their Own Story

Rem first appeared in Volume 2 of the light novel titled "The Road to Redemption Begins". In the Volume, she mistakenly believes that because of the Witch's Scent being detected on Subaru's body and due to being hostile towards the Cult, kills him twice. This changed after Emilia stated that Subaru was a good guy in a slightly coercive tone and warned Rem not to kill Subaru. When she saw that Subaru persisted in saving the villagers despite his lack of ability, she let go of her hostility and regretted and blamed herself for hesitating to save Subaru, which led to Subaru being cursed. Deeming that she must atone for her sins, she entered the Elior Forest alone but was saved by Subaru from the mabeasts and fell in love with him. In the third chapter, after the end of the royal election, Rem stayed with Subaru at the mansion in the royal capital of Coursius. After a few days, she found out that there was a change in the mansion through mutual empathy with Ram, and tried to return with Subaru but was killed in every scenario that she attempted to do so. After her fourth death, Subaru, who gave up on trying to escape and feeling distraught upon seeing her corpse, becomes catatonic after his revival from freezing to death but thanks to Rem's encouragement, manages to pull through and participates in the White Whale Crusade. In the extra "What If?" scenario of Arc 3, after Subaru revives from his fourth death, he successfully manages to run away with Rem. In the scenario, she imitates Emilia with her longer hair, marries Subaru and proceeds to raise two children together. At the end of Chapter 3, after an intense fight with the White Whale, Rem becomes seriously injured and weakened but while resting, becomes a victim of the Archbishop of Greed, Regulus Corneus and the Archbishop of Gluttony, Lye Batenkaitos after they ambushed Emilia and Crusch. This causes Rem to go into a state of coma and nobody but Subaru remembering her existence at all. In Chapter 3, Subaru eloped, thinking that Rem would forgive his laziness and inaction, but Rem sternly refused to allow him to fall by himself. This trait propels Subaru even after Rem falls to a coma. In Chapter 4, Subaru uses this to recognize that an imitation of Rem, who was pretending to be Carmilla, was a fake during the Second Trial. In Chapter 6, Rem was taken by Subaru to the watchtower. She got separated from Subaru for some reason halfway, and finally arrived at the watchtower and was taken care of by Ram. She currently resides in the "Green House" on the fourth floor of the watchtower.

Reader's Guide

Rem has her own personal theme titled "Wishing". The song was written and composed by Heart's Cry and was played in Episode 18 of the anime. Rem has also made appearances in several Re:Zero video games, usually having a role similar to her anime appearance. Rem has gone on to become a fan favorite as the series went on. After her debut in the anime, she was praised for her role in the story and received consistently high rankings in popularity polls. In a poll conducted in 2017, she managed to outrank the series' main heroine, Emilia despite being a supporting character. Rem is highly regarded in multiple polls and awards. In the character selection of the 2015-2016 Innovative Animation Awards held by Kadokawa Corporation, Rem won first place. She ranked sixth place in "The Most Attractive Female Character" held by Charapedia in Japan and the first place in the comprehensive selection. In the 2017 annual Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, she won second place and eighth place in the 2018 awards. In the "2016 Anime Popularity Awards" hosted by Bilibili, Rem was ranked first in the female characters category. In Newtype's monthly character survey, she also has a fairly high rating, ranking eighth in August, in the top five in September, and ranked first on October. On November and December however, her ranking declined to the third and seventh places. Her most notable award was ranking first place at the Best Girl category of the 1st Crunchyroll Anime Awards. Rem was also one of the five recipients for the "Best Girls of the Decade" category at the Funimation's Decade of Anime fan poll. She has also gained the highest number of votes in Otamart's poll for the most popular two-dimensional character.

Did You Know?

• Rem's name derives from the English word "Left" as it's pronounced similarly to the Katakana letter レ (Re).
• Rem was ranked as the most popular female character in a poll conducted in 2016.
• She won the "Best Girl" category during the 1st Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
• Rem's birthday is on February 2 and she is 5 feet and a half tall.
• In the extra "What If?" scenario of Arc 3, Rem marries Subaru and they raise two children together.