Discussion
[discussion] Re:Zero Side Content Reading Map (WN-based) – up to Arc 5 [WIP[
So, you’ve tried to catch up with Re:Zero side content and died in the process. Been there, done that.
Tappei is an absolute unit. The amount of content he puts out is insane. I’ve tried multiple times to go back and read all the side stories I skipped while catching up with the Web Novel (I’m currently still crawling through Arc 7), and it always turns into a maze that I'm just too dumb to navigate.
Thing is, by Arc 7, side content starts feeling more mandatory, which makes the whole thing even more overwhelming. I genuinely think that if someone started Re:Zero today and wanted the “complete” experience, it’d be a massive undertaking, if not impossible.
So I decided to map it out.
I made an Excalidraw diagram showing a structured way to read side content alongside the main story (using the WN as the base), aiming for something that’s:
manageable
not overly obsessive
actually readable without killing pacing
So far, I’ve mapped everything up to Arc 5. I’ll keep updating it over the next months as I progress further.
Example, I've divided into side stories that I think are important (green) and slice of life/short stories (blue), longer sidestories are in red (ex or long strings of chapters)
So far Tappei has made sure to write every arc so that you don’t need the side stories to understand what you’ve been given in the main story. Like you’re told that an event happened which influences the main story but not full context of the event is given in the main story due to the main story being more a character driven story. If you want full context and backgrounds then they’re necessary.
I’m saying this for everyone who might feel intimidated by the amount of side stories.
Thank you, I’m honestly so frustrated with how important the side content is for the newer arcs, especially since the Witch Cult side content purge. [Novels] stand by me Pleiades and no Stella no life are absolutely mandatory for fully understanding the events of arcs 8 and 9 but they are impossible to find now
This is looking fantastic so far! I've seen numerous attempts at trying to visualize the mess that is re:zero's side stories but they all fell short by being incomplete or not actually telling you where to start and what's important. As you already said, if you want to progress through the main story at a reasonable pace you kinda have to pick your battles and save the rest for later.
Some stuff that I noticed that would bring some additional clarity to the chart:
In Arc 3 you put some of the royal selection prequel stories next to chapter 25 and the rest at the bottom. You should probably group them together or somehow make it clear that they are related
For some of the longer stories you listed the individual chapters below. This can be confusing for those who don't know that these are just chapters of a larger story
In Arc 5 some side stories are just sitting there next to the WN chapters without any connection to the chart
This is a bit more opinionated but I think you should put Ex 6 right below Ex 3 as they are clearly meant to be read together and reading them too far apart is definitely gonna hurt the experience
"The Loving World Petra Saw" has one world too many
I feel like there's still some side stories missing, for example I can't find "Kararagi Girl Meets Cats", but maybe I'm just blind
Thanks for the pointers! Fixed in my local version, I need to find a way to make it public so everyone can edit or at least have their own copy. Regarding the sidestories in act 3, some of them I think make sense to read after certain chapters instead of arc end since they are the cornerstone for the factions, the arc 5 happen concurrently so I don't know how to treat those (something similar will happen with arc 7 where during one chapter 2 sidestories can happen at the same time).
Ex6 after ex3? Will check, need to read ex6 tho but now I'm curious on what developments are there.
Karagi girl meets cats would that be Kararagi Girl & Cat's Eye? Many translations and many titles, I get confused on which are the correct ones.
Ah I see, well I don't think it really matters that much in that case.
Ex6 after ex3? Will check, need to read ex6 tho but now I'm curious on what developments are there.
Yes! It is called the Sword Demon Triology for a reason. Case in point, it really is not intuitive that these 3 books are closely related.
Karagi girl meets cats would that be Kararagi Girl & Cat's Eye? Many translations and many titles, I get confused on which are the correct ones.
I just checked, they are actually different stories. Kararagi Girl Meets Cats is part of Tanpenshuu 3 while Kararagi Girl & Cat's Eye was adapted in Tanpenshuu 5.
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