Does Re:Zero Starting Life Have A Happy Ending?

When the apocalypse struck, Ray Morley was brutally murdered and eaten by his wife's family. Only in his dying moments did he learn the cruel truth—his beloved son wasn't his own flesh and blood. He had been nothing more than a pathetic stand-in, a fool used and discarded. But fate gave him another chance. Reborn three months before the end of the world, Ray awakened to find himself in possession of an enormous, otherworldly storage space. This time, he wasted no time—he divorced his venomous wife, won a massive lottery prize, stormed into the stock market, and earned billions. He built fortified shelters and hoarded mountains of supplies. In this new life, he would make his ex-wife and her family pay—every last one of them. No more groveling. No more weakness. This time, Ray would rise above it all.

The end of the world was upon us, but there weren't enough spots for evacuation. The roars of the zombies echoed in my ears as my fiancé, Oliver, gritted his teeth and pulled me onto the rescue vehicle—securing the last available seat. I arrived safely at the survivor base. Lina, his first love, did not. The zombies tore her apart. Oliver still went through with our marriage, but I never expected that he had only done so to make me suffer. In his eyes, I was the one who had killed Lina. If she had to endure such agony, then I should, too. For five years, he hated me. My life was worse than that of a stray dog scavenging for food on the street. On the day my divorce was finalized, he kidnapped me, dragged me into the wilderness, and wrapped his fingers around my throat. Then, he threw us both into the swarm of the undead. When I opened my eyes again, I was somehow reborn on the day the apocalypse began. The rescue team was shouting impatiently, "One more! We have room for one more—hurry!" I turned to Oliver, watching his hesitation. Then, with a quiet smile, I took a step back and let someone else have the last seat.

After being reborn, I stop asking questions about what my husband, Giulio Panzeri, does with his childhood friend, Camilla Messina. I let Camilla summon him away from my side again and again. She calls him in tears, saying, "I'm scared, Giulio… I heard gunshots outside the estate, and Nico is crying in fear. Can you come over to keep us company?" Even as Giulio hesitates, I thoughtfully hand him his jacket and tell him, "Quick. Go to them. They must be terrified." Giulio pauses in his tracks and looks at me with a complicated gaze. The old me would've teared up, bursting with emotions as I questioned him who was more important to him, us or them. But now that I've been reborn, I warmly and gently go along with everything he does. Once my daughter, Romina Panzeri, receives her kidney transplant, I'll take her with me and leave him for good.

In a drought-ravaged apocalypse, I kept our entire apartment block alive with my “watermaker” ability. But when I grew weak, my neighbors shattered my limbs and turned me into a living water source. Later, when raiders stormed in, they dragged me out to take the blade for them, only to realize that even my severed arms could still produce water. So, they shouted about “saving humanity,” then shoved me into the crowd and fled in the chaos. People rushed forward one after another, tearing at my flesh. But I didn’t die. What was left of me fell into the hands of a monster, and I was subjected to inhuman torment day after day. Ten years later, when the apocalypse finally ended, that monster tossed me into an incinerator. Only then did I die. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the moment I first awakened my ability, just as my neighbor knocked on the door, begging for water.

Because of the death of his first love, Don Stefano Giullani has hated me for eight years. During those eight years, I make every effort to please him—I broker arms deals for him, handle smuggling routes, and even take bullets meant for him. Even when he sees me barely clinging to life, Stefano only says, "If you really wanted to please me, you should have let the bullet hit somewhere fatal." I press my hand over the wound and stare deeply at him. Later, on the night our enemies surround the casino and it's raining bullets, Stefano pushes me away from him. He's riddled with bullets himself while saving me. Before he dies, he shields me and gets me safely into the car. Once the car door closes, he says softly, "In the next life, I don't want to meet you again." After Stefano dies, his Madre slaps me hard across the face. "Why wasn't it you who died? If I had known it would come to this, I would have let him marry Lucia! "It's all my fault for forcing him to marry you. You deserve to die!" She slaps me again, causing me to lose my footing and fall into the sea. Everyone just stands on the boat, watching in silence. Seawater fills my nose, and when I open my eyes again, I find myself reborn eight years into the past—to the day before Stefano and I are about to get married. This time, I will do as he wishes. I'll stop clinging to him. I'll allow him and Lucia to be together.

Felicia Rivers spends ten years hating me after the death of her first love, Samuel Gardner. No matter how hard I try to please her, she merely sneers in response. "If you really want to make me happy, why don't you just die?" A sharp pain pierces my heart when I hear that. But when a burning roof beam comes crashing down on me, she saves me but dies. As she lies in my arms, she uses the last of her strength to brush away my hand that is holding hers. "Michael Sommerson, how wonderful my life would've been if I hadn't met you…" At her funeral, her mother, Lady Rivers, sobs uncontrollably. "This is all my fault. I never should have forced you to marry him. If I had let you marry Samuel like you wanted, would things have turned out differently today?" Lord Rivers glares at me with hatred in his eyes. "Felicia saved you three times. Why do you only ever bring disaster into her life? Why wasn't it you who died?" Everyone looks back and think Felicia marrying me is a mistake, including myself. In the end, I leap from the top of Star Tower and return to ten years earlier. This time, I decide to sever all ties with Felicia and give everyone the ending they want.