Title: Re:Zero: The Frozen Bond Vol. 1
Author: Tappei Nagatsuki (Story), Shinichirou Otsuka (Characters), Minori Tsukahara (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
Genre: Shounen, Battle, Fantasy
Publication Date: May 31, 2022
The Story
While the main ReZERO manga series continues on, The Frozen Bond serves as a side story that was previously aired as an anime movie. The Frozen Bond tells the story of Emilia before the events of ReZERO.
In the first volume, we see her living alone in a tree-style home in Elior Forest. Here, she tends to a couple of people frozen in ice every day. She is accompanied by her spirit familiar whom we’ve all met before… it’s Puck!
As she’s cleaning, Puck is alerted that there are some people in the forest nearby. Emilia goes to check it out and discovers that they are bandits hauling some illegal cargo through the woods. Since they won’t turn back, Emilia has to teach them a lesson. After they are defeated, she takes their cargo into the village and sells it off in exchange for food.
It’s here where we learn that the villagers are not too keen on her… especially when they realize that she is a “forest person.” One shopkeeper, though, tends to tolerate her and so a bond between them begins to form… if you can call it that. After she gets back from the village, Puck needs to go away for a bit. Emilia notices fresh tracks in the snow and investigates. The bandits from before are back and they brought a demon beast with them; however, its presence draws the attention of something far more dangerous!
Characters
Since this is about Emilia, the entirety of the first volume is centered on her and Puck. Here, we see Emilia as still a young girl; however, she’s not a pushover. While she is a bit naïve, she has quite the backbone to her. She’s not afraid to get into a fight and she kicks butt doing so! Still, despite this, there is an air of sadness about her because you realize that she is all alone in the forest with no one to turn to for help except for Puck.
You get a sense of how lonely she truly is when she goes to the village. They won’t even give her the time of day nor even the chance to speak. They would just rather run away or cower in fear at her presence. When that shopkeeper actually sells to her, despite his silence or short responses, it brings an insurmountable amount of joy to her. So much so that it gives her hope that if she keeps at it, the rest of the villagers will come around and accept her as well. This gives her a goal to work towards and you really feel for her as she works towards that goal.
However, much like it was outlined in the original series, once those bandits come back and she pulls back the hood, the parallels drawn between her and The Witch of Jealousy are made. We now see the reason why most people fear her but it wasn’t really a mystery if you were familiar with the original parent story as this was already known. It doesn’t lessen the impact on her or her character, though!
Final Thoughts
This is meant to be a short spinoff series as this is just the first of four volumes. This will allow readers to get some more information and backstory on Emilia as well as see her struggles during her early years before she arrives at Roaswaal’s manor. While this doesn’t answer Puck’s origins yet, it is still interesting to see how some of the characters in the series came to be.
Not much can be said about the first volume other than it was cute in some parts… like the banter between Emilia and Puck, it was thrilling in others whenever Emilia fought, and emotional for the rest as you begin to get a sense of attachment to her as a character.
This is a great pick-up for ReZERO fans or fans of Emilia in general. This is a great chance to learn the history of ReZERO’s most popular female character ever that has never been rivaled by any other female character in any way, shape, or form.
What’s that?
I’m sorry… who’s Rem?
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
