This particular volume of Re:Zero makes me sad。 I do not mean sad as in tear-jerking like previous volumes。 The series has sadly reached it's low point。 Arc 4 was action-packed， filled with amazing plot twists and story-telling that could be enjoyed fluidly like Echinda's tea。 In contrast， beginning of arc 5 feels like being hungry and having to drink eerily sweet water from a mud pool instead。 And you do not get to taste mud until the very end。It will not be a major spoiler to say there has bee This particular volume of Re:Zero makes me sad。 I do not mean sad as in tear-jerking like previous volumes。 The series has sadly reached it's low point。 Arc 4 was action-packed， filled with amazing plot twists and story-telling that could be enjoyed fluidly like Echinda's tea。 In contrast， beginning of arc 5 feels like being hungry and having to drink eerily sweet water from a mud pool instead。 And you do not get to taste mud until the very end。It will not be a major spoiler to say there has been a 1 year gap between events of volume 15 and 16 - the tension from recent events has subsided。 Nagatsuki-sensei often mentioned in his afterwords that he would prefer to focus on daily， happy life for a change。 That is precisely what we got in volume 16 but， oh boi， done in the most cringy and unoriginal way possible。 The volume is literally a summer vacation/beach episode you would find in most anime series but done over 200 pages in a book format。 Ever wondered how it would be to spend some time with our cast in a ryokan？ I did not。 Main female cast in yukata？ Soooort of。 Ever thought about having Subaru， Emilia and Beatrice go to an isekai concert？ Never crossed my mind。 Ever considered there maybe different species of dragons with distinct behaviors and why there have been people from Japan arriving in the Re:Zero isekai world apart from Subaru？ Well， I definitely gave it more thought than the guy himself。 Removing last 15 pages literally nothing of note happens and even when it seems the slice of life will get some sort of a deeper development we are interrupted by an absolutely out-of-the-blue appearance of a character that by pure accident got the info of the main cast's whereabouts and decided to jump in at PRECISELY the moment。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 I have no words for this sort of plot convenience that serves LITERALLY NO PURPOSE other than introduction。Apart from making me sad， this volume of Re:Zero was also a learning experience。 I have learned what I dislike about this otherwise near perfect series - the uneven mixture of originality and reprint of mindless cliches。 Volume 16 blend is unfortunately the latter。I rated the book 2/5 based on pure and blind faith in phenomenal world-building of Re:Zero。 Future work of Nagatsuki-sensei will make up for it， I am more than certain。PS The cover art is a lie。 （view spoiler）[Petelgeuse is not to be seen even once in the novel's narrative and Sirius， the Archbishop of Wrath， appears at the very end sharing only the Romanee-Conti name with Juice。 （hide spoiler）] 。。。more