Tappei Nagatsuki

Tappei Nagatsuki is a Japanese author best known as the creator of *Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World*. He began publishing the story as a web novel on the user-generated fiction site Shōsetsuka ni Narō in April 2012. The series was later acquired by Media Factory, which released the first printed light-novel volume under its MF Bunko J label in January 2014, with illustrations by Shinichirou Otsuka.

*Re:Zero* follows Subaru Natsuki, a Japanese teenager abruptly transported to a fantasy world. Subaru discovers that, after dying, he returns to a prior point in time while retaining memories of the events leading to his death. Nagatsuki’s story uses this “Return by Death” ability not as a simple source of power, but as the basis for repeated trauma, changing relationships, and alternate outcomes. Major characters include the half-elf Emilia, the spirit Puck, the maid sisters Rem and Ram, the knight Julius Juukulius, and members of the Witch Cult. The work’s early arcs involve Subaru’s attempts to save Emilia and the residents of Roswaal Mansion, while later material expands into royal succession politics, the Sin Archbishops, the Witches of Sin, and the mysteries surrounding the kingdom of Lugunica.

The novel series has received several adaptations and related publications. White Fox produced the television anime adaptation, which began airing in 2016. Its first season covered the opening arcs of the novels, including Subaru’s confrontation with the Witch Cult’s Sloth Archbishop, Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti. A second season aired in 2020 and 2021 and adapted the Sanctuary storyline. The franchise also includes manga adaptations, original video animations, side stories, and the prequel novel series *Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World: The Frozen Bond*, centered on Emilia and Puck before Subaru’s arrival.

Outside *Re:Zero*, Nagatsuki contributed to other anime projects. He created the original television anime *Warlords of Sigrdrifa*, broadcast in 2020, and wrote its series composition and scripts. The series combines Norse mythology with a modern military setting, following Valkyrie pilots fighting the hostile beings known as Pillars.

Nagatsuki also worked on *Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song*, an original anime produced by Wit Studio and broadcast in 2021. He is credited with the original story alongside Eiji Umehara and with series composition. The plot concerns Vivy, an autonomous singer android, and Matsumoto, an AI sent from a future devastated by conflict between humans and artificial intelligence. Across a century-long mission, Vivy attempts to alter key historical events to prevent that future.