An anime television series adaptation produced by White Fox aired from April to September 2016, starting with an hour-long special.

Just after arriving, he is killed while trying to help a young half-elf he befriends, Emilia, who is a candidate to become the next ruler of the Kingdom of Lugunica, only to revive some hours in the past.

[6] The series' editor at MF Bunko J, Masahito Ikemoto, first became aware of the web novel in April 2013, when it began to appear on his Twitter feed.

[7] Subaru's initial design made him look like a delinquent,[7] with Otsuka later describing it as "not the face of a boy in his teens",[10] leading Ikemoto to request that the character be "more friendly and less fierce" so that the audience could empathize with him during emotional scenes.

[7] Ram and Rem also underwent significant changes from the first draft: their original designs lacked the characteristic hair parts, and their maid uniforms were longer and more "traditional".

Gaku Iwasa, the president of White Fox, asked them to hire someone "younger", leading Yokotani to suggest Eiji Umehara.

[12] Watanabe's main directive to the staff was to "capture the mood of the novel as much as possible";[9][12] the scriptwriters had discussions about how to compress the dense source material without losing the central elements of the story, and Nakamura recalls working with composition notes that "went on for pages".

[e][15][16] After joining the project, both Nakamura and Umehara had to adjust their views of the main character, and were forced to rewrite scenes where they had made Subaru appear "cool".

At Watanabe's direction, Nakamura was made to rewrite Subaru's telling of The Red Ogre Who Cried in episode 6 multiple times.

[9] The Re:Zero web novel was initially serialized by Tappei Nagatsuki (writing under the username Nezumi-iro Neko (鼠色猫, "Gray Cat")[18]) on the user-generated content site Shōsetsuka ni Narō from April 20, 2012, onwards.

[25] A manga adaptation by Daichi Matsue, titled Re:ZERO: -Starting Life in Another World- Chapter 1: A Day in the Capital (Ｒｅ：ゼロから始める異世界生活 第一章 王都の一日編, Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Dai-Ichi-Shō: Ōto no Ichinichi-hen), began serialization in the August 2014 issue of Media Factory's seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive on June 27, 2014.

[24] A second manga, titled Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-, Chapter 2: One Week at the Mansion (Re：ゼロから始める異世界生活 第二章 屋敷の一週間編, Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Dai-Ni-Shō: Yashiki no Ishūkan-hen), with art by Makoto Fugetsu, began serialization in Square Enix's seinen magazine Monthly Big Gangan on October 25, 2014.

[37] A fourth manga, titled Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Chapter 4: The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed (Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 第四章 聖域と強欲の魔女), with art by Haruno Atori and composition by Yu Aikawa began serialization in Comic Alive's November 2019 issue on September 27, 2019.

[36] A fifth manga, titled Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Chapter 5: Stars that Engrave History began serialization under the Comic Alive+ label on the ComicWalker website on February 19, 2024.

[41] Guests that appeared on the show included Yūsuke Kobayashi (Subaru Natsuki), Inori Minase (Rem), Yumi Uchiyama (Puck), Rie Murakawa (Ram), Satomi Arai (Beatrice), Chinatsu Akasaki (Felt), Kana Ueda (Anastasia Hoshin), and Yui Horie (Felix).

Kenichiro Suehiro reprised his role as composer for the shorts, while Tomoji Furuya of Suwara Pro produced the sound effects.

[59] An original video animation (OVA) episode was announced at the "MF Bunko J Summer School Festival 2017" event on September 10, 2017.

The OVA is an adaptation of the prequel novel Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Zenjitsu-tan: Hyōketsu no Kizuna (Re:ゼロから始める前日譚 氷結の絆) which was included with the first Japanese Blu-ray release of the television series, and focused on the meeting of Emilia and Puck.

Funimation announced during their Katsucon 2018 panel that they will release it on home video with an English dub in North America as part of the two companies' partnership.

[80] Both Funimation and Anime Limited's Season 1 Part 1 Blu-ray releases received negative attention after it was discovered that they showed visible color banding and compression artifacts.

It also features characters from the light novel series KonoSuba, Overlord, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil, all published by Kadokawa Corporation.

Written, arranged, and performed by the group, it was released on May 25, 2016, and included both regular and instrumental versions of "Styx Helix" and "Straight Bet".

[107][108] The game follows an original story that differs from the light novel and the anime, and allows the player to choose between routes featuring Emilia, Rem, Ram, Felt, Beatrice, Crusch, Priscilla, or Anastasia.

[120] A role-playing mobile game called Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World: Infinity that was made by Tianjin Tianxiang Interactive Technology and authorized by White Fox was released on January 14, 2020, in China.

[122] A tactical adventure video game was developed by Chime and published by Spike Chunsoft titled Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World: The Prophecy of the Throne (Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 偽りの王選候補, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Tsuwarino-ō-Sen kōho) and was released for PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch in January 2021.

[127] A crossover with Natsume Akatsuki's light novel series KonoSuba, titled Re:Starting Life Blessing This World was published on December 21, 2016.

[135] The overall series (light novel and manga adaptations volumes) had over 13 million copies in circulation by March 2023 (including digital versions).

[145][146] Theron Martin of Anime News Network reviewed the first book, praising it for being a somewhat fresher take on the "transported to another world" concept, but leveled criticism at it for bumpy and awkwardly timed dialogue and a tendency for redundancy.

He praised Subaru as the "most complex character of the year" due to provoking the audience to "cheer him and despise him" in a world that portrayed him as the "least special person in it.

Additionally, director Masaharu Watanabe took first place, as did Subaru, Rem, and Puck (in the best male, female, and mascot character categories, respectively).