I already discussed a similar topic in the past and I summarized why Zero 002 is so popular.
I am trying to be unbiased here but it’s difficult because I consider neither Zero 002 nor Rem my personal waifus. Where better to look for opinions than Reddit?
I dag every Reddit post I could to bring some interesting opinions and my personal (unbiased, hehe) analysis about the popularity of Rem.
So… why is Re:Zero Rem Best Girl?
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Anime
Re:Zero: Starting Life in Another World is a psychological fantasy anime that aired in 2016.
It follows the story of Subaru Natsuki, a boy who gets summoned to a new world only to get murdered along with his new female companion. Soon after he awakes and finds himself in the exact same situation he had been in right before he got murdered. And the day starts to repeat all over again.
It’s ranked as #21 in popularity on MaL with more than 1,375,383 members.
What does it mean? Well, according to MAL users, it’s more popular than Ao no Exorcist, Your Lie In April, Nanatsu no Taizai, Fairy Tail, One Piece, Bleach, or even Kimetsu no Yaiba. That alone says a lot, it’s immensely popular!
By the way, the second half of Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season is going to air in 2021!
If there is a popular anime, there are going to be popular characters, and we all know how that ends… at least for waifus.
Character
Rem is one of the twin maids working for Roswaal L Mathers. She tends to speak in a superficially polite manner and sometimes acts without thinking. She holds both, respect to the point of worship and guilt toward her sister for an incident in the past. Because of her respect and guilt toward her sister, she used to think of herself as inferior. After she gets saved by Subaru, she becomes smitten with love for him.
According to MaL, she ranks as the 16th most popular character in the database and the #2 most popular anime girl. More than 44k people chose Rem as their favorite character. She even won a Reddit contest about the best girl.
According to the MaL database, Rem is more popular than Mikasa Ackerman, Sasuke Uchiha, Yato, Megumin, Hisoka, Gasai Yuno, and Emilia. In fact, Emilia has “only” 29k fans.
Reddit user RePluggedIn has one or two things to say. According to them, she’s the only character in the anime with any background and character development, also she unconditionally loves a loser with no redeeming personality traits, which instantly gives 90% of male anime fans a hard-on because they’re losers with bad personalities that want a flawlessly hot girl to love them for no reason.
And unfortunately, I wholeheartedly agree.
Appearance
Rem has medium-length sky-blue hair that covers her eye and sky-blue eyes. She also has hair clips towards the left side of her hair, a flower-shaped ribbon on the same side of her hair, and a maid’s hairband. She is sporting a maid uniform and looks young & kawaii. Compared to her twin (who is way less popular despite the same appearance +-) she has way larger breasts.
Let’s get some real examples of what people think!
One Reddit user (his account was deleted) said this about why Rem is so popular:
- cute face,
- big oppai,
- unconditionally in love with useless NEET MC.
Well, he is not wrong. Literally engineered to be a perfect waifu!
Another Reddit user, MetaThPr4h, stated that she is a waifu bait from a popular anime. Again, he is right.
Emilia vs Rem
Reddit user Faust91x came with a funny comparison of Emilia (the main girl) and Rem.
| Rem | Emilia |
|---|---|
| Adorable French Maid | Politician |
| Comes from a line of powerful demons, has a twin, cares for people she loves, wields a kick-ass weapon | May, or may not be evil reincarnated |
| Babyface and large breasts | Pointy ears |
| Light teasing and a bit of pervert, has a twin | Doesn’t know anything about kissing or making love |
| Loyal like Hachiko | Bounces at the first sight of your mild insanity and/ or witch-possession issues |
| She will destroy your enemies and literally die for you no matter what | Let you sleep on her lap that one time |
| Her greatest weakness is loving you too much | Her greatest weakness is getting stabbed |
Conclusion
Rem is made to be a perfect waifu. She displays all traits a good waifu should have.
What the majority of otaku prefer is to see at least a baseline attractive girl who is extremely loyal to them (and only them).
She will love and protect the main character no matter how bad or disappointing he acts, or how lame he is.
Good post Mia!!. Even though re:zero and I have fallen out, not to give another shot. I still think something of the things mentioned are valid!!. Rem will be the perfect waifu for many.