In the series opening double episode, Natsuki Subaru is summoned to a alternate world on his way home one day. At first, he's enamored with this new fantasy world, but the cute girl summoned him? Nowhere to be found. He quickly learns that he doesn't have any of the powers as a gang surrounds him. Right at that moment, she appears…

After being attacked by someone the first time, sliced open by Elsa the second time, and stabbed in the back by punks the third time, Subaru should have been dead, but found himself back where he started in the same parallel world every time. He finally realizes he's acquired the power to go back to the time and place he started from, which he calls "Return by Death." In hopes of changing the fate awaiting Felt, Satella, Old Man Rom, and himself, Subaru takes off for the fourth time.

Subaru attempts to buy the insignia from Felt and return it to Satella before Elsa arrives at the loot house... but Satella arrives before the negotiations are complete, and Elsa still attacks them.

After being badly wounded by Elsa, Subaru somehow survived and awoke in the mansion of Margrave Mathers, in the Kingdom of Lugunica.

Subaru now lives and works in Roswaal's mansion, working with Ram and Rem, and finally getting Emilia to agree to a date with him. But the day of their promised date never comes as Subaru keeps going back to the day he first awoke in the mansion. He's confused at the thought that he Returned by Death despite having no memory of experiencing anything deadly, but he's determined to repeat his previous actions up to the point of fulfilling his promise with Emilia.

Subaru's first day at the Roswaal mansion begins for the third time. The first time, he grew weak and died of unknown reasons in his sleep, and the second time, he was killed by an attacker. The sound of chains that he heard as he died the second time replays in his mind, waking him in a terrified, cold sweat. He has no idea what the killer is after, let alone who it is, so he makes a plan to leave the mansion on the fourth night and watch for the attack to happen.

Standing before Subaru is someone he never expected. The truth of the attacker's identity leaves him bewildered, and he feels everything crumbling around him as he dies yet again. Then, for the fourth time, he awakes on his first day at the Roswaal mansion. This time, the night of the fourth day passes without incident, and Subaru is stunned as he greets the morning of the fifth day... but then the situation takes an unexpected turn.

Subaru's first day in Roswaal's mansion begins for the fifth time. Determined to save everyone this time, he makes it a point to keep his best smile on his face in order to earn the trust of the mansion's staff. But although he works his hardest to make them like him, his body begins to have trouble keeping up with his heart's intentions. Soon Emilia is unable to bear the sight of him struggling any longer and takes an unexpected action...

The scattered pieces of the puzzle finally come together, and Subaru realizes for certain that the shaman who cursed him is in the village at the foot of the mountains. He heads there with Ram and Rem and makes sure all the villagers touch him so that he can find out, with Beatrice's help, who cast the curse. But the truth he finds is not what he expected, and he finds himself rushing toward the village again...

Subaru risked his life to save the children from a pack of Ulgarm, but he was so powerfully cursed that there could be no saving him. Even Beatrice is unable to undo the complex web of curses on him, and says he'll grow weak and die within half a day. The only way he can survive is if the entire Ulgarm pack is defeated, but time is not on his side. Subaru is ready to give up when he learns that Rem has gone into the forest by herself...

Knocked unconscious by Subaru's attack, Rem dreams of an event in her past that she and Ram would rather forget... a sin for which Rem feels she can never be forgiven. After waking up, she tells Subaru that she's just committed the same sin again. When the three of them are moments from being cornered by the Ulgarm pack, Subaru takes off to draw their attention so Ram and Rem can escape.

At the order of the council of elders that manages Lugunica in the king's absence, Wilhelm and Felix visit Roswaal's mansion as emissaries. Emilia is required in the imperial capital right away, so Subaru asks her to take him along. Emilia tells him this won't be a pleasure trip, but a push from Rem and Roswaal ends in her agreement, so Emilia and Subaru head to the capital. Now all of the candidates to be Lugunica's next king are gathered, and the royal selection is underway.

As Emilia joins Priscilla, Crusch, and Anastasia in a meeting of the royal selection participants, Reinhard enters the hall with Felt. According to a new prophecy seen on the Dragon Stone, there are five priestesses with the potential to be the kingdom's next ruler. Reinhard announces that Felt is the fifth priestess, meaning it's time to formally begin the royal selection, but Felt refuses to have any part in it.

"I just wanted to protect her. That feeling wasn't a lie. Where did I go wrong?" Rejected by the one who meant more to him than anything, Subaru is still unable to recognize that he may have done something irreversible. He then finds out that some disturbing movement has been detected within Roswaal's domain, where Emilia and the others are. He's certain that he can save them somehow, so in spite of Rem and Crusch's opposition, Subaru makes his way back to Emilia...

Upon returning to Roswaal's mansion, Subaru is greeted by an unbelievable sight and wails that this was not what he wanted to happen. Stricken with despair, everything before Subaru starts to go white as, finally, he hears a voice: "You were too late."

Subaru wakes up in front of the appa shop once again. Feeling boxed in on all sides due to his own lack of power to change the situation, he seeks the help of others. First, he seeks the help of Crush, who flatly declines any further involvement passed her contractual obligation of healing Subaru. His requests to Anastasia and Priscilla similarly go unanswered despite his pleas. Having wasted too much time, Subaru decides to at least try to get Emilia away from Roswaal's mansion as early as possible. He then takes a dragon car back home with Rem.

A mysterious figure appears before Subaru and his traveling companions. As the looming beast attacks with a deafening bellow amidst the darkness and fog, Rem determines that it will be too difficult to escape...

Subaru laments that he could not do anything or save anyone, and has no options left. Exhausted, he suddenly takes off running at full speed as if he's made a decision...

To save Emilia, Subaru approaches Crusch to negotiate the formation of an alliance. His terms are a bit difficult for Crusch to believe, but she can see that Subaru isn't lying.

Subaru has devoted everything he had, and done all he could do. His passion has captured Crusch's heart, as well as Anastasia's cooperation, and they all enter into the battle against the White Whale together.

Subaru and Rem are at a loss for words. The battle against the White Whale, which seemed to be going in their favor through attrition, suddenly took on completely different proportions. With their tactical superiority and advantage quickly dwindling, the combined forces all but get tangled up in the threads of despair. That's when Subaru decides to yell out his next move...

With the battle against the White Whale now over, the mercenary force setting up the blockade of the road comes back, Julius at the lead. His arrival gives rise to mixed feelings for Subaru, but after Julius sincerely thanks him for ridding the world of the monster, Subaru finds it in himself to apologize for his past behavior. The group now looks forward, ready to enter the Mathers domain...

The group is making its way in the Mathers domain when suddenly everyone but Subaru disappears and a strange, suffocating atmosphere seeps through the forest. He quickly figures out it is nothing but an illusion, and with help from Julius on the other side, dispels the barrier for everyone caught in it. However, arriving at the village doesn't make convincing the residents to evacuate easy. Time is running out, and the invisible hand of sloth makes its presence at the back of Subaru's mind more and more nefarious.

Subaru devises a new plan to correct the mistake of the blank letter sent to the manor, encourage the evacuation of the villagers and move Emilia away from her current location. With these preparations complete, he enacts the second part of his plan designed to cut off the Fingers before severing the Unseen Hand once and for all.

Emilia is hurriedly ushered to the capital along with the villagers under the orders of a mysterious benefactor while escorted by a rag-tag group of individuals from various and opposing factions. She has but one question on her mind: who could this man be and why would he go so far? Meanwhile, Subaru and Julius face off against the Archbishop of Sin Betelgeuse for the ultimate time. Unfortunately, he is very persistent even beyond death, belying his nature of Sloth. Subaru is relentlessly chased while he catches up to Emilia to save her one last time and answer her question.