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ReLife
If I Could Turn Back Time
Series in a Sentence
Kaizaki Arata, an unemployed 27-year old, accepts an offer from the ReLife company to relive his high school years in order to get his life back on track.
What I liked
As a whole, ReLife served its purpose of being a series that showed a grown man being back in high school without everyone else knowing he was a grown man. What I mean by this is that the show never lost its focus on the idea that Kaizaki had gone through or seen a lot of the social situations he was presented with, allowing him to aid those in them or make a different decision a second time around. It follows, then, that Kaizaki’s interactions with his classmates provide for a whole set of moments that encompass the whole emotional spectrum. The comedy is mostly on point, the serious moments are what they need to be, and all of the instances of high school drama are as dramatic as the show can make them. In particular, and written to purposefully be so, Kaizaki’s interactions with Hishiro were some of the best moments to me, as her comedic timing was spot on while still filling the deadpan-girl trope. As a whole, I enjoyed pretty much all of the characters throughout the entire series and appreciated how, despite a focus on the main cast, a large chunk of the side characters got their own spotlight and even showed up in the 4-episode wrap-up special, Kanketsu-Hen. Speaking of Kanketsu-Hen, I like that the anime came back to wrap up the series once that manga ended and give a concrete ending to Kaizaki's story rather than leaving it up to the viewers to seek out the manga (though the quality is something that will be touched on later). Too many times I've seen a short series end on a cliffhanger and never comeback, so a short 4 episodes was refreshing and had me excited from the moment they were announced.
What I Didn’t Like
There were a few things about ReLife as a whole that really bothered me, and I say as a whole because, while one of the issues didn’t present itself until the 4-episode Kanketsu-Hen episodes, I am reviewing every episode as if they were released together. These issues mainly revolve around the animation and the pacing, with animation being a constant battle and pacing being an issue later on. Animation-wise, the series isn’t the worst but characters seem more like cardboard and backgrounds are bland. This isn’t a deal breaking issue since ReLife is a character driven drama rather than a flashy battle anime, and the animation team does a good job of constantly changing art styles and throwing in the occasional scene of beauty to distract the viewer, but a little more consistent quality would have been appreciated. Pacing, though, is a whole separate beast. Without getting into spoilers, the 4-episode Kanketsu-Hen meant to wrap the series up in line with the manga’s ending throws an insane amount of plot points, character interactions, and character progression out of the window in order to achieve on purpose. By the end, it felt rushed and, despite everything working out the way I wanted it to, I felt unsatisfied. I have to say, I read the ReLife manga and while these 4 episodes remain true to the feel of the ending and don’t change really anything other than the order of events some things happen in, they completely failed at capturing the ending. That being said, for people who haven’t read the manga, I’m sure the way it ends will suffice.
Overall Feelings
ReLife wasn’t anything amazing or groundbreaking or revolutionary but it was consistent. The comedy made me laugh, the albeit predictable romances had me intrigued, and the message was something I could get behind. A likeable cast, nice soundtrack, and solid story as a whole got me into this show and, although the Kanketsu-Hen episodes felt rushed and wrong, the whole package had me come back week after week. Again, while you shouldn’t expect anything amazing or groundbreaking, what you’ll get out of this show is a good time. If you’re bored and have an itch for a high school drama and romcom, then this isn’t a bad show to start. Just be prepared for a finish at breakneck speed if you decide to finish out the story through the anime rather than the manga. The question is, then, if you could relive highschool would you choose to?