ReLIFE Anime Review

by Om Srivastava

Would you like to relive one year of your high school? How about correcting all your mistakes to make sure you have no regrets? How about having fun with your school friends one last time? Or would you not like to live through that time again? This is the dilemma our protagonist Arata Kaizaki, a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) and ReLife explores in a fun but poetic way.

Because of problems with his previous job, Arata quits his job but tries to keep up appearances while going out drinking with friends. One day, while he is stumbling home drunk all alone and cursing his fate, Arata is approached by a rather suspicious person and told that congratulations, he has a chance to redo his life! Or one year of it at least. He will have all of his living expenses covered, and a good chance at a job at the end of the year. All he has to do is take this one little pill that will make him look seventeen again. Like any sane person, Arata refuses at first, but to his horror, he wakes up the next morning to find that he took the pill before bed. Surprise, he is now Test Subject 002 in the ReLIFE program, and… school starts soon!

There are two areas where ReLIFE could have gone terribly wrong: its setting and its tone. There are already dozens of anime titles released every year set in high school, and at first glance, it seems like a shame that a story would take an adult character (and not even a barely-20-year old adult) and thrust them back into high school, yet the idea really works. By having the cast be a mixture of teens and adults it frees up the story to go beyond cliched high school drama and romances and have something much more thoughtful.

This is where the story’s idea of having both adult and teenage characters in a school setting truly shines. The teen characters are never looked down upon or seem stupid when they mess up. Instead, they come across like very real, confused people. Arata’s classmate Kairu gets the most focus as everyone around her realizes that she has driven herself into a corner with her constant desire to be the best, and the stress of “losing” has built up inside her. As a teenager, living within that tangled mess, it seems like there is no way out, but as someone gets older, Arata can see the pain yet the best way to deal with it while approaching Kairu as a fellow peer to help move her through it.

The animation was pretty good. All characters looked nice and detailed. Occasional slapstick animation was used, but it was used fittingly. The failing fake smile from Hishiro and general facial animations were good and detailed. The small funny segments with exaggerated animations are pretty funny and adorable.

Coming to the soundtrack, the openings and ending themes, while nothing very notable, do set the tone of the anime to a good extent. Similar is the case with the BGM playing during each episode.

Overall, If you’re a fan of RomCom’s, then you will most likely enjoy this. The same can be said about drama too, however, if you’re a pure comedy fan and don’t like the drama/romance aspect, then you may want to steer clear of this. While the first few episodes will draw you in as it shifts genres you may feel thrown off, though there is the possibility that you’ll become slightly attached to some characters and want to see more of them and their progression.

If you’re a fan of the genre, though, then you should not give this one a miss. It may not be the best RomCom of all time, but it’s an enjoyable ride all the same. You won’t be disappointed.

The big question is why or when should you watch it? Have you ever had moments in life when you thought: “Damn, what if I didn’t do this or what if I would have done that.” Ever felt regret about something in the past? This show will unwind those questions in a really good way for you to relate to.