This started out promising -- I can well imagine a down on his luck NEET taking the chance to go back to high school if that means he might end up with a decent job, and I could also see how one might use that premise to have him learn something to change his life's direction, so the job won't end up being the be-all and end-all of the experience.
But alas, that does not happen. Instead the show quickly devolves into a typical, and not very inspired high school anime, with stock characters, and standard melodrama. I think I fell victim to a bait-and-switch tactic.
Kaizaki actually has a reason for his NEETdom, and where this anime might not fail for a Japanese viewer, this is where it fails the most for me. Japan still has an unbelievable crappy attitude towards bullying; while it now seems to recognize that it doesn't necessarily build character, and in this show the guilty parties are portrayed as solidly (and boringly) nasty, it still does not acknowledge it as something unrelentingly negative, and something for which neither the bullied nor anyone who speaks up for them bears any responsibility whatsoever. Cultural relativism? Get out of my face. I hate bullying, and the Japanese propensity for it and its lousy excuses piss me off.
Art: Nothing to write home about, mostly undistinguished characters. The animation is actively bad in some parts. The fireworks are pretty though, but when are they ever not.
Sound: Worst background music I've heard in a long time. OP and EDs (the latter different for every episode) rather good; I got the impression they were trying to evoke a "back in time" feeling with them -- Porno Graffitti, Puffy, TM Revolution, L'Arc-en-Ciel -- if only the background music had been up to to the same standard. Decent voice acting; my favourite being Yoake Ryou voiced by Kimura Ryouhei; Hatano Wataru is totally wasted on a throw-away character, and Namikawa Daisuke not fairing much better.
Character: Kaizaki is supposed to be the hero of his story, but there isn't enough there there. We find out why he quit his job, and that stands him in good stead, but beyond that? Nada. The most intriguing characters remain mysterious -- we never find out why Chizuru is in the position she is in, exactly what Yoake did wrong with Subject 001, how come Onoya works for ReLIFE. The high school characters are stock and not very interesting.
Enjoyment: It's mostly inoffensive, light-hearted escapism, but I enjoyed it less than I might otherwise have if it had lived up to its premise. It touches on some darkness, but quickly withdraws, as if it had touched a hot stove and learned its lesson. It would have been vastly better if it had embraced that darkness.
Overall: Thoroughly mediocre.
