ReLIFE

ReLife is a series with a premise that sounds appealing to many in their late 20's, but it sadly squanders its potential early on and becomes a typical teen drama that would have been entirely functional without the ReLife set up.

The main character quickly loses the focus of the show, which falls on his other classmate's dramas (one character gets 2 two-part episodes of development), and once again the ReLife premise means absolutely nothing to the development of any of these classmates or the main character. Moreover, ReLife is a process proposed in the series as a form of rehabilitation, but the main character's problems ... are not even solved through use of the program directly.

I don't usually write reviews, partly because I lack the time and will to do so, but ReLife disappointed me to the point that... Here it goes.

I started watching because the concept enthralled me. I thought that the idea of returning to high school, while as an adult but looking like a teen, was an interesting one, specially adding to the calming experience of school the wisdom of later years. However, I thought that ReLife failed to execute this amazing concept almost spectacularly. The soundtrack is laughable and irritating, consisting of, no joke, the same piano bar type tune for the entirety of the anime, ... and it seems to come and go uninvited and uninterrupted randomly, adding nothing to the scenes where an emotional impact is required of the music and disrupting scenes where there's no emotional baggage being presented at all. It destroys moments of levity and, because it is the same thing over and over again, you have no idea what to associate it with. It is supposed to be a pensive song? To symbolize growth in a character? To punctuate a joke? By the end of ReLife I was so sick of the piano I was amazed with myself I was able to get into "Your Lie in April" at all, though it took me months to recover from this ordeal.

Aside from the soundtrack, I was able to take a liking to the characters somewhat, the main in particular was relatively interesting. He's an adult who had to endure the reality of society head on soon after entering the business world and it broke him somewhat. His tale is simple but relatable, and I do believe he is a good character who thinks and acts much like an adult, even glossing through inappropriate situations with the appropriate response (which is very rare in the animeverse). I thought he neither a brooding idiot nor a perverted creep. He was "just right", I'd probably enjoy him and the other characters more, though, if it wasn't for the terrible yellowish color pallet of the entire show. The character designs are basic and uninteresting but I don't need much flash to enjoy and anime, although I do have a very specific aesthetic to really be amazed by the visuals, and ReLife did not impress me. Just like the soundtrack, this constant yellow hue to the anime more hinders than helps, and whenever there's a scene with an excess of yellow in it (like the very often situated late in the afternoon after school moment) it puts the characters and scenario in a very bad, puke-reminding light.

The story itself is not amazing either. They had a great idea but used it just barely. Despite the main character having the most interesting story ark, the anime focuses on his classmates and their teen drama (and oh boy, are they dramatic!), while the protagonist just tries his best to coast his friends into understanding each other better with his adult wisdom and better understanding of their conflicting, pubescent feelings. There was a twist later on that surprised me, I admit, and I'll give the anime credit for that, but in no way, shape or form does it compensate for the utter disappointment I left feeling by the end of the show. I only didn't drop it because a friend asked me to watch it and see if I should recommend it to him. I didn't.

Relife was something I expected to like a bit more than I actually did. While nothing about it was necessarily bad, a lot of aspects in the show left me with the feeling that it could have been a lot more. The characters felt rather bland, falling victim to a lot of character tropes common in slice of life/school life anime. The story, while being a really interesting concept, didn't get very deep and left me wishing they made the series focus more around the ReLife program, rather than the school kids.
That being said, the show itself wasn't bad. It was entertaining, and a lot ... of the details of an adult in a younger body were well-thought out. The concept of the ReLife program is fun and how the MC handles the whole experience is more refreshing than what most others might do

I wish they focused more on the main character, it would be funnier tbh, especially because it's relatable, I myself was a degenerate in high school who spent most of his school year fixing his failed tests, but idk that's kind of a subjective opinion. All of the characters were really good but bruh, for some storylines i straight up didn't give a damn, just show me the main character struggling trying to be a high schooler again and we good. The art and sound were good and enjoyment was fair, all in all I would give it a 6, would be better if they ... focused more on the main character.

Watching first 4 episodes of this show made me realize why Japan's population started dropping. Not a single person can hold a conversation even if their lives depended on it, let alone do it with opposite sex. Of course borrowing pencil from a female warrants shivers as if he asked her for oral sex in front of the class.

There's really nothing to say here. It's an age old premise executed painfully average with no additions to the idea. Characters are predictably plain and unbelievable. You'd think 28 year old main character going back to school would show more confidence, knowledge or anything to indicate he ... actually lived that long. But no. He's indistinguishable from others and no matter how much authors wanted to portray him being out of his comfort zone he fits in school environment just too perfectly. Other than getting stiff shoulder on physical education class. Do people even get stiff shoulders at age of 28?

So there we are, trying to review painfully average show with painfully typical main character who has as much logic involved in his thinking process as me being willing to watch this again. None is what am trying to say.

Contains spoilers for both parts

ReLife starts with a really good premise and a strong first few episodes where we get to meet the cast of characters. These episodes are pretty funny and the main character makes some friends in a pretty natural and humorous way. The main couple are both likeable and its pretty enjoyable when they interact. However, those were basically the only enjoyable parts of the anime for me.

-Kairu. Kairu got basically 2.5 arcs in the course of the 13 episode season. This would be fine if these arcs developed her character significantly, but they do not. The first arc where she grows ... jealous and hostile to Chizuru was interesting and worked well, I believe if she was left there it would be fine. Unfortunately the exact same thing happens a few episode later when she grows jealous and hostile to her volleyball friend, completely negating her previous character growth by literally making the exact same mistake again. Because of this I found it impossible to invest myself in this arc at all, it just felt like a rehash of the first few episodes. After both these arcs, she finally ends up as just a tsundere side character in the last arc with the cultural festival, so what was the point of all those episodes centered around her?

-ReLife gets in the way of the story. Like I said before, the premise of having someone older relive high school days is pretty interesting and worked well. However, the entire plot of the main 2 eventually going to forget each other only served as an artificial block for the romance. It's pretty frustrating to watch them continue to complain about how they can't tell each other they like each other at the end of this anime and the four episode sequel over and over just because of this plot contrivance. There is not really much of a point or message to blocking their relationship either. They just complain and cry about how they will forget each other until the very end, not ever accepting the fact (as seen with Chizuru writing on her hand at the end). Maybe this could have been a bittersweet ending, but then they end up meeting each other again at the end of the last episode anyway, which I felt negated the point of what we just watched.

I wish they had just chosen whether to have them be able to have their romance in high school without the plot stopping them or have their romance be cut short. The former would have been a better romance and what we really wanted from this show, and the latter would give us a more powerful message on the preciousness of the present moment. Instead we got this wishy washy relationship where they couldn't really communicate their feelings for most of the show, and ended up not mattering because they met each other after anyway.


ReLife is has a great premise and has an enjoyable and funny first few episodes. However, as it goes on it unfortunately doesn't work as either a drama or romance.

I have watched the anime and own the manga. The anime is a great adaptation of the manga. The art work is quite decent and the music is okay, nothing too dramatic or interesting but still aligns with the plot. The main cast are unique and have differing personalities that play off or conflict with others.

My main gripe about ReLIFE is the focus of the story. While the overall plot is intriguing and the two main characters, Arata and Chizuru, are interesting to watch especially interacting with each other, sadly they focus too much on Rena and her conflicts. Even though the drama with Rena ... causes growth in the main (and most) characters, it is a real drudge. I wish there was more focus on Arata and Chizuru and their growth instead.

If you are into Slice of Life animes, I think it is a decent watch, but if you're not, I would probably skip this anime.

I've watched this anime by a mistake. (spoiler free)
Some years ago i've seen an AMV made of an anime with school theme, i only remembered there was an X on everyone's face except on the main character. It was more than 4 years ago and at the time i was not much into anime series, but that AMV was well-made, and i kinda felt being ignored, it made a perfect impact on me.

So i was watching this anime and after every episode i was expecting those "X-faces" will appear sooner or later, but at the end of the 11. episode i run out of hope, ... so i did search up "school anime, X faces" in google images. Guess i don't have to say i was smiling like an idiot, but finally found the "A Silent Voice" movie (don't ask me how could i run through so many times scrolling the top anime topic).

After all i've finished this anime "ReLIFE" have to say it's not a bad one, i gave it a 6/10 for it. Some episodes got me bored, but also some scene was actually interesting, if i were a high-school student i would definitely like it, but while i'm a 24 years old ~NEET i'm going to say that i did like the first episode of it. Sometimes i just really thinking about how cool would be back in time and be a high-school student again, but sadly it's not possible.

I could feel close to my self to it's main character which is basically a big+ for a "slice of life" genre made anime, but the story is quite simple.
I'd like to recommend it, sometimes i'm feeling that my life is a total failure, but anime like this one reminds me i'm still not behind others. Every single anime has it's own meaning, like a piece of art, if an anime made me think about my life in an other point of view then i can't say that it was not enjoyable.
6/10 is the "worth to try" chategory for me.

+ This anime contains 13+4 episodes, the last 4 is somewhy separated on MAL, so to be clear i was wrote this review about the 17 episodes.