Bokutachi no Remake

oh boy... here we go

I was (moderately ) hyped for this show... well because of the big 'plot' on the poster lmao and tbf this season was very mid with exception for few animes that I've watched.
I watched the first ep and thought to myself that it was somewhat decent but i still think that it could be good after few eps or so i thought....
And here we are, all wrapped up, and with my score, you can probably tell what I thought of it.

The premise is interesting, but the execution is disappointing because by the end of it, u don't even know what was ... the point of kyouya going back in time other than use it as plot device?. Interestingly enough this show setting is in college, which is refreshing since a lot anime deals with high school story. Unfortunately, the college setting wasnt really use that well because when i watched it, it felt like im watching yet another high school harem , slice of life, wish fulfilment anime and its really sad tbh . At first, I didn't like how kyouya solving every basic stuff for his friends but after that, the show took a surprising turn where we see kyouya is in a devastating state after what he did to the platinum gen in one ep but fear not jesus kun was able to pick himself up and able to solve a company issue in the next ep. In a nutshell, this is a decent time-waster but ultimately disappointing.

This show gave me a lot of stress and irritation to see how much love this show is getting, while im sitting here and wondering how the hell u think this show is great?. its so annoying to see on reddit, mal, yt or Instagram praising tf out of this show ( yes, im well aware that enjoyment is important but like i dont even see a lot of the ppl pointing out how terrible written this story is ) .Also, im not even watching anime to be objectively critical or whatever i just wanna enjoy anime but with this anime i cant even turn off my brain to tolerate some of the writing. Every time a new ep comes out, i always try my best to enjoy this show but bruhh some of the sloppy writing in this show gives me headache. also, the fanservice in this show is stupid and weird and also completely disrupting the tone of the narrative that the show trying to potray. The choice to make kaguya's va sound like a toddler is stupid because when a scene involving her talking something important, it makes me hard to not pull a face. Talking abt aki, why does maki look exactly like her mother? geez, talking abt taking laziness to another level.

The problems that i have with this series:

1. the pacing or details

This show could've been more than 12 eps considering how many things that they skipped over and how badly pace it was. For example, in ep 2, kawasegawa came out of nowhere starting to accuse kyouya that he's underestimate filmmaking and basically saying her team is gonna be better than kyouya's team. Now, this could've at least expand more or show us or tell us on why kawasegawa acting like this or maybe she just plain rude ( but i dont think thats the case ) or jealous because later on the story she became somewhat friendly or not the same person as she was in ep 2 - ep 4. Even if it was abt competition ,its still weird . Moreover, they didnt even show us how good her video was and this becomes a trend where the show just gave us the students perspective or comments or how they feel abt the video presentation . Lets go on to ep 4, this is where the drama starts or should i say melodrama, kawasegawa was asked by her sister to join kyouya's team but again they jump straight to a new semester and completely disregarding kawasegawa's impact on the team. We could've seen her bonding and building a relationship with the team and kyouya ,but no, all we got was a time skip and a badly written conflict between kawasegawa and nanako. Let me breakdown the situation, they had another film presentation and what a surprise they didnt show anything abt both kyouya and this student's team video. All we had was (again) the comments from the students saying that one of the member students' team did a wonderful acting but nanako's acting was a bit robotic ,again from the student's perspective. How can u expect us, the audience, to care what kawasegawa said to nanako, for all we know nanako's acting probably didn't suck because its a matter of perspective, one can say that aki's voice is annoying asf but the other will say that its terrible. That scene can be much appreciated if we developed kawasegawa , as a new member, being implemented in kyouya's team and as well seeing her understanding nanako ( especially her personality), because for her to do that is a humiliation for nanako and besides, they won the bloody presentation so for her to do that is hella dumb. (imo) They could've done one more presentation where kyouya's team lose because of the team not performing 'seriously' ( because they want to focus on that topic so much ) and it took eiko to step up and hit reality on the team but noooo. A proper build up can make the audience more caring abt that moment and make kawasegawa to not look like a jerk. Moving on, in ep 5, this is where i got respect for kawasegawa because she knew she messed up and had the balls to confront nanako ahhh such a sweet moment but wait our beta mc ,kyouya, had to ruin that moment. im sorry but why in the fuk did u do that? who are u to say that kawasegawa didnt need to apologize? im actually baffled when that scene happened, he completely stole nanako's right and stole that beautiful moment. The first half of ep11 was weirdly pace that u are confused to how kyouya manage to solve this company's problem because we didnt see him contacting anyone or discussing with anyone abt fixing the problem in the last ep and somehow he gave a document ( out from his ass i guess ) abt this new engine. There's also a weird transition happened in ep 4, where it cut from kyouya in the share house to a cafe scene just like that.

2. Kyouya

If u fully expecting to have something that u can relate with the mc or seeing the mc going through such obstacles to achieve his goal, yeah u will not get that with this anime .The relatable part of the MC starts and ends with the first episode where he is depicted as someone who has made mistakes throughout his 20s. After that, he ceases to be relatable and becomes Gary Stu/Jesus-kun where whatever problem is thrown at him, he magically resolves it(and before anyone says "he has experience from his old life", the problem with that is that, there is no "presentation/process" of him coming up with his solutions, hence, instead of looking like a genius, he comes out as someone with bullshit powers of problem-solving). idk how to describe it because throughout the show he show no weaknesses and his surrounding was sucking him off as if he was a reincarnation of god, and that's a big problem for this show is that the mc is too perfect that is too hard for ppl to root for him cause u know he's gonna succeed at it and it can be boring af. Can u tell me if this good? because later on the only 'mistake' that he done throughout this series is ruin the platinum gen ( i mean yeah that's big ) but really? the only way to make him a good protagonist is to make his character have many flaws and relatable i guess. He's adaptable, competent , op and many more characteristic of an self insert harem protagonist . Overall, he suk . idk if this is a good analogy but whatever, kyouya is basically where u completed a game and it showed that u got a bad ending and u remembered that there was a choice to either have a gun or a knife but u chose a knife instead. Usually, when a player completed the game, they will be given the ability to go back to a certain checkpoint or mission to redo or to try differently from what the player initially did and also the player will have all the abilities unlocked for them to use . Essentially, I'm saying kyouya is op because all he had to do is to choose art college and boom he have a 'perfect' life. All im saying is this show doesnt need time travel because in ep 9, where he got sent to the future by keiko, he suddenly able to do his job just like that without any confusion abt what he's got to do or anything, like the dude just stupid op. What was the point of the time travel? and mind u this dude only been in college for 2 semester and a half, i know he have experiences in the og timeline but come on. Im just gonna say that he's too lazy to find another job when he was 28 and then wuss like a little puss talking abt i wanna redo my life just to have a better future.

3. Romance

I love romance story, i adore it but i have to say Mal should remove the romance tag for this anime, literally zero romance happened in this anime other than the kiss. Throughout the series, i dont see Kyouya have any sort of romantic feeling for all the girls that he met and he even said it. Literally, the decision to make aki and kyouya married was retarded, like there was never a proper build up or development in the romance department for aki and kyouya to even justified that they are married. Also, why do they ended ep 5 with a kiss and then the next ep not addressing anything abt that kiss? im sorry if a girl just kiss me, i will definitely ask her 'why did u do that?' and also what was the point of letting nanako witnessing the kiss? i though there will be a drama or something. i guess thats one more thing abt this show that makes it bad. Overall, the romance in this show serve nothing to the plot other than to please the 14 yrs old seeing their waifu end up with the mc. Zero progression in the romance part and stupid attempt to make as if nanako had a chance with the mc. Also, continue on the kiss scene was dumb because there is no real buildup to the romance scenes or context, (for God’s sake the main characters doesn’t even likes her other than admiring her art) which makes the scenes unsatisfying and coming out of nowhere. Dont watch this show for the romance because u will get none of it.

4. Time travel and keiko

The time travel concept in this show is barely explored in any imaginable way and feels like it's only a plot device to works conveniently in favor of the protagonist. Questions like: "Why Kyouya? Why not Kawasegawa? Or Tsurayuki?" , "Who or what triggers the time travel?" and "Is a deep-seethed regret the prerequisite to be a candidate for time travel?" never occurs to the mc and its actually ridiculous considering how this anime trying to be realistic. Throughout the series, we never learn anything abt how kyouya got back in time and also why 'they' choose kyouya?,Questions like these, haven't been answered after 11 episodes, and if the final episode doesn't give us anything about the time travel, then it is sufficient enough to conclude that it's nothing more than plot device and it's just there to "satisfy" Kyouya's desire for change. the explanation is just stupid, how can a man got travel back in time ( he even said before that it was impossible ) and not even bother to question abt this phenomenon that is happening to him ( or at the very least tell us that he did try to investigate but didnt get anything that is useful but in the mean time, he just need to move forward) and even the second time, he didnt do nothing to question abt keiko sudden appearance and as well as how he got back in the future instead he just live his normal life just like that and able to adapt to his new job . He's a 28 yrs old man, shouldnt he know that someone's future will change if he interrupts someone's past but i guess he didnt care that he got back in time. Also, why did his goal change? he goes from i wish i can go back in time and choose art instead to he's here to help the platinum gen, whatttt???? im so confused to his logic, look i guess he's a bit retarded that he took awhile to realise that aki was a member of the platinum gen but like shouldnt u be thinking that they will become famous in the future so their problems will be sorted by their own but instead he tries to help everyone. I mean i guess it cant be helped that he had to meddle their problems but shouldnt he strategies abt how to approach this guys problems and not to disrupt their future that much. Now, he got to face the consequences that he didnt meant to do and as well was somewhat innocent from the first day since he got sent back in time out of nowhere. Look, no one is asking for the time travel to be amazingly explained or whatever but pls make it logical instead of this crap. if the show make the mc awares abt the time travel and as well make the mc'c personality less generic, i would accept that but yeah instead we got this crap. Questions need to be answered here, who's keiko and why?oh well kyouya dont care at all since his look in the last ep just says it all that this show dont care if they use the time travel as a plot device. No normal human being will react like that .


In conclusion, ill say that this show couldve been better if the EXECUTION was done right and if they make this a 24 ep show and make the pacing be decent. Truth be told, this is a mediocre series and couldnt understand the positives vibe that it gets. I can see what the author is trying to tell but it turns out to be a huge disappointment, the Ln is probably better but idk. Overall, idm u enjoy this show but pls stop saying its great or a masterpiece or even good because its sure is not, it had some good moments and message but its fall flat by the piss poor pacing and story telling. If u want to watch some deep stuff, better off watching sakura sou or ping pong or even 3-gatsu no Lion than this garbage, at the very least sorata is a way better mc than this self insert mc. If u want to watch ppl make games, just watch saekano, they have better fanservices than this one. Thank god, its over.

I first want to clear out some discrepancies that seemed to have arisen with this anime.

1. I was told this anime is similar to ReLife. Because of how doltish and clueless ReLife is, Remake Our Life is *ONLY* similar to it in the time travelling aspect. You can ask for a link to my Anilist review to understand how stupid ReLife is.

2. This anime is also said to be similar to Sakurasou, though this is a bit more warped comparison. The two main girls are both artists, but other than that, this anime is similar to Toradora, Bunny Girl Senpai, Golden Time, quite literally every ... romance with drama you can think of. Of course, it just has its own little twist to give it its own name.

Now onto the analysis.

Remake Our Life isn't anything new to the mix of romance anime, though in saying this, it works at both ends. It's not an enlightening piece of media one may never see the likes of again, but it also isn't so abysmal you'd lose faith in humanity. It's just like everything else, as I have pointed out. So honestly, there is no real reason to work my way through the narrative/characters and what have you because in what I would imagine is a largely popular genre, people will already understand what the ridiculously consistent logic will have to say about this anime, that is, basically everything you've seen and known thus far.

The only thing I can really talk about is the gimmicks and how effective they are at making this anime physically able to stand by itself. I came out of this anime not actually having too much memory as to what differentiates this from everything else, sure there was the time mechanic, but that wasn't explored too much in this anime unfortunately and seemed to be a back-of-the-head thought brought up every now and then. Self-aware note here, I am literally trying to think of other aspects that would otherwise make this anime more independent and nothing comes to mind. The only thing I can praise is Hashiba's leadership which seems to be non-existent with our young anime protagonist, at least most are have self-competence.

The audiovisuals here basically fall under the same o' so tyrannical order romance anime kneel down to, so I don't need to go over that, but the character designs are nice here for originality, though one could easily superimpose that with any other anime and get some similarities. There was an attempt at least.

I am not sure what I was expecting from light novel adaptation #40904, but I thought this would turn out to be a lot more different than I anticipated. I guess I enjoyed it, I guess everyone will enjoy it, I mean, even if generic (which doesn't mean bad), who doesn't like a good romance anime? But this anime seems to get a lot more traction than I thought was possible, and there were tropes here that have gone past the expiry date of unique quality, which this anime doesn't seem to realise. At the end of the day, it's a nice story, but there is nothing here to suggest it is a big deal. I'd recommend it to all, looking for something to watch when you have nothing else. But there is better out there in terms of high school stories.

I suppose I will give out a few:

Kimi ni Todoke - elaborates on its bliss; how ecstasy feels
High Score Girl - romance in the gaming world and how one has to fix that in with reality
Beastars - a great idea with a great presentation of social order in school (Warning: 2nd Season goes to shit towards the end, imo at least)

I was excited to watch this show after reading its synopsis as it is very similar to another anime I've watched 'ReLIFE' which I had enjoyed but this one didn't do the justice.

Bokutachi no Remake's concept is good. The MC's made wrong life decisions and is suffering because of that but one afternoon, he makes an unexplained time-leap 10 years in the past. This gives him a second chance in his life to make the right decisions as he's just gonna start his university life. This is a good start for the show but here are the problems, the 'characters' of this show and their ... stories.

All the characters in this show feels one dimensional to me. Sure they've got their dreams, ambitions and personality traits but they are really predictable, like they just do not feel human and feels like they are following a script. It's a 'Slice of life' and I do expect realistic characters from this show but that is not the case. The main character seems to just fix others problems like he's a 'Messiah'. This is very unrealistic and just makes the show very bland and predictable like you already know in your head that he's gonna fix this particular character's issue with his talks and actions. I am pretty sure this show is gonna revolve around the main character fixing other character's lives and then he will end up in a problem of his own that he will overcome with the help and support from his friends, that will be his redemption arc.

Also, the fanservice, it was really unnecessary to put all those cliché scenes. I mean, the whole direction of this show is based on clichés. It really is disappointing.

Remake My Wish Fulfilment.

Remake My Life is one of those anime which came out at the right time to the right market. That is, to millennials and Gen Z-ers who are all regretting their life/career choices amid a global pandemic, and social upheaval and wishing they can go back in time and have a redo.

It's not the first anime or *sigh* light novel of its premise and it certainly won't be the last so, what makes Remake so special? Well... not a lot. After being down on his luck Kyouya Hashiba somehow manages to go back 10 years into the past to attend a fancy ... arts university instead of acquiring the actual useful degree that he achieved so he can more easily break into the game industry. Whilst there he discovers that he will be house-sharing with 3 (yet to be) famous artists in their field, one of which is his favourite artist from his period.
Now the first episode is a lengthy 50 minutes long which put me off watching for a while, but I will say that the time was much better utilised than something like 'The Detective is Already Dead' which came out in the same season (and was worse). After that you will settle into the normal 20 minutes of slice-of-life, university anime shenanigans.

The characters are... fine. Honestly, there is nothing to them that you haven't seen before. Kyouya is a boring, flat, harem protagonist (which he really shouldn't be considering he is mentally 28), but has enough going for him to not be a total audience insert character. Aki Shino is a moé blob, Nanako Kogure is a ganki girl and Tsurayuki Rokuonji is the brash, but cool best friend type character. Eiko Kawasegawa, a classmate on their course (and Kyouya's future boss) fills the Tsundere role with a good old "It's not like I did this for you or anything... b b b baka!"
These character archetypes are my biggest problem with the show. University is a completely different experience compared to high school, but these characters simply do not reflect that kind of maturity. The wish fulfilment is strong in this one, but unlike thrash harem or good, horny parody which knows what it is and isn't taking itself too seriously as a show, Remake My Life takes itself VERY seriously with its premise and these pandering, wish fulfilment moments start to ruin our view of the characters and actively takes away from the good moments the show has to offer.
When Kyouya wakes up in his room to find Aki asleep with her face in his crotch (they hadn't even met yet) and then wakes up to drink day-old yoghurt out of the fridge or when Nanako walks into the room to shout at her friends only to say "What do you mean I'm not wearing clothes? *looks down* AhAHHH!"(she's 18 -20 by the way) it comes off as the author wants to eat his cake and fuck it too with one hand holding his pen and the other holding his cock.

Overall Remake My Life is Mediocre/fine. There are some great moments which did keep me coming back week after week, but eventually, it just felt like another high school, slice-of-life, wish fulfilment anime which I've watched a million times before with the caveat being that it's set in a university. Now apparently a huge twist has happened towards the end of the season, but I'm not particularly invested enough to go back and see what it is. I can see why people are raving about this anime, but for me, there are better things to watch.

... look all I'm saying is Aki should know what a blowjob is.

5/10 Mediocre

Bokutachi no Remake is your typical fast food meal - it's predictable, unremarkable, and it's something you've likely had before, though that's not to say it's completely worthless. If you don't go in expecting any surprises in the story or nuanced characters, there is some fun to be had. That said, if you can afford to be picky, it's probably worth looking somewhere else for better quality story telling.

Now, as for in-depth discussion, I'm going to focus solely on the characters and their actions/motivations as that's where the series gains its hopelessly average badge. The art style and sound design are both ... standard fare, being serviceable enough to not be a distraction when viewing. As with the plot, there's really nothing worth discussing as it's your run of the mill isekai/reborn/redo storyline. While its nothing new, it's not something that will inherently make or break the anime. My frustration (or rather indifference) lies with the characters and their bland/trope filled adventures.

One of the main issues with the show thus far is that at no point does the MC Kyouya do or say anything to distinguish himself as a character beyond being 'nice' and 'trying really hard', which isn't a problem unique to this series alone (there's a massive pile of shows that suffer from boring MC syndrome) but it still needs to be pointed out as this is the character through which we experience the narrative. We are presented someone who has been given, by some act of divinity, a second chance at life, yet by the second episode he is nearly indistinguishable from any other ordinary college student. Our MC has zero reaction nor any thoughts regarding his miraculous new lease on life. No questions are raised as to how or why this has taken place. There is no shock, chaos, or disarray as he experiences this. Kyouya simply accepts the situation unquestionably and slides into his new role as a positive, bubbling college freshmen who attends every lecture and acts as a model friend/support for his new roommates. Were the story not explicitly shown, we as viewers would have no idea as to the nature of this character and the fact that his mind is actually that of a 28 year old man. There is nothing interesting here; this character is completely devoid of any trait that might make him stand out despite undergoing such a shockingly profound event.

Similar anime have at least had the foresight to have their MCs take risks, make bold moves on potential love interests, or possibly exploit their knowledge of the future for personal gain - it doesn't matter what but it has to be something, anything to make the character stand out and memorable. Bokutachi no Remake offers none of this in the actions of its MC. It actually leaves one wondering why the plot device was even used in the first place as by episode 2 the entire redo plot point is entirely irrelevant to what is happening on-screen. Take that central setup away and what you're left with is another average to below-average slice of life college anime.

It goes without saying that the other main ensemble cast of characters are similarly boring and one-dimensional. Each one can be summarized with at most two to three adjectives that describe their entire being and subsequently outlines their entire character arc. The three housemates that our MC meets early are only distinguishable in their respective area of talent and their archetype. Nanako is the upbeat singer, Aki the cutesy artist, and the other dude in the house is the lazy-genius writer. Again, nothing new nor surprising here. Even less surprising is that after a few episodes it's blatantly obvious that every on screen female character we've spent time with has a crush on the MC. There is not a single SOUL out there that would have glimpsed the preview featuring three cute girls and not figured this out beforehand, though that doesn't make it any less groan-worthy when it plays out as expected.

As initially said, there is some enjoyment to be had here. I myself am a sucker for most isekai and redo-type storylines even after admitting the plot actually plays very little part in the later story. This is, at its core, a wish fulfillment anime, and as I alluded to at the start, it's okay to indulge in a little fast food once in a while. But if you've got the slightest inclination to watch something better, do that instead.

As someone currently leaving college and moving into a creative field, this show seems like it should resonate very well with me. I have always been a fan of the romance genre in anime and the fact that college life is actually getting represented is something that I really appreciate. Unfortunately, it falls short it some departments.

The story has one major problem, and more and more problems sprout from that. It seems to be a chronic issue when it comes to shows with the "Oh shoot I am getting to relive my younger years!" premise. That is of course the way that the main character ... acts. Re:life did this well, Erased did it pretty poorly, and Mushoku Tensei (while being a Isekai) actually does it really well. The big problem with this show is the moment that our main character goes back in time, it feels like he almost instantly reverts to acting the age of a younger guy.

The supporting cast is great. You really get to see everyone grow and mature in the show in little ways so far. life in College has a huge adjustment period and the whole "finding yourself" and learning to be mature aspect for the supporting cast seems to be very solid, but the main character is must less so.

If you ask me, this was a big missed opportunity. Even if it was a different type of college, the emotional maturity you gain through your college years really changes you. It would have been appreciative if the character acted more mature in his social interaction and in his relationships with the rest of the cast.

The highlight of this is the Ecchi scenes. The guy acts like a child whenever anything remotely sexual happens, be it waking up next to a girl, or accidently touching someone inappropriately. The kind of behavior the MC has is just childish. Handling these scenes in a mature way, such as just shutting down advances or just accepting them and not acting shy would have helped remind us that our main character was actually older. I think we can chalk this up to the studio playing the story too safe and wanting the main character to be a self-insert for younger audiences instead of a fully flushed out character.

This wraps back around to my biggest issue with the story. If you were to cut out the first act and all the "I'm from the future" monologues, it would have literally no impact on the story at all. The way the plot has progressed, the time travel has almost no relevance at all. As of writing, episode 6 is out, so the time travel has seemed to help with the latest problem, but even that is tangential, the solution (Of making a game set in a high school) could have easily been reached without it. It all could just be chalked up to the main character being really talented.

I don't want it to sound like I am all negative about this though. Even with its flaws. The show is still really fun to watch and enjoy. I am definitely a sucker for the love triangle trope and I am very happy to see it here. The fact that relationships are actually developing at a decent pace is also a huge plus. I really don't like shows where the characters absolutely refuse to admit their feelings until the very end and it is looking like this show is going against the grain there, we got what is basically a confession from 1 girl already out and I would actually love to see a real relationship, begin, exist, and end in this series, instead of the whole series ending right after a relationship starts. I think that really banks on the show getting a second season to be truly fleshed out, but we can only hope.

All in all the show is good, but the use of time travel is basically a gimmick and has no relevance to the actual plot. The relationships are solid and the character building of the supporting cast has been great, even if the main character is lacking. This gets a 6 from me because the show is "Fine." Sadly, given the whole premise of the show is time travel, it feels like they missed the mark, but the actual story is good, and the supporting cast make up for what the main character seems to lack!

Watching Bokutachi no Remake feels incredibly nostalgic to me. Even the show itself, being a romcom, does harken back to the early to mid 2010s when shows like these were more prominent. However, BokuRema does fall into the standard trappings commonly associated with this genre in spite of its unique concept.

BokuRema feels like a Visual Novel, where you're watching Kyouya making choices and reaching Bad Ends. The problem is that Kyouya himself isn't a very interesting character. He is your typical doormat nice guy who's loved by everyone. There is nothing special he brings to the table and he sucks out a lot of the ... fun with his passiveness. The rest of the cast don't fare any better, they are your typical romcom archetypes, again with nothing special brought to the table. Nothing terrible, just nothing special.

I do like the moments where the gang starts making their doujin game, as well as Kyouya's stunt in the gaming companies. But apart from that the show didn't draw me in with the usual character building scenes. You're just going through the motions at this point, especially if you're like me and read a ton of VNs with a similar premise. It's charming to see in anime form in 2021 yes, but it still feels so generic regardless. The special collaboration cameo from episode 6 was really cute though.

The time travel plot is interesting, but by the end of the show you're not given any answers beyond a "Read the LN for more!" cliffhanger. It does feel irresponsible to resolve your show with such a blatant ad, and it certainly dampers the entire experience of the show.

All in all, the show was a nice throwback albeit a generic one.

5/10

Remake Our Life shines in certain aspects, yet is packaged in mediocrity.
Starting with the positives: The main cast of characters each have there own relatable character dilemma. Now, how these dilemmas are overcome vary in realism and intrigue, yet each main character has a challenge in front of or within themselves that will put you in their corner. Another highlight has to be character development. Specifically this animes use of different timelines to show other aspects of the cast. Unfortunately I can't say much on this point without spoiling the show.
Onto the negatives: Remake Our Life will grab you with interest then ... shove harem troupes down your throat. Plenty of time I feel the tone of this show is ruined by its wanting to play out typical high school romance scenes. Fortunately a plot twist in the second half sends the show to a sprint till its finish and leaves no room for the kind of scenes I'm complaining about. A quick negative to end the review is the animation. The art will never disgust you but the studio never attempts anything challenging or impactful. I don't think you'll find a single piece of sakuga in Remake Our Life.
- 6/10

I guess I can say that this is okay, not stellar, but it does engage and the story isn't bad. I have mixed feelings about whether somebody will like it better or not, but I can leave it at a 7 and be confident that that's probably mostly right.

Something that bothers me and it's just a me thing is the voice actor for the dub on the protagonist. There's just something about him that I can't get past. It's probably partially tied to when he voiced Kyo in Fruits Basket, a show that I really don't like. It's district, smooth and soft, which fits a ... lot of Slice of Life shows, so I push through because there's a lot of stuff he's in that I really don't mind.

This show has a basic premise and is handled fairly well. The story is mostly consistent and the characters fit together really well. I looked forward to each episode, so I don't understand why I feel like there's something that brought the show down for me. I haven't really felt wedged into a decision like I do here. Overall, the composition and performance is good, so I can't truly say anything bad and be true to how I feel about it. I just wish I felt better in the end because I don't have flaws that should bring it down.

This is a mild spoiler review in the sense that I want to talk about what this show gets wrong, not what happens.

You can't watch this show with the standard expectations of an anime, which is made all the worse by some of the tired tropes that it throws at you. Not only that but the story has major issues that begs belief.
In order for this to be enjoyable, you simply have to accept that the premises are flawed and that it suffers from contrivances.

Imagine you're sent back ten years to change your life, what would you do?
For our protagonist this results in choosing a ... different education, rather than the safe bet he goes to art school, this time with the knowledge and experiences of his past decade, determined to be a game creator who is part of the 'platinum generation' of talent, the names of people who were famous artists in the future he's from. A dear wish of his is to make things with these people.

That's a solid premise. That's something a lot of adults can relate to and would like to see play out as a wish fulfillment fantasy.
And here's where things start to derail.

Project stories of getting together to make something are their own mini genre, instead of having a band of adventurers tackle a boss, you have creatives tackling a project. But then the show tries to be a romance anime and then a harem anime and then it goes back to time slips and the consequences of the actions taken.
Our protagonist doesn't actually do anything wrong, in fact he has some serious skill in production, management and enough all-round knowledge to work with creatives from their perspective, that he succeeds far better than any 18 year old in existence. He is a legitimate talent himself.

But... The show punishes him for it.

The consequences of his great work and effort are not realistic, the surrounding characters mindlessly give up instead of being proud of their achievements and things fall apart for the implied reason that he didn't take their wishes into account, except that's exactly what he did and the experiences the team got should not have been discouraging but rather help them define themselves and how they would want to move forwards.

This lesson that the show spends an entire new arc dragging out in another timeline is painful to watch and the morals aren't clear.
What's worse is that it is clear that this new future is something he can return from and the show doesn't address the implications or the consequences of this.

That's a hard pill to swallow and instead of making the protagonist look like he's learned his lesson, it makes him look like someone who just erased people from existence so he can go back to play with his friends in college. An unintended view of the character that I don't think the author considered.

The final issue is the time mechanic itself which brings up some uncomfortable questions that aren't answered.

The show sets up for a second season which I doubt will happen. If the same themes surrounding time leaps happen then it invalidates the first season. If it continues to be a project anime then what was the point of the time leaps in the first place? It could've just been that from the start.

Still, a lot of it was enjoyable and interesting, it's worth a watch I think.

SPOILER-FREE!
It’s perhaps one for the biggest clichés in all of drama – what if I had down this instead of that? What if I had taken path B rather than path A? Part of the reason why we find this such a compelling device for storytelling is because our own lives are fueled by the numerous decisions we make, both in and outside our control. So, when a narrative presents its characters with the opportunity to go back in time and take a new approach, or try to fix something, it plays upon that nagging question that has lingered in our minds every once in ... a while when we’ve reflected on something. After all, we cannot rewind the clock in reality, so fiction affords us the chance to see the possibility exercised for dramatic purposes.

"Remake Our Life!" was the summer 2021 anime season’s newest take on the do-over story. Considering that it relies on the old cliché I spoke of, it already has a lot that it needs to accomplish. The time travel needs to feel justified, and the ensuing drama that happens from the resulting changes needs to come across the same way. But the overall setting and premise caught my attention more than anything else; especially as someone who teaches in the arts, I wanted to see what the series could potentially bring as far as working in the arts was concerned.

Hashiba Kyouya is a former salaryman turned video game development worker who thoroughly hates his job, regretful of his decision not to attend an arts college like the so-called Platinum Generation creators he looks up to. He one evening chances upon a woman who also works in game development, Kawasegawa Eiko, and lands himself a new job. Despite getting off to a good start, their project is cancelled and he once again enters a melancholy. He awakens shortly thereafter ten years in the past, taking the opportunity to attend arts college instead of what he did before. While taking his life in this new direction, he becomes classmates and sharehouse mates with Shino Aki, Kogure Nanako, and Rokuonji Tsurayuki, the three Platinum Generation artists he adored. Kawasegawa herself is also a student at the school during this period of time. The artists face an uncertain future, but Kyouya comes armed with the foreknowledge of what each of them is capable of.

While Kyouya may be the main focus of the narrative, the other three members of the house, as well as the group of four as a whole, need to function together well in order to carry the story. Kyouya is unfortunately the most uninteresting of the main characters, in part because there aren’t any particularly-noteworthy aspects to his character, be it through quirks or some other element that gives his personality some kind of spice. As the de facto leader of the four during the college years, he ironically is the one who has least amount of fleshing out. To an extent, this is slightly understandable; since his entire perspective zeroes in on idolizing the Platinum Generation-to-be members, he stands as a kind of everyman in their wake. There’s nothing noteworthy about him, but he’s not intended to be the noteworthy focus of the narrative. That said, the fact that he comes from the future, in essence, IS his trait, but as a quality that makes him stand out on his own, it does not contribute much in the way of endearing himself to us.

But where Kyouya’s characterization falters, the other three manage to develop more effectively. Working on an artistic project is a form of sharing, but as a result, having your work be cut down or told that it’s not good enough because of various constraints can be absolutely brutal to handle. "Remake Our Life!" shows each of the main characters having their artistic pursuits getting questioned, flat-out rejected, or their moods demoralized, and does so in ways that are believably practical; the entire premise is set up on Kyouya’s ambitions to work in game development getting crushed, and the other three Platinum Generation characters all have moments in the show where they find themselves up against the wall. Whether that wall be their own hang-ups, mistakes, or whatever needs the project they’re working on calls for, it makes for good drama. Seeing them pick themselves back up after getting knocked down is cathartic. And when their endeavors do get completed, there is a satisfaction that comes with it. One such event includes an overt nod to one of the most-famous musical sequences in all of anime, which feels appropriate given that the past segments of the show take place in the mid-2000s.

Kyouya’s knowledge of the future that he brings with him, both who the Platinum Generation members will eventually become and his own expertise in his area, also contributes a fascinating aspect to the group’s dynamic. Since he is working with years of organizational experience, he intuitively is able to think on his feet and evaluate the numerous properties that go into artistic endeavors. So, when problems begin to manifest that the other members of the group aren’t prepared for or anticipate, he often acts as the idea house or lifeboat that keeps whatever it was they were working on afloat. It also gives his interactions with the other group members, along with others at the college, a kind of relentlessness that one could find quite admirable.

But it is because of that relentlessness that makes the show get a little too close to harem territory, which intrudes itself into the show’s strengths. It’s not necessarily because it’s unreasonable; the romance element develops through the characters working and living together, and Kyouya’s seemingly-boundless belief in them acts as a beacon of light in the Platinum Generation’s crisis moments. Getting attracted to someone who has that kind of faith in you is, naturally, something one could expect. The problem rests in the fact that it begins to come at the price of focusing on the art creation aspect of the story. The drama works most effectively when we ourselves see and hear what it is that made Kyouya look up to the Platinum Generation, being given an “as it happened” glimpse into the fruits of their labor. That’s not to say the series cannot have romance, but that given how short the show is, it oversteps itself. By putting too much stock into romance, and especially among the women, it takes away from those creative opportunities. The show is divided between two paths and struggles to unite them.

Those opportunities are only possible thanks to the time jump to the past. While they are one of the primary vehicles for setting up the drama within the show, they’re also part of a weakness with "Remake Our Life!" Because the time jumps themselves span upwards of ten years or more, it means there’s a lot of history of the characters, events, and dialogues that we are not privy to. It is appropriately disorienting for Kyouya as he tries to get his bearings each time it happens, it unfortunately means that certain events that should have transpired on-screen ultimately don’t, not even in flashback. Even though Kyouya is the main character that the drama follows, allowing the audience to see flashbacks through the eyes of the other characters could have helped tremendously. Especially considering that they are seemingly not aware of any time-travel shenanigans that have taken place, possibly having some gaps filled in, even if Kyouya himself would not be privy to witnessing or remembering them, was certainly possible.

This problem of not showing particular events is also true for one of the show’s final pushes towards the end; the day of release for a product is not shown. At a moment where Kyouya is at his lowest, he witnesses a video from Nanako that ultimately gives him the inner motivation and fire to try and rectify the overarching problem he’s facing. Although this is framed as a moment where the momentum of the drama turns, we don’t actually get to see or listen to the video in full. It didn’t have to be a full-fledged three-minute masterpiece, but even listening to the provided song for, say, 30 seconds could have made the affect of the moment land with more panache. These pacing issues ultimately make "Remake Our Life!" feel like the latest victim of the single-season curse, of trying to get as much as possible into the twelve episodes that it comes at the cost of dramatic or thematic coherence.

"Remake Our Life!" has vestiges of being a particularly-good series, but cannot quite capitalize upon what’s there. The exploration of pursuing an artistic endeavor, especially in the wake of business or school, unfortunately gets a little too bogged down by the romantic element with all of the female characters. It’s well-animated and well voice-acted, and the Platinum Generation characters were a lot of fun, even if the pacing tends to move too disjointedly. If it had been perhaps sixteen episodes instead of twelve, I think quite a number of these issues could have been minimized, or happened more organically. For what we actually got, I still somewhat liked it even though it had flaws. The story managed to get the job done – just not as cleanly as it aspired to. If it ever does get a second season, and there has been no announcement about that at the time of this recording, I’ll give it a consideration.

This anime is basically Erased but college. From studio Feel that brought SNAFU, this show is not that in genre of : slice of life, romance, and drama. The slice of life in the show is based off the characters' college life, the romance is mainly focused on two characters, and the drama should also be added with a supernatural genre to the description, but because, there's not; the drama is based off the protagonist time travel abilities. Based off the 3 genres, it isn't enough to stand alone with the anime.

Time travel tropes are difficult to pull off, but in a span of 12 ... episodes it's extremely hard to be enjoyable with a unique time period of college. The side characters are at the will of the protagonist who doesn't disclose his abilities. Overall, disappointed about the ending choice of Kyouya; he had it good but he wanted the Best ending; that includes every single character that was involved with his projects. 5.4/ 10


stay lit; weeb out

The story started strong and then fell flat on its face.
I went to find the manga to find the ending as a lot of these 12-episode animes that companies put out nowadays are more like teasers to get you to buy the manga for the rest of the story, which is frustrating in and of itself.
The manga gave no relief the story is actually that short and just as unsatisfying.

The characters had such potential for a well-rounded time-hop story but this just cuts off to an open ending that leaves the watcher feeling like a waste of time.

Story: I will probably rate this a 6.

The main reason I actually disliked the story is the way that the main character decided to deal with the consequences of his actions. I realize that when presented with the option to time travel, it feels like an appropriate response, but what would probably make for a better story would actually be sticking with his decision and dealing with the consequences. It kept me going until I realized that it would most likely end in a very confusing, disappointing way, which it did. Also, just a really awful cliffhanger with not a lot of stuff explained.


Sound: 6

Honestly, ... the sound in this series wasn't really memorable.



Character: 5

The side characters were incredible. I really liked the passion, and the ups and downs of the side characters. I liked that their trust, their pain, and their success/failures felt palpable.

What I didn't like is how the main character acted like his plan was to help them, when he just didn't get the future he wanted. All of his goals were incredibly specific, and he did everything with blinders on. It's like everything he did was counter productive to his actual "goal". He totally screws them over once, and then when that's not enough, he screws them over a couple more times unbeknownst to them.



Enjoyment: 6

I really liked this show up til probably about episode 9. I loved the ship choice he woke up with, but then I realized that this incredibly dynamic child and relationship he had with my character of choice were going to be used as a plot device, never to be revisited again. Looking at his relationship through the anime with Shinoaki, I felt that the two together really made the most sense, but unfortunately it doesn't appear that the end game has this in mind.


Overall: 6

The fact that it ended at a cliffhanger, the fact that my choice in ship was used as a very specific, heart-wrenching plot device, and the choice to retcon his consequences and delete a child (because lol) made me unable to enjoy the ending of this. I think that had the pacing been better, there had been a better reason to go back, or there hadn't been a lot of development right before that choice, I would have enjoyed this more. But the very last episode absolutely destroyed me, and not in a good way.

Ugh, such a disappointment this turned out to be. With such a high average score and a kinda promising (if yet non-original) premiss I had high hopes for this one. Not _quite_ a complete waste of time but there definitely wasn't anything special about the story, whoever wrote this really could've done something more with the whole remake-theme, and I got a renewed hope about halfway into the season that there _would_ be some interesting consequences or twist or whatnot to it! But no. Might've as well just been a regular, plain slice-of-life school-series. Passes just above "meh" in my book. Wouldn't be surprised if ... the novel is way more interesting.

The Premise of this story is definitely one a large number of people can resonate with. A desire to go back and get involved with the heroes you look up to, chase dreams you were too scared to before. In that sense, it seems pretty clear that this series fills something of a power fantasy.

The first few episodes do very little to challenge that notion. The main character comes off as a pretty typical visual novel type of protag, from his calm demeanor to his slightly shaggy brown hair, to his somewhat non-specific character flaw of pessimism in the first episode, he's very easy to ... project onto. In the early episodes, it seems like he's just making everything better for the people he meets after travelling back in time, but the seeds are planted and cracks show every here and there.

The character interactions lead to a number of really poignant scenes, and I think the English Dub cast did a really good job (Although, Kyouya's VA doesn't seem like he's used to cussing, the "damn it"s come off like a child swearing for the first time). However, in between a lot of the important scenes, the show kinda feels like it's just playing the tropes. Kyouya gets smacked for being in the sightline of boobs more than once, and every woman seems magnetically attracted to him for some reason. if you are the type to roll your eyes at corny, B-tier Visual Novel dialogue, these scenes will make you cringe out of your skin, but I think it's intentional. The show was clearly made with a love of game-making and the creative process.

This show has real Steins;gate/Pet Girl of Sakurasou vibes to be honest and while that sounds like a mess I can see how the separate elements could work together. A key problem is that both of those shows were about 25 episodes long and this had 12 episodes, including the most worthless recap in anime history. So let's start with the first problem, it felt rushed. The writing, the weird recap, certain characters. Even the moving emotional scenes felt fast paced, despite being well done in certain areas.

The rushed factor is only part of the problem with the story. The whole thing loses confidence as ... time goes on. It's really tough to explain without spoilers but I, at least, found myself wondering what kind of story they were telling. Are they telling a story of regret & nostalgia, or are we just following around this guy during his life? The central time travel mechanic is a REAL problem that I can't go into as well. There's even dialogue which alludes to chunks of story being axed from the final version. Don't worry though, the story makes sure there's enough time for every girl (and potentially the other dude to) to fall completely in love with the protagonist. This annoys me both as a human and as an asexual.

Let's move onto the characters themselves. Honestly they were all really well rounded and had real potential, you could put them as the protagonist of their own series with little fleshing out and it'd work, very few characters are there to server the purposes of the protagonist, or feel 2 dimensional. I have a minor issue with the fact that everyone felt a little too beautiful, but that's a weird complaint, I realise that.

The art and sound are great, but it feels like it's borrowing a lot from other anime's. Credit where credit is due though, they helped keep me watching.

I came out of this feeling frustration as my primary emotion. There's such potential here, and with a longer run it could have fleshed out each part a bit more. Maybe a second season would help, and despite my reservations I would watch a second season. I never read the LN or Manga so I can't comment on it as an adaptation, but as an anime it disappointed me. At least it seemed to be trying to do something though, not another soulless isekai money machine. That's a separate rant though.