Bokutachi no Remake (Remake Our Life!)

Life is not going well for 28-year-old Kyouya Hashiba. Having left his office job to pursue a career in the video game industry, his internship at a popular game studio abruptly ends, leaving him unemployed and forcing him to move back in with his parents. Additionally, his jealousy toward the success of the "Platinum Generation"—a group of similarly-aged creators—has caused him to regret his decision to attend a traditional university instead of an arts college. Even though he believes there are no second chances in life, Kyouya is suddenly given one when he wakes up one day and finds himself 10 years in the past.

Instead of choosing business school like he originally had, Kyouya decides to pursue his passions and attends the Oonaka University of Art. There, he meets classmate Eiko Kawasegawa, the woman who had hired him as an intern in the present, alongside his new housemates and future Platinum Generation members: underachieving artist Aki Shino, aspiring singer and actress Nanako Kogure, and naturally-gifted writer Tsurayuki Rokuonji.

With each project they complete together, Kyouya and his friends venture closer to discovering their true potential as creators and remaking their lives into the ideal versions they desire.

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Adaptation:	Bokutachi no Remake
Summary:	Bokutachi no Remake Recap

Tanda, Hazuki
Japanese

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Matsumoto, Takuya

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Uesaka, Youichirou

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Oonuki, Yuusuke

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Kyo, Mikito

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Opening Theme

"Koko kara Saki wa Uta ni Naranai (ここから先は歌にならない)" by Poppin'Party

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"Kanousei (可能性)" by Argonavis

Reviews

Apr 2, 2024

hexashadow13

Recommended

tl;dr: An anime about trying to become a creator with a surprisingly overpowered protagonist and surprisingly more depth than expected.

Bokurema is about the protagonist, Hashiba Kyouya, waking up and discovering he’s been sent ten years into the past, right when he was choosing which college to go to. This was a major turning point in his life, where he had to choose between becoming a generic salaryman, or choosing the riskier option and pursuing a career as a creator. He originally chose the safer option, but came to deeply regret it. Thus when given the option to retry, he of course chooses to go to ... an arts college. Furthermore, it turns out the share house that he begins living at is full of creators that he admired in the future. Working with them, he hopes to grow to become an amazing creator as well.

This anime has a big emphasis on media creation, primarily from the lens of an otaku. It reminds me a lot of Saekano, which is similarly a light novel series penned by an author famous for their work in visual novels. The story in Bokurema has a lot more variety than Saekano though, in that while in Saekano the focus is entirely on making a visual novel, here it shows the development of a short film, a visual novel, and a gacha game. Still, a lot of it is the same in that the protagonist is the producer and has to manage an artist, writer, and musician, and in the process the viewer gets a look a the various aspects of media creation. Some parts definitely felt kind of wrong through, such as the part where they just swap game engines effortlessly, which was beyond my suspension of disbelief threshold. I will also note that both are full of references to other otaku media, including each having a cover of a song from a classic anime.

Another similarity between Bokurema and Saekano and is that it seems that the entire main cast is in love with the protagonist. The rest of the main cast in Bokurema is composed of: Shino Aki, an airheaded artist that very clearly falls in love with Kyouya; Kogure Nanako, a hesitant and easily embarrassed singer that very clearly falls in love with Kyouya; Kawasegawa Eiko, a cool honors student type that turns out later to secretly have fallen in love with Kyouya; and Rokuonji Tsurayuki, a talented writer and a guy that trusts and respects Kyouya so much that his fiancé gets worried that they’re secretly having a homosexual affair (they are not). The dynamic is very different from Saekano though in that most everyone is much more open about how much they love the protagonist, which gives it a very different from most school rom-com harem. If I had to say, I’d say it reminds me of an isekai harem. I think it does a great job at that, though you’ll have to be someone that can enjoy harem genre stories to appreciate it.

Another way this anime resembles an isekai is that the protagonist has very strong gary stu energy. Kyouya is able to push through and solve problems effortlessly to an absurd degree. It honestly gives the same sort of vibes you get from overpowered protagonists in isekai at times so if you enjoy that sort of thing you’ll definitely find those moments really satisfying. However, what I was really impressed by was that in the last arc of the anime, it uses Kyouya being so competent to add quite a lot of depth to the narrative. It explores some pretty interesting themes, such as how people can have impact well beyond their intentions or how facing adversity and making mistakes is a core aspect in the development of creativity. It went in directions I really didn’t expect it to go in but I really enjoyed. Thus overall, I felt the final arc was a fantastic arc. However, it leaves a lot unresolved and ends on a cliffhanger so I can’t say I was entirely satisfied, but it’s a partial adaptation of a much larger story so I don’t really hold that against it.

The art and animation in this are pretty solid. The character designs are pretty great and varied for the setting. The OP has a pretty good song and the ED song is decent, but what really stood out was that they have great visuals that show off the characters really well. The soundtrack worked well enough but was not particularly memorable.

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Dec 27, 2023

Smilomaniac

Mixed Feelings

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.

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Dec 22, 2022

RebelPanda

Not Recommended

Funny

All of us have looked back on our past and felt unfulfilled. It's natural to regret poor decisions. All of the missed opportunities, people you never met, mistakes you made. If you could change the years you regret the most, would you?

Imagine the most generic school harem anime possible: Remake Our Life is what comes to mind. Forgettable character designs, monotonous background music, and archetypal love interests compete for the everyman protagonist. Kyoya, the bland harem hero, is a failed adult who gets a second chance to relive his college years. After getting fired from his dream job at a game company, he mourns his ... wasted youth. He regrets not enrolling in an art university, then falls asleep. Upon opening his eyes, he is ten years in the past and instantly decides to go to college. Once enrolled, he immediately recognizes his roommates as successful artists from the future. His writing skills impress everyone—because he accidentally stole the idea from his only male roommate. Though he regrets benefitting from his friend's failure, he still reaps the rewards. Some of the rewards include ladies who quickly become attracted to him for his generic looks and filmmaking talents.

He is where he belongs: A place where people recognize his talent. Kyoya embodies the everyman trope prominently utilized in isekai light novel adaptations. A businessman in a dead-end job living with his parents, he yearns to relive his youth. Suddenly, an unknown power transports him to the past! He takes this monumental once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to... enroll in college. Now he can become the man he has always wanted, an artist and professional womanizer. Kyoya lacks discernable characteristics or individuality, making it easy for you to project onto him.

All the girls surrounding Kyoya are the same height and body type to be as marketable as possible. For this reason, I will refer to them by hair color first. Though three out of five of the main cast are women, their dialogue is mainly with Kyoya or about him. As the poster art suggests, this is a harem anime dressed up with melodrama. You'll see plenty of fanservice at inconvenient times, but they tone it down after the first couple of episodes. Shinoaki, the blue-haired girl, is a sleepy and airheaded artist. Her character arc begins and ends in one episode—she questions her talent, and Kyoya quickly reassures her that's not the case. This moment sparks a flame of love. There is no romantic progression or chemistry between the two, which just happens to us. We are helpless passengers aboard this slowly derailing train. The red-haired girl, Kawasegawa, is a little too confrontational for her own good. Frequently she harshly criticizes people for justified reasons; however, the direction frames it as a bad personality trait. Suddenly dark music plays or cuts out altogether, and they use close-ups to emphasize the anxiety she causes. She works through this flaw—which being critical isn't really a flaw at all, and that's the crux of her arc. She has a cute side that she only shows to the main character. Is it love? Watch to find out. Her primary purpose in Kyoya's story is to provide motivational speeches and assist him on art projects.

Nanako, the blonde girl, is stern and has character development—reserved for the show's first half. She becomes irrelevant afterward. As an actress conflicted about her future, she deals with self-doubt and insecurities. Although her turmoil seems exaggerated with melodramatic dialogue, she is more compelling than the rest. She, too, has a cute side that she only shows to the main character. Their romantic development is gradual rather than forced. If only Kyoya had the character depth to compliment hers. The dialogue, especially involving Nanako, is awful: they utilize her for fanservice and to fawn over Kyoya, only to sideline her shortly after that.

What the hell kind of friend are you? There's a recurring problem here: Kyoya assumes the wants and needs of his friends without actually asking them first, and the story rewards him for this. At best, it's presumptuous to believe you could solve someone's issues for them. Though the show pays lip service to this idea, it is ultimately a mistake it continues to make until the end. I wouldn't say I like the term "self-insert" because it implies the author wrote himself in the story as the main character. Instead, Kyoya is an avatar for the audience. He is an everyman—generic in every sense for us to project onto him. We can live our fantasies like a hot college film student surrounded by single attractive women. And no judgment if you want an ego boost. The ladies vie for his attention; one girl even says the classic "I won't lose" line, implying she'll never give up on her love. The other men are, of course, perverts, unattractive, or lacking the talent Kyoya possesses. There are a couple more recurring faces that leave little impression.

Attempts at self-aware humor fall flat without follow-up. Kyoya's friend says, "All of those girls, for no reason, are in love with me as soon as the game begins!" He shrugs it off, and then things move on to normal. Cue the fan service and girls fighting over him despite being thoroughly mediocre. Jabbing at the cringe-worthy nature of dating simulators is funny but woefully misguided here. Remake engages in the same harem cliches it mocks, and in the words of a better writer than me: "Self-awareness does not absolve anybody of anything." We've been aware of a show's problem, but there's no subversion. Shinoaki continues to dizzily follow Kyoya around like a lost puppy, and Nakano pines for him in the background. Tsurayuki, the aforementioned male roommate, has the unfortunate role of getting pushed around by our hero. Kyoya does his best to apologize and explain, and it works to keep him in order. Similar to the ladies, his insecurities manifest as imposter syndrome. He worries he's not contributing enough—and this is an intriguing theme that Remake cuts short.

The art is utterly forgettable—generic character designs, bland background art, and minimal animation. Of course, dynamic artwork is unneeded for a shallow harem LN adaptation primarily made up of tedious conversations. The music adds insignificant emotional impact because it's recycled repeatedly—kind of like a typical visual novel soundtrack. The catchy opening track sung by the leading ladies somewhat makes up for the lackluster OST. The outro is mellow and relaxing, shown on a movie reel to reference the film they created. Remake suffers from coming off as insincere in its portrayal of artists at times; during the film screenings, characters tell us how great the short films were, but the viewer rarely sees them. When we're supposed to believe these are super talented artists, you have to prove it. There were moments it did prove to us their talents, such as with Nanako's singing and Shinoaki's art, which fulfilled this potential.

In the ninth episode, the show evolves. It threw a curveball to grab our attention as it sunk into mediocre melodrama. The author finally used the time travel mechanic, though it was ultimately in vain. He attempts to confront the implausible fantasy premise of the show with a Butterfly Effect sort of twist. Credit where credit is due, Kyoya develops ever so slightly, but not enough to be relatable. The dialogue primarily consists of narration to catch us up on new information—similar to a recap episode. And you have to admit, recap episodes are pretty dull. Despite the balls it took to make drastic changes so late, this was ultimately the weakest part of the show. There needed to be a practical reason for forgoing the character development of the first eight episodes.

Ten years ago, the tacked-on-time travel premise would've been inventive. Today it's derivative. Better anime have done this premise before Steins;Gate, ReLife, Orange, and even Erased. Ironically, the main character travels to the past to relive his youth, never realizing our experiences—even the cringe-worthy ones—make us who we are today. Flawed, imperfect, but unmistakably ourselves. Like Kyoya's memories, mistakes, and poor choices, Remake Our Life should've stayed in the past.

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