Bokutachi no Remake

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.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shino, Aki Main

Koga, Aoi Japanese

Kawasegawa, Eiko Main

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Hashiba, Kyouya Main

Itou, Masahiro Japanese

Kogure, Nanako Main

Terakawa, Aimi Japanese

Rokuonji, Tsurayuki Main

Ishiya, Haruki Japanese

Hashiba, Maki Supporting

Honizumi, Rina Japanese

Minori, Ayaka Supporting

Takahashi, Rie Japanese

Tomioka, Keiko Supporting

Oozora, Naomi Japanese

Kanou, Misaki Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Hashiba, Miyoko Supporting

Tanda, Hazuki Japanese

Matsumoto, Takuya Producer

Takigasaki, Makoto Producer

Kyo, Mikito Producer

Oonuki, Yuusuke Producer

Reviews

Jul 2, 2024

NiQ1

Recommended

This is really one of my favorite anime shows of all times, because I look at the protagonist and feel something like "this is I", and I think many of the people over 25-30 or so will feel the same.
This is the story of Kyouya Hashiba, a 28 year old game developer, or so he wants to be, but the company where he worked, if it can even be called a company, had just gone bankrupt and he finds himself without a job. He thinks about the most popular artists of the time - Akishima Shino, one of the best animators of all times, N@NA, ... a singer whose shows always sell out, Kawagoe Kyouichi, a very successful writer and novelist. Together they are known as the "platinum generation" - and they're all Kyouya's age! Looking back at his decision he regrets the biggest mistake of his life - back when he was 18, just fresh out of high school, he was accepted into a prestigious university of arts, but ultimately decided to go to general studies for a more "stable" job. He wonders whether he could have been part of the platinum generation if he had went to that university, so when one day he wakes up and finds himself thrown back in time ten years ago, just before he made that fateful decision, he is determined not to repeat that same mistake.
This anime is about a person who actually gets to do what many of us dream of. To get a second chance to retroactively change our life course, and this is why I and probably many of you would personally relate.

There is one warning though, which is the reason I'm not giving it a perfect 10 - like many shows, this is based on a light novel, and the anime does not adapt the source material all the way to the end. This is more or less the norm rather the exception in anime, however in this case, the light novel was never translated into English (at least as of the time of writing this). If you finish watching this and want to know how the story continues you'll have to either read it in Japanese or rely on fan translations (quality varies).

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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