Aug 13, 2016
Outstanding execution of what it was going for. Despite being centered around high school, Relife feels like it was made for adults by adults. The themes are basic, but explored with such nuance that they leave a deep impact, and you find yourself caring for the characters and hoping for a happy outcome for them all.
Characters are not incredibly complex, and almost every character is lacking in any real flaws, but they are still totally believable, if not the most exciting. Their motivations and behaviors are never out of sync with reality or unjustified (problems that plague 99% of anime...). The main character, as an
...
adult looking into the world of children, behaves appropriately and exactly as expected, and it's delightful to watch him try to adjust to and navigate in a world he technically left years ago. Anime tropes are used here and there (exaggerated responses, overly cute moments, paused frames of time where characters look at each other and realize their feelings for each other, all that fun stuff), but they're used sparingly, appropriately, and with enough subtlety that they seem endearing instead of obnoxious/distracting. And while each character doesn't really change a whole lot, the developments that happen are given appropriate exposition, and thus feel immensely satisfying in the end.
Now, in all honesty, the story is nothing special, and not a lot unexpected happens. But it's telling that while nothing super exciting happens in Relife, you still find yourself surprisingly deep in your emotional investment. The thing is, with most anime, they try to piece together incredible stories with intense drama, strong emotions, and amazing plot developments - but with absolutely no subtlety and inadequate exposition, it ends up being campy.
A little note: it's not that I don't like these things - Code Geass, for example, is often ridiculous, but its exposition, pacing, and handling of things is done so well (for the most part) that you still find yourself immersed in the story, and it's one of my favorite animes because of this. But most animes will screw it up...characters' emotions will seem unnecessary, their motives/behaviors unjustified for the events that preceded, and plot developments will unfold arbitrarily, introducing shock and drama for the sake of shock and drama. All these moments of disconnect serve to pull you out of the story and make you less invested.
Relife aims for less grandiose heights, but it reaches what it goes for perfectly. The little twists and drama are handled with superb timing, and flashbacks are used perfectly to compel the narrative forward, with tiny bits of exposition that slowly reveal the backstory and leave you wondering instead of just being thrown in haphazardly. Relife doesn't take you for an amazing or thrilling ride, but rather, chugs along at a consistently pleasant pace.
I guess...if you're a huge fan of anime and some of its more representative aspects of stylistic direction in general, Relife won't do it for you. It's beautifully understated, and its moments of catharsis/drama/etc occur organically without being thrown in your face, so much so that you might miss some of them. If you like huge random plot twists out of nowhere, moments characters who burst out crying/raging and go on melodramatic rants about their motivations, characters with immensely sad/horrific/crazy backstories to justify their extreme views, and all the other standards of most anime - you probably won't like Relife. But if those things are the parts of anime that annoy you, maybe Relife is what you were looking for :)
10/10
In truth an actual rating of Relife would be closer to 8/10, but I'm giving it a higher score for what it represents
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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