I didn't read the manga of reLIFE, in fact I actually turned away from the manga due to small interest in the concept. At first glance the whole process of an older man going to a school with a bunch of young individuals is fairly unappealing. I mean, who wants to see an anime with the romance tag when the protagonist will be several years older than the kids in school? At first I thought this was pretty disgusting to be honest (lol). Although once you get past the struggle of getting through the synopsis, the show itself exceeded my expectations tremendously I must say.
The story was actually more interesting than I thought it to be. Although it was unappealing to me at first glance, once you start to experience the execution of the story it's much better than it appears to be. I'm sure there are people out there that would appreciate this kind of story regardless of how I was being pushed away from the synopsis, but don't judge this show like I did prematurely. The setting takes place in school which isn't exactly uncommon, although the process to get to the setting is unique. An older man taking a drug to once again turn himself into a high schooler isn't the general process to achieve a school/slice of life anime. Throughout the series ReLIFE the main character is basically interacting with the teenagers, giving advice and help them advance as adults. The point of this show is for development of the main character through the experimentation of sending adults back to their school lives. It's actually enjoyable to watch, as there are plenty of problems with everybody in their lives in high school such as romance, relationships, personal stuggles, and so on. The main character is forced into an environment that he has experienced before, and he helps students solve their problems while also solving his own problems that he has unanswered to in his personal life along the way.
The art was pretty easy on the eyes. It was easy to look at, although nothing exceptional from the average anime. I did think the colours were done really well though, it kind of brought life and easiness into the show which gave it a relaxation feeling.
The OST/Opening were really well done. I love the opening a lot, it's enjoyable to listen to and really friendly/positive. The endings though, were EXCEPTIONALLY well done. There was a different ending to each episode with different visuals for each ending, and it was extremely enjoyable to listen/watch to considering they took the mood of the episode and basically embodied it into a song. The song choice for the endings were nearly perfect in my books, and I thought it was genius. Like 10/10, they brought plenty emotion to the end of episodes with fairly strong closures on the small arcs of each character. The soundtrack was strong in my eyes. The background music at some particular moments were sometimes a little wonky (didn't feel like the perfect fit for certain particular moments to bring out the emotion in certain scenes) although there was plenty of variety which made it fun nonetheless.
The characters were the highlights of this anime. I don't want to delve too deep into the characters as they would contain spoilers, although the story is basically highlighting the character development. We get to see and experience the teenagers interacting with the main character and witness the development of the main character AND the other characters simultaneously. The character designs were good and bad at the same time, some characters stood out as unique and interesting, although some characters were just dull and two in particular look extremely similar and it was somewhat hard to tell the difference between the two (Yoake and Ooga).
This show was certainly enjoyable, had strong drama and character development while being enjoyable. The animation wasn't anything special, and the art was decent. Those are the weakest points, although the anime quality is there and I had a fun time with this series. Anime is all about the enjoyment, and I certainly enjoyed ReLIFE =)
Overall, the show had flaws but the pros outshines the cons very well. I think this show is worth the watch, especially if you're looking for an enjoyable comedy/romance/slice of life.
