Story: Kanzaki Arata is a 27 year old man who is currently unemployed. Due to complications at work, he quit his job 3 months into starting it and as a result of doing so, has been unable to find any kind of stable work. As a result of this, he has become a NEET, and has developed a lack of confidence and personal strength in order to continue living his depressing life amidst friends who were able to find success. On one fateful night, he meets Yoake Ryo, a man part of the ReLife laboratory who gives Arata a chance to redeem himself and change his life forever. All he has to do is take one. little. pill. The next morning, he finds himself to be 17 again and Ryo comes in telling him that he is to return back to high school and relive a third year at high school. And thus, Arata's ReLife journey begins.
ReLife is a story about self confidence and personal growth. The entire runtime or at least the greater majority of this show focuses on its characters and their personal problems and trials that hinder them from moving forward and growing past their insecurities. The show doesn't just focus on Arata's story back to high school and all the 'wonders' that high school has to offer (Cause lord knows high school is a great place), but also on several other characters in the school that he transfers to, primarily the story's female cast. As a result, the show follows an arcic setup where the characters go from one person's problem to another in a matter of episodes, ranging from mostly 2-3 episodes in length for each arc.
While ReLife's story has a lot of good qualities to it, with the majority of the runtime being about self-worth, some of the problems feel just sort of like your standard teenage drama more than anything. Additionally, Arata's role in the series, despite his existence being the main character, feels a lot more muted than one may originally think. At times he feels like more of a side character than the main protagonist since he's not always the main focus at the time. As a result, the show evokes the 'teen drama' feel rather than about a 27 year old man looking 17 and attending high school in order to better both the people around him and himself.
All of that aside, ReLife's story while has its faults, is pretty solid all around. While Arata isn't the main focus of the series ALL of the time, his time in the spotlight is very much hard focused onto him and his problems and really showed character growth as the series went along. There's a real sense of progress from start to finish and there is noticeable change with the characters in the series as you go episode by episode, ending with a rather nice end that hopefully gives way to a second season. Cause lord knows I am NOT going to stand for that bomb of information that was given to us in the last episode!
Overview:
+ Lots of character development
+ Noticeable changes as the story goes along
- Bit teenage drama'y at times
Characters: ReLife, being a character-based series, has a lot of development to go around for its cast. As such, I'll try my best to give very little information as possible in order to avoid heavy spoilers.
Kaizaku Arata is our main protagonist, a 27 year old man turned 17 as a result for being the subject of an experiment for the ReLife laboratory. Arata is a sociable and sometimes awkward character with very good intentions. Due to not attending high school for about a decade, Arata starts off the series as a very awkward and strange character due to not knowing the ins and outs of Japanese high schools who over the first few episodes gets to know various members of his class and their interactions with one another. Arata is an observant but emotionally flawed character. A lot of his action in the series are very self-reflective actions that not only help the character he's aiding at the time, but also impacts himself along the way. He's a charming character that is proactive and attentive to his surroundings, actively trying to use his expertise in the supposed 'real world' (cause he's technically an adult) to help these high school problems which is actually kind of nice.
Then there's Hishiro Chizuru, the apparent love interest of the series who holds the mostly kuudere but awkward yet cute character role in the series. As mentioned in the last sentence, Chizuru is a rather awkward character. Her character is mostly a direct opposite in Arata due to being rather unsociable, very inattentive to her surroundings, and being an airhead to most things that are around her. The series progresses her character by breaking her out of her shell and opening up to the world that is around her. With the help of Arata, Chizuru's character grows and while largely still appears the same, has quite a few aspects to her character that are different from when the series begins.
The majority of the characters fall into a sort of sub-main characters, as they're really more important to arcs rather than being consistent always there main characters. These characters consist of Kariu Rena, Ohga Kazuomi, Onoya An, and Yoake Ryo. These four, particularly Rena, take up the majority of the screentime aside from our two main characters. Like the main characters, they all have a decent amount of change for character development as well as a decent amount of screentime to get to know and understand them. The rest of the cast are more or less arc-pertained side characters (particularly Honoka) who aid in a character's development with only some to call their own.
Overall though, the cast of ReLife has an overabundance of character development that comes jam packed with almost every member of the cast. My biggest problem when it comes to the cast comes with the fact that the show puts a hefty amount of focus on Kariu more than any other character. A lot of the show feels like it revolves on Kariu and her personal problems, thus adding into why I think this show feels like a teen drama at times. As a result of this, Arata as the main character doesn't really feel like he gets as much time devoted to him as he should, thus creating a dynamic that feels unfavorable.
Overview:
+ A large amount of character development
+ Majority of the cast gets development
- Kariu felt like she took up most of the screentime
Art: Made by TMS, the art for ReLife strikes a firm...average. The art for ReLife doesn't do anything but scream out 'ordinary' and doesn't really have much memorability as an artstyle. It feel just sort of...average and as such, doesn't really feel unique. Plus, that band on their school uniform bothers me to no end because not only does it look out of place, but it's apparently animated wrong as well. (Or so I am told.)
That being said, ReLife uses a lot of comedic stylings to spice up their artstyle. Using lots of chibification, as well as a lot of exaggerated faces in order to bring comedy into the situation, the show feels a lot more alive and more visually appealing because of it.
Overview:
+ Good comedic stylings
- Actual art is average at best
Sound: The soundtrack for ReLife also doesn't do anything but just scream out meh. The OP feels like a generic high school sitcom opening and the ED's, while plentiful due to EVERY EPISODE having a different ending, don't feel like anything but generic rock songs that are there to fill up space. Sure they change what the mood is depending on what is happening in the series at that moment in time, but quite honestly, there's nothing all that interesting in the way of ReLife's OP and ED's.
The background music however deserves a bit of a special mention. This show has an addiction to the piano and the usage of jazz stylings with trumpet and whimsical tunes. The entire background music of this show is filled to the brim with a while not varied, bright set of colorful of piano and occasional piano and trumpet duets that brought more flavor to the high school life that was being presented to us.
Overview:
+ Entertaining BGM
- OP and EDs kinda fall flat
Personal Enjoyment: Dear Comico, NEVER DO THIS AGAIN. Seriously though, an entire series in one day to someone like me who prides himself on writing a review for a series on the same day that it ends, is something that brings me great dismay and agony. Though despite my personal issues and policies, ReLife was a series that I'd say was surprising to say the least. At times while it did feel like it was just a high school drama, it had this mature feel to it with Arata's experiences in life that made it feel more unique and enjoyable. Not the best in my opinion, but a interesting way to start off the Summer 2016 season.
Did I like this anime?
Yeah, I did. It didn't feel as generic as it probably could've or should've and it had a consistent stream of problems and solutions to keep me going to watch the next episode. There was a real progress with every minute that the series went by with and despite the series not following the webcomic to the letter, skipping over some mundane details (or so I'm told), had a decisive and conclusive ending which hopefully means season 2 because goddamnit, I need more information about that goddamn bombshell dropped at the end.
What didn't I like about this anime?
Kariu. And not just because her name just feels phonetically wrong, but because Kariu as a character just felt like she ate up far too much screentime. She was very consistently in the spotlight in this series and her character just didn't feel very relatable or worth sympathizing with. She was rather annoying at times and I just kinda didn't care for her a good chunk of the time.
Would I recommend this anime?
If you want a unique high school series with a rather...interesting twist, then go right on ahead. ReLife is definitely not your average school anime and has enough to go for it to be both unique and very interesting. It's got a lot of character development so there's always progress and man, does this series just love the piano.
