I've yet to see Re:Life; hence, I've no clue what Remake Our Life is gonna turn out. Now, slice-of-life genre can be great storytelling especially when the premise of youngsters wanting to create stuff can be related to the target audience. But unfortunately, ROL has its execution become poorly-made that it becomes unmemorable for me to remember though the main protagonist is one of the most despicable characters I've ever seen so far.
For starters, I'm well aware that many of the existing light novels are made up of self-insert protagonists writing style and that LNs are one of the mediums where escapism is prioritised. Nevertheless, it's always risky to write that kind of protagonist because the character itself will become an unlikeable one to several readers who views the protagonist as a ridiculous being despite the realistic stuff happening around the said protagonist.
Kyoya, being an obvious self-insert protagonist, has become one of the most condescending characters I've ever watched. Regardless of the contriving message on him evading a quarter-life crisis that's just been easily resolved with a time travel ability from one of the characters he meets later on, I see Kyoya being an actual villain at the end of the series. I know I sound ridiculous, but all I see from this adaptation are his words not matching up with his actions. Whatever Kyoya does in his "Reset Past" is somewhat patronising that makes him a hypocrite. The final episode has take the cake for he says he regrets doing this, but he still does the most despicable thing he has ever done: erasing someone's life from existence even though she didn't do anything wrong.
Also, the fanservice in the first half seems out of place that it somewhat makes it more obvious that there's a reason why self-insert protagonists, especially the male ones, are frowned upon in the writing department. Though I'm satisfied with the second half not having random fanservice scenes, the execution of a serious story that revolves around making/creating all kinds of mediums of the entertainment industry has been watered down, leaving me feel dull on how it's presented.
Its presentation of how each "creation of entertainment stuff" is explained with 90% of all the runtime made up of heavy exposition dump via the protagonist's narration. I don't understand how this kind of presentation can be making a valuable message be memorable in many viewers' minds feel fresh as long as it can be. Now I know why Japanese viewers' thoughts on this anime adaptation is poorly received because the storytelling elements are weak to deliver any emotional impact due to knowing Kyoya is a selfish protagonist with a savior complex despite in the final few episodes, he was saying out loud that he won't be that anymore. Nevertheless, I'm planning to read the LN someday just to know whether this adaptation is a very compressed one.
Still, having a one cour doesn't excuse poor execution of the intended storytelling for I've seen some one-cour series that has managed to get a high score from myself. In the end, I feel like ROL reminds me of that okay K-drama called "Start-up", but the former score being half of the latter one.
I can only recommend this if you don't care about the heavy exposition dumps that has led to 10% "action louder than words" frames feel unfulfilling, if you just like the female characters being cute waifus and/or if you just want an anime adaptation where the storytelling elements are very easy on your mind. I believe the only reason why I stick throughout the series is because of Kawasegawa whom I find likeable even though she's discarded without proper character development and that she's obviously a plot device, along with every supporting character, for a dull protagonist to develop into a hypocrite.
Despite my dissatisfaction of the execution of its storytelling, I've to give credit that the anime studio has made acceptable animation quality though the character designs are generic-looking and background art is just okay to look at. Still, I should appreciate that the animators (especially from the Key Animation & Animation Director teams) making a feel-good, escapism series that might cheer up/inspire for those who want to watch in a world where everything is filled up with uncertainty.
