The Struggles of Life: ReLife Series Review

              There are always moments in life where things seem not to go our way. We may wish to do things differently. Perhaps at some point something went wrong. Unfortunately, we do not always get the chance to go back, to start fresh, and give us time to rediscover and change what has been done.  ReLife shares a sort of similar idea with this. Although not going back in time, making yourself younger and reliving one year of high school to change your outlook on life. Thus Arata Kaizaki in order to longer be a part-time NEET, he must do this.

The 13-episode anime adapts about 110 chapter of the web manga. Although this may sound like it is adapting a lot, and it is, the chapters are fairly short so the series makes it work. All episodes were made available online, before airing on television, as part of the 2016 summer season. Crunchyroll licensed this romance, school life, but mostly drama series for streaming.

Overall for a series that one, adapts a lot of the manga, it certainly does not feel like it. The show ended giving plenty of room for the need to want more, but unfortunately it is too close to a manga that has short chapters. If it was not known that the manga has short chapters, about 10 pages per chapter.  The anime still feels like it did not cover much. It works, but it still feels too incomplete. Many series like this that say they will exist in this amount of time, or like most tournament based anime, end with it not that far into the tournament. This series could get more, but for now it is probably going to turn into a read the source ending. This is always unfortunate.

 

One thing I always like to note, despite being a chronic skipper of ending themes, the show has several. Music, as always is a struggle for me to notice. It honestly needs to feel like I need to start making note of these sort of things.

Art style seemed rather bright. Anime tend to feel like they have this set color scheme. Lighter colors in the animation seemed to be clear. However, it worked in times of drama, where the colors changed to be darker. Of course most drama seemed to happen in sunset or night-time scenes, but this is not always true.

This series may be drama, but that will be covered in a bit. There is still comedy, which in the earlier moments of the series, it works. Arata is going back to high school. He was 27, now going back to being 17. There were adjustments, like him realizing that he can’t smoke or drink in front of others. This sorts of add to the comedic aspects since it sometimes before forgettable that he is actually a lot older than other characters. It is nice to see an odd twist to anime being in high school. The comedy is not just in the adjustments, but with some of the characters at times, this seems to be the more comedic before getting into the drama later on.

Now for the drama. This series makes it clear after the first few episodes, it is not always about Arata and his readjustment to get rid of being a NEET. Unlike other anime that takes place in high school, this feels like it captures the struggles more. This can be in the main set of characters or even the minor characters. The drama gives growth and focuses on different struggles, like making friends (which I still struggle on), or realizing that there will be people better than you, or trying to figure out that next step and place in life. The drama is more realistic and works for a series that has someone trying to regain their sense of self.

The characters, seemed to not really focus on them so far.  Arata says he does not want to be any part of this and wants to take the next year easy, yet over time this is obviously not true, he wants to help the other students with their problems. Of course this relates to the problems he faced in life already. Such as being bullied or seeing people bully others. At the start he seems more reluctant thrown into the role. But by the end he is more active and wishes to help showing a lot of changes in his character in those 13 episodes, which translates to about 3 to 4 months. The other characters may not change as dramatically as Arata, but it becomes clearer over time on his effect on them.

As previously stated when it comes to the drama, it works. The comedy blends well with it. Overall the ending may seem not as satisfying as one may hope and it certainly drops a bomb that makes you want more.  Which again as previously stated, it may be awhile until a second season or it turning into a read the source ending. Despite this the series is still rather enjoyable if that does not bother you.

Scores

Overall Score: B

Reason: Mostly due to the not so satisfying ending and the possible read the source ending. Without those factors the score would be higher.

Overall Enjoyment: 90/100

Reason: Mostly since Binge watching was a lot easier to do from the start instead of watching it weekly. This is rare for me to do, but it worked with this series after the first few episodes and esspecially in the later half.

Little Tidbits

Favorite Ep: Episode 2/the readjustment first few ep

Best Girl: Chizuru

Other Recommendations:

Looking for drama and a lot more of it: Your Lie in April or Golden Time or Silent Voice (Manga only)

Looking for comedy similar to this: D-Frag (very exaggerated comparison)

Feel free to give your thoughts on this series.

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As always I hope you enjoyed.

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Again, I hope you enjoyed and see you next time.

– Joe