Adapting the “リライフ” manga by Yayoiso into anime form, was keen on watching “ReLIFE” because its story about a disillusioned man in his late twenties who after failing for years to find new employment after a past work experience left him traumatised, gets a unique opportunity to do things over by reliving high school, sounded intriguing.
The entire season of “ReLIFE” is already available online at Crunchyroll, after a convincing first episode, I kept on watching and already progressed to the halfway point of the series and it has been excellent. While it is perhaps not as strong like anime with similar themes such as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru”, it is nonetheless a solid series.
In fact, depending on how the plot and characters progress, it may still reach a higher level as the themes and various bonds between the characters might showcase interesting developments. Although must say that one the shows’ strengths is that overall it is more modest and toned-down than “Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru” or “Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!”.
Did appreciate that the story’s incredulous science-fiction element of a drug being able to return someone to their teenage appearance is only used as a plot vehicle in the first episodes and not needlessly elaborated on. Not unexpectedly, they are however using the fact that the main character actually is in his late twenties and no longer an energetic teenager to trigger all the typical comedy scenes such a plot point can lead to.
A nice bonus and welcome surprise is how the studio manages to convincingly animate characters like Arata both as a teenager as well as an adult, with subtle differences in the respective designs.
Enjoyed “ReLIFE” so far and will definitely watch the rest of this excellent series. You can watch the entire thirteen episode season of “ReLIFE” on Crunchyroll.
