It's not often that I think something manages to be both incredibly world-weary and incredibly optimistic. After all, world-weary fiction often shows this by being jaded and tired, too savvy to be sucked in to joy that it knows can't last and too used to being hurt to fully embrace anything it finds valuable. This is not a condemnation of everything cynical or dark as being mopey - these works are often full of energy and things to say, and can be heartfelt and touching in their own right. I'm merely trying to point out that with world-weariness there always comes a jadedness that prevents one from being fully optimistic.
ReLIFE is one of the few pieces of fiction - be it literature, film, game or, in this case, TV - that I feel manages to be both incredibly savvy and grown-up whilst never loosing optimism or joy. It follows Arata, a 27 year old man who's a bit of a failure. After quitting his job after working there for only three months, he's become unemployable - he's seen as a liability, someone who's too unreliable to be brought aboard as anything but part-time help. One night, after drinking with his friends (To whom he still holds up the pretense that he has a job), he meets Yoake, an employee of the ReLIFE corporation, who offers him a deal. If he becomes a test subject for a year in their ReLIFE program, he'll have all living expenses payed for said year, and a possibility of full employment with ReLIFE after the experiment is ended, depending on his performance. The catch is that the ReLIFE project involves him being made to look like he's 16 and sent back to school for a year, only for his schoolmates memories of him to be erased after he leaves.
In most anime this would simply be an excuse for Arata to get into high school shenanigans, with the jokes being "But he's old!". This is definitely the direction ReLIFE takes this, as well, but it also does much more with this. Rather than just being a simple high school slice-of-life comedy with Arata secretly being an adult, it plays with Arata's position. Even though he quickly becomes a regular member of the school community, he also acts as a puppeteer behind the scenes, subtly pushing his schoolmates into not making the mistakes he feels like he made during school and after it. He helps the shy antisocial girl make friends, he encourages the eternal second-place student to continue pushing herself even if she can never quite overcome her rival, and so on.
The stories that come out of this are good in and of themselves. Comedy isn't too overabundant but it's amusing, and the touching moments are appropriately spaced out and effective. All of the characters are likable enough for me to care about, and just different enough from the high-school archetype they're based on to feel unique. ReLIFE's real strength comes in Arata himself, though. There's a sense of mature fondness he feels for the kids. He very obviously sees himself in them, and he's helping them out as much out of desire to help his friends as out of regret that he didn't have someone to push him in that direction. Arata obviously sees himself as a failure, as much as he comically denies it, and he's happy to be in a time before failure was permanent. He doesn't want these kids to fuck up in the same way he did.
Despite how bitter this sounds, the show is surprisingly gentle about it. Rather than wallowing in pity over the fact that these simple days when all you have to worry about is the occasional exam and whether your crush reciprocates your feeling or not are over, ReLIFE fondly remembers them. The whole point of the ReLIFE experiment is for Arata to remember this feeling and to use it to push himself out of his rut. After all, his life after ReLIFE promises to be better, with the possibility of a permanent job at ReLIFE. Despite this, there's a feeling of dread for when the experiment ends: The students will forget Arata, though not his lessons. The friends he makes during this experiment aren't permanent, none of his progress will keep. His return to innocence is meant to promptly disappear.
This is really what makes ReLIFE worth a watch. For people like myself, who did fantastically at school and are struggling to keep up in adult life, ReLIFE is both a nostalgic trip to a time where your future seemed bright and full of promise, and a reminder not to give up. Even if you seem to be doing badly, even if your life seems to be heading to a disappointing place after the high expectations you'd set up for yourself earlier, it's not over yet, and you have to keep trying and keep pushing yourself. If you do, you're bound to end up in a good place. It's an important reminder, and one that I desperately needed after having fallen from being extremely promising in school to below mediocre at university. ReLIFE might not be all that outstanding as a show, but it's one that I needed to watch where I'm at in my life right now.
Thanks, ReLIFE.
Rating: 9/10
ReLIFE is one of the few pieces of fiction - be it literature, film, game or, in this case, TV - that I feel manages to be both incredibly savvy and grown-up whilst never loosing optimism or joy. It follows Arata, a 27 year old man who's a bit of a failure. After quitting his job after working there for only three months, he's become unemployable - he's seen as a liability, someone who's too unreliable to be brought aboard as anything but part-time help. One night, after drinking with his friends (To whom he still holds up the pretense that he has a job), he meets Yoake, an employee of the ReLIFE corporation, who offers him a deal. If he becomes a test subject for a year in their ReLIFE program, he'll have all living expenses payed for said year, and a possibility of full employment with ReLIFE after the experiment is ended, depending on his performance. The catch is that the ReLIFE project involves him being made to look like he's 16 and sent back to school for a year, only for his schoolmates memories of him to be erased after he leaves.
In most anime this would simply be an excuse for Arata to get into high school shenanigans, with the jokes being "But he's old!". This is definitely the direction ReLIFE takes this, as well, but it also does much more with this. Rather than just being a simple high school slice-of-life comedy with Arata secretly being an adult, it plays with Arata's position. Even though he quickly becomes a regular member of the school community, he also acts as a puppeteer behind the scenes, subtly pushing his schoolmates into not making the mistakes he feels like he made during school and after it. He helps the shy antisocial girl make friends, he encourages the eternal second-place student to continue pushing herself even if she can never quite overcome her rival, and so on.
The stories that come out of this are good in and of themselves. Comedy isn't too overabundant but it's amusing, and the touching moments are appropriately spaced out and effective. All of the characters are likable enough for me to care about, and just different enough from the high-school archetype they're based on to feel unique. ReLIFE's real strength comes in Arata himself, though. There's a sense of mature fondness he feels for the kids. He very obviously sees himself in them, and he's helping them out as much out of desire to help his friends as out of regret that he didn't have someone to push him in that direction. Arata obviously sees himself as a failure, as much as he comically denies it, and he's happy to be in a time before failure was permanent. He doesn't want these kids to fuck up in the same way he did.
Despite how bitter this sounds, the show is surprisingly gentle about it. Rather than wallowing in pity over the fact that these simple days when all you have to worry about is the occasional exam and whether your crush reciprocates your feeling or not are over, ReLIFE fondly remembers them. The whole point of the ReLIFE experiment is for Arata to remember this feeling and to use it to push himself out of his rut. After all, his life after ReLIFE promises to be better, with the possibility of a permanent job at ReLIFE. Despite this, there's a feeling of dread for when the experiment ends: The students will forget Arata, though not his lessons. The friends he makes during this experiment aren't permanent, none of his progress will keep. His return to innocence is meant to promptly disappear.
This is really what makes ReLIFE worth a watch. For people like myself, who did fantastically at school and are struggling to keep up in adult life, ReLIFE is both a nostalgic trip to a time where your future seemed bright and full of promise, and a reminder not to give up. Even if you seem to be doing badly, even if your life seems to be heading to a disappointing place after the high expectations you'd set up for yourself earlier, it's not over yet, and you have to keep trying and keep pushing yourself. If you do, you're bound to end up in a good place. It's an important reminder, and one that I desperately needed after having fallen from being extremely promising in school to below mediocre at university. ReLIFE might not be all that outstanding as a show, but it's one that I needed to watch where I'm at in my life right now.
Thanks, ReLIFE.
Rating: 9/10
