THERE BETTER BE A SECOND SEASON OF THIS!!!!!!
Oh, hello! excuse my outburst there .............
Hey Guys, Kaldath here with another 12 days of Anime edition of Anime talk and this time I am going to review the 2016 anime series ReLife.
and lets starts ...
27 year old Arata Kaizaki is a NEET, though he wasn't always one. Arata's life took a downward spiral after he quit the job he lands after college graduation just 3 months after starting it. This disgraceful ( in Japan ) behaviour has made it nearly impossible for him to find any meaningful work and he has been force to survive off the money get gets from his parent as well as that which he earns as a part time employee at a convenience store. Our story begins with Arata's parents cutting him off, while he hangs out with some old friends whom he feels compelled to pretend to be more successful than he actually is.
Depressed, and drunk Arata makes his way home late at night when he encounters Ryo Yoake that makes him an offer that will change his life. In exchange for joining the ReLife project Arata will have all his expenses paid for one year and at the end of that year the company that Ryo works for will help Arata get a job. The Catch? Arata will need to take a drug that will alter his appearance making him appear to be 17 years old again and he will have to enroll and attend high school for one year. Oh and he can't tell anyone that he is actually 27 or anything about ReLife.
If I had to classify this anime I would call it a "Slice Of Life, RomCom" and damn if it isn't a good one, at least in my not so humble opinion. The humor level in this show is high as we watch Arata trying to remember what it is like to be a 17 year old so that he can fit in. We get to see him try to hide the fact that he is an out of shape 27 year old that just "appears" to be an youthful 17 year old, as well as his VERY poor social skills, and "rusty" academic skills ( and that is a gross understatement )
ReLife is just pure entertainment from beginning to end, with enjoyable, likeable and relatable characters. Arata is himself someone we can get behind and route for as he see his character evolve from the NEET he had become to someone people can turn to for help and advice. We also get to see a budding "forbidden" romance form between Arata and classmate Chizuru Hishiro whose social skills make Arata look like a true social butterfly! Arata begins to develop unwanted feelings for Chizuru which he is constantly trying to put out of mind, considering he is actually 27 and she is a teenage highschool girl, but try as he might he just can seem to put those pesky emotions to bed, and their relationship leads to both some major dramatic and comedic moments in this Anime.
I Loved this anime, BUT as you likely got from my opening outburst the ending of it left me wanting! there is a surprising twist at the end of the season with the story coming to a closed with many loose ends and a cliffhanger type ending which left me feeling unsatisfied! Sure it leaves things open for a second season but in the world of anime a second season is never a sure thing even for a good and popular anime. If they don't finish this story I will be highly disappointed! I suppose I could just go read the Manga but I much prefer the Anime medium to that of Manga and I do not read it that often, but I just might have to for this one, I need to know how the story ends!!!
