Review of ReLIFE

What makes ReLIFE great is its interesting premise. I suspect the state that the main character is first presented in resonates, a little too well for comfort, with many viewers. To relive high school might seem simultaneously both a power fantasy and a nightmare (perhaps of the sort that literally recur for the rest of your life), though this series has been more of the former. Having a thought provoking premise is essential for a piece of fiction to be great because it allows the viewers to more easily suspend disbelief and become engrossed in the characters and story. At least for a certaindemographic, ReLIFE allows the viewers to fantasize and maybe even self insert in a way that creates what is essentially a vacation for the brain. ReLIFE is a rather pleasant and refreshing series in this regard.

The premise is not so great, however, to completely cover for the faults of the series. Of the faults, most are due to the length of the series itself. The short length of the series does not allow for establishing much character depth, but even the attempts made are somewhat shallow. Admittedly, the story would be banal and melodramatic if it were not for the premise propping it up. Also, though this point is more subjective, it would have been nice to have seen more of the readjustment to high school life; the few instances that they did show were pretty funny.

The main character's experiences from being an adult, and the resulting emotional/ relationship intelligence he has, lets him interact with the high schoolers in a way that cuts through many of frustrating "problems" that could be simply solved by having people talk things out. In that respect ReLIFE is actually rather cathartic, and worth watching for that alone.