Review of ReLIFE

RELIFE, I went into this anime with low expectations due to my perceptions of the slice of life genre being slow paced and outright boring (Looking at you Angel Beats!) That is why to my surprise I can conclusively say that I came out of this 13-episode rollercoaster satisfied and emotionally attached to the characters and their journeys. First and foremost, I must say releasing this in a Netflix style binge fiesta was a stroke of marketing genius. It has likely contributed to the surging popularity of the show here on MAL and definitely best watched over a short period of time. As with every review, Itry to limit it to 500 words. Short but sweet as per say.

(✓) Sound (6/10)

Nothing really stood out here from a soundtrack perspective. The opening was forgetful and the OST maybe marginally added different layers of tension to scenes that required it. Thought it was pretty cool that the ending track changed for each episode; this was definitely a nice touch.
A highlight for me was how each voice actor perfectly fit with the character they were portraying and paved way for the chemistry to develop between these characters.

(✓) Art/Animation (7/10)

Not much to really say here that has not been said by previous reviewees, the animation does not really stand out, nor is it required to as it’s a slice of life genre depiction that is not expected to product ufotable produced fate franchise production values. Everything seems animated to a satisfactory level and the output was consistent throughout. One highlight for me was the choreography of the final episode’s big reveal, it was perfectly directed and will leave you gobsmacked and applauding how well it was brought out on screen.

(✓) Characters/Story (9/10)

It take’s something special to create story that has characters that are universally loved by the audience. ReLIFE puts its characters at the forefront with the utmost confidence that they will succeed in engaging us through their dialogue and specific individual characteristics. Whether it’s Hishiro, Kaizaki or Kariu, they all have multiple layers of development throughout the 13-episode journey that enable us to care in suspense for where it might lead. At the time of writing this, I still cannot think of a character that I genuinely disliked on this show, I was paying attention throughout, which is an achievement in itself as I have the attention span of a goldfish.

Story wise there has been critique from the MAL community for the pacing of this show, but in all honesty what can be expected for a slice of life genre and in general, it takes time to develop characters and clear a path for a story to be told. More so I was surprised by the cliff-hanger and have no idea where this story will lead to in the future. There are still many questions that need answering in (hopefully) season 2.

(✓) Overall (8/10)

The anime did the job of keeping me on board for the 13-episode journey and has led me to begin reading the manga, which thankfully the anime has for the majority of the time been faithful to the adaption of the source material.

Word Count (471/500)