Review of ReLIFE

ReLife is probably one of the most enjoyable shows I've ever seen in any medium. It's not the typical anime show that uses anime tropes either. It's got a simple premise: Ryou Yoake, offers Kaizaki Arata a drug that will make him appear much younger externally, and to attend high school in an attempt to rehabilitate him into society after quitting his first job out of university. ReLife's greatest strength is that it's a drama concerning that very topic. As a guy that didn't enter university until he was 26 I was able to empathize with Kaizaki when he couldn't pass his math tests. I waspretty good at math in high school, but by the time I got to university I had forgotten everything. It was one of those use it or lose it things. I also thought it was a little funny.

Now I will say that my biggest caveat about this show is that it ended. I wished it had continued on. Hopefully there will be a second season, but knowing how anime is produced mostly to get people to buy and read the manga, it probably won't happen.

Because of the strength of the characters and the narrative the show didn't have to fall back on innovative tricks, like using "interesting" and "difficult" angles in shots to be a more compelling experience. That's not to say that those things aren't important, it's just that sometimes it's refreshing to see something stripped down to the basics, and not getting fancy. Such things probably would have also been incredibly distracting here.

I would probably recommend ReLife as one of the anime to start anybody off with the medium.