ReLIFE is based upon the manga of the same name and following the 2016 adaptation, four OVAs were produced to finish off the story. It is a slice-of-life anime with a comedic take, and the anime frequently art shifts to chibi versions of the characters. ReLIFE follows Arata Kaizaki, who was a 27 year old unemployed and with a bleak future and crushed outlook in life after failing to gain subsequent employment. He ends up participating in the "ReLIFE" program. This program reverts his physical appearance back to a 17 year old and allows him to experience one year at high school. The experiment's purpose and the company's motives behind it are never revealed.
On the other side of the spectrum is Hishiro Chizuru, an emotionless classmate and in a twist in the previous episodes, she is revealed to also be a participant in the program. The difference being that she had failed the program before and had to extend its duration by another year. The original 13 episode adaptation cemented the fact that both characters enjoying their second chance at high school life. They create plenty of friends and so it hurts all the more when they realize that their time limit is approaching and everyone will forget them once graduation day hits. The anime manages to convey the sad truth and feelings that come with this sad fact with the characters having to come up to their own terms with it.
The four episode finale deals with, and concludes, the relationship between Kaizaki and Hishiro. Both have feelings for each other but both do not know how to deal with them due to their unique circumstances. It's a bit more interesting with Hishiro due to her emotionless personality (however, she has shown improvement and now smiles, displaying her feelings a lot more compared to the start of the anime). The anime solely focuses on this plot point and ignores everything else, which is understandable given that they only have an extremely limited amount of time to work with.
With Kaizaki and Hishiro's emotions in constant turmoil, as they debate within themselves on whether they should express their feelings, the lead up to how this is all resolved is tense. As the viewer, the big twist is the fact that because they are both ReLIFE participants, they will forget about each other thanks to the rule of any memories of them will be erased from everyone. Knowing that this rule will probably stay for the ending, you start to wonder and anticipate how this will be resolved.
Once the final episode comes and you watch the ending, it was a little bit predictable, especially with the jobs they take after their ReLIFE. However, it was still a solid ending and extracts the emotions from you. This isn't withstanding taking into account their memories and all their friendships that they had made, the ending is more bittersweet than a true happy ending. It does feel rushed as a result since we don't see the aftermath of the program and its effect on everyone.
Overall, ReLIFE would have been better as a full season instead of a compressed OVA, since it did remove a lot of events and character development from the manga. Despite that, if you have no knowledge of the manga events, then ReLIFE is still a fantastic series to watch and these final four episodes are a definitely must-watch for anyone who has an interest in the series.
-------------------------------------
For other anime reviews, have a look at this page.
