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Friday, August 12, 2022

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened (2019)


The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened is the third season of the manga series. It is six episodes long, so it’s shorter than a normal season. You might have expected this to be a continuation, but it makes it clear that it is not. It takes place before the resolution that was at the end of the second season, and so Saiki is still basically living on as per normal, interacting with his fellow students, and trying to prevent them to finding out that he has psychic powers.


As mentioned, Saiki has psychic powers, and substantial ones at that. There is seemingly nothing that he cannot achieve, although there are limitations to his powers just to keep him in check. This season is best described as more of the same, as it doesn’t try anything new or drastic to the formula. It does however introduce several new characters, which is interesting considering the limited amount of episodes that this season has.


The quality of the content does seem weaker though. Maybe it’s due to oversaturation or trying the same thing again and again, or maybe they’re losing creativity. At the end of the day, while there are highlights, there are also several shorts where it can start to feel that maybe it’s a chore to watch, but just manages to not cross that line. That being said, Saiki’s snarky responses and being the only sane man in several situations is still as entertaining as ever.


The season leans heavily towards being self-aware that it is a comedy anime. It will frequently reference other popular anime, or have self-deprecating jokes. The characters, being well established by now, will have their defining traits emphasized even more for the purpose of humor, so can feel like a one-trick pony at times.


The season finale though is the highlight, and actually has the potential to surpass the second season’s finale. It closes off Saiki’s situation perfectly, especially if you were unsatisfied before. It just feels so natural, and also heartwarming when you see how nice and loyal Saiki’s friends are. That said, it was kind of weird for it to jump straight to that point when the previous five episodes takes place at such a different point.


Overall, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened is a good continuation of the anime. Despite retreading the same type of stuff that we’ve seen a lot of by now, it was still fun to watch your favorite characters. The final episode is definitely the highlight, and was a strong episode. It serves as an epilogue to the series and it does a great job at that.

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