BOKUTACHI NO REMAKE

DESCRIPTION

CAST

NOVEL ComedyBokutachi no Remake
MANGA ComedyBokutachi no Remake

REVIEWS

• 

  ZNote

  64/100
  It has vestiges of being a particularly-good series, but cannot quite capitalize upon what’s there.

  SPOILER-FREE!
  It’s perhaps one for the biggest clichés in all of drama – what if I had done this instead of that? What if I had taken path B rather than path A? Part of the reason why we find this such a compelling device for storytelling is because our own lives are fueled by the numerous decisions we make, both in and outside our control. So, when a narrative presents its characters with the opportunity to go back in time and take a new approach, or try to fix something, it plays upon that nagging question that has lingered in our minds every once in a while when we’ve reflected on something. After all, we cannot rewind the clock in reality, so fiction affords us the chance to see the possibility exercised for dramatic purposes.

  Remake Our Life! was the summer 2021 anime season’s newest take on the do-over story. Considering that it relies on the old cliché I spoke of, it already has a lot that it needs to accomplish. The time travel needs to feel justified, and the ensuing drama that happens from the resulting changes needs to come across the same way. But the overall setting and premise caught my attention more than anything else; especially as someone who teaches in the arts, I wanted to see what the series could potentially bring as far as working in the arts was concerned.

  ---

  Hashiba Kyouya is a former salaryman turned video game development worker who thoroughly hates his job, regretful of his decision not to attend an arts college like the so-called Platinum Generation creators he looks up to. He one evening chances upon a woman who also works in game development, Kawasegawa Eiko, and lands himself a new job. Despite getting off to a good start, their project is cancelled and he once again enters a melancholy. He awakens shortly thereafter ten years in the past, taking the opportunity to attend arts college instead of what he did before. While taking his life in this new direction, he becomes classmates and sharehouse mates with Shino Aki, Kogure Nanako, and Rokuonji Tsurayuki, the three Platinum Generation artists he adored. Kawasegawa herself is also a student at the school during this period of time. The artists face an uncertain future, but Kyouya comes armed with the foreknowledge of what each of them is capable of.

  While Kyouya may be the main focus of the narrative, the other three members of the house, as well as the group of four as a whole, need to function together well in order to carry the story. Kyouya is unfortunately the most uninteresting of the main characters, in part because there aren’t any particularly-noteworthy aspects to his character, be it through quirks or some other element that gives his personality some kind of spice. As the de facto leader of the four during the college years, he ironically is the one who has least amount of fleshing out. To an extent, this is slightly understandable; since his entire perspective zeroes in on idolizing the Platinum Generation-to-be members, he stands as a kind of everyman in their wake. There’s nothing noteworthy about him, but he’s not intended to be the noteworthy focus of the narrative. That said, the fact that he comes from the future, in essence, IS his trait, but as a quality that makes him stand out on his own, it does not contribute much in the way of endearing himself to us.

  But where Kyouya’s characterization falters, the other three manage to develop more effectively. Working on an artistic project is a form of sharing, but as a result, having your work be cut down or told that it’s not good enough because of various constraints can be absolutely brutal to handle. Remake Our Life! shows each of the main characters having their artistic pursuits getting questioned, flat-out rejected, or their moods demoralized, and does so in ways that are believably practical; the entire premise is set up on Kyouya’s ambitions to work in game development getting crushed, and the other three Platinum Generation characters all have moments in the show where they find themselves up against the wall. Whether that wall be their own hang-ups, mistakes, or whatever needs the project they’re working on calls for, it makes for good drama. Seeing them pick themselves back up after getting knocked down is cathartic. And when their endeavors do get completed, there is a satisfaction that comes with it. One such event includes an overt nod to one of the most-famous musical sequences in all of anime, which feels appropriate given that the past segments of the show take place in the mid-2000s.

  Kyouya’s knowledge of the future that he brings with him, both who the Platinum Generation members will eventually become and his own expertise in his area, also contributes a fascinating aspect to the group’s dynamic. Since he is working with years of organizational experience, he intuitively is able to think on his feet and evaluate the numerous properties that go into artistic endeavors. So, when problems begin to manifest that the other members of the group aren’t prepared for or anticipate, he often acts as the idea house or lifeboat that keeps whatever it was they were working on afloat. It also gives his interactions with the other group members, along with others at the college, a kind of relentlessness that one could find quite admirable.

  But it is because of that relentlessness that makes the show get a little too close to harem territory, which intrudes itself into the show’s strengths. It’s not necessarily because it’s unreasonable; the romance element develops through the characters working and living together, and Kyouya’s seemingly-boundless belief in them acts as a beacon of light in the Platinum Generation’s crisis moments. Getting attracted to someone who has that kind of faith in you is, naturally, something one could expect. The problem rests in the fact that it begins to come at the price of focusing on the art creation aspect of the story. The drama works most effectively when we ourselves see and hear what it is that made Kyouya look up to the Platinum Generation, being given an “as it happened” glimpse into the fruits of their labor. That’s not to say the series cannot have romance, but that given how short the show is, it oversteps itself. By putting too much stock into romance, and especially among the women, it takes away from those creative opportunities. The show is divided between two paths and struggles to unite them.

  Those opportunities are only possible thanks to the time jump to the past. While they are one of the primary vehicles for setting up the drama within the show, they’re also part of a weakness with Remake Our Life! Because the time jumps themselves span upwards of ten years or more, it means there’s a lot of history of the characters, events, and dialogues that we are not privy to. It is appropriately disorienting for Kyouya as he tries to get his bearings each time it happens, it unfortunately means that certain events that should have transpired on-screen ultimately don’t, not even in flashback. Even though Kyouya is the main character that the drama follows, allowing the audience to see flashbacks through the eyes of the other characters could have helped tremendously. Especially considering that they are seemingly not aware of any time-travel shenanigans that have taken place, possibly having some gaps filled in, even if Kyouya himself would not be privy to witnessing or remembering them, was certainly possible.

  This problem of not showing particular events is also true for one of the show’s final pushes towards the end; the day of release for a product is not shown. At a moment where Kyouya is at his lowest, he witnesses a video from Nanako that ultimately gives him the inner motivation and fire to try and rectify the overarching problem he’s facing. Although this is framed as a moment where the momentum of the drama turns, we don’t actually get to see or listen to the video in full. It didn’t have to be a full-fledged three-minute masterpiece, but even listening to the provided song for, say, 30 seconds could have made the affect of the moment land with more panache. These pacing issues ultimately make Remake Our Life! feel like the latest victim of the single-season curse, of trying to get as much as possible into the twelve episodes that it comes at the cost of dramatic or thematic coherence.

  ---

  Remake Our Life! has vestiges of being a particularly-good series, but cannot quite capitalize upon what’s there. The exploration of pursuing an artistic endeavor, especially in the wake of business or school, unfortunately gets a little too bogged down by the romantic element with all of the female characters. It’s well-animated and well voice-acted, and the Platinum Generation characters were a lot of fun, even if the pacing tends to move too disjointedly. If it had been perhaps sixteen episodes instead of twelve, I think quite a number of these issues could have been minimized, or happened more organically. For what we actually got, I still somewhat liked it even though it had flaws. The story managed to get the job done – just not as cleanly as it aspired to. If it ever does get a second season, and there has been no announcement about that at the time of this recording, I’ll give it a consideration.

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• 

  Ozberry

  65/100
  An interesting premise with compelling enough characters that don't quite hit the mark.

  Time travel and redemption stories have hit a sort of stride as of late, with titles like Tokyo Revengers and ReLife being popular examples of such. So it is no wonder that we would begin to see derivative shows such as BnR emerge into the foray.

  The premise of BnR is shockingly gripping. A 28-year-old salaryman is let go from his job, after which he questions the decisions he has made in his life up to this point. "What if I had gone to art school instead of economics school, and followed my true passion? What if I lived a life of no regrets?". More on that later.

  Very flowery, very romantic. Naturally, the main character is then transported 10 years into the past to remake his life as an art student. He coincidentally joins a sharehouse where his roommates are none other than the 3 great artists from the so-called Platinum Generation of his time. Cue the slice of life antics and subplots that follow and you have a 12 episode anime that is great at times, and weak at others.

  The characters in this show are its strong point. The 3 Platinum Generation characters are all interesting, if not a bit cliche. But their development throughout the series is what makes them special. There is one arc involving the writer character which was a particular bright spot for the show. It subverted my expectations of what this show was capable of. However, there were also some weak romance subplots that I felt weren't explored that well. They kind of just... existed. It didn't feel like there was any real drama associated with the romance, and I wish that BnR had run those out a bit more. Currently, the romance subplots feel like they are just there to tick a box on the slice of life trope list.

  When it comes to art, animation and music selection, the show was inoffensive in all three. The art and character art is well done. The girls are cute, but the boys are pretty boring. There was nothing complicated to animate in this show, so there was nothing for me to be impressed by, but it was up to standard for the industry. The music was forgettable, both the OP and ED as well as the soundtrack. There was one moment with the singer subplot where the music had real impact, as they had used time-appropriate (2007) music to highlight a pivotal point in anime and internet culture.

  The main reason why I felt compelled to write a review for this otherwise innocuous show is the dilemma I have with the overall message it is telling. The show appears to be telling the audience to give everything their all, and to have no regrets. However, it's layered underneath this show which is, to be blunt, wholly and sorely forgettable and lacking any real passion. It makes the message come across as half-hearted, or perhaps even fake-sounding. Which, if you suffer from an extreme mental delusion, such as myself, then you may be inclined to think this show's real message is that "even if you could reverse time and do everything amazing, the outcome is still inevitably not up to you". This is a deeply meta over-analysis for a show as benign as this, which is what makes it all the more compelling to me.

  Anyway, the score. Big booba, time travel that wasn't overly cringe, weird meta-message, but lacking consistent follow-through from arc-to-arc piloted by a boring MC lead me to give BnR an unremarkable 65/100. Bland but not bad.

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• 

  potsu

  50/100
  We shouldn't run away from our problems, we should face them. But we should not face every problem

  At the start maybe we all thought that this was just a generic situation where the main character, Kyouya Hashiba, who was an adult with no job had a chance to redo his life so that he can change the future. These kind of situation where main characters get to redo their life and change themselves are not rare, 90% of the isekai animes have these kind of plot. However I find this more unique. I am not skilled enough to write a review without spoiling but I will try to minimize the spoilers as much as possible

  Its the year 2016. Kyouya Hashiba, a working adult choose the easy life. Although he was able to get into art school he didn't take it because he was afraid of the risks and decided instead to just go to business school. After finishing university, he went around doing some jobs while picking up some skills such as web design, composing music, simple programming knowledge etc. One night on the way home, he saw a depressed looking women who looked like she was about to jump off a bridge, he stopped her only to find out that it was all a misunderstanding. Be it fate or not, the women, Kawasegawa Eiko, was in charge of a big project by a game company. They were partnering with the Platinium Generation, a group of creators who were popular that time. Coincidentally Kyouya was a fan of one of the Platinium Generation member's artworks so he was excited to meet them some time. Eiko was stressing over that a important person had left their project and they needed to find someone to fill in the slot so Kyouya offered to take up the role as he had some experience in game developing. Kyouya made a contract and worked at the company temporary until the project is finished. He quickly exceeded Eiko's expectations with his speed and dedication towards his work, however some time later the project was cancelled. With no job and money Kyouya moved back in to his parent's house. "Man how I wish I can turn back time", Kyouya thought before waking up in the year 2006. He joined art school and has the chance to work with his fellow housemates: Tsurayuki Rokuonji, Nanako Kogure and Aki Shino. Later would he know that things would get more complicated than he could imagine

  I like that although Kyouya had the knowledge of 10 years ahead of time. He wasn't your typical op main character that everyone admires. He also lacks knowledge in a lot of fields but what really made him stood out was his problem solving personality. Whenever a hard problem would come up most people would think "there's nothing I could do" rather than trying. However Kyouya did his best to lead the team, its like that one guy who does everything during a group project. Everyone admires him and they trust him a lot. Kyouya, who was a nobody became a somebody that everyone could rely on, I believe this is most people's ideal life. But there are no smooth seas, becoming relied on and solving everyone's problem became something normal to Kyouya. It wasn't that he didn't enjoyed it but he doesn't realize that he is spoiling them too much, its like a parent preventing their child to not fall when they are learning to walk. Since the team hasn't actually experienced failing at something before, making Kyouya handle everything has become a norm to them. Slowly but surely they start to lose their individuality and eventually will feel worthless or burned out

  After realizing that it was too late to solve anything. Since Kyouya had solved all of his friend's problems, there was nothing for their friends to do. This might sound contradicting but there are some problems that are required to be solved but there are some problems where it will solve itself

  There were some plot holes that were never explained but I still like the overall story. I won't say I like this anime but I don't hate it either

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