We’re down to the last couple of bubble shows of the season. And while I’ve been down this road many times, dropping series I start out rather liking is never enjoyable. LN adaptations are what they are, and there’s a definite syndrome to my relationship with them. More than a few of them can pique my interest for a couple of episodes, but they almost never hold it for long beyond that. There are such a buffet of potential reasons why that I guess it’s not surprising they almost all fall victim to one of them, but the most fundamental is that a lot of the time there’s simply not enough “there” there.
I do find that Bokutachi no Remake’s heart seems mostly to be in the right place. There’s the core of a good if pretty unoriginal idea here. And there are moments, like Kyouya rhapsodizing over how we regret the things we don’t do more than the things we do and wish we hadn’t, where it even shows a sort of insight. But the devil, as ever, is in the details. The way so much of the actual plot plays out is so silly that it’s very difficult to take seriously. And given the nature of this premise, that’s a huge problem.
I hate to say it, but a lot of times during this episode especially I found myself thinking “I’d love to see how a good writer would handle that”. And then it hits me that I pretty much did – Yayoi Sou, the mangaka of ReLIFE. That’s not to say that Remake is plagarizing ReLIFE, but there’s enough overlap that the things that are really interesting – like the hint of something unseemly in the way the protagonist uses his experience to manipulate his classmates in the spirit of helping them – are things we’ve already seen done better. And it’s not like ReLIFE was exactly a revolutionary premise in the first place.
I’m at the point now where the only thing that could save this for me (aside from the series deciding to make Kanou-sensei the main character) is probably a deeper dive into the mechanics of the premise (and that would have to end up not sucking). And there is a hint of that perhaps in Kyouya passing out when reading the name of an artist at the school festival. But the whole Nanako singing drama was a clunker for me, and the romance angle is very broad and by-the-numbers so far. I’ve been in this situation too many times to feel hopeful, but because I do feel some affection for it I’ll give Bokutachi no Remake another week to pull off a miracle.
DukeofEarls
August 2, 2021 at 3:54 amWhat’s so good about RELife? I mildly enjoy both this show and Tokyo Revengers based on the similar premise, but ReLife seemed like it’s a different type of show. It doesn’t take itself seriously enough, in my opinion, so it felt too “zany” and I didn’t care about any of the characters. I’m not asking to encourage debate, I’m genuinely asking as the way you wrote this post makes me think I should give it another chance.
Guardian Enzo
August 2, 2021 at 9:37 amReLIFE is no masterpiece IMHO, but to me it has a lot more subtlety and depth than Remake does. It has comedy – no more or less than this show does I would estimate – but to say it doesn’t take itself seriously enough frankly strikes me as odd – let’s just say I disagree emphatically with that statement.
Llinos
August 2, 2021 at 8:13 amIt seems to be very clear that his housmates are the big three that he was admiring in the first episode, but they lived their lives and became successful without him as an emotional support to guide them through their challenges and self discoveries. So it feels like a stretch that they are tackling their issues through him; which makes this show and premise a bit difficult. He seems to have some talent and experience in managing people sure, but he is the one that is supposed to be going on the journey of self discovery. Having the emotional arcs of the other characters be directly resolved through him just doesn’t seem to hold as much weight, because these characters temporally were going to rise regardless of his existence at the school. If he seemed to be more impacted/if he realized his own failings in juxtaposition to how they overcame their personal struggles, the series might have some more meat on its bones. Right now it feels intensely leaning towards just wish fulfillment. Yeah, I go back in time and get to have feelings for this artist who got me through my hard times! Woo Hoo? I want to like it for what it is, but I just keep going back to the fact that all these characters succeeded without him. Well except for Kawasegawa…… but that’s kind of the elephant in the room, since she is so formidable in school but we see where that eventually leads her to. *sigh* I might keep watching just to see, but the universe logistics ain’t really working for me right now.
Guardian Enzo
August 2, 2021 at 9:40 amThis is an interesting problem with the premise, indeed. There’s the larger question of what statement it makes that a guy whose life is a total failure is schooling a bunch of successful artists. Is the author implying experience is all that matters, not innate ability? In practical terms, I think the premise can only be explained two ways:
1. These people were already successful, and Kyouya going back and “helping” them is going to cause them to fail.
2. Time paradox – it was Kyouya going back in time and guiding them that allowed them to succeed in the first place.
Llinos
August 3, 2021 at 4:21 amI think 2. is more likely and also would continue this wish fulfillment aura the series has. However, whenever you have time hijinks that convenient time paradox is always a possibility.
I think 1 would be absolutely a great turn, but I just don’t see the series going for that heartbreak of a turn. If he realizes his meddling is what causes them to fall from their success, and then has a choice of accepting where his life was as a failure or looping to try to break the cycle of despair he engenders seems like more interesting choices. But then it would have to somehow rise above the series that do looping and be better at it or nail the emotional pathos of leaving the world behind (where he might become successful, but at the cost of the other three becoming failures)… and this is a lot of speculation on a narrative ending that so far the show itself has done nothing really to build towards that as a possibility.
So…… yeah probably option 2 but let’s hope not. Lol