I’m back from my hiatus and I get greeted with a 50-minute long episode! I’m sure I had seen that this show would get a long premiere but I completely forgot about it haha. But hey, it was a nice surprise! It’s always nice when shows can get a big premiere like this, and in Bokutachi no Remake’s case, I think it did pretty well.
We have our protagonist, Hashiba Kyouya, who is having a rough time when it comes to…well, life. Being laid off, he has no job or money and has to go back to live with his parents. Searching for a new job, he made a chance encounter with the head of a famous game developing studio with big names that Hashiba looks up to. And dammit, sometimes life can just kick your ass again and I really felt for him. Even when his job was going really well and he got along with his coworkers, the project they worked on got canceled and again he was laid off. Unfortunately things like this happen and the feeling of having something great in your hands, only for it to get taken away when the ball started rolling is just painful.
When it comes to emotions, I thought the anime did pretty well. ReLife, an anime with a similar premise, was both dramatic and funny. It did well with both but there were plenty of hilarious scenes with the characters. Here, however, the tone is a lot more mellow with some funny scenes here and there but nothing to really make you laugh out loud a lot. It’s much more serious and dramatic than ReLife, and maybe a bit slow too, but it still made for a fun and interesting time. It also did well in really getting into the mind of someone in Hashiba’s situation, feeling like a failure and not really knowing what the point in everything is when everything is falling apart. As well as just being unsure about the future. What can I do, and what exactly do I want to do? Those are questions that a lot of people ask themselves, me included. Me being in the same age range as Hashiba, I’ve definitely felt what he felt in his confusion and hopelessness. The conversation he had with Shinoaki in the end was very real, and again was something I could relate to and I just loved Shinoaki’s response. Even the people you think are amazing and look up to probably all have something they’re worried about too, so you’re not alone in being afraid and confused. It’s something I have to remind myself at times too.
Now that we’re back 10 years in time, Hashiba is finally given the chance to start anew and take the path to art school that he didn’t take before. His reasoning for taking the “easy and regular” route in economics was also pretty realistic, especially for Japan. Most people take the corporate/office road since it’s the most basic and easy one and it’ll land you a job easier compared to art school. And I appreciate their professor in the art school setting the record straight and being honest with the students that the number of graduates that actually find jobs in the field is extremely low. It actually reminded me of a moment in college as well, so I really liked that part. So when it comes to atmosphere and drama in both the corporate and university and life in general, I feel like the anime does pretty well.
When it comes to characters, I like them but I still feel like we need more from them. But hey, this is just the premiere so we’re only in the beginning. I feel like the character I’m most drawn to is Kawasegawa. Since we saw her in the future with Hashiba, and she had a pretty good career until the project they worked on was canceled I’m interested to see how her journey to that point was. She’s a very serious character clearly with a lot of passion for the arts, that’s probably why she had such a big role in the company. I also wonder if she also went back in time like Hashiba did, and if she did she’s pretending to not know him. Making there was also a moment in her life that she wasn’t happy with and she was also given this opportunity to improve it somehow. She did say back when she canceled the project that she wish she could have done more, so maybe there really is something that she wants to change with this second chance that she has. It would be pretty cool if that were the case so I’m hoping it is! I also wonder if there’s going to be potential romance between her and Hashiba, though the anime is really pushing him with Shinoaki too (with that cringey wake up scene).
Speaking of, not surprising at all that Shinoaki is the artist that Hashiba really loved in the future. I could see that a mile away. And I bet that just confirms that Hashiba is living it up with the Platinum Generation he dreamed of working with, so we’ll see how that turns out. Shinoaki is slow but pretty cute, Nanako seems like she’ll be fun but I need to see more of her, as well as Tsurayuki who is smarter than he lets on. They’re certainly a colorful cast of characters but they need more time to be fleshed out so they won’t end up as trope characters. And I sure hope they won’t, though again that scene at the end in among the cherry blossoms made me like Shinoaki. I think the one character that probably needs the most development is Hashiba. I wouldn’t say he’s too boring, but he is kind of plain compared to the other characters. I do relate to his struggles and I want to see him be happy and succeed, but right now he’s a little dull. Still, there’s plenty of time for that so I’m excited to see what they’ll do from here on.
For a 50 minute premiere, it was pretty good! I’m interested enough to watch Hashiba’s journey on the path he originally wanted to take. I’m also interested in the other characters enough to want to stick with the anime. There were moments that the episode was pretty slow and maybe a little boring, but it got significantly better when we got to the university and saw their daily life and when we get instances of emotion like the scene with Shinoaki and Hashiba. Having stories with adult characters is always a plus too. I also wonder if we’ll ever find out how and why Hashiba even went back in time. All in all, a pretty good start! I’m looking forward to how the story will unfold.
Possibility of watching: High
Possibility of blogging: High
NOTE: I know this is a Saturday show but I work for most of the day so I’ll make Bokutachi no Remake a Sunday show so stay tuned on Sundays! Shinigami Bocchan will also have to be pushed on Mondays. Thanks for understanding!
Based on Kawasegawa’s reaction to Kyoya calling her “Chief”, I believe there’s a 99% chance that she didn’t go back in time with him. I don’t expect the time travel in this story to have a clear mechanism, and it’s probably just a one-time plot device to let the main character have a second chance. I already like this more than ReLife because older characters are involved, and it’s more serious.
Yeah I kind of guessed that maybe we wouldn’t get a concrete reason for the time travel since that doesn’t really seem to be the most important part of the story, but rather Hashiba’s second chance in life. And haha it’s just a thought with Kawasegawa, would be nice either way.
Remake has an ongoing source LN series; you can read the fantranslation here.
Remake’s author is also a professional visual novel scriptwriter, and he’s also part of the anime production too.
So I think the content should be in good hands.
One thing they skipped was how awful Kyouya’s company was. The boss was a pathetic incompetent unable to plan ahead, delusional about how successful their game would be (it wasn’t) and had poor business acumen. Plus he’s also deep in debt, and gets carted off by loan sharks whom he owes a lot of money to.
Oh cool, thanks!
Ohh, that explains that random dream he had. But man, that sounds awful indeed. Even worse that when he was hired into a much better company he had to leave that one too, but for the same reasons more or less. That’s so rough.