ReLIFE is a web comic created by Yayoiso. The manga was published online from Fall of 2013 until Spring of 2018 and encompassed 222 issues.
Kaizaki Arata is essentially a 27 year old NEET. He quit his fist real job over the treatment of the woman who was training him. Due to the negative connotation that has left on his resume he has struggled to return to the 'proper' workforce, instead working part time jobs and hiding his lack of 'real' employment from his friends. One night he is approached by a man named Yoake Ryo who presents him with an interesting opportunity to turn his life around. Yoake works for a company called ReLIFE that has developed a drug which transforms someones physical appearance tothat of a different age. Yoake tells Kaizaki that if he chooses he will be transformed to look like a high school student and redo his Senior year as a way of recapturing his youthful spirit in hopes of changing his viewpoint on life. When he has successfully completed the year, ReLIFE will help him to enter the workforce again.
With little choice left Kaizaki agree's to the experiment and becomes a high school student again. While he is pretending to be a 17 year old version of himself he has to obey a few rules. He can't tell anyone what is actually going on, if he does the experiment is over and his memory is erased of all events. In order for him to have a successful ReLIFE he has to participate in his student life and show effort to grow and learn. Yoake will be posing as a student to help monitor and guide him through the experiment. Once the year has completed everyone's memory of Kaizaki will be erased and he will return to his adult form.
Kaizaki enjoys his ReLIFE at first and quickly becomes friends with a group of classmates, even working to help them overcome their own personal struggles and encouraging their relationships with each other to blossom. But as the year progresses he begins to have feelings for one of the girls in his class. Part of the problem is that she is a minor and he is an adult, so he fights hard to not cross that line. But as she becomes more important to him on an emotional level he struggles with the hole he will leave in her when the experiment is done and he is erased from her memories.
ReLIFE was a fantastically enjoyable read with a strong cast of characters through out its span. While Kaizaki is the main character, a large portion of the story revolves around everyone working to foster the relationship between two of the other characters. At times Kaizaki himself becomes a background character for a number of story arcs. In reality the best approach would be to watch the first 13 episodes of the anime and then pick up the manga at about issue 100 and read it till the end. The original TV anime covers that first half of the manga pretty well so you can cut out some unneeded reading and jump into the second half.
A 4 part OAV series was produced and released to coincide with the end of the manga. The OAV's cover a some of the major plot arcs in the last 120 issues of the manga but gloss over a few things entirely. While some parts of the manga do drag a bit too much in my mind, it is worth the read in the end. A lot of attention is put into developing the main group of characters personalities and their interactions with each other. The struggles, the hang ups and the challenges they face in becoming adults. All while Kaizaki, who has already gone through these experiences, sits on the sidelines, trying to become a better adult while also offering advice to his classmates.
A major benefit of ReLIFE being released digitally is that all of the pages or every issue are in color. While the backgrounds can many times be non-existent, the character designs are well done, particularly when they take on comical features.
Kaizaki Arata is essentially a 27 year old NEET. He quit his fist real job over the treatment of the woman who was training him. Due to the negative connotation that has left on his resume he has struggled to return to the 'proper' workforce, instead working part time jobs and hiding his lack of 'real' employment from his friends. One night he is approached by a man named Yoake Ryo who presents him with an interesting opportunity to turn his life around. Yoake works for a company called ReLIFE that has developed a drug which transforms someones physical appearance tothat of a different age. Yoake tells Kaizaki that if he chooses he will be transformed to look like a high school student and redo his Senior year as a way of recapturing his youthful spirit in hopes of changing his viewpoint on life. When he has successfully completed the year, ReLIFE will help him to enter the workforce again.
With little choice left Kaizaki agree's to the experiment and becomes a high school student again. While he is pretending to be a 17 year old version of himself he has to obey a few rules. He can't tell anyone what is actually going on, if he does the experiment is over and his memory is erased of all events. In order for him to have a successful ReLIFE he has to participate in his student life and show effort to grow and learn. Yoake will be posing as a student to help monitor and guide him through the experiment. Once the year has completed everyone's memory of Kaizaki will be erased and he will return to his adult form.
Kaizaki enjoys his ReLIFE at first and quickly becomes friends with a group of classmates, even working to help them overcome their own personal struggles and encouraging their relationships with each other to blossom. But as the year progresses he begins to have feelings for one of the girls in his class. Part of the problem is that she is a minor and he is an adult, so he fights hard to not cross that line. But as she becomes more important to him on an emotional level he struggles with the hole he will leave in her when the experiment is done and he is erased from her memories.
ReLIFE was a fantastically enjoyable read with a strong cast of characters through out its span. While Kaizaki is the main character, a large portion of the story revolves around everyone working to foster the relationship between two of the other characters. At times Kaizaki himself becomes a background character for a number of story arcs. In reality the best approach would be to watch the first 13 episodes of the anime and then pick up the manga at about issue 100 and read it till the end. The original TV anime covers that first half of the manga pretty well so you can cut out some unneeded reading and jump into the second half.
A 4 part OAV series was produced and released to coincide with the end of the manga. The OAV's cover a some of the major plot arcs in the last 120 issues of the manga but gloss over a few things entirely. While some parts of the manga do drag a bit too much in my mind, it is worth the read in the end. A lot of attention is put into developing the main group of characters personalities and their interactions with each other. The struggles, the hang ups and the challenges they face in becoming adults. All while Kaizaki, who has already gone through these experiences, sits on the sidelines, trying to become a better adult while also offering advice to his classmates.
A major benefit of ReLIFE being released digitally is that all of the pages or every issue are in color. While the backgrounds can many times be non-existent, the character designs are well done, particularly when they take on comical features.
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