When I first saw this on Crunchyroll, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It sounded interesting, but sometimes, when something sounds interesting, it ends up not being so. ReLIFE is actually really, really good. I found it more amusing than I had originally thought it could be. You could call it a “slice of life” anime. There are loads of anime out there that tend to focus on the high school period, but with ReLIFE, there is a twist to it.

Meet Kaizaki Arata. He is a 27 year old deadbeat who can’t keep a job and his parents no longer want to send him money to help him out. After spending the evening out with his friends getting drunk, Arata is approached by someone by the name of Yoake Ryo. Typically, when you see someone standing in the alley, and another person starts to approach you, you would think some bad stuff is going to go down.

Not in this case; it’s more positive than anything. Ryo explains to Arata what he actually does, and wants to have Kaizaki do an experiment with ReLIFE Research Institute. It’s a little pill that will make the person look younger while in the inside, they are their actual age. Meaning that even though Arata appears to be 17 years old, he still is 27. At first, Arata is doubtful, thinking that the whole idea is fishy.

It’s this part that really got me lured in more to the series. At first you don’t really know what direction the story is going to go, and then one single scene will form what the series is all about.

Ryo also explains to Arata that the Institute will help pay for everything, and will help him find a job once he has finished the experiment. It is also revealed that the experiment lasts only one year, so Arata has to basically take it seriously and not screw up. After the meeting, Arata goes home, and we find out when he wakes up the next day, he had in fact, taken the pill. It obviously did happen as his reaction in his bathroom mirror makes it way too obvious.

He goes to the school the ReLIFE Research Institute picked out for him, and Arata ends up having a rough first day of school. It actually portrays how different the school is to when Arata actually went to high school. Being 27, it’s been ten years, and of course change is going to happen. Hishiro is the first person he speaks to, and it’s only because he picked a seat that belonged to her. Once he settles into the proper seat, it doesn’t get any better.Arata finds out the class is having exams on the first day, he didn’t bring his pencil box, and then the teacher finds cigarettes in his book bag. In which he is told later on, he needs to write an apology letter. When they begin the tests and Arata has no pencil to do the work, the girl next to him, Rena Kariu, that keeps coughing, hands him a pencil and eraser so he can finish the tests.

I really liked the first episode. It introduces Arata very well and gets straight to the point of the story. It also introduces the main supporting characters in the first episode. It ends pretty much after they take their exams, and we don’t find out how Arata did until the second episode. But it was this episode that got me hooked. I really think other anime fans out there may like this if they haven’t seen it already. It may not be DragonBall Z, Naruto, Inuyasha, etc.; but it is a different genre, but just as good. The animation is incredible too. Stay tuned for the review of episode two.