ReLIFE: Between looking back and moving forward

ReLIFE is a Japanese web manga created by Yayoi Sou and released weekly on comico. It is my absolute favorite web manga as it has a beautiful slice of life in it. When I say beautiful, I really do mean it is beautiful.

This manga teaches us lots of things through it’s main protagonist, Kaizaki Arata, a 27-year old man with a painful past who was later chosen as a ReLIFE experiment subject. He was scouted by Onoya An and supervised by Yoake Ryo. The subject who underwent the experiment will be rejuvenated 10 years and sent back to high school to experience youth once again with hopes of fixing things that were “wrong” with the subject’s life.

When Kaizaki was sent back to high school, he quickly made new friends and also encounter conflicts that were related to his past as a worker. Through each of those conflicts, Kaizaki helped his teenage friends with his experience that he had as a real adult. This made Kaizaki reflect on himself whether his past actions were truly a big mistake or not. He had always wondered if sticking his nose into someone’s problem to help a person was his biggest mistake that, in the end, led to his trauma.

Kaizaki later on finally realized that his actions were never a waste and that there were people who were always there supporting him. He was glad that he had made the right choice and was able to move forward a bit. His supervisor, Yoake, was also glad that his subject could move forward. In that way, Yoake felt that he could also move forward along with his subject, away from his past.

While it seemed that the main problem of Kaizaki’s past has been resolved a bit, I’m still curious on what lies ahead of the experiment. Since the test duration only took one year to complete, it means that Kaizaki will only have a few times left to spend his moments with his teenage friends. On the previous chapters, it was shown that he didn’t want to get attached to them because he feared one day they would never remember each other again. (All individuals that has a relationship with the subject will have their memories about the subject erased when the experiment ends.)

It seems that this manga has only a little bit more to go! (I really do hope it won’t end that fast, though). But even if the manga ends later on, I will still watch the anime that will be aired on 2016!