ReLIFE

Plot

The story revolves around a 27-year-old man who becomes unemployed after quitting his job of 3-months, claiming that it is because it "does not fit his highest potential". As a result of this action, he finds it difficult to gain a full-time job at another company and instead he works as a part-timer at a mini market. One day, a mysterious man named Ryō Yoake offers him a job opportunity, but first he needs to become a tester for ReLife: a scientific experiment to rejuvenate him by 10 years and send him back to high school as a student. Apparently, the experiment is supposed to provide a chance to experience youth once again and, in the process, fix whatever is wrong with the subject's life.

Main Characters

Arata Kaizaki (海崎 新太, Kaizaki Arata)

Voiced by: Kenshō Ono (Japanese); Micah Solusod (English) Played by: Taishi Nakagawa Arata is a 27-year old man who became unemployed after quitting his job of 3 months at a black company, claiming the reason was "it did not fit his highest potential". After several failed job opportunities in similar companies, he worked part-time at a convenience store where he was scouted by An Onoya who chose him for the ReLife Project. As a high school student who only appears to be 17-years old, Arata is predictably seen as mature by his classmates and has no problem easily making friends. He has forgotten most of his high school lessons, so he needs to take many remedial tests. He prevents himself from falling in love due to his (real) age and the after-effect of the pill he must take after the experiment ends, even though Ryō encourages him to "live the ReLife to its finest". He is currently the Project #002 from Kanto prefecture. It is revealed that after he graduated college and started working in the company, his older female co-worker named Saiki was being harassed by her male co-workers. He tried to help her, but that only increased the harassment, leading to Saiki rejecting his help and eventually committing suicide. This tragedy left him traumatized and he subsequently quit the job. His surname comes from Kaizaki Station.

Ryō Yoake (夜明 了, Yoake Ryō)

Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese); Josh Grelle (English) Played by: Yudai Chiba Kaizaki's ReLife supervisor, the man who offered him the ReLife experiment. He is at the same age as Arata and always seems cheerful (which in fact irritates Kaizaki to no end). Being the supervisor, he always watches over Arata from a distance, and writes a report about his daily life. His surname comes from Yoake Station.

Chizuru Hishiro (日代 千鶴, Hishiro Chizuru)

Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese); Jeannie Tirado (English) Played by: Yuna Taira A very smart but socially awkward classmate of Arata. She usually scores the top grades in her year, which makes her the class representative and has all her school expenses paid for as a result. She is not only socially awkward, but also fairly ignorant with regards to anything not directly related to school matters, particularly social and emotional ones. She's always doing research online on whatever she doesn't understand. Chizuru is actually Project #001, another ReLife subject like Arata. Due to her personality, the experiment was deemed a failure as there was no improvement. Her surname comes from Hishiro Station.

An Onoya (小野屋 杏, Onoya An)

Voiced by: Reina Ueda (Japanese); Kristen McGuire (English) Played by: Sae Okazaki An is another "transfer student" at Aoba High School. But she's actually Ryō's junior supervisor and the one who scouted Arata for the experiment. Like Ryō, she acts cheerfully and together with watching their project to the point it becomes stalking, much to Arata's annoyance. Her surname comes from Onoya Station.

Students

Rena Kariu (狩生 玲奈, Kariu Rena)

Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu (Japanese); Alexis Tipton (English) Played by: Elaiza Ikeda Arata's classmate who sits next to him and is a volleyball club member. A girl who is very competitive, she wants to be the best at everything. She thinks of Chizuru and Honoka as her rivals, but is on good terms with them. Rena is stubborn and proud, but actually genuinely confused inside. She has crush on Kazuomi Ōga and acts like a tsundere towards him. Her surname comes from Kariu Station.

Kazuomi Ōga (大神 和臣, Ōga Kazuomi)

Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Japanese); Blake Shepard (English) Played by: Mahiro Takasugi Arata's classmate who is the class representative along with Chizuru. He performs well academically, but has very poor athletic ability. He lacks social prowess when it comes to romance, with the help of Arata and their friends he realizes his feelings for Rena, claiming that he wants to be with her, and doesn't want her to be with another guy. He wears his uniform in a particularly eye-catching way, earning him the nickname "Flashy Ōga" (チャラオーガ, Chara-Ōga) or just "Flashy Blond Guy". His surname comes from Ōga Station.

Honoka Tamarai (玉来 ほのか, Tamarai Honoka)

Voiced by: Himika Akaneya (Japanese); Bryn Apprill (English) Rena's best friend and the captain of the female volleyball team at their school. A naive, friendly, and sweet girl. She has noticeably large breasts which are a bit of the running gag. Having a strong aptitude and athletic ability, she felt pressure from people who can't surpass her, which is why Rena's claim to be her rival makes Honoka treasure their friendship. Despite being a genius at sports, she isn't very good academically. Her surname comes from Tamarai Station.

Nobunaga Asaji (朝地 信長, Asaji Nobunaga)

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese); Stephen Sanders (English) Honoka and Akira's childhood friend, he acts like the mother of the group and a member of the health committee. His surname comes from Asaji Station.

Akira Inukai (犬飼 暁, Inukai Akira)

Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama (Japanese); Alejandro Saab (English) He is Honoka and Nobunaga's childhood friend. He has sharp and glaring eyes. He is very protective of Honoka and so he gets mad at anyone caught leering at her. His surname comes from Inukai Station.

Teachers

Kokoro Amatsu (天津 心, Amatsu Kokoro)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese); Caitlin Glass (English) Played by: Natsuna Watanabe Homeroom teacher at Arata's class. She is also the PE teacher and female volleyball club's supervisor. Her surname comes from Amatsu Station.

Kōshi Usa (宇佐 浩史, Usa Kōshi)

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (Japanese); Anthony Bowling (English) Male volleyball supervisor and a PE teacher. He was Kokoro's senior at university and they are sort of rivals. His surname comes from Usa Station.

Sumire Inukai (犬飼 すみれ, Inukai Sumire)

Voiced by: Ryōko Shiraishi (Japanese); Marissa Lenti (English) Public health doctor of Aoba Academy. She's also Akira's older sister. Her surname comes from Inukai Station.

Others

Michiru Saiki (佐伯 みちる, Saiki Michiru)

Voiced by: Shizuka Itō (Japanese); Alex Moore (English) Michiru was a staff member of the black company that Arata belonged to. She later committed suicide after being harassed by fellow employees. Her suicide had a great impact on Arata, rendering him unable to function in society. Her surname comes from Saiki Station.

Manga

The manga began publication on the Comico app in 2013 with physical publication of the series following in 2014. The series was added to the streaming service Crunchyroll manga service on December 21, 2015.

Chapter 137 announced Volume 6 of the printed Manga for August 12.

Anime

It was announced on February 13, 2015 that the web manga series will be getting a television anime adaptation that is scheduled to air on July 2, 2016. The anime's main cast, broadcast information and first key visual was unveiled at the AnimeJapan 2016 convention in Japan on March 26, 2016. TMS Entertainment is producing the series, with Tomo Kosaka directing, Michiko Yokote and Kazuho Hyodo handling series composition, Junko Yamanaka designing the characters, and Masayasu Tsuboguchi composing the music. All 13 episodes of the anime were pre-streamed before the television broadcast on the ReLIFE Channel app on June 24, 2016. Crunchyroll released all episodes of the anime for premium members on July 1, 2016, each episode was made available for free members throughout the following weeks. The anime is licensed in North America by Funimation.

Music

The opening theme is "Button" by PENGUIN RESEARCH, while various artists perform a different ending theme for each episode. The ending songs are compilated into one album titled "MD2000 ~ReLIFE Ending Songs~" and to be released on September 21, 2016. The title "MD2000" comes from type of a mini disc that came out in 2000 while the concept of the ending themes comes from the songs that Kaizaki used to hear back in his (old) high school days.

A series of character songs also released from August 3, 2016 started with Arata Kaizaki from volume 1. Each CD contains two songs with respective instrumental version. A soundtrack CD contains 23 background music from the anime is released on September 14, 2016. The music are composed by Masayuki Tzboguchi.

Live action film

A live action film adaptation of the same name and directed by Takeshi Furusawa is slated to debut in Japanese theaters on April 15, 2017. The film stars Taishi Nakagawa and Yuna Taira as Arata Kaizaki and Chizuru Hishiro, respectively. The film will have an original ending.

Stage play

A stage play adaptation will be performed in Tokyo and Osaka in late 2016.

Reception

Volume 1 reached the 30th place on the weekly Oricon manga charts and, as of August 17, 2014, had sold 33,637 copies; volume 2 reached the 9th place and, as of November 16, 2014, had sold 46,040 copies; volume 3 reached the 23rd place and, as of April 5, 2015, had sold 73,019 copies.

It was placed 6th in Zenkoku Shotenin ga Eranda Osusume Comic 2015. It was also nominated for Best General Manga at the 39th Kodansha Manga Awards. The series had sold 1 million copies as of February 8, 2016.