"Once time passes, it never comes back. There are no second chances in life."

I first read Bokutachi no Remake (Remake Our Life) manga when I was browsing at random long time ago. The premise hooked me instantly. The story follows a guy who gets a second chance in life after losing everything. He decides to pursue the future he really wanted this time around.

When I first read Bokutachi no Remake, there were only a few chapters translated to English. The Web Novel translations weren't out yet. But I was following it for a while since the first three chapters were really good. Eventually, with no updates I forgot about it.

I was surprised when I looked some names of this season's anime and found Bokutachi no Remake among them. I watched the first episode, which is 50 minutes long and I loved every second of it!

Remake Our Life

Hashiba Kyouya is a 28 years old business man working for a game development company, that just got bankrupt. Going back to his hometown, he reminiscence about his life decisions.

Once, he was accepted to most esteemed art university in Japan, but he took the safer option with economics instead. His three favorite creators dubbed "the platinum generation" graduated from that art school. Kyouya always wondered if he'd have a place with them if he chose the art route.

Wishing for a second chance as he sleeps, Kyouya wakes up 10 years into the past. He decides to choose the path of creator in his second chance. Secretly hoping that he'll meet his favorite artists from the platinum generation. Spoiler: He would!

Kyouya's meets three other kids at his new dorm. There's Shinoaki the tiny girl who loves art. The mysterious Tsurayuki the guy who likes to make fun of others, and Nanako the hyper girl with blond hair dye. Each of them is interesting and has their strength and flaws.

The series is full of strong slice of life moments, for example: On their first day, the students professor announced that most of them will fail, using real life statistics to back her statement. "Out of 135 graduates last year only one 8 got jobs." I like how they got a huge reality check right there!

"Humans need food to eat and homes to live. But entertainment is low priority, it only becomes important once you've got your needs met. It's useless for survival. Going to art university knowing that means you're all stupid.

But, even with stupidity, when you have enough of it you can make money. If you're going to be stupid anyway, do it in a way no one can joke about!" -- The Professor.

When I heard the above quote, I was like: "Yes, this is a good anime."

After watching his fellow students work in school Kyouya realized. His 10 years in the entertainment industry didn't give him an advantage. They know more about art basics than him. But he does have something. He just doesn't know it at this point in the story.

Impressions on the Anime

The anime & manga handled this beginning part differently. He was hired by the same company as the platinum generation in the anime but the project was frozen before he finalized his contract. In the manga he was working for a shady company that went bankrupt. Ending up jobless in both versions.

The scene where he meets his boss as an adult is new to me. Definitely not in the manga. Seeing the protagonist getting the chance to work in his dream company, working so hard as a temp-hire for it, makes his eventual downfall more heartbreaking. It also gives us the audience a chance to know Eiko Kasegawa earlier.

I think it's a good choice to have a 50-minutes first episode. It gave the animators enough time to bring out the good sides of three of the four main characters. Established Kyouya's hardworking traits. Tsurayuki's intelligence, and Shinoaki's airheaded-ness . Hopefully, Nanako will get a bigger focus in the next episode.

What do you think?

What I like about this story compared to other second chance stories. (Even the Isekai ones.) The protagonist had a good mindset from the start. He was already a competent person in his first run, he just had a really bad luck. He worked in companies that fail outside of his control. The anime makes this even more obvious than the manga did.

So, when he goes back 10 years in the past, he's doing a lot of things better than his peers, but he also has a lot to learn as a creator. I like that about Hashiba Kyouya's character. I look forward to the adaptation of the first book ending in the anime. In my opinion, it's very powerful!

• First image is taken from the promo poster. All other images are taken from the First Episode.

• This article is also on Hive's PeakD. Different screenshots were used.