EDIT: There's some confusion in the article below as I wrote it not knowing about the Spin-off called Ver.β. ALPHA world in my article would be the world of the spin-off story/Beta. While BETA world would refer to the main story which is referred as Alpha by the fandom.
Bokutachi no Remake (Remake Our Life) follows the story of Hashiba Kyouya. After losing his job(s) and regretting not following his passion. He's sent back 10 years in time to the day he got accepted in art school. Kyouya decides to make most of his second chance using his 10 years of experience.
This is a follow up article to my First Impression/Review of the Anime.
Below I'm going to refer the timeline before the time travel as ALPHA World. The timeline he travels back to as BETA World.
Seeing Kyouya fail at his life career in the first half of the first episode is heartbreaking, because we know his pain! We see how hard working he is. He finally gets hired, (if temporarily,) at his dream company, only to lose the job three months later for reasons out of his control. It's unfair.
This anime is relatable to many because all of us have made a decision or two that decided our life path. Some of these become decisions we regret, and when we finally realize it, we can't go back and fix it.
It's not stated in the story, but I believe Kyouya took the easier path when he was young. That's why he regrets it. The same thing could've happened to him even if he went to the art school, but the fact he didn't follow his passion is what burns him. Not that he "failed."
That's why, when he goes back to his home, we see him at his lowest. Every one of us who are old enough had a moment like that. A moment when we feel everything is over. But make no mistake. People bounce back! Everyone of us got stronger because of it!
I argue that Hashiba Kyouya's ALPHA run wasn't a failure. At least, he still has the potential to make it big if the BETA run didn't happen.
He might have considered himself a lost cause, but he's was just dealing with unfair circumstances. It made him feel that it was his incompetence that led to all these failures, but when you look at him objectively, he's a real hard worker. He has experience with many sides of the creative production as he admits to his boss early in the first episode.
It's true that the second chance after going back in time will give him better life and chances of success. He probably wouldn't achieve his dream of working with the Platinum Trio otherwise. But what if he didn't go back?
I'm sure Kyouya would've gone back to work then do something amazing after a few months if he didn't go back in time. People like him don't stay depressed for long! He's competent, he just had a really bad luck. He's also only 28. The time period of your life in which everyone treats you like an adult but you still have the experience of a child.
Finally from my Manga reading, I know what he can accomplish. ALPHA timeline Kyouya would have realized his strength eventually, because he's the type who does anything to succeed. He only needs a person or two to believe in him as Eiko Kasegawa did in the anime version, (but her luck was as bad as his,) and he'll be set in the right direction again.
What do you think?
Thanks for reading this. I thought it'll be fun to think about what will happen if the story of Bokutachi no Remake didn't happen to the protagonist, and the bright future I can see waiting for him even without it. Luckily we have the BETA world in the actual story & it's clearly more interesting than the reality the anime started with.
I hope you enjoyed reading this, because I certainly enjoyed writing it. Hope to see your comments & see you in another post.
All images are screenshots from the first episode of the anime.
The idea of ALPHA & BETA naming was inspired by this reddit post.
This article posted here on Read.cash. Also on Hive's Ecency.
