Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: Koko kara Saki wa Uta ni Naranai「ここから先は歌にならない」by Poppin` Party
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「なにもかもダメになって」 (Nanimokamo Dame ni Natte)
“Everything is Useless”
The season premiere of Bokutachi no Remake encapsulates the main premise of the anime as Kyouya wakes up in 2006 right at the moment where he could change his fate and choose to go to art school. Although his second chance at a video game career that isn’t abysmal is a good chance to meet his idols and learn more about his career path of game design, it also gives him a better understanding of who the people he idolized really are and the struggles it took for them to get to where they ended up in 2016.
50 minutes might seem like a lot to digest for a show that combines the time-bending fantasy of Erased with the youthful wish-fulfillment of ReLIFE, but it helps to distill where Kyouya came from and what exactly he wants to fix about himself now that he’s time-traveled 10 years into the past. With how much he had to contend with as he ended up saddled on the butt-end of canceled projects from embattled game developers, it makes him easily sympathetic, especially with how tech company struggles ultimately end up being more relatable than many viewers would have hoped.
It does beg to question though what he could gain from going back to change his past by interjecting his life into others. He might be able to be more successful by learning more trade tips and such, but he could end up impacting how his colleagues would be able to get out as much content as they normally would have by 2016. There could be a butterfly effect where his involvement with one of his favorite developers’ lives could cause them to completely alter their career for the worst.
Not to mention that not everyone is going to be successful right out the gate or be permanently successful once they make it big. Yuji Naka’s work on Sonic the Hedgehog and Nights Into Dreams might have been stellar, but gamers nowadays have been kicking him down and stomping on his legacy because his most recent game was the critically lambasted Balan Wonderworld. Most of these Platinum Gen people could easily have a Balan Wonderworld in the works, but Kyouya would never know because he only caught them while they were still on their Nights Into Dreams phase.
Likewise, Sakaguchi Hironobu was close to quitting the gaming industry entirely after his involvement with 8 games leading up to the first Final Fantasy. Kyouya’s Final Fantasy could’ve been around the corner or could’ve been present within the next few years, but never know it because he decided right off the bat that he wasn’t where he needed to be unless he switched schools back in the heyday. Unless he ends up networking, he might just end up in the same spot he was before.
It also gives us a window into the life of Kawasegawa Eiko, who also would have much to gain from Kyouya’s time travel. As his last chief, before he woke up in the past, he had become heavily invested in making sure her vision becomes a reality, and that she won’t have to feel weighed down by the miserable treatment she gets at work. It’ll be interesting to see how much this comes into play knowing that Kyouya’s knowledge of the past might drive him to see what it is about her past that would lead her to be unhappy with what she got at SucceedSoft.
His fellow dormmates at the Share House Kitayama are also very fun and interesting characters to have around. We don’t know as much about Nanako for now aside from being one of the more abrasive residents. But we get a little background on Tsurayuki, who has a good grasp of the material he’s given in spite of his multiple jobs causing him to work himself to sleep during class. At first, I wasn’t sure what to think about Shinoaki because she did have a kind of infantile appeal for someone heading into art school, but her involvement in Kyouya’s favorite game helped amplify her as a character knowing that she was able to build up enough confidence to create a great game by her own accord.
Perhaps the main takeaway from Episode 01 is that motivation and determination might be more of a silver bullet for reaching your desired outcome in life than being at your preferred college of choice, though the latter helps anyways. Assistant Professor Kano makes it clear that the 8/135 chance of success makes it absolutely foolish to bank off a career in entertainment, so unless he’s wrapped up in the warm and endearing arms of nepotism, he could easily be stuck in the same position he was in beforehand. A decent education is only half the battle.
It’s an odd story because even though everything came together so nicely in the 50-minute runtime, it’s hard to imagine what Kyouya would get out of living out his fantasy of palling around with the designers he’d come to idolize. Still, at the moment, the story is wholesome enough that you can’t help but hope that Kyouya is able to achieve a better future alongside his new friends.
ED Sequence
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ED: Kanousei「可能性」by Argonavis
My issue with this story so far, is how contradictory it is. I mean, they wrote in a line about how his dad wanted him to get more lactic acid while living alone, solely for the purpose of having Aki drip yogurt onto her breasts. That’s all well and good in a vapid harem anime, but if you’re going to ask me to care about your supposedly serious story, then that kind of stuff needs to stop. A little ecchi can be OK, but you can’t treat the girls as something to be sexualized and still try to push your mature topics.
Hopefully they move on from that kind of stuff going forward.
You’re right about the yogurt, it would have worked just as well (or just as badly, depending on your attitude to gratuitous fanservice) without him needing to give a reason for drinking it.
I think they could have just done without personally. I mean, having him wake up next to her was cliche enough. The Haha it’s like she’s drinking semen, followed by inferred BJ was taking it too far imo. Leave that stuff for the harem anime, and that’s coming from someone who’s watched and enjoyed their fair share of harem anime mind you, so this isn’t just me hating on fanservice.
Well, they try this kind of Bait to catch more Fish in the Ocean
While I do agree with you and think it was unnecessary, to call the story contradictory because of that one moment (all 50 minutes of this first episode) is kinda too much. It remains to be seen whether or not something like this will reoccur, but for me at least with this episode, it didn’t ruin the right vibe I got from this.
Remake’s author, Kio Nachi, is also a professional visual novel scriptwriter.
He’s done work on titles like the Grisaia series and Ao Kanata no 4 Rhythm.
https://myanimelist.net/people/24015/Nachi_Kio#:~:text=Kio%20Nachi%20is%20a%20scenario,in%20the%20game%20Pastel%20Kitchen.
He’s also working on the anime adaptation as well.
So do some baito → Buy stocks or bet on sports → Profit → Open a game studio and make all the games you wanted to make.
In all seriousness though I appreciate an anime that set in college for once.
I thought of that too especially because he seems to have a fairly good knowledge of baseball, but betting on sports is extremely limited in Japan so stocks would be a better option, like Amazon and such. Assuming though he could even open a brokerage account as a minor (it’s only next year that the age of majority is dropping from 20 to 18).
This is just endless eight with more episodes. Just enjoy the visuals or perversivness of it.
Dropped.
The promo pics (breasts shoved into the camera) made me wary. And the screenshots posted here doesn’t help to remove my doubts about this being another harem wishful fillment. Will wait for further impressions.
As of right now, the only girl he’s showing any kind of ecchi romance stuff with, is Shino Aki (short blue hair). He does have some relationship with red hair student and blond (no I don’t know names after one episode), but hasn’t shown any kind of romantic interest in either, at least not yet.
I agree that I hope it doesn’t devolve into harem antics, but at least right now, it hasn’t happened. Other than the seemingly pointless fanservice with shinoaki when he first meets her, this is currently a coming of age series but with a twist. I’ll have to watch more to see what direction it becomes going forward.
He can tell about the fire the studio is gonna have a few years down the road….too soon?
All this will boil down to is how to get a waifu by traveling back in time.
Everything else is filler to get to the end girl route, then explained it like fake philosophical wisdom twisting into “to fix mistakes of the past, all you need to do if find a girl you like”