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Remake Our Life!
Episodes 10-11

by Mercedez Clewis,

How would you rate episode 10 of
Remake Our Life! ?
Community score: 4.0

How would you rate episode 11 of
Remake Our Life! ?
Community score: 4.2

Remake Our Life! has quickly become one of my favorite series in Summer 2021's lineup, which is an unexpected treat. While it has had a few rough episodes in this second time skip arc, I've felt it has largely demonstrated the appeal of realistic, non-fiction anime series, and the slice of life genre in general. And nothing demonstrates that better than episodes 10 and 11.

Episode 10, “Learn Lessons,” starts off with a better, brighter day after… Kyoya's No Good, Very Bad Emotional Breakdown. There's a sense of… not hope, necessarily, but acceptance: that Kyoya can still find happiness and maybe do the right things in this leg of the timeline. However, there's also this sense of wariness that's skillfully threaded through this episode that serves as a reminder that Kyoya has made mistakes before, and is very at risk of doing much the same if he's not careful.

But in a way, episode 10 isn't about that: it's about this version of Adult Kyoya learning how to, well, adult. It's about him at his current job, and for the large part, he seems to be doing pretty solidly. I wish there was more to say, but for the most part, episode 10 kind of languishes in stasis after the emotional climax of episode 9. You know that feeling when a fanfic author puts in a kind of middling chapter intentionally to give themself a break? The kind that comes like, ahead of the final climax? A slightly go nowhere, still solid, but not spectacular, episode? Yeah, that's kind of episode 10, and it's… not bad, but not a standout overall.

That said, there's definitely some character growth and a bit of character study in this episode: we get to see Kawasegawa's work life, which adds a bit of texture to Kyoya's life. What he has now isn't what he dreamed of, but that's sometimes just how life is. We see how everything he's done has had this ripple effect of creating a future that I honestly didn't think he intended to experience. We see that, even in this timeline, Japan is a country riddled with overwork, and at times, it feels like Remake Our Life! is trying to say something about that, but episode 10 isn't necessarily the strongest platform for critical commentary about labor issues. Instead, we get to see that Kyoya is really determined to turn things around re: Aki not drawing anymore, even if that may not be wrapped up by the finale episode.

Episode 11 (“Be Prepared”), on the other hand, is definitely a penultimate kind of episode, and brings the momentum I wanted from episode 10 overall. While a lot of the episode echoes episode 8 in a way, it also shows that this is Kyoya who's taking charge, even though he got severely burned in the past re: Tsurayuki. Only… this is a very different situation, and honestly, I appreciate how differently Kyoya is handling things, precisely because this is a Kyoya that knows how it feels to have a bad situation on his hands. Even when it looks like he's about to repeat the mistakes of episode 8, there's still this tension that's really compelling, especially when it all gets subverted and things go in an unexpected direction that feels like a bought lesson of sorts which like... good, Kyoya needed to learn a few.

I suppose that this is why I've really come to like Kyoya: initially, he kind of felt like your everyday POV character, but over the past few weeks, Kyoya has demonstrated an intensely relatable humanity about him, and that shines powerfully in episode 11 when he essentially swoops in and helps save the day. It's why Kyoya was initially able to earn the trust of Team Kitayama, and now, the trust of his coworkers at his company. And while Kyoya certainly hasn't been perfect, his humanity – and immediate millennial relatability – have largely turned what could have been a perfectly okay, average series into one of my favorites this season, and that's not just because I'm reviewing it. I find myself thinking about Remake Our Life! quite a bit these days, largely because it's been filled with really strong growth arcs – stumbles, foibles, and stutters included. I think it's safe to say episode 11 will live rent-free in my head ahead of the finale.

While I have mixed feelings about episode 10 versus episode 11, what I can easily say about these two episodes is that these are… brutally realistic, but in a satisfying, understandable way. Kyoya having to deal with backlash against his company's smartphone game aches in an intensely relatable way, as does the fallout he and Eiko face. Kyoya having to step up and confront his past mistakes through direct action and doing the right thing feels incredibly relatable as well. And while episode 10 isn't necessarily the strongest overall with its abrupt tonal shift, it contains loads of really solid individual moments.

Taken together, episodes 10-11 are really, really solid episodes that set up the finale, which I'm super stoked for. And ultimately, I think it's clear that I'm very ride or die for Remake Our Life!, even if I'm not completely sure how it'll wrap things up. This might be a first, but… I kind of want the finale to be another fifty-minute chunker, even though I still firmly believe that wasn't a good way to start this series. I suppose it's what I often say: time will tell, and y'all… we're gonna find out next week, aren't we? Here's to things coming together in the end.

Rating:

Remake Our Life! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Mercedez is a JP-EN localization editor & proofreader/QA, pop culture critic, and a journalist who also writes for Anime Feminist, where she's a staff editor, and But Why Tho?. She's also a frequent guest on the AniFem Podcast, Chatty AF. When she's not writing, you can find her on her Twitter or on her Instagram where she's always up to something.


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