Re-Main

Absolutely wonderful. Haven’t seen a sports/club show this enjoyable since “Free!” was airing. If you like “Free!” and want more of that, but not a knock-off, despite the fact that these are both for sports that take place in water, try this. It’s tropey in an absolutely wonderful way (honestly it gets really cliche at one point but it’s used quite well, or at least worth sticking through for the painful but good character moments), with beautiful animation, beautiful music, a wonderful cast who are lovely and also mostly ikemen in speedos, and honestly a lot of great messages. I haven’t seen a series thathandles major injuries and deconstructing stereotypes the way this one does, particularly the former. Yes, it’s cliche, but it treats Minato’s injury and recovery in a way you don’t really see that often. At least not since “Yuri on Ice!” or “Fullmetal Alchemist”. It also really focuses on how self-centered most everyone is around Minato’s injury, and how hard it is for junior high and high school athletes to excel, and the many pressures they have. There is a time crunch at that age, and people can break at the smallest losses, because the pressure is that bad. The show doesn’t present a solution for the problem (not that it has to), but it does point out that it’s not just one factor in the whole area of sports that creates the problem overall. It’s everything, whether it’s unsympathetic coaches, toxic masculinity, distant family members, the issues of growing up as a child of separated or divorced parents, particularly with a sibling involved, class status, simply time and effort… It’s just a lot. And the story also focuses on the fact that it is effort, not talent, that gets people ahead. That’s typical of sports shows, of course, but it’s emphasized in really unique ways. The show also deals with little oddities you might write off as bad research or narrative shortcuts via anime cliches, but later brings it up “oh yeah, no, this is something that is a sign of inexperience/lack of knowledge on the characters part” and it’s really brilliant world-building that you just discount until you’re like “ohhhh”, though if you’ve been paying attention, you already took in the details and could have figured it out on your own. For instance, when they eat before a match (I used to be a competitive swimmer, this one bugged me). The pay-off isn’t typically immediate, but when it shows up, it makes perfect sense. Not as I guess a plot hole filler, but in a way you realize why it hasn’t been addressed prior to this. There’s a brief moment in episode 11 that was honestly perfect for this, and that’s littered throughout the story. In a way there’s narrative frustration between “I want a story with a typical anime underdog” and also “I want to see the characters do well at the sport”, and the show favors the injury and character relationship plotlines more than the sport itself, which leads for an odd ending pair of episodes that at once feels a bit overwhelming but also puts you in the mindset of a bunch of players who have been practicing water polo for what sounds like around three months, versus players who have been practicing for literal years. Also, the latter has been practicing matches, not individual skillsets. And it’s kind of frustrating that the message is “friendship and having fun is what matters”, when a lot of the messaging is “we want to do well at this team sport in competitions”. “Free!” worked because they only had one underdog, and the guys mostly all knew each other, and a central message was about how rivalry is toxic. “Re-Main” tries to convince you that bonding with your teammates will make up for years of discipline and varied practice… but also that it literally won’t, and if you expected it to um… What is wrong with you? And then tries to sell you on the idea that it’s a satisfying story. And that CAN work, in a way. If you’re happy with the parts that aren’t necessarily water polo. I personally enjoy most of the rest of the stuff, and even a lot of the water polo specific stuff is still enjoyable, even if it’s honestly painful to watch how predictably bad these newbie and untrained players are. And the fact that honestly, reminding us that your life shouldn’t be about medals but about enjoying what little time you have on this earth, particularly if you have good friends and something fun to do (a la “Sk8 the Infinity”), isn’t a bad message either, which is probably why so very many of these shows have that as a message. It just gets a bit muddled here. This gets closer to managing it better than other shows do, though. If you want a story about a neat group of guys with interesting backstories and characters who don’t abandon their personalities for cliches (well… except in two cases, but it’s fun angst, anyway), and follows through on those things, and has a lot of really sweet heart-to-hearts between characters and supportive friendships, and episodes that just make you smile (and also hot guys), this is for you. It also honestly made me start tearing up around episode 7 on the regular, so there’s that for it. It’s not the easiest watch, but it’s enjoyable. And it honestly has an amazing set-up for season 2 if there is one, unlike a lot of other series that just continue to continue.

Here's an odd take but probably not a unique one. I think quite a few will be feeling the same way. Re-Main is a sports anime that would have benefitted greatly by not being a sports anime. An anime torn between being a character driven type drama and a sports anime, failing to deliver on both and ending up to be average in all areas. I can't give it a low score as the anime was not bad. But there was a lot of potential left unfulfilled. It's middle of the road 5/10, there is better out there, and I would only recommend if youare really bored. Continue reading for some light spoilers and more in detail explanation. As a sports anime, Re-Main leaves a lot to be desired. I came away from watching feeling I know very little about Water polo. The anime itself featured very little as most episodes focused more on the characters. Even episodes that did feature water polo still focused on the characters and how they were feeling during the game. It's worrying when you're watching the final episode and there are still people narrating the rules of the game to themselves to keep the audience up to date with info. Meaning the first 11 episodes have not done enough to educate the audience on exactly on what's happening. This detracts from enjoyment in a sense, as when you do not know what is happening, you do not know what to feel. The character front, the main focus on this anime, it's also surprisingly weak. The only character given any real depth is the MC, Minato. After having a date with Truck-kun, he loses a span of time and years worth of memory. The anime follows his growth of learning about who he was as a person, people's perception of the "new" Minato, as well as when his memories return and how he copes with this and his "new" life. I actually really like this idea. There's a lot that can be done with this, interactions with characters can change quickly given knowledge of characters, previous experiences etc and this did happen to small extent. If the anime focused more on this, and was not tied down to a sports setting, I feel it could be a very interesting watch. Re-main is not that show. It could have been used a lot more and to greater effect. The supporting characters are weak. Even after just finishing, I barely remember any names. They fall into their stereotype, and that's how I remember them by. They have maybe 1 story element (although I'd go as far as to say, some have almost none), each that gets semi resolved by the final episode but none of them are noteworthy and any investment was not rewarded. Re-Main is a long drink of water. It's certainly not bad. It ticks enough boxes. But it falls into mediocre valley. It's not good, and not bad enough to be entertaining (though the latter I find is rare in anime). Regarding art and sound, again both are serviceable but forgettable. There was nothing much to standout so this review will feel rather bare bones because of it. I will not remember Re-main or look to rewatch this further down the line. As for Sports anime, there are lot better out there. For a recent example, Bakuten! a sports anime for gymnastics is one I would recommend. It's also not perfect but I'd rather watch that over Re-main. Please feel free to read my Bakuten review for further thoughts recommendations. Thanks for reading :)

I don't know much about water polo, but this anime-original has given us an accurate portrayal of that sport in anime. Re-Main was hyped by Mappa so it was an obvious must-watch for fans of Mappa's previous works, such as Jujutsu Kaisen and Attack on Titan season four. Despite it not changing the sports genre in anime, it still showed us that even something as simple as water polo has the potential to be properly animated. Although the pacing for Re-Main is a bit problematic, combined with its character growth, the anime itself is well done, along with these points that make Re-Main good. The plotof Re-Main focused more on character development than actual water polo, much to its irony. If given more episodes, there would've been more scenes where the main cast starts playing against more rivals, but the pacing goes too slow. It features the main character getting nerfed at the beginning of the anime, but his motivation to join water polo again was honestly wasn't well-written. To cover up for it, it featured the water polo team from Yamninami high starting to improve their status as a great water polo team. However, there were barely any water polo matches, not to mention the anime kept on disrespecting the main cast, which I felt was going too far, even for the creators of Re-Main. A positive note is the amount of character development each member of the team receives. Not only does it emphasize the concept of teamwork, but it gives them their resolve for the future of the series. That said, the pacing for both of those combinations could've been better, but I'm hoping that the anime receives a second season to fix those flaws. The story itself was somewhat interesting. Because it focused on the main character recovering from a critical accident, it gave him the chance to catch up to what he's missed. Soon, he tries to avoid water polo, but his past as a famous water polo player catches up to him. However, once he meets a girl and learns of a stupid bet he made, it motivates him to continue water polo again, but from there, it drops that reason and focuses on water polo itself. The water polo matches themselves were too short, and they certain parts of the action, which I was disappointed they did. However, I did enjoy the buildup Yamnanami high school had towards their match with Shogakukan, and the way it was delivered was worth it. The growth between the individual characters was executed well, but I wished their resolve was continued beyond the twelve episodes. Overall, the actual combination of character development and water polo was implemented neatly. The characters and their growth were the central part of this anime that was prioritized over the actual water polo during most of the episodes. A shocking plot twist was the main character, Minato himself. He started weakened from his previous memories. If not, he would've been the most overpowered throughout the entire series. While I liked that choice made to his character, the second half of the anime took a one-eighty when they got rid of his personality we knew and love. While arrogance and rudeness weren't the best parts, they gave him a chance for character development, and I commend that option despite having to endure such a recent change in Minato's personality. The other Yamnanami team had good character growth throughout the twelve episodes. Also, I have massive respect for its racial representation by making one of the characters a Nigerian. I liked everyone's character designs as it matched who they are and how they expressive they were despite the struggle they've been through before the anime began. Though at times, their growth took over playing water polo, which would've been better with the proper pacing, it's hard to do so for an anime original. The animation for Re-Main was somewhat overhyped. Even though Mappa had amazing quality animation for their other productions, it was almost average. In specific frames, it's visually stunning and had fluid movements, which could've been hard to animate since the characters are constantly moving, but it was well done. The CGI in the faraway views of the characters was a little distracting, but I had no problem. I also liked how they showed the CGI for a short amount of time before switching to the 2D models for the characters. The amount of quality for the animation had given its justice, but despite the use of CGI, Mappa still managed to fix that overly hated aspect and worked around it to satisfy the viewers. The music for this anime wasn't anything special, but at the same time, I found both the opening and the ending songs to be good. The beginning song itself gives us the impression combined with the visuals makes it look like the next Haikyuu, but it gave that false impression since it mainly focused on character development instead. I liked the ending as well. For some reason, it gave me the impression that if foreshadowed the future teamwork the Yamnanami team developed, and they'll continue to improve. They both sound beautiful, and I appreciate the artists behind both of those songs. They both weren't too exciting, but it was relaxing to hear them thorough the anime. Overall, this was a decent anime original, not as exciting as the previous season's originals, but at the same time, it wasn't as bad as people make them sound. The character development was incredible, the water polo scenes were visually stunning, and the plot twist with the character's personality change was completely unexpected. Although, I wish Mappa spent more time focusing on playing water polo and letting Yamnanami high have a chance of winning, which they only did once. I'm hoping that this original gets a second season since it sets up for another season, which would be a great idea to accomplish when Mappa completes their upcoming projects for the future of their anime and as they improve on the studio's working quality.

I really like this show. It was my favorite out of the season. I really like the mc and his story. It just happens to appeal to me. The op and Ed are good, the art is good, the plot is good, the characters are good, and the development is good. I may be biased, but the show got me to like it a lot so that’s a good job for them too. Im writing my first ever review too, as the time of writing this it has a 7.25 score which I think is a bit low. But on a practical stand point, evenif I didn’t fall in love with the show, it’s still a pretty good show. Watch it!

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