Remake Our Life! - What We Know So Far

Video game development is hard work. The history of the video game industry, in fact, includes countless stories of disastrous video game development decisions that resulted in famously bad games. "Superman 64," for example, could have been a landmark release, granting players the power fantasy of embodying a cosmically-powerful superhero in a virtual landscape devoid of consequences, well before the advent of Henry Cavill's Superman. Instead, the end result was hampered by a bizarre virtual reality setting at the behest of Warner Bros. as well as an abundance of gameplay-altering bugs.

If given the chance, the developers of "Superman 64" would almost surely take the opportunity to go back in time and remake the game into the early 3D gaming era hit it could have been. This is, more or less, the plot of the upcoming anime "Remake Our Life!" which chronicles the attempts of a failed video game designer to secure a career in the video game industry after traveling back in time to his college years. Here's what we know about the upcoming "Remake Our Life!" anime so far.

The most recent trailer for "Remake Our Life!" revealed that the anime will premiere on July 3 in Japan. The trailer features the song "ここから先は歌にならない" ("Koko Kara Saki wa Uta ni Naranai") by the band Poppin'Party, which serves as the series' opening theme. Aimi, the voice actor behind Nanako, who is one of protagonist Kyoya's classmates, is also a member of Poppin'Party. Likewise, Kyoya's voice actor, Masahiro Ito, is a member of ARGONAVIS, whose song "可能性/Stand by me!!" will serve as its ending theme (via Crunchyroll) and is also showcased in the trailer.

"Remake Our Life!" was originally a series of slice of life/romance light novels by author Nachi Kio. Guide book publisher Takarajimasha ranked the "Remake Our Life!" light novels as the sixth-most popular light novel in 2018 and seventh most-popular in 2019 in its annual light novel guide book "Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!" which can be roughly translated as "This Light Novel is Awesome!" (via Anime News Network). The July 3 premiere of the "Remake Our Life!" anime, then, will mark the first animated adaptation of the popular light novel series.

At the center of "Remake Our Life!" is Kyoya Hashiba, who is 28 in the year 2016 upon the series' opening. He returns to inhabit a version of himself from 10 years prior after travelling back in time. As the past version of himself, he meets and befriends students in college. Thanks to the knowledge of his future self, he knows they will become successful in the years following their studies.

Aki Shino is one of those students, studying film at Kyoya's university, though Kyoya knows that in 2016, she will be a well-known illustrator. Tsurayuki Rokuonji is another student, who possesses both a high academic aptitude and little work ethic, thus making little use of his gifts. His area of expertise is scriptwriting. Finally, though fellow student Nanako Kogure is studying to work as an actor at Kyoya's school, he knows that she will eventually follow her dream and become a famous singer.

Prior to the series' opening, Kyoya Hashiba was able to land his dream job as a video game developer, only for his employing company to go bankrupt. After the company's implosion, Kyoya moves in with his parents, now directionless in life. While at his parents house, Kyoya unintentionally travels 10 years backwards in time and is thus given a chance to relive his college years. Now, he can set himself on the career path he never quite figured out in his post-grad years the first time.

Aki Shino, Tsurayuki Rokuonji and Nanako Kogure are his roommates, with whom Kyoya lives in a shared house. The four also study film together at the Otsu University of the Arts, even though Kyoya knows, thanks to his future foresight, that none of them are going to continue into a career in the film industry. "Remake Our Life!" chronicles the four students' artistic ambitions, as well as their interpersonal relationships during their formative (or reformative, in Kyoya's case) college years.