Re-Main


Re-Main is an original Japanese anime television series animated by MAPPA directed by Kiyoshi Matsuda, and written by Masafumi Nishida. The series aired from July to October 2021 on TV Asahi's NUMAnimation block.

Plot

During Winter of his third middle school year, water polo star Minato Kiyomizu got caught in an accident and has been in coma ever since. Exactly 203 days later, Minato regained his consciousness, but lost three years of his memories. Due to a certain reason, he decided to go back to water polo, but has no memories of his skill, let alone the sports' rules. Thus, Minato's efforts to catch up on what he has lost begins.

Characters

Yamanami High School

;Minato Kiyomizu
;Eitarō Oka
;Jō Jōjima
;Chinu Kawakubo
;Shūgo Amihama
;Takekazu Ejiri
;Yutaka Babayaro Inomata
;Yoshiharu Ushimado

Shogakukan High School

;Keita Kakihana
;Riku Momosaki
;Kōki Toguchi
;Akimitsu Bizen

Rikka Academy

;Takeshi Toyama
;Akihisa Fukui
;Norimichi Ishikawa

Production and release

The series was announced on March 4, 2021. It was directed by Kiyoshi Matsuda, written by Masafumi Nishida, who also served as the chief director and sound director, with Kaori Futō providing the original character designs, Shiho Tanaka adapting the designs for animation, and music composed by Kana Utatane. It aired from July 4 to October 3, 2021 on TV Asahi's NUMAnimation block. Enhypen performed the series' opening theme song "Forget Me Not", while Shugo Nakamura performed the series' ending theme song "Kowareta Sekai no Byōshin wa". Funimation licensed the series. Medialink has licensed the series in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and is streaming it on their Ani-One YouTube channel, iQIYI, and Bilibili.
On September 24, 2021, Funimation announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll.

Episode list

Reception

had four editors review the first episode of the anime: Richard Eisenbeis commended the episode for covering Minato's rehabilitation and giving focus to his family after the accident, but criticized the use of memory loss that removed the years of "emotional, physical, and intellectual growth" he gained from elementary school and going through high school without the "emotional maturity and social skills" needed; James Beckett gave high praise to Masafumi Nishida and MAPPA for telling a "compelling and thoughtfully-written character drama" that doesn't use Minato's situation as a "source of cheap melodrama" and commended Yūto Uemura's performance for capturing Minato's "childish yet melancholy dichotomy" throughout the episode; Nicholas Dupree felt the episode suffered from tonal whiplash when telling its two different stories, praising the "surprisingly grounded personal drama" involving Minato and his family recovering post-accident but criticized the "loud, wacky sports story" that throws him into comedic shenanigans while retaining "mental and emotional stress" from said accident, saying the show failed to balance its two halves without showing its central sport. The fourth reviewer, Rebecca Silverman, felt the show has potential with its "different approach" to the "average sports anime", criticizing the classmates prodding Minato to get back into water polo but prasied the family for supporting his decision to leave the sport, saying, "That could give this show the structure it needs to work, so if you're missing the boys in speedo-equivalents from Fairy Ranmaru, this is worth checking out."