Title: The Revenge of My Youth, ReLife with an Angelic Girl Vol. 1
Author: Boiru Iseebi (Manga), Yuzi Keino (Original Story), Tantan (Characters)
Publisher: One Peace Books
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
Genre: Sci-Fi, Slice-of-Life, Romance
Publication Date: January 21, 2025
The Story
Did you ever wish that you had a second chance at life? For Shinichiro Niihama, she gets just that after suffering what appears to be a heart attack after being overworked at a toxic company. When he wakes up, he has traveled 14 years into the past where he re-enters high school. There, he remembers a girl named Haruka Shijoin, the daughter of a bookstore chain owner who is seen as beautiful and out of reach by all the boys; however, Niihama has always caught her attention.
He remembers that tragedy has befallen her in the future… similar to something that happened to his mother. With all of the knowledge of the future intact, Niihama vows to not take his second chance lightly.
Here in the first volume, we see Niihama tackle the task of changing his life; however, everyone from Shijoin to his friend Ginji, to all of the others at school notices an instant change in his personality, the way he talks, how he acts, the improvement of his grades, and more. This is due to Niihama using the lessons he learned at work from all of the torture he endured to make those changes. As the dust begins to settle and everyone begins to take notice of the new him, the school’s cultural festival is looming and he knows just how important it is to Shijoin!
Characters
For starters, you can’t help but feel sorry for Niihama. Seeing what he had to endure at his old workplace, it’s heartbreaking; however, how he used that to better himself shows how strong he is as a character… or so you would think. The toxic life that led to him either dying or passing out has instilled a fear inside of him… one so great that he doesn’t want to waste this second chance so he would never have to endure a future like that ever again. While he seems energetic and enthusiastic about things, his fear was revealed in a conversation with Shijoin where he fabricated a story about his cousin and then talked about his toxic workplace. Shijoin became terrified of working at a company like that; however, if you read between the lines, seeing how scared Shijoin got made you realize why Niihama was so adamant about changing things. The reason why one wouldn’t notice this is because they presented his toxic past (or future?) as moments of comedy rather than drama but the drama is real if you look hard enough.
As for Shijoin, she’s too pure for her own good. Despite being from a wealthy family, she’s insanely grounded and never thinks of herself as above others. In fact, she’s oblivious to everything, including how good she looks and how boys are always taking notice of her. She doesn’t brush them off on purpose, she just has zero clue about how people view her so she just stays in her little world where she’s happy. In fact, there’s a moment where she gets bullied and doesn’t understand why… even though it’s been happening off and on since elementary school! Yeah… she’s a little naïve for her own good but she’s also an otaku who loves light novels so she gets a pass. She’s sweet, though, and has the right balance of sweetness and stupidity to make her adorable and lovable.
As for other characters, we have Ginji who is a panel filler. He didn’t add a single thing except to help carry on a conversation when one was needed; however, he is Niihama’s only friend so I’m sure there will be more to him in the future.
Lastly, we have Kanako, Niihama’s younger sister. She doesn’t like Niihama and he even admits that as the years went on, she talked to him less and less until they just stopped talking altogether. That is one of the things he wants to fix which shocks Kanako. She can hardly believe the change in Niihama’s attitude and outlook on life and when he lets it slip that he’s doing it all for Shijoin, she becomes more like a cheerleader than his little sister, even vowing to help the two of them get together. She goes from cold to rather fun and mischievous over the course of this book and she adds some nice comedy along the way… even if at times you want to tell her to mind her business!
Final Thoughts
This was an extremely solid first volume! It takes the concept of getting a second chance at life brings it down a notch and grounds it in reality. One would think that if you went back in time and retained all your knowledge you would just play the lottery or use that power to change events just for whimsy’s sake but Niihama doesn’t do that. In fact, when he gets transported back, he’s in his thirties. He even mentions that something like calculus was something he had forgotten. In another class, he noted that he had to re-learn something. It’s a grounded approach because nobody remembers everything that they were taught in school so this is the best way to approach this.
But then, there are moments when he does remember events that happen in the future but instead of acting on them to change them, he uses that knowledge to diffuse different situations but not in a way that would disrupt those events from happening. It’s almost as if he’s picking and choosing what to change and what to let run its course. The things he is choosing to change are things that are close to him and his life that wouldn’t make a difference in anyone else’s. Whether that is calculated or not remains to be seen but he’s not trying to change the whole world… just his life and those lives close to his.
Because the series takes this approach, we don’t have to worry too much about the ripple effect… for now. Typically, in a series like this, it’s an inevitability so we’ll see if it happens to go that route and how deep the rabbit hole goes. For now, though, the series is more lighthearted than dramatic but there are still some dramatic moments in it. It finds a way to strike a perfect balance and, therefore, it made the first volume an excellent read that I would recommend to sci-fi fans, romance fans, slice-of-life fans, or all of the above. This one is worth your time!
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This item was provided for review by One Peace Books
