I watched Rebooting immediately after reviewing Trespassers without the knowledge that both these productions are written by Bakarhythm and directed by Itaru Mizuno (according to IMDb, Shunsuke Kariyama and Kento Matsuda have also directed one episode each of Rebooting). Still, I sensed some sort of similarity between the show and the movie due to the dialogue and the way the actors delivered it. In fact, while watching Rebooting, I understood more clearly why Trespassers worked so well for me. The magic lies in the ordinary conversations, the natural reactions. Take that scene from the first episode of Rebooting, where two government employees discuss the right way to greet people when they come to their counter. Should they say "hello" or "welcome?" Take another scene at a restaurant where a character worries about what a waiter would think about her life. These are the kinds of chats you don't usually hear in shows and movies, where filmmakers polish every line or imbue it with poetry.
But Bakarhythm likes to focus on mundane topics. His characters, like real people, talk about food, TV shows, stickers, head massagers, relationships, and friendship with such informality that you feel as if they have been living in this world for a long time. Everyone is extremely comfortable in each other's company. They all effortlessly blend into their surroundings. The actors seem oblivious to the camera, which is why they don't appear to be performing but living. This lends credibility to the closeness between Asami (Sakura Ando), Miho (Haruka Kinami), and Natsuki (Kaho). We instantly accept them as inseparable best friends who can, say, go to any extent to save each other's life.
That's precisely what Asami does in Rebooting. She chooses to live her life repeatedly (a total of five times) and ends up saving her friends from a premature demise. Of course, she initially "reboots" to earn good karma so she can be born as a human in her new life instead of living as an anteater or a fish. Her selfishness, however, motivates her to do good things. She saves a teacher from false accusations, tells a friend to end her marriage, saves another friend from a creepy man, and so on. A story like this can quickly become repetitious. For how long will the viewer observe the same routine over and over again?
This is where Rebooting comes up with a smart solution. It allows Asami to select different professions. If she is a pharmacist in one cycle, she will pursue a career in the entertainment industry in the next cycle. Since Asami's thoughts are constantly delivered to us through her voice-over, we get a detailed account of her daily activities, which covers both the personal and professional sides of her life. When she joins the show business, the series comfortably stretches its runtime by giving us as much information as possible regarding the entertainment industry. It's Bakarhythm's way of showing off his "insider knowledge," though some of it is frankly not very enlightening.
In my review of Trespassers, I wrote that the show "crosses every t and dots every i. Every character, every plot point fulfills its purpose. Nothing is left hanging or ambiguous." These lines can be reused for reviewing Rebooting. Every setup has a payoff. Sometimes, you don't even notice the setup, which makes the payoff more satisfying, like during that scene where two little girls, through their hands, inform one another about the number of their "cycle." But one thing that kept bugging me while watching the series is this, "Why didn't Asami try talking to her friends about her situation?" She could have easily proved everything. As a result, she could have also prevented them from boarding that flight. Am I missing something?
Another issue that is common between Trespassers and Rebooting is that the frames can often look dead, and static. Mizuno should make his visuals more lively. There are moments when things become almost dull and uninteresting when we see a scene from one position for more than a few seconds. I get that the director is going for realism and all that, but his images could use more life. Anyway, this is still a very delightful and watchable series.
Final Score- [7/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times