Reincarnation Retake: Koushaku Reijou no Tashibami

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Synopsis
A young female tax worker finds herself being reborn as a character of her favorite game and finds that she is about to enter into her bad end as the rival of the main character having been broken off from her engagement with the prince who fell in love with the main girl. But with new knowledge melding with the memories of her new character, Iris opens a door to a new path.

The Good

The concept of a character being reborn into a fantasy/alternate world is a concept that has been done many times before in the anime/manga community and most often than not, features rising heroes and generally overpowered but this series has taken a completely different turn.

Not only is the real character reborn into an already established character, rather than her taking over and causing a changing storm in the realm, she and the character actually merge in mind and brings out a more developed persona that didn’t verge too far away from the original persona.

In addition to this, the character that she was reborn into is also a never before seen type to take the stage, the female rival in a romance story. Most often than not these female types are set to be disliked by the viewer/reader and ends up in not so happy endings. But here, not only do we see the reason for the character’s dislike of the “main” girl but she doesn’t present herself as petty nor pitiful but rather a young woman who would rather leave everything behind with her held still high.

Many aspects of the plot and characters are very clever and engaging with little heavy handedness in either plot or genre to be found. The other characters as well are well established and have enough interesting points to them that they don’t end up fading into the background and become buffers to the protagonist.

The art as well is well done in both the characters and the background as clearly there has been much though into the details of both from the houses to the costumes of the characters. The plot is clever, the characters interesting and well established and the art is good with the protagonist and her background and scenario being the biggest interest point of the series.

The Bad

The most notable flaw with the series is on how little breathing room that the series actually gives before continuing onwards with the plot. At most we get around 5 or so pages or maybe even a chapter of a simple moment between characters before they take on an aspect of the plot or characters. One moment we could be seeing the maid friend of the protagonist being shocked by her doing a morning exercise before we are taken into her wanting to learn more about her new role.

Then there is also the factor that Iris is rather calm, almost too calm regarding her situation of having the knowledge of a character who once perceived as only a character from a video game. While it is explained that the women merged and their thoughts become one, but at the same time there is many questionable points to raise with that. No matter how you look at it, there should be at least a page of panic on the protagonist’s part but instead the plot forwards on.

What’s more, little to nothing is known on the regular character other than she is a game loving otaku who has knowledge on the alternate world and works taxes. Other than that, no other details is given on her. So in turn, this makes a questionable point onto the whys of her out of all people being reborn into a character that she knows.

While the characters may be established, a little bit of exposition on how their relationships came to be would also be something that would help the reader understand them better

Conclusion

The overall plot and concept of the series is highly interesting and has arely if never been done before in terms of the way that the reborn into another world formula works that is. The main problem with the flow of the story is that the reader has very little breathing space before the story moves forward to the plot.

Out of the characters it is the protagonist who ties the interest altogether but it does not mean that there is no interest with the side characters as they are well established and don’t end up either fading into the background or buffers to the protagonist. However at the same time, little is known on the characters and their relationships so there is uncertainty on how they work together.

Then there is also the fact that little is known on the real character that wa reborn and many questions on why she exactly was chosen but perhaps it is the appeal of mystery. If you’re looking for a story that takes on a twist of the regular formulas of rebirth and different worlds, then this is the story for you

Rating: 7/10