Episodes 10-11 – Make our life new!

Make our life new! quickly became one of my favorite series in the line-up for summer 2021, which is … unexpected, but actually a real treat. While there were some rough episodes in that second jump arc, I feel like it largely demonstrated the power of realistic, non-fictional anime series and the slice-of-life genre in general. And nothing demonstrates all of this better than episodes 10 and 11, which I would love to get into.

Episode 10, “Learn Lessons,” picks up on a better, brighter day … Kyoya’s no good, very bad emotional breakdown. There is a sense of … not necessarily hope but acceptance, that incredibly realistic atmosphere, that Kyoya can still be happy and maybe do the right things in this section of the timeline. However … there’s that creepiness that skilfully runs through this episode that reminds me that Kyoya Has has made mistakes before and is very much at risk of doing the same if he’s not careful.

But in a way, Episode 10 isn’t about that: it’s about this version of Adult Kyoya learning how to well … grow up. It’s about him at his job, about the fact that he is working in his current position and, for the most part, working pretty solidly. Wish there was more to say but for the most part, episode 10 is a really average episode that has some tension in it, but … kind of feels like a meh episode given Kyoya’s aforementioned No Good, Very Bad Emotional Breakdown . You know this feeling when a Fan fiction The author inserts a kind of middle chapter – on purpose – to give herself a break? The kind that comes before the finals? A little nowhere, still solid but not spectacular episode? Yeah, that’s kind of episode 10, and it’s … not bad, but not great overall. It is just what it is, but don’t let that get mixed up with the idea that there are no good moments. One only has to watch Nanako’s song to know that episode 10 is still going.

That said, there is definitely a bit of character growth and a bit of character study in this episode: we see Kawasegawa’s work life giving Kyoya’s life a little structure, which … isn’t what he dreamed of because sometimes it’s just life. We see how everything he’s done had that ripple effect of creating a future I honestly didn’t think he would intended to experience. We see that even on this timeline, Japan is a country that is riddled with overwork, and at times it feels like Make our life new! Tried to say something about it, but … Episode 10 isn’t exactly the strongest comment the series has had on it. And even better, we see that Kyoya is really determined to turn things around: Aki no longer draws, although it may not have completed in the final episode.

Episode 11 (“Be Prepared”), on the other hand, is… definitely a penultimate type of episode and, in conjunction with Episode 10, brings the momentum that I wanted from Episode 10 overall. While much of the episode mirrors Episode 8 in a, it also reveals that this is Kyoya taking responsibility, despite being badly burned in the past in relation to Tsurayuki. Just… this is a completely different situation, and to be honest, I appreciate how different Kyoya is with things, precisely because this is a Kyoya who knows what it feels like to be in a bad situation. Even if it looks like it’s going to be a second episode 8, there’s still that tension that feels really good, especially when it all gets undermined and things are going in a different but good direction that feels like a bought one Lesson that feels like … well, Kyoya had to learn a few.

I suppose that’s why I really like Kyoya: At first he kind of felt like your everyday POV character, but that really simplifies his charm and, frankly, the impact that a perfectly normal, relatable character can have. To be honest, Kyoya has shown an intensely relatable humanity about him over the past few weeks, and that shines powerfully in episode 11 when he essentially steps in and helps save the day. For this reason, Kyoya was able to win the trust of Team Kitayama and now the trust of his employees in his company. And while Kyoya certainly wasn’t perfect, his humanity – and his immediate millennial affiliation – made a perfectly okay, average show one of my favorites this season, and not just because of my reviewing it. I’m thinking about it Make our life new! Quite a lot these days, mainly because it’s filled with really strong growth arcs, stumbling, weaknesses, and stutters. I think it’s safe to say that episode 11 will be living rent-free in my head before the finale.

While I have mixed feelings about Episode 10 about Episode 11, about these two episodes I can easily say that these are … brutally realistic, but in a satisfactory, understandable way. Kyoya faces backlash against his company’s smartphone game, as well as the consequences he and Eiko face. Kyoya has to stand up and face his past mistakes through direct action and do the right thing, also feels incredibly relatable. And while episode 10 isn’t exactly strong overall, it has a lot of really solid moments in it: there’s just this … weird indolence, although that’s not what I’m trying to say. I think I’d rather say there’s this weird change of mood from last week to this week that makes for a really strong episode. But as I said, there are a lot of good moments: it just isn’t good until later in the episode.

Taken together, though, these are really, really solid episodes in preparation for the finale that I’m super stoked for. And ultimately I think it’s clear that I ride a lot or die Make our life new!even if I am not completely sure how it’ll wrap things up. This may be a first, but … I kind of want to end the finale with another 50 minute chunker, even though I still firmly believe that it wasn’t a good path Beginning this series. I think it’s what I say a lot: time will tell, and all of you … we’ll find out next week, right? This is where things come together in the end.

Valuation:

Make our life new! is streaming on
Crispy roll.

Mercedez is the JP-EN localization editor and proofreader / QA, pop culture critic and journalist who also works for. writes Anime feminist where she works as an editor, and But why Tho?. She is also a frequent guest on the AniFem podcast, Chatty AF. When she’s not writing, you can find it on her Twitter or on her Instagram where she’s always up to something.