Romance? Time Travel? Two of my favorite genres mashed together? Of course, I’m going to be there! That’s what you get when it comes to Haibara-kun no Tsuyokute Seishun New Game (Haibara’s Teenage New Game+). Of course, time travel is a very tricky thing to get right, but something tells me that this isn’t going to be the kind of series that worries about things like stepping on an ant and suddenly, Hitler never happened (That’s what Petals of Reincarnation is for!) Can this show tow that line without turning into something generic?
Let’s go!
First Episode Synopsis
Haibara was a socially anxious, overweight kid during middle and high school. While he did go on to college, lose the weight, and land himself a steady job in infrastructure, he has always had those regrets about his teenage years. While standing on the balcony of his apartment, smoking a cigarette, he wishes he could redo his teenage years. When he went to sleep that night, little did he know that he would wake up in the past.
After the typical “did I just time leap?” reaction and zero freaking out about it, Haibara realizes that it’s not a dream, and he has truly been given a second chance at redoing the one part of his life that he regretted the most. So, not wanting to waste much time, he gets to work on losing weight. One month later, he looks like a completely different person, and Mori, the girl he grew up with, sure noticed it. In fact, she’s the only one from his middle school who will be going to the same high school as him, which is a bit of a thorn in his side because she’s the only one who knew what he used to be like.
On the first day of school, he runs into Hikari Hoshimiya, the girl he had always had a crush on, asked out once, and got thoroughly rejected. One of his goals is to correct course and actually date her, but he knows that he can’t be the socially awkward version of himself that he used to be. While he is looking up his class, he overhears three people talking… Uta Sakura, Reita Shiratori, and someone he knew from his first time through high school, Tatsuya Nagiura, with whom he had a falling out. However, this time things seem to be different, and they quickly include him in their little group.
When they get to class, they spy Hikari and her friend Yuino Nanase. Those two quickly join the group. After establishing a chat group, Haibara realizes that everything is going smoothly for his high school re-debut!
Worth Watching?
YES – Despite the lack of reaction on Haibara’s part to suddenly leaping back in time, this was done pretty well. It’s quite obvious that the time travel aspect isn’t going to be a major plot point here, but more or less just a vehicle to get Haibara back into the past. From here, it looks like a typical slice-of-life show about an introvert making the transition to extroverted status and getting the life he always desired.
The first episode was pretty lighthearted, as you couldn’t help but feel pride for Haibara for turning his life around, but I have a strange feeling that it’s not going to go as smoothly as he would like it to. While Mori does know his secret about being overweight, none of them know he’s a time leaper, and I can’t see a show like this introducing a plot point to spoil that secret, so the biggest threat is really Mori talking too much and possibly embarrassing him in front of his friends, but I would think that by the time that happens, they would become close enough to where it wouldn’t be a big deal.
There just has to be some drama here, as this can’t just stay all sunshine and rainbows, because that would be boring. When that drama will come remains to be seen, but I would think, for now, we can just sit back, relax, and watch Haibara adjust to a life he never thought would have been possible until the world decided to pull a Deus ex Machina on him.
So far, it’s pretty good, but the potential is there for this to go from good to great, which is why I’m going to keep watching, and that’s why you should pick this one up, too.
