You spend the whole series pretending this experiment doesn't matter, that these connections are temporary, that walking away will be easy. The Final Arc spends four episodes proving you were lying to yourself. It doesn't have time to waste on plot, it burns everything for the moment Arata realizes he's already changed, that the people he met have already changed him back, and that forgetting them won't undo any of it. The pacing is suffocating, the adaptation skips massive chunks, but the show knows exactly what it's selling: the specific devastation of having to leave people who saved you, knowing they won't remember you saved them too.

Arata Kaizaki, 27, has spent a year reliving high school through the ReLIFE experiment, and he is surprised by how much it has changed him. Surrounded by close friendships, he has rediscovered a way of seeing the world he had forgotten as an adult. But his supporter, Ryou Yoake, keeps reminding him that the experiment is an illusion: once it ends, everyone he has grown close to will forget him. Meanwhile, Chizuru Hishiro's own experiment is also nearing its end. After two years in ReLIFE, she has become more open and thoughtful than she ever imagined, shaped by the people she has met. As their time runs out, both must face whether they can let go of the memories they have made. The four-episode OVA blends comedy, drama and romance in a slice-of-life story.