Locked in a mysterious room together, these high schoolers will have to reveal their deepest sins if they want to escape alive. note
Re:Mind is a 2018 television show, co-produced by TV Tokyo and Netflix and starring the entire original lineup of J-Pop Idol group Hiragana Keyakizaka46 (now Hinatazaka46).
Eleven high school girls wake up in a mysterious room around a dining table, with their feet locked beneath the floor. Realising that they are all from the same class and were kidnapped the day before graduating. Using various clues around the room, they must remember the ways in which they hurt one another if they are to escape with their lives.
For consistency, this page uses Japanese name order convention where applicable.
I guess everything reminds you of some tropes:
- All There in the Manual:
- The drama was originally targeted towards Hiragana Keyakizaka46 fans, hence there is no proper introduction for the girls in the beginning since the viewers is expected to already know them. Subverted after it's revealed that the characters go by their actresses' real names, which are displayed in the opening credits.
- Most of the information that was left out in the drama, such as the identity of Miho and Kumi's best friend, and the fact that they are on a boat were explained by the girls themselves in blogs and interview.
- Ambiguous Ending: It's not really clear what happens in the end at all, so the audience is left to speculate. Kage realises Miho is alive after all, while Kumi is still trapped in her chair. A ray of light shines from the ceiling followed by rumbling and the screen goes black. Did they sink? What kind of building were they in that it sunk? Was the light from a rescue team? What happened to the other girls (who Kage confirmed were still alive)? Kyoko's actress indicated in her blog that the ending is actually open to the viewer's interpretation, and it is up to them to choose the ending that they prefer, whether all of them died or survives to attend their graduation ceremony. Her own is that they all survived the ship and graduated.
- Arc Words: Ernest Hemingway's short story title "I Guess Everything Reminds You of Something" drives the plot of them remembering the wrongs they've done to Miho. There's a copy of the book in the room as a clue.
- Armoured Closet Gay: Kyoko. Despite the group seeming to hold no prejudices, she's unwilling to admit her relationship even after Ayaka vanishes.
- Bag of Kidnapping: This is potentially what happened to all the girls. None of them can remember exactly how they were captured, but all woke up with velvet bags over their heads and some vaguely remember hearing people talking in some foreign language, foreshadowing that they're on a ship, since a harbor would have many foreign people.
- Cannot Spit It Out: A lot of the girls suffer from this when confronted with something they have done to wrong another, eventually they all give in. A notable example is Kyoko, who is unable to confess her love for Ayaka - not even when she is about the disappear.
- Cute Mute: Shiho. She lost her voice a while before the series opens up due to the shock of Miho's suicidal text message, and is referred to by the other girls as 'cute'. It's later revealed that her voice came back after the trauma subsided, but she was pretending it was still gone.
- Decoy Protagonist: Mirei. She is clearly the girl in the room with the most spotlight, figures everything out and while she does make it very far into the story, she is the last to vanish, leaving Kumi as the protagonist all along.
- Disc-One Final Boss: About half-way through the episodes, a strange man with a limp and a bag over his head enters the dining room and silently sets the table. He is deeply sinister both before and after his identity is revealed as their high school teacher. But he is not the kidnapper, and is vanished himself when he breaks protocol in an attempt to smash the camera hidden in the deer head.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The theme song for the drama, "Soredemo Aruiteiru", was performed by the first generation of Hiragana Keyakizaka46, i.e. the entire main cast (sans Miho, who's part of the second generation).
- Empty Chair Memorial: From the beginning, one chair is empty at the long table, and more become so as the the story progresses. The opening credits also briefly shows twelve empty chairs at the beach, representing the whole main cast.
- Everyone Can See It: Kyoko and Ayaka were pretty obviously a couple to most of the class, though they were polite enough not to call them out until it became an issue at the table. Even the viewers probably guessed as much before the reveal.
- Evil Cripple: Miho suffers from broken legs due to being bullied and is implied to be the one holding the main cast in the room. The culprit indeed reveals herself while sitting on a wheelchair, but it's actually Miho's long-lost sister, Kage, seeking revenge for her sister. Hayashi also walks with a limp.
- Evolving Credits: The opening for episode one features all eleven girls standing atop the table in the order they are sitting around it. Then there's a shot of a twelfth girl standing on the table with a hood covering her head. Episode two's opening shows her without her hood, and it's Miho.
- Face Death with Dignity: When her turn to disappear comes, Memi calmly accepts her fate after confessing her wrongdoings.
- Faking the Dead: Almost every major character is bumped off one by one throughout the episodes. It's revealed in the final episode, however, that not only are none of the girls (and their teacher) actually dead, but neither is Miho. Who knows whether they all - bar Miho - genuinely died at the end of the show.
- Final Girl: Zigzagged. There is, speaking strictly literally, a "final girl" at the table — it's Kumi — and her confrontation with the series' unmasked Big Bad does have some of the hallmarks of the trope. But there's no indication that she alone survived the events of the series in order to tell the tale — let alone that she, nor anyone, survived at all.
- Forced Out of the Closet: Kyoko and Ayaka. Miho caught them kissing and threatened to tell their parents, however, she didn't follow through. Turns out, a fair amount of the girls already knew and essentially drag them out at the dinner table.
- Foreshadowing:
- Kage often notices the symbolisms first, because she put them where they are. She disappears without confessing anything and there's a sound of a door opening and shutting from her walking out by herself. When the others are confessing in the penultimate episode, she doesn't have anything to say.
- In a flashback scene, they discuss the meaning of "rewind" while studying English. "Re:Wind" is the title of the final episode, which is a Whole Episode Flashback (i.e., "rewinding" the story).
- His Name Is...: Mirei vanishes after finally putting together who is responsible for their predicament, but before managing to say it.
- The Lad-ette: Kyoko is, by her own admission, the least feminine of the girls, swearing the most and being more willing to engage in violence to solve their problems. Ayaka complimenting her looks is what led to the two being a couple, as it was the first time someone had done so.
- Long-Lost Relative: Miho and Kage are sisters. This is definitely a wham reveal, there are only subtle hints in early episodes that are hard to interpret.
- Meaningful Name: Although it might be a coincidence since it's her actress's real name, Kage means "shadow".
- Morton's Fork: If they say nothing, they might be confined in the room indefinitely, and if they confess, they'll vanish from the room and their fate unknown.
- New Transfer Student: Kage transferred to their school in the middle of their second year.
- Offscreen Reality Warp: It's never explained how the culprit can make everyone disappear in the few seconds of blackouts without disturbing the rest of the room. Kyoko even holds Ayaka's hand when Ayaka is about to disappear and doesn't seem to feel anything strange.
- One-Shot Character: The final flashback episode features Kosaka Nao as the main character and the person who starts the episode's plot by mistakenly posting her dating plan on the main clique's Twitter account, despite not being a member. There's even a Passing the Torch moment when Miho greets Nao before Nao starts addressing the audience.
- Peer-Pressured Bully: In the end, most of the girls admitted that they didn't really dislike Miho that much and only bullied her because everybody else was doing it.
- Present Absence: Miho and Kumi's best friend is never seen, nor referred to by name, due to having died prior to the series. Despite this, the impact of her death is a catalyst for many of the things that happen before the first episode. The girls revealed in the interview that the best friend is Nagahama Neru, a former member of Hiragana Keyakizaka46 who became a full member of Keyakizaka46, Hiragana's parent group.
- Secret Relationship: The show has plenty, that all come to light as the episodes go on.
- Kyoko and Ayaka have been dating for a while but kept it quiet from everyone. Miho eventually found them kissing and threatened to tell everyone, leading to them bullying her.
- Shiho and Okazaki dated briefly in secret after he broke up with Miho.
- In the final flashback episode, the main group scramble to find which one of them mistakenly posted her dating plan on their group Twitter account, since aside from Miho they're not supposed to have boyfriends. It was not actually one of them, but their classmate, Kosaka Nao, who got hold of the password by chance and mistakenly posted her plans on their account, but apparently doesn't immediately delete it For the Lulz.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Mirei wears glasses, and she is the most composed and manages to figure out most of the mysteries surrounding their circumstances. Largely averted by Memi, the other bespectacled cast member, who doesn't really trade on her smarts.
- Spoiled Brat: Miho is the daughter of a congressman and hospital owner.
- Stalker with a Crush: Mana to Okazaki. She secretly steals her friend's phone and figures out her passcode in order to find his phone number. She then repeatedly calls him and hangs up and watches him at work. It's to an obsessive degree as she interprets his saying "I don't hate you" as "I might like you".
- Table Space: Most of the story is set at a long table, where Kage and Kumi dine at opposing ends in the final episode, indicating Kage's disappointment at her sister's best friend.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Mei drinks the water in the glass and is poisoned... or so she acts. Kage's confused reaction clues her involvement in the incident, since she knows she didn't poison the water.
- To Absent Friends: It doesn't take the group long to realise the empty seat at the dining table belongs to Miho. They spend the majority of the series remembering how they all hurt her in various ways.
- Vigilante Militia: The main characters are members of a teen vigilante gang called Masshiro Seigi (Perfect Justice). It's revealed that many of the summary punishments they deliver to perceived wrongdoers have unintended consequences.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Mao. The first girl to disappear, we don't learn a huge amount about her compared to the others, but she does reappear in flashbacks. A Casting Gag since she was something of Hiragana's willing Butt-Monkey.
- We Used to Be Friends: The main cast were invited by Miho to join her clique, Perfect Justice, but they all ended up turning against and viciously bullying her.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The final episode, "Re:Wind", is a flashback episode that doubles as an interview of sorts, having the girls break the fourth wall at points to address the camera.
