Boku dake ga Inai Machi

Boku dake ga Inai Machi (also known as Erased) is a show with all sorts of drama: murdering people for no real reason, generic child abuse by evil parents, and divorce over the alleged theft of a chocolate bar. Sounds engaging, doesn't it?

But it also has a comedic side, such as romcom blushing, by a guy in his twenties at a ten-year-old no less. And the running gag of "I said that out loud!" in every other episode. There is also debate on the merits of secret bases and their inherent manliness.

And let's not forget about the murder mystery. There's a killer out there and ... the narrative treats his identity as a big mystery, so the show proceeds to... do pretty much nothing with the idea. There is approximately one plausible candidate and narrative causality firmly points to him. The only tension is trying to figure out if he's a red herring because it's way too obvious already.


"But this show isn't about the killer's identity, it's about other things."

Then why does the show make such a big deal out of the killer's identity? Nobody sensible would blame Death Note for revealing the culprit early on because it's very openly a part of the premise, but here it's treated as a legit mystery. And when the time comes to learn the name, it is painted as the Big Reveal.

And it's not like the protagonist Satoru is really trying. He does very little to actually identify the culprit, instead spending his time in various elementary school romcom antics in the hopes that this will foil the killer's plans.

You see, Satoru also happens to be a time traveler with prior knowledge of the victims. How does he make use of this? By trying to continuously protect any and all potential victims. He throws history wildly off its course, making it impossible for him to predict anything. Common sense would suggest letting history unfold and hanging around nearby with binoculars or something. But nope, can't have that.


So if not the killer's identity, what is this show about, then?

Maybe the culprit's motive? Well, don't get too hyped. His motive barely counts as one. He doesn't have any real reason and is basically doing it for the laughs.

No, I'm pretty sure this show is about elementary school romcom. As stale as it is, the show gets even worse near the end when the romance aspect is put on the sidelines. Because after that there's just nothing left. Other than debating about secret bases, of course.

...You know, this guy is really in his twenties, but after going back in time he acts like a kid anyway. And no, it isn't a cunning facade, he just is that way. One of his classmates comes across as smarter than he does! It doesn't help that most of his classmates are bland and boring to the point I don't really care if they get murdered or not. In a similar burst of creativity, Satoru himself is a generic good guy defined by his desire to help others and has no other personality traits worth mentioning. Aside from liking a ten-year-old girl, of course.

Furthermore, the plot is a trainwreck both in logic and pacing. The protagonist's time travel powers operate when it's most convenient for the plot as a source of even more cheap drama. The last few episodes are so rushed that they crush whatever little characterization there was, romance included.


"But the feels!"

Meh. How am I supposed to find the abuse victim interesting when she is bland, emotionless and barely gets a decent line in the entire thing? Just like the abuser, for that matter. It comes across as a cheap grab for audience sympathy. At least give us some inner thoughts, analysis or commentary, something to think about. The abuse victim in particular desperately needs more lines and especially better lines. Now she's just standing there. The way it's now, it can't set itself apart from the countless other examples of child abuse in fiction. After a while you just grow jaded about these things and can't get "the feels" anymore. At least I can't.

And don't get me started on the chocolate bar. Nobody would get fired from their job and end up in a divorce because of the alleged theft of one measly chocolate bar. Why would he even need to steal the damn bar? Did they think this guy is a kleptomaniac or something?


The show also gives protips on how to conduct police investigations or run from the police for that matter:
Find a body? Run from the cops; that will prove you're innocent.
Obvious police trap? Walk right in.

The police arrested a guy with pretty flimsy circumstantial evidence and some leaps of logic. They somehow know the time the victim disappeared more accurately than evidence and testimony suggest. And boots are apparently the new fingerprints.

Also, get this: if an alleged pedophile kills some girls and one boy, clearly the only logical explanation is that he mistook the boy's gender and thus can't be anyone who knew him well.

...Wait, what?

This anime is just perfect. I really feel sad about the many negative reviews that this anime receives because of the fact that the main character doesn't use his power often. It's true that he uses it 2 or 3 times along the story, however these people who wrote that reviews don't realize that he always use his power in the crucial moments, such as he gets arrested. It's true that it is a great power, but it's also true that that power is not necessary to abuse of it so that become the anime more enjoyable, its already entertaining :p. It ... seems like the creators decided to focus more on the past instead the present to change the future. I think that focus was really necessary because in Satoru's present there was an awkward situation with the issues of the persecution, the unknown causes of the deaths of the girls, etc. All of this gets arranged with the acts that were carried out by Satoru in the past, without using his power. Despite the issue of the power, let's talk about the cast of this anime. Overall it seems to me improvable. There are situations where the personalities os some characters may become a little strange, for example the attitude of Kenya on the early days when Satoru reaches the past. Another thing that I loved on this anime was the way in which the creators managed to transmit the feelings of the character to the viewers. At least on my case I felt every tense situation that Satoru lived along the story. From the beginning to the end.

CHARACTERS: 8

As I said the cast of this anime could be inprovable, anyway the character development is very good as the story progresses. The fact of the time travel that happen to Satoru, let us know more about him and the others characters. We discover his fears, his likes, etc. All the characters that are presented both in the past and in the future are very good, above all, the murderer and the mother of Satoru.

STORY: 10

The story begins very strong, however there's a decrease since the seventh episode. That decrease is fixed as Satoru started to arrange the problems of the present, such as the case of Kayo. Besides it has much merit the fact of developing a good story between two times without breaking the plot or the story.

In conclusion, I really recommend this anime to all of those who love the seinen animes, the animes that have nice stories and animes that trasmit feelings.

Thank you very much for reading my review and I hope that it could assist you ;)

Overview:

I'm late to this party, but I'm kind of glad I took my time to review this series. This anime got absurdly overrated and overhyped back when it came out for reasons I never understood. It's been 3 long years since then...and this is still one of the most overrated anime on MAL. The series has little moments where it has potential. It's not THAT bad on a technical level. I gave it a VERY generous 5 because I really don't believe in rating bombing. Otherwise, I would create 10 clone accounts and keep giving it a 1. I just sit back and laugh that ... this garbage is sitting at an 8.5+ rating 3 years later. Even the most "filthy casual" anime can laugh at Erased. This is a series that doesn't deserve to shine Gundam Wing's shoes or stand in the presence of Inuyasha. Elfen Lied wipes its ass with Erased. Then again, I can't spend this entire review talking about its MAL rating, so let's get on with it!

Plot and characters:

The main character is a 29 year old manga artist named Satoru Fujinuma. He has a mysterious super power called "The Revival" that allows him to travel back in time a few minutes and alter history. He uses this a few minutes into the first episode to prevent a fatal traffic accident. Throughout the series, Satoru's powers never seem to follow any consistent rules. We don't understand how he gained The Revival. We don't understand the mechanism by which it works. We don't know shit about The Revival...other than IT GOES HARD (HARD) ALL DAY ALL NIGHT! (cough) I deeply apologize for that joke.


Anyways, Satoru's mother suddenly figures out who the real killer was that murdered several of Satoru's classmates back in elementary school. For some reason, the real killer instantly realizes that she figured it out and kills Mrs. Fujinuma. Satoru walks in to see that his mother has been stabbed to death and then the police instantly burst in and think he did it for some reason. Fortunately, The Revival triggers and Satoru is sent back in time 18 years. Now Satoru must find out who the killer is and prevent the murders from taking place. The next few episodes are actually pretty decent. Satoru helps a childhood friend who is dealing with domestic abuse and the anime tackles this topic with surprising grace. The good times don't last though, because this is only 12 episodes and we find out very quickly who the killer is. Hint, it's the guy that looks blatantly evil.


Satoru is able to prevent several murders and here is where the series really goes downhill. The killer gains this absolute obsession with Satoru and the thrill of having a rival. The anime tries REALLY hard to force this Batman/Joker dynamic, but it doesn't have enough time to feel remotely natural. The killer figures out the Satoru is the one thrwarting his plans and leaves Satoru locked in a car that he drives into the middle of a lake. We flash forward 18 years and Satoshi wakes out of a coma. How the hell was he rescued from the bottom of the lake? The anime never tells us. Fuck you! That's how! It is revealed that the killer has been anxiously waiting this entire time for Satoru to wake up and hasn't killed anyone in that whole time because it would be no fun without his rival to try and stop him. Satoru completes him and life is meaningless without his rivalry with Satoru. Are you fucking kidding me?! Satoru stopped a couple murders and temporarily set back his child killing scheme for a few months. This dynamic worked in The Killing Joke, because Batman and Joker had 50 fucking years of history together! Satoru nabs the bad guy in an incredibly contrived set up and everything ends happily. Well...besides Satoru spending his entire young adult life in a coma in this timeline. The End.


Art and sound:

The art and animation by A-1 Pictures was fine here. A lot of people love to shit on A-1 because they made SAO, but it really wasn't that bad. Oh and BTW, Erased happens to share a director with SAO. Just an interesting bit of trivia. The soundtrack was handled by the talented Yuki Kajiura, who has done far better work on series like Baccano. However, I have no complaints about the music. It's fine.


Overall:

Erased is a very condensed manga adaptation that had about 12 unforgivable flaws for every one thing it did right. Most of us have series that we love despite being heavily flawed. Hellsing Ultimate, Parasyte, and Fate/Zero are all series I love despite them having laughably stupid plots. I love Berserk 97 despite the fact it's barely animated. I love this one anime that had budget problems so severe that it ended with a 2 episode philosophy powerpoint. My frustration with Erased is not just that it had a few flaws, it's that watching Erased is an infurating experience. You board the plane and it has technical issues and sits on the runway for 2 hours. Then it finally gets into the air and you're sitting there like " Ok, this is fine". Then one of the engines explode and the plane nosedives right into the New York City dump. That's essentially what it's like to watch Erased. This is one case where you REALLY can't trust the MAL rating. I'd highly recommend skipping this one.

Past, Present and Future is a juggling act when you want to change something huh Satoru?

Ok first thing is first, hello hype train, this anime is riding it and you know what it actually deserves it for a decent amount of time, it had a compelling mystery with time travel elements that do heightened the paranoia and intensity of the entire ordeal of Satoru and him going back to the past.

If you haven't already guessed LA liked this series, be it the hype train or not, let LA like and watch a good anime series if LA wants to. LA has liked time travel ... in media for quite a while and this won't be an exception coupled with a rather compelling mystery and LA's paranoia on this anime going through the roof which is something this anime does right.

The characters by all means have lots of development especially from our main protagonist Satoru but as well as most of the other cast members and they are mostly all important, LA says this as LA looked at the characters as this, they can easily be allies or traitorous people towards Satoru thus making the paranoia LA have gotten effective enough to drive the mystery. In any case, LA rather thought most of the cast were fleshed out from both trying to help Satoru and the undefined amount of paranoia towards them making them memorable.

There are ''some'' flaws within this anime however one which will be the typical time travel paradoxes here and there and some pacing issues does occur and the lead up to the ending makes it rather predictable. On speaking of which the ending did satisfy LA due to resolving the story going full circle and although it isn't as climactic as the reveal of the killer, the ending did not disappoint LA.

The animation by A-1 Pictures have a rather high quality throughout which is baffling from the previous ''The Asterisk War'', BUUT for Boku dake ga Inai Machi, LA won't complain A-1 Pictures, you did quite excellent in terms of animation.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi is a compelling mystery, with solid characters and plot developments and sure it has it's flaws but so does MOST media, but considering this is LA's review, what did LA really think about this anime?, it was great and it's mystery was one of it's best parts of it as LA was both paranoid and wanted to find out the mystery, coupled with some great character development and an interesting premise.

This is literally one of the most interesting and original suspense anime's I have seen (Based on a manga of course).

Review:

Story 9/10
For those of you who have not seen the fist episode. Won't spoil (End of episode one should be considered spoiler). It's intense

Art+Sound+Character
9/10, 10/10, 9.5/10
Characters are believable, art style is that of a professional movie with scenes taking place in a beautiful atmosphere. Sound is a amazing as soundtrack fits mood and suspense of the show.
...
Overall 9.4/10
Its one of the best (short) suspense anime of all time. Highly recommended.

P.S. Even though the last two episodes deviated from the manga quite a lot, the important theme and messages are still in there.

Pros:
Music
Cliffhanger Endings

Cons:
- "Possible" easy villain to spot, but it is more atmospheric than mystery
- Deviation from manga in final two episodes, but still maintaining some core values.

ERASED is a suspense/thriller wrapped in a character drama with elements of mystery sprinkled throughout. That's a mouthful! But it is this level of complexity that I believe elevates ERASED above a lot of other anime, and Tomohiko Itou really did a marvellous job directing this show into a wonderful adaptation. Allow me to elaborate.

Too often of late in anime, studios are falling back onto fan-service pandering, questionably aged lolis, and read-the-manga endings to try and push more sales. Rarely exists a show of a single cour that delivers one complete, self-contained story with an extremely satisfactory ending and with no ... cheap fan-service to boot! ERASED delivers just that. Reading the manga is an option for a bit of a different telling of the story, but isn't mandatory. These reasons alone are enough to put ERASED above many, many other shows of late, but I'd like to delve through each rating category to see what I think it is that makes the show so compelling!

Story (10/10) - Right out of the gate, the story to ERASED is a fantastic one. It is a mature, grounded story about a man unhappy with his own life and wanting to resolve past regrets that plague him even to this day. Fortunately fate grants him that chance via the ability to travel back through time to his older self and relive pieces of his life in an attempt to change the future! And this is how we begin our story: with our protagonist Satoru having just suffered a terrible loss and immediately sent back to when he was 11 years old, to a time when several girls at his school went missing. He believes it is his job to save them to right past wrongs and hopefully change his terrible future! Unfortunately his task is muddled as he doesn't know who the primary culprit is, so he instead races against the clock to try to save the children from their grim fate. To make matters worse, the main female lead Kayo, one of the targets of this child murderer, is severely abused by her parents making protecting her a rather difficult task. It is a very human story in the middle of this suspense thriller, and it does a fantastic job connecting you to the characters and pulling at your heart strings. It makes you care when they are in danger, and really ratchets up the tension in ominous moments. You get to follow Satoru on this harrowing journey, praying every step of the way that he makes it through. It builds up to a couple huge and very heartfelt climaxes at the end of the show, and then an extremely satisfying finale that ties up all the loose ends. It really is a great story that pulls you in, leaving you stressed one moment and ecstatic the next!

Art (9/10) - The art in this show is quite good. It isn't the best ever, but it is consistently high quality. I never noticed any severe drops in quality, and there was never a point where anything was unclear to the viewer. The character designs are quite interesting and a bit different than what I'm used to seeing, especially with some adults like Satoru's mother, Sachiko. They do a marvellous job of making the children adorable. The art is also cleverly used to convey a lot of symbolism throughout the show, and you really have to pay attention to notice all the clever details packed into the art/animation! Colours and contrast are used to the fullest to deliver a subtle messages to the viewer and influence their emotions as necessary.

Sound (8/10) - The sound in this show is also very well done. There isn't a lot of complexity to it, but the OP/ED are both highly enjoyable to listen to, and the insert tracks throughout the show cue up perfectly at the exact moments required to really punch up the tension of a scene, or melt your heart with joy. The VA work wasn't the best I've ever heard, but it was quite good. I also appreciate the newcomer Shinnosuke Mitsushima voicing Satoru in an attempt to make him different and stand out from the rest of the show. The director was clearly trying to stuff in as much symbolism as he could in ever facet of the show. Kayo's VA and Sachiko's were both excellent and I enjoyed them every time they were on the screen.

Characters (10/10) - The characters of this show are absolutely fantastic. The only real negative I can apply to this category is that the villain of the show is a little bit underdeveloped, but the direction they went with said villain is acceptable in my eyes as he is logically motivated and fleshed out enough to make the story interesting. He doesn't need a deep backstory, as this isn't about the villain, this is a story about the protagonists and their plight. The rest of the main cast were absolutely fantastic though. Satoru was convincing as a super-hero wannabe, Kayo was beautifully developed and her unfortunate abuse really hit home for me, and Sachiko has got to win some awards for best mom in anime. There's also the great supporting cast of all of Satoru's friends that help him along the way that get adequate screen time and do a great job supporting the main cast and letting them grow, while still managing to grow a little bit themselves! I could connect and relate to a lot of the characters in this, with their thoughts often mirroring my own as I watched, and I absolutely adored Kayo and Airi every time they were on the screen. One of the easiest 10/10s I could give, the characters were by far the highlight of this show.

Enjoyment (10/10) - This show was absolutely one of my favourite things to watch of the 2016 Winter season, and probably one of the most enjoyable shows I've seen to date. The human element resonated deeply with me, the suspense had me on the edge of my seat, even when I could have sworn I just KNEW the answer, and the ending was tied up absolutely perfectly for my liking. I got to see people grow, I got to see tragedy, I got to see victory, I got to see a mature story told without pandering fluff. I adored every second of this show, even in spite some of the minor flaws with it, and I would gladly rewatch this again in the future, preferably with a dub so I can try and catch all the subtle details I missed on the first pass!

Overall: 10/10

By now I think you realize I loved ERASED. It really is a fantastic show. I think everyone owes it to themselves to watch ERASED at least once, or to at least give it a try before writing it off at face-value. You may be surprised at how such a simple story can be so engaging. Like Shirobako, it will be a staple recommendation for me to others. The characters are just great, and the ending let me walk away with a smile on my face, regardless of the outcomes of all the characters and what was lost, because what was gained was so much more. Rarely do I get to enjoy such a complete and satisfying experience from an anime, let alone one I think good enough to show to even non-anime fans, but ERASED is definitely one of them. Props to A-1 for delivering such a fantastic experience, I value every second of it!

When it involves new anime, hype usually starts with something small, the cause either due to a title being created by a prominent mangaka, being produced by the studio Madhouse, or being something that very, very subtly thinks outside the box. Then, the hype surrounding this new title becomes so ridiculously out-of-proportions that there’s little chance of the series fulfilling these expectations. With that said, I will introduce the 12-episode mystery known as Erased, whose birth, rise, apex, and decline in MyAnimeList.net’s (MAL) Top Anime rankings epitomize the hype machine as a whole. When Erased was first released, it surpassed Cowboy Bebop, Mushishi, Death Note, ... Gurren Lagann, the 2011 remake of Hunter X Hunter, Monster, and even Legend of the Galactic Heroes, all considered timeless, transcendent works of the medium. Erased settled into the top 10 for a while before soaring into the top 5 and, during this voyage into the upper echelon of the Anime Hall-of-Fame, I bought a nonrefundable ticket for the ride. As someone who adamantly sticks to the older, more renowned series, I was immediately suspicious of the widespread idolation of Erased but my insatiable urge to witness what the hype was about pushed me to watch this series. Whether its ranking on MAL and my decision was ultimately justified remains to be seen.

Erased revolves around a time-traveling mangaka named Satoru Fujinuma venturing into the past, reverting into a child in the process a la Dragon Ball GT, to confront his mother’s killer. As the drama unfolds, the series showcases a truly masterful, variety-filled soundtrack. When the focus is on R&R, soft, barely audible guitar melodies ease into the atmosphere. When the pulse-pounding suspense is at its climax, tragic violin pieces are flawlessly alternated with sweeping, powerful piano tracks. Every once in a while, Erased experiments with different combinations of music, at one point having tech house and an opera string quartet perform the Fusion Dance.

Though I am helplessly enamored of the show’s music, I am even more in love with the cinematic style involved in the animation of Erased. When Satoru discusses or thinks about his time-traveling powers, a film reel effect occurs with the film reel frames symbolizing Satoru watching his life so far like a movie. In episode 1, the smoke released form the cigarette of Satoru’s mother guides the transition from one scene to the next. In episode 3, Satoru visits the bedroom of Yuuki, a friend from long ago, and there’s a beautiful back-and-forth shift between past and present. In episode 5, there’s a cutaway to a painting of The Last Supper as Satoru eats his dinner to foreshadow what will occur next. The cinematic style in Erased climaxes at the end of episode 6, where Satoru is in the rain, about to be hauled off to jail, and he spots his mother’s killer. It is at that moment where everything suddenly stops (even the raindrops are frozen!) and turns black-and-white, the color erased (pun unintended) from the scene except for the killer’s dark red pupils. Let’s just say that what occurs in episode 6 doesn’t happen too often with anime titles.

As someone with a theme song fetish, I have always believed that an anime’s opening, which is often a viewer’s first glance at a title, can make or break the series. That said, the theme song for Erased isn’t particularly terrible but it’s not memorable in any way (It will never be compared to “Mystical Adventure”, “Tank!”, “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” or any of the other classic theme songs). The theme song for Erased is all about Satoru: him in a theater, him on the playground, him playing Rock Paper Scissors with his friends, him screaming outside in the snow, him running away from his mother’s killer (You get the point). The question: who is Satoru? He doesn’t have any unique physical features, personality quirks, or any special gifts besides the whole time-travel thingy. Satoru has a purpose that drives the series forward, to protect the ones he loves and even those he doesn’t know too well, but it’s hardly a unique purpose. In other words, Satoru is (shocker!) yet another one of those self-insert protagonists that I despise with a passion. Unfortunately, most of the supporting cast don’t fare much better when it involves depth and uniqueness. Hinazuki is the main female character of erased, one of those quiet loner types that never get a chance to really develop, a damsel-in-distress relying a little too much on Satoru to rescue her, and a child that acts nothing like a child (More on this later). Airi is one of Satoru’s co-workers with what’s easily the dumbest backstory ever (#candybarsarecursed). Kenya is a quiet, abnormally intelligent scholar of a child seeking to protect others just like Satoru (Kenya is, unfortunately, not black). The only person in Erased that actually acts like a real person is Mr. Yashiro, my favorite character. At first, Satoru’s teacher appears as relatable as possible whose gentle, relaxed personality resembles that of a midmorning autumn breeze. However, the depths of Mr. Yashiro’s soul reveal a mortal man marked by obsession, rejection, and an obvious yet intriguing plot twist. If only the rest of the cast of Erased were as complex as Mr. Yashiro…

“If you don’t dig deeper, the readers won’t be able to see you in the work,” – Satoru’s editor (Episode 1)

Above all else, this is the underlying cause of every issue in Erased. When I look at Erased, I discover an ambitious young writer filled with larger-than-life ideas for his work but doesn’t know how to fully express them or inject his personality into his writing. This problem is apparent in Erased having some serious pacing issues and in the show not knowing what it wants to be (Erased is generally labeled a mystery but there are also sci-fi elements, an insane amount of time spent on the school grounds, and it mostly feels like a simple slice-of-life than a gripping suspense-thriller. Honestly, Erased would’ve been better had it stayed loyal to the mystery aspect). Spawning from the show’s lack of structure are, of course, the plot holes issue, like not explaining the effects of Satoru’s time-traveling or how he acquires this ability in the first place. It is obvious a little before the 15-year time skip but, afterwards, the animation style that I obsess over is decimated almost entirely, the once-overpowering OST lacks its flair for the dramatic, the plot isn’t as intense, and overall Erased just isn’t the absurdly addictive thriller that it used to be. The last (and probably most crucial) thing I don’t like about the author of Erased is how he characterizes children in his story; it’s like he was never truly a child himself. Me, I can easily recall and cherish my childhood. Being a young boy was building the biggest castle in the sandbox. Being a young boy was making fun of other boys who wanted or had relationships with a girl (Back then, we thought they were infested with “cooties”). Being a young boy was riding your bicycle down the street by yourself to the grocery store so that you could feel like “a real man”. Being a young boy was doing what you previously thought was scary or impossible or reckless. Being a young boy was fighting boredom by using your imagination to invent new methods of entertaining yourself. Being a young boy was about pulling pranks, getting into fights, and having fun.

No young boy or girl talks about an Edgar Allen Poe book that doesn’t exist.
No young boy or girl jokes about having a friend kill someone.
No young boy or girl willingly locks someone or allow themselves to be locked in a bus alone for days on end, no matter the circumstance.

When I finished Erased, there wasn’t that empty feeling you get when you complete a memorable series, that feeling of “NOW what will I do to spend my time?” When I finished Erased, I immediately thought, “Should I write a review for this? Maybe I could use my time for something more productive and worthwhile.” That’s not what I thought when the life-changing experience known as Gurren Lagann came to a close (you know, a CLASSIC title). I was staring at my computer screen with my mouth agape and my eyes watering for what felt like forever (Somehow, I did not cry). As for Erased, I watched it, loved it, stopped loving it, tolerated it, and then it ended. As fast as an eye-roll, Erased has faded from MAL’s Top 10 and from my anime-watching life. In conclusion, this series wasn’t particularly terrible or great. In fact, it was so unmemorable that it will be eventually erased (pun intended) from my memory until its name pops up again one day and I’ll vaguely think, “Oh yeah, think I checked that out a while back.”

Just finished airing, and now for the complete review.

The pros.
This ERASED anime, is something definitely refreshing. Got strong element of feels, a great change of personality, wanting to protect someone, this anime is a great embodiment for slice of life. The feeling of being lonely depicted in this anime feels really familiar to real life. The horror and mystery, either waiting or preventing something bad or good to happen, this anime deliver both of them perfectly. Throughout the show, never once feels lacking.

The cons.
The ending might be just right for most viewer, but for me, one piece is still a mystery that the ending just ... feels not much of an enclosure, could've used 2 or 3 cuts more to perfect it. The director might just left it as it is, either for a second season, if that's happening, then it would be a really far-stretched story that it's better not being produced at all. Or they just think it's the complete and perfect enclosure, or just follow the original story from novel/manga/game, etc...

Conclusion.
This is a great, if not perfect Slice of Life anime. Definitely A Must Watch.

A manga artist with a special ability
to go back in time when a death occurs
became the victim of a kidnapper's hostility
needed to make their deaths deferred

Save his mother, and his friends
travel back to 1988
solve the mystery; make the amends
he alone will decide their fate.

... “Pretending to smile, pretending to worry... I don't think that's a bad thing” - Kayo Hinazuki (ERASED, 2011)


At last, behold the anime that has climbed its way to the top of the rankings of MyAnimeList within the first few episodes; it comes as surprise to many veterans of anime whom have long searched for a series worthy of becoming the successor to Steins; Gate’s legacy. Boku dake ga Inai Machi, also known as “ERASED,” tells the tale of a dark yet heartwarming story that is sure to keep you awake cuddling underneath your blankets.

Story (10/10): ERASED is set near the present in which our main character, 29 year old Satoru Fujinuma possesses a supernatural ability forces him to go back into time, triggering whenever something bad happens. The fact that he is a struggling manga author is hardly relevant to the story at hand but may be explained in detail later. Satoru is involved in an incident which forces him to go back into time, all the way to 1988, where he must solve a murder mystery in order to change the future. He must uncover the details of the murder of a girl in grade school.

That girl’s name was Kayo Hinazuki.

ERASED is noticeably different from Steins; Gate, in the aspect that the former is part of the science fiction genre, while the latter is supernatural. The plot of ERASED is superbly written, and the pacing is perfect, each episode packed full of action and each ending leaving you craving for the next episode. In fact, it’s formatted so perfectly that I almost couldn’t resist reading the manga just to solve the mystery for myself. This anime is shown from Satoru’s point of view, and the balance of active dialogue along with narrative is a perfect mix as well, keeping viewers interested yet not in the dark about our main character’s thought processes.

In a similar sense Steins; Gate, both plots begin in the same way with a death, which creates a sense of urgency and dread for the viewers. This really allows the people watching this anime to connect with the characters on a much deeper scale. ERASED also deals with other darker issues, including child abuse. This anime is one of the few out there making social commentary on issues most wouldn’t even consider thinking about; it has really enlightened me and made me think more about issues brought up. It is worth mentioning that Satoru's "Revival" ability isn't quite explained fully and does tend to gravitate towards being used as a plot device, but this could be overlooked.

Character (9/10): In terms of character design, the characters all look very original. The art style and coloring fit the anime’s darker mood as well, and the characters are not so “moe” that it takes away from the realism aspect. Each character also has many different outfits, as expected from A-1 Pictures. As the setting is a school setting (for the most part), most of the time they are wearing student uniforms, which is expected. The background scenes are very well drawn and animated, as well as the character animation.

Music (8/10):The soundtrack for the anime is amazing as well. The great variety of BGM empowers each scene, whether it's a sad or a catastrophic scene. Each of the tracks appeals to any number of human emotions and adds to the atmosphere of the story and scenes.

The opening sequence consists of young Satoru and his friends doing random things at his school. Almost everything is animated and isn’t taken from any scenes from any actual episodes, so A-1 Pictures definitely put in the effort weren’t lazy. Same with the ending. The opening “Re:Re:” by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION is decent but not something insanely good like “My Dearest” from Guilty Crown. The ending, “Sore wa Chiisana Hikari no Youna,” by Sayuri fits the theme of the anime better and also sounds decent.

Voice Actors (9/10):What really impressed me the most was the voice actors. ERASED features a cast of well-known and experienced actors in the industry as well as two new voice actors making their debut: Mitsushima Shinnosuke and Tsuchiya Tao really impressed me even though it was their first time voice acting for an anime. On the other hand, Taichi You and Takayama Minami, who both possess massive talent and experience were able to bring to life their characters and really make this anime a pleasure to watch and listen to.

Character Development (8/10): At the beginning of the anime, even though Satoru has the "mind of an adult" and the body of a child, he still thinks he can solve everything himself, which is very childish thinking. However, progressively he learns to trust his friends and work together to find success. Hinazuki also opens up to Satoru more and more as the story progresses. Other than those two characters, there isn't much development for the other characters yet. Will be updated at end.

ERASED brings to life a dark and mysterious thriller that will definitely keep you on your toes. It’s execution of the plot is superb and art, animation, characters and music makes it definitely worth watching. Definitely, in my opinion, the best anime of the Winter 2016 season and could even be a top contender for best anime of the 2016 year.

Alright, well this is gonna have a lot to cover since I feel this anime, Boku dake ga Inai Machi, did SOOO MUCH right and left me feeling like it could never be duplicated or repeated by any other creator. Lets start with the first episode that was released thirteen weeks ago; It was just... just.... GAHHHHHHHHHH! There was so much to say! It starts the story with the MC, Satoru Fujinuma, living a deadbeat life, no friends, no success, trying to become a manga artist and working at a pizza shop to cover his living expenses. Except he has a power. As the name, ... Revival, says, he’s able to go back to a time where some awful predicament is going to happen and make changes to fix it. I know right? Pretty hard to get the feels with. Suddenly, after some pretty unbelievable turn of events that make you rip your hair out, Satoru suddenly finds himself in 1988! Back in his 11 year old body to change his past! AND THAT WAS JUST EPISODE 1!

So I'm gonna hit the sounds first because I think it was a VERY heavy influence on the outcome of this anime. Both the intro and outro were awesome, but sadly I skipped them for the amazing anime. The bgm was perfect, you never knew it was there because it fit so well, never overtaking the animation, with its surroundings and made you feel that things were going to happen without realizing that you knew things were going to happen because you were still so focused on the anime! The voice actors are my favorite. I wracked my brain around EVERY time I heard the MC's voice because I could NOT for the life of me figure out who the actor was. Well turns out that this is the voice actor's first role and he slayed it like a monster. I can't wait to hear him play more characters. The voices used for the other characters I think were very well done as well, as every voice resonated with the character's personality and there was no contradiction between them.

Getting back into my normal pace, let’s hit the story second. Unique, engulfing, and heart-tearing are the first three words that I feel for this anime. I don't think I've ever watched an anime or read a manga where the story forces the MC to live his present life and his past life back and forth the way this anime did. The need... no, the DESIRE to want this character to succeed is ridiculous! Just outright, you feel that everything this character does is just beyond human and that he has to have a good ending! It just pulls when it wants to pull and there is no way for you to feel anything but what the anime wants you to feel. And the cliff hangers! They were too good! Unbelievably good!

Now hitting the art, I think it was nothing really impressive. In fact certain character's faces made me cringe and wish I could ask for them to be remade, but it’s okay because I really liked the way the art looked for the actually important characters, likes the kids the story focused on. I did really enjoy the use of the 3D panning during key situations of the anime. All in all though, I don't really think the animation had much to cover, as it really didn't stand out as anything amazing.

Normally an anime without any character development would've upset me and cause me to give it a bad review right there, but Boku dake ga Inai Machi did very well giving ONLY the three most important characters' backgrounds, but even then, we really know almost nothing about any of the characters. Its an insignificant detail but I feel like they could've made this anime a little longer, maybe a 13 episode, just to but in a little more detail for certain characters instead of just making them extremely important but not letting us know why they cared about the MC so much. Clearly the Mother's reasoning was obvious but the really questions is why Kenya went as far as he did to make sure the MC had his justice. There just did not seem to be any reason other than making it convenient to the anime.

Overall, I thoroughly thought this anime was extremely well made and had a lot doing it justice. My feeling for the MC during the whole anime just never quit wanting to make sure he hit that goal of finding the killer and the reason that these outrageous events were unfolding. This anime will become a favorite of mine for sure; it just had so many key aspects that I always look for in anime. Just so much of it clearly stood out above the rest, and no matter how heavy or soft the cliff hanger was, you always felt a desire for more, it was just THERE. Like an undying thirst of a zombie, you just wanted it without a reason to feel so invigorated! I rated this anime a 10/10 because, while I had some issues with the art and characters, I feel it was just too greatly executed to not get a 10. I hope everyone can enjoy this anime and this new voice actor!!

Why I believe so many people were disappointed by Boku Dake ga Inai Machi/ERASED, and why I liked it: Review

Warning: Spoilers ahead

When Bokumachi started off, it was quickly hailed as one of the most promising animes of the season. It bravely covered topics like child abuse, kidnapping and time travel; it had a mature and non-generic lead character and seemed to generally target an older audience. Besides, who doesn’t love a good mystery?

I admit that I was a little hesitant about the first episodes. While I admired the show for challenging topics like child abuse and not being afraid to portray a darker take on ... what was, aside from the time traveling, meant to be a pretty realistic story, I did not particularly like its symbolism. Symbolism gets its strength from being subtle, from being discovered rather than being seen. The viewer is meant to be left wondering about the metaphors, interpreting them in his/her/their own way. But Erased was just too obvious with its symbolism, most of the time. We get it, a blue butterfly is meant to hint at the butterfly effect, which is in turn meant to hint at time traveling (seriously how many times have I seen this before?). We get that Hinazuki is abused. We get that she has bruises, you don’t need a black and white scene for me to notice how awful they are. We know Hinazuki’s mom is capable of doing horrible things. We know the teacher is suspicious without his face being covered in shadow. Often, I felt like the series was just throwing everything into my face, assuming I was too slow to notice otherwise.

It disappointed me a little, because at other times, I thought the series did symbolism magnificently. Like the fact that Satoru’s voice actor was someone with next to no experience (and sounded like it), while the rest of the cast had pretty experienced voice actors. It felt like a little nod at the show’s title - The Town Where Only I am Missing. Or the red eyes, which were not only noticeable among the antagonists, but also among protagonists, like Satoru and Kenya. Why were Kenya’s eyes red when he was talking to the teacher? We don’t know for sure, and that’s what symbolism is all about: creating your own hypotheses.

Still, I really enjoyed watching this show. I think a lot of people were left disappointed because they had expectations that the show never intended to meet. It took me a couple of episodes to realize this. When I started watching, I was really excited about figuring out who the culprit was. I love a good whodunit, and I already had a list of suspects from the first episode on. However, it quickly became clear to me that this show did not want to be a whodunit. I began to wonder why the series wasn’t making the teacher less suspicious. In a kidnapping/child murder mystery, the teacher is often the culprit. There is no way the creators weren’t aware of that. That’s when I realized the show was not trying to hide the fact that the teacher was suspicious. Quite the opposite: they wanted us to find out who the culprit was, as soon as possible. His eyes would be red, his face would be hidden in shadows, he would look at the kids in a certain way, and the person who killed Satoru’s mom did not fit any other profile than the teacher’s. Because what the show was truly about, was not finding out who was the culprit.

I may be wrong, but I believe this series, through all of its chaotic plots twists, from time traveling to child abuse to homicide to police investigations, was trying to give us an underlying message. Throughout all of the episodes, you have to keep the title in mind. I’ll repeat it for you: “The Town Where Only I am missing.” Satoru never really fit in, no matter which time arc he traveled to. In his own time, Satoru had been a failed manga artist, trying to make some extra cash by delivering pizza. He had next to no friends or interests, or memories he cherished. When he traveled back in time, he obviously did not fit in, with his 29 year mind in a 10 year old’s body. His friends, especially the clever ones like Kenya, were quick to catch up on this. Satoru himself noticed too that he was out of place, like when he experienced feelings of caring for Hinazuki (in a purely friendly way, I believe) which just didn’t seem right for a 29 year old man to have. Back in his own time arc, he was suspected of being a criminal. In this arc too, people didn’t really know him for who he really was. Where could he fit in? Which arc would make him the happiest? It was clear that Satoru had to create a town in which he would belong. And the only way to do that, was to bond with others.
If I were to summarize the series’ message, it would be something like “A hero is not just one person; it’s multiple people working together.” Because what would Satoru have been able to do without his mom’s bold intuition? Or without Kenya’s cleverness? Or Hiro’s ability to notice people who didn’t fit in?
That brings me to another subject I loved about this show. The show made a point about how “the weak” ones are the most likely targets of people with bad intentions. But weak does not always mean weak in a stereotypical way. Weak here meant: those who are alone, those who don’t have anyone else standing up for them, those who cannot talk to anyone else, those who come home to an empty house. The way Satoru and his friends defeated the teacher, was not through any sly method. It was through the best way a 10 year old kid could do things: by befriending whoever was alone. I really, sincerely loved that message.

I’d like to end this with a last point that I loved about this show. When I said that Satoru did not fit in in any time arc, I wasn’t exactly right. If you’ve watched the show, you may have noticed that there is one thread that is represented in every time arc: Satoru’s mom. She is, in my opinion, the single most important character in the series. When Satoru would come across as “ a different person” to his friends or to Hinazuki, when he would even lose touch with his own identity - being a 29 year old in a 10 year old body- his mom would remind him that he was still her son. No matter which time arc he was in, his mom would always accept him for who he was. She knew him through and through. He was his mom’s son, no matter where he went, and that helped to keep his sense of identity. This was beautifully exemplified when, when Satoru truly went missing from his town - by being in a coma for years- his mom kept taking care of him, as if he wasn’t missing, but had been there all the time.
(Yeah I have a lot of feelings about Satoru’s mom.)

So, in hindsight, I thought this was a really heart-warming anime that I enjoyed watching. A little pretentious by the end, not always as deep as it wanted to be (like Airi’s disappointing lack of character depth) and maybe with a few plot holes and unanswered questions (I still wonder why Hiro was targeted since he was a boy… was he just an alibi for the teacher?).
But I will forgive those things, because it did have some unique, beautiful moments. I would still recommend it to others.
There is, however, not a doubt in my mind that the manga is better. I think I will read it.

EraseD SUCKS!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!111111!!1!1/10 thanks for reading my re:review

……………… … … …

are they gone yet…?

The Town Where Only I Am Missing (the name that actually has context) is actually a great anime in several places, so much that it partially makes up for the places where it isn’t great. Partially. Its biggest strengths lie in its “show, not tell” approach and emotional storytelling, but things start to go south when the story has completed its main arc and needs to shift gears. The first eight episodes would be a solid 8-9/10 with the last four being about a 5-6/10. Ultimately, it doesn’t handle its supernatural and ... (arguably) mystery elements very well, so if those are what drew you here, you’re gonna have a bad time.

The star of the show is Fujinuma Satoru, an incredibly deadbeat 29-year-old pizza driver with no friends and only one hobby that he sucks at, so he’s good as far as being a character for the audience to project themselves to goes. He has a supernatural ability called ‘butterfly;effect’, officially named “Revival”, where time jumps back a few moments and only he remembers, and this apparently happens whenever something bad happens and it’s somehow his job to save it, ‘cuz why not. But when the only person close to him is murdered and he’s framed as the suspect, he has a massive Revival that sets his life eighteen years back, just before the start of a kidnapping series that an old friend was wrongly convicted for.

And thus, the emotional rollercoaster begins. But, you know how rollercoasters work, right? They usually start off slow so they can build up enough height for the drops to actually work. Erased starts off pretty slow, and I’ll admit that it took me a couple episodes to be interested beyond the level of “What’s gonna happen from here?” But episode three was incredible for its intense drama and tear-jerking finale. I mean, I may be a misanthropic basement-dweller with no ambitions whatsoever, but for fuck’s sake, I still have feelings, you know? Erased, with its big emotional moments, wipes away all that hate for some time and makes me not want the 10-year-olds to get brutally sawed in half by a rake. Except that one girl from the lunch money incident. Yo, fuck that kid. No pedo.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the good writing.

Erased has a great way of showing us what we need to know, instead of just telling us. Instead of saying “Kayo is abused, feel bad!” we see it, but without getting gratuitous about it. Instead of hearing “This is making a big difference on Kayo’s life!” we see her responses and recognize the changes ourselves. Little things like these are what I appreciate, but it doesn’t feel too subtle and doesn’t require you to think hard about what’s going on. We see everything we need to know at just the right amount. ...Except for the things that aren’t shown at all, but we’ll get into that.

So, what else did I like? Well, Satoru and Kayo, the two main characters, have great chemistry together that starts off a little awkward, ‘cuz Kayo’s like some socially inept punching bag and Satoru is a 29-year-old stuck inside a 10-year-old’s body. No pedo. But as Satoru makes it his life’s goal to protect Kayo (because Pokemon didn’t exist in 1988, what a harsh world), he grows attached to her and Kayo opens up to him and to those around her. It’s taken a little further because 29-year-old Satoru surprises himself as he occasionally says things in the moment, perhaps being more like his 10-year-old self instead.

Overall, the story is pretty good, but it falls apart after about eight episodes. The arc comes to a close, but there’s still a lot of ground to cover, and it’s clear that it needed to hurry in order to squeeze everything in the 12-episode limitation. What made this anime so good from the beginning were its incredible character moments, but daddy’s love is gone after the main arc is completed, as it’s clear that not much effort was put into the characters and plot that came afterwards. We get the new kid and a small plot to save them and not a single fuck was given that day. Anyone wanna go play Dragon Quest?

During these last episodes, the killer is finally revealed. Except it’s like the most obvious reveal ever. Like, if you didn’t figure it out at least an episode before then… you… might be… re……spected as a normal human being who simply processes things differently than me. The thing is, this was kinda labeled as a mystery series, but there wasn’t really any mystery. It’s disappointing because there’s another character that actually seemed sketchy to me. In the short time we see him, I thought that, just maybe, it wasn’t gonna be what ended up being the totally obvious. Unfortunately, they chose not to go down that avenue, and so we only get one legitimate suspect. You can’t play Clue with one character. However, all that being the case, I did actually enjoy the eventual reveal. I thought that, even if the show didn’t really try to hide it, they made this big bang pretty interesting.

While this certain villain is an interesting one, their motives were just… confusing. Something about a short story and seeing themself and their actions as the character to this story, something like that… Well, I did understand the concept, anyway, but like, WHY? Why are this person’s actions being driven by some made-up tale for children? It’s incredibly vague. I couldn’t connect with it.

Something also happens along with the villain’s reveal. It’s a spoiler so I won’t say what it is, but there’s no explanation of how it was resolved at all. It happens, and we’re just forced to accept the result even though there’s nothing in between to make sense of it. You’ll know it when you get to it.

The last thing that bothered me was Revival, Satoru’s time-travelling ability. It is NEVER explained how this works. Whenever I say these sorts of things, people say “oh fenne-kun~, yer so cynical, it’s like, totally beyond our knowledge, y’know??? it’s like God, it can’t be explained main, just accept it!!” Yeah, but here’s the thing. God is still defined to some extent and affects many people. You can’t just allow a supernatural phenomenon to affect one single person and expect everyone to go with it. That’s bullshit. Revival affects Satoru only (idc if this will later be given to someone else through the upcoming spin-off or whatever, what matters are these twelve episodes that are supposed to tell a complete story) and goes away when the story is over. The entire plot literally depends on Revival, because without Revival then Satoru wouldn’t go back to 1988, he’d still be a boring pizza guy who makes shit manga, and we wouldn’t have the story itself. It’s too important to shrug off.

Now, Revival doesn’t exactly have to be explained. I CAN interpret it as something that transcends our world and our knowledge of it. But, if anything, the villain should’ve had the same ability. SOMEONE should’ve had the same ability. This should not have been excluded to Satoru only, it is way too convenient. I like to compare and contrast Revival with The Force from Star Wars. It’s not explained (phantom menace literally does not exist), but it’s there, and many people (or… things) have it. It’s incredibly surreal and mysterious, but it’s central to the series’ lore. Something like that would’ve been a good inspiration for Erased.

The main character is a bit of a controversial one. Satoru is, again, a 29-year-old now who spends most of the show trapped inside a 10-year-old’s body. No pedo. And so, his personalities conflict with one another and get confusing. The moments when his 29-year-old mind will ask himself questions are the best, but they’re too infrequent. It’s good that he has a little self-awareness, it’s just that he doesn’t have enough self-awareness. It’s like his first day on the job as a color commentator for a sport he knows nothing about. But, looking back, his dual personalities were the only interesting thing about him. Look at either of them individually and see that there’s not much to look at in the first place. But… is that so wrong? Really? I won’t defend him as an interesting character, but I don’t think it’s totally fair to judge a deadbeat 29-year-old loser for being a 29-year-old loser, or for thinking an ordinary 10-year-old kid is an ordinary 10-year-old kid.

Kayo, on the other hand, has a much more defined personality due to her bitchy mother being a bitch to her. She’s closed off and even cold to others, but she opens and warms up to not only Satoru, but anyone else around her as she finally learns how to live. You see a really positive and satisfying change to her. No pedo. Beyond development, the character herself is interesting anyway, since she’s much more thoughtful and will sometimes say some interesting things, like her characteristic “Are you stupid?”.

There are two supporting characters all fulfill their roles greatly. Kenya is one of Satoru’s classmates. He’s mature and intelligent for his age and is not only helpful to Satoru, but can detect that something is wrong. Not what is wrong, just that something is, and it’s probably beyond him. He knows his place. Good kid. No pedo. Sachiko, Satoru’s mom, not only has some hot MILF lips, but is well-written in just a couple simple ways. She gets killed, right? But instead of hyping her up to be truly deserving of a coffee mug that says “WORLD’S BEST MOM”, she’s killed instantly without us getting to know her, but they later build her character up to be very likable so that we hope Satoru succeeds in reversing the future killings. Also, she’s just a good motherly character, which is important in the context of Erased, where one of the biggest plot threads involves Kayo getting abused by her mother. She’s basically the foil to this antagonist. Or… it’s the other way around… i failed ap english okay

There’s also Airi, a supporting character in the present time… While she had some real p-u-n-c-h at times, I thought she was a little too convenient? Like, she only showed up when the story absolutely needed someone to help Satoru out. Maybe that’s just me, but I didn’t really care for her. She at least had her reasons, though. Don’t steal chocolate bars, kids.

There are some other characters, of course, namely Satoru’s other friends, but they’re not needed so their lack of depth is okay. They’re just along for the ride.

The OP of Erased is actually really, really good. I didn’t care for it much at first, but it grew on me quickly, and I think I’ll be getting into the band Asian Kung-Fu Generation soon. The song has a very moderate-paced alternative rock sound characterized by some highs and lows after the first verse. The lack of any electronic or string accompaniment makes it feel more natural, and in a way, more human. It’s pretty fitting to the theme of the anime, and the animation supporting it is nothing short of acceptable. The ED holds its own as well with its gentle, but heartfelt feel that later ascends into a powerful, grand song about… whatever. I don’t actually know what it’s about. Whoops. Anyway, while I was never crazy for this theme, the full version played over the last episode was absolutely stunning. Shut up, kid, lemme play my air guitar.

The rest of the soundtrack ranges from decent to good; it’s evidently an emotional one and sets the tone very well, but it has a tendency to reuse certain pieces a little too often. The voice acting is nothing special, but it gets the job done; many characters sound casual, as they should. Satoru himself has an incredibly deadbeat voice, and sometimes I think it’s a little TOO monotonous; I get that he’s a boring dude, but for fuck’s sake, man, lighten up a little. You’re a kid again. Everyone else is okay.

Visually, Erased is a bit of an oddity for its wide, theatrical aspect ratio during its time in the 80’s. For modern scenes, you’re getting a typical ratio. This was a good move and somehow added to the drama of the past. It also contains some pretty good camera shots and not-so-subtle symbolism which aren’t groundbreaking by any means, but are also welcome additions. The art itself is pleasant with some good, but also casual environments complemented by some good lighting and some passable character designs that probably won’t stand out on their own through time, but this isn’t supposed to be some wild, crazy fantasy. One common complaint is that A-1 Pictures makes extremely similar-looking characters in most of their anime, but Erased is an exception to this. Congrats, you guys. You actually did something right for about two seconds, and then Grimgar happened. But that’s for another review...

All this said, I enjoyed Erased for the most part. I don’t want the final four episodes to completely muddy the excitement of the first eight. (That includes the chocolate bar incident. Yes, I am okay with that story. It seems perfectly plausible to me.) I even felt… a little content with the overall ending. It wasn’t horrible, even if the events leading up to it were rushed. But the ending was at least mostly satisfying. No pedo.

Erased is simply a good show with some really noticeable bruises. Just like Kayo.

Story - 6/10
Art - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Characters - 7/10
Enjoyment - 7/10
Feels - Needsmorekayo/10
Overall - 7/10
Favorite character - Kayo
Favorite episode - 8
Recommendation level - Medium

Time travel isn't anything new to anime. We've seen it done again, and again, and again. Sure, some stories really throw a curveball into a mind-blowing plot, while others bite the dust of overused concepts. Every single episode of Erased is a cliff hanger. You want to know what's going to happen next every single time. It isn't your typical "better go back in time and save some friends" story. It really has it's own personal twist on it. The characters are easy to fall for, the main characters especially over the lesser important ones. While there's little relationship between Satoru and the 2 different ... girls that the viewers would like to ship them with, the story is really heartwarming and mature. There are many different layers to it. When you think you've figured out what will happen next, you're thrown in a completely different direction. The art for the most part is really enjoyable, and the sound is clear. This is a fantastic anime that I'd recommend to anyone looking for a new favorite. I don't see why the reviews are so mixed between low and high, but this definitely gets a 10 on my list. The few nitty gritty details don't knock it down to a 9.

Few times have I seen an anime so incredibly hyped only to find that it falls into cardiac arrest as the series progresses. Oh wait, I've seen that plenty of times (Sword Art Online I'm looking at you). The latest case of this dreadful curse is that of Erased, the winter 2016 series that caught the eye or ear of just about every anime in the otaku universe. Is Erased overhyped? Yes. Is Erased bad? Well, that's all dependent on the individual. It took an incredibly interesting concept and started off with a bang. The reception it has ... received was initially praise-worthy but has diminished to critical reviews and demeaning memes about squandered potential. I can say that although I am not a fan of the way the plot was handled, I'm not going to change my reviewing standards and give it a 3/10 because that's the thing people are doing.

When I say Erased started off strong, I truly mean it. That first episode is so jam-packed with action that I actually rewatched it several times. I'll be the first to admit I fell victim to the inadvertent "bait and switch" Erased had to offer. This series introduces a character Satoru Fujinuma who can encounter "revival", another word for time travel. It only occurs randomly, and sets him back several minutes in order to seemingly correct what's out of place. No one else knows about Satoru's strange ability because he's kind of an unaccomplished loner. Time travel is always a hairy plot device because since it's not necessarily fact, it's open-endedness births harsh critics who think they know how it's supposed to work. When I see time travel in shows like this and Steins;Gate I just press the "I Believe" button and go with it, as should you. I did enjoy the nod the writers made to the "butterfly effect" phenomena by including the graceful image of a butterfly prior to Satoru entering revival. As previously mentioned, the first episode is pure gold when it comes to the writing. I was completely gripped as we watched the underachieving Satoru be thrown into a whirlwind of precarious events which ended in his own mother being killed. It is at this moment that Satoru's revival takes him all the way back to when he was a ten year old boy. Only in this case, he's a 29 year old stuck in a ten year old's body. It is at this point where Satoru begins a roller coaster ride where he tries to protect his mother, his friends and even himself as he's pitted against time travel and the looming threat of the anonymous killer. Erased had the groundwork to be a fantastic series. Notice the key word in there, "had".

I felt that one of the biggest issues for me in Erased was the pacing. As many have already pointed out and I will reiterate, the first 5 or so episodes were great. I though this anime had the possibility of becoming one of my favorites. There was intricate and delicate care given to the handling of suspense, and many hints to who the killer may be, almost popping up as red herrings. However, to fully give the background to the characters, I feel this anime should have been expanded to 26 episodes. Once the killer's identity is uncovered, the pacing is destroyed. It's almost as though the writers forgot how many episodes they were writing. The only real backstory you get for the killer is a 2 minute prologue to the second to last episode. Not to mention the lack of exploration into Kenya's character. I mean, what kind of ten year old is that smart? He acted more intelligently than our main protagonist, who was 19 years older than him. I really wanted Kenya to have more to do with the killer or plot.

The second issue I have with Erased is the unrealistic behavior of Satoru when inside his younger self's body. His actions touch on pedophilia and you don't often hear him inner-monologuing reminding us that he's still 29. I mean, I'm 27 and some of the decisions he pursued made absolutely zero sense. The biggest example of this I can think of is when he's laying next to Kayo with his mother in between them and mutters yes when she asks her son if she's in the middle of something. That's kind of sick, don't you think? The writers attempted to shroud this by occasionally having him blurt out random things he was thinking. That has nothing to do with how old he is, but who knows?

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

The ending also kind of rubbed me the wrong way. From what I understand of the manga, seeing Airi is the one thing that makes Satoru's memories come back after he was in a 15 year coma. In the anime, the tapping of the killers fingers on his wheelchair are what bring them back. Now although I've never dealt with amnesia firsthand, how the hell do you get every memory back from your previous self in 10 seconds? That seems so implausible to me. Not only that, but the killer is set off so easily by Satoru that he almost gets talked into committing double suicide. At least that type of ending would've been unprecedented. I knew Airi's presence would've been inserted somewhere in the final episode, as if to say "yeah I know you wanted to see her more in this show so here's a cocktease of what could have been". The ending just felt too rushed and vanilla for me. Not to mention that Kayo reappears with a kid of her own... with none other than another friend Satoru protected, who everyone else probably thought was a girl. I've already seen plenty of memes with something to extent of "when your girl doesn't wait 15 years for you but your pedophile teacher does". Now that's some good humor.

The character development was low in Erased, partially because of it only being 12 episodes. I feel so many anime are plagued by this unfortunate drawback and few get it right (Ping Pong, Anohana to name a few). Satoru was intelligent at times, but at others a dunce. I just feel that a real 29 year old would've acted differently uncertain situations. Airi should've been explored more! She ended up being such an important part of the manga, but almost completely neglected in the latter half of the anime. Same goes for Kenya, this kid must already be a member of MENSA. Might I add that Sachiko, Satoru's mom is the greatest anime milf of all time? That bathtub scene though... The lack of depth and relatability in the killer has already been touched upon, but I can't stress it enough. He was just another vanilla villain (say that 5 times fast).

The OP was pretty decent. It was a nice change of pace from the jpop I'm used to seeing in newer shows. I also liked how they changed it up to exclude Satoru near the end of the series. I absolutely loved the ED. Something about it nailed the aura that the beginning of the show had, with the snowy setting and dark presence. The rest of the OST was well placed, and the sound effects were some of the best I've heard recently. On the same token, the art was damn good.

In the end, am I happy to see it in the top 20 on MALs top anime list? No, not one bit. Am I surprised that people also give it 1 or 2 out of 10? Nope, once the popular opinion of a show declines, everyone becomes a critic. However, this is why we all have our own lists and ratings. I am not surprised that it was highly acclaimed based on its first few episodes (another reason why MAL shouldn't allow ratings until the conclusion of a series' current season). I actually enjoyed the series for what it was, an intense thriller. Nothing too intellectual can be pondered from its writing, and it was a good time passer. However, it would've been nice to see more characters explored, and certain elements of the plot handled differently. It just kind of fell flat for me once the over obvious identity of the killer was revealed. Anyways, thanks for reading the review and I hope you check out my future works!

Hey, everybody TheCodeTrigger here and welcome to my next anime review.
For this one, we are taking a look at the Winter 16 anime Erased.
Now unlike any other show that was airing in winter 16 hype was high for this one. Does its deserve the hype it gets? Let’s find out.
Erased was directed by Itou, Tomohiko and it consists of 12 episodes airing from Jan 8, 2016, to Mar 25, 2016.
Story.
The story starts off with Satoru Fujinuma who has the ability to go back in time to prevent disasters from occurring and we are basically thrown in 18 years in the Satoru past of where ... he soon realizes that that murder is connected to the abduction and killing of one of his classmates named Kayo Hinazuki. Now this is now Satoru chance of making things right so that Kayo won't be murdered and as well as not being framed for the death of his mother in the future.
Now I have to admit. The first four episodes are fantastic and easily Anime of the Season material with great writing and story direction.
However as the story progresses the story starts to feel kinda rushed.
We get more boring characters, the story itself slowly breaks due to bad writing that actually hurts the show for me.
Also, the way they handle the killer was just terrible and rushed as hell.
Also, keep in mind that this is a mystery series but through the whole fucking anime there is barely any mystery elements at all. We don't get any clues or hints about the killer because this anime lacks any mystery whatsoever.
This makes your themes and genre feel pretentious.
At the end of the each episode, it ends with a cliff-hanger which is nice but over time unlike Death Note or Code Geass the cliffhangers of Erased are forced and they don't add attention value whatsoever.
One thing that I want to point out is where the anime goes anime original in the certain part of the story meaning that certain scenes in Erased that meant to be explained are not explained at all in the anime.
Overall the story starts off promising but becomes lacklustre after episode 5 where it just becomes a mess. Not in a train-wreck level of messy but messy in its own right.
5/10

Characters.
The characters in Erased like with the story starts off promising however like the story the character just become a mess or

Satoru is one hell of the wasted potential characters because he is just bland to be honest.
One thing that I was really disappointed is that where he didn't change as a character from episode 1 to the end.

Hinazuki is the only character from Erased that I actually enjoyed because she kind girl that gets abuse by her parents because for some unknown reason aka (Shock Factor) but at the same time she suffers like Satoru as she doesn't have a personality that defines her either (for the most part)
In the end, Hinazuki just became one of those charterers that we feel sorry because you know Shock Factor.
The rest of the characters are just dull and uninteresting to be honest because I really wanted to like these characters but I just couldn't.
Overall this character cast was a let-down for me.
4/10

Art/Animation.
Erased was done by A1 Pictures the same studio that gave us Shigatsu, Kuroshitsuji , Sword Art Online and Shin Sekai Yori.

The art which I hate to admit is pretty good using a well soft colour pallet that mix perfect in the environment that the anime is trying to set.
The character des the animation is nice with smooth movements with the characters and the environments.
I really liked the cinematic effect that shows the MC memories because it’s looks nice and smooth but I wished they more advantage on that because it would have made a story better instead in my opinion.
7/10

Sound.
The OST itself is alright but compare to other anime from A1 Pictures like Shigatsu, Kuroshitsuji and Shin Sekai Yori it's not as memorable tbh.
At this time of the review, the OST hasn't been released yet so I won't be mentioning any track on this.
The OP theme itself is catchy and a good listen but for an anime that it based on time travel, it didn't work out for me.
The ending theme is okay it's nothing to write home about really.
At the time of this review, there is no English Dub announced. If it gets an English Dub in the future am just gonna write it off as an SAO type of dub,
6/10

Enjoyment.
I personally enjoyed Erased what is worth but at the same time, they could have done much better in the story and characters department after episode 4 because there so potential for Satoru character but in the end he's Satoru arguably ruined my enjoyment for the series.
Also, I wished that Erased was 24 episodes because I would have enjoyed the series more and actually adapt the last two episodes instead of presenting us with anime original content.
I personally enjoyed the opening because it was nice and catchy.
I just love the cinematography in this anime it’s just looks nice and presentable of the world that Satoru was living in the past.
6/10

Final Thoughts.
Erased had a good concept.
It had an amazing first four episodes with good writing amazing visuals and a solid story.
However after episode four the show just become a mess with the remaining episodes being lackluster two of them being anime original mind you, poor writing come into play in certain scenes and the ending itself was just terrible in my opinion.
The art is good but I wasn't a fan of the lips but I like the cinematic effect of the show.
The OST was okay but nothing memorable but the OP was great and the sub is good on its own.
It's sad to see that Erased is now just an above average anime because it has some things that I loved but the some of the cons in this show are just downright bad.
If you’re looking for time-travel done right watch Steins Gate because it’s does the time travel concept probably and the characters feel more alive and they are memorable.
BTW Okabe is GOAT ^_^

I give Erased a 6/10.

Anime recommendations.
Steins Gate
Shinsekai Yori
Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo
NHK ni Youkoso!

Anyway, this has been TheCodeTrigger and I will see you guys next time.

I wanted to like this show; I really did. But it just isn't good. At all.

Conceptually, it's really interesting. I love time travel stories, so I was excited to watch this show. Unfortunately though, this is probably the worst piece of time travel media that I've ever watched. I seriously can't think of a single one that I dislike more.

I get angry just thinking about this show, just because of how hard they fumbled the bag. This anime could have been something great, but it is so far from that.

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Story: 4/10
The story is not good, frankly. It's good as a concept, but not in execution. ...
Every single moment that adult Satoru was on screen was so unbearably boring. Nothing interesting happens ever when he's on the screen. Even intense scenes like someone literally getting murdered become uninteresting in the adult sections of the show. That's what makes me so angry. There are so many things that are done well in the kid section of this show. So many great, memorable scenes and moments, but it's bogged down so hard when the show randomly pops back to 30 year old Satoru.
The mystery element of this show is abysmal. There is no mystery. It tries to be a 'who did it?' type of story, but with the most minimal effort possible put into it. There is one single person that the killer could be. From the second you first see him on the screen, I guarantee that you will immediately know who it is. It's so obvious that it almost insults the intelligence of everybody watching the show. I've genuinely seen children's cartoons with more complex mysteries. Usually that's something I can look past in an anime, but since the mystery is the entire focal point of the plot, it's pretty hard to ignore.
The ending to this show is possibly the worst ending to an anime I've ever watched. I genuinely can't put into words how much I disliked the last few episodes of this show. I don't even want to talk about it, it's that bad.

Characters: 3/10
There are no good characters in this show. None. The main character is possibly my least favorite MC ever. He's boring, he's underdeveloped, he has no emotion, and he is quite literally a pedophile. He makes the stupidest, most nonsensical decisions imaginable, and is pretty much the most unlikeable person in the whole show, even more so than the villain. The side characters are a little better, Kayo being the main standout. Her story is literally the only thing keeping me from putting this show at like a 2 or a 3. As much as I liked her story though, she still isn't a very good or complex character.

Art: 7/10
The animation is fine. Not great, but not bad. There are a few memorable scenes visually, but for the most part, it's kinda generic. I can't really complain about it though.

Sound: 6/10
The music is alright. The main OP was pretty good, but I can't really remember much outside of that. Not much to write home about.
The voice acting is not very good, especially when it comes to Satoru. There were a few scenes where I literally burst out laughing because of how unbelievably goofy he sounded.

Enjoyment: 6/10
As much as I disliked this show, I'd be lying if I told you that it wasn't an engaging and fun show to watch. It left me wondering what was going to happen next after each episode, although not always for the right reasons. The parts of the show when Satoru was a child were always super entertaining, a pretty stark contrast to the intense boredom I felt when watching every single scene when he's an adult.

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Overall: 4/10
There seems to be a large group of people on the internet who whole heartedly believe that this show is a masterpiece, and that just leaves me wondering... did I watch the right show? Did I watch an unreleased director's cut where he accidentally ruined the show or something?
There are so many things that I despised about this show that I barely even touched on. For example, remember when I said that the main character was a pedo? Because he is. He's a 30 year old man who travels back in time, falls in love with a child, and pervs on her several times throughout the show. It's super uncomfortable.
I could keep going for hours about all the things I hated about this show, but I think you get the gist of it. This show truly had great potential, and it shows in some of the great scenes that are buried under all of the garbage, but that potential was entirely and completely fumbled.

One of the worst shows that I've ever sat through.

Let's face it, some of us don't want to see our love ones died right?

But this anime shows that there is hope. BokuMachi, or ERASED, is an anime based all about Child Abductions, Child Assault, Crime-thriller drama that is really dramatic to watch. To put it simply, this whole anime is more like, what if Detective Conan and steins;gate has a baby with some cute love story from KyoAni?

BokuMachi's 12 episodic storyline is pretty dynamic with some backtracking the events of that scene or that episode. It turns out that Satoru has a power known as a "revival", or what it should been called as ... "the butterfly effect". In this kind of power, Satoru can go back in time whenever there's something bad will happened in that scene or setting. This power that Satoru possess is the main attraction of the whole anime in order to help and prevent the things that must needed to prevent before it's too late. If Satoru failed to changed the course within that timeline, he will set back to the present. And even though this is not particularly a Superhero anime, this anime is just focuses more on crime-thrilling, drama and love story.

Also the whole story can be watched by children as it focuses more on about child abduction, that way the children can prevent talking someone they didn't know in real life by showing what are the negative effects of it. (This is just only optional. But recommendable)

The story has so many twists and turns a we watch further on this anime. And how it will affect Satoru and the whole storyline whenever he triggers the butterfly effect. Which is very remarkable and understandable.

As for the Character Development of this story, like I said earlier, this is no Superhero anime like Naruto or Dragon Ball or Fairy Tail, due to the fact that only Satoru has only that kind of power but it can only being triggered if he felt something bad will happened. Also, as for the other characters, let's just say that I remembered the gangs of Detective Conan. What I meant by that, for those who didn't watch DC, the gangs is all about the young kids who help Conan to solve the case. This is the same way to apply the characters of Satoru's younger friends, to help those children that are in danger of getting abducted by a criminal.

The parents on the other hand, are played their important roles as well. But there are two kinds of parents, there's the caring parent and the abusive parent. That way, they will show us how the flow will go if these two met and how the caring parent is going to save the abused child and how the abusive parent will change and develop as we continue to know what will happened.

The characters in this anime are really great. And I really like how the flow of the story thanks to it's character development.

As for the art, I'd say it's pretty damn great though. But I hate when they spoil the Opening at the near ending of it when Satoru being chased by the bullet and there's a fragment of broken glass revealing who is the killer that made him go back in time.

And speaking of OP, for the sound, the opening was came from my favorite Jap-rock band, Asian Kung-fu Generation. This band really brings happiness to me whenever I listened to their songs, especially their song from Naruto, "Haruka Kanata" and from Full Metal Alchemist's "Rewrite". But as for their song, "Re: Re:", I'd say it kinda out of place when they use it as the ending for the 1st episode. I mean, it really doesn't fit as the ending of the Ep. 1 is not very good then it turns out that the ending song is fun with a catchy rock guitar solo. But it changed on the Episode 2 when Re: Re: became an OP for the anime, and it's kinda cool though and I smiled. But it kinda lost there because it's all about crime solving, killings and child abductions. But still, it's good that AKFG made another song for the anime.

As for the ED, Sayuri - Sore wa Shiisana Hikari no Youna, I'd say this song is really fitted for this anime well. It brings the sad melodic message about a hero who tries not giving up to save that person.

Both has meaning of the OP and ED, it's all about time really is important. Time is the major role of the story here. And if Satoru didn't change the history in a good way, he will face the present in an unpleasant way.

As for the BGM of each episode, that really performs well to blend each storyline. However, there are only one comedy scene with one comedy BGM, so that's about it.

Overall, I like it, and this anime can be watched by kids with some guide to parents or older to make explain about it. This anime has a lot of moral lessons here, and the story is pretty easy to understand. It has some "awwww... :3" moments to "WTF?!" moments that you'll surely get you at the edge of your seats. Also the climax on this anime is pretty damn great, but sometimes predictable, and the melodrama of this anime is filled with emotions with love.

The feels are real, ladies and gents, and this anime has a potential to be the best anime of this year, or maybe best drama of this year.

And I recommend you to watch this anime, but don't forget to bring tissues...

ERASED is the most tragic kind of failure to witness. To put it simply, it is an anime full of ideas that it doesn’t know how to use. Forging an engaging premise with many mysteries that are yet to unfold, the ideas it had initially presented are suddenly shoved under the rug, only to be pulled back out when convenient, as if they were nothing more than a mere afterthought. And so without the support it needs, the story loses its way and tumbles down into an abyss of mediocrity. There is nothing more saddening to me than the failure of something that could have ... been excellent if handled some other way.

For a show that comes off as a mystery anime, not much mystery is to be found here. After such a meticulous build up to what would be an exciting murder mystery thriller full of mind games and plot twists, ERASED doesn’t make good use of this. The show suddenly shifts its main focus from the murder mystery tale onto how Satoru will get Kayo rescued, and stays that way throughout the majority of the show, leaving all other aspects of the plot underdeveloped and unexplored. With the amount of mysteries from the beginning, little to no progress is made from there. Satoru rarely considers coming closer to the mystery or making any kind of plan, for he is unable to get Kayo off of his mind. He doesn’t come in contact with any of the suspected individuals nor does he suspect anything along the way. In the end, Satoru confronts the killer through nothing but convenience, making the payoff measly at best. I never felt involved in the mystery up to this point and I was given little to think about. To make matters worse, the identity of the killer is so thinly veiled it’s downright insulting. If you think you’ve guessed the identity of the killer by the third episode, trust me, you guessed correctly. And the show continues to make it more and more obvious to the point where you might as well ditch the mystery entirely. This kind of thing would have worked if the show was intending to mislead the viewer through this method, but assuming this was the case would be giving the writer and the director too much credit.

And now on to the time traveling aspect. Time travel has always been a risky choice when it come to writing stories, due to how difficult it can be to handle. But nonetheless, the “Revival” power beheld by Satoru is an interesting story element that makes way for possibilities. Sadly, this power turns out to be little more than a convenient way of getting Satoru in and out of certain situations, and is neither experimented with nor fleshed out beyond that. In writing, any consequences spawned from the use of time travel is the least of the show’s concern when ERASED doesn’t even bother to take any kind of risk with it. On top of this, the rules on how it operates are unclear, and it only seems to activate whenever convenient for the plot. At first it activates when a tragedy occurs, but then it activates based on Satoru’s emotions. Not only does this create more holes than a colander, it eliminates any kind of tension taking place in the story, which is the biggest kick in the nuts for a thriller. Without the necessary knowledge for any possible outcome, I’m unable to feel any kind of investment. The Revival power is yet another aspect with could have delivered if only the story knew what the hell it was doing.

There are plenty more elements of the story that the show refuses to take advantage of. Jun Shiratori is a close friend of Satoru’s who was falsely suspected prior to the main plot, and yet we don’t ever hear of him again. We are given info on Satoru’s career as a mangaka, and yet it contributes absolutely nothing to the plot. The core plot of ERASED feels so disconnected from the initial premise, that it might as well be only written as a simple story of a child’s mission to rescue his abused classmate. Satoru doesn’t act like a 29-year-old as he should, the Revival power has little involvement in this plot, there is nothing thought provoking about the mystery, and numerous other elements stick out like a sore thumb.

The plot with Kayo Hinazuki wouldn’t be as much of an issue if it held some merit to warrant being the main focus. But this sadly isn’t the case. Kayo is not a bad character, but she isn’t a very interesting one either. She is little more than an ordinary child who suffers from abuse, and is yet to be murdered. Her development is scarce throughout the story. For these reasons, this particular plot would be better off being little more than a few episodes long, which would also clear some room for the mystery and the Revival power to be tampered with. In addition, her parental abuse gets an unnecessary amount of focus, in spite of how insubstantial it really is. Kayo has no psychological struggle we can relate to other than simply needing friends. ERASED fails to realize that the negative effects of parental abuse extend far beyond being lonesome. When a subject such as child abuse gets as much focus as it gets here, I expect it to be fleshed a whole lot more than a mere concept of emotional appeal.

To make matters worse, Satoru is incompetent as hell when it comes to protecting someone, let alone solving mysteries. He never plans things out, and instead dives headfirst into any situation in front of him, never thinking about anything that might go wrong. Why not take a picture of the evidence of Kayo’s abuse when you see it? Why not put a lock the RV you're keeping her in? Why does he try to perform a sneak attack on Kayo’s mother instead of...I dunno...spying on her? Disregarding how bland of a character Satoru is, it’s difficult for me to root for him when he doesn’t even have the thought process of a human being.

It’s worth mentioning that ERASED tries its darndest to have empathy given to any character, whether they be an ally, or a villain. Even the most heinous acts, whether they be child abuse or a murdering spree, is given a motive to show that these characters were actually good people who just did some bad things. But little insight is given to their psychology or their character, and so I remain disconnected, and unable to believe these backstories contribute to any theme or story element other than superficial empathy from the viewer.

ERASED does have strengths. As little meaning as the interactions between Satoru and Kayo hold, they are certainly entertaining to watch. With Satoru being timid and Kayo being composed and dominant, the moments between these characters are most certainly the strongest aspect of ERASED. It gives some life to the story and as such is the main selling point of the show.

The cast of characters in ERASED ranges from being a mixed bag to forgettable overall. Satoru’s introverted nature serves little to the story and his personality isn’t fleshed out beyond a simple good-moraled hero. And yet again, it’s a damn shame his career as a mangaka turned out pointless. Kayo is little more than a plot device whose arc is unworthy of having so much time spent on. The cheerful personality of Anri perhaps serves as a light in Satoru’s dark night sky, so to speak. Too bad that her involvement in the plot or effect on Satoru’s character is minimal. Satoru’s mother is the bomb. She is easily likeable due to having a sense of ration along with her being sincere and practical, as well as being an awesome mother. She is a good character, even if she doesn’t really develop. Every other character is either defined by only their struggles, or is just a blank slate. While some are entertaining on a surface level, pretty much all of them are as bland as a rice cracker in terms of character dimensions. Drama is forged through victimizing rather than actual relatable, human struggles.

Moving on to the visual aspect, it’s rather hit-or-miss. Not necessarily in terms of how it looks, but by how it conveys things. It’s generally a good-looking show overall. The backgrounds are rather lovely and the animation is fluid enough. The character designs, although generic, are very appealing and are well-fit for the characters’ personalities. The directing, however, is handled like a child. Suspenseful and emotional moments are so ham-fisted and over-the-top it’s almost laughable. When I have pretty much gotten the point of what a scene is trying to convey, the directing then takes extra steps to make full certainty that I understand, which only serves to hurt more than help. An example is how inhumanly spastic Kayo’s abusive mother behaves. As far as I’m concerned this isn’t how abusive parents really act. The directing also overuses stylization with its use of color and obvious symbolism, which is often borderline immersion-breaking. Any character with a feeling of malicious intent will be given red eyes, because apparently the viewers are too incompetent to get the point otherwise. On the other hand, the 1988 sequences are given a nice atmosphere to them, making it easy to feel involved in each scene. So while the director seems to be headed in the right direction, he has not proven to be skillful enough based on what we find here.

ERASED is not a bad show. It has its moments, and some deal of entertainment can be found. But the end result of what it was initially hyped up to be is nothing short of a disappointment. With no idea of what it wants to be, clumping numerous underdeveloped plot elements together, along with irrational behavior of the characters, and what we’re left with is a Frankenstein’s monster of a storyline. It is easy to say that the premise of ERASED had overpowered the writing, and would have turned out better if it had been handled by a different author entirely.

Erased is overrated.
“Did I just say that out loud?”

As with every season, there must be some anime that spikes in popularity, polarizing the audience between those who tout it as the greatest anime ever made, and those who decry it as nothing but a cheap, poorly written knockoff of another, more popular anime. Are there truth and merits to both sides- the fans and the haters? As with anything and in every season- there sure are. So, let’s examine Boku Dake ga Inai Machi and see exactly what it does and doesn’t do. This review is written with the assumption that the reader is at ... least aware of the premise of the show.


Artwork and Animation: 6

Another of the myriad A1 Pictures anime that come out every season, Boku Dake ga lacks the luster of titles like Sword Art or Blue Exorcist, and is certainly one of the least flashy anime I’ve seen recently (the near complete lack of action and generally subdued nature of the show is about 99% of this) . The design of the characters is standard fare for A1, with the black mop-haired protagonist and a set of about six stock characters they swap features out on for everyone else. It’s not bad looking by any means, but neither is it anything spectacular.


Sound and Voice Acting: 7

Well, I’m sure AKFG (Asian Kung Fu Generation, for the uninitiated) has a ton of new bandwagon fans now, from the use of their 12 year old song “Re:Re:” as the opening theme. I can’t be too indignant, though- as “Sol-Fa” is a fantastic album that I’ve owned for years.
Like the section before, there’s nothing particularly outstanding about the performances, but it’s nice to hear some different voices- including Shinnosuke Mitsushima in his first role as the protagonist Satoru. Aoi Yuuki (Madoka, eponymous), moe voice extraordinaire also gives a solid outing as the deadpan Kayo. Longtime industry veteran Minami Takayama (Conan, Detective Conan series) provides an anchor in the role of Satoru’s mother, Sachiko.


Characters and Story: 7

We’re introduced to Satoru Fujinuma- a 29 year old wannabe manga artist who schlubs it as a pizza delivery boy by day. Wholly disinterested and so-above-that, Satoru is a bit frustrated. His mom drops in on him unexpectedly like he’s still in high school, and as Mick Jagger once said: “(he) can’t get no sa-tis-fac-tion”. However, the break in this monotony for him is that he’s discovered that he has a special ability- he feels that something is off, and then is transported back in time a few minutes, giving him the time to figure out what’s about to happen and either prevent or divert the accident or calamity. This phenomenon he dubs “revival” occurs with fair prevalence- and it’s mentioned that he’s been the unsung preventer of an untold number of accidents. Material frustrations aside: one thing bothers Satoru above all others- a deep regret for the murders of three children, back in 1988; two of which were his classmates, and one of his best friends.
It doesn’t take long for the comparisons to Steins Gate to start being made- but where the strengths of this story lie are outside of the ever-illogical concept of time travelling. It may be a presumptive on my part, but I think we should all understand two terms before progressing further into any analysis of this show: “suspension of disbelief” and “internal logic/consistency”. The suspension of disbelief is the concept that a person knows what’s happening on screen cannot possibly be real, and yet must temporarily accept it as being reality in order to be entertained. Note: there will be no claims of “unrealism” in this review, except where it’s unrealistic that a 29 year old Japanese man in 2006 would not understand how seatbelts work.
The second term is one that I think more people don’t really consider when watching anime. I use the show “Death Note” as an example here. The object, the Death Note, has very clearly defined, set rules governing its use. These rules are not subverted or thrown away later in the show when it becomes inconvenient for the character. This is called maintaining internal consistency or logic. If it’s established that a superhero can fly, then the logic of a show dictates that a character flying should not be impossible. This might seem like a real “duh” moment, but keep these in mind.

Erased does a very good job maintaining its logic and consistency, especially for a time travel show – this is important later. Yes, we all know that time travel can open up an enormous package of swiss cheese as far as the plot is concerned, but this is kept to an absolute minimum and not ran wild with as in some other shows. As with Steins Gate, the focal point of the show is that a character goes back in time to fix a problem- which then begets more issues. One small tweak in the past can change a cluster of things in the present- with no guarantee that Satoru can return to that past moment and fix anything.
After Satoru’s mother, Sachiko, witnesses what she believes to be a kidnapping, she is attacked and murdered in Satoru’s home, with him being framed for the murder. He experiences a “revival” moment, and is transported into the past of the Showa era 63 (named for the emperor of the time), or 1988; a time when Satoru was in the 5th grade. The same year that his classmates were murdered. Having gone back in time with his knowledge and memories of being a 29 year old man in 2006, he realizes that the reason he went back must be that there is a link between his mother’s murder and the murder of the children, those 18 years long past.
When Satoru is sent back, he knows the clock is ticking, and that he has to first prevent the kidnapping and murder of one Kayo Hinazuki- a rather stoic and antisocial girl. Given that he’s operating with the memories of his elder self, but in his child body- Satoru is (un)naturally a bit more keen and dissimilar from his peers; a trait which he also shared with his younger self. Many of his classmates think that he’s strange, and that he somehow puts on the face of someone else because he’s unable to empathize. This oddness is compounded by the fact that he now has to pretend to be a child a third of his current age, with much inferior reading comprehension, speaking ability, critical thinking, problem solving, and other mental faculties that develop as one ages. We have to imagine that this takes a toll on the character, keeping up this front of being a child again, and that perhaps because Satoru was among his friends and having to expend so much energy to play at being a kid (I've thought about this before, and it would be hard to be a child again with my current knowledge and memories) that maybe he regresses somewhat- losing sight of his goals and making more decisions and observations as a child would, and less like his adult self. They reinforce this idea in episode 11 with memories being merged, (I think this was signified by having the kid version of him speak when he was waking up and trying to remember, rather than the 29 year old narrator version).
However much good the story does though, it takes a backseat to how hard the ending falls apart. While Erased does use the famous amnesia trope (found in nearly every anime it seems) well, it sets up a really uninspired and trite ending. Some may contend that the ending was heartwarming, but it all boils down to the typical “friendship can overcome any adversity” and a villain with Machiavellian intent getting caught with their pants down because the show had to end. There was no reason for the villain to return to see Satoru in the future, but it happened anyway- and the ending’s writing reflected the poor choices of the villain at a rate of 1:1.


Enjoyment: 7

This anime is quite easy to watch, and has a very nice flow to it. That’s not to say that it’s the best paced anime- as the ending two episodes move at a markedly faster clip than the rather methodical way in which the rest of the show was laid out- but it flows well. Erased watches a lot like a movie, which is even symbolized within the show itself. The episodes segue into each other very well- generally picking up within moments of the previous one, sometimes at the exact same point the previous left off- with only minimal to nonextant backtracking. It also makes use of good cinematographical elements, and is (shot) drawn much like a live action movie would be. That is, there aren’t many, if any, impossible or “anime” angles. It’s set up to be as though the audience is right along with Satoru and the others, watching as the events happen to him. The narration is also a well done facet- not intrusive, but gives needed exposition when appropriate- in the form of Satoru reminding himself of what it is he’s seeing in his mind’s eye. The only things I really disliked about the show were the forced-feeling emotional moments (child abuse for the sake of it? douchebag parents just cause?), and the abandonment of a character and practically the entire plot when the character’s issue was resolved. The show changed gears, moved a lot quicker, and was overall worse for it.


Overall: 7

How does this reviewer find the defendant? Well, it may be guilty of a few anime crimes, but it’s certainly very watchable. Is it deserving of being in the top 5 best anime of all time? Certainly debatable, but solidly within the realm of “no.” This anime transcends nothing but its own logic, and as a friend of mine once said: “all it takes is a modicum of emotional involvement to get everyone to believe it’s a masterpiece.” Erased isn’t as emotionally manipulative as say, anything that Key has made, but there are moments where they definitely serve some melodrama up on a plate. There are many better anime than Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, and there are many worse. At the end of the day- it’s a pretty average show- probably to be “Erased” from the annals of top lists by next season.

NOTE: TL;DR for a quick summary at bottom | I keep my reviews SHORT

I give Boku dake ga Inai Machi a 9/10

(May contain minor spoilers) Wow, Just wow. Erased took winter by storm. It showed to viewers that it can be one of the greatest anime ever made. It gives us a sense of mystery as well as a sense of love towards others such as our friends. It gives us hope of what may come in the future and ways to prevent it. Erased is an outstanding anime that I have seen. I especially love how this anime has portrayed the whole memory ... subject in a movie metaphor. You can tell we are going through time by looking at the memories just by the OP.

Erased teaches us many form of things. From caring about the less fortunate, and to caring for your friends. Friends are what are made from childhood, so its only important to cherish them forever. TRUST is a big issue that has played in this anime. The anime has taught us that with trust, you can defeat a single battle with ease, even when it almost looks like the bad guy is about to win.

Story:
The story follows Satoru, a aspiring mana artist who is once had this ability to "reel" back in time. Once, a close relative of Satorus' is murdered by an unknown killer. This unknown killer is the same killer who killed 3 children, back in 1988, 18 years in the past. Satoru is sent back in time (Very similar to Stiens;Gate concept of time travel), and is where he has 18 years ago with everyone alive. Satoru now must live a life of finding out who this killer is. What is his motive? Why did he kill those children?

Satoru believes is he saves Kayo, he will change the future but it isn't just that simple. The process of trail and error is what keeps him going, having hope in what he is doing and becoming the hero that he has set out to become. We live the life of Satoru as a child as he finds to uncover the killer.

The story itself is really ORIGINAL and unique. Not many anime's do originally stories such as Erased has shown us. I really liked the concept of time travel to find the killer back in time rather than the present. The only thing that I find really annoying is the fact that the killer is too predictable later on in the middle half of the anime.

Art:
The art is mind-blowing. The art really represents the atmosphere of whats going on and which timeline Satoru is in. The anime used clear, vibrant colours to show the anime is an amazing way like no one has ever seen before. Everything from the scenery to the character design was very well presented. This is an prime example of how a mystery anime should look.

I especially like how the darkness and colours represented the mood. I noticed that it didn't snow when Satoru was in a coma but soon after it started snowing when he was able to be himself again.

Sound:
The sound is a very well produced masterpiece in my opinion. I really liked how the OP was shown. It was metaphorically shown to show Satoru and his life throughout the cinema reel. I liked the OST that were presented in the background.

The sound just made the anime feel a lot more immersive and made the viewer feel a lot more engaged with the anime. Therefore the viewer will emotionally be attached to the anime that they just have witnessed right before there very own eyes.

Character:
The characters played a big part in the anime. Apart from Satoru viewpoint, a lot of the characters played a big part in the mystery of the story. Popular characters such as Satoru and Kayo were immediately loved by people simply because of their unique personalities. Each character had their own personality, for example Kenya was the thinker, he would always think about whats going on and what doesn't seem ordinary.

Personally I loved the characters, I really liked how they all played a part in Satoru's investigation to saving the children and to uncover the killer.

Enjoyment:
Personally, I really enjoyed this anime. Each episode had me wanting more and sometimes it did end will really big cliff hangers which made me die. I had to wait a week just to watch the next episode which just comes to show how brilliant this anime was. I really liked how everything was portrayed.

However, in my opinion, I didn't like the fact that the killer was too easy to predict which made me hate the story a little bit because I wanted to be someone who no one would ever suspect.

Overall:
Overall this anime is a brilliant show. It makes the viewer denote everything that the producers have encoded in the show. It makes them wonder who is the killer and what are his motives. I like how everything was shown, slowly at a time. Sometimes I did feel like the anime was rushed (especially near the end), but it didn't take my mind of the story. It was the ending that I deserved. My only remark on this anime is the killer was to predictable.

Story - 8
Art - 10
Sound - 9
Character - 9
Enjoyment - 9
Overall - 9

TL;DR - Watch this anime if you're in the mood for some mystery and want to uncover it bit by bit!