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ERASED is an incredibly well-done anime. I'll admit upon reading the premise, I was initially uninterested and passed it over, but I came back to it to see what the hype was about and absolutely loved it. ERASED is a story that does what it is supposed to; it keeps you on the edge of your seat and keeps you watching. It's not difficult to follow—something many time travel animes struggle with—and it makes full use of its short season. I highly recommend it.

Story - The story is very well written. There are certain elements that go into making a good story: It must be ... original, it must create drama and tension without cheap thrills and gimmicks, it must pull you in and make you care what happens, and it must not be so formulaic or cliched as to be predictable. ERASED delivers on all but arguably the last one of these. The concept, a man who gets thrown back in time to prevent people from dying, is compiled from multiple tropes but together is quite unique. The story then goes on to create a murder mystery spanning the present and the past. The story flows smoothly and the writers make the connection between the past and future strong enough to make sense. The tension is kept alive through constant twists and turns, clever camera angles, and perfectly timed cliffhangers to keep viewers guessing. The biggest plot points, however, such as who the killer is, are weakened a bit by being a bit predictable though. While what actually occurs may vary from expectations, one knows the outline of what is likely to happen given the circumstances. That's why I only give the story a nine.

Art - This is no Ufotable by any means, but in an anime like this that's more about the story and characters than fight scenes and grisly deaths, the fluidity of the animation isn't nearly as important as the quality of character design and backgrounds. While the character designs are standard anime fare, the settings and lighting are beautifully rendered to capture the mood of the scene. There's not really too much to say there.

Sound - Not much to say about the sound. The OST is nice and matches the mood without being distracting.

Characters - The characters are great. What matters for characterization is depth and development, and the characters of ERASED definitely have both. It's really fascinating to see how Sotoro reconciles with his actions or inaction and the consequences thereof. His mother is also one of the best mothers in TV period. Sotoro's classmates are a little flat with the exception of Kenya and Kayo, but for the most part, the characters are realistic and likable.

A lot of these low reviews come from people who haven't played the games, but I've played them—all of them—and this is the definition of butchering a series. I'm surprised the fandom was as forgiving of this adaptation.

Nearly all of the problems from this stem from the difficulties of turning games that take more than 30 hours of pure gameplay to finish into a single season of a TV show. What made Ace Attorney memorable were the characters and the interactivity. Converting it to anime automatically loses the interactivity, so you lose the suspense or the feeling of being connected to the action. Then because ... it's rushed, plot holes are created and you lose a ton of characterization. What results is a rather boring show with 1-dimensional characters. Not to mention the animation is just bad. All around this was not a well-done adaptation.