I adored this show. If this show were a banana split, I would eat it up until the very last bit, slam my hands on the countertop and demand at least a dozen more.
Yeah yeah, I'm ready for the "but Gingy, this show is so overrated and predictable!" Come at me. Because no matter how much you think this show is getting too much hype, I'm not budging. I loved this show. I loved every moment where I chewed on my fingernails or felt my heart sink for Kayo.
One of the show's biggest strengths is how smart it is. Satoru is a SMART character that's also HUMAN. In anime, it's hard to find characters that aren't stereotypes. Sometimes I'm a sucker for the same old same old, but the content I enjoy most contains the characters that I can either relate to or truly respect. Satoru isn't a Gary Stu, but he's also not a dumbbell. The way he thinks ahead and strategizes is incredible to me, and thus I give him a clink of the glass for being such an awesome character.
The animation is fluid and top notch (the Christmas tree scene? OMG). The story might have a few predictable bumps for those who are veterans in the mystery/suspense genre, but I think the clever writing makes up for them.
I massively enjoyed this anime, and I'm so glad I gave it a watch. I'm currently going through that phase where I question if I am getting too old for anime. In 2011, I watched "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" for the first time and it changed my life, and pretty much since then, it has been so hard to find an anime to make me feel the way watching "Madoka" did. The closest was when I watched "Revolutionary Girl Utena" for the first time a few months back, but I think "Erased" came closest. It has a few hiccups, but I can easily excuse them because, for the first time in a long time, it made me happy to be watching anime.
