You might dislike the show if:
- you are a mystery anime veteran, or an anime veteran as a whole.
- you care more about the destination than the journey itself.
- you have to have a rational explanation for absolutely anything.
You might like the show if:
- you are new to the mystery genre.
- you like well made drama or a thriller.
- you're looking for an anime that looks and sounds great.
- you want to watch a show in one sitting.
Story: 7
Boku dake Inai Machi starts great, and the first half of the show is really enjoyable. There is a big problem though. It's a mystery anime, but the huge reveal is predictable. However, if you don't look at it as such, and instead consider it a thriller, with only a slight taste of a mystery and a bit of drama, it becomes better. That's how I reccomend you go into it. Because if someone would go into it expecting their mind to be blown away, they would be disappointed. If this is your very first experience with anything mystery-like though, forget everything. You might just find it difficult to figure out the truth.
The drama parts of this show (especially Kayo's story), the main characters struggles and the killer's motives and actions are actually quite interesting. The problem is that some of those things are not expanded enough. The show's length doesn't allow it. Not only does the main character's power never get explained, or even adressed for more than 20 minutes total, but the ending seems very rushed and forced down the viewers throat. In the end the story felt a bit disappointing, but was good enough to keep me going.
Art, Animation and Sound: 10
Now this is where the show shines the brightest. This anime looks and sounds fantastic. The animation is fluid and a decent amount of scenes can be stuck in your mind for a while, because of the brilliant coordination of all elements. If you want any proof i recommend a video called "What's in a Scene? - ERASED's Genius Park Scene (from Ep. 2)" on Youtube (spoilers for the first and a bit of the second episode. Duh). It showcases everything much better than I can. I'll just say that I was blown away by the amount of symbolism this anime passes onto the viewer through the colours, music and other subtle things. Truly amazing work. I also want to mention the opening and the ending. Both of them really fit the series, and are just a pleasure to listen and look at.
Characters: 7
I know this show was not supposed to be extremely focused on characters but this is really unacceptable. Not only is there not many characters to serve as suspects, but they are not developed enough . Even the main character is underdeveloped. And it hurts because the cast at the first glance looked very good. There are exceptions to this however: Sachiko, the main character's mom, and the savior of the series: Kayo Hinazuki. Not only is her arc very emotional and intriguing, but her character is very well written and as you slowly uncover more about her you just can't help but to enjoy every scene she appears in. As i mentioned the murderer is also quite interesting, but his motives are ultimately not talked about as much as they should be. What i do have to praise this anime for however, is how it presents children and their problems. Their reactions feel genuine, and not a single character felt annoying, which I'm sure was hard to pull off.
Enjoyment: 8
Even with all the bad things, I really enjoyed it. It had a captivating story, even if it got a bit worse towards the end, a fantastic character in Kayo, and some beautiful scenes along the way. The characters even if underdeveloped at least didn't ruin the show, which could happen considering they were children. Maybe I enjoyed it a bit more than I should, because i remembered my own elementary school experiences. I also really, and i mean REALLY enjoyed Kayo's character.
Overall: 8
Does it deserve the amount of praise it gets? Not really, it's good but not that good. Does it deserve the hate it's getting? Hell no! I've seen 5's and even 3's for this show. It had a lot going for it and you can't just give this low of a score not acknowledging what it has to offer. It's also a great introduction to mystery anime for the new viewers. However i do have to agree that it doesn't deserve a spot this high on the top anime list. It should definetely be lower. I personally enjoyed it enought to give it an 8, although it could easily had been a 7. Anything above that is seriously a stretch.
If after watching this show you have a burning desire for more mystery anime i recommend Death Note of course, as it's probably the best one, Hyouka, which is a bit more lighthearted and Death Parade, which is a bit more psychological.
