Anime Review: ERASED

Title: ERASED (English) Or Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi (Japanese) Translation: The town where I am no longer

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genres: Mystery, Psychological, Thriller,Time Travel, Drama

General Set-up: Satoru Fujinuma is a failing manga artist and also works part-time at a pizza place. While in all respects he looks underachieving and ordinary, he has a power that he calls “Revival” which enable him to travel back in time a few minutes in order to prevent a tragedy. In the first episode we see Satoru prevent a small child from being killed by a truck, but because of his actions, Satoru gets hit by the truck. By the end of the episode he has a sense of hopelessness, believing it might not be worth sacrificing his time and health in order to help others. His mother visits and another Revival happens, but Satoru is unable to find what is wrong. Later his mom admits that she saw a failed kidnapping that reminded her of when they lived in Hokkaido and some of his classmates were kidnapped and killed. Later that week, she is killed and Satoru is framed. In order to save his mother, his Revival takes him back 18 years to the week leading up to the original kidnappings and murders.

Characters: Unlike many shows the characters feel very real and believable. Satoru changes the most. Because at the beginning of the show, Satoru goes back to grade school, there is a dual cast of characters. For the cast in the “present time” (2006), the most notable is Airi and his Mom. Sachiko. His mom is well, his mom. She is intelligent, likeable, and dynamic (and quite possibly a yokai, because she doesn’t appear to age). More than most animes, you get that “mom vibe” of “if you try and hurt my child, I will seriously mess you up!” Airi is the name of his co-worker at the pizza place (who seems to be his only friend). The second cast of characters is those from 1998. Of course Satoru and his mom overlap, but an entirely new cast of character is introduced. Most notable are Hinazuki Kayo (who he tries to save from being murdered) and Kobayashi Kenya (his friend).

Plot: The anime follows the manga until the last two episodes as they came out when the final chapters of the manga were still coming out. Because of this, the ending in the manga and anime are different. However, here I am talking about the anime. The pacing was amazing until the end. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, while taking the long view. This is a thriller that you can sit back and appreciate the everyday life of those who live in north Japan and the nostalgia of the childhood years. The ending (the last two episodes) very much have this feeling of “Oh, snap! We only have two episodes to wrap this up!” Other than that, enjoy!

Ending: The most common issue that people tend to have with ERASED it that it was too easy to guess who the serial killer was. Yes, using deduction and criminal psychology, it was rather easy to figure out who the killer was. But if you think that’s it, you have missed the point of the show. Yes, the show is a mystery thriller, but there is so much more. The theme of the show lies in the Japanese title: The Town where I am no Longer. In fact, the theme is brought up in the first episode: how far would you be willing to go so save someone’s life? That is the point of the show.

The ending of the show and the ending of the manga differ in the way they are carried out, though it has roughly the same conclusion. I like the ending of the manga better, mostly because it goes more indepth with psychology and medical information, the two things I love to learn about. The ending of the anime is rushed--there’s no way around that. Just over all, the ending of the anime seemed less satisfactory, more like a victory on a mere technicality.  [Note: Unlike in America, there is a statute of limitation on murder in Japan. Meaning, that if it has been X many years, the murderer cannot be punished for that crime.] I felt that the anime ending was also less satisfying because they did not nail him as much as I had hoped. Sure they had the killer’s testimony, but lacked concrete proof that could exonerate the other suspects. It lacked the “smoking gun,” if you will.   

Sound: The open theme for ERASED is “Re:” by Asian Kung Fu Generation. Like most of Asian Kung Fu Generation’s opening songs, this song blew it out of the water. With a catchy tune, relevant lyrics, and beautiful animation, it is near perfect. Sadly, I have not had the chance to listen to the English dub, but the Japanese dub is very solid. I was afraid that the “kid” voice for Satoru would sound very girlish, but they chose well. It was interesting how well the main character switched back to speaking like a kid (i.e. using given names rather than family names, using smaller words, etc.), but I guess it is easier reverting back to how you used to talk, then learning to talk in a new way. The sound effects for the “Revival” was exactly how I imagined it in my head when I read the comic. Because of this I found it perfect, but my friends have told me that it fits.

Animation: With many manga, when turned into animes, the drawing style has a noticeable change. This is not so with ERASED. The drawing style is the same as the manga, with the same attention to detail. It is very fluid, especially considering that ERASED is a drama. The colors used are absolutely beautiful for the Revivals and the red is very prominent for Kayo as she seems to symbolize hope and life in the series.  

Things to watch out for: ERASED deals with several difficult topics. I feel as if it handles them correctly, but they are still hard to watch. Abuse by a parent is a central part of the first few episodes. It made me want to jump through the screen and save the victim! Also, touched on was how many people may pity the victim, but not want to get involved. This is something that I see everyday, and is so common that it even has a psychological name: the bystander effect. The bystander effect is a fatalistic way of thinking, the thought that surely someone else will intervene and stop the abuse so I don’t have to. I don’t know how many thousands of lives would be saved if people would take into their own hands the protection of those who cannot defend themselves. The main character takes on this attitude of “I will do WHATEVER it takes to save a life.” And that is the point of the show.

Oh, and because one of the characters in the show is a serial killer, they do talk about kidnappings and gruesome deaths in some detail. The anime tends to gloss over most of it, whereas the manga goes into details about the kidnappings/murders and the psychological profile of the killer.

Other Media: As you have heard me talk about, ERASED has a manga. For the official English release, it will be released under the title of ERASED like the anime. However, the Japanese version is released under the original title of 僕だけがいない街。