Boku dake ga Inai Machi

Seriously you'd be doing yourself a disservice by taking any of the negative reviews into account. I want to tell you that this is one of the greatest shows of all time without writing a synopsis. It's not shounen. So it avoids over dramatic voice acting or slap stick sappy comedy. It's a serious dark show but the best of all, it doesn't go overboard with the darkness. The nature of the story itself is dark, and the show doesn't try and unnecessarily add extra dark elements. For a short series, it does an amazing job in character development without having to focus too much on every character. You get a very clear idea of what each character represents. There aren't any unnecessary plot twists so you'll never get the feeling that the author ran out of ideas. I'm extremely bummed I have nothing to look forward to on Thursdays anymore. But that's okay since I'll have great memories from having watched the show.

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 watch…

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!

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi ran from 2012 to 2016 in its manga form from author Sanbe Kei. At the beginning of 2016, it also got an anime adaptation from A-i pictures. Which concluded in March. This is the same studio that gave us Kuroshitsuji, Anohana, Valkyria Chronicles, Uchuu Kyoudai, Sword Art Online & OreImo. For me, their track record has been extremely mixed. With some of those anime being strong, some being more middling and some, SAO & OreImo, being foetid piles of excrement. So, let's look at Boku Dake ga Inai Machi and see how it compares to the studio's other works. Story: Satoru is a failed manga artist making ends meet by delivering pizzas. He also has a strange power, revival. When something is about to go wrong around him, he finds himself a couple minutes back in time so that he can search for signs of what's about to go wrong and intervene. During one such incident, he saves a young child from an out of control truck and gets in an accident in the process. His mother shows up to his flat to help him recuperate. While they're out shopping, he experiences a revival and asks her if she notices anything amiss. She spots someone about to abduct a child. He notices and scarpers. She snaps a picture of his car and is reminded of an incident from when Satoru was a child. She mentions a belief that the case is still unsolved in spite of a man being in prison for it. Later on, Satoru returns home to find her murdered and he's the primary suspect. In grief and panic, his mind reaches 141.6 km per hour and he experiences the biggest revival of his life, with his mind sent all the way back eighteen years to just before the serial abduction case. In order to change the future, the now eleven year old Satoru has to find the truth behind the incident and prevent it from happening. While the premise is very compelling, there are some pretty significant flaws with the execution. The most substantial being that the mystery element is too obvious. While there aren't many clues to go on, there also aren't any suspects that fit those clues and are also major enough characters to be viable except one bloke. So, you can pretty readily figure out that it's either going to be that guy or the Baron showing up out of nowhere. The series could have really benefited from having more major adult characters who could have potentially been the culprit. There's also a bit of a problem with Satoru gaining knowledge out of nowhere. For example, there's a part where Satoru is looking over the files on the abduction case from when he was a child and he somehow knows instinctively that the killer murdered one child in particular to throw suspicion off of himself. What, did he peek at the script? But that actually brings me to another story aspect that bothers me. The police investigation of this case was downright inept. From two young girls being murdered, they came to the conclusion that their culprit was definitively targeting girls and only girls. Seriously? I'm pretty sure that a sample size of two victims is not enough to make definite claims about someone's modus operandi. I'm sure they'd look for commonalities, but I'm also pretty sure the response to a boy joining the victims wouldn't be “our perpetrator must have thought that he was a girl.” At that point, it's just as likely that the culprit is just going after children and doesn't care about their sex. On some more positive notes, the premise is highly compelling. And, while the mystery falls woefully short, the thriller element is very strong with a lot of strong tension. The series also does a really good job of tackling some difficult and serious issues like child abuse. The ending is really good. The series also does have a very strong atmosphere with a lot of really good scenes playing off of it. The anime is also pretty well-paced especially given how much longer the manga version is. Characters: Boku dake ga inai machi is one of those works where the shortcomings of the plot are somewhat offset by the strength of the characters. It has a really strong cast. Sachiko is, quite possibly the best anime mother I've ever seen and her strength as a character really helps add to that tension since part of what Satoru is trying to do is save her. His young friends are also pretty complex characters who still manage to feel like children. Some people may take issue with Satoru's character and how his young self, in spite of having his adult mind, still acts largely like a child. However, there are two possible explanations for it that would make complete sense. The first is that he has the adult's memories and knowledge but he's sharing his mind with his childhood self. One of his friends even suggests that, at times, he seems like someone else which would support that idea. The second possibility is that he has his adult mind but he still has an underdeveloped child's brain so that he can't fully utilise it. Which would make sense based on actual brain development. It could also be a combination of the two, I suppose. The point is, I'm not going to complain about the story not explicitly stating it when there are ready explanations that make perfect sense. Art: The artwork and animation in this are well done. There are a lot of nice details and it does do a really superb job of helping build and maintain that atmosphere. The film reel image for Satoru's time travel is an effective one. About the only thing I would say in criticism of it is that the character designs are pretty standard. They look fine but they also look like the characters you'd see in a lot of other works. Exempting only the pronounced lips on certain characters. Sound: This series does have a strong cast. For me, the performances that stood out were Mistushima Shinnosuke & Tsuchiya Tao (as older and younger Satoru), Yuuki Aoi as Hinazuki and Takayama Minami as Sachiko. There really weren't any weak performances, but those four were the best. The music, on the other hand... it's all right. Kajiura Yuki has certainly done a lot better but there's nothing really wrong with it. Ho-yay: This series really doesn't have any. It doesn't do much in terms of romance, really. Final Thoughts: Boku Dake ga Inai Machi is a good series. The weakest aspect is the narrative itself which, though flawed, is still decent. Aside from that, the characters are great. The artwork is good. The acting is great and the music is decent enough. If the premise seems interesting to you, even knowing that the mystery is weak, try it. If the mystery being weak is going to ruin it for you or the premise doesn't seem interesting, give it a pass. For me, it's a solid 7/10. Next week I'll be looking at another request with Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. We'll see how that goes.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi (which I will be referring to by its English title of "Erased" for the rest of this review) is an anime that dangles the lives of innocent children in front of its audience to evoke a reaction. It draws the viewer in with its interesting premise, attractive visuals and admittedly very good opening, but upon further inspection and analysis, it begins to unravel at the seams. Nevertheless, Erased managed to garner a very large fan base, and, as popular shows so often do, a significantly large hate following. I will attempt to be as objective as possible for the sake of producing a better review, but to clarify, if you enjoyed Erased, that's perfectly fine. Anyone is free to like whatever they want, but what should not be ignored for the sake of personal enjoyment is the actual quality of the material being discussed. And when it comes to Erased's quality, unfortunately, it is severely lacking. As a warning, this review contains some spoilers. Satoru Fujinuma is a bitter, 29 year old manga artist whose career never took off. As a result, he spends his monotonous life as a pizza delivery man. However, what Satoru does possess is the incredible power of "Revival", allowing him to travel, according to him, from one to five minutes into his own past in order to prevent an accident from happening. Things quickly take a turn for the worse when Satoru's mother uncovers the truth on a series of murders that took place during his childhood, resulting in the killer from that time murdering her, only for Satoru to walk in on his mother's corpse and be framed for her murder. As expected, his time-travel powers activate, but, for seemingly unexplainable reasons, transport Satoru back to his childhood in 1988. He concludes that the way to prevent his mother's death must be somewhere in this time period, and quickly learns that it may be tied to Kayo Hinazuki, one of his old classmates who previously fell victim to the killer. In order to change the future, Satoru must now find a way to foil his mother's murderer by protecting Kayo, and eventually bringing the unknown perpetrator to justice. Erased's premise was a large factor in influencing its rise to popularity, and while it does work, it is still laden with inconsistencies and lapses in logic. Satoru is seemingly convicted on the spot for the death of his mother, on what evidence? His neighbour saw him, in a quite obviously distressed state, mind you, lying in his hallway with blood on his hand, and as a result he goes on the run from the police. I can forgive Satoru for running away in the first place to an extent - he's just seen his mother's body, anyone would be horrified, and I cannot imagine that he would be thinking completely rationally at this point, otherwise he would most likely turn himself in and prove, through the sheer lack of evidence against him, that he had no part in the crime. He could even still travel back in time, the murder still took place, and that was what triggered the revival. What doesn't quite add up (another warning for you, real spoilers begin here) is that he continues to avoid the police after returning to 2006 at a later point in the story. For what reason? He's had more than enough time to recover from this incident, and, observing his behaviour in the past, he had recovered, and remarkably quickly. The revival power in itself is rife with flaws that I will discuss later, but while Erased's premise might have been intriguing and somewhat creative, but it seems like little thought went into it, and, perhaps most disappointingly, any potential it may have had was squandered by the rest of the show. I'd like you to place yourself in Satoru's shoes. You have just witnessed the death of your only parent and been made out as the killer by a ghost of your past. Now your time-travelling ability has sent you back into the body of a child, something you previously never thought possible, and now have the monumental task of protecting multiple children, some of which you had absolutely no relation with, from the very same psychopath that slaughtered your mother, all with the constraints of a child's body, 1988's lesser technology, and a very strict time limit. This pressure would, by any means, absolutely ruin a person mentally, warranting a number of Shinji Ikari-level monologues, and undoubtedly result in some heavy psychological damage. But not to Satoru. No, the worst he suffers from is a couple of freaked-out expressions and the occasional perfectly calm crying fit. He immediately adjusts to being a child again, playing the part of an eleven year old boy with such accuracy that not even the far more intelligent adults around him notice a change. I can buy the 10 year old kids not noticing anything, save for one, who I can only assume was either an elementary school valedictorian or another time traveller locked in the body of a kid. Satoru is so quick to accept every bad thing that happens to him that any chance of him being an interesting protagonist that you root for throughout Erased's twelve episode runtime is completely lost, and he comes off as something of a Gary Stu, lacking any real flaws. Even failure to complete his mission doesn't stop our Satoru, as he can just jump straight back into the past and try again. Supposedly his power activates as a result of deaths happening around him, so please explain to me why he can't just activate this at will? Why doesn't he just run under a bus or something? There's nothing to say that doing so won't take him back to the starting point in 1988, because we have no idea why Satoru's in 1988 to begin with. Actually, forget what I said about him being completely flawless. There's one flaw Satoru does have, and it's a glaring one, which I unfortunately don't think was deliberate, not that it'd be any better in my book if it was. Kayo and Airi, Satoru's coworker, repeatedly ask him the same question: "Are you stupid?" To which I frequently found myself responding "Actually, yes he is." Satoru is an idiot. How he concluded that merely saving Kayo would be enough to prevent his mother's death in the future is beyond me, yet he completely devotes himself to it, even developing something of a romance with Kayo. Let me remind you that Satoru is not a child, but a 29 year old man, whereas Kayo is 10. The show seems to poke fun of this, with Satoru telling himself to get a grip, and that he can't think about these things, a problem he solves by continuing to think about these things. If Erased is trying to be funny, it fails because, shockingly, repeating the same unfunny joke again and again doesn't make it funnier, and if it's actually trying to develop a serious romance between these two characters, it's genuinely quite disgusting. It's a real shame too, because I was honestly thinking of congratulating Erased on making their relationship somewhat believable. It's built up pretty well, and some of their interactions might have been kind of charming, if I could only take my mind away from the fact that they're taking place between a 29 year old loser and a 10 year old abuse victim, which wasn't helped by the show constantly reminding me of it. The most emotional part of Erased, and the part that its viewers fell in love with, was the Kayo arc, which takes up the majority of the show. Some suggested that once this arc ended, the show took a turn for the worse. It did, but in all honesty, even the first arc was nothing to write home about. Disregarding the potential immorality of Satoru and Kayo's relationship, the entire arc's emotional weight comes from, as previously mentioned, how sorry you can feel for an abused kid. Now, child abuse is horrible and shouldn't ever happen, obviously, but this is emotional manipulation at its most blatant. Of course I feel sorry for Kayo. Regardless of her actual character, which seems to be nothing more than a generic deadpan loli, she's going through real issues that traumatise p…

5th top anime? Its either over hyped or the anime has some weird characteristic that most anime hasn't done before which blew away the audience. That was my thought before I started this anime and the anime was slightly guilty of both. After having some time to process I got to say that this anime really sticks with you. I constantly kept thinking about it. I was listening to the OP song and found a burning sensation to cry. Right off the bat I loved this anime. Its one of those bookmarked anime, that you tell your friends about to keep the fire that it started alive. You don't want to forget it. I would do anything to experience watching it for the first time again. The story was amazing. I definitely saw numerous types of similar aspects of plot lines in other media. But the execution and pace was the flag that made it one of the greats. Straight away I thought they could have made this into a movie and that thought enhances with noticing the high level of production that went into this anime. And am so glad they didn't even in 1 cour I don't think they put in as much as they should have. That being said the ending did have some pacing Issues but the the rest. Holy damn the rest. This first 6-8 Eps of this was pure grace. I went into this anime knowing nothing and whoa was I blown away. Following the main character I was so invested into the story such as rooting for an underdog in a big fight. Yes he was special and know things that others don't but that didn't mean he didn't have disadvantages. What it comes down to is a kid trying to save his friend, whatever the cost. I forgot to mention that as much as this anime gives you the feels it is pretty damn funny especially given his situation. The MC has a tendency to blurt out what he is thinking (Hopefully not a spoiler) and producing some funny moments. In summary this is an amazing anime which you should check out which is very pleasing to the eyes but if you want 100% pure awesome story as I've heard that the manga is the way to go. Which I'll also probably check out in the next few years, when this anime isn't so fresh in my mind. E.N. I wrote another review before following the guidelines of story, art, sound etc but that just seemed to robotic and hopefully I conveyed a perception of the anime in this review even more so.

What would you change if you could revisit the past? Would you change your actions, your relationships; or would you perhaps do everything in your power to help someone else? Originally, I wrote my review for Boku dake ga Inai Machi under the pretense that I had thoroughly enjoyed the anime; however, because of this I felt I may have been too biased and tended to ignore or avert my focus from the aspects of the anime which were poorly executed. After reading through various other reviews for Erased I've determined that I should rewrite my review with two main purposes: the first being to focus on the good and the bad with hopefully little bias, and the second being to actually motivate people to watch the show. At the moment the reviews for Erased seem very negative which would turn away many potential viewers - I feel this doesn't do the series justice seeing that many viewers (as one can tell from the overall rating of the series) did genuinely enjoy the show. In an attempt to write a holistic review I'll focus on 5 key elements: Story, Art, Sound, Character, and Enjoyment. To begin I'll focus on the Story. The Story of Boku dake ga Inai Machi, or Erased, was not "bad." By no means was it perfectly executed but I felt it expressed what it wanted to express very well. To start this section I want to make note that this anime WAS NOT MEANT TO BE A MYSTERY ANIME. There are so many viewers who were disappointed by the mystery aspect of the show unaware that the mystery was not the show's purpose. It was stated in an interview with the director that Erased was meant to act as a suspense thriller under the guise of a human drama. The mystery element of the show was simply there to offer support to the suspense; rather than to be it's own focal point. If you go into Erased looking for a fantastic mystery anime then you will be disappointed, as you should be, seeing that the show was never meant to be that. With that said, I felt the story was very well executed with the purpose of being a suspense thriller. Each episode was left off in such a sense that the viewer had the giddy tension of "I must see what happens next!" which does well to support that the story, at least in the manner of suspense, was well executed. The human drama portion of the show did not do as well as the suspense portion in terms of execution; I felt the child abuse, child neglect, kidnapping, and relationships in the show were done well but not as well as one would expect from a human drama focused show. The show did express well some elements of human drama; such as the idea that child abuse is heavily ignored even when witnessed by adults. Nothing was done about the abuse Hinazuki was subject to up until Satoru took a stand; which seeing as Satoru was a child during the time in which he took that stand does make a substantial statement about child abuse and the help provided for such a situation in reality. One element, though, which I felt was strangely executed in the human drama aspect of the show was Hinazuki's reactions to the abuse. She almost seemed indifferent about what was happening to her; which was a bit odd. Perhaps it was meant to express that she had become emotionally inept but without such an explanation it just seems strange to the viewer. Next you have the means by which each characters ended up the way they did, in terms of emotion and behavior. This topic was lightly reviewed throughout the series but I felt could have been done much better. In a human drama the way each person is acting is important, and therefore, the means by which they ended up acting this way is equally important. Lastly, after reviewing the connotative elements of the story, we come to the plot itself. The plot was a tad ambiguous. There were a few parts of the show which felt "unnecessary," or at the very least placed strangely in the order of events. Personally, though, I felt each scene whether it bore any relevance to the inherent story or not was enjoyable in its own right. Erased is more like watching a series of events which are unique in their own sense, rather than following one chronological story. The underlying chronological story is there to build upon and produce an end result, but each scene itself does not necessarily lend itself to that chronological plot. Some people may dislike this plot style, some people may love it; it's strongly a matter of preference. I will now move my attention to the art and sound. I, personally, felt the art and sound in this series were both done quite well. Now, that's not to say there weren't any frames that felt awkward; it was evidently noticeable that in a couple of the show's scenes things were drawn very strangely or poorly. However, for the majority of the series there was evident time and precision put into the art which really brought out beauty in the series. The sound was well executed and I felt it fit well to a suspense thriller series. I'm not particularly a sound-focused mind so I'm afraid I can't go too into detail regarding the sound production throughout the anime; though, there was never a moment where I felt the sound work was done poorly or was out of place. Some sounds seemed a bit loud, but that's about as far as I could go with genuine complaints. All in all the sound and art production for Erased was well done and fit the series itself very nicely. Next we move to the characters; the characters in Erased are a very important aspect, seeing as the show was primarily meant to act as a human drama. Personally, I quite liked the main character, Satoru, because for the majority of the series we got to see him act out the life of a child with the mind of a 29-year-old. I've seen many reviews note negatively that when Satoru would get flustered talking to the girls he was trying to save doing so would express a tone of "pedophilia." I highly disagree with this logic as to me it seems the creator was trying to represent what happens when a 29-year old mind is stricken with the emotions of a young body. Not to mention it was interesting to see him attempt to continually keep up an act, masquerading around as a young boy when in reality he knows much more than those around him do. Following Satoru we have Kenya, who I feel could have been built upon better. Kenya was a very intelligent friend of Satoru's, yet didn't seem to impact the story too heavily. Aside from believing in Satoru and accompanying him, he didn't seem to impact the story much; though I don't feel his character was wasted because having a friend who understands and supports the lead is important in-of-itself. Following we have Hinazuki, who I felt was a well-conveyed character. I personally liked the way Hinazuki was scripted, but felt her reactions to her own situation weren't quite "normal." Her reactions didn't much fit what was happening around her, but again I've referenced this earlier and gave my supposed reason for it. Aside from the strange reactions to her current predicament I did enjoy the innocence of a young child vibe that Hinazuki presented, along with her genuine reactions to finally receiving some compassion from others. These two aspects blend together to make Hinazuki a well-fitted character for her role. Lastly, we come to Airi; a coworker of Satoru who believes in him throughout the story more than the others. I feel the purpose of Airi's character was to add some romance to the human drama in construction, however aside from that she didn't play much of a role. Now personally, I love to see romance subtly thrown into a series because I feel it adds to it, but people will have differing opinions. This comes back to my statement earlier that Erased is more like a sequence of events that roughly correlate to the main plot but don't follow it dominantly. The other characters in the series were well constructed, though played only subtle roles in the series as a whole; up till the end at least, which I don't plan to spoil…

My first review, I'm too lazy to writing reviews but for some reason I want to write one for this anime. psst my English sucks. - Story 7/10. It's sweet and the main story line is good and almost perfect, but the problem is with the supporting stories they're mostly bad and sometimes they will make you feel like you're watching a silly cheap anime. Conversations sometimes too good sometimes really bad. Overall you'll feel like there's 2 authors one is amazing and one is a beginner. - Art 8/10. you'll end up rewatching few scenes many times before continuing the episode. - Sound 8/10. If the opening and the ending involved here then my rating is 9.5/10. - character 8/10. 12 episodes each is a 22 minutes never enough to judge a character, but anyway they have different characters and you'll like them. - Enjoyment 10/10. cry, smile, sad, happy, and exciting. you're going to feel all of those and more - Overall 9/10. These weak scenes really ruining the anime but you need to pretend you forgot them.

This anime is suspense and mystery done perfectly. It is 12 episodes of plot twists and turns that play with both your emotions and expectations of the story. After watching each episode I had to stop and pace around about what would happen next, thinking about who the killer was or how the authors were going to close the series up. Although I think it became pretty obvious after a while who the killer was, I didn't even care because I wanted so much to see how the story was going to pan out. The strengths of this anime here are definitely the writing and pacing, which are excellent. Each episode leaves the viewer in suspense and feel more and more worried about the fates of the characters. This was one of those few anime in which I thought an unhappy ending was a real possibility and ended up really rooting for the protagonist's cause. The animation and voice acting are simple and familiar. There are no crazy scenes or super unique art styles, but this simplicity makes the viewer focus on the story and characters instead. I recommend this series to everyone and anyone, it is concise, complex, and totally gripping.

Okay, so it’s about time since I gave Boku dake ga Inai Machi (Erased), a review, I just needed a breather to take in the amount of feels I received from the last episode. I remember the hype waiting for this anime to be released, I can tell you now, it was worth the wait. For the longest time I had been searching for an anime THIS damn good. Just how good is it? Well let me explain. From the third episode in I was so hooked I jumped on board the manga like there was no tomorrow and smashed that out within the day. I LOVED IT, and without comparing it to the manga itself, I can firmly say that this anime went above and beyond my expectations. Story: 8 It was refreshing to see a new mystery anime come out this year, and I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It seemed to tick all the right boxes (mostly) and really had me on the edge of my seat every episode. To put it simply, a 29 year old man named Satoru has the ability to go back in time – revival – to fix up the past whenever bad things arise. Now this seems like the main plot, but woven within this is so much more. This anime tackles issues that are very relevant today and it succeeds. Without spoiling anything, I will say there is more than just murder and time travelling madness. What I am a little bit picky about is the time travelling itself, and yes there are plot holes if you think too far ahead. Like, how did Satoru grow up after he left his 10 year old self, who is he then? And couldn’t he just keep going back in time to always win? I guess with time travelling animes, what can you do, right? Another thing to point out is probably the anti-climactic ending. It was VERY different from the manga, and so it left me to believe that there will not be another season. I know that this anime is considered a ‘mystery’, but really? I think the baddie was a bit obvious, and when you find out who it is, trust me, you’ll be sorely disappointed. But you know what? It still has that thrill to it. Art: 10 STUNNING. I love this style and I wish that more anime’s looked like this. The characters looked unique and the use of colours for symbolism is amazing. Especially the colour red. The art style itself was beautiful, and honestly I liked it better than the manga although they are quite similar. But seriously, the use of the block colouring and the character designs were done so well and used appropriately. Not to mention those flashbacks used as a film reel, and that tree in the snow, pretty damn smart. A ++ in this department. Sound: 9 Loved it. Catchy OP, and really made me feel nostalgic and old for some reason, which I think was the point. The intense scenes were intense and the sad scenes were sad. It always fit the mood perfectly, and never was it used inappropriately. The ED not to mention was also very smooth. Love the soundtrack for Erased. Character: 9 Is it weird to ship a 29 year old with a 10 year old girl? In any other situation, hell yeah it would be, but though it seems really weird, in the case of Erased, this works perfectly. Don't believe me? Just watch it and you’ll understand. What I love about all these characters is the fact that they are all somewhat realistic. This entire anime just seemed so real. Satoru was a great mc, I loved his complex mind and caring heart. He was flawed, not perfect, and this is what I loved (which is probably why he continuously goes back in time). How the anime managed to make a 29 year old an adorable 10 year old boy is beyond me. Now I know we’ve all seen and been accustomed to that one quiet, emotionless, Kuudere, girl who seems rather typical, but for Hinazuki, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND PERFECTLY. Her quiet, shut off personality goes through character development that will make you cry. No joke. I love the relationship built upon the characters, it was taken at a perfect pace, and just made perfect sense. As for the other characters, you’ll love them too. The mum character who usually is useless, is not, and that annoying teen girl who is happy for no reason is not. Even though that one character Kenya is somewhat unbelievable (because let’s be honest, no 10 old is that smart unless you were truly 29), you’ll love him anyway. The baddie on the other hand was pretty much just a bad-guy. I mean, sure he had a reason, but I feel like in the manga it was explained so much better. So, were the characters typical? No. Were they extremely unique and original? As good as it can get. I always find it hard to give 10 stars in this department, but I sure will give Erased a 9. Overall: 9 The anime was actually better than the manga, or at least I enjoyed it better. The visuals were stunning and the story, sound and characters worked in harmony. As much as I would love there to be a second season, I don’t really see how they could do it. After all, murder mysteries can only last for so long, and with the element of the supernatural, I don’t think it can really stretch that far without it becoming repetitive or just making no sense at all. So if you are wondering why Erased has gained so much popularity, go watch it. Don’t listen to those people who call you mainstream, just watch this anime and receive the tears that Hinazuki did as she cried over bacon and eggs.

Well, I just finished the anime and thought about it a lot. The anime is great. I think that should be fairly obvious so I'm not gonna focus on the good parts too much but the first 4 or 5 episodes were amazing. They were so emotional. Truly indescribable. 11/10 if you will. It kinda went downhill afterwards for me though not all that much but still. What I found kind of disappointing was that the culprit was hinted at a lot even early on and so I basically knew half way in who it was and no there was no plot twist whatsoever. By episode 10 you officially know who the culprit is and then, well I can't really tell you because that'd be a spoiler but what happens afterwards is not a bad ending considering where they anime went with the last few episodes. As far as plot holes go, I haven't really noticed any except that the culprits motives (if you can even call them that) felt a bit far-fetched but I can deal with that sort of thing. The production itself however is pretty flawless (animation, characters etc.) I'm especially happy about the way the story is told and certain scenes are depicted. So, is this really the best anime of the season? Yeah, absolutely. You're surely gonna enjoy it if you haven't watched it yet.

The Winter season of 2016 is nearing its end and one of the first series to come to a close is the widely popular ERASED, a series that literally everyone and their mother watched and it is thanks to this popularity that, as of now, it sits at the top of MAL's Top Anime list with a whopping 9.08! So is this show as great as people say it is? Well let's find out! ERASED owes its popularity to a number of reasons. Reason one, it's a time travel story. It is an undeniable fact that the science fiction concept of time travel has been popular since its conception in Mark Twain's 1889 satire, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". Since then, the idea has boomed in almost every form of media, to almost any kind of story, thus earning it immense popularity that exists even today. Meaning, anything that is time travel related is sure to be eaten and gobbled up by audiences like a birthday cake. Anime hasn't escaped this either. Throughout the years we were given films and series like Steins;Gate, The Girl who Leapt Through Time and so on and these titles gain massive popularity mostly because of their premise and what they delivered. In short, everyone loves time travel. Reason two, ERASED is a romantic mystery. And everyone loves those too. Satoru is an ideal character. Despite being a failure in life without many friends, he was a determined person who and this appealed to us. He chose to save his mother and a girl he barely knew to change the dark future and stop a mysterious killer. He expressed feats of bravery and spirit we could only ever hope to have through quick wit and action by attempts at foiling the killers plot. The story itself showcased the trials and tribulations of Satoru as he fought and fought against the dark force that he knows he must overpower to protect his friends and family while trying to save himself from being caught by the killer himself in the process. Does it make you feel excited? Of course it does. We're all suckers for this kind of thing. And finally, reason three, and the most powerful aspect of this series, the audiovisual direction and presentation. I can talk all day about how fantastic ERASED is at its presentation. Through clever use of score, animation and cinematography, A-1 Pictures was able to create a truly compelling visual experience. You can tell, almost immediately, that there was heart put into the creation of ERASED. Captivating atmosphere, perfect pitches on ambience and tone, amazing timing of the score and use of the characters facial expressions. The voice acting was also superb and the two voice actors who were casted for Satoru did a great job conveying a single personality through two voices; an incredible feat in and of itself! Accompany that with a great OP song by Asian Kung Fu Generation and the mesmerizing ED ballad by Sayuri, it's no wonder the audiences are eating this thing up! Now we put these three together and what do we have? ERASED, a time travel romantic mystery with great direction and main character! A series that deserves its lasting popularity! ... ... ... Alright, now that all of that's out of the way, let's talk about why ERASED is garbage. Like I discussed earlier, ERASED is a time travel story and it is true that people love these timeless tales of time. However, I never said ERASED was a good time travel story, much less timeless. Ugh. ERASED? Timeless? Boy, that'll be the day. Alright, let's get this rant underway. Now, time travel stories all have their own sort of deal on how the actual time-traveling worked in their world, whether it be through a Delorean, an alien stopwatch, a cellphone powered microwave, literal "leaping" through time or waving your hand at nothing. In ERASED, we have this thing where the main character experiences backtracks every time something bad is going to happen to him or when he is in deep shit. The series calls it Revival but isn't there a more suitable name for it? Something like, I don't know, it's on the tip of my tongue-- DEUS EX MACHINA?? Now, hear me out, there's nothing wrong with this kind of time travel. We've seen it before in other stories, all working in different kinds of ways but if you're going to do this, at least EXPLAIN what you're doing. Because in all 12 episodes of ERASED, Revival has been nothing but a one-way ticket out of deep shit for the main character every time it's convenient for him. That's not to say that time travel powers that come out of the blue are bad. Let's take a similar method of time travel from the video game, Life is Strange. In the game, the main character can travel back in time anytime she wants with only the wave of a hand, however, there were always consequences, each of which the main character discovered through using her abilities. From what we got from the series, Revival is a flawless, unpredictable and cheap system made for getting shit done at pitch perfection and literally NOTHING ELSE. There's no sort of challenge for the main character thanks to this and any kind of explanation with regards to time travel or anything else about Revival is swept under the rug. And pretty much the closest thing we have to details about Revival is all intuition. Literally just guessing how it works happens to work in Satoru's favor. For a series that brags as a time travel story, its actual time travel is pretty shit. Earlier, I discussed that ERASED was a romantic mystery. Yeah, a garbage romantic mystery. But let's split the two for a while and begin with the romantic. Like I said, Satoru was an ideal character. Aside from having the qualities of a romantic hero, he had flaws, interesting dialogue and an intriguing personality. But there was a reason Satoru was the only character I mentioned in my words of praise and I will start off the reason why with my biggest problem and disappointment with the series and that is Hinazuki Kayo. While she was introduced as this lonesome girl with a mysterious personality, the series decided to crush the potential of her character into dust and turn her into a plot device to encourage Satoru to keep acting. What gets on my nerves is this is the 2ND TIME A-1 Pictures has done something like this, only much much worse that other time. And what a shame, really, for someone with that much potential and intrigue to be remolded into some mediocre character constantly victimized to appeal to the viewer's emotions. Their relationship felt genuine enough to be friendship but constantly distracted itself with its entire 'knight in shining armor' act. Gotta protect that smile. The rest of the characters, including Satoru's classmates, Yuuki-san and literally everyone else save for Satoru's mother, Yashiro and possibly Kenya, are all flat, underdeveloped and were literally made for the background or to get Satoru to act or into some monologuing (Yes, I threw Airi into the list too. Fuck me, right?). To address the three I counted out, Satoru's mother expressed a kind of loving connection to his son and in a way that expressed her own feelings and how much she cared for him. Yashiro, the teacher, has a special relationship with Satoru, in which he is a figure he looks up to like a father and something else which I will not mention. And Kenya, who expressed sympathy towards Satoru's goals by his own beliefs but you can say the same for a few other characters in the series. The overall storytelling was mediocre with rushed pacing and half-assed subplots which were just all over the place. It's almost as though the writers had no idea how to tell their story. Sure, they had it. But it felt like they had no idea which direction they wanted to take. For example, Kayo's mother. Her conflict came out of nowhere and was resolved in a flash after seven or so episodes of hating her. That's a pretty dumb move if I've ever seen one. And that's just only one of them. Overall, just messy messy storytelling. Now let's talk about the mystery and holy shit, does it suck. Look, …

The first four episodes of this anime are of masterpiece quality, but then it gradually falls in enjoyment/quality from there. I'm really not going to go into too much detail about it, but this anime is basically the second half of Steins; Gate on steroids with all of the humor removed, at least up until episode 8. Erased is unbelievably compelling when it wants to be. However, it did not end on the strongest note. Some scenes may be hard to watch for some viewers with the child abuse aspects. I would recommend this anime to just about anyone over the age of about 14 or so, and I think that is the targeted audience for this anime. - Very intense soundtrack. *Unfortunately this anime suffers from the "death note effect" IE it starts up incredibly well and trips over it's own momentum. Would have been a 10/10 if it ended as well as it started, but I have to be fair and give it about an 8.5/10. Maybe even that is a little generous.

"The Town Where Only I am Missing" (loosely turned into "Erased" in the English version), has many amazing aspects, yet with it's rushed pace and incredible amount of unexplained occurrences, it is one that has me feeling a confused love for this show. If it was trying to make me go read the manga to get the full and possibly better version of this story, then it certainly succeeded as that's what I'm going to be doing soon. Despite being an excellent series (in my opinion), it is a rather predictable one; I won't try to hide that. From just my first time watching the opening sequence of the show, I had already taken a guess at who the murderer would be, and though I sometimes doubted that guess during the series, I ended up being exactly right. Erased is a mystery series chronicling the desperate attempts of the 29 year old failing manga artist named Satoru to try to prevent his entire world from falling apart. Satoru has a power called "Revival." It is a power that he cannot control, and is honestly less of a power and more like a deja-vu feeling. He gets this feeling whenever something bad is going to happen around him, and after he gets this feeling, he tries to desperately find out what is going to go wrong and try to solve the incident. However, when Satoru's world falls apart right before his very eyes (well technically he got there like 5 minutes afterwards), his Revival power takes on a new form allowing him to travel through time to his childhood when the series of events that led to the tragedy that is facing his adult self all began. Here's the first issue with the series: Revival. Actually this is probably the biggest issue with the series. Revival is a strange thing in this series as it is shown twice in the first episode before Satoru travels back in time as a deja-vu-like sensation. Then it allows him to travel through time occasionally during the rest of the series, but it never occurs again in the simple deja-vu way ever again after the first episode. And it's never said why at all. As for other plot problems, they mainly come from a lack of explanation, specifically in the second half of the show where A LOT of things are apparently cut out in order to make this series into a 12 episode show instead of 20-some episode show. I've been dissing this series a lot so far, but I rated it a 8/10 (and I don't give that rating to all that many series), so why the rating? Aside from those issues, I thought the rest of the story was actually brilliant. Each episode ties nicely into the next, keeping you invested. I watched the whole series in two days (one day after the seventh episode was aired, and then again after the series was finished). This is not the kind of series you can just watch whenever. It drags you in and makes you crave more. It's a mystery that, despite being pretty sure who the villain was from early on, I still was enthralled by. While I don't think any characters in this series (well maybe Satoru's mom) are stand-out, amazing characters on their own, what makes the characters in Erased so memorable and fun to watch are their interactions with other characters. Satoru's relationships grow in incredible ways. With his adult brain inside the body of a middle schooler, he is capable of interacting with others around him much differently than he could the first time. However, what I liked about this aspect is that the series still doesn't make him seem like he knows everything. In fact, he learns a lot even about his friends, his mom, and other people he thought he knew well before. This allows him to grow through constant trials that test his willpower and his wits. I only wish there was more time for the characters to have grown. The character however that got shirked the most by the short series was actually not Satoru or Kayo (the primary person Satoru is trying to save in the past), but actually the antagonist. [Well some characters just got dropped out of the show along the way so there were actually quite a few characters who needed more time, but they aren't quite as important anyway]. This is one of the parts that had me the most conflicted about the series (second after the Revival confusion). The antagonist in this series is most certainly an amazing antagonist, but he gets the short end of the stick with this series that didn't do him quite enough justice. From the very first episode, he gives off an incredibly menacing and mysterious demeanor and you just want to know more about him. He may be fairly obvious, but that doesn't make it any less spectacular when the big reveal finally comes towards the end. But that's just it... it comes towards the end; then the villain is given time to develop a little, but there is so much else happening while the series is trying to wrap up that it just feels so rushed and you just want to learn more about him. That is, it's rushed up until the final scene. The final scene is brilliantly executed and I could not have thought of a more fitting way to end the series. So at least that was done right in my opinion. One other thing I want to mention relating to the characters is the handling of child abuse in this series. It was used a little too much to create drama in this series, and as someone dating a girl who has been abused and hearing her reactions to this show's portrayal as well as my own opinions on the topic, I can say it definitely has a bit of an "anime-like" approach to the subject that isn't really a good portrayal of how it is in real life, but it certainly isn't the worst case. It is handled much better than in some shows where it is extremely over-exaggerated for the sole purpose of making us sympathize with a character, though in some ways it is just kind of a plot point to move the story. So it wasn't handled too poorly or too well. Like most aspects of this show, it really just needed more time to be explored. What really sold the series for me and was my favorite aspect of Erased by far was it's atmosphere. The mix of amazing animation and a beautiful soundtrack with OP and ED songs that fit the series perfectly just completely immersed me in this beautiful, yet simplistic world. It just takes place in a small town and another town in Satoru's present day, yet it creates such a beautiful atmosphere that you forget these places are literally no different than any other town you'd see in anime or honestly even just in the real world. The use of repeated scenery shots of many different places (such as seeing the front of the school, the park, outside Kayo's house) left you feeling like you lived there and knew the town just like the characters did. It has this wonderful mysterious feeling to it all that helps tie together the beautiful atmosphere and the mysterious tone of the show and uses it for excellent world building. I enjoyed the crap out of Erased. That's basically what I feel now that I've just finished it about an hour ago. Yes it has problems with certain aspects like its rushed pace, lack of explanations, and some character issues mainly in the way that things were cut too short for some characters to get enough development. But what Erased really excels at is its wondrous and mysterious atmosphere created through the excellent soundtrack and the beautiful animation that really entices you to want to watch more, and it's character interactions. Satoru is not a bad main character, but it certainly does help that all the other characters have such great interactions with him. I especially loved his connection with the antagonist, but his relationships with Kayo, Kenya, and his mother are also excellently executed and the changes they go through are what really drives the series and makes it fun to watch.

Alright, here's my attempt at an honest objective review on one of the most hyped anime of Winter 2016, Boku Dake....ugh, I'm just going to call it Erased. Hopefully A1 Pictures will start using shorter names for their future animes. The review will contain barely any spoiler and yes I have sat through all 12 episodes of this anime! Story: 6/10 Not going to write you a synopsis because you can read the synopsis when you arrive on this page. So here's my take on it. The premise of the story starts out great. The whole idea of time travelling is used as a plot device and isn't explained in great detail like in Steins Gate. The director sort of purposely reveals the antagonist in the early episodes just so the show becomes more of cat and mouse game similar to Death Note. The show adapts the manga really well from episodes 1-9. Then it drops the ball and realizes they only have 3 episodes to wrap up the series. So they rush the last 3 and completely fails to include a coherent backstory to explain why this antagonist is going around murdering Lolly's. Seriously, I had to read chapter 32 of the manga just to understand the whole spiderweb analogy. The ending episode actually wrapped the series up better than the manga. Still, I feel like they wasted like 5-10 mins of unnecessary footage. I guess watching the last 3 really irked me, because I hate seeing a good potential being thrown in the trash or burned to ashes because studio gets lazy and can't time manage properly. Art: 8/10 The animators, editors, and all the the people involved that all worked on this anime really delivered on this anime. The animation is crisp, nicely drawn with beautiful backdrops. So beautiful you want to make them your wallpapers for a few days till you find a new anime to cheat on and use that as your backdrop. So, yes I liked the art. Sound: 9/10 Three words: Yuki F***** Kajiura! She composed the soundtrack for this anime. Take some time and just listen to it. It will help you quench that burning anger you have inside for seeing such a perfect anime with potential go to waste. The opening song is sung beautifully. It's catchy, upbeat, and shower song material. Character: 7/10 The characters are somewhat flushed out. The main protagonists intentions/actions are so binary and predictable. Likewise, the antagonist is so underdeveloped and lacks a good backstory. It really needs an OVA for it. I really like how the director was able to bring out the innocence and ingenuity of the kid characters. The kid characters had more character development than all the adult characters combined. Also there is this one character who's gender is switched halfway through the anime. I suppose that's a new way to mindfuck with people or maybe the person drawing it realized they have been drawing this character in the wrong gender decided to change it to better suit the plot. Enjoyment: 7/10 I liked watching this anime. I still feel fans shouldn't overhype a series and rate it so high only to lose faith and rate it so poorly. I realized how it dropped the ball however this show can be enjoyed by both manga readers and anime watchers. I still feel the people who read the manga will enjoy it more than pure anime watcher since they realize the intention of the antagonists love for Lolly Hunting. Moreover, the music score and the art will help them suffer less. Since their eyes will appreciate new wallpapers they can use and their ears will bask in the glorious music of Yuki Kajiura. Overall: 7/10 It's good, what more do you want? I'm not going to go out of my way to rewatch it again or really recommend it to my friends to give it a watch. Well I might. I like seeing my friends cringe and suffer from time to time. I mean atleast they can enjoy the music right. Hopefully, you enjoyed/cried reading my review. Feel free to discuss your opinions with me, I don't bite...unless you are into it...no, then I still won't bite.

Hello and welcome now im going to try to keep spoilers out as much as possible but since this show kinda suffers from angel beats syndrome i will try my best. Story:10/10:Now the story starts out with 29 year old Satoru Fujinuma in the year 2006 in his every day normal live were he is trying to make a living as a manga artist in Tokyo japan.now Satoru isn't no normal person he has a power that he calls 'revival' were he can go back in time however he isn't in control of it and he only can go back around 1-5 minutes and every time this power activates it activates for a reason for there is a immediate threat in the area.now one day a certain 'Person' gets killed and he is blamed for the murder of this person and as he tries to escape his power activates and it doesn't send him not minutes not hours but 18 YEARS into the past to the year 1988 when he was only 11 years old to prevent the murder of one of his classmates. Art:10/10:Now A1 pictures truly did not fail with the art on this show the art is one of the best I've seen from them and it truly makes some of the scenes awe inspiring especially the Christmas tree scene. Sound:9/10:Now the composer for the soundtrack of this series was really surprising for me because the composer is Yuki Kajiura made the soundtrack of the dot hack series and in her most recent works her music wasn't as good as it was in erased all tho the opening made by Asian Kung Fu Generation was amazing and i would watch it every episode plus the soundtrack OH GOD THE SOUNDTRACK WAS GODLY Character:8/10:This show is a murder mystery so it kinda ruins it when you the view can predict whats gonna happen in the series but this doesn't hurt the show in anyway but it would had been way better if the show hadn't been as predictable as it was but aside from that the characters were well developed. Enjoyment:10/10:I don't watch murder mysteries all that often but this show is an exception it truly is an amazing show that throws you for a ride of emotions and mystery. Overall:now i would recommend this show to people who loved shows like steins gate and Higurashi now like in the beginning i said that this show suffers from angel beats syndrome which is when a show is too short for its story now i say the story JUST BARELY fit into the 12 episodes that this series has.now i would have preferred more episodes when Satoru is in 2006 and more moments with him and kayo (i ship it X3) but still the series is a amazing show and if possible i would recommend to buy it when available as its been licensed by aniplex and will get a home dvd release soon i know im buying it when it comes out :D. Thanks for reading have a good day!

This anime was enjoyable. Really kept me on the edge of my seat. Satoru, Kayo, Kenya, Sachiko, and the rest of the cast were wonderful, and complemented each other nicely. The story was awesome as well, and did kind of bring back memories of Steins;Gate, with the time travelling aspect. Going back in time to prevent your loved ones and friends from dying in the present? i think that was well done. Really recommend it this anime if you enjoyed Steins;Gate or if you need a good mystery/thriller anime to fill up your time! I really thought the art style was very similar to every other anime, but still the way the characters were designed and animated made them feel more human and easier to understand. The music was also very well implemented. Overall, this anime really was fun to take my mind off of things, and captured my attention.

Personally, this anime has stricken me so much that it has landed in my Top 10 animes. It was definitely my favourite anime from 2015 due to its unique story line and charcters. ART: In my opinion the art in this anime was quite simple yet pretty in its own way. The anime is set mainly in the winter time. I rated it a 9/10, however this may vary from everyones preferences. SOUND: The opening is amazing, i even downloaded it on my phone (/^▽^)/ The ost is quite nice and fits the anime, as well as the insert songs which fit the chosen scenes. 9/10 CHARACTERS: I found the major characters appealing and well developed, but I was a little disappointed with the lack of development on the other characters such as the Sensei and Satoru's mother, although this mainly is because the anime was a little short on time and didnt get to develop these charcters that well. I hoped for more information on their pasts~ However there is more information in the actual manga. Rated 9/10 ENJOYMENT: Even though the art, sound and characters got a 9/10 from me, I rate the entire anime a 10/10 because I enjoyed the anime so much. Something that I found enjoyable was figuring out who the murder might be early in the anime and then finding out why. I also enjoyed reading a little bit into "The Spiders Thread" which is mentioned in the anime. Paying attention to small things like how the opening changes by the end of the anime and trying to find metaphors and deeper meanings in the anime was very satisfying (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و Overall this anime is one of my favourites and I really recommend you checking it out because it is definitely not a waste of your precious weeaboo time ✧٩(•́⌄•́๑) If you enjoy mystery and solving puzzles, you have no legal excuse for not checking this out, I promise you, you will get hooked up on it on the very first episode! <3

Note: This is more of a "Thoughts on" than a review. If you haven't heard of Boku Dake ga Inai Machi (Erased) by now, then I'm assuming that you either started anime yesterday or you don't visit biased websites that add shows onto their top 10 with only four episodes, because Erased is one of the most popular shows to come out in the past 2 years. Almost as popular as Fall 2015's One Punch Man. So with everyone praising Erased and holding it up as a flawless masterpiece, I decided to give my two cents on it. Erased isn't really a bad show, but I gotta say, that it's pretty dumb. Keep in mind that I'm one that really enjoyed this show, but that doesn't mean that there aren't obvious flaws to this show. Some that I'd probably have to point out by spoiling a few things here and there, so consider this your spoiler warning. The show is simple, we're presented to our 29-year-old main character named Satoru, who is a manga artist with a special ability to go back in time 1-5 minutes earlier to stop something bad from happening. How this ability works or how he got it is not told to the audience, and while you can try and defend it by saying that it would be too convoluted and stupid to explain time travel, I believe the show should set up its own rules and at least show us how he got this ability. Is he the only one with this ability? How does he even get this power? If he has a kid, will the kid have Satoru's power? Is he living in Charlotte's universe? Where Erased shines is on how it's presented. It's not a bland show with uninspired shots and nothing else to grasp except for exposition; there's a lot happening on screen, and they remain to keep it that way throughout the whole show. Its direction started off pretty great at first, with a very standout atmosphere, but unfortunately, the show ends up tripping a few times with its direction and pacing. As much as I love how the first 4 episodes were done, episode 5 & 6 dropped the ball and made the show look a lot more dumb. I stopped taking this too seriously once they made up a backstory for a character getting divorced for stealing a candy bar. Erased fails thanks to the time travel. It's not explained and it's just plot convenience. It kind of feels like the restart button every time you fail at a mission on a video game, and don't tell me that's how it works, because if so, then the ending would make no sense. His power disappeared or stopped working at the end of the show, so if that were the case, we're saying that he lived happily ever after for the rest of his life without any problems whatsoever. Anyways, we're told that Satoru doesn't know how to control his ability, it just goes off whenever it's convenient, but there's a scene where he's about to get arrested and he starts begging to go back in time, and for no reason, the ability listens to him and goes back in time, but then he says that this is his last revival (which is what he calls his ability). What the fuck does that mean? What do you mean he can't go back in time if he fucks up this time? How does he know this? A little bit of consistency would've been appreciated, Erased. Oh wait, he's the main character, so he obviously knows everything and we're supposed to accept it and give it a 10 without thinking about it. "No, don't think about it. It's time travel and it's too hard to understand, just accept it." The mystery in the show isn't a mystery. The killer is the most obvious killer in every mystery that I have ever watched in my life, but here's the interesting thing. I was told that this show wasn't trying to be a mystery, but more of a mystery for Satoru, and we see it unfold, as we see Satoru dealing with this problem. No matter which direction you go, it's retarded either way. I know that the whole point is that Satoru doesn't want to realize that it's the teacher, but keep in mind that Satoru is from 2006 in the 80's right now. He shouldn't be mentally retarded. If you see an adult with candy, you're most likely going to think that the guy is a child molester. It's excused that the killer would use such a cliché tactic to get children, because this is the 80's, but it's not excused for Satoru to be retarded unless you point it out, unless you want to keep it vague like his ability (pfft). Also, can anyone explain why every kid acted like they were 30, even though they were 10? Not only are they 10-year-olds, but they're also in the 80's, yet some of these kids are smarter than Satoru, who is a 29-year-old from 2006. Yes, it started off well at first with having some of the kids being fun and dumb, talking about video games and all, but that's long gone after episode 3. After that, every character is suddenly smarter than Satoru, despite being in a kid in the 80's. The visual storytelling, filmmaking and editing are all quite great when compared to regular anime, but not when compared to actual artsy films, including some anime ones like Satoshi Kon's work. It shows that there was effort put into it and that it's not bland, but it's unfortunately not subtle enough to get the pass. Sure, if you're a fan of these things (like me), you'll definitely enjoy seeing it here, because it's pretty rare to see it in anime, but it's too obvious at times. There are scenes which are very clever and well crafted, one of which is from the second episode in the park scene, which if you want to look into more, I recommend you watch this great video on it by MothersBasement on Youtube, but other than that, it's mostly spelled out for you, making it feel less special as it goes on. Even the way they show us the killer is not subtle whatsoever. So if you didn't know, the manga for Erased covers a lot more stuff, and thanks to this show's length, it had to cover a lot in only 12 episodes, but the ending didn't feel as rushed as I anticipated it to be, mostly because it was anime original, which is usually a bad thing, but it was surprisingly well done in this case. Of course it would've been better if it took its time with more episodes to flesh everything out, and not just cram in a lot of things in general. Still, props for not fucking up as an anime original ending. So after the very obvious reveal that the teacher was the child pedo molester (may have a lot in common with Satoru), he explains his plan to Satoru like a cliché villain, yay. Then when Satoru can't slip out of a fucking seatbelt, despite being able to escape easily, he drowns or something and wakes up 15 years later (what a fucking coincidence), and noticed that the killer was waiting for him all of these years, but unfortunately Hinazuki didn't (insert sad track). But Satoru regains his memory and stops the horny killer from... Whatever he was gonna do now, but oh no, as we all thought it was gonna end normally, Satoru finds Airi (another goddamn coincidence). He always believed. The end. Despite my problems with Erased, it's nowhere near a bad show; there are a lot of things that made Erased stand out, and I found myself interested in what was happening for the most part. It also looks and sounds great, plus the opening is one of the best I've seen in a while. Even though they didn't really answer everything and left a few things hanging, I enjoyed myself. Hope this show gets ERASED from existence.

Oh my stars, you have no idea how long I have waited for this day. It feels like it's been ages since the last time I watched an anime and was really into what I was seeing. It's been so long since I watched through a show, immediately slammed my hands onto the keyboard to get to MAL and give an anime a 10. Through all the midst of anime I rated 6's and 5's, this is so refreshing. 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.