Erased Anime Review

by Elly Snyder | April 6, 2016 8:00 am

Erased (Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi)
Released on January 8th, 2016 – March 25th, 2015
Published by Funimation

 

Erased: A Bingeworthy Rollercoaster

 

I envy you. I wish I could have binge watched Erased. The emotional torture of having to wait week-to-week for a new episode was killer because if nothing else, this show knows how to leave you on a cliffhanger. You’ll be guessing to the end with this anime, and honestly even if you figure out the ending, it’s still one helluva ride.

ERASED_main_charactersSatoru is a struggling manga artist gifted with Revival, the ability to go back in time to prevent fatal events. The problem is, he doesn’t have any control over when Revival happens, if at all. And it can put him in any point of time in his life at a moment’s notice. Where it puts him in this season is entirely unexpected and if you can go into this show blind, it is worth it.

This anime is a combination of time-travel, butterfly effect, and murder mystery elements that blend well together. The continuity is easy to follow without being overly-explanatory, and the story flows well without having it be too “butterfly effect” (a plot type I don’t particularly enjoy, but works so well for this anime).

Satoru is an altruistic character that is easy to love, and in an anime such as this, it would be easy to only focus on him and his struggles, but this show does an amazing job making you care about the secondary characters that help Satoru along his mission. I found myself being just as worried for the well-being of his friends, his mother and even the strangers that helped along the way as I was for Satoru.

The animation is not overly artistic, and incredibly tasteful, managing to portray violence and child abuse in such a way that gets the point across without being grautious in any way. It also has subtle references to the future plot that aren’t immediately noticeable on the first watch, so if you do enjoy the anime, go back and  keep your eyes peeled. I got goosebumps when I noticed “it”.

Honestly, the only complaint I have is actually a sort of compliment. I managed to guess one of the twists in the show about halfway through, however, although I figured it out, it did absolutely nothing to deter me from loving the show. It was fascinating to watch through to the end.

Witch Craft Works Season 2 Finale Review[2]

 

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Endnotes:
  1. Anime: https://www.confreaksandgeeks.com/category/reviews/anime-reviews/
  2. Witch Craft Works Season 2 Finale Review: https://www.confreaksandgeeks.com/witch-craft-works-season-2-finale-review/

Source URL: https://www.confreaksandgeeks.com/erased-anime-review/