/anime/21234/erased
What I like most about this series, is the, use/shift in cinematic to full screen and vice versa. I really liked that way of direction.
And how it kept me in shoes of Satoru, the MC. It felt like, I was trying to make sense of little details I've with me, like; Why Satoru came to 1988 when his mon was killed 18 years later? Who's this gloomy girl and why she got murdered? What does this have to do, with a murder that is bound to happen 18 years later?
We get to see some new characters, some nice cozy moments to ease my mind between all the tension that's building up, and as Satoru tries to unravel these little puzzle pieces, it felt thrilling and exciting to experience this, even though it's pretty obvious. And there are a few episodes, which rewatched more than once, like the bus episode(Episode 8, ig) and the talk between Kenya and Satoru(probably the same as above) and I don't know why. Some of those moments felt really cute, and a little bit cool, cause going back in time doing all this playing detective stuff seemed/felt really interesting and amazing to watch.
And what I don't like about the Anime are;
Erased focusses so much on plot, it completely uses it's characters as machines to move the plot, rather than making feel like characters. Like, I get it, Kayo is being tortured, I get it that she needs more love she deserves, I'm happy there's a trustful friend like Kenya for Satoru, I can see the charm of Airi being the cute & uplifting girl in your dark moments, but it only matters as long as I'm playing the detective, that is, as long as I'm in Satoru's shoes.
From an outside perspective, none of the characters have anything special on their own. They always feel like they are there for Satoru, & their story is revolved around him, rather than making them stand on their own shoes.
It happened like this;
"OK, who are the suspects? That one kid who wears cap and the teacher. That Kid seems like a bait, so it might be the teacher."
After Kayo's saved.
"Ohh... So, the teacher helped Satoru. What a Nice Guy.. But he's still a suspect." And then comes the candy episode, which at this point is pretty obvious, that the series, trying make him seem like Not the Bad Guy, but still gives away details that ends always ends up questioning about him.
Although, that reveal, in the subway was still brilliantly executed, not gonna lie. It made me tensed cause, now the killer was revealed in front of the detective, but they are both in a car, and the situation is completely under the killer control, so what happens now? How will the detective escape from the killer? It wasn't surprising after I thought about cause the series kept me in Satoru shoes, so I had no option but to feel tensed.
And then, the series gives some random Hamster story about how Killer can see a Spider thread around people who he can kill? They could've made him a lot more interesting than this. And of course, the obviously rushed/very out of the place kinda ending.
The whole conversation Satoru & Yashiro had, the how they caught the killer... It all felt disappointing to say the least. Cause, after how brilliantly it handled it's not-so-obvious detective story, it could've done a lot better with it's ending.
Now, after completing the series, after revealing all the things it need to, I asked the question myself;
Why do Satoru possesses the ability of Revival? Why is that he can go to past and can undo the mistakes? What makes him so special?
And this was answered when I rewatched it. The thing is; Satoru feels a sense of regret, when he realizes that he could've saved Kayo in the first place. He thought, he could've saved Kayo just by raising his hand and talking to her, on her day of demise. Everyone around him says; It's OK, you are a Child, you don't have to feel regret. But he just can't get away with it, which gives the reason for his ability. As for HOW he got that ability, I don't know ¯\(ツ)/¯. In the last episode, Satoru states that he can't experience Revival anymore, cause he finally got back with his regret he had, and now since he don't feel any regret, his reason to have the ability is gone, and so the ability is also gone.
And to answer those shipper question if there are people still want to, if you think about Satoru goes back in time, to his childhood body. A 29 year old, living inside a 10 year old body... (Wait, why does that sound famili.......!?) All the things he does, repeating things, making friends, talking to Kayo, getting blushed over keeping his hand over a 10 year old, all this happens with his 29 year old experience in a Child body. So, if Kayo ends up with him, is literally;
A 29 year old guy with a 10 year old girl.
Now how do you feel about that kinda relationship, is upto you.
All in All, Erased is a very decent Anime, that grabs your attention, keeps you on edge and disappoints you at the very end. If you are someone who thinks Endings matter lot more than the journey, then this isn't for you.
If not, then you'll probably enjoy this as much as I do.
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