Erased (Review)

Erased is the Perfect Anime to Binge Watch This Weekend!

Every year I seem to find myself pleasantly surprised when I accidentally stumble upon something truly great. This year I was lucky enough to take a chance on Erased, and have to say that it’s one of the most well-done anime I’ve seen in a long time. The series manages to be thought-provoking without forcing it or trying to convince the audience how smart it is. For me, that’s the true sign of intelligent filmmaking, when it doesn’t have to tell you how clever it is. It simply is.

Erased tells the tale of accidental time traveler Satoru Fujinuma (voiced by Ben Diskin), who has the unique ability to travel back in time short periods in order to help people avoid tragedy. However, his life is exactly that. He’s a 29-year-old who has managed to stand in own way of ever achieving his dreams. It’s a cruel twist that he has the power to save everyone, but can’t save himself. That is until his mother is murdered. It is then that he finds himself thrown 18 years into the past facing a second chance to not only save his mother but children who were kidnapped and murdered while he was a child. The series focuses on Satoru desperately trying to stop a series of unsolved murders while navigating the butterfly effect in hopes of saving his mother’s life.

What I love most about Erased is that it’s a far cry from so many of the anime series I’ve seen over the years. There’s very little action in it, but there’s a beauty to the mundane life that the main character has to navigate. His life seems very normal on the surface, but deep down he’s desperately trying to make things right, but never knowing if what he does will truly accomplish his goals. There are no epic fight scenes, no forced fanservice or bizarre looking characters. In fact, there’s nothing remotely special about the main character other than his uncontrollable ability to travel through time. Instead, Erased focuses on the core concept of the store and the slow burn that starts in the very first episode.

Despite being only 12 episodes long, Erased is a series that takes it’s time to tell its story. Never in a hurry to get to the point, it gives the audience time to really think about everything that’s happening on screen. Honestly, I have to praise it for that fact alone. Not only does it take its time, it presents concepts that people can spend hours debating in a way that’s through but straightforward. It doesn’t try to explain itself but shows the audience everything they need to know in order to start asking the questions it wants you to.

I have to give credit to Kei Sanbe, who wrote the manga the anime is based on, for creating such an engrossing character-driven thriller. However, without director Tomohiko Itō (who worked on such series as Death Note, Sword Art Online, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) I fear that there would have been a lot lost in translation. His experience on his previous work though seems as though he has the perfect resume for Erased. In fact, he’s probably one of my personal favorite anime directors. This combination of experienced storytelling from both creators of the anime is what makes Erased so great. They manage to take an unextraordinary character, thrust him into an extraordinary situation, and watch him grow into someone the audience genuinely cares about.

Erased is a series I would recommend not only to anime fans out there but also for people looking for just a great show in general to watch. It’s appealing on so many levels and the only real downfall is that it loses a bit of its magic after the first time watching it. Though that’s something that can be said for most thrillers. Once you know how it ends, then there’s no longer that beautiful tension that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Still, Erased is spellbinding and easily bingeable, a recipe that makes it perfect to watch over the weekend. In fact, it’s probably perfect for you to watch this weekend.