ERASED - Reviews

This is quite possibly one of the best anime I've seen in a long time.  Erased, aka "A City Without Me", is a gripping tale of friendship with murder and time travel thrown in the mix.  While I'm usually skeptical of time travel as a plot device, I feel this actually did it well.

Story

It opens up with Satoru Fujinuma, a 29-year-old failing manga artist who has taken a job at a pizza shop in order to pay the bills for his apartment.  When his mother comes to visit him, a case of an attempted kidnapping turns into something much greater when he recalls a kidnapping-murder case from 18 years ago and then finds himself 18 years in the past after a tragedy occurs in the present.

Characters

Satoru Fujinuma - The protagonist, who is a pessimistic sort of character even though he looked up to and wanted to be a hero, though he will go out of his way to help people even though he often lacks the mental courage to take that first step.  He has a mysterious ability where he is sent (usually between 1-5 minutes) into the past due to a tragedy which is about to occur. 

Sachiko Fujinuma - Satoru's mother with uncanny intuition (which leads Satoru to refer to her as a "youkai" on numerous occasions).  She obviously cares a lot about Satoru, and her uncanny leaps in aforementioned intuition leads her into danger early on.

Airi Katagiri - A high school girl who works at the same pizza place as Satoru and befriends him, she gives him the benefit of the doubt and wishes to believe in people due to an incident in her past which led to the divorce of her parents.  She also becomes a trigger point which helps unlock the suppressed memories Satoru had of the kidnapping-murder case from 18 years ago.

Kayo Hinazuki - The first of three victims from the kidnapping-murder case of 18 years ago, and Satoru's classmate back then in elementary school.  She was often seen alone at the park, and didn't interact with her classmates.  She is the first person Satoru tries to befriend when sent to the past in order to prevent her death.

Kenya Kobayashi - One of Satoru's childhood 'friends' and a classmate, he has a strong sense of justice and seems advanced for his age as he is the first to realize what Kayo's essay was really telling everyone, as well as other things about her.  He becomes Satoru's best friend and biggest ally in their group of friends.

There are a bunch of other characters, each with interesting personalities and purpose.  No character feels like they're forced, and there isn't a feeling of being overwhelmed by the amount of characters who eventually appear.

Overall

For a 12-episode series, this was an incredible journey. 

This has a little bit of everything in it; fantasy (time travel), slice-of-life, mystery, adventure, suspense, and more.

The characters are interesting, and the pacing is excellent even though every episode seems to leave off with a cliffhanger which made it hard to not marathon the series.  Granted, since it's a 12-episode series, marathoning it wasn't too difficult.

The characters are well done for a 12-episode series, and the time travel isn't as cringe-worthy as most attempts.  It also deals with the Butterfly Effect a little bit, which makes Satoru have to try and adjust his plans since he won't know what will happen when he has changed something.

Honestly, I'd recommend this anime to anyone interested in the above listed genres.  In fact, I'd suggest that everyone give this anime a chance, as it has some deeper meanings and messages on courage and friendship without being saccharine in the execution of it.

There are a few faults, but every anime has its faults...and those faults can be overlooked in the grand scheme of things depending on what genre you're looking at it from.  As a mystery, there are a few issues (such as how easy it is to figure out the culprit), but as a suspenseful and desperate attempt to fix the future, it's amazing.

It also makes me think on the age-old question of:  If you can go back in time and change something, would you?

There are friends I've lost whom I wish I could have saved, though one of them died from cancer...still, I wish I could have convinced her sooner to see a doctor.  She was only 27.

Or my first cat whom I didn't know was a "pica" cat and ate some of the bathroom loofa which wound up killing him (also due to the incompetence by the vets who thought he wasn't eating because he was depressed).  He was only 5.

A thought-provoking series with relatable characters, mystery, and a fleshed out plot for only 12 episodes long...yes, how the protagonist was able to time travel was never explained, but I'm actually okay with that mystery.  Some might frown upon that, but with that being one of the very few faults in the series, I think it's still well worth the time to watch.

Dude pla see this anime is so good and he really provok you so pleas give a chance!

Gave me the craziest feeling of nostalgia which I loooved, but my God, does the mom have the ugliest lips. The story felt really complete and really conveys the hopelessness of being a child in a world full of crime. It's a scary feeling, and they must adapt to the circumstances. Amazingly written, however, I feel like the ending segment was slightly rushed and could have used an extra episode to wrap up smoother.

This has to be my fav anime show. I fell in love with it and it warms my heart whenever i rewatch it. 

Reall good.      Big plot twists.        Good character development althought a bit sloppy at times.      Overall just a 10/10