Opening Songs
OP 1 - Re:re (Asian Kung-Fu Generation)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - That Was Like A Small Light (Sayuri)
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Episodes: 12
Widely regarded as one of the best shows of 2016, "Erased" certainly had a lot of hype to live up to when I was about to give it a go. While I'm mostly the type of guy that prefers action themed shows, "Erased" was one of the fewer shows that I watched despite it being...fairly slow to get going. It's surely a show that starts off strong and goes on a slower pace for the rest of its run time, its not something that you can take on in a single viewing. Still, for a show that centralizes itself around character development and character building, its certainly a very well done experience that few other shows can compete with. For that purpose alone, if you're looking for a show that's more about someone fixing their past mistakes and trying to make everything was wrong, right again, "Erased" is a perfect show for that feel. Just make sure to get comfortable, and prepare yourself for a slower paced experience (that not everyone might take a liking to).
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| Poor, precious little Hinazuki... |
The opening theme is "Re:re" by Asian Kung Fu Generation, a band that seriously takes me back to my early anime days. Considering that I really liked themes that they sang for the likes of "Bleach", "Naruto" and "FMA" back in the day, I'm really glad to see them here performing for "Erased". The song itself is pretty good, its rocking enough to stand alongside the band's older songs from their shounen anime days. The ending theme is "That Was A Small Light" by Sayuri, which is a simple, quiet ending theme. Its pretty fitting for a show like "Erased", but at the end of the day, its really not my cup of tea, its too slow for my liking.
Rating: 8.0/10
There are a lot of people praising this show, and I can see why. For me, it surely sits up there as one of the better few animes that I have watched, solely for its story and character building. However, I could really see this one doing a lot better as a movie, no? Stretching it out to be 12 episodes is a little much, especially if there isn't a lot exciting going on for a good portion of the show. Progression and pacing are really the only things that drag "Erased" down in my opinion, because the show feels kind of slow at times. The concept of having our adult protagonist go through his younger days as a kid again is pretty endearing and captivating, especially having to see a mere child think like an adult to really change things up. It's little moments where our hero tries to accomplish things that no child could do that make the show fun to watch. Seeing how the relationship between Satoru and Hinazuki deepen is so enriching and satisfying, so much so that everything else does seem trivial. Most importantly though: the show does have a proper conclusion, which I can appreciate wholeheartedly.
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| Oh man, I wish my mom looked like THAT when she's over 50. |
Fujinuma Satoru is a 29 year old man who's working as a part timer at a fast food restaurant while also drawing manga during his spare time. In other words, he's pretty much a failure of a man without a full time job ever since his manga didn't properly take off as he intended. He settled for his life of simplicity while having a very special power: one which allows his non-conscious inner self to turn back time for a short amount of time to solve something that he just couldn't sit with. Usually, this power only triggered for very small, meager occurrences, until one fateful day when his mother comes to visit him. The mother and son combo go shopping together until the mother spots something that seems like a child getting taken away by a kidnapper. While she takes note of the man, she also seemed to be noticed by him. Later that day, she is killed in Satoru's apartment with Satoru being deemed as the suspect. It is then his power to turn back time kicks in, only this time, instead of being sent back a few measly minutes, he is sent back to when he was a kid, 18 years ago....
"Erased" is a pretty great anime if you're looking for a very story driven one with great character development. It provides a very satisfying start, middle and ending, as a complete package, I'd recommend this one for sure. Despite what people may say about this one (good or bad), its probably still one that's worth your time as long as you have ANY interest in anime stories.
