Upon starting this series, I was excited as I finally get around to watch it, entering the loop and see what the hype is all about. However, halfway through, I realised that I joined a group of fans cheering for a mediocre, overrated story. Yet I stayed behind hoping things will take a turn and live up to my expectations. Unfortunately, I received a rusty bronze medal at the finish line.
Boku dake ga Inai Machi, BokuMachi, or Erased - I actually prefer to call it Boku dake - failed to impress me as I find it lacking in depth and excitement. It is such a shame because I really liked the concept of "revival" where the protagonist, Fujinuma Satoru, enters a phenomenon where he is given a chance to go back in time ranging between one and five minutes, and is able to prevent accidents or any unfortunate events from happening. If he's successful, he stays in that timeline, erasing the original line before the time-slip - hence the title. However, if he fails to stop the tragedy during a revival, he essentially doesn't time-slip and remains in the original timeline - it is as if the revival never took place. Revival is something he cannot control to occur; there is no telling when it will happen except for when a blue butterfly appears which is a sign. This may sound like a time-travel anime similar to Steins;Gate but believe me, that concept was thrown outside the window once he went back to 18 years ago as the focus of the show wasn't actually it, but something else.
The introduction, aka episode 1, hooked me in for it was very interesting and made me anticipate for more. I also kinda understood at that moment why people were talking about this anime so much. The main plot or first climax immediately started off at the end of first episode and so all the episodes onwards are to show how Satoru will uncover and change events in the past in order to change the future. This made me excited because it means the next 11 episodes will be spent on intriguing revelations, suspenseful movements, mind-blowing twists, and many other possibilities that no one will see coming. Or so I thought.
It was a grave mistake to watch the opening credit as it slightly revealed who the real suspect is. This became even more apparent at the end of episode 2 or 3. I believe that guessing who the suspect is isn't the focus of the viewers as much as it is for Satoru; rather it is for us to witness the actions he'll take during revival and its results, hence why there are constant hints of who the real suspect could be. It is a good idea although I personally think this is a mistake as it took away the excitement and suspense of the story. Things were quickly replaced with emotional, heartfelt events and dialogues; making it nowhere near the crime, thriller, suspense genre and completely slipped into a shoujo drama anime.
Now, I am not a heartless person or unsympathetic human being; in fact, I am the opposite and will cry at anything that is emotionally painful as long as there's enough substance to hit me. Boku dake wasn't able to touch my heart despite its constant reference to physical and verbal abuse, bullying, and being isolated from everyone else. I could assure you I would have flinched if there were more feelings put into creating the abuse scenes, or feel pity when kids are alienated if people around them did. These would have grabbed the viewers in instant and would make this anime close to depicting the reality. The only time I felt something was when the supporting character, Hinazuki Kayo, was being accused for something she didn't do, which annoyed me so bad especially that their teacher Yashiro didn't stop this. Another was when Kayo shed tears of happiness-slash-sadness over breakfast as she remembers how she's being maltreated by her mother while Satoru's mother, Fujinuma Sachiko, is the complete opposite. I definitely cried on this scene. Pity everything else was mere storytelling with an attempt to bring the viewers sympathise which it didn't happen.
I was still into it right until the end of episode 3 but the story of remaining episodes became too simple and boring that i can't even explain if it went too slow or fast. Nothing came as a surprise to me. I wish there were some mind-blowing scenes or maybe changed Satoru's course of actions. There are far more interesting ideas how to uncover and change the past than what the creators did.
Also, flaws. | SPOILER ALERT! | Major flaw of this anime is Satoru running away upon discovering what happened to his mother. I understand the author have to do this in order for Satoru to experience revival to 18 years ago. But can't he just cooperate with the police first, say he's innocent, or even experience revival while he was being taken in the police car? And because he failed to change the past the first time, he could go back to the time he's in the back of the car rather than going fugitive. I understand that he's being framed but still, there are other ways to make his testimony at the police station, be freed and there he can do his own investigation, while police try to catch the real suspect. First, they don't have enough evidence to say he did it, and second, they need to check his alibi too which would prove his innocence. Yet the creator just focused on apprehending him and instantly making everyone think he's the suspect and is guilty for evading the police.
That was such a big flaw that lead to a dull, stupid, nonsense plot/body. I was shaking my head the entire time, couldn't stop thinking of another better way of telling the story.
Although I must admit there were characters that I suspected may be involved but not as the main suspect. I was firm with my suspect right at the beginning, but I was suspicious of Satoru's friend, Kenya, and his work manager. That is the only time I was able to use my head, making me think what their connection is to the suspect. | SPOILER ALERT! | They did a good job with foreshadowing Kenya as if he's an antagonist to confuse the viewers and have trust issues with him throughout the series. I'll give them a prize for that.
This anime have the right amount of characters needed to complete the story they went for. Even though they were not given enough background story, they still helped in wrapping up this jumbled, messy show smoothly and cleanly, tying up all the loose ends, and seemingly forgetting how bad the storytelling went. | SPOILER ALERT! | I liked how two of Satoru's friends even became a lawyer and doctor to help him once he wakes up from comatose. I also think it's better than Kayo didn't end up with him, even though they appeared to be the canon. Satoru displayed embarrassment with her but not romantic feelings, and he wouldn't be so happy if she waited 15 years for him. After all, his character is made to display compassion and selflessness. Also, the appearance of his co-worker, Airi at the end showed that Satoru would/could end up with her. I'm a bit saddened that author didn't give her enough focus if this was the plan. Her arc was too shallow, trying to be deep, just enough for viewers to see she's the real romantic interest. Also throw into that, her similar tagline as Kayo "Are you stupid?" which is also another hint of what their relationship could be.
Lastly, the opening and ending credit songs were great and matched the story. I definitely enjoyed listening and singing along with it. I usually skip the OP/ED credits if they aren't catchy enough, but this time I didn't. Good choice!
Overall, the story started out great and ended really clean, but the biggest problem being the middle part - how the story went, the actual unraveling and plot. If the author took another route of telling the story with the same start and finish, I probably would've enjoyed it more. The lack in suspense, depth, focus on certain characters, and flaws made Erased a simple, boring, overrated show that there is nothing to be hyped about. I cannot consider this as a time travelling-focused anime as it is more fitting under shoujo drama genre. Again, this cannot be compared to Steins;Gate, or even be recommended as similar to it. I simply cannot understand why these two anime are being compared. You can't compare Steins;Gate with another show. I am still waiting for that day to come.
Despite of what I've said, Boku dake ga Inai Machi is still tolerable and watchable. There's nothing to lose from watching it.
Boku dake ga Inai Machi, BokuMachi, or Erased - I actually prefer to call it Boku dake - failed to impress me as I find it lacking in depth and excitement. It is such a shame because I really liked the concept of "revival" where the protagonist, Fujinuma Satoru, enters a phenomenon where he is given a chance to go back in time ranging between one and five minutes, and is able to prevent accidents or any unfortunate events from happening. If he's successful, he stays in that timeline, erasing the original line before the time-slip - hence the title. However, if he fails to stop the tragedy during a revival, he essentially doesn't time-slip and remains in the original timeline - it is as if the revival never took place. Revival is something he cannot control to occur; there is no telling when it will happen except for when a blue butterfly appears which is a sign. This may sound like a time-travel anime similar to Steins;Gate but believe me, that concept was thrown outside the window once he went back to 18 years ago as the focus of the show wasn't actually it, but something else.
The introduction, aka episode 1, hooked me in for it was very interesting and made me anticipate for more. I also kinda understood at that moment why people were talking about this anime so much. The main plot or first climax immediately started off at the end of first episode and so all the episodes onwards are to show how Satoru will uncover and change events in the past in order to change the future. This made me excited because it means the next 11 episodes will be spent on intriguing revelations, suspenseful movements, mind-blowing twists, and many other possibilities that no one will see coming. Or so I thought.
It was a grave mistake to watch the opening credit as it slightly revealed who the real suspect is. This became even more apparent at the end of episode 2 or 3. I believe that guessing who the suspect is isn't the focus of the viewers as much as it is for Satoru; rather it is for us to witness the actions he'll take during revival and its results, hence why there are constant hints of who the real suspect could be. It is a good idea although I personally think this is a mistake as it took away the excitement and suspense of the story. Things were quickly replaced with emotional, heartfelt events and dialogues; making it nowhere near the crime, thriller, suspense genre and completely slipped into a shoujo drama anime.
Now, I am not a heartless person or unsympathetic human being; in fact, I am the opposite and will cry at anything that is emotionally painful as long as there's enough substance to hit me. Boku dake wasn't able to touch my heart despite its constant reference to physical and verbal abuse, bullying, and being isolated from everyone else. I could assure you I would have flinched if there were more feelings put into creating the abuse scenes, or feel pity when kids are alienated if people around them did. These would have grabbed the viewers in instant and would make this anime close to depicting the reality. The only time I felt something was when the supporting character, Hinazuki Kayo, was being accused for something she didn't do, which annoyed me so bad especially that their teacher Yashiro didn't stop this. Another was when Kayo shed tears of happiness-slash-sadness over breakfast as she remembers how she's being maltreated by her mother while Satoru's mother, Fujinuma Sachiko, is the complete opposite. I definitely cried on this scene. Pity everything else was mere storytelling with an attempt to bring the viewers sympathise which it didn't happen.
I was still into it right until the end of episode 3 but the story of remaining episodes became too simple and boring that i can't even explain if it went too slow or fast. Nothing came as a surprise to me. I wish there were some mind-blowing scenes or maybe changed Satoru's course of actions. There are far more interesting ideas how to uncover and change the past than what the creators did.
Also, flaws. | SPOILER ALERT! | Major flaw of this anime is Satoru running away upon discovering what happened to his mother. I understand the author have to do this in order for Satoru to experience revival to 18 years ago. But can't he just cooperate with the police first, say he's innocent, or even experience revival while he was being taken in the police car? And because he failed to change the past the first time, he could go back to the time he's in the back of the car rather than going fugitive. I understand that he's being framed but still, there are other ways to make his testimony at the police station, be freed and there he can do his own investigation, while police try to catch the real suspect. First, they don't have enough evidence to say he did it, and second, they need to check his alibi too which would prove his innocence. Yet the creator just focused on apprehending him and instantly making everyone think he's the suspect and is guilty for evading the police.
That was such a big flaw that lead to a dull, stupid, nonsense plot/body. I was shaking my head the entire time, couldn't stop thinking of another better way of telling the story.
Although I must admit there were characters that I suspected may be involved but not as the main suspect. I was firm with my suspect right at the beginning, but I was suspicious of Satoru's friend, Kenya, and his work manager. That is the only time I was able to use my head, making me think what their connection is to the suspect. | SPOILER ALERT! | They did a good job with foreshadowing Kenya as if he's an antagonist to confuse the viewers and have trust issues with him throughout the series. I'll give them a prize for that.
This anime have the right amount of characters needed to complete the story they went for. Even though they were not given enough background story, they still helped in wrapping up this jumbled, messy show smoothly and cleanly, tying up all the loose ends, and seemingly forgetting how bad the storytelling went. | SPOILER ALERT! | I liked how two of Satoru's friends even became a lawyer and doctor to help him once he wakes up from comatose. I also think it's better than Kayo didn't end up with him, even though they appeared to be the canon. Satoru displayed embarrassment with her but not romantic feelings, and he wouldn't be so happy if she waited 15 years for him. After all, his character is made to display compassion and selflessness. Also, the appearance of his co-worker, Airi at the end showed that Satoru would/could end up with her. I'm a bit saddened that author didn't give her enough focus if this was the plan. Her arc was too shallow, trying to be deep, just enough for viewers to see she's the real romantic interest. Also throw into that, her similar tagline as Kayo "Are you stupid?" which is also another hint of what their relationship could be.
Lastly, the opening and ending credit songs were great and matched the story. I definitely enjoyed listening and singing along with it. I usually skip the OP/ED credits if they aren't catchy enough, but this time I didn't. Good choice!
Overall, the story started out great and ended really clean, but the biggest problem being the middle part - how the story went, the actual unraveling and plot. If the author took another route of telling the story with the same start and finish, I probably would've enjoyed it more. The lack in suspense, depth, focus on certain characters, and flaws made Erased a simple, boring, overrated show that there is nothing to be hyped about. I cannot consider this as a time travelling-focused anime as it is more fitting under shoujo drama genre. Again, this cannot be compared to Steins;Gate, or even be recommended as similar to it. I simply cannot understand why these two anime are being compared. You can't compare Steins;Gate with another show. I am still waiting for that day to come.
Despite of what I've said, Boku dake ga Inai Machi is still tolerable and watchable. There's nothing to lose from watching it.
Personal Rating: 7 out of 10 [ good ]
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