Erased Overview:
Satoru is an unsuccessful manga writer working in a pizza shop and really just going through the motions of life. He has one strange ability where sometimes he will go back in time and it always happens after something has gone wrong and sometimes he can help to avoid it. However, when his mother dies, Satoru finds himself 15 years in the past as the chain of events leading to her death is quite complex and caught up in a series of mysterious abductions and murders from when he was a child.
Erased Review:
While I already discussed my initial impressions of this series having completed viewing it I’m now going to review the entire show. To be honest, I was fairly impressed by the end of this. While it isn’t a master piece by any means the story is well paced, the characters for the most part play their roles well, and the climax is dramatic enough to make it feel worth the wait.
That isn’t to say that I changed my mind about Airi. She really does seem to be the weak link in the performances as she just doesn’t sit right in any scene and I’m still feeling like she was a little too unnerving or creepy in the early episodes. However, the rest of the cast all deliver a decent performance and it is easy to get swept up in their story (though I do think the person who designed the fake beard probably needs to start over).
Outside of the acting, the story itself was well executed. None of the scenes seemed to linger overly long but the plot didn’t feel rushed. The reveals made sense and were well timed and even knowing who the villain was didn’t take away from the experience of seeing it revealed. The climax has a few minor issues in that I think we’re supposed to believe they are in danger but it just doesn’t quite come across that way, but it is dramatic and it brings the story nicely to a close.
In terms of the scenes themselves there is very little risk taken in this series. Shot types and cuts are all pretty standard which makes them unobtrusive but also means they aren’t really adding anything to the story. Likewise, the music and sound works, but are mostly unremarkable.
Still, this was a great way to spend a few hours and the story is compelling enough on its own. The pacing is probably where this series shines and all in all, it was a pretty good version of the story.
Now, for those who have watched the anime there are differences. Mostly these are cosmetic but the climax has a scene change (and actually makes a great deal more sense) in this version and the one major improvement on the anime adaptation is the villain’s back story. So much better here and given that was a definite weak link in the anime it is something I really appreciated. There’s a few other minor changes but this is basically the same story so if you loved the anime there may not be a lot of point in watching this version.
I’d love to know your final thoughts on the series so leave me a comment below.
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Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James
Nice review Karandi! To be fair, I am surprised you found the directing simplistic when the anime is rather creative. I’ll probably look up a few scenes of this to get a sense of the performances, really curious how those will compare to what I am used to.
There’s very little interesting going on with the directing here. The performances are left to carry the story and for the most part they do. Still, as you said, the anime was quite interesting at times so I felt this was one area where the live action kind of dropped the ball or missed out on an opportunity.
Based on all that I’ve heard and seen so far, this actually sounded like a really good live action iteration of the story. Now that you’ve seen it yourself, I’m glad you thought it was pretty solid, too—especially on the ending and the villain. That makes me happy to hear, and I do look forward to watching this myself now . . . Whenever that may be!
If you enjoyed the story with the anime, there’s no reason not to enjoy this. The biggest issue of course being that if you’ve watched the anime you most certainly already know what the reveals are going to be.
I have to say I did enjoy this show. I’m writing my review next week. The actors were all great. But it wasn’t as good as the anime to me. Some parts of the live action series became a bit slow where the anime I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Then the ending was not as epic as the anime. But that’s me.
The ending wasn’t as epic, but I think it made more sense. Still, I can see where you are coming from.
I liked the anime though it had a sloppy ending. I did watch one episode of the Live Action but dropped it after that. I might watch the rest thanks to your review.
The ending works a little better here than in the anime. I did enjoy the anime though and didn’t mind the ending (but it was a weak point). Let me know what you think if you do watch it.
Sure. I might watch it soon.
I definitely need to check this one out.
I hope you have some fun and if you do check it out let me know what you think.
Will do. It looks well done, so i’m hoping it doesn’t fall flat now.
Thanks, I might check this out.
Hope you enjoy it.
Will let you know. Once I review it
Okay: I kid you not: I was just thinking yesterday “I wonder if Karandi has finished Erased 😮” . Talk about coincidence. Completely agree with everything that you wrote here (that fake beard….totally riduculous) and the end was in my opinion better here as well. All in all I pretty much enjoyed this one: really well done 😀😀
I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying it. It was a good choice for a live action adaptation though because of the nature of the story. So while this wasn’t perfect, it was certainly an enjoyable watch. Glad you enjoyed it as well.
It was the same with me. As you know I really loved the anime, but I was really worried about this. But this was really well done, and it just simply captured the spirit of the original so very well 😀