ERASED: To Watch or Not to Watch?

“Boku dake ga Inai Machi,” translated as “The Town Where Only I Am Missing” and more commonly known as ERASED, is a 12-episode mystery thriller anime with a dash of time travel mixed in. The story follows 29-year old Satoru Fujinuma who has an ability that allows him to go back in time before a life-threatening incident is supposed to happen. After his mother is murdered by an unknown killer, (no spoilers, it happens in the first episode, this is a safe place) his ability activates and he’s sent back 18 years to when he was in elementary school to try to unravel a mystery that has a direct effect on his mother’s death 18 years later. So right off the bat the plot is pretty engaging. The first episode sets up a great premise and gives the series a lot to build on. From the first episode we learn about his relationship with his mother after she comes to visit him. Their relationship isn’t bad by any means, but it does provide some emotional investment for when he ends up back in time and sees his mother alive again. The first couple of episodes are filled with so much tension that you probably wouldn’t be able to cut it with Tessaiga (Inuyasha’s sword, but you knew that). The episodes show the dynamic that our main character will have since his adult mind is back in his 10 year old body. He often thinks like his 29-year old self and ends up blurting out his inner thoughts which is something that never gets old and adds some lightheartedness to the drama. The opening song is ama…