ERASED

Episode 5

ERASED took an unfortunate step down this week, in an outsourced episode that demonstrated few of the show's great strengths and all of its weaknesses. It was propelled largely by base plot beats over atmosphere, and what scenes weren't more or less inert in terms of direction tended to oversell their drama. It's difficult for any show to maintain consistent polish from first episode to last, but it's never a fun thing to see.

In the wake of last week's unexpected absence, Satoru ended up running over to Hinazuki's house, where he found that she wasn't in the shed, but that an adult man had visited it some time in the last day. Following that, a couple shots from inside the house gave the game away: Hinazuki was already dead, her parents were likely responsible, and they were unsure of how to deal with the situation. It's beginning to seem likely that Hinazuki's situation might have just been “conveniently” close to the serial killings time-wise, and that her parents only got away with murder because of the other killer on the loose.

The next few scenes of the episode played out just like Satoru might have expected, with all of the adults of the community working together to keep the kids from realizing the gravity of the situation. “We don't know who did it yet, but we better do everything in our power to prevent it from happening again” said a friend of Satoru's mother, reflecting the ultimate failures of this world's adults. The police and news organizations only act after some horrible thing has happened. The adults were unable or unwilling to intervene in Hinazuki's life even though they knew she was being abused, reflecting a cultural climate where sticking out or prying simply isn't done. And after the horrible deed has happened, the only response is “the kids shouldn't have to remember something like this.” What the world should be like is very different from what it is, and instead of engaging with the real problems, people simply maintain a veneer of civility that could barely even fool a child.

Contrasted against the show's larger social implications, the scenes between Satoru and his mother reflected his own very specific problems. Realizing her son was blaming himself, his mother tried to comfort him by saying “thinking it's your fault after the fact is pointless. There's only so much one person can do.” These are important messages to take to heart, but in the context of Satoru's power, they basically just twist the knife. Satoru's power is in truth a kind of curse - in real life you have to accept that things happen, and grow past them, and do better next time. But Satoru's power is the embodiment of “if only I'd done this and this differently, everything would be alright.” It is essentially the supernatural version of never growing up, of never learning you must make peace with the things you cannot change.

But most of this episode wasn't dedicated to articulating these ideas - this was a busy, plot-heavy episode, and when it came to articulating that plot, the execution definitely stumbled. In the first half, basically every one of ERASED's over-the-top dramatic embellishments converged on one scene, where Satoru saw Hinazuki's mother throwing away some trash. The scene began with one of those classic evil grins, built through a cliche sequence of screeching strings, and ended with a dramatic bulging-eye shot leading into Satoru overtly screaming his feelings. ERASED has a lot of strong elements going for it, but when it oversells its drama like this, it does a great disservice to the show's strengths. Over-the-top emphasis like this only undercuts the story's ability to feel emotionally real.

In the episode's second half, Satoru found himself returned to the present time, and on the run from the cops. He met with his manager, was almost captured by the police, and eventually found a friend in Airi, whose existing knowledge of Satoru and his mother's relationship led her to believe he wasn't guilty (perhaps reflecting on the necessity of a social culture where people do invade into each other's lives, and thus learn to help or believe in them). This half of the episode essentially had the opposite problem of the first. In contrast to this show's early episodes, where even slow sequences of Satoru spending time at school were lent dramatic tension by the sharp direction and sound design, virtually every scene of this second half was aesthetically flat, shot head-on with very limited animation at a consistent tempo, robbing the base events of any visceral momentum.

Overall, while this wasn't a truly bad episode in general terms, it was certainly bad for an episode of a show that's typically great. When the execution fails to elevate it, ERASED comes off a lot more like any other thriller - it's the strong direction and sound design that make this show special. Hopefully that execution will pick up again soon.

Overall: B-

ERASED is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.