Erased (manga)

Erased, known in Japan as Boku dake ga Inai Machi (僕だけがいない街, lit. "The Town Where Only I Am Missing"; abbr. 僕街, BokuMachi), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kei Sanbe. It was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine from June 2012 to March 2016, and is licensed in English by Yen Press. An anime adaptation by A-1 Pictures aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block from January to March 2016, and a live action film was released in March 2016. A live-action drama series was released by Netflix in December 2017. A spin-off manga was published from June to November 2016 and the spin-off novel series by Hajime Ninomae was released in Kadokawa's Bungei Kadokawa magazine from November 2015 to March 2016.

Plot

In 2006, 29-year-old Satoru Fujinuma, a struggling mangaka living in Chiba, possesses an involuntary ability known as "Revival" that sends his consciousness back in time moments before a life-threatening incident, enabling him to prevent it from happening again. When his mother is murdered by an unknown assailant in his own home, Satoru's ability sends him back eighteen years into the past and Satoru is given the opportunity to not only save his mother, but also prevent a serial killer from taking the lives of three of his childhood friends including a young girl from another school.

Characters

Satoru Fujinuma (藤沼 悟, Fujinuma Satoru)

Voiced by: Shinnosuke Mitsushima (adult), Tao Tsuchiya (child) (Japanese); Benjamin Diskin (adult), Michelle Ruff (child) (English)

Played by: Tatsuya Fujiwara (adult, film), Tsubasa Nakagawa (child, film), Yuki Furukawa (adult, drama), Reo Uchikawa (child, drama)

Satoru is a 29-year-old manga artist who also works part-time as a delivery man at Oasi Pizza. Many years ago while he was still a child, his father left him and his mother, for which reason he is living in a single parent home. He possesses an involuntary time-based ability he calls "Revival", which brings him back to a time before a life-threatening incident occurs and allows him to prevent it only by glimpsing a glowing bright blue butterfly, the appearance of which may symbolize the unpredictable effects the unique supernatural ability has not only on himself, but those around him.

Kayo Hinazuki (雛月 加代, Hinazuki Kayo)

Voiced by: Aoi Yūki (Japanese); Stephanie Sheh (English)

Played by: Rio Suzuki (film), Rinka Kakihara (drama)

Kayo is one of Satoru's primary school classmates and is one of the original victims of the serial kidnapping case that occurred 18 years ago.

Airi Katagiri (片桐 愛梨, Katagiri Airi)

Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki (Japanese); Cherami Leigh (English)

Played by: Kasumi Arimura (film), Mio Yūki (drama)

Airi is a high school student and Satoru's friendly co-worker at Oasi Pizza. She becomes involved with him when she witnesses oddities such as when he manages to save people from certain life-threatening situations.

Sachiko Fujinuma (藤沼 佐知子, Fujinuma Sachiko)

Voiced by: Minami Takayama (Japanese); Sara Cravens (English)

Played by: Yuriko Ishida (film); Tomoka Kurotani (drama)

Sachiko is Satoru's mother and a former news announcer. Her husband left the family many years ago, causing her to raise Satoru on her own. She possesses a sharp eye and is quick to observe any irregularities.

Jun Shiratori (白鳥 潤, Shiratori Jun)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima (Japanese); Max Mittelman (English)

Played by Kento Hayashi (film); Masato Yano (drama)

Jun is a stuttering food delivery worker who lives in Satoru's hometown and often approaches lone students around his house. He and Satoru play with paper airplanes. Because he advises lonely children to be more "courageous" and make more friends, he is nicknamed "Yuuki", which means courage.

Kenya Kobayashi (小林 賢也, Kobayashi Ken'ya)

Voiced by: Yō Taichi, Tasuku Emoto (adult)^{Ep. 11 credits} (Japanese); Erica Mendez, Xander Mobus (adult) (English)

Played by Seiji Fukushi (film); Jin Shirasu (drama)

Kenya is one of Satoru's primary school classmates who has a strong sense of justice and is very mature for his age with his intelligent choices. He is an aspiring lawyer who has a keen eye.

Gaku Yashiro (八代 学, Yashiro Gaku)

Voiced by: Mitsuru Miyamoto (Japanese); David W. Collins (English)

Played by Shigeyuki Totsugi

Gaku is Satoru's homeroom teacher during his youth and the closest thing he has to a father figure.

Hiromi Sugita (杉田 広美, Sugita Hiromi)

Voiced by: Akari Kitō, Atsushi Tamaru (adult)^{Ep. 11 credits} (Japanese); Christine Marie Cabanos, Kyle McCarley (adult) (English)

Played by Kairi Jo

Hiromi is one of Satoru's primary school classmates who appears feminine even though he is a boy. He is one of the original victims of the serial kidnapping case.

Osamu (修)

Voiced by: Ayaka Nanase (Japanese); Ryan Bartley (English)

Osamu is one of Satoru's primary school classmates.

Kazu (カズ)

Voiced by: Yukitoshi Kikuchi (Japanese); Bobby Thong (English)

Kazu is one of Satoru's primary school classmates. He is much taller and heavier than the rest of Satoru's friends and goes out of his way to appear "masculine".

Aya Nakanishi (中西 彩, Nakanishi Aya)

Voiced by: Sayaka Kaneko^{Ep. 10 credits} (Japanese); Corina Boettger (English)

Aya is a student who attends Izumi Primary and is one of the original victims of the serial kidnapping case.

Misato Yanagihara (柳原 美里, Yanagihara Misato)

Voiced by: Hina Kino^{Ep. 2 credits} (Japanese); Mela Lee (English)

Misato is another classmate of Satoru's. She has a strong dislike for Kayo and she often likes to pick on her.

Akemi Hinazuki (雛月 明美, Hinazuki Akemi)

Voiced by: Akemi Okamura^{Ep. 3 credits} (Japanese); Carrie Keranen (English)

Played by Tamae Ando (film); Noriko Eguchi (drama)

Akemi is Kayo's abusive mother, whose abusive nature was exposed to the public.

Kumi (久美)

Voiced by: Reika Uyama^{Ep. 11 credits}

Played by Miyu Ando

Kumi is a nine-year-old patient who suffers from leukemia.

Media

Manga

The original manga, written by Kei Sanbe, was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine from the July 2012 issue (shipping date: June 4, 2012) through the April 2016 issue (shipping date: March 4, 2016). The first tankōbon volume was released in Japan on January 26, 2013, and the eighth volume was published on April 27, 2016. The series is licensed by Yen Press, who released the first volume in February 2017. The Yen Press hardcover editions combine two of the original volumes per book, while their ebook editions match the original volume numbering. The series is licensed in France by Ki-oon. Sanbe wrote a spin-off manga titled Erased: Re, which was serialized in Young Ace from June 4, 2016 to November 4, 2016. It was published as the ninth volume of the series in Japanese on February 4, 2017, and in English by Yen Press on September 18, 2018.

Volumes

Anime

An anime television adaptation produced by A-1 Pictures aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block from January 8 to March 25, 2016, and was simulcast on Crunchyroll, Daisuki, Funimation and AnimeLab. The series was directed by Tomohiko Itō and written by Taku Kishimoto, with character design by Keigo Sasaki. The opening theme is "Re:Re:" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, while the ending theme is "Sore wa Chiisana Hikari no Youna" (それは小さな光のような, "It's Like a Small Light") by Sayuri.

The series is licensed in North America by Aniplex of America, in Australia by Madman Entertainment, and in the United Kingdom by Anime Limited. Aniplex of America announced that the series would receive an English dub in May 2016. The series was simulcast in certain countries in Southeast Asia with English subtitles on Aniplus Asia and is available to stream on Iflix in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Brunei with English subtitles. The series also streamed on ITVX in the United Kingdom, with English dub only.

Episodes

Live-action adaptations

Film

A live-action film adaptation of Erased featuring Tatsuya Fujiwara as Satoru Fujinuma debuted in cinemas throughout Japan on March 19, 2016. The theme song is "Hear ~Shinjiaeta Akashi~" (Hear 〜信じあえた証〜, lit. Hear ~A proof that you could trust~) by Chise Kanna.

Drama series

In March 2017, Netflix announced a live-action adaptation of the manga series, co-created with Kansai TV. The Netflix Original series was released worldwide on December 15, 2017. Unlike the anime and live-action film, the live-action web drama covers the manga fully and does not deviate from the source material. The drama stars Yuki Furukawa as 29-year-old Satoru Fujinuma, Reo Uchikawa as Satoru as a child, and Mio Yūki as Airi.

Novel

A spin-off novel titled Boku Dake ga Inai Machi: Another Record, written by Hajime Ninomae, was serialized in Kadokawa's monthly digital novel magazine Bungei Kadokawa from November 2015 to March 2016. A volume collecting the chapters was released on March 30, 2016.

Reception

Volume 4 reached the twelfth place on the weekly Oricon manga chart, and, by June 15, 2014, has sold 73,983 copies.

The manga was ranked sixteenth in the 2014 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Top 20 Manga for Male Readers survey. It was nominated for the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Reader Award. It was also nominated at the 7th Manga Taishō, receiving 82 points and placing second among the ten nominees. It is nominated at the 8th Manga Taishō.

The staff at manga-news.com gave the French edition a grade of 17.33 out of 20. On Manga Sanctuary one of the staff members gave it an 8 out of 10.

See also

• A Distant Neighborhood, a 1990s Japanese manga about an adult re-living his teenage life

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Official anime website
• Official live-action film website (in Japanese)
• Erased (live-action series) on Netflix
• Erased (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Erased (anime series) at IMDb 
• Erased (live-action series) at IMDb