Boku dake ga Inai Machi:
*minor spoilers*
Story:
Are you fucking kidding me?
An unsaid rule among works of fiction with the "mystery" label is that the "mystery" should be oblique and hard to solve. All the clues should be interspersed throughout the series, subtly but surely leading up to an unexpected but satisfying conclusion.
On the contrary, Erased masterfully builds up a mysterious, bone-chilling and suspenseful atmosphere for 8 episodes, then trips and falls flat on its face with a pathetic reveal of who the culprit is. "What the fuck, that's it?" is all you'll be left thinking as the show's main character acts as if it's never even crossed his mind that this person, who is the most suspicious and obvious of them all, is the culprit. The show acts as if you're the weird one for even suspecting the guy, even when he is the most fucking suspicious person out of all of them.
Also, while the show is masterful at building suspense, it sometimes devolves into an unrealistic mess, requiring the audience to stretch their suspension of disbelief a bit too thin.
For instance, a lot of viewers will agree with me that the protagonist's behavior is extremely incredulous. You expect me to believe that a full grown adult can start acting exactly like a kid at the drop of a hat? On top of that, his act is so convincing that no one, not even his close friends, ever picks up on anything?
Also, why are none of the kids acting like kids? One of them is a cool-headed psychoanalyst who can pick up on subtle cues in the protagonist and immediately tell that something is wrong. Is this is how kids really were in the 90's? Or are all the millennial kids I know retards with iPads?
And also, why the fuck would the protagonist not do everything he can to change the past from the very get go? Has the gravity of the situation not sunken into him yet because the plot demands it? Does he need to fail at least once and has to redo before he realizes how fucked he is in his present timeline, before he decides to do things seriously? The protagonist's frustrating first failure completely stems from his inexplicable obliviousness to the gravity of his situation, and in retrospect it just felt like a cheap way to artificially pad out the show's run time.
These are only a few of the plot holes that drag this show down, but it'd be a pain to go into all of them so I'll stop here.
TLDR Erased is great as a thriller, but sucks dick as a mystery.
Art:
The color palette is drab and bleak, fitting in really well with the dark atmosphere of the show.
Sound:
While I'm a bit lukewarm on the OP, the ED is really great. It impeccably captures the pain and loneliness of the main character as he tries to watch over and save his friend.
Enjoyment:
Despite all its faults, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the majority of Erased. As a thriller, it's great, but as a mystery, it kinda sucks balls.
Overall:
7/10
*minor spoilers*
Story:
Are you fucking kidding me?
An unsaid rule among works of fiction with the "mystery" label is that the "mystery" should be oblique and hard to solve. All the clues should be interspersed throughout the series, subtly but surely leading up to an unexpected but satisfying conclusion.
On the contrary, Erased masterfully builds up a mysterious, bone-chilling and suspenseful atmosphere for 8 episodes, then trips and falls flat on its face with a pathetic reveal of who the culprit is. "What the fuck, that's it?" is all you'll be left thinking as the show's main character acts as if it's never even crossed his mind that this person, who is the most suspicious and obvious of them all, is the culprit. The show acts as if you're the weird one for even suspecting the guy, even when he is the most fucking suspicious person out of all of them.
Also, while the show is masterful at building suspense, it sometimes devolves into an unrealistic mess, requiring the audience to stretch their suspension of disbelief a bit too thin.
For instance, a lot of viewers will agree with me that the protagonist's behavior is extremely incredulous. You expect me to believe that a full grown adult can start acting exactly like a kid at the drop of a hat? On top of that, his act is so convincing that no one, not even his close friends, ever picks up on anything?
Also, why are none of the kids acting like kids? One of them is a cool-headed psychoanalyst who can pick up on subtle cues in the protagonist and immediately tell that something is wrong. Is this is how kids really were in the 90's? Or are all the millennial kids I know retards with iPads?
And also, why the fuck would the protagonist not do everything he can to change the past from the very get go? Has the gravity of the situation not sunken into him yet because the plot demands it? Does he need to fail at least once and has to redo before he realizes how fucked he is in his present timeline, before he decides to do things seriously? The protagonist's frustrating first failure completely stems from his inexplicable obliviousness to the gravity of his situation, and in retrospect it just felt like a cheap way to artificially pad out the show's run time.
These are only a few of the plot holes that drag this show down, but it'd be a pain to go into all of them so I'll stop here.
TLDR Erased is great as a thriller, but sucks dick as a mystery.
Art:
The color palette is drab and bleak, fitting in really well with the dark atmosphere of the show.
Sound:
While I'm a bit lukewarm on the OP, the ED is really great. It impeccably captures the pain and loneliness of the main character as he tries to watch over and save his friend.
Enjoyment:
Despite all its faults, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the majority of Erased. As a thriller, it's great, but as a mystery, it kinda sucks balls.
Overall:
7/10
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