Erased

Satoru Fujinuma has an uncontrollable power that allows him to go back in time, typically just a few minutes before a life-threatening event. This time, however, his power sends him back 18 years and he begins to unravel the mystery around his childhood friend's murders and change their future. 

At the start of the pilot, Satoru is a 29-year-old "aspiring" manga artist who can't seem to put himself into his work. Much, if not all, is due to the trauma from his childhood. Two of his classmates were abducted and killed, and his older friend is charged with the crime and sentenced to death. Satoru was able to repress and move on from this - until he finds out that the case was never solved and that the killer is still out there...targeting him.

This is such an easy show to binge on. Japan knows how to properly cliff hang -- Spanish dramas please take note. Seriously almost every episode will leave you at the edge of your seat and your finger ready to press "next episode". Although one of my only issues was that somewhere towards the end, it gets a little predictable, but it doesn't matter because it still manages to leave you in suspense. It's very successful with creating an air of danger throughout the entire show.

Another thing that I like about this show is that it tackles mature themes and uses that to get you more involved, I guess. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but this show does cover abuse, pornography, and predation. It's kinda like SVU meets the Girl Who Leapt Through Time (another anime, if you weren't already familiar) with maybe 2x the suspense in my opinion. 

Despite being only 12 episodes long (22 min each), Erased is able to create fleshy characters who are easy to get attached to. I think that may be a really important key to telling mysteries like this. You have to actually care about the characters...duh. So, if you do take the chance and watch this, believe me, you'll end up believing you grew up with them too.

RATING

Originality: 4/5
Attention Lock-ability: 5/5
Soundtrack: 5/5
Ep. 2 Worthy?: YOU'D BE CRAZY NOT TO WATCH THE NEXT EPISODE