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 consciousnessback 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.[4]
Characters
The four main characters of Erased (from left to right): Satoru Fujinuma (29 years old, background), Airi Katagiri, Kayo Hinazuki and Sachiko Fujinuma
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.
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 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 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 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.
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 is one of Satoru's primary school classmates.
Kazu (カズ)
Voiced by: Yukitoshi Kikuchi[5] (Japanese); Bobby Thong[6] (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".
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).[10][11] The first tankōbon volume was released in Japan on January 26, 2013,[12] and the eighth volume was published on April 27, 2016.[13] The series is licensed by Yen Press, who released the first volume in February 2017.[14] 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.[15] Sanbe wrote a spin-off manga titled Erased: Re, which was serialized in Young Ace from June 4, 2016 to November 4, 2016.[16] 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.[17]
The series is licensed in North America by Aniplex of America, in Australia by Madman Entertainment, and in the United Kingdom by Anime Limited.[34][35] Aniplex of America announced that the series would receive an English dub in May 2016.[36] 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.[37] The series also streams on ITVX in the United Kingdom, with English dub only.[38]
In the year 2006, Satoru Fujinuma is a 29-year-old struggling mangaka in Chiba who occasionally experiences a phenomenon he calls "Revival": When a fatal incident is about to occur near him, he is sent a few minutes back in time to prevent it via seeing a bright blue glowing butterfly.
He uses this involuntary ability to save a boy from a runaway truck, though he is hospitalized for a few days as a result. As he recovers, his co-worker, Airi Katagiri, praises him for his life-saving efforts. Later, he is visited by his mother, Sachiko, who reminds him of an incident that happened eighteen years ago in their hometown in Hokkaido: An adult named Jun Shiratori (nicknamed "Yuki"), whom Satoru had trusted, was arrested for the kidnapping and murder of three local children, two of which were Satoru's classmates.
The next day, as Satoru experiences another Revival, Sachiko takes note of a man who seemingly attempted to kidnap a child. Looking into the matter, Sachiko deduces that the man was the true killer from 18 years ago, but before she can inform anyone, she is murdered in Satoru's apartment. Just as Satoru discovers Sachiko's body and is accused of killing her, his Revival ability, for the first time, goes overboard by sending his 29-year-old consciousness all the way back to 1988 when he was an eleven-year-old elementary school student in Hokkaido.
2
"Palm of the Hand" Transliteration: "Tenohira" (Japanese: 掌)
As Satoru becomes bewildered with the situation he has been put in, he finds comfort in being able to see his mother again. Realizing being sent to this period by Revival is connected to Sachiko's future murder, Satoru takes notice of Kayo Hinazuki, one of his classmates who was killed by the serial kidnapper, noticing a bruise on her leg. Upon the suggestion of his friend Kenya Kobayashi, Satoru reads an essay written by Kayo, which further hints at her troubled life at home. Wanting to understand Kayo more, Satoru decides to invite her to his birthday party, hoping to change the future so that she will not be killed.
During an ice skating race against a classmate, Satoru holds back from winning to avoid inadvertently trying to change the future, angering the classmate and disappointing Kayo. After learning that Kayo's birthday is on the same day as his, March 2, Satoru deduces that she will be abducted on March 1, as the abduction was in March but before her birthday. Satoru spends some time with Yuki, still convinced that he is not the kidnapper. Afterward, Satoru finds Kayo beaten up in her home's shed, learning of the full nature of her abusive relationship with her mother, Akemi. The next day, Satoru speaks with his teacher, Gaku Yashiro, who explains how he has suspected Akemi of abuse for almost a year but hasn't been able to find proof to convict her. Later, Satoru stands up for Kayo when she is accused of stealing the class' lunch money, before taking her up a mountain to show her a frost-laden "Christmas" tree.
With help from Sachiko, Satoru manages to invite Kayo out with him to the local science center. During the outing, Satoru feels a sense of déjà vu, becoming worried that he's repeating the same things. After March 1, the day Kayo originally disappeared, passes without incident, both Satoru and Kayo are able to celebrate their birthday the next day, with Satoru confident he has managed to change history. The following day, however, Satoru is shocked to find Kayo has not come to school.
As Satoru becomes angry that he was not able to make a difference about Kayo's disappearance, another schoolgirl goes missing several days later. After witnessing Akemi throw out Kayo's belongings, Satoru suddenly finds himself back in 2006, still under suspicion of Sachiko's murder and forced to go on the run from the police. Satoru soon comes across Airi, who believes him to be innocent and lets him stay at her house, where he learns the details of Kayo's disappearance did change slightly because of his actions.
The next day, as Satoru investigates as much as he can, Airi stops her manager from reporting Satoru to the police. Later that night, after helping Satoru hide elsewhere, Airi receives a text from Sachiko's phone before becoming trapped in a house fire.
Coming across the burning house, Satoru rushes in to rescue Airi, who slips her phone into his pocket before the manager takes over the rescue. Finding the message left on Airi's phone, Satoru calls a number that Sachiko had left behind, arranging a meeting with a journalist acquaintance of hers named Sawada. Sawada tells Satoru about the last phone call he received from Sachiko, in which she claimed to know who the true kidnapper was but was unable to tell him before she was killed. He also explains the reported details surrounding Kayo's death, noticing Yuuki's framing matches with another kidnapping incident in a nearby town and deducing the true kidnapper was the one who killed Sachiko.
While Satoru looks up Sawada's findings on the kidnapping incident, including a list of previous suspects, Sawada goes to the hospital to meet with Airi, only to discover that her mother has swapped places with her so she can prove Satoru's innocence. Airi meets with Satoru, informing him of a mysterious man named Nishizono who may have been responsible for the fire, but the police arrive and arrest Satoru. As he is taken away, Satoru spots the man he saw leaving his apartment on the night of his own mother's murder.
7
"Out of Control" Transliteration: "Bōsō" (Japanese: 暴走)
Determined not to let things end the way it is, Satoru successfully triggers his Revival through sheer willpower, returning him to February 28, 1988. During school the next day, Kenya confronts Satoru about Kayo's situation at home, admitting that he has known for a while now about the domestic violence, and offers his assistance. Following the birthday party on March 2, Satoru throws a rock through Yuuki's window to bring about the police, providing Yuuki with an alibi for his whereabouts. Afterward, Satoru seeks out Akemi and comes close to pushing her down some stairs, but is stopped by Kenya, who convinces him to choose a different course of action. Instead, Satoru decides to "abduct" Kayo with her permission, taking her to an abandoned bus to hide out for a few days until she is confirmed to be safe. On the night of March 3, however, an unknown intruder enters the bus while Kayo is sleeping.
Kayo manages to hide from the intruder who exits the bus, leaving behind a footprint on a box he kicked. The next evening, as Yashiro goes with some people from the Child Consultation Center to investigate Kayo's house, Kayo tells Satoru and the others about the previous night's intruder. Looking into a rucksack that was left behind, they find tools that Satoru recognizes as the ones used to implicate Yuuki for Kayo's murder, as well as a briquette presumed to belong to the killer.
Realizing he is still stuck in the loop of abduction murders, Satoru takes Kayo to spend the night at his house, where Sachiko had been expecting them. The next day, Kayo has her first home-cooked breakfast in her life, leading her to start crying. Satoru and Sachiko later accompany Kayo back to her house to confront Akemi.
As Akemi reacts violently to the accusations of Satoru and Sachiko, she is caught red-handed by Yashiro and the consultants, who suggest that Kayo be taken into custody. Just as Akemi prepares to storm off to the police, she is approached by her estranged mother, who regrets not being able to support her after having her divorce her abusive husband and raise Kayo on her own, leading Akemi to lament her own actions.
With Kayo going off to live with her maternal grandmother, Satoru turns his attention towards the other two potential victims; Hiromi Sugita, his classmate, and Aya Nakanishi, a student from the neighboring school. While keeping a watch on both Hiromi and Aya, Satoru discovers a stash of candy in Yashiro's car when being given a ride home by him. Later, Satoru goes with Kenya and Hiromi to inspect the bus, the contents of which have now been removed.
Satoru and his friends approach Aya, and despite some initial resistance, she starts joining them at their hideout. Later, Satoru shadows Misato Yanagihara, who has kept to herself since being accused of framing Kayo. She seemingly disappears after going to the bathroom. Satoru then notices a truck belonging to Yuuki's family leaving the scene and he asks Yashiro to follow it in his car. Along the way, Yashiro reveals himself to be the killer and that he realized that Satoru was the one thwarting his plans. He explains that he used Misato as bait to lure Satoru into the stolen car, which he then rolls into a frozen lake with Satoru trapped inside.
Following Yashiro's attempt to kill him, Satoru wakes up in the year 2003 after spending fifteen years in a coma. His body continued to grow and his mother cared for him daily. However, he has lost his memories of past events. Satoru is visited by Kenya and Hiromi, as well as Kayo, who has become Hiromi's wife and mother to their infant son who is given the feminine name Mirai ("future"). Some of Satoru's memories begin to return due to his friends' visits. Later, he meets a leukemia patient named Kumi, who is about to undergo surgery, as well as Yashiro himself, who changed his name to Nishizono and became a politician. Two days before Kumi's surgery, Yashiro takes Satoru to the hospital's rooftop, where he confirms Yashiro's suspicions that he has regained his memories.
A flashback shows that Satoru's memories returned after the visit from Kayo, and he told Kenya and Hiromi that Yashiro was the killer. Back on the rooftop, Yashiro boasts that his past crimes have already passed the statute of limitations and he cannot be arrested. He reveals he has arranged to kill Kumi with a sabotaged IV drip and to frame Satoru for her murder. Yashiro threatens to throw Satoru from the roof and make it look like a suicide. However, Satoru calls Yashiro's bluff, stating that Yashiro can't live without him. This seems true when Yashiro initially stops Satoru from rolling his wheelchair off the roof. However, Yashiro lets Satoru drop and prepares to commit suicide himself. He then discovers that Satoru has been safely caught by his friends, and Yashiro is finally arrested for attempted murder. Seven years later, in 2010, Satoru has become a successful manga artist. One day, Satoru surprisingly encounters Airi under the same bridge where they used to sit earlier, and where he had disappeared during his last Revival trip into the past, which has now reactivated itself.
A live-action film adaptation of Erased featuring Tatsuya Fujiwara as Satoru Fujinuma debuted in cinemas throughout Japan on March 19, 2016.[52] 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.[53][54]
Drama series
In March 2017, Netflix announced a live-action adaptation of the manga series, co-created with Kansai TV.[55] 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.[52] The drama stars Yuki Furukawa as 29-year-old Satoru Fujinuma, Reo Uchikawa as Satoru as a child, and Mio Yūki as Airi.[7]
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.[56] A volume collecting the chapters was released on March 30, 2016.[57]
Reception
Volume 4 reached the twelfth place on the weekly Oricon manga chart,[58] and, by June 15, 2014, has sold 73,983 copies.[59]
The manga was ranked sixteenth in the 2014 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Top 20 Manga for Male Readers survey.[60] It was nominated for the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Reader Award.[61] It was also nominated at the 7th Manga Taishō, receiving 82 points and placing second among the ten nominees.[62] It is nominated at the 8th Manga Taishō.[63]
The staff at manga-news.com gave the French edition a grade of 17.33 out of 20.[15] On Manga Sanctuary one of the staff members gave it an 8 out of 10.[64]
See also
A Distant Neighborhood, a 1990s Japanese manga about an adult re-living his teenage life
^第一話 「走馬灯」 [Episode 1: "Flashing Before My Eyes"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第二話 「掌」 [Episode 2: "Palm of the Hand"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第三話 「痣」 [Episode 3: "Birthmark"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第四話 「達成」 [Episode 4: "Accomplishment"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第五話「逃走」 [Episode 5: "Getaway"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第六話「死神」 [Episode 6: "Grim Reaper"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第七話「暴走」 [Episode 7: "Out of Control"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 15, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第八話「螺旋」 [Episode 8: "Spiral"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第九話「終幕」 [Episode 9: "Closure"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 15, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第十話「歓喜」 [Episode 10: "Joy"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 15, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第十一話「未来」 [Episode 11: "Future"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^第十二話「宝物」 [Episode 12: "Treasure"]. Bokumachi-anime.com/ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
