Erased (manga)

Lore & Background

The story centers on Satoru Fujinuma, a 29-year-old manga artist and part-time pizza delivery man living in Chiba. His involuntary ability, 'Revival,' triggers when a life-threatening incident is about to occur, sending his consciousness back in time to allow him to prevent it. After his mother Sachiko is murdered in his home, Satoru is sent back eighteen years to his childhood, where he must identify and stop a serial killer who abducted and killed several of his classmates, including Kayo Hinazuki and Hiromi Sugita.

Key characters include Kayo Hinazuki, a primary school classmate and original victim; Airi Katagiri, a high school co-worker who becomes involved after witnessing Satoru's oddities; and Gaku Yashiro, Satoru's homeroom teacher and the serial killer. The series explores Satoru's efforts to alter the past while navigating his relationships with his mother, friends, and the mysterious killer.

The manga was adapted into an anime television series by A-1 Pictures, which aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina block from January to March 2016. A live-action film was released in March 2016, and a Netflix live-action drama series was released worldwide in December 2017. A spin-off manga, Erased: Re, was serialized from June to November 2016, and a spin-off novel series, Boku Dake ga Inai Machi: Another Record, was serialized from November 2015 to March 2016.

Reader's Guide

Erased is significant as a mystery-thriller manga that combines time travel with a serial killer narrative, gaining popularity for its emotional depth and suspenseful plot. The series was serialized in Young Ace from 2012 to 2016 and received multiple adaptations, including an anime by A-1 Pictures and a live-action film and Netflix drama series. Its English release by Yen Press helped expand its international audience. The manga's fourth volume reached twelfth place on the Oricon manga chart and sold nearly 74,000 copies by June 2014. The series was ranked sixteenth in the 2014 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Top 20 Manga list. The Netflix drama was noted for covering the manga fully without deviating from the source material. Erased remains a notable example of the time-loop genre in manga, with its focus on preventing childhood tragedies and its exploration of memory and consequence.

Did You Know?

• The anime adaptation aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block from January to March 2016.
• A live-action drama series was released worldwide by Netflix in December 2017.