(L+CR) Boku Dake ga Inai Machi - ERASED [Manga comparisons forbidden]

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by DemonneoPT

No, he had his adult mind trapped in a kid's body. Never saw any indication otherwise.

Except when he started blurting out stuff he was thinking without realizing it, and blushing and getting embarrassed when Kayo touched him/was close to him, and having to repeatedly tell himself he was actually 28 years old...

The show imho clearly played the angle of him being somewhat "regressing" to a childish mental state, at least partially. Either way I don't think it meant to show he was madly in love with Kayo; more like his child side had some sort of infatuation/crush on her, while his adult one was more focused on saving her (remember there's a chance he was infatuated of Kayo already the FIRST time around, when he was actually a child; it may be that his body somehow retained the instinctual memory of that feeling even when the conscience switched). Doesn't mean it was being some creepy lolicon thing... it was pretty innocent and ended up in nothing. But you can't really say it was not there at all.

[ReddyRedWolf]

Boy you guys deny it all you like but Satoru did like Kayo.

Mom: Am I getting in the way?
Satoru: Yes.

While Satoru did leap his mind and memories to his younger self it did not mean his younger self's psyche disappeared. Merely it was put in the back seat.

When Satoru awoke it wasn't the one from the future that did but the young one. Future Satoru was at the back of the mind hence the drawing skill.

His time traveling merely made Satoru having a sort of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Also we have to remember while data came from the future the hardware Satoru was working with an underdeveloped brain.

[Harbinger]

I just rewatched every episode and paid double attention to what I could have missed.

I'm not sure how one can argue that there is absolutely no hint that either Kayo or our MC had interest for each other.

It's also "clear" (to me anyway) that when he's in a kid's body, he's changed into a something closer to a child than a 29 years old adult.

Even when he wakes up from the coma, he's confused and "thinks" with his kid's mind. When he was in the past, he was also thinking like a child --- but with adult memories.

All of those things are crystal clear to me.

Edit:

It's okay if you don't personally ship them, but there was a bunch of hints that have shown interest from both parties. It doesn't mean that they have to end up together --- far from it. 15 years is a long time.

[Maremi-san]

Just how can people deny that Satoru was not attracted to Kayo?
He liked her obviously, anyone else also notice the subtle hint that he became a mangaka due to kayo's suggestion?

[karice67]

Originally Posted by aohige

Didn't see this discussed, but one thing the anime added that was really cool, but wasn't able to discuss until this episode when the "spider string" was finally mentioned...

If you go back to the first episode, you can actually see the spider's string attached to Sachiko's head.
Same with Airi when Nishinozo took a note of her as she was leaving her job. The string is visibly attached to her head.

I thought that was a really awesome foreshadowing that's only meaningful for those who either read the original material, or anime only viewers who went back to re-watch the whole series again after watching this 11th episode.

Thanks for pointing that out--very nice little easter egg.

I also liked how there was a spiderweb in the corner of the lift in this episode... though in comparison, that one's a bit blatant

[kgrodriguez]

Has it ever been explained in the anime how Satoru was rescued from the sinking car?

[Kenu]

Originally Posted by ellifeedn

In another forum, I found clips that show this. (If they aren't allowed, let me know and I'll remove them)

Spoiler:

https://a.pomf.cat/kiawca.webm
https://a.pomf.cat/bcmbri.webm

Wow so subtle...

[Myssa Rei]

Originally Posted by kgrodriguez

Has it ever been explained in the anime how Satoru was rescued from the sinking car?

No, please go to the manga thread about THAT one.

[Boukenxha]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

We have seen Kenya with Sawada discussing about how they have waited for Satoru's awakening for 15 years, and how "there's no need to be impatient".

We know from the normal timeline that Sawada has spent his life trying to catch the serial abductor\killer of several young girls throughout Japan. That shouldn't have changed, with the only exception of Kenya who is working with him now.

I think it's clear that they believe Satoru has witnessed the man they are looking for with his own eyes at the time he was almost killed. And since the killer has quite an evident preference for girls, they probably concluded that the only reason he was almost killed is because he actively interfered with his plans.

When you consider all that I think it's safe to assume that Kenya believes Satoru was right when he thought that Kayo, Aya and Hiromi were possible targets. At least one of them must have been, from his perspective.

Whether Hiromi is truly aware of this is however another matter. It depends on how much Kenya decided to tell him, but even without that, Hiromi is certainly very grateful to Satoru for all he did for the sake of his wife.

As for Aya Nakanishi, she probably knows nothing.

I think your analysis is pretty spot on. On Kenya, I would really like the show to afford a couple of minutes in the final episode to fill us in with the motivations that drive him through those years.

As it is now, I think there's quite a bit of holes that are preventing the pieces to come together nicely. One of which missing is that question kgrodriguez asked a few posts back which I thought would be crucial to how we can begin to study this incident's aftermath. So what's the story on Satoru's rescue? Actually upon some research about near drowning incidents and the consequences, I think I can make a decent guess about what has to happen before the alternate fate of Satoru's death becomes true. What needs to be figured in also, the calculative Yashiro seem to be ever making up something to cover his tracks.

Btw, with regards to Satoru and Kayo, could we have been trolled? The director should have just made Kayo single and available. 26 years old (29 in mind) Satoru and 26 years old Kayo, is anybody gonna complain about that?

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Boukenxha

Btw, with regards to Satoru and Kayo, could we have been trolled? The director should have just made Kayo single and available. 26 years old (29 in mind) Satoru and 26 years old Kayo, is anybody gonna complain about that?

My guess is that the author wanted to avoid showing a new timeline that was drastically different from the original.

Kayo and Hiromi didn't exist in the normal timeline, so getting married with each other was quite a convenient development. That basically means that their existence didn't disrupt any pre-existent romance.

For example Hiromi could have met and married a woman that originally had met and married a different man, and that could have led to one or more children not existing anymore.

Now Satoru was single at the time of his jump, so no romance would have been disrupted if Kayo was available in the new timeline. But who knows? Maybe Satoru is "destined" to be with someone else.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

Now Satoru was single at the time of his jump, so no romance would have been disrupted if Kayo was available in the new timeline. But who knows? Maybe Satoru is "destined" to be with someone else.

Wouldn't be surprised. We already have someone who's been suggested through various interactions, and he's never interacted with her as a little child, only as a woman old enough to marry. Don't think we'll see any sort of confirmation, but I expect to see some implication of some manner of future connection or interaction between them, something to indicate that their paths will intertwine.

[Boukenxha]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

My guess is that the author wanted to avoid showing a new timeline that was drastically different from the original.

Kayo and Hiromi didn't exist in the normal timeline, so getting married with each other was quite a convenient development. That basically means that their existence didn't disrupt any pre-existent romance.

For example Hiromi could have met and married a woman that originally had met and married a different man, and that could have led to one or more children not existing anymore.

Now Satoru was single at the time of his jump, so no romance would have been disrupted if Kayo was available in the new timeline. But who knows? Maybe Satoru is "destined" to be with someone else.

Maybe you are right and with the getting together of those two to create new future/mirai, it is hard to argue against an event as symbolic as this. But I wouldn't say Kayo and Hiromi did not exist in that timeline, they did and their lifes were unfortunately cut short, with the by effect of the child that would naturally not exist in any of the previous timelines until those two got together.

Satoru himself was on the way to be locked up on death row for murder and possible charges of arson, he was arguably in the same category with Kayo and Hiromi as he wasn't going to have much of a future, much less to say end up with any girl at all. Unless the police successfully nabs Nishizono/Yashiro with evidence that he commited those crimes, not Satoru.

Fortunately, that is all wiped off now with the latest timeline change and fortunately it will not take away much from Airi, who is undoubtably the only other known girl that could be in the conversation of "destined" given what we know they gone through together in the alternate timelines. As with BWTraveller, hope for them to show some indication that their path will interwine again.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Boukenxha

Satoru himself was on the way to be locked up on death row for murder and possible charges of arson, he was arguably in the same category with Kayo and Hiromi as he wasn't going to have much of a future, much less to say end up with any girl at all. Unless the police successfully nabs Nishizono/Yashiro with evidence that he commited those crimes, not Satoru.

If we consider as the "natural timeline" a hypothetical timeline that isn't affected by Satoru's supernatural power known as "revival", then in that timeline:

- Kayo, Hiromi and Aya die as children in 1988, because nothing can stop Yashiro Gaku

- Satoru doesn't get involved into an accident in 2006, because lacking the power of revival he simply goes to deliver the pizzas without noticing the dead truck driver.

- Sachiko doesn't go to Tokyo in 2006, because she no longer has the excuse of visiting her hospitalized son.

- Yashiro isn't spotted by Sachiko during one of his abductions in 2006, because Sachiko simply isn't there at that moment. Even if she was there, she wouldn't notice Yashiro, because lacking the power of Revival, Satoru wouldn't tell her to look around for something strange.

- Sachiko doesn't get killed by Yashiro, because he has no reason to do so.

- Satoru doesn't get framed for the murder of his mother, because his mother isn't murdered to begin with.


So to sum it up if the premise is that a normal timeline is a timeline unaffected by Satoru's supernatural power, then there is no reason to think that in that normal timeline Satoru wouldn't have a future.
Revival is a power that allows Satoru to save people, but for any evil that he prevents to happen to others, something bad happens to him.

This is why the city that was supposed to be "the city where Kayo, Hiromi and Aya do not exist", became "the city where only Satoru doesn't exist".

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

If we consider as the "natural timeline" a hypothetical timeline that isn't affected by Satoru's supernatural power known as "revival", then in that timeline:

- Kayo, Hiromi and Aya die as children in 1988, because nothing can stop Yashiro Gaku

- Satoru doesn't get involved into an accident in 2006, because lacking the power of revival he simply goes to deliver the pizzas without noticing the dead truck driver.

- Sachiko doesn't go to Tokyo in 2006, because she no longer has the excuse of visiting her hospitalized son.

- Yashiro isn't spotted by Sachiko during one of his abductions in 2006, because Sachiko simply isn't there at that moment. Even if she was there, she wouldn't notice Yashiro, because lacking the power of Revival, Satoru wouldn't tell her to look around for something strange.

- Sachiko doesn't get killed by Yashiro, because he has no reason to do so.

- Satoru doesn't get framed for the murder of his mother, because his mother isn't murdered to begin with.


So to sum it up if the premise is that a normal timeline is a timeline unaffected by Satoru's supernatural power, then there is no reason to think that in that normal timeline Satoru wouldn't have a future.
Revival is a power that allows Satoru to save people, but for any evil that he prevents to happen to others, something bad happens to him.

This is why the city that was supposed to be "the city where Kayo, Hiromi and Aya do not exist", became "the city where only Satoru doesn't exist".

Very well put on all counts there. One thing though: Satoru didn't say that for every evil he prevents something bad happens to him instead. He said that whenever he stops something bad from happening the outcome is at best neutral, as in there's always something "negative" to balance the "positive" of his change. It's just that sometimes instead of it being a general negative there winds up being a large negative for himself. As I understood it, he gets these occasional major personal hits but someone always suffers. Additionally, it was Airi who made him realize that this is more his way of thinking than truth: he overthinks things and winds up creating negatives without letting things play out and having faith in himself, and winds up turning every good deed into a meaningless effort in futility, so that in his mind his every attempt to set things straight just makes things worse or at least just as bad. It's sort of interesting the way the two girls changed his life: Kayo was the girl he finally managed to save, while Airi was the one who finally convinced him that he really could find a way out. I'm not saying the coma was a positive, but I think it was the first time he truly was happy to take whatever consequences came, and view even something like this as a part of his victory in creating the precious town where only he was missing.

[Jan-Poo]

Right, things do tend to go bad for him when he tries to save people, but it isn't an inevitability apparently. Perhaps things would go better if Satoru wasn't so uncaring of his own safety when he is focused on saving others.

After all, if you think about it, one could totally foresee that the killer would get pissed at Satoru after getting in his way three times, and yet Satoru didn't think it was a problem for him to run around alone. His friends even asked him to accompany him at the hokey's match, and yet he turned down their offer.

[SeijiSensei]

Satoru's seeming indifference to any threats to his own life is probably just a consequence of having a 29-year-old mind in a ten-year-old body. I thought he seemed to behave with reckless abandon for a child confronting a dangerous situation, but his adult self would have been less fearful. And, of course, one underlying theme of the series is the importance of "yuuki."

On the other hand, Satoru was rather trusting of Yashiro from the start, so even his adult self was not as clear-eyed as we might expect. His ten-year-old self was not suppressed after Revival, so his actions often represented a complex mix of child and adult thoughts and feelings.

[Arya]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

After all, if you think about it, one could totally foresee that the killer would get pissed at Satoru after getting in his way three times, and yet Satoru didn't think it was a problem for him to run around alone. His friends even asked him to accompany him at the hokey's match, and yet he turned down their offer.

Well, to me it was more that he just didn't think about it. He didn't take into account of the possibility that he could have became a victim.

About a positive or negative aftermath from his actions at least in this case, the result should be judged on the long run. As I was saying Statoru was really hit by the killings during his childhood even due to the fact that his same mother didn't believe him, and also later tried her best to make him forgot, rightly or not (IIRC).

Now instead, if Satoru will survive this timeline, he will have token back his relation with his mother and filled the hole he had in her heart having also the awareness that Kayo is alive thanks to him. So it opened up to him to a very different future than the "natural timeline" you so well pointed out.
Potentially he took back the future he should have had (even with "some" delay) if the crimes never happened.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

Right, things do tend to go bad for him when he tries to save people, but it isn't an inevitability apparently. Perhaps things would go better if Satoru wasn't so uncaring of his own safety when he is focused on saving others.

After all, if you think about it, one could totally foresee that the killer would get pissed at Satoru after getting in his way three times, and yet Satoru didn't think it was a problem for him to run around alone. His friends even asked him to accompany him at the hokey's match, and yet he turned down their offer.

I think he didn't think the murderer was close enough to see him as an obstacle. He didn't call social services. He "coincidentally" started spending more time with Hiromi (heck, he didn't even do that by himself) because why not? Weren't they friends before anyway? He "coincidentally" befriended the third victim (and there, too, he didn't take the most prominent role). If the murderer hadn't been Yashiro, it would have looked like bad luck more than someone being on to him.

[aohige]

Just sharing this:

Above is from episode 8, below is my shot of Hakodate from Mt Hakodate during the night.
Coincidentally I actually took this photo on 3/11, around Satoru's birthday.

Whatever photo the studio used was probably from the same season last year, as it's practically identical.

[SeijiSensei]

Noein is full of shots of Hakodate, and the tram to the top of the mountain appears repeatedly throughout the series. I immediately thought of that show when the scene you cite appeared in ERASED.

Images

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