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

[RDNexus]

Given how easily they're hinting us on who the killer may be, I guess the main objective of this story is not who's the killer but how will Satoru stop him in his tracks and save the "potential victims".

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Just put it under spoiler tags. I want to know too. As long as the anime has shown it, anything is fair.

Spoiler for OP discussion:

Personally, what I found really intriguing in the OP is Airi with a bandage in her arm. What's more worrisome is that she's shown with the killer's two victims (Kayo and the mom) even after the background switches from Satoru to the killer. I guess that means Satoru will return to the present at some point (or be forced to relive 18 years of life after failing with Kayo? That'd be harsh) and she'll be targeted by the killer.

After closer inspection of the OP, I think it did give away who the killer is.

Spoiler for Possible spoilers:

For starters, the OP shows the killer's face for a split second. That gives us a good idea what he looks like and how old he is (I'd say forties). He should already be an adult in 1988, so that rules out Kenya.

Secondly, the OP shows only four adult males (I'm not counting Satoru, obviously): Yuuki, who we know for sure is not the killer so he's out, Satoru's co-workers, and the teacher. That's a very short list of suspects. Out of those, there's only one person we know that:

- was in the town at the time of the case
- knew Satoru's mom
- was aware of Kayo's situation (if Satoru and Kenya could figure it out this easily, there's no way he didn't) and apparently did nothing about it
- is trusted by kids

Unless they deliberately didn't put the killer in the OP to throw us off, I'm pretty confident it's him.

The age pretty much inclines it is the teacher. Especially given that he also wore a suit.
However the point where we are at cannot yet be described as eaarly part of the story so we can't say for sure yet. There is still a lot of time for character introduction and OP changes

My guess is that he will save Kayo and his mother then Airi will die and he has to re-do everything again until the entire mystery is solved and everyone saved.

Originally Posted by xrick

Given how easily they're hinting us on who the killer may be, I guess the main objective of this story is not who's the killer but how will Satoru stop him in his tracks and save the "potential victims".

I think it is still supposed to be a mystery, so there will probably be something to think aout

[GDB]

Originally Posted by xrick

"potential victims"

Wonder if he even remembers who the other victim was.

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

My guess is that he will save Kayo and his mother then Airi will die and he has to re-do everything again until the entire mystery is solved and everyone saved.

Please no. I already watched that show.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by GDB

Wonder if he even remembers who the other victim was.



Please no. I already watched that show.

- Except you didn't watch one of them

As for the other victim: If I had to guess it is probably one of his friends, since his mother wanted to make him forget about it.
That would also explain why 'Yuuki' got suspected.


Edit: meh half the text got lost, right before the first paragraph it should say 'You watched it twice: Steins;Gate and Umineko'

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by xrick

Given how easily they're hinting us on who the killer may be, I guess the main objective of this story is not who's the killer but how will Satoru stop him in his tracks and save the "potential victims".

It's hard to tell with only two episodes, but I feel the story is supposed to be character driven. Satoru wasn't in a very good place in the present and it was clear he needed to change. I was actually surprised when this episode revealed he had always been "fake" even as a kid. I thought it was the incident that broke him.

[Wandering Soul]

Originally Posted by Pen3

Anime spoilers you assume or one from a manga reader up to ch42?
.

Spoilers from a manga reader. Don't worry though, I know how to keep my mouth shut and not give out any hints

[Iron Maw]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Just put it under spoiler tags. I want to know too. As long as the anime has shown it, anything is fair.

Spoiler for OP discussion:

Personally, what I found really intriguing in the OP is Airi with a bandage in her arm. What's more worrisome is that she's shown with the killer's two victims (Kayo and the mom) even after the background switches from Satoru to the killer. I guess that means Satoru will return to the present at some point (or be forced to relive 18 years of life after failing with Kayo? That'd be harsh) and she'll be targeted by the killer.

Spoiler for speculation:

The scenes near the end of the OP seems to imply Satoru might actually die. At least I don't think bullet and him looking he's about get shot is just there for sake of it.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

As for the episode itself, man, as a childhood friend shipper, I SHOULD be ecstatic about MC/Kayo. But the MC keeps harping on and on about how he should save his mom, and that him saving Kayo is somewhat connected to saving his mom, and that his biggest regret is not coming home with her, that it's hard to even think that he likes her romantically even a bit. It doesn't help that the other kids keep teasing about him liking Kayo, which makes it even more apparent that he is not doing all these for romantic reasons.

I dunno, there just isn't any 'moe' at all right now. Which I guess is the point, but it's hard to ship Kayo with him as of now due to Satoru's mild Oedipus Complex.

First off, I'm not picking the slightest bit of Oedipus in him. If you'd been feeling unhappy with the distance between you and a parent, saw that parent killed, and then had a chance to go back, wouldn't your mom be really far at the forefront in your mind? I only saw a guy wanting to take advantage of his chance to improve his relationship with his mother so it wouldn't be so cold, as well as catch the killer before he could get to his mom. This isn't crushing on his mother, it's just loving her and wanting to protect her from a very real danger as any proper son should.

As for Kayo, I'd say there's going to be a strong puppy love thing going, but I don't know if they'd actually get together in the future. It'd be cool, but it'd probably only work if he gets to live all the way back to his "present" without any jumps or issues. Not to mention that I think I'll mainly ship on a girl who literally doesn't exist yet. Kind of unusual, since I too am very big on the idea of childhood friend romance, especially where there's hints at the affections beginning back in grade school.

I'm still wondering if they'll give more details about the crimes. I don't know what was meant by "spoilers" in the opening, but I did notice it shows Kayo's body for a second, and the fact that she appears to be wearing just a slip does suggest the obvious. At least it looked like a slip, and I doubt she'd use something like that as anything but underclothes considering that it doesn't cover her thighs. I was hoping this wasn't the case, partly because I don't want to think of the characters going through that too, and partly because almost every serial child murder I've seen in fiction lately is like that. I imagine a significant portion of actual serial child murder cases involve this as well, but still.

[j4c06]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I was actually surprised when this episode revealed he had always been "fake" even as a kid. I thought it was the incident that broke him.

Of course, he is also "fake" in the sense that he is not quite who he is supposed to be, thanks to his post-incident knowledge. For a moment I thought the girl sensed that, and even that she might be having a "revival", too.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by j4c06

Of course, he is also "fake" in the sense that he is not quite who he is supposed to be, thanks to his post-incident knowledge. For a moment I thought the girl sensed that, and even that she might be having a "revival", too.

Well it's not just that. He specifically said that even when he was a real kid he tended to put on a mask that he thought others would want to see in order to try and be friends with others. So it's not just his true age and knowledge through Revival, she's noticed in general that he is and has been a fake. And he also has always been awkward, considering that the girl next to him immediately guesses that he might have a thing for Kayo on account of the fact that they're both "weird".

[Kaoru Chujo]

He thinks he has gone back to save his Mom. But I think saving Kayo will become important to him, too. And quite possibly Kayo's disappearance and his mother's death are linked, perhaps by some connexion the mother had to the culprit. He certainly seemed to have come to the apartment specifically to kill her.

[jvcscasio]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Just put it under spoiler tags. I want to know too. As long as the anime has shown it, anything is fair.


After closer inspection of the OP, I think it did give away who the killer is.

Spoiler for Possible spoilers:

For starters, the OP shows the killer's face for a split second. That gives us a good idea what he looks like and how old he is (I'd say forties). He should already be an adult in 1988, so that rules out Kenya.

Secondly, the OP shows only four adult males (I'm not counting Satoru, obviously): Yuuki, who we know for sure is not the killer so he's out, Satoru's co-workers, and the teacher. That's a very short list of suspects. Out of those, there's only one person we know that:

- was in the town at the time of the case
- knew Satoru's mom
- was aware of Kayo's situation (if Satoru and Kenya could figure it out this easily, there's no way he didn't) and apparently did nothing about it
- is trusted by kids

Unless they deliberately didn't put the killer in the OP to throw us off, I'm pretty confident it's him.

I think (and hope) they are throwing us off the scent...

[ghost013]

Watched the first episode, very interesting premise. The characters have very distinct voices and animation was pretty solid. Sad to see the mom's fate, but I'm intrigued by the mystery.

[Irenesharda]

Originally Posted by Kanon

It's hard to tell with only two episodes, but I feel the story is supposed to be character driven. Satoru wasn't in a very good place in the present and it was clear he needed to change. I was actually surprised when this episode revealed he had always been "fake" even as a kid. I thought it was the incident that broke him.

Well, think closely as to what type of person he is in present day. He's a loner, he doesn't even talk to or see his mom much. In one scene he even talks about the fact that if he died, it wouldn't matter. In a review I did for the premiere, I brought up the fact that at that point he reminded me of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, and that he didn't realize how much influence he really had on others.

All the friends he used to have, he no longer does. In fact, he as none now. It's like he closed himself off at some point. I think he used that fake persona as a child in order to get friends, but once the murders happened he didn't think it was worth it and dropped it and secluded himself. Remember that it was Yuuki who told him to do this, I think his being arrested and everything that followed really changed Satoru.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

He thinks he has gone back to save his Mom. But I think saving Kayo will become important to him, too. And quite possibly Kayo's disappearance and his mother's death are linked, perhaps by some connexion the mother had to the culprit. He certainly seemed to have come to the apartment specifically to kill her.

It was made pretty clear that his mother's killer was the kidnapper and murderer from his childhood. She saw him, he recognized her and dropped his abduction attempt, and later she went through the files concerning the kidnapping incident and realized that the man she saw was the kidnapper/murderer. Then, as she lies dying, she remarks "I knew it" as she looks at her killer's face, then tries to call Satoru because she now knows that he was right all along about Yuuki not being the killer. I can't think of any way that series of events would string together coherently unless the guy that kidnapped and killed the kids was also the one who killed her. So yes, I'd say it's highly likely that Kayo's death is linked to Satoru's mother's death and her knowing the murderer, and considering that he's shown stalking them before he goes after her, I'd say it's pretty fair to assume that he did indeed go to the apartment specifically to kill her. Whether he was planning to frame Satoru to get rid of his risk as well or that was just dumb luck I don't know.

[Yamada II]

Episode 2
That amazing OP. Still doesn’t beat Dimension W's though, but nevertheless it's amazing.

Quite a lot of interesting stuff here. Satoru first tries to figure out why the hell did he go into 1988 from 2006. He then concludes that he has to fix his relations – appreciate his mom more to be specific. Along with that, he has to save Kayo because he really thought later on that he could have saved her so he wants to take care of that good. Also, he has to get the real kidnapper caught and get that kidnapping case solved for good.

Satoru over here, is an adult in an elementary schoolers body so he is quite mature. And that's probably the reason why Kenya thinks he's a bit off. Kenya most likely knows that Satoru isn't being himself and also figured out that he doesn't really have the hots for Kayo as opposed to what the other kids are thinking.

One thing which caught my attention is the unusual amount of focus that Airi girl got in the OP. It shows that she isn't just a one-off character (unless they're doing that because she's the only female in the show apart from the mother and Kayo). I'm thinking that she will have a more important role later on. One thing I thought of is that she could be Satoru's daughter. Kinda like the Natsu no Arashi logic of time travel (or whatever fancy name it has) – everything has already happened and you're not exactly changing the future (or something like that). Kayo survives, marries Satoru, and they have that Airi girl. Sounds possible to me. Airi even said somethingsimilar to what Kayo said later on (or earlier, or whatever). Anywho, time will tell. speculation based on anime only. I'm not sure if anyone else said it here or not because I didn't read all the posts and just copy pasted this post of mine from another place

So Satoru is fixing things in the past, but after that what will happen? Will he have to go through those 18 or so years again? Sounds like a big pain in the ass to me.

[ReddyRedWolf]

Smooth Satoru real smooth. Kayo route unlocked.

But his real objective is to save Mom, save Kayo, save his classmate, catch the killer. On the later part he may have a problem but it seems Kenya has the brains of an observant detective.

This is sorta like Cased Closed except the MC isn't Conan that went from being older to a kid and murders hasn't happened yet due to time travel.

[orion]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Just put it under spoiler tags. I want to know too. As long as the anime has shown it, anything is fair.

Spoiler for OP discussion:

f life after failing with Kayo? That'd be harsh) and she'll be targeted by the killer.

After closer inspection of the OP, I think it did give away who the killer is.

Spoiler for Possible spoilers:

For starters, the OP shows the killer's face for a split second. That gives us a good idea what he looks like and how old he is (I'd say forties). He should already be an adult in 1988, so that rules out Kenya.

Secondly, the OP shows only four adult males (I'm not counting Satoru, obviously): Yuuki, who we know for sure is not the killer so he's out, Satoru's co-workers, and the teacher. That's a very short list of suspects. Out of those, there's only one person we know that:

- was in the town at the time of the case
- knew Satoru's mom
- was aware of Kayo's situation (if Satoru and Kenya could figure it out this easily, there's no way he didn't) and apparently did nothing about it
- is trusted by kids

Unless they deliberately didn't put the killer in the OP to throw us off, I'm pretty confident it's him.

You don't need the OP to figure out who the killer is as we saw him in episode one the same time his mother saw him. They prevented the killer's recent attempt at abducting a girl so we got a good look at him. Then, we got a good look at him in the past. There was only one person who fits the bill and had access to kids back then.

Since we ID'd the killer, the show is prob more about how Satoru prevents the killing and changes fate to save his mom.

[serenade_beta]

Totally cheering on the protagonist. Relive your childhood, save your mom, and get yourself a girl. And maybe find out who the criminal is.

[Dr. Casey]

Originally Posted by Kanon

It's hard to tell with only two episodes, but I feel the story is supposed to be character driven. Satoru wasn't in a very good place in the present and it was clear he needed to change. I was actually surprised when this episode revealed he had always been "fake" even as a kid. I thought it was the incident that broke him.

That was really surprising to me as well. He was already kind of an old soul back in 1988, while I'd taken his much more cheerful persona at face value.

It was fun getting to know Satoru's old circle of friends I headcanon Kazu as being the father of Poppo from AnoHana. The dated JRPG conversations were a nice feature; Final Fantasy was a baby RPG series at this point at only two months old, and Dragon Quest III was brand new with a release date of February 10th 1988.

I also enjoyed the scenes with Satoru and his mother. 1988 has to feel really safe for him in that respect, being in a time where his mom has 18 more years of being alive and well. And Kayo's as interesting a character as I expected. The poem was definitely one of the best parts of the episode.