The finale of Erased is Here! The episode picks up right where last weeks left off and finishes off the story to the end. We find out that the only reason Yashiro has kept Satoru alive is because he is the hamster in his life. The one who understands him and is surviving no matter what. To the point that Yashiro actually begins to suspect that Satoru has some sort of power to see the future because he has been able to prevent every murder he goes after. Satoru does have a plan ahead of him as he find to a way to prevent Yashiro from killing him because he now knows that Yashiro doesn't want him to die. This does lead to Satoru throwing himself off the ledge of the hospital building but surviving the fall thanks to his friends. Yashiro gets arrested for the attempt at trying to kill Satoru as is taken away. There isn't much to say for the ending as we go through the typical motions of any ending where everything is perfect now and Satoru even gets to meet characters from his previous life. My big problem with the finale was the lack of addressing some questions and elements that this show was based off of. From his childhood friend to the time travel powers to begin with. It is never really brought up and even when the butterfly element shows up at the end it doesn't do anything but to remind us he still has the powers??? This show has continued to spiral out of control to the very end and even the final conformation with Yashiro wasn't at all handled well or smart in the context of the world this show takes place in. It is interesting because nothing was exciting or tense mostly based on the way the entire situation was handled. Even once the story was finished it never felt like it closed it all the way it should've.
A mixed bag the series has been but an entertaining one for the most part. I don't see myself re-watching this show again but it was nice ride while it happened. I do however want to check out the Manga as I know it fleshes everything out a bit more and even extends the story? I guess I will have to find out for myself. Rating:
Satoru is back in the future, but not the same way you would think! Once again we jump to a new direction for the series, now back in the future but this time, having Satoru being in a coma for the past 15 years! It is interesting because we never see how he lives from the car being put into the lake from last episode but it is incinerated that the teacher went back to save him. Either way for the next 15 years from that point, his mother is forced to take care of him until he wakes up from the coma.
For most of the episode, we are spent time at the hospital as Satoru's friends show up to support him and he even begins to gain his health back. We see that Hinazuki is now married and with a child and most of the people haven't forgotten about him even the press. But while at the hospital he runs into Mr. Yashiro, his homeroom teacher from 15 years ago. Unfortunately he doesn't remember anything from his past and I would even assume from his previous future self as well. There are little things in this episode that I like, how he now talks in his mind as if is still were a fifth grader even though he is in his late 20's. How the mother was able to take care of him for so long. Even that Hinazuki and most of his friends that he tried to protect ended up being okay in the end.
When his teacher showed up it became very clear that he was there to either kill him or make sure that he doesn't remember anything. This leads to him taking Satoru to the roof with what you can obviously assume what he is planning to do. But the episode ends off with a twist pulled on Yashiro, that is that Satoru remembers everything! I like the idea of having Satoru grow older in a world that is now much different, but I wish he had his memories right out the gate. If that were the case, most of the episode could've been him trying to gather his friends for one more mission! Now that Yashiro is a politician, they could've taken the chance to pulled up moment he is finally exposed. Maybe they will do that in the finale, but I'm sure is won't be as exciting. Normally the episode before the finale tries to build up to a moment that you don't see coming and takes you for a turn. With this show, I already have a feeling on where the finale will go and how this series will end. I guess we will have to wait and see till next week. Rating:
Erased is slowly becoming a mishandled mess if it continues down this path! The most interesting part of the episode by far was the beginning portion with Satoru, his mom and Kayo all approaching her mother one last time. Of course she begins to loose it once again and even tries to hit Kayo until they become visible. It turns out that all of this was just a way to expose her by having the child services watching nearby. It is very straight forward and you know where this is going until a weird thing happens. Out of nowhere Kayo's grandmother shows up and begins to take the blame for why her mother is abusive. It is shown briefly that this is because of the abusive husband that Kayo's mother had that lead to her becoming the abusive mother she is. But the grandmother takes the blame because she was the one that lead to their divorce??? I don't get why this was important and honestly, it actually ruins the entire purpose of Kayo's mother. It was such a cheap cliche to make us feel something for her mother as well as establish why she is the way she is. Nothing good was added from knowing this and what is worse is that we have to accept that this is all true. So the rest of the episode goes on as Satoru now wants to protect two other victims before they are kidnapped. One is a girl from a different school so he makes his way to follow her and know her schedule. He does this until he runs into his mother who was shopping and needs his help, very soon after his teacher offers him and his mother a ride home. During the ride home it is reveals that his teacher has a lot of candy in his car, to very much imply that he is the killer he has been looking for. Which once again, would make sense because he was at the same location as him earlier and even before that he told him details about the bus that he kept Kayo hidden in. The next day Satoru goes to check out the bus only to find that it is empty which is no surprise because he has told the teacher all about it. He involves his friends on his next mission to save a new girl from the killer and they begin to leave school and make a plan, but what is interesting is that the episode ends with two of his other friends following them as well as a new mysterious girl who had been listening to their conversation. Could this be the killer or an accomplice?? We will have to wait and see until next week's episode.
There was so many wrong decisions in this episode, from the backstory of Hinazuki's mother to going overboard with implying that the teacher if the killer, I just don't know what they are doing at this point. It was nice to see Kayo get a happy ending (that we know of now) and a good send off but we quickly move on to the next girl to save without much context as to why? They are now playing this superhero theme up a lot so I guess we will have to see where this leads to. Rating:
Kayo's life is actually getting better this time around, but shouldn't this have been the first time? The episode picks up where last weeks left off, only to make it clear that the person sneaking onto the bus Kayo is hiding on is the actual killer. Only he doesn't do anything he just kicks a box and leaves. We are to assume maybe because of Kayo's disappearance, but that made me question, why is the hiding place for the killer's evidence on the same school bus that Kayo happened to be hiding on?? Its something that is just too coincidental.
The next day Satoru brings food and she tells him and everyone else about the person on the bus. They make a new plan to move Kayo to a better and safer location by taking her to Satoru's home. Before that they check out what is in the boxes and backpacks of the killers and find just about all the tools he use. I was surprised they just looked at them and didn't even bother to taken them to show to the police. Especially because Satoru recognized them instantly. Satoru and Kayo make it to his house and he brings her in to show his mother. She takes her in and makes her feel at home. The episode spends a while showing how much of a better mother Satoru's mom is than her own mom as she makes them dinner and generally shows love to her, something she has never gotten. It all leads up to the next morning where Kayo is awoken to a very nice breakfast made for her. She ends up crying because she has never been treated so kindly. It was a pretty effective moment, except for the fact that I kept thinking that this moment should've happened the first time around in the first past travel, back when there was emotion. This time around it just doesn't work as much because we pretty much can assume the fate of everything that will happen. The episode ends with Kayo finally approaching her mother for what I would assume for the last time. When we had a chance to go back in time again I was hoping for the series to get back to what it was good at and actually have a message to say. That notion is long gone as the show is just focused on finding who this killer is while at the same time making it pretty obvious who the main suspects should be. It is lacking any of the emotion that the first half had because the goal has changed. No longer is it about learning about Hinazuki and trying to save her from her abusive parents that would ultimately prevent her death, but now it is a bout trying to stop a possible time traveling killer. The show continues to to lower in the quality of its story telling but does deliver a overall good presentation of the material and for that I will keep watching.
