Erased

After finding his mom killed, Satoru's time-traveling ability takes him back 18 years for a chance to prevent her death and those of three classmates.

Erased (2017) is a Japanese anime mystery thriller series created by Kei Sambe and produced by Kansai Television for Netflix. Its protagonist, a withdrawn young man named Satoru Fujinuma (Yuki Furukawa as adult Satoru, Reo Uchikawa as his younger self), discovers that he can leap backward in time just before a moment of disaster. When his mother Sachiko Fujinuma (Tomoka Kurotani) is murdered, he is thrown back eighteen years to his elementary school days, where he must uncover the killer and stop a string of deaths among his classmates. The engine of the story is a race against a hidden predator: each leap reveals a new clue, a suspicious neighbor, or a child at risk, and Satoru must act before the past repeats itself. The series runs twelve episodes in a single season, with a tightly interlocking plot that rewards close attention. Set in a snowbound small city in northern Japan during the late 1980s, it blends the texture of a provincial community with a steady undercurrent of dread. Its tone is melancholic, suspenseful, and tender, with the child performances giving the story emotional weight. Fans of Dark, Steins;Gate and Mindhunter will find resonance in its blend of time-travel puzzle, serial killer hunt, and quiet character study.

Viewers broadly praise the gripping time-travel mystery, its dual-timeline structure and the performances of the child actors, while noting the usual logic gaps of time-travel stories.

• Darktime leap to prevent a tragedy, child-centered suspense, serialized mystery
• Life Is Strangesupernatural time travel to change the past, small community mystery, emotional stakes
• Mindhunterserial killer mystery with a grounded emotional core and child protagonists
• Steins;Gatetime-travel mystery driven by a protagonist revisiting childhood to avert a death

Created by

Kei Sambe

Release Date

2017-12-15

Episode runtime

29 min

Rating

7.8 / 10 (97)

What is Erased about?

A man who can leap back in time to the moments before a tragedy must prevent his mother's murder and the deaths of his classmates eighteen years earlier.

What is Erased like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Erased as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.

Is Erased violent?

Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Erased as moderate.

What did critics think of Erased?

Viewers broadly praise the gripping time-travel mystery, its dual-timeline structure and the performances of the child actors, while noting the usual logic gaps of time-travel stories.

Which shows are like Erased?

Shows with a similar feel include Dark, Life Is Strange, Mindhunter, and Steins;Gate.

How long is Erased?

Erased: 1 season, 12 episodes.

Is Erased still running?

No, Erased has ended.

Where can I watch Erased?

In United States, Erased streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.