The Day I Was Erased

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At first, being able to walk around without being yelled at is great, but Maxwell starts to miss his old life. Lisa Thompson does it again. Hilarious and... I don't like to use this word but it's the right one... Poignant. So so so good!

It's becoming more apparent to me by each passing season that if an anime gets any sort of recognition like this, it's bound to divide the community into 2 groups. The majority goes on to ride the hype train and hype the series in question up to the high heavens, while the other hops onto the hate train and then the shit-fest begins. I usually see myself not siding with any of these but frankly, the latter seems more reasonable to me than it ever was. I'll try to offer an unbiased opinion on this even though seeing its rating is kinda baffling. So let'sAfter a bad day at school and realising no one likes him or wants to be round him Maxwell wishes himself not to exist and just like that he ends up in the same world only a version where he hadn't even been born and no one there knows him.

In the initial episodes, the pacing was excellent. The show does an excellent job in creating suspense and leaves us wanting to know more. But in the second half, it starts to feel a little rush, but still it is able to maintain the the quality of it's genre. Coming to the voice actors, they have done an incredible acting. The way Satoru uses his adult voice to show his real mature self is interesting. Not wanting to miss out, Maxwell sneaks in but ends up in enormous trouble after switching off the electricity! He seeks solace with Reg, his trusted neighbour, but a strange turn of events transports Maxwell to a world where nobody, not even his parents or sister, recognise him. It’s as if he never existed. The book references lots of famous disappearances and mysteries throughout history. Is this something that has always interested you? Do you have a favourite famous mystery?The main problem in Erased lies in the little problems that become apparent as the show progresses: these ultimately are magnified by many others, which will be depicted. The concept of preventing occurrences through time travelling has been explored in numerous other works, yet a problem with the anime is the fact that these are completely random, allowing the author to make any necessary changes in direction when necessary. This is not bad on its own, yet instead of using it as means to develop the characters in the story, it utilizes it purely to change the direction in the narrative, which was not done in a subtle manner. Regardless of said issue, it managed to create some tension in the story as viewers never really could correctly anticipate the course of the narrative. This book is excellent reading for anyone but I can really imagine it helping any child who might have chosen the wrong path and desperately wants to make amends but doesn’t know how. It shows that we ALL have good and bad points and that we can make amends when we mess up. Maxwell’s future at the end of the book isn’t a complete happy ending but it’s happy enough to reassure any reader that life carries on and that everyone can make a difference. While Erased is a very enjoyable anime, it still is far from perfect. There are many things left untold, for example, the origin behind Satoru's ability 'Revival'. And it makes even lesser sense in the whole Erased world that Satoru is the only one having this ability. Infact this ability is the only thing which makes this anime a part of Supernatural genre. The story really gets going when our main man Maxwell outdoes himself by ruining a huge school event which is being televised. With nowhere else to turn he heads to Reg's house where he wishes he'd never been born. Maxwell's wish comes true... in a way: he's still alive and so are all the people in his life, but none of them know him and their lives are very different. Twelve-year-old Maxwell is always in trouble. He’s a menace to his sister, teachers and parents, but he also has a softer side. He likes to visit his elderly neighbour, Reg, and he saved his dog Monster from being run over. One day, after he’s ruined an important school event, Maxwell wishes he’d never been born, and he gets to see the world as if he never existed.

Some of the scenes involving Reg and his memory loss were quite upsetting to read. Were they difficult to write?Maxwell could be seen as quite an unlikeable character, but you manage to make us feel sympathy throughout for him. Was this important to you? How did you go about achieving this? I’m in awe of Lisa Thompson’s ability to write so sensitively and brilliantly from a young boy’s perspective. In this book, Maxwell is different to his predecessors (who were more shy and vulnerable – on the surface) but we soon discover that Maxwell’s terrible choices and behaviour mask a boy who is really hurting inside. Struggling to cope in a family situation that is tense, he acts out at school, pushing even his closest friends away. I couldn’t help but cringe when Maxwell does the unthinkable (I won’t give any spoilers!) and wanted to shout ‘Why?’ at him. This is Lisa’s talent – it’s hard not to get emotionally involved in her stories and with her characters. Kayo Hinazuki, the girl whom Satoru is determined to save from being the victim on the serial murders, gets a good amount of screen time and development. The circumstances which she is going through like being abused by her mother or bullied by her classmates makes us sympathize her.