Erased

I've longed to read the manga since the moment I had finished watching the anime. I had the feeling something wasn't right about the way anime ended. Fortunately, I was right. The story begins quite smoothly and slowly giving the time to get to know the characters, their way of thinking and living. There are some things which are just given to a reader without any further explanations. You just have to assume them. I wouldn't say I liked it but that's not the most important part here so let it be. The story tells us about a "detective game", involving time traveling. The mostpart of it is dedicated to monologues of the main character which makes the story very engaging. There's not much action in it, but that's for the greater good. It's smartly constructed. There are in general 3 large parts of the story which are deeply connected with each other. Lots of minor details which seemed to have no significance eventually turned out to be very important. You'll think with Satoru. You'll analyze with Satoru. You'll find the culprit with him. You'll feel yourself in his shoes. To be honest, art isn't something to admire here. It has its own style which I would call as "a bit edgy". It makes a good job of conveying emotions, actions and thoughts. So I wouldn't count it as bad either. Also, there are some frames which are just great. It makes its job in a proper way. I guess you would never forget Satoru, Kayo, and Satoru's mom at least. They became quite real for me. Besides them, lots of another cool characters out there. Characters are a core of the manga. Everything's based on them. A reader has the opportunity to see how they grow supporting each other. Such thing as a "friendship" is showed here in a right way. It's not that pretentious as it might be in some shounen manga, yet very gorgeous and simply a nice thing. To add more, few characters have their own philosophy. I've found some interesting thoughts. The antagonist deserves some praise. I didn't understand to the end his philosophy but it was the interesting one without a doubt. I like stories like this one. Very much do. It's not perfect. To some degree, it may be even absurd. But, what's more important, it gives a reader something to think about. Something to live with. It's sincerely kind. I would recommend it to anyone. Especially to those, who are, alike me, unsatisfied with the way anime ended. You'll find a gap and a proper ending right here. And don't forget about additional 5 chapters, please note, they are very important!

Beautiful story. Extremely creative. Left me in tears. Read it a few more times. Very clean art, not too gory, good for readers that like to read something that challenges their minds/mystery. Overall one of my favorite mangas/animes of all time. Satisfying ending. I really recommend it. No big titties or booties. No sexual tension, not much romance, really something different and outstanding. This deserves more attention!!! I definitely wish the story could further continue. Characters have a lot of personality, a lot of depth, and there are definitely some plot twists/big reveals in there, which I enjoy. Now stop reading my review and go readthe manga!

This manga has had it all for me, up until nearing the end of the story. It was perfect. I was excited and wanted to know more, wanted there to be more of what I'd grown to thus far like. It was even good after the "major change" in the story, but that was only for a short while. In the last few chapters my connection with the story dropped. I was attached, but then that what I was attached to disappeared. I just think that this manga, this story has had something perfect up until a point, but then had unsuccesfuly taken a turn, aiming for an effectthat with me was a failure which almost ruined it all. For me the effect was negative. It decided to break its course from the well-established one that I'd grown to love. It bugs me because I, now that I think of it, feel as if the story that I fell in love never got finished and that I was left with a single option which is to read another story with the same characters and that serves as the continuation to the story that I love(the remainder of the chapters). I think it could've been done much better, albeit that would probably also mean very differently.. It's not like my displeasure is caused because "omg my favoruite ship didn't set sail", it's that I think that the last arc is poorly done. I mean, I have enjoyed the story so much until that certain point. Then when the event occured, my connection to the story grew even more, but that only lasted for a short while because I had begun realising that.. How do I say it.. The story simply started kinda heading for another focus, a focus which was not what it had had built up within me up until that point as the focal point of the story. The following 1 sentence is spoiler-ish: 10/10 untill the "river dip" and shortly thereafter. 6.5/10 from there-on. The characters are all loveable, and how loveable they all are and what they had is what I grew to love, the story connecting them. This manga has its thing, but it turned out that I myself have misunderstood the manga and that it is actually something slightly different from what I had grown to see it as before the end-game chapters. :/ Regarding the side-stories, which don't have a dedicated listing on MAL but are accounted for in the listing of the main manga(the ERASED manga has 44 chapter, and it has 49 chapters here on MAL because of the 5 chapters from the side stories volume being accounted for in it) they continue on in the perfection which to me was this manga before the final arc, so the side stories are a 10/10. EDIT: I guess I've missed the intended focal point of the story.. "A city where only I am missing". Still, I think that the ending arc is shabby, so I will bump the overall score from 8 only to a 9. I stick to what I've said, this manga has something perfect, up 'till the part where it turns out I missed the intended meaning.. Would've been all 10s had it stuck to what I thought it is, or, had the final arc been done somehow "better".. It's a great story overall, now that I've changed how I view the story, but the end arc is somehow not on par with what everything before it is, for me.

Masterful writing and artwork truly a thing of beauty I'd been a fan of the anime for 7 years now I remember waiting after school for it to air but I never read the manga until now, it's great the manga goes more into detail on Kenya who is my favourite character in this whole thing this is a good starting point to get into Seinen series. All of the characters are well developed and I recommend reading volume nine which goes into detail on Kenyas life and childhood absolute gem of a manga can't give it anything but praise Kayo, Kenya and Satoru areso well written especially.