ERASED

Episode 12

Satoru faced off against his nemesis for the last time in this week's ERASED, in an episode that ended the series with as much grace as you could reasonably expect. It certainly wasn't a perfect episode, and not one that could compare to the show's early peaks, but considering how the serial killer plot has played out, this was likely the best possible outcome. And there were plenty of fine moments scattered throughout, offering small sendoffs to a variety of the show's thematic threads.

Much of the thematic busywork was gotten out of the way early on, as the show quickly revealed that it was connecting with Hinazuki's child that restored Satoru's memories. Following that scene, Kenya and Hiromi met up with him in order to probe his memories as well, urging him to let them contribute to his final scheme. “You were our hero back then, Satoru” said Kenya, underlining a refrain that Satoru's been clinging to all along. But attempting to go it alone as a hero was what resulted in Satoru's failure fifteen years ago, and so Kenya ends up adding the crucial “you believed in me then and told me the truth. That's why I believed in you.” Alone, Satoru has very limited power; but if he's willing to trust in his friends, he can accomplish great things.

That led into the big confrontation with Yashiro, which was definitely a lot less effective. It was clear that Satoru had some kind of plan for tricking his former teacher, but his speech about Yashiro's life being empty without Satoru there to spy on felt like an out-of-the-blue bit of nonsense psychologizing. Yashiro has always been a caricature, and having Satoru correctly pin him as the kind of Joker-style villain who only feels complete with a hero to hunt, even to the extent where he almost wheeled himself off the roof halfway through his speech just so Yashiro would save him, felt like another dip into this show's silliest excesses. I could maybe see an argument for how this is extending the show's “believing in people” theme to Yashiro needing someone who understood the real him, but it all came off as pretty ridiculous.

On the other hand, at least this choice of ending gave some excuse for Yashiro not killing Satoru at any point over those fifteen years. And in the end, this episode was only ever going to be so graceful - ERASED's atmospheric and human story material has always been much more impressively constructed than its thriller bits, but the wacky villain obviously did need to exit the stage somehow. And so Satoru willingly falls off the roof, having apparently predicted every step of his teacher's plan to kill him, and his killer-soulmate Yashiro gets carted off by the police.

The episode's final act was a nice return to the stuff the show handles best. Satoru more directly articulated the importance he places on believing in people and the value of the “town without him” refrain, and then we got to see the whole cast a few years down the road, catching up and sharing drinks and generally cherishing their not being murdered. I frankly think Satoru's turn from being nearly killed due to his own misguided heroism (the end of episode ten) to recognizing the necessity of embracing those who believe in you (the beginning of episode twelve) wasn't articulated well enough to really earn his final speeches, but the notes the show was reaching for here at least made sense for the story being told. And the episode's very last scenes were quite beautiful, recalling the snowy landscapes that initially made the show so compelling.

Overall, ERASED is definitely not as good as the show it could have been, but it's still a very reasonable show. There were certainly hills and valleys throughout - the first four episodes were terrific, while the mid-season return to the present and thriller shenanigans near the end were pretty regrettable. The show didn't need its bright red eyes, and it certainly didn't need its villainous speeches. But its aesthetic strengths can't be denied, and at its best, the show pulled off some genuinely affecting human moments. I'm a little sad it wasn't better, but that's only because it often demonstrated an ability to be remarkably good.

Overall: B+

ERASED is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.