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ERASED
Episode 3

by Nick Creamer,

How would you rate episode 3 of
ERASED ?
Community score: 4.8

As a traditional thriller, ERASED certainly knows how to build its dramatic hooks into the fundamental elements of its storytelling. As this episode opened, Satoru began to piece together the exact details of Hanazuki's disappearance, reasoning that because she died at ten, Hinazuki had to have been abducted some time between March 1st and her birthday. As small scenes at school played out, Satoru began narrowing down the potential death window while also doing his best to protect Hinazuki in the meantime, eventually learning he had eleven days to save her. That narrative clock was given further significance through a meeting between Satoru and his teacher, where he learned there was already a case being built against Hinazuki's abusive mother. The gears of this story all feel natural, and its overall structure feels very tightly composed; as far as the overt plot goes, ERASED is a confident and propulsive machine.

But praising the precision of the storytelling feels like an insufficient way to describe ERASED. This is a strong story, but the way it's being told is the real star here. The early scenes of this episode, where Satoru found himself pitted in an ice skating race against his classmate Hamada, were a classic example of how good ERASED is at creating a sense of place. These letterbox scenes out in the cold feel grounded and real, like legitimate childhood experiences. They're not idyllic and soaked in nostalgia - in fact, they feel a little claustrophobic, with the busyness of children's movements and the constant pressure of the main characters' peers creating a sense of slight but constant unease. The camera stays even with the kids' eyelines, trapping the viewer in their space, and the soundtrack is full of chirping laughter and other incidental noise. Satoru's small world feels stuffy and uncertain and more than a little dangerous, like he could screw up at any time with real lasting consequences. That feels more like childhood to me than a show framing it as the best years of your life.

That sound design deserves a bit more notice, because many of the scenes here seem almost carried by the way ERASED carefully employs sound. What music exists is generally just incidental strings or sharp, building feedback - one particular scene, where Satoru is attempting to learn Hinazuki's birthday from the teacher's lounge, rides entirely on one building note. But most of the show lacks music altogether, and instead uses the chatter of kids to create tension, or the sound of wind and crunching footsteps to impress on the audience the crispness of the February air. The sky is nearly always grey in ERASED, and the world feels grey through this episode's middle scenes.

Those scenes stick to ERASED's dominant, pensive mood, as Satoru attempts to make up for lying to Hinazuki and runs into Yuuki and meets with his teacher. Scenes proceed slowly, and the letterbox aesthetic combined with the long shots of scenery and sky maintain a strong feeling of cold, open space. Satoru's new circumstances result in interesting changes in all his relationships; what seems like a casual lie to Hamada makes Hinazuki distrust him, while Yuuki actually comes across as younger given Satoru's older outlook. And when a girl attempts to get Hinazuki in trouble during class, Satoru's adult confidence pretty much instantly brings her to tears. The time-hopping conceit leads to moments like a match cut switching from Yuuki's smiling, twenty-something face to a broken man on death row, still protesting his innocence. It feels like the ice could break underfoot at any moment.

The heavy atmosphere of this episode is fitting for the content; we get a direct look at Hinazuki's abuse this time, and at the callousness of her mother. If there's anything that doesn't quite match the polish of the whole in ERASED, it's the show's occasional tendency to frame shocking turns as aesthetically dramatic reveals, as opposed to letting them speak for themselves. But this episode's final, transcendent sequence has no such problems - as Satoru leads Hinazuki up the mountains to enjoy a brief, beautiful escape from her mother, her first real smile feels totally earned. ERASED remains propulsive, atmospheric, and almost breathlessly good in its third episode.

Rating: A

ERASED is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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


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