Reviews - Erased, Volume 1

151 reviews for:

I don’t read a lot of manga so I was nervous about this. The first 50ish pages I struggled but eventually fell into the story. From there I truly enjoyed the story, though the cliffhanger felt inevitable.

belle_fiction's review against another edition

5.0

WOW! I am in love with the opening volume of what promises to be a hugely gripping series.

Erased follows the life of 29 year old Satoru Fujinuma whose dream is to become a mangaka but in reality is a pizza courier. He often experiences deja vu (which he terms 'Revival') whereby he relives the same scenes over and over again until he prevents the bad thing from happening. However, when he comes home to find his mother murdered one evening, his revival doesn't take him a few minutes back into the past, it takes him back to his 11 year-old self (18 years in the past).

His mission is this: to prevent the disappearance and murder of his classmate, Kayo Hinazuki.

Kayo is a sweet and introverted child who we later find out is suffering at the hands of her abusive mother. Slowly, Fujinuma is able to befriend Hinazuki and the two grow closer (much to the amusement of the former's friend group). Having changed his actions second time around (to avoid repeating history and condemning Hinazuki to her tragic fate) he believes that he has changed the future and therefore saved Hinazuki.

However...volume 1 ends on a bombshell - Hinazuki fails to arrive at school the next day despite Fujinuma's best efforts to change the future. These last concluding pages really affected me and I ended up crying. Not only is the quality of the storytelling superb but the artwork is very dramatic and gothic which I think really emphasised the sheer tragedy the readers are faced with at the end.

Quite simply, one of the best mangas I have ever read!

5 stars

outlast0002's review against another edition

5.0

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

ellbo_oks333's review against another edition

5.0

one of my favorite animes

daddymarley's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

molly_dettmann's review against another edition

4.0

The artwork is so-so, and it’s super slow to begin with, but then about hallway through I got hooked. I don’t know if I’m going to watch the anime or read the rest of the manga, but what an intriguing murder mystery/time travel?/story

ablotial's review against another edition

4.0

This was really excellent! I immediately went and got the second volume from the library. I need to know how it all plays out and who is really responsible! I have 2 guesses so far. Time travel books are awesome. And I love wondering about the older guy who befriended the kids and seeing everyone's mixed feelings about whether he did it or not. I do think the idea that the parents and cops covered everything up "to protect the kids from knowing what happened" is a little unrealistic though...