ERASED, known in Japan as Boku dake ga Inai Machi (僕だけがいない街, lit. The Town Without Me), is a Japanese fantasy thriller seinen manga series written and illustrated by Kei Sanbe, which was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine between June 4, 2012 and March 4, 2016 and is licensed in English by Yen Press. An anime adaptation by A-1 Pictures aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between January 8, 2016 and March 25, 2016, and a live action film was released on March 19, 2016. A spin-off novel series by Hajime Ninomae was released in Kadokawa's Bungei Kadokawa magazine between November 2015 to March 2016 and a spin-off manga series by Sanbe began its serialization in Young Ace on June 4, 2016.
The story follows Satoru Fujinuma, a man who somehow possesses an ability that sends him back in time moments before a life-threatening incident, allowing him to prevent it from happening. When his mother is murdered by an unknown assailant, Satoru's ability suddenly sends him back eighteen years to when he was still in elementary school, giving him the opportunity to prevent a kidnapping incident that took the lives of three of his childhood friends, two classmates and one young girl studying at a school nearby.
Satoru Fujinuma (藤沼 悟, Fujinuma Satoru)
Voiced by: Shinnosuke Mitsushima (adult), Tao Tsuchiya (child) (Japanese); Ben Diskin (adult), Michelle Ruff (child) (English)
Played by: Tatsuya Fujiwara (adult), Tsubasa Nakagawa (child)
Satoru is a 29 year old (c.2006) manga artist who also works part-time as a deliveryman at Oasi Pizza (28 years old in the manga). He possesses an ability he calls "Revival," which would bring him back to a time before a life-threatening incident would occur and allow him to prevent it. When his mother was murdered for noticing a serial kidnapper in action, his "Revival" triggered and he was brought back 18 years back to when he was 10 years old (c.1988), around the time the same kidnapper had killed two young girls and a young boy in his hometown, two of whom were his classmates. Satoru eventually attempts and succeeds in preventing the original three victims from their deaths, which drives the kidnapper to attempt to drown Satoru in a frozen lake for thwarting his plans. Fifteen years later, Satoru wakes up from a coma to realize he had lost some of his memories, including the real kidnapper's identity. He eventually regains his memories and stops Yashiro, allowing him to move on and achieve his lifelong dream of being a popular manga artist.
Airi Katagiri (片桐 愛梨, Katagiri Airi)
Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki (Japanese); Cherami Leigh (English)
Played by: Kasumi Arimura
Airi is a high school student and Satoru's friendly co-worker at Oasi Pizza. She became involved with Satoru when she witnessed oddities such as when Satoru managed to save people from certain life-threatening situations. Airi was one of the few who decided to trust Satoru when he was framed for his mother's murder, putting her life in danger when the kidnapper sets her home ablaze. Satoru believes she is Kayo's reincarnation, as they both share the same catchphrase:
Baka na no? (バカなの?, lit. Are you stupid?) In the manga, Airi is the key to unlocking Satoru's lost memories. Throughout the events of the story, Satoru decides that he will have never met Airi in the future, but the two eventually reunite under a bridge at the end of the series.
Kayo Hinazuki (雛月 加代, Hinazuki Kayo)
Voiced by: Aoi Yūki (Japanese); Stephanie Sheh (English)
Played by: Rio Suzuki
Kayo is one of Satoru's primary school classmates, and one of the original victims of the serial kidnapping case 18 years ago. She was saved due to Satoru's attempt to stop the kidnapper through his "Revival". By befriending Kayo and making sure that she ceased being a loner, Satoru made her a difficult target for the kidnapper. It is implied Kayo has minor romantic feelings for Satoru through hand-holding. When Satoru wakes up from his coma, Kayo has married Hiromi, taken his surname, and has given birth to a son recently, Mirai, seen when she visits the hospital. The two worry about whether it is okay to be happy with Satoru having been in his coma. Satoru then gives the two his blessing.
Sachiko Fujinuma (藤沼 佐知子, Fujinuma Sachiko)
Voiced by: Minami Takayama (Japanese); Sara Cravens (English)
Played by: Yuriko Ishida
Sachiko is Satoru's mother and former news announcer. She possesses a sharp eye and is quick to observe any irregularities. She knows about the cold cases of serial kidnapping in her town, but decided to keep quiet and ignore it due to her child's growth and safety. However, after having eye contact with the criminal at his latest kidnapping attempt, she was silenced and killed by the kidnapper. This event triggered Satoru's 18 year "Revival". In the changed timeline, Satoru expresses his gratitude to Sachiko as a child more often, and she takes care of him daily during his coma.
Kenya Kobayashi (小林 賢也, Kobayashi Ken'ya)
Voiced by: Yō Taichi, Tasuku Emoto (adult) (Japanese); Erica Mendez, Xander Mobus (adult) (English)
Played by: Seiji Fukushi
Kenya is one of Satoru's primary school classmates who has a strong sense of justice and is very mature for his age. He is an aspiring lawyer who has a keen eye, and noticed abnormalities due to Satoru acting much more mature than he was after "Revival". Kenya offered a lot of help to Satoru in stopping the possible kidnapping attempts. As a result of what transpired during Satoru's "Revival", he becomes a lawyer who is still in search of the real kidnapper 15 years later.
Hiromi Sugita (杉田 広美, Sugita Hiromi)
Voiced by: Akari Kitō, Atsushi Tamaru (adult) (Japanese); Christine Marie Cabanos (English)
Hiromi is one of Satoru's primary school classmates who appears feminine even though he is a boy. He is one of the original victims of the serial kidnapping case. Hiromi was killed in order to lead the police into thinking that the suspect did not know that Hiromi was male. He also participated in Satoru's attempt in stopping the kidnappings. He is married to Kayo 15 years later with a son, Mirai. The two worry about whether it is okay to be happy with Satoru having been in his coma. Satoru then gives the two his blessing.
Osamu (修)
Voiced by: Ayaka Nanase (Japanese); Ryan Bartley (English)
Osamu is one of Satoru's primary school classmates. He wears glasses and follows Kenya around.
Kazu (カズ)
Voiced by: Yukitoshi Kikuchi (Japanese); Bobby Thong (English)
Kazu is one of Satoru's primary school classmates. He is much taller and heavier than the rest of Satoru's friends, and goes out of his way to appear "masculine". Although he plays no role in saving Kayo, he does save Aya, who is seemingly attracted to his manliness after being uninterested in Kazu's other friends.
Aya Nakanishi (中西 彩, Nakanishi Aya)
Aya is a perfect student studying at Izumi Primary near Satoru's primary school, and is one of the original victims of serial kidnapping. She befriends Satoru's friends through Kazu, which prevented her from being kidnapped.
Jun Shiratori (白鳥 潤, Shiratori Jun)
Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima (Japanese); Max Mittelman (English)
Played by: Kento Hayashi
Jun is a stuttering food delivery worker who lived in Satoru's hometown, and would often approach lone students around his house. He and Satoru play with paper airplanes. Because he advises the lonely children to be more "courageous" and make more friends, he is nicknamed "Yuuki" (which means courage). He was originally framed as the killer of the three kidnapped students in the town and sentenced for murder. In the alternate timeline, he has moved to an unnamed South East Asian country to start his business and has a wife and children by the time Satoru awakens from his coma.
Gaku Yashiro (八代 学, Yashiro Gaku)
Voiced by: Mitsuru Miyamoto (Japanese); David Collins (English)
Gaku is Satoru's homeroom teacher during his youth and the closest thing he had to a father figure. Later on in the series, he is revealed to be the real kidnapper and serial killer behind the scenes. After Satoru attempted to stop his actions, Gaku decided to drown Satoru by locking him in his car and plunging it into a frozen lake, resulting in Satoru's 15 year coma. In the 15 years since, he became a politician and changed his name to Manabu Nishizono, a name stolen from one of his victims. He eventually reveals that his compulsion to kill came from his childhood, in which his brother forced him to help him rape young girls. After his brother accidentally killed one of his victims, Yashiro discovered he had the ability to see threads hovering above a person's head that, when cut, would cause the person to commit suicide. He eventually became obsessed with understanding death as a result of his power, and decided to use his students as test subjects. He is eventually caught by Satoru and arrested, confessing to over thirty murder cases and being sentenced to death as a result.
Akemi Hinazuki (雛月 明美, Hinazuki Akemi)
Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (Japanese); Carrie Keranen (English)
Akemi is Kayo's abusive mother. Though it is heavily hinted that she might have something to do with Kayo's disappearance and later her murder she actually has nothing to do with the incident aside from keeping quiet about the disappearance itself. It is later learned that she is abusive towards Kayo as a way to cope with her own abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband when younger and later her lovers.
The original manga, written by Kei Sanbe, was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine in between June 4, 2012 and March 4, 2016. The first tankobon volume was released in Japan on January 26, 2013, with seven volumes published as of December 26, 2015. The series is licensed by Yen Press, who will release the first volume in February 2017. The series is licensed in France by Ki-oon. Sanbe will begin serializing a spin-off manga titled Boku dake ga Inai Machi: Re in Young Ace on June 4, 2016.
*possible placeholder
A television anime adaptation produced by A-1 Pictures aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between January 8, 2016 and March 25, 2016 and was simulcast on Crunchyroll, Daisuki, Funimation and AnimeLab. The series was directed by Tomohiko Itō and written by Taku Kishimoto, with character design by Keigo Sasaki. The opening theme is "Re:Re:" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation while the ending theme is "Sore wa Chiisa na Hikari no Yō na" (それは小さな光のような, It's Like a Small Light) by Sayuri. The series is licensed in North America by Aniplex of America, in Australia by Madman Entertainment, and in the United Kingdom by Anime Limited. A dub in English was announced. The series was simulcast in certain countries in Southeast Asia with English subtitles on Aniplus Asia and is available to stream on Iflix in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Brunei with English subtitles.
A live-action film adaptation of Boku Dake ga Inai Machi featuring Tatsuya Fujiwara as Satoru Fujinuma debuted in cinemas throughout Japan on March 19, 2016. The theme song is "Hear ~Shinjiaeta Akashi~" (Hear 〜信じあえた証〜, lit. Hear ~A proof that you could trust~) by Chise Kanna.
A spin-off novel titled Boku Dake ga Inai Machi: Another Record, written by Hajime Ninomae, was serialized in Kadokawa's monthly digital novel magazine Bungei Kadokawa from November 2015 to March 2016. A volume collecting the chapters was released on March 30, 2016.
Volume 4 reached the 12th place on the weekly Oricon manga chart and, as of June 15, 2014, has sold 73,983 copies.
The manga was number sixteen on the 2014 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Top 20 Manga for Male Readers survey. It was nominated for the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Reader Award. It was also nominated for the 7th Manga Taishō, receiving 82 points and placing 2nd among the ten nominees. It is nominated for the 8th Manga Taishō.
The staff at manga-news.com gave the French edition a grade of 17.33 out of 20. On Manga Sanctuary one of the staff members gave it an 8 out of 10.
