Erased

By: Robert Murphy

What would you do for one chance to travel through time and correct a mistake that you made in your past or change the future for the better by righting a terrible wrong? Well for some unknown reason Satoru Fujinuma posses this kind of ability where when tragedy strikes those around him he can travel backwards to moments before it happens and hopefully prevent what is about to occur. He dubs this ability revival and even though he generally feels disconnected from everyone and everything around him, he does everything in his power to help those in need. This becomes painstakingly more perilous however when a murderer from his long repressed childhood comes back and murders his mother, this sending him on the longest revival trip he has ever gone on to try and change not only his current future but the future of those around him as well.

Initially Satoru was a character that I thought would not prove to be an overall engaging one since I had seen his like so many times before. As the story progresses however viewers begin to see more and more as to why the present Satoru felt so separated from those around him. He was so lackadaisical and couldn't quite muster up the drive to do anything in his life, even with his true passion of manga writing, and there was just something missing from his life. Many people out there can probably relate and this ended up working in his favor in a lot of ways but when viewers meet his younger self it also adds some more depth to his character. Satoru's hero complex kicks into full swing once he sets himself on the path of protecting Kayo, a young girl in his class, who was the first victim in a series of murders in his home town. Satoru believes that she is the key to preventing everything in the current future and if he saves her then he saves his mother, his friends and himself from a horrible fate. 

Even before Satoru travels back in time and enters the body of his younger self, the story had major appeal going for it. The mystery as to who was causing all of these misfortunes in Satoru's present was a deeply engaging one as this person was one step ahead of him and absolutely everyone else in the story. Everyone was working against Satoru it seemed, except for a young girl by the name of Airi who believed in him and his innocents, but she too ends up getting caught in the cross hairs. Once in the past the situation is just as perilous as a young Satoru tries to piece together just who is responsible for the impending murders and tries to help Kayo and the other girls in the killer's sights. It becomes delightfully endearing as well seeing as Satoru and his friends are all young children attempting these grand feats of hiding out to protect Kayo. It's cute and you almost forget that Satoru is a thirty year old trapped inside of his younger self, that is until he stops to remind himself of this at a humorous moment of attraction he feels for Kayo.

After a pinnacle moment for the story, Satoru is left to clean up loose ends and try to ultimately make sure the killer will no longer prove to be a problem for anyone close to him. However, this proves to be the dragging moments for the show since the mystery itself is just about solved and in terms of viewership everything already seemed wrapped up. That being said the finale for the show was extremely satisfying to see as it shows how Satoru has come full circle as a character. He has been changed by all the experiences with his past life and he no longer feels the emptiness he once did. He wasn't pretending to have friends, he actually made them and they stood by him. He wasn't just trying to be a hero, he actually became one and felt as though he was just like his childhood hero that brought his friends together and fought evil. The future looked bright and it made the drag for the three preceding episodes feel worthwhile.  

There is a certain artstyle to series that captures all of the drama happening as well and it is truly beautiful. Satoru is shown the moments of an impending revival when a blue butterfly flies nearby and for those of you who have played Life is Strange it will ring remarkably similar, not that I'm knocking the show for this. Erased also cleverly use old time film reels to depict timelines of the situations at hand as well as use it to show moments of connection being severed/created during points of Satoru's revival. Outside of these factors, the animation itself is simply top notch, even though many points in Satoru's past take place in a cold winter setting it is brought to life with many bright colorful moments. A particular highlight in one episode show Kayo and Satoru traveling to a remote spot from his childhood, there are foxes that come and dance around them and other wonderful sights, but the best is when they reach a seemingly desolate tree that comes to life when they stand under it. The stars bring it to life like a massive Christmas tree and it truly shows the height of the shows animation prowess. 

The overall themes of the show go to some intense places such as child abuse, isolation, murder, loneliness and a whole lot more and it adds to the wholly engaging experience that is Erased. The series had an engaging presence right from the get go and despite a brief drag near the end, there was a solid presentation all the way through. This is capped off by wonderful themes, animation and not to mention one heck of an opening theme song for a show that will hit viewers on multiple levels.

Good:

- Saturo's development as a character made him truly enjoyable

- An engaging story

- Tough to swallow themes that are handle very well

- Wonderfully animated

Bad:

- A bit of a drag near the end with the episodes feeling like they don't accomplish too much till the end

Scully Rating: 8.8 out of 10 

Wolf Children

Zach Goodier

Wolf Children is an anime feature film that follows the story of a young woman named Hana, who is a student in a university when she meets a mysterious young man, who turned out to secretly be a wolf capable of changing form into a human. They fell in love, and had 2 children. They were happy together until his untimely death, which left Hana alone with her part-wolf children, facing uncertainty and fear as she struggles to protect them and find a way to raise her unique children.

So when a daddy wolf and a mommy human get together...

This movies themes revolve around motherhood and the struggles that mothers face. While this movie obviously takes it to an extreme with the wolf children, but many of the themes carry over to any children, as the young mother struggles on her own to raise these children, unable to rely on anyone but herself to figure things out. It is a touching story that tugs at the heart strings throughout. It’s a wonderful story that caught me by surprise, generally being more into action-driven movies, but there’s still a lot of excitement in films like these when they are done properly, and this one most certainly is.

Yuki is an exuberant girl, while Ame is a quiet and reserved young boy, but as they grow they go through many changes.

All of the characters felt well imagined and as lifelike as any out there. Hana is a mother who spends most of the movie uncertain, afraid, and desperate, with her loving nature, gives a realistic duality to her as she tries to give her children the life they deserve while keeping them from danger. Yuki and Ame are always growing and developing as babies and children, and the movie ends with both of them starting to mature and strive out on their own to face the world. One of the great parts is the paths each of the children walk, as they struggle between their human and animal sides.

This is a story about family more than anything else, so action junkies better just stay away.

It’s how the themes are carried forward and how the movie follows this story through to a bittersweet and well written end that makes this movie so brilliant. By the end, as anyone would expect, the children are growing older and taking the first steps into adulthood, which is bittersweet because Hana has to begin the process of letting the children she put so much time and care into go out and experience the world without her. That’s what makes this such a well-written work: the real feelings that we get as the audience mimic Hana’s as we’ve followed her journey from meeting her love, to losing him and carrying on alone, to letting Yuki and Ame gradually leave home and start their own lives, it’s a very real sensation that is felt by both the characters involved and us as the audience.

This movie has some amazing visuals that rival classic Miyazaki films

In short, this is a brilliant movie. It might not satisfy the action itch, if that’s what you’re into, but it makes up for it with brilliant characters and an emotional story that tells us what struggles parents go through as they raise their children and eventually have to let go so those children can go out into the world. The animation is all beautifully done and almost every frame looks like it’s own piece of art. Real time and care went into every aspect of this movie, and it really pays off. So go get lost in this story, and experience it all for yourself.

Good:

-Great characters all around

-Excellent animation and visuals all around.

-Very real themes and messages that anyone can relate to on some level.

Bad:

-This isn’t a real mark against it, since it isn’t an action flick, but it can be a little lacking in the action and excitement department. This is a character drama, so don’t come looking for the Michael Bay experience.

Scully Rating: 10 out of 10

How I Met Your Mother (Season 9)

By: Robert Murphy

(May contain some spoilers, you have been warned)

Like many of you out there, I tuned in each week for many fall shows but none excited me more than the final season to the show How I Met Your Mother and Barney and Robin prepare to tie the knot and get married. On top of this we finally get to meet the long speculated and hinted at mother and the future Mrs. Mosby that Ted’s been looking for since the first season. All of it comes together in a series of misadventures in Farhampton during Barney and Robin’s wedding weekend with many family dramas, shocking reveals and glass shattering so let’s dig right in.

For starters I loved the show through all it’s seasons and for the most part this final one as well but looking at it as a whole it has many issues to it for me that came together once I watched the shows final episode that I’ll talk about later. The whole season takes place as I said in Farhampton over a very long weekend, episodes sort of take place at different parts of each day leading up to the wedding. Now while this is a bit of stretch, it is exceedingly well done with the classic How I Met Your Mother humor we have seen before. Perhaps one of my favorite characters of this season had to be Lilly (Alyson Hannigan) who has always been a fiery character but even more so this season with her new affinity for breaking glasses with her bare hands when she is angry. Then there was our newest character, the mother, Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti) was a great addition to the show and performed amazingly. Initially when she was first introduced last season I wasn’t a fan but as she started to appear in various episodes throughout the show I fell in love with her as a character, funny, spunky and weird just like her future husband.

The mother in fact appears in many of my favorite episodes of the final season especially when they involved going back to her past and moments where Ted came into her life. Some of these moments include when her roommate Cindy told her all about Ted Mosby after her date with him and finding out all his quirks and then finding out she’s just as quirky. Another moment similar to this happens when Tracy is on the train to Farhampton and helps Lilly out when she’s freaking out about not seeing baby Marvin in weeks. This gives us more insight about her and how much her and Ted are alike, specifically when Lilly recounts how she hates Ted’s driving gloves and finding out she has her own pair of driving gloves just like them. The mother perhaps makes up many of my favorite moments throughout this final season and saves most of it for me.

Now many of you who have seen the concluding episode to the show may be wondering what I have to say about it and I fall under the category of not agreeing with the decision the writers made. Many people have there opinions on it and I just couldn’t go for it mainly because it debunks the whole final season of the show and this is where I find all my fault with it as a whole. Needless to say that the main focus of the last season was all about the wedding of Robin and Barney but the last episode completely contradicts that in a matter of seconds and makes all the build up not worth it. What I mean by this is that everybody has their happy endings one minute and its thrown upside down the next, the new happy couple is married and starts their lives, Ted has his new wife and will have kids on its way and then Lily and Marshall are well still the same which is happily together but then a monkey wrench is thrown in and it all changes. I look forward to buying the DVD version of the series and seeing the alternate ending that the writers have said will be on there and hopefully being satisfied with the other way the show could of went.

In conclusion, if things had ended differently I could of really loved this last season of How I Met Your Mother but it didn’t, now I tried my hardest to explain myself without spoiling it and hopefully you’ll see what I mean when you watch it for yourself. It was the fact the I felt 90% of what the last season was all about had gotten thrown away once we find out what happens in the end and you know what I don’t like what happens with Ted either who gives a final voice over in the end to conclude everything with his kids (bet they need to go to the bathroom after sitting there so long.) What I did like about the show though was the mother and finally getting her story in all of this, getting to know her and how she ticks all leading till the moment she meets Ted.

Good:

- Still have your solid laughs we’ve always had in the show

- Tracy McConnell beat my expectations to a pulp with her great performance as the mother

Bad:

- The final episode was ultimately a disappointment for me as it undoes everything that the final season was about in my eyes

- The finale was already written before the rest of the season so I feel that everything was  plopped in so you can just get to the end

Scully Rating: 6.0 out of 10