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 

Danganronpa: The Animation

By: Robert Murphy

OBJECTION! Oops sorry, that is an entirely different courtroom catch phrase that I love and thought about while watching the entirety of this latest anime. Danganronpa: The Animation, is an animated adaptation of the video game story where fifteen highly gifted teens have been trapped inside a prestigious school for kids the excel in some field or another. This ranges from normal accomplishments such as "Super High School Swimmer" or "Super High School Baseball Player" to the more outrageous accomplishments such as "Super High School Biker Gang Leader" and "Super High School Heir." Regardless of all this though they're now trapped in a school with no way out except for one: kill one of your new classmates and you will be allowed to leave. It is a tale of mystery solving and murder, while the situation they're in is semi-peaceful, the deck seems to be pretty loaded and all the cards are held by their strange new principal. 

You would think that after so many  years of watching anime that I would cease being surprised by the odd ball characters that come out of the anime world but while watching Danganronpa, I was once again amazed at what characters can sometimes look like. This isn't to say that these characters are bad in any way, far from it actually but I often wonder what goes through the mind of someone who makes a female body builder character named Sakura. Irregardless, I found almost all the characters unique and appealing in their own way, despite how short a time I get to know each one of them, you know because of the murdering and all. I was even surprised at how much I liked the main character, Naiegi, who at first glance looks like a rather dull and plain sort of guy but proved to be enjoyable as the story goes on. Perhaps my favorite character though has to be the principal of the school, Monokuma, a robotic stuffed bear whose half white and half black and a demented little fellow at that. He pulls the strings through most of the story and has a trash bag for a mouth, he relishes torturing the students at every turn and always has some sarcastic quip to egg you on. 

This though was where my fun ended for the show unfortunately, after such a great set up and a unique brand of characters to watch, the rest just falls flat on it's face. Each episode is part of an arc for the story and each arc only has three parts/episodes to it which boils down to a peaceful moment before a classmate murder, an investigation period to look for clues and then a class room trial to figure out who is responsible. This in turn makes the whole story go extremely fast paced and does not leave much time for you to get to know any of the characters. Almost immediately characters start to die off and the cast gets widdled away at so there really isn't much to be seen of them. Then there is the clue collecting period which can often be just glimpses of everyone moving about the school and finding various blood spatter and evidence to the crime that happened. There's barely any time for you to figure out for yourself what happened or to figure out what clues there are before it is time to rush to the trial room to vote on the murderer. It's just too much to accomplish in the time of one episode and perhaps would have been better with more time or more episodes for the show. 

As I mentioned earlier too, the character do not get the screen time they need to make you feel invested in their deaths once they start to be taken out. It is interesting to see what has turned these young kids into murderers and their reasons behind it but then they're gone in a blink of an eye. Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole affair is the way in which they get taken out by Monokuma as each execution is tailored to the individual. Monokuma does do quite a bit to get them to try and hurt one another such as saying he'll spill their most intimate secrets or offering then ten billion yen as a reward upon graduation. He's quite the evil little bundle of hate and that's probably why I love him so much but the rest just don't get the time they need for me to feel sorry for what becomes of them in the execution or the fact they got taken out by their new friends. 

Danganronpa: The Animation really is a poor substitute for the game that it portrays in my mind as the game did a far better job of letting you be involved in the murder solving and feeling bad for your classmates who are dying around you. Monokuma is probably the best part to the show with his foul mouth humor and trickery, he easily steals the show, what little there was to steal anyway. Things do start of interesting and the premise did look promising but in the end, nothing pans out the way it should and you'll only want to watch it if you're a fan of the game it is based around.

Good:

- The characters are unique and interesting when you first meet them

- Monokuma is ridiculous, love the demented little bear

Bad:

- The story is incredibly fast paced 

- There is no time for you to become invested in the characters or their deaths

- There is also no time for you to try and solve the mystery yourself, clues are found incredibly fast and then it's off to the trial 

Scully Rating: 3.0 out of 10 

In the News: Highschool of the Dead Manga

By: Robert Murphy

Hey all you “Highschool of the Dead” fans, have I got some good news for all of you who have eagerly awaited the next manga chapter to the series. As many of you may or may not know, the manga had come to a stop after the writer, Daisuke Satō, went on a hiatus for the past two years but hey, he had a lot on his plate with his work on games, novels and other manga. As a big fan of not only the show, but the manga, I personally, as well as a few other Scullynerdreview staff members are excited to see the manga getting another chapter and hey more chapters getting done will get us closer to a second season of “HoTD”. The chapter is chapter 30 or Act 30 and will be available April 9^th in Japan and in digital format so it should be available for all viewers to enjoy. Hope you are all excited about the news and keep on checking on Scullynerdreviews for anime, news, games and all things nerdy. Murphy out.