Satoru (Tatsuya Fujiwara) has the ability to travel back in time to prevent disasters happening. Unable to control this, he must look for anything out of place in order to stop the impending tragedies. He finds himself transported back in time 18 years, to his primary school in Hokkaido, before one of his classmates Kayo (Rio Suzuki) was murdered. The young Satoru (Tsubasa Nakagawa), investigates clues and tries to work out what happened, not only to prevent Kayo’s death, but also to prevent his mother’s death in the present after she is targetted by the same killer. He is helped by his classmates in the past and his pizzeria co-worker Airi (Kasumi Arimura) in the present.
Based on the manga series by Kei Sanbe, with a script by Noriko Goto, “Erased” is a fantastical time-travel film with a dark central tragedy. The whimsical tone of much of the drama is in stark contrast to the paedophilia and murder that lie at the heart of the mystery. For the most part the film manages to pull off these disparate tones, but the final moments leave an uncomfortable feeling as it attempts to affix a hopeful, if bittersweet, ending onto a desperately bleak situation involving multiple murders and child abuse. The time-travel mechanism that drives the narrative goes unexplained, simply being something that Satoru has from the beginning. This is a minor problem as the mystery is compelling and well-crafted, giving us plenty of time to enjoy the characters and excellent performances. Fujiwara Tatsuya and Kasumi Arimura are fun as the co-workers, and Tsubasa Nakagawa, who plays young Satoru with the wisdom of his older self does an incredible job at making this believable.
The film’s idea that someone could travel back in time to right a historic wrong is alluring and Satoru’s mission manages to maintain the tension throughout. It is interesting to see a child tackling this dangerous and difficult criminal case, albeit one who is inhabited by the wit and wisdom of his older self. The film also has a strong message about it being the responsibility of everyone, no matter how seemingly powerless, to prevent these tragedies from happening. Forgoing the usual grimy basements and dark lurking figures, the film highlights the sad reality that these crimes often happen in broad daylight. We see an attempted kidnapping from a playground, where the bright, colourful surrounds masks the dark reality going on just out of sight. “Erased” is a unique take on the amateur detective, managing to balance the investigation with time-travel and mystery.
