Erased: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Erased: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Erased is a science-fiction mystery. The anime series is based on the original manga written and illustrated by creator Kei Sanbe. Produced by Kenta Suzuki (The Promised Neverland, Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku), Taku Matsuo (Penguin Highway, The House of the Lost on the Cape), the animation comes from production studio A-1 Pictures (anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Fairy Tail).

From executive producers Daiji Horiuchi (Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon, My First Girlfriend is a Gal), Kenji Shimizu (Your Lie in April, Psycho-Pass), Masayuki Aoyagi (Bloom Into You, Ranking of Kings), Masuo Ueda (anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Terror in Resonance), Takeshi Sakamoto, Yoshio Yokozawa (Assassination Classroom, The Empire of Corpses), Yūichi Nakao (Psycho-Pass, Terror in Resonance), and Yutaka Ishikawa (Your Lie in April, anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day), Erased is a compelling drama with a unique spin on science-fiction storytelling. Featuring voice performances by Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Tao Tsuchiya, and Aoi Yūki. The opening theme song is by Masafumi Goto (OP) and Takahiro Yamada (OP). The ending theme song by Yuki Kajiura.

Satoru Fujinuma (Shinnosuke Mitsushima) is 29-years-old. Struggling to get by and living life as a manga artist attempting to make a name for himself, Satoru does what he can to get by while working as a pizza delivery man. Yet despite his struggles and woes as a poor and struggling artist, Satoru also manages to excel with a special and rare ability. The gift known as “Revival” belongs to Satoru. The incredible gift of Revival allows for Satoru to travel back through time and stop life-altering incidents from ever happening in the first place. It’s almost like Satoru is a super-hero in disguise. Yet a sequence of tragic and disturbing events may cause things to go a different route – one that Satoru might not be able to fix with time-travel.

The character designs by Keigo Sasaki (Lonely Castle in the Mirror, The Seven Deadly Sins) are excellent and add a lot to the series production. The design work of Sasaki is first-rate. The characters on the series are brought to life with these superb design elements.

The animation on Erased is stellar. The art direction by Masaru Satō (Armitage III, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing) makes a notable impression – as does the chief animation direction of Keigo Sasaki (Lonely Castle in the Mirror, Blue Exorcist). The animation looks lovely and the sense of style given to Erased is remarkably unique and distinctive. The art style works wonders for the production and an organic sense of originality is felt with the animation. The cinematography by Toshiaki Aoshima (Silver Spoon, Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku) makes an impression as well and provides a sense of eloquence with crisp cinematographic visuals adding something special to the series.

The score composed by Yuki Kajiura (Sword Art Online, Noir) is one of the best elements of the entire series. Kajiura is a brilliant composer and someone with such an enormous amount of talent. The composer is a brilliant artist in the anime industry. The score provides good music for the drama elements alongside the science-fiction undertones. The score works well for the story.

Written by Taku Kishimoto (Silver Spoon, Fruits Basket), Erased is a compelling and thought- provoking anime with an interesting concept. Screenwriter Kishimoto has fun with the story and with the series characters. A lot of neat ideas are at play with the storyline. A good effort by Kishimoto.

Directed by Tomohiko Ito (Occult Academy, Sword Art Online), Erased is an intelligent and compelling creation – more so than some might expect to find. The series has a fun concept and smart filmmaking. The end result is something with a nice sense of ambition. Audiences will want to check out the series for this reason alone. Ito has a compelling style and the filmmaking impresses.

Erased: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray from Anime Limited, Erased is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen and 1.78:1 widescreen. The production alternates between the two different aspect ratios. Some sequences are in the anime standard of 1.78:1 (used on most modern television productions) and some scenes are in the wider scope ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen (to give these sequences a more cinematic and ambitious presentation style).

The alternating ratios certainly makes a significant impact on the presentation – some scenes will be one ratio and then transition in the next scene to the other ratio. The picture-quality is excellent on the release with a superb high-definition presentation. The video quality is exceptional. The colorful animation is vibrant and beautifully reproduced on the release. Line art and background animation impresses in spades. The encode is excellent and capably handles the series aesthetically. Distributor Anime Limited provides a good bit-rate and encode quality for the release.

Erased: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English uncompressed PCM 2.0 in 24-bit depth and Japanese uncompressed PCM 2.0 (with English subtitles) in 24-bit depth. The lossless audio encode quality is excellent on the release. Dialogue sounds crisp and clear during the presentation. The sound effects and sound design are superbly reproduced. The stereo sound imaging is engaging to listen to. Exceptional lossless encoding with 24 bit depth high-resolution audio.  

Erased: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc 1:

Episode 1 Audio Commentary

Episode 6 Audio Commentary

Promo Videos (HD, 5:02)

Textless Opening (HD, 1:31)

Textless Closing (HD, 1:31)

Disc 2:

Episode 7 Audio Commentary

Episode 8 Audio Commentary

Episode 11 Audio Commentary

Episode 12 Audio Commentary

Textless Openings (HD, 3:02)

Episode 12 Textless Closing

Trailers (HD, 6:33)

Erased: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Erased is a compelling and thought-provoking anime series. The production has a number of ambitious qualities. The animation on the series is excellent. The filmmaking is intelligent and the production is enhanced by the production team. The Blu-ray release features an excellent video and audio presentation alongside a selection of extras. Recommended.