Erased: A Not-Cringey Live Action Adaptation

And Should You Watch It

Nothing really beats out the OG anime/manga side of things. It's almost an unspoken rule, but like most rules, it is meant to be bent, beaten, and broken to our heart's content. That being said, there are minor ***SPOILERS*** ahead so read ahead at your own peril.

I absolutely adored the anime version of Kei Sanbe's time-traveling drama-mystery galore.

It's dark and creepy, but also hopeful and so goddamn inspirational with how Satoru develops as a character. Gah it's the perfect way to start off the new year.

I'm kidding. That was sarcasm. This anime made my skin crawl under my bed and my heart beat faster than if I was running a marathon, and I don't run unless my life is in danger, BUT THAT IS THE THING. I was so scared for all of these characters that I straight up binged this anime without leaving my room. And I was able to experience this same sort of nerve-wracking fear on the crest of 2018 with Netflix, the pinnacle of badly thought-out plots and shows with a budget for mildly famous Viners but no T-shirts.

I'll be honest with you, this promo poster looks sick af and makes you do a double-take if you see it in the mall, passing by the cute baristas at Starbucks where you can pretend you're eyeing the baristas but it's really this amaaaazing weeby poster. The story itself is good, and stays true to how the anime originally goes on.

Now I haven't had the time in the last 7 hours where I binged the live-action to go and devour the manga, but if it's significantly different from the anime or from the live-action, please pleaaaase drop a comment and let me know! Or maybe drop a link for me to read it as well

I actually enjoyed this Netflix version. Which is saying something. More on that maybe another time...but yes! This live-action version did its anime counterpart justice and then some. The child actors are wonderful and emotional. I fell in love with just how amazing a human and most definitely a mother Sachiko is, which makes her death in the original timeline all the more painful.

I appreciate the live-action not attempting to copy the anime bit by bit, frame by frame. It makes for an awkward adaptation that just isn't believable. The Netflix version really took it on itself to represent Sanbe's anime, but it also took the liberty to be a little more realistic now that it is lacking anime-physics. The ending is also slightly different, but honestly so much more enjoyable as the loose ends are tied up because Netflix made random @$$ episode divisions (some episodes were 25 minutes, others were 31. Consistency is not ) instead of anime's hard cut at 22minutes plus some loose change. It fit a happy, more believable ending. Which I hecka enjoyed. The what-happens-next is answered and by golly do they deliver.

The story sticks with you, the fear is real, this terror is only mutiplied because some sick f**k is targeting children.

Pure, innocent, scared, vulnerable children. As if that unknown antagonist isn't pathetic enough, we know he succeeds because we are in 2006 and these deaths occurred in the 1980s.

These feelings don't change from adaptation to adaptation, but I still recommend watching Netflix's live-action version of "Erased." It's worth it.