The popular 2016 Japanese anime series, Erased (Boku Dake ga Inai Machi - 僕だけがいない街) based on the manga by Kei Sanbe, was adapted into a live-action series just one year later in 2017. Anime can be very difficult to translate into live-action due to the inherent differences between the two mediums, but Erased is one of the best live-action manga/anime adaptations ever.
Some live-action anime/manga and cartoon adaptations are faithful, like Alita: Battle Angel, while others stray so far away from the source material that they become unrecognizable to the source material, like The Last Airbender. While there can be no justification for M. Night Shyamalan’s crimes against the Avatar, it is fair to say that, in a general sense, choosing which elements to keep and which to omit when adapting anime or cartoons to live-action is never easy. Faithfulness to the source material is always important, but some aspects of an anime simply do not translate to a live-action context. Erased works hard to strike that balance of adhering to the spirit of the anime without making the live actors appear awkwardly cartoony.
Satoru Fujinuma (Yûki Furukawa) is a 29-year-old struggling manga artist, who can travel to the past, but it is a skill he cannot control. After his mother (Tomoka Kurotani) is murdered and he's framed as the murderer, he suddenly finds himself back as a 5th grader in 1988, the year a series of child murders rocked his hometown in Hokkaido. Satoru believes he has been sent back to the past to prevent his classmates from dying. Overall the plot and characters remain consistent with the anime series, but there are some interesting differences.
The anime begins with a more ominous, melodramatic feeling, whereas the live-action show opens in a more somber, flat tone. Live-action Satoru is not as edgy or sarcastic as his anime counterpart. The difference is not particularly striking, since they deliver similar dialogue especially in the first episode. The adjustment to Satoru’s character is a very well-thought-out, deliberate one. The condescending, chip on shoulder Satoru from the anime is amusing and relatable as a cartoon, but duplicating this exact tone in the live-action pilot would make Satoru just seem off-putting and mean. This is especially true of his dynamics with Airi (Mio Yûki) and his mother.
In addition to tweaking the characters’ personas, the reactions and expressions are toned down from the anime as well. Many live-action adaptations try to retain zany, over-the-top anime antics, but it just doesn’t come across the right way when a real person flails their arms and screams like a cartoon. Erased does a good job of keeping the spirit of the scene consistent with the anime while adjusting the dialogue and mannerisms to a believable live-action equivalent. Fans of the anime will also remember the film reel graphic element that is used all throughout the series. The animated series was well served by this visual theme and it fits into the premise. In the live-action series, however, this element is completely omitted, as it would have likely felt too gimmicky in that context.
Adapting a story to a new medium is never perfect. The live-action series made a lot of good decisions, but some changes may have been unnecessary. While the anime was made into 12 22-minute episodes, the length of the live-action episodes is more varied, ranging from 26 to 32 minutes. Some scenes from the anime were cut, while other scenes added. The ending of the series is much longer and drawn out in the live-action, but the anime ending is actually more exciting.
Despite the big changes in the circumstances surrounding the ending of the series, the general way it ends for each of the characters is still the same. Even though each adaptation took different roads at times, they still managed to reach the same destination. Both series are an excellent binge - and for those who have seen both, it’s never too late to read the manga.
Starring Yûki Furukawa, Reo Uchikawa, Rinka Kakihara, Tomoka Kurotani, Mio Yûki and Shigeyuki Totsugi, Erased is streaming on Netflix.
