Erased: Why the Anime's Ending Is So Controversial for Manga Readers

Created by Kei Sanbe, Erased is a beloved manga that received an anime adaptation while it was still in publication. Like a lot of anime that air simultaneously to the source material, the endings don’t match, because the studio couldn’t predict what Sanbe had in mind for the conclusion. That made Erased‘s conclusion controversial.

Erased can be binged in a single weekend, which is more than enough time for fans of the manga to question the anime’s plot. In the manga, Satoru can travel back in time to fix a tragedy. Prior to the main conflict of Erased, he mainly goes back a few minutes in time. However, that changes after his mother’s death, and the 29-year-old is thrown back to his elementary-school days to prevent the murder of a classmate. The manga and the anime both follow those main beats until Satoru returns to the present. That’s when the two versions diverge in significant ways.

Waking up from a 15-year coma, Satoru goes through physical therapy, where he meets a young cancer patient, Kumi. His memories about Yashiro — the killer — and his life before the manga’s main events are also locked away until he reunites with Airi. It’s around then that Yashiro comes back into the picture with a plot to “kill” Kumi and frame Satoru.

Thankfully, Satoru, Kenya, Sawada and Sachiko devise a plan to keep Kumi safe while they are on a camping trip. For several chapters, Yashiro and Satoru set each other up until their final confrontation on a bridge, and it’s revealed Yashiro had no plans to murder Kumi, simply wanting to draw out Satoru to kill him. After Satoru tells Yashiro how he’s been ahead of him, his former teacher lights the bridge on fire. He intends to die with Satoru, but Satoru jumps off the bridge with him, sending them plummeting into the lake, where Kenya, Sawada, Sachiko and Kumi await.

How the Erased Anime Adaptation Ends

In the anime, Yashiro and Satoru’s confrontation is restricted to the hospital. After progressing with his physical therapy, some paparazzi try to take photos of Satoru, but Yashiro destroys the footage. He also directly addresses Satoru, as opposed to watching from afar. Later, Yashiro takes Satoru up to the roof, and Satoru reveals he remembers everything. The audience also learns he told Kenya and Hiromi the killer is Yashiro.

Yashiro demands to know how Satoru knew his future, and he tells Satoru that he sabotaged Kumi’s operation so it’d look like Satoru killed her. He also plans to push Satoru off the roof so people think he killed himself ; however, Satoru pieces together that Yashiro has yet to kill him because he needs him in his life, which Yashiro confirms before letting him fall. Prepared to kill himself as well, Yashiro discovers Satoru organized this whole thing. Satoru survives, Yashiro’s arrested, and Kumi is rescued, thus ending Yashiro’s game.

Why the Erased Anime Ending Is So Controversial

While the beats are the same in both versions, with Yashiro being brought to justice, the key deaths being prevented, and Satoru living a more fulfilled life, the anime rushed its ending. The adaptation has only 12 episodes, and dedicates two to Satoru’s return and his final confrontation with Yashiro. Meanwhile, the manga is 44 chapters, and Saturo’s return to the present starts in Chapter 33, with Yashiro not coming back until Chapter 37.

That allows the manga to focus more on Satoru’s rehabilitation, to make the return of his memories more organic, and to set up some of the key variables for the final confrontation. It also extends the confrontation, giving audiences one more cat-and-mouse game between Satoru and Yashiro. In short, the manga’s end shows how clever these two are, while the anime does more telling.

Plus, how Yashiro uses Kumi differs greatly. In the manga, Satoru believes for several chapters that Kumi’s life is at stake, and he works hard to prevent that. The anime, on the other hand, reveals that Kumi’s life is actually in danger in the midst of the final confrontation. The manga’s approach highlights the heroic side of Satoru and the scheming side of Yashiro more so than the anime.

The ending takes a lot of liberties, but it’s understandable why. Like Soul Eater and Fullmetal Alchemist, Erased‘s anime was happening while the manga was in publication, so by the time the anime needed to end, the manga’s conclusion was unknown. The anime had to create its own conclusion, which can work well for those who haven’t read manga, especially since it still gives Satoru a happy ending and addresses the complex relationship he has with Yashiro in a short amount of time. However, for some fans of original source material, seeing this murder mystery condescended so much didn’t do Erased‘s plot justice.