I don’t know if you’ve ever had this happen to you, where you watch, listen or read something that you know nothing about, but it seems to bring with it a message that seems made for you. A message you needed to hear. A message that really connects with you. A message that changes your state of mind. This is what happened to me with the anime Erased.

Truth is, it’s been bloody ages since I last watched an Anime. In 2013 I was obsessed with them. Persona 4 Golden got me into Anime. After finishing that game I found out that a P4G anime existed – I had to watch it! I did and it kick started an obsession with Anime that lasted for months. Every day I would sit and watch at least one episode before going to bed, it’s during this time that I started drawing as I’d often find myself pausing the anime to sketch out cool characters or interesting poses. Somewhere along the line my art went down a more realistic route and before I knew it, I cut videogames and anime out of my life to focus on drawing.

It was nice to return to an Anime after so much time away. I can’t remember where I found out about Erased, but I know it was on a ‘How to Draw Manga” podcast I listened to back in February. They sounded so excited by this anime that I made a mental note of it. I had forgotten about it in all honesty, but this is where it gets odd, the past few weeks I’ve been going through a tough time mentally due to changing hormones etc, and for some unknown reason, the thought popped into my head – ‘watch Erased’. Where did it come from? No idea, but without thinking I loaded up Crunchyroll and started watching it. Less than a week later and all twelve episodes were finished.

Oh my, did this anime speak to me. It’s as if it was made for me right now. I’m sure the universe knew this and made me watch it. I won’t spoil it, no spoilers here at all! This is one of my favourite anime of all time, joining the likes of Madoka Magica, Paranoia Agent, Perfect Blue, 5 centimeters per second and Abenobashi Magical Shopping District.

The story is about a man named Satoru Fujinuma, whose gifted / cursed, with being taken back in time random amounts of time, at random moments. Always just before something bad is about to happen, he has to work out what it is, so as to stop it from happening. Almost like an anime Quantum Leap :)

That’s as far as I’m going to go with the story, to say anything else would spoil it. I’ll just list some key words that explain my love for this show and why it resonates with me so much.

COURAGE | FRIENDSHIP | FAITH |
DESTINY | DETERMINATION | TRUTH | STORY | CHARACTERS

This show made me cry, the characters are up there with the Persona 4 crew in terms of being believable, likeable and relatable characters. I love this show so much I can’t even explain it! I don’t know why the desire to watch it entered my thoughts, but I am so glad it did.

Persona 4 Golden changed my life, it allowed me to accept myself as being Transgender, I have a feeling Erased may well be one of the most important things I ever watch. The message of this show will stay with me forever. It is just what I needed to hear in my life right now. For that, I am so thankful to Saturo and his friends.

You can Watch the whole series of Erased on Crunchy Roll