Boku Dake ga Inai Machi (Erased): Season 1/ Episode 10 “Joy” – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Overview

All heroes face great adversity and, at least once, they must face possible defeat at the hands of their greatest adversary. Said adversary is finally revealed. Did you guess who they were?

Episode Summary (with Commentary)

Kenya, Satoru, and Hiromi are finding it a bit hard to befriend Aya. She isn’t into comic books, doesn’t seem like she necessarily wants company, after all, she has a busy schedule of cram school and piano and doesn’t seem to like what the boys do. In fact, she thinks their weirdos so it seems like the fight for her friendship would have been a serious uphill battle. That is, until Kazu, the chubby one of the group not part of the main detective team, ends up jumping in and doing beyond befriending her. From what it seems, he ends up dating her. Leading to the thought, considering it has been one or two weeks since Kayo went to live with her grandmother, why hasn’t Satoru called her?

The rescue of Aya aside, those who have read past overview/ reviews of this series may recall that there is this constant thought about the killer simply finding replacements. One of which seemingly would have been Yanagihara, the girl who accused Kayo of stealing. After all, that event left her ostracized, and looking real jealous, and since that moment she has seemed not desperate for attention, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind it.

Something we learn the killer was counting on. For the killer has been watching Satoru’s moves, taking note of who he has been helping, and noticing the coincidences. To the point that for clarification, the killer decides to test their theory by using Yanagihara as bait. Leading to the reveal that sensei Yashiro is the killer. As for why? Well, that isn’t revealed, despite Yashiro having a James Bond villain moment in which he says far more than he should about his plans.

But perhaps something really worth thinking about is why, in the year 2006, was Yashiro hunting Satoru in the original fate line? Could it be he saw Satoru, then a lonely boy with only Yuuki as his friend, as the one who got away? Considering how he acts toward Satoru toward the end of the episode, could he perhaps feels outsmarted by Satoru as a child, even in the original fate line, and that is why, more than 18 years later, he decides to frame him for murder? I mean, while the reveal isn’t shocking, it doesn’t really answer a lot of questions.

Things To Note

The episode ends with Satoru seemingly in a life or death situation with him stuck in a seatbelt with one of Yashiro’s throwaway cars sinking into a river. We see the film reels that have been seen throughout the series get cut up and it seems the memories Satoru would have made may no longer exist. Pair that with Satoru’s mom being nowhere near, and that leaves you hoping that the place where Yashiro planned to murder Satoru, before retiring from being a killer and finding a new city, was near the hideout Satoru and his friends have. Otherwise, I guess only Yuuki could maybe save him. That is if the show doesn’t decide to do something truly shocking and have him killed off.

Highlights

Killer Is Finally Revealed

Another Quality Cliffhanger

The Series Has Setup The Final Episodes To Be Highly Anticipated

We, For A Moment, Get To See Kayo Is Happy With Her Grandmother

On The Fence

I don’t feel like the series really built up enough possible culprits to make it anyone but Yashiro. Granted, Yuuki’s was named as one of the people, and was found guilty of the crime in the original fate line, but we so rarely see Yuuki for him to be a real suspect. Leaving really only Kenya and with his being a little weird, but not possible murderer type weird, the series didn’t strongly push you toward many directions. So with Yashiro being one of the few consistent adults we have seen, all signs pushed to him. Now, I won’t pretend I have necessarily been thinking all along it was him but, in retrospect, who else could it have been?

Collected Quote(s)

The essence of good deeds and evil deeds is the same. They’re both no more than a person’s actions to make up for a defect in themselves.

—           “Joy.”  Boku Dake ga Inai Machi (Erased)