Erased
Erased, known in Japan as Boku dake ga Inai Machi, or The Town Without Me, is a Japanese anime fantasy thriller which is based on a manga published in Young Ace magazine between 2012 and 2016. The anime adaptation aired on TV between January and March of 2016 and a live-action film was released in late March of 2016. A spin-off novel series was released in November of 2015 and a spin-off manga began in June of 2016.
The plot follows Satoru Fujinuma who has a special ability which sends him back in time just before life-threatening incidents in order to prevent them from happening. After his mother is murdered, he must go back in time to prevent it from happening, as well as a series of kidnappings and murders from his childhood.
The central concept of Erased is the butterfly effect, an idea originally applied to weather, and eventually to science. The term describes the dependence of certain conditions wherein a small change in one time has the possibility to result in catastrophic differences in later times. In other words, one word can change the course of history. This theory is a general theme of science fiction that is used perfectly throughout the show.
This short series would make a wonderful text for adolescent learning because contains a highly complex theory and subject matter, but it is presented in such a way that makes the material easy to digest and understand for young adult learners. The central themes in the series: courage, belief (in oneself and in others), friendship, loneliness, time travel, determination, etc. are ones that students would generally find in young adult literature, while also addressing heavier topics such as abuse, anger, guilt/shame, and identity. A superficial type of introduction such as this to these topics helps students, especially younger middle or early secondary level learners, become acquainted with the kinds of discussions they will get into as they mature through school and potentially post secondary education. In particular, this text would be extremely well suited for middle level students who are struggling to find their identities both personally and within the larger group, as well as because it is in a format that many of them will be familiar with. This series is definitely one that I would recommend to any of my students, and something I would consider using to teach from in my classroom.
The plot follows Satoru Fujinuma who has a special ability which sends him back in time just before life-threatening incidents in order to prevent them from happening. After his mother is murdered, he must go back in time to prevent it from happening, as well as a series of kidnappings and murders from his childhood.
The central concept of Erased is the butterfly effect, an idea originally applied to weather, and eventually to science. The term describes the dependence of certain conditions wherein a small change in one time has the possibility to result in catastrophic differences in later times. In other words, one word can change the course of history. This theory is a general theme of science fiction that is used perfectly throughout the show.
This short series would make a wonderful text for adolescent learning because contains a highly complex theory and subject matter, but it is presented in such a way that makes the material easy to digest and understand for young adult learners. The central themes in the series: courage, belief (in oneself and in others), friendship, loneliness, time travel, determination, etc. are ones that students would generally find in young adult literature, while also addressing heavier topics such as abuse, anger, guilt/shame, and identity. A superficial type of introduction such as this to these topics helps students, especially younger middle or early secondary level learners, become acquainted with the kinds of discussions they will get into as they mature through school and potentially post secondary education. In particular, this text would be extremely well suited for middle level students who are struggling to find their identities both personally and within the larger group, as well as because it is in a format that many of them will be familiar with. This series is definitely one that I would recommend to any of my students, and something I would consider using to teach from in my classroom.
"contains a highly complex theory and subject matter..." I love that this text can do this for us. We not only want to know more about the story, but we're curious too about the real "science" behind the story. What is the butterfly effect. What is the theory? Who created it? What does it mean. Lots of great interdisciplinary stuff here.
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