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A review by ablotial
Erased, Volume 3 by Kei Sanbe
3.0
You saw that correctly - I picked this book up after I put the kids to bed last night and stayed up until I finished it. For all that, it wasn't nearly as good as the second one, and not even as good as the first. But, it was still enjoyable and I'll continue reading the next volume.
Unfortunately lots of major spoilers here in the things I didn't like, so I'll see you on the flipside...
The whole chapter from the teacher's point of view explaining his backstory annoyed me. I don't think we really needed an explanation of WHY he was doing it -- some people are just bad. I feel like in some way the author was trying to make us feel empathy or understanding for him? Sure, he's a bad guy, but look at what happened to him as a kid? It took me far longer than it should have to understand what was going on with the missing hamster seeds and what his motivation was for killing his brother -- THAT is the kind of subtlety I am talking about in the last paragraph... don't need to come right out and say it, let the reader figure out what is going on!
Finally, the coma. Ugh. I mean, ok, fine obviously don't want Satoru to die. But I feel like it's kind of a cop out. They could have fished him out and had him be out for a week and then back and still have forgotten everything. But 15 years? So far, at least, I don't understand the motivation for that (except I guess to give the killer time to move around and kill more kids)... or just stay there and keep teaching through the school year - had Sotoru woken up, he'd have to run sooner which would look very suspicious given the circumstances... ok so fine, Sotoru is out for a year. Blah. Maybe in the next book it will reveal why he needs to be an adult but I don't like it.
Also the "files" Kenya made. The writing seems very child-like and not written by someone who is an adult lawyer. But he already writes "15 years" as the length of time of the coma... which indicates that it was written recently... which then the writing style annoys me. Just to be nitpicky.
What _did_ I like? Character development of the kids, Kenya in particular. Learning a little more about Yuuki-san and his father. Watching the kids become friends with people outside their social norms and having it work out makes me very happy. Seeing the friendship attempt with the slightly older girl floundering but then work out because of one of the more unlikely members of their group. Everyone has a place, it's great. Even the teacher and many of the lessons he imparts to the children. And Satoru's mom is still awesome. And I loved seeing Satoru slip up and mention things from the future that he shouldn't and almost give himself away.
This is still a good addition to the series, even if it isn't quite the way I would have done it. I am looking forward to the conclusion.
Unfortunately lots of major spoilers here in the things I didn't like, so I'll see you on the flipside...
Spoiler
I thought the revelation of the teacher's guilt was far too obvious. One of the things I liked about the first two volumes was the subtlety of figuring out what was going on. But even before it was officially revealed, I felt like I was being banged over the head with it. He was on my list of suspects from the get go, but I really think [a:Kei Sanbe|964024|Kei Sanbe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1563209447p2/964024.jpg] could have eliminated most of these obvious clues and still had it be believable but more of a surprise than it was. Just having him "show up" at the hockey game the same way he did in a few other places would have been perfect.The whole chapter from the teacher's point of view explaining his backstory annoyed me. I don't think we really needed an explanation of WHY he was doing it -- some people are just bad. I feel like in some way the author was trying to make us feel empathy or understanding for him? Sure, he's a bad guy, but look at what happened to him as a kid? It took me far longer than it should have to understand what was going on with the missing hamster seeds and what his motivation was for killing his brother -- THAT is the kind of subtlety I am talking about in the last paragraph... don't need to come right out and say it, let the reader figure out what is going on!
Finally, the coma. Ugh. I mean, ok, fine obviously don't want Satoru to die. But I feel like it's kind of a cop out. They could have fished him out and had him be out for a week and then back and still have forgotten everything. But 15 years? So far, at least, I don't understand the motivation for that (except I guess to give the killer time to move around and kill more kids)... or just stay there and keep teaching through the school year - had Sotoru woken up, he'd have to run sooner which would look very suspicious given the circumstances... ok so fine, Sotoru is out for a year. Blah. Maybe in the next book it will reveal why he needs to be an adult but I don't like it.
Also the "files" Kenya made. The writing seems very child-like and not written by someone who is an adult lawyer. But he already writes "15 years" as the length of time of the coma... which indicates that it was written recently... which then the writing style annoys me. Just to be nitpicky.
What _did_ I like? Character development of the kids, Kenya in particular.
Spoiler
I'll admit, for a while I have thought he was a time jumper too, or maybe the killer and have been very suspicious of him.This is still a good addition to the series, even if it isn't quite the way I would have done it. I am looking forward to the conclusion.