Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Final Episode (12): Well, that was easy…

Starting the final episode off with MAGIC MEMORY-RESTORING BABY HAND OF DESTINY.

*me at the end of last week’s episode*: There’s no way anyone would be stupid enough to tell the serial killer that he knew everything while the two were standing on a rooftop alone with no other witnesses, right?

*me after they play the same exact scene again at the start of this week’s episode*: Well…*facepalm*

The three important members of the group talk about the two members who just kinda…existed. I didn’t even know the glasses guy’s name was Osamu…

Typical Kenya can notice anything. On the bright side, this means that Satoru chose to go to the rooftop on purpose after telling his friends. As long as it’s not the cliched case of getting the killer to confess to his crimes to other witnesses when he thinks he’s alone with the main character, we should be okay.

You doubt anyone would believe you when you tell them that you remember why you were in the coma? Sure, that makes soooooo much sense…

So what you’re telling me is that Yashiro only saved Satoru because he wanted to know why Satoru was able to figure out his every move? So…just curiosity? I feel like this is an insult to most villains…

Well, I’m glad he saw through this overused trope…

Sure, I believe that this guy would wait 15 years just so he could take a hospitalized girl hostage in order to find out what Satoru meant when he said that he knew Yashiro’s future…makes complete sense.

Can someone explain to me why everyone is suddenly able to figure out that Satoru has his memories back?

Nobody talks like this…

Uhh…what?

…huh?

This looks super dramatic and whatnot, but given the speech that Satoru just made about Yashiro and Satoru completing each other, I’m guessing he’s expecting Yashiro to save him to prove his point…

Yup…

“I can’t live without you so we’ll die together” cliche…

Sure, let’s pretend that getting an air bag like this is easy to do on short notice. Also, why is the wheelchair not under Satoru? Did he push it away in midair? If so, wouldn’t it have fallen further away? Or have potentially hit one of his friends?

That aside, have you ever tried to lean forward off a ledge and stop yourself halfway without grabbing something to stabilize yourself? Because I have, and it’s not easy once you’ve gone as far as Yashiro has.

Hey! That’s the title of the series! Wow!

I get that this is supposed to tie up that loose end, but it begs the question: why did he even have the Revival ability in the first place and why did it decide that now was the appropriate time to stop working? Remember the first scene of the first episode? Revival kicks in to save OTHER PEOPLE (remember the boy who almost gets hit by the truck?)…so now when a bad thing happens to someone near Satoru, Revival just shrugs and lets it happen. Revival is a massive jerk…

Remember that scene from the alternate future where the kid throws the paper plane into the river that made no sense? Well, here’s a reference to it! …for some reason…

Hah! I called this! But in all seriousness, they gave her a back story about her parents…her past is better-explained than Satoru’s, so it made no sense to just forget about her in the end.

All in all, this show wasn’t that bad…though I wonder how biased I am because of all the other shows in this season. Musically, it was strong in my book, but that’s one of those things where if you like Yuki Kajiura, you’re going to like the soundtrack. I’ve seen stuff elsewhere about how it handles cinematography and I’ll just take their word for it since I don’t notice that stuff. Definitely, a lot of random story elements that felt weird, but hey…cliffhangers are great for blog posts, am I right?

Welp…time to read the manga to see if it’s really better like everyone says, right? Who’s with me??

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Episode 11: Let’s see how it all plays out

Uhh…what? Am I supposed to be able to recognize this voice?

Oh I see…this is supposed to be future voice. Wow, this guy got pretty gruff with age.

I’m not sure I totally understand the symbolism here. In the story, the surviving hamster uses the dead hamsters to survive, but Satoru saves the potential victims and survives by calling out to Yashiro.

It’s worth noting that Satoru is completely removed from this OP, which is weird because Yashiro just mentioned that he didn’t die in his narration.

I noticed these threads too!

Mission accomplished, right? Mother is saved!

This…actually makes sense. Given that she’s a single parent working in a convenience store, there’s no way she’d be able to afford the medical costs of keeping a comatose Satoru in a hospital room for this many years. I’m not that familiar with how coma patients are usually handled. Is this normal? I suppose it should be…

So, am I supposed to be getting from this the fact that the timing of Satoru’s awakening is in line with his Revival? He effectively “came back” to where he left, but with a changed past?

Why is this narration being done in Satoru’s child voice? If you give me some memory loss BS, I’m not going to be happy.

…really? Come on, man! You can do better than this! I’m guessing they’re saving that dramatic “remembering” for the cliffhanger at the end of this week’s episode or something. The way Yashiro did the narration at the beginning of the episode, it sounded like he was whispering to Satoru while he was unconscious or something.

Oh that was Hiromi? That was totally not my first guess…

You don’t need to do the slow pan…I know this is Kayo. Satoru wouldn’t be able to recognize Airi.

*fake surprised gasp*

Just in case you weren’t convinced enough that Hiromi was a guy, let’s make him the childhood friend that has a baby with Kayo. It’s also interesting that the baby has blonde hair despite the fact that Kayo’s hair is brown and Hiromi’s hair is black. I guess this is supposed to be somewhat indicative or Kayo’s mother or something?

Mysterious director over the phone? Wonder who that could be…a culprit we’ve met before, perhaps?

I’m assuming this is a leukemia patient, then? Is she supposed to be the one that returns Satoru’s memories?

I suppose it’s about time this guy showed up. I don’t understand, though…is he really here just to find out his future from Satoru? That’s got to be the only reason he kept him alive, right? But with 15 years passed, does he really expect to get any useful information?

Or perhaps he’s here to complete the cycle by framing Satoru again? There’s no way the media would suspect a coma patient, right? It would certainly explain Kumi’s relevance, though…

That was a bit of a random trigger…was there even a specific trigger to return his memories? Either way, WHY WOULD YOU TELL HIM THIS ON THE ROOFTOP WHERE NO ONE CAN FIND YOU???

Let me guess…next week, Satoru’s going to give me a line like “I knew you wouldn’t kill me”. Let’s see how it goes, huh?

Also, are people really upset that Satoru doesn’t get with Kayo in the end? I suppose it makes sense given how much they focused on her throughout the series, but still…I guess this means Satoru ends up with Airi, right?

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Episode 10: That escalated REALLY quickly!

Start this flashback off with an inspirational speech! Because…that totally works on elementary school students…

Yeah, buddy…you’re not being suspicious at all. What’s going on with Satoru’s face?

You know, if I were a literary man, I’d be able to tell you exactly why this is incredibly symbolic. Instead, I have to go with “I don’t even know what happens in this book” because British literature is icky.

Haha I’m pretty sure I would have reacted exactly like Kenya in this situation.

Wait…she could tell that all three were boys? Seriously?

I-It’s not like I wanted to hang out in your hideout, baka!

Oh hey…it looks like Kazu will be the one getting close to the mark this time…I guess Satoru can’t be cheating on Kayo, right?

Oh hey…I wonder why we’re being told this. Could it have anything to do with this guy being the third victim? You’d think that Kenya would have known this already (I can somewhat understand Satoru not noticing). I seriously can’t believe these guys are friends…

Because we weren’t confused enough…

Cutting to this girl right after Satoru asks about the culprit searching for an alternative target suggests that she will be the next target. It makes sense…Satoru has changed the past very drastically, so it’s very likely that things will no longer go the way he wants.

This sounds suspiciously like foreshadowing…

I don’t care if you call it “playing detective”…this should still come off as at least a little weird. But I guess kids usually don’t get judged the same way…

This looks like it will be relevant soon too…perhaps Satoru will find himself in a situation where he can’t remove the seat belt in time? Car goes off the road into the river, perhaps?

You were the target all along! Finally, this guy reveals himself.

Looks like I got baited by the focus on the other girl just like Satoru did. I didn’t expect him to take out Satoru. But I guess there weren’t too many episodes left and going through the other two victims the same way as Kayo didn’t logically fit.

Game over for both of you? Are you declaring that you won or are you planning on killing yourself?

Oh, I see…the town is saved, but he takes Satoru’s life as a price. Also, I’m not sure why Satoru doesn’t just pull the seat belt out more and then wriggle his way out instead of fiddling with the buckle that Yashiro has obviously sabotaged. I understand once he’s in the water because the pressure of the water probably makes it harder for him to maneuver, but he had plenty of time before then…

There was a lot of foreshadowing this week that suggested that this would happen to Satoru, but I honestly still felt blindsided. A lot of the things I pointed out make more sense now that we’ve seen the entire episode play out, but I really didn’t see all of the details of Yashiro’s reveal. That being said, it’s been a while since we had a cliffhanger ending, right? I really hope Satoru’s survival isn’t because he told Yashiro that he “knew Yashiro’s future”. Because it almost feels like Yashiro will be the one that cuts him loose.

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Episode 9: Save Kayo!

Well, this all escalated quickly. It was starting to look like Satoru might have to trigger another Revival.

Isn’t there supposed be blood somewhere on Satoru’s mother’s face? We just saw it on the snow…

Wow…these guys came out of nowhere. You would think that we would have heard the sound of snow crunching beneath their feet, right?

Wait…Kayo’s grandmother? That’s a bit random? What happens now? The grandmother apologizes for how she treated her daughter or something?

Yup…so now what? Happy ending for everyone? Even Kayo’s mother? What I don’t understand is why she didn’t do anything up to this point. Perhaps she was respecting Akemi’s boundaries or thought she would make things worse…but it feels strange that she wouldn’t act to help her granddaughter.

Given that kids would have a hard time understanding this situation, I find Kayo’s disinterest pretty realistic.

And now she’s gone forever? However, Satoru is still in the past. That means that saving Kayo doesn’t save his mother as he thought it might. What happens now? Only two kidnappings occur? When Satoru was describing the murders before, he made it sound like each of the three kidnappings had a specific purpose when it came to framing Yuuki, so it feels odd that they continue despite the fact that one of them was disrupted.

Given that this guy is currently the top suspect, this sentence feels like it’s dripping with irony.

…and you apparently don’t care at all that he was one of the victims despite spending so much time hanging out with him. Sure, let’s focus on the other girl instead.

This scene was pretty funny. Rather than giving us the expected “I said that out loud”, they toss a little variation into this scene by having the mother figure out what Satoru is thinking without him saying it out loud. Keep the joke alive!

Going hardcore stalker mode, are you, Satoru? Given Satoru’s earlier statement about this being his last Revival, there’s a lot less room for error on this one.

Sure…ask the unmarried guy who just told you he’s cautious around relationships how to get a girl. Makes a lot of sense. This is also funny because Satoru’s supposed to be about this guy’s age.

Whoa whoa…an adult that carries this much candy around in his car? Trying really hard to make this guy suspicious, aren’t you?

And here I thought she was going to say “don’t feed my son candy this late in the night” like a good parent…

Kenya is such a good bro! Easily my favorite character so far.

Irony!

That’s a guy, right?

This can’t end well…

We’ve already established that the culprit is an adult, so why this ominous scene with this girl alone in the classroom? Perhaps she will be the one that tips the culprit off to Satoru’s actions. This doesn’t count as a cliffhanger, right? Two in a row!

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Episode 8: Family time!

Build that suspense!

Aaaaaand we’re good?

Please tell me the guy in charge of these subs did this on purpose…asking a “frank question” while Satoru is eating sausages. This was funnier than it should have been.

So…Kayo’s not going to tell Satoru about her midnight visitor? Let me guess. She’s probably trying to keep him from worrying or something.

“Slo-mo indicating someone important” cliche. I had to check back to a picture from one of my earlier posts because I was suspicious about this name. This is one of the victims from the original kidnappings. Perhaps she’ll become the new first victim and the next target of Satoru’s attention?

Do teachers normally say this? It would only make sense if she had a habit of disappearing for multiple days, which makes no sense given how much her mother would want her to keep appearances. I suppose he’s just trying to stay positive for the kids. I think a normal teacher would have lied and said her parents told him she was sick.

I’m not sure what calling the police accomplishes here. Does Satoru expect the mother to be in such disarray that she’ll give herself away? Or is he expecting the police to call neglect because the mother hasn’t reported Kayo missing? I don’t really get the game plan…

Am I being too suspicious of the fact that this scene keeps the camera focus on the teacher? I mean, to be fair, I’ve been suspicious of this guy since the first time he appeared.

Looks like Kayo’s mother’s plan is “if I ignore the problem, it will go away”. I learned how ineffective this strategy is when I was 10.

We have no idea where the mother went, but sure…let’s just talk about our plan out in the open! Brilliant!

This line is pretty bad. Why is it worded such that Satoru is talking like this already happened? I’m not saying that he couldn’t have known this would happen…it’s very believable that he would know this. But why would he be talking about it like it’s a memory? Probably a translation error.

Finally! Kayo got Satoru back! All of the weird faces he’s made her show and now he’s the victim!

Wait…so the culprit didn’t come to the bus to find Kayo? It was just a freak accident that he happened to use that bus to store his gear for the next kidnapping? Wow, that’s pretty convenient for our heroes.

A clue! I guess camera phones weren’t a thing in this time, so I won’t make the obvious “take a picture of it” comment.

Wait? So the killer did know about Kayo being here and it was actually Satoru who just happened to pick a hiding location next to the second victim’s school? This is really starting to support my theory that Satoru’s actions in the past aren’t having the preventative effect he wants.

Still not old…also, I was as confident as Satoru was about his mother being cool with this.

I like how perceptive Satoru’s mother is. It makes her a better character and makes sense given that she deduces the true culprit in the future.

He’s helping…right?

Oops! The time traveler slip!

HAHA! He actually said yes! This scene!

And so Kayo finally found happiness! Good end?

Always nice to have an episode that doesn’t end on a cliffhanger. I mean, there was the dramatic confrontation with Kayo’s mother, but she’s pretty much screwed now. Honestly, I was expecting the episode to end with Satoru finding out that the second kidnapping had happened, as a way to damper the mood and start a new mission.

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Episode 7: Desperation mode

So is Satoru just recognizing the culprit here from his encounter with him in episode 1 or does he actually know who it is?

So I’ve been fine with this voice actor’s style for most things up to this point. This shout sounded really weird…am I the only one who thought that?

And we’re back! I guess this is a logical place to return. Remember when this museum scene happened the first time? There were a lot of hints that Satoru had already done these things with Kayo despite his efforts to change the past. I guess this is the story’s way of confirming that his actions in the museum were too similar to what he did the first time, so he was sent back here to fix things on the third attempt.

Wait…what? These guys weren’t here the last time, right? Satoru hasn’t even done anything and the events are changing?

He knows this…why? This scene would have been a lot more poetic if he framed it as “I don’t know if I’ll be lucky enough to get another chance to fix the past, so I have to treat this like my last chance”. I’m guessing that’s what this line is trying to say, but it’s not obvious from the wording.

Is this going to change the future somehow? Because if so, I refuse to believe Satoru’s mother will be able to remember this when it becomes relevant.

Kenya showing off some nice perception. Has he figured out that this Satoru is a completely different Satoru than the one he knew?

YES! HE KNOWS! I like this character instantly!

Haha nice!

This scene isn’t bad and all, but doesn’t it feel weird? If Satoru is making sure Yuuki has an alibi, doesn’t that contradict his belief that he cannot fail this time to save Kayo? If he makes it harder for the killer to use Yuuki as a patsy, I’m guessing it becomes a lot harder for him to catch the culprit in the act. This feels like the wrong approach.

This line is actually pretty refreshing. Most series use an excuse like “we need to preserve the fabric of space-time” to justify minimizing their effects on the past. This reasoning is actually quite nice…making sure that everything still plays out in a way Satoru can predict.

Kenya’s here to keep Satoru from getting too emotional. I like this dynamic in this loop. I mean…let’s be honest. What exactly what Satoru trying to do there? Was he really going to push Kayo’s mother down the stairs?

He cares a little bit too much about keeping Hinazuki alive…shouldn’t he be much more invested in saving his mother in the future?

Uhh…run that by me again?

Yeah, Kenya…the sled marks and footprints leading to this bus are very nondescript.

They’re leaving Kayo in the bus alone? Are we sure this is going to work?

Yeah, stay with her if you really want to protect her!

Uhh…that’s not what I meant.

Wait…is he trying to save Hiromi too? If so, this is the first time he’s taken action to help save the person that was actually in his group of friends. Or is Hiromi just here to play cards and keep Kayo entertained?

CLIFFHANGER! Must not be a very good hiding place if the culprit was able to find it in two nights.

I’m so glad that this week’s episode brought Kenya into the foreground. I’ve been curious about his character ever since he was introduced and it was nice to see him helping out. His introduction really emphasized the desperation we saw in Satoru in this second loop.

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Episode 6: The culprit!

Show is trying to distract us from the cliffhanger at the end of last week’s episode with this extension of the conversation about Airi’s parents. Also, I have a problem with this entire story sounding like the father was kicked out. If anything, he had all of the reason to leave the mother given the way she treated him like a criminal. That being said, he loses points for abandoning a child.

Looking good so far for our heroine…

Nicely done, Airi…I thought maybe you were dooming yourself by giving the phone up to show Satoru the message, but you were really just thinking ahead.

The culprit?

Nope, not the culprit…this guy’s either a reporter (based on his cameras) or a detective.

Oh, that’s who it is…I totally forgot about that guy!

Sigh…let me guess. Sachiko isn’t going to tell this guy who the real culprit is because she wants to get proof first, right?

No, tell him now! What’s wrong with you? You should only act like this if he’s the real culprit, which we can probably assume isn’t the case.

So what does this mean for Kayo? Did the real killer happen upon her body and see it as a convenient way to put blame on Yuuki? Or is Kayo’s mother really innocent? Perhaps the real killer devised the plan because he knew Kayo’s mother would be unlikely to report Kayo’s body given the suspicions surrounding her and Satoru accidentally played right into his hand by trying to expose her.

Well, this is 100% a red herring. The hand is slender, so I’m guessing it’s a woman’s hand. Plus, the killer wouldn’t kill her in such a public place, right?

Wait, so Hiromi actually died? Again, why was Kayo’s death so much more traumatizing for Satoru than the death of someone that he played with regularly?

Unlike the previous list, I’m very willing to accept that the killer’s name is on this list. In fact, I’m really hoping Satoru gives us the name at the end of this episode as some sort of dramatic reveal.

Very good red herring with the “she’s sleeping” line from the nurse. It’s often used in murder mysteries because sleeping patients can often be indistinguishable from dead patients in hospital beds. But yeah…that thing I said before about the hand being too small kept me from falling for it.

For those of you saying “what does inhaling smoke have to do with not knowing your savior”, I say asphyxiation can cause hallucinations, so these detectives are not actually total morons.

Hey…remember that part at the beginning of the episode that looked like a distraction from the cliffhanger? Time to make it relevant to the story! Now, her mother’s just going to believe her because of that statement she made about Airi’s father about “wishing she had believed him”.

Oh no! A suspicious car following Airi!

Not even adult Satoru is immune!

Wait…is that it? That can’t really be the true culprit’s name, right?

How to get all the ladies!

He’s here!! Does the killer really have red eyes? Because Satoru flashes back when he sees them. That must make him really easy to identify…

Also, is this the trigger for another Revival? With his “farewell” to Airi, it seems like perfect timing for Satoru to go back to child form again.

All of that aside, this week’s episode felt really strong. Did you feel the suspense at basically every moment like I did? The scenes did a really good job of making it feel like something terrible was going to happen to Airi at every step of the episode. Honestly, it made the episode seem to drag on and on.

 

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Episode 5: The culprit??

The character for “hope” is plastered across the wall behind him? That’s about as subtle as slapping a guy in the face with a fish.

This feels a lot like a misdirect. Is Kayo actually alive?

Oh…never mind then. But if she’s truly dead, is it for a different reason this time? I don’t see the kidnapper’s involvement. Unless, the kidnapping was a smokescreen organized by her mother to cover her disappearance…seems a bit thin, though. The other possibility is that she found Kayo’s dead body and knew that the bruises would implicate her as the culprit, so she’s purposely hiding the body to avoid jail.

I get that these are little kids and they need to be protected from the real world, but this excuse pisses me off for some reason.

It looks like the original kidnappings are still happening. Is this really the work of a separate kidnapper or is Kayo’s mother really the mastermind? It feels too easy, doesn’t it?

Ouch…that one has to hit him right in the pressure point.

Oh hey…we’re back to the present time and that looks a lot like Satoru’s mother’s blood on his hand. So I’m curious. Is this the first time Satoru has ever gone forward in time? Evidence would indicate that it is, but that would mean that he has never failed to prevent the tragedy that triggered his Revival before now.

So does he hope that this guy just doesn’t watch the news? In today’s society, it’s not a bad assumption, but it feels pretty tenuous for a game plan.

Never mind…busted.

Since she’s the heroine, she will definitely believe him. And either she’s been watching too many crime dramas (like me) or she knows way too much about how police operate for some reason.

This must be the “hope” from the wall at the start of the episode. With this information, Satoru gains confirmation that his actions truly changed the past, so now he can feel confident about going back again to fix it.

This feels important for some reason. Either she’s got her own story that will need to be resolved by Satoru (or maybe it’s just there to explain why she chooses to help him) or she’s connected to the mystery somehow.

So this guy didn’t seem like a detective or police officer since he was talking to the manager about business decisions, but this ominous scene certainly makes it look like he’s relevant to the story. He feels too random to be the killer, though…maybe I’m overthinking it.

Maybe I’m really paranoid (Airi probably is too if she didn’t tell him about Satoru here), but this feels like he’s trying to turn Satoru in again.

Paranoia…for the win! Also, how did she know to suspect him? I suppose it’s highly likely that Satoru told her about him. It’s also possible that she knew where the manager lived and realized Satoru was fleeing from there when she found him, but that might be giving her too much credit.

FALCON PAAAWWNCH! Oddly satisfying…

She divorced him for refusing to admit to stealing a chocolate bar? Is this real life or some crappy soap opera? You married this guy and the thought “hmm…if he’s denying it so much, maybe there’s something else going on here” never crossed your mind?

Also, was the “Sasaoka” sign at Airi’s house really there just to set up this story? There has to be more to it than that, right?

Yeah…you’re totally triggering me by saying that.

Never mind the fact that the killer, for some reason, thought this would work. When did Satoru’s mother get Airi’s phone number? The only explanation for this is that the killer got her number a different way. Are they acquainted?

Hahaha! Yeah, right, like I’m going to believe she’s actually dead. The cliffhanger means Satoru probably comes running in at the start of next week’s episode. Either that or Satoru will have to go back in time to fix it. I find it a bit hard to believe since the last trip to the past brought him right back into the same fiasco (running from the police) with very little change other than a date for Kayo’s disappearance. However, I guess it’s possible that he needs Airi to die in order to trigger another Revival back to the past to save Kayo. What to do?

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Episode 4: If only it were that simple…

Wow…this wasn’t a recap of the last episode. Woohoo!

If that’s not foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.

Haha nice

These guys are such bros…

This scene was excellent. Satoru saying the sentence out loud and asking himself whether he should say it internally was funny enough. Kayo’s reaction made it hilarious.

Whoa…that was very convenient timing…

The face when you accidentally tell your kid that you were stalking him.

I actually don’t think I would have noticed this if Satoru hadn’t said it.

Well, this is a surprising twist. What does it all mean? He keeps “remembering” things before they happened, so is it possible that he did the same thing with Kayo in the first timeline, but just repressed the memory in his own grief? That might mean that Satoru is actually repeating the events that will lead to Kayo’s death, like I was thinking last week.

I would have used “events” instead of “time” here, but that’s not important. Looks like Satoru is thinking the same thing that I am. I wonder if this will end up being another usage of the time travel mechanic of “time inevitability”…the idea that time will always try to preserve the same events even with the influence of a time traveler. We’ve seen this before with Steins;Gate…can it work again?

You know…eventually, this will stop being funny, but I’m still fine with it for now.

Well well…this is very forward.

I’m curious about this set of scenes. Was this cycling through all of the suspects? Or establishing alibis? It’s interesting, for sure…

She survived! …right? This is definitely not the part where Satoru lowers his guard, right?

This would make a great reaction face.

She was making a present for him? Based on the conversation from the earlier episode, I’m going to guess it’s a pair of gloves…

Oops…did I guess the wrong person’s present?

It’s too early in the series for a death flag, right?

Guess not.

While we could pretty much tell it was coming from how excited Satoru got throughout the episode, that was quite a nice twist at the end of the episode. I’m pretty interested to see where things go next. Will Satoru be able to immediately jump again? Or will he have to wait until he’s an adult again? Maybe he’ll jump forward. There are so many possibilities with this time travel power and I look forward to seeing what happens next week.

…Or is this episode ending a huge misdirect? Maybe Kayo will show up late at the beginning of next week’s episode. All of that drama built up to distract us? I don’t think it will happen, but I recognize the possibility.

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi Episode 2

In case you weren’t watching the first episode, let’s remind people of the synopsis!

The opening is actually the song from the end of the first episode! That’s awesome, but I can’t believe they got away with using such an old song. Also, the opening heavily features the older Satoru despite the fact that he has not shown any ability to travel forward in time yet and must theoretically wait 18 years before returning to his previous state.

I give this guy points for being a bro and not snitching, but he’s super sketchy.

Everything about this “returning home” scene is great. He’s remembering the way he used to live as a child after spending so much time as an adult. And we, the audience, know what he’s really crying about in this scene even if his mother is a bit confused. All of his reactions just seem very real. How convenient for him to have an excuse for her to not be too suspicious though…

I get that he’s having a monologue about his mission and all, but shouldn’t he be frightened? He’s changed the past at the point, so every further action he takes could be dangerous to the future he knows. Wouldn’t you be slightly worried about having changed the timing of your mother’s death? She could be dying sooner. Or does he just trust that his ability will always allow him the chance to fix things?

These guys are in grade school, right? Grade schoolers jump to this conclusion? Fair enough…

SHE KNOWS!

 

Oh sure…wait what?

The culprit is here!

Oh, so he was a crowd-pleaser back in the day and she saw through it? Makes sense.

HE KNOWS!

Also, the entire conversation Kenya has with Satoru is super creepy. What does he mean it’s really important Satoru is paying attention to Hinazuki? Still, he seemed pretty earnest when he asked Satoru what truly happened with Hinazuki, so I actually want to lower suspicion on him.

Prison/interrogation room symbolism is totally not there…right?

It’s fine that she dies in the first timeline, guys…she was totally asking for it. Also, you’re telling me that no one read this paper and got a little bit suspicious? I guess I have to cut them some slack because it’s actually 1988, right? But seriously, given the skirt Hinazuki’s wearing, she could just pretend to be clumsy and people would see the bruise pretty easy.

This scene is actually pretty cool because she’s talking to the adult Satoru. If you’re a kid and someone says this to you, you brush it off. But the adult Satoru can look back and examine his younger self and agree with her.

Quick! We must establish the fact that this girl is actually a main character too!

Seriously can’t complain about this scene. Also, Satoru accidentally saying his thoughts out loud was great. Was that actually such an embarrassing thing to say, though? I guess it sounded like a confession or something?

Yeah, these jacket pockets are just for show…

This series is definitely looking promising. I’m still very curious about where it’s planning to go, but I’d say this is a solid way to start things out. I really like the way the series feels like it’s really building up to something. It felt to me like everything in this episode could just pop at any moment. That being said, I’m still curious about the adult Satoru in the opening. They’re not going to have him periodically traveling forward to keep track of his progress with altering the past, right? Or have him loop multiple times trying to stop the same tragedy? I feel like both of those possibilities don’t fit at all with what we’ve seen so far.

As I said before, I’m really glad about Re: Re: being the opening song for this series. It’s a great song despite its age and I stated last week why I think it’s appropriate. The ending song for this series sounds pretty too. Is that Sayuri from the Ranpo Kitan ending song?