Welcome to 101 Militia Gaming’s first-ever anime vs. live action comparison! Today we are going to discuss the comparison between the 2016 anime and the 2017 Netflix Original live action adaptations of Erased.
First of all, the anime Erased has quickly become a great favorite of mine. I discovered it last year and ever since it has been a comfort show that I’ll watch when I’m down or deathly ill from COVID… yeah, it really helped me through that horrible ordeal. When I later discovered that Netflix had made a live action version, I was understandably nervous. Nearly every live action I’ve seen made after an anime has been a westernized disaster. Yet after some thought, I decided to take a chance and give it a watch to see for myself just how closely it matches to the anime.
My initial reaction after watching the first episode is downright impressed. I love the cast, I love how closely the story matches to the anime (yes, there are a few subtle differences here and there, but for the most part it is right on the money!), and most of all I am blown away by the attention to details. The sets, the buildings, the props, the clothing, hell – even the way the characters carry themselves, this adaptation has gone beyond my expectations.
Some things that I noticed that are not included so far for whatever reason are barely noticable. For example, Saturo did not pass the killer on the stairwell when he was going up to his apartment to discover his mother murdered. Also, the quips and inner dialogue about his mother being a witch wasn’t included either. But when it boils down to it, these things are easily overlooked when you consider the rest of the details put into the adaptation.
Another appreciated detail is that Netflix made the bold decision to release it as a series instead of trying to jam the entire story into a movie. While writing this I’ve binged four episodes and so far it is remarkably close to the anime. I plan to release a Part 2 next week with my final thoughts after completing the series, so stay tuned!
Be sure to drop your comments and opinions about what YOU thought of the anime or the live action! We always want to hear what you think. ✌
101 Militia Gaming 
I loved Erased as an anime and also found the live action on Netflix to be very watchable. I found out that most of the differences between the two come about because the anime didn’t stick entirely to the source material and the live action is apparently closer to it, though the ending is where most of those differences seem to be, however I don’t think either was particularly better or worse. I really just like both versions of the story.
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