For probably the last few months I’ve had this habit of starting anime series and then dropping them after the first episode or so. I always had something else I wanted to watch and nothing had me gripped. But that changed when I finished watching the first episode of ‘Boku take ga Inai Machi’, and then binge watched the next 3.

The series introduces us to Fujinuma, Satoru, a pizza delivery man on the final years of his 20s. His dream is to become a manga artist, and despite modest success, has recently been shut down for not reaching deep into himself enough. What isn’t known about Satoru is that he has a unique ability he calls ‘revival’. ‘Revival’ takes him a minute or so back in time to save someone or prevent a terrible incident from occurring. His ‘revival’ takes full form when his mother is murdered and he is flung 18 years into the past to stop a series of murder-kidnappings that targeted some of his classmates.

As his 10 year old self (but with his 28 year old mind), Satoru spends the first few episodes befriending an outcast in his class named Hinazuki, Kayo, the first victim. By preventing her murder he ultimately hopes to stop the kidnappings and prevent his mother’s murder 18 years in the future.

So far, I’ve found this series to be beautifully crafted. I love the way that the scenes are designed. There was one scene where Satoru and Kayo are looking at a ‘christmas tree’ which was so dangerously close to being cheesy and cringe but it came out beautifully. I really appreciated how the series handled the abusive household Kayo lived in. I find sometimes series handle complex topics and situations quite poorly, but this series maturely displayed Kayo’s pain and strength in equal amounts.

Particularly with the first 4 episodes I loved seeing the development of Satoru and Kayo’s friendship. Especially how Kayo slowly opens up to Satoru. My only problem so far with the series is that I find sometimes that Satoru doesn’t act the way you’d think a 28 year old would act in the same situations. I just find sometimes that even though he is meant to be acting like a 10 year old, there were some situations in the episodes where with his more mature mind he could have come up with different solutions. I found a lot of the solutions he did come up with were ones that an actual 10 year old would think. I also find it unbelievable how quickly he was easy to slip back into the mind set of a 10 year old – for example getting embarrassed when his friends talk about crushes.

The series so far is fantastic, and definitely a must watch for this season’s new anime. So far I’m giving it a tentative 9/10 . I’m waiting to see how the series develops before giving it the full 10/10. I’ve heard the series may only have about 12 episodes, so am really hoping the end won’t be some rushed job. Especially since the manga series is ongoing, I don’t want there to be some ridiculous botched ending to the anime.

If you’ve seen the series, what did you think of it :)?

Till next time 🙂

P.S. Couldn’t resist using such a cute moment as the feature image 😛