Boku Dake ga Inai Machi: The Town Without Me

[MFauli]

episode 10 is out BIG SPOILER DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU´VE WATCHED IT!
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Fuck this cliffhanger! lol

Tbh I don´t know how to feel about this. On the one hand, introducing a whole new culprit would have been bad. On the other hand, it being the teacher is kinda lame, too.

Then again, it made for a really nice creepy-moment, when the teacher suddenly had this Light-smile on his face.

As for the episode´s ending, I fully expect Yashiro to jump in an rescue Satoru because of his "I saw your future!"-line.

Yashiro has to be complimented, too, because what normal adult would actually suspect a little kid of actively sabotaging your evil plans? It takes a bit of a genius to think this out-of-the-box to even consider it. That also explains why he´d react to "I saw your future!", because any normal person would just shrug it off as the desperate rambling of a soon-to-be dead.

Two episodes left, eh? I wonder if we´ll get a better explanation as for WHY Yashiro-sensei did all that - or planned to. He´s been taking about filling the hole in his heart, but that´s kinda lame. I hope there´s more to it.

Tbh I kinda expected Satoru´s smart friend to be in the trunk of the car, lol, but I guess that won´t happen.

Oh, and props the fat friend making that girl his gf.

[Kraco]

Episode 10 - HS



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It's weird to read kmkze04's post when the episode was already out...

I'm not sure how to feel about this. On one hand it made a really poor mystery (actually hardly a mystery at all), but on the other hand if you don't consider this a mystery at all in the grand detective stories sense, but kind of like Satoru's journey to fill the holes in his soul, then it's okay, I suppose. He way always a very average person, so to make him a great detective for the sake of having a better story would be a stretch in believability, but it still doesn't change the fact it's annoying when the most obvious person is the culprit, so much so that nobody would want him to be the culprit, but there simply wasn't anybody else around like has been said numerous times. Another annoying thing is that while he wasn't any genius, he was a bit too stupid considering he should have had 30 years of life experience in his back pocket. With this I mean how he never thought of his own safety. He knew there was a killer of children around, but when was there a single scene during this show when he would have worried about his own skin?

Dunno what happens now. Will Satoru simply wake up soon afterward a few days earlier, or something? This has been quite a good ride nonetheless, so I hope the last eps will serve something nice still. Such as seeing what sort of a beauty is the older Kayo, har har.

[Ryllharu]

What a disappointment.

I literally have no other words.

[shinta|hikari]

Same here. This could've been so much more, but it failed ever since the bus. If they really wanted the teacher to be the culprit, they should've added a few notable red herrings.

I thought Satoru would at least take around a box cutter all the time considering his position, but no.

And getting stuck to a seat belt is ridiculous. There is no way a person, much less a child, can't escape from that. Assuming the seat belt is already maxed out (and that's a nonsensical assumption because Satoru actually leaned forward in the seat), you just have to slip downward to the floor. If it isn't maxed out, you just pull more of the belt in and slip out upward. The teacher should've at least cuffed him to the wheel before leaving him to die.

[David75]

Also, I remember that when totally submerged in cold water you fall into coma a lot faster.

So from ep1 it was the teacher as I thought, although when I wrote that I had doubts because the 2006 culprit felt a bit young. But this is anime.


Now, that teacher seems to be seeking some kind of relationship. It would be lame if his ultimate target is Satoru's mom...
That idea aside, there's the question of a possible manipulator.

[kmkze04]

Kraco I had just posted that last night after marathoning the first 9 haha. While I agree with almost 30 years of experience in his back pocket, Satoru could be smarter, like I said in my post he's obviously not in the higher percentile. I've found his actions consistently low level, so I have no problem with him being stupid. Also, while he may have a lot of life time, that doesn't mean he has any experience in dealing with anything like this, so stupidity plus inexperience I think more or less is portrayed well in his character. He never has any brilliant moments that take him out of that box.

That aside, I was off on my bet. I knew it the moment Yashiro looked out the door when we know Misato was in the bathroom for sure. Barring her climbing out the window, which doesn't seem to fit since she's not under the impression she's being watched by anyone, there was no way she could have slipped out.

I definitely was a little disappointed it ended up being Yashiro, but at least it was presented well. And let's face it, aside from Revival, this series played very well on real life, and someone with that much power over children is a natural predator, so to speak. So the choice of the teacher was quite realistic.

So next bet is on how Satoru escapes. Obviously supermom is at home. The older Shiratori may have noticed, but I don't think that's a likely rescue candidate. Actually that's one part that I didn't like, that Yashiro reveals he has a bunch of dummy cars of the same makes and color. While that creates disposable vehicles, there's no sense in that to fool a child, and people are still going to recognize his car. Yuuki might randomly be around, but I don't think Yashiro would leave the scene until he's sure of the death. Misato didn't even know Satoru was there and she was shown in the bathroom.

Which pretty much leaves Kenya. He's the only one bright enough to think of following Satoru to the game, though how he'll manage to trail a car as far out as they went... the trunk area like MFauli suggested might actually be an option since we do see that the rear end of the car is above water. Kenya could have been smart enough to hide in there and pull Satoru out (Kenya would be the one smart enough to carry a boxcutter) and they hide in the rear compartment until Yashiro leaves. That's my guess.

Oh and Shinta, I think it's sort of implied by the difficulty of putting on the belt that it's been tampered with, probably locked tight in place. It's near impossible to squirm out of a locked belt from the seated position, and considering the panic that's setting in, throwing the seat back and slipping upwards probably isn't high on our dull Satoru's list of ideas.

Did anyone else really enjoy the scene with Kenya being put to shame by Aya though? Watching him finally sweat over something gave me a good laugh.

[Kraco]

The problem with squirming out of the seat belt is that he could have only done that after he was in the cold water. After all, if he had done it earlier, the teacher would have just killed him more brutally. This would look like a murder no matter how stupid the Japanese police are, so it doesn't really matter if Satoru is drowned corpse or has his neck twisted. But sure, already right after the teacher stepped out, he should have been already taking out as much of the seat belt as possible to prepare himself. Too bad he was too stupid for that, despite having so much time in his hands. Forget about box cutters because this 30 years old soul considered himself a superhero. Superheroes are invincible!

[Buffalobiian]

Did anyone else really enjoy the scene with Kenya being put to shame by Aya though? Watching him finally sweat over something gave me a good laugh.

Yes, that was great. Then it span all the way around and fatty won her over with passion ROMAN!

Regarding Kenya hiding in the trunk, I don't think that sounds right. That would have meant he had to predict what Yashiro would have done, AND pick that car boot lock before getting in. If he was wrong, he'd mysteriously be in that boot.

I do expect him to pick up on Satoru being missing however. He's been playing Satoru's game long enough to know the most at-risk person is the one alone at any one time. He won't be rescuing alone though. He'd find Yuuki at the stadium watching the game, and somehow he'd get the transport to there. I'm not sure if he had a scooter.

Symbolically it'd be appropriate for Yuuki to rescue. The story started with Satoru feeling remorse for not doing more for Yuuki, and one of the first thing Satoru did was to ensure Yuuki had an alibi. For him to come full round and ultimately save Satoru's ass is simply fitting.

I suppose you could say that Satoru's mum could fit the same symbolic role, but that would put her in Deus Ex God-Mum tier levels of "seen it coming". Yuuki then gets left as just some loner who got framed.

[kmkze04]

Hmm Buff do you think Yashiro locked his car? I'm not entirely sure he would. It's a dumper and there's nothing suspicious, he was also giving rides to those other schoolgirls. I don't see any problem with the locks being left open. And by now Kenya seems like the type bright enough to be narrowing his own list of suspects, he's definitely figured out Satoru's game as well so seeing that Yashiro is the likeliest of the bunch and the only one present, he could've been keeping an eye on the gym and crept in when he saw Yashiro and Satoru coming out.

But definitely agreed on that Yuuki would be the best symbolic savior at this point. I just don't know where he'd come from. Other than the kid group, Yuuki is the only bigger character missing from the final flashes of the episode. If we assume that was intentional, he's probably going to be it.

The theory of Kenya using Yuuki to get out there has the trouble of that we've never seen Kenya meet Yuuki (not that I remember) and I haven't seen Satoru mention Yuuki to Kenya either, so a smart kid would probably be avoiding Yuuki rather than enlisting his help.

If anything, I'd think Yuuki was just there and noticed something off with Satoru, or was maybe watching Misato, and followed them out to the boonies. Difficulty with that is what would scrawny Yuuki do against a killer watching the car sink?

[Buffalobiian]

To be honest, I think everyone should lock their car.

As for Yuuki, the least he could do in the situation is yell for help. Yashiro is getting away with murder. Having someone see it is a good enough start.

Kenya knows about Yuuki at the very least. He was tailing Satoru for "two days straight", including the night Satoru bricked Yuuki's window and almost pushed Kayo's mum down the stairs.

[kmkze04]

Should lock. Just like Sachiko should've locked the door behind her in the first episode.

They're in the boondocks though, obviously Yashiro isn't even concerned with Satoru screaming or he'd have taped his mouth shut. So with shouting for help out, what does that leave a rescuer with assuming that Yashiro is watching?

Good point about Kenya at least knowing about Yuuki. So that might at least limit the "stranger danger" portion of it, but Kenya would probably have Yuuki as a potential suspect also... Interesting. I wonder who will come to the rescue.

Or maybe they'll just kill off Satoru with one of them watching and Yuuki or Kenya will spill the story later to the cops. Which would be cool. But definitely not going to happen.

[MFauli]

I´m not as positive about Yuuki as you guys. I agree that he´s left out of the big picture at the moment and he has to come in at some point for the finale. Him being the savior might be an option.

Him being ANOTHER killer might be also an option. Yashiro planned to kill Kayo, that much is right. He then likely switched to that bully-girl that was by herself now. And when he realized it was Satoru, who got in his way, he took that boy "to fill the hole in his heart".

That doesn´t mean the other girls would have been murdered by Yashiro, too. We KNOW that Yuuki is also close to that girl that now visits their hideout. And since the teacher was no red herring, and we all assumed that he´d be too obvious of a choice, MAYBE the fact is, there are no red herrings. Now that would make for a shocking twist, I think. I picture it like this: Either Kenya saves Satoru or Yashiro saves him himself because of the "I saw your future" line. They go back, either gettin Yashiro to the police OR letting him go because of some serious talk, where they are convinced that Yashiro will never again attempt a crime. THEN, *gasp*, they find out that the girl from their hideout has been kidnapped/murdered. And something quickly hints at Yuuki, making it all the more tragic.

After all, there´s at least 2, maybe 3 more episodes, right? These will be either about chasing Yashiro or dealing with a twist.

[Buffalobiian]

Two episodes left. One to deal with this timeline and one to finish off with the future.

[kmkze04]

Ring of child killers does sound pretty cool. Wouldn't mind it going MFauli's way.

Or with everything pointing to Yuuki, it could be every adult they decide to trust and Yuuki is the only innocent haha. Wouldn't that be a trip.

[Kraco]

one to finish off with the future.

I doubt we would need a whole episode for whatever happens in the future. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just a minute or two showing Satoru living with Kayo (and kids) happily ever after.

After all, in the optimal scenario, the killer isn't anymore around in the future.

[MFauli]

In the optimal scenario, we get an OVA episode of uncensored hentai-action featuring adult Kayo.

Sorry, just spelling out aloud what everybody thinks!!1

[Buffalobiian]

I doubt we would need a whole episode for whatever happens in the future. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just a minute or two showing Satoru living with Kayo (and kids) happily ever after.

You'll have some minutes resolving how happily Mother is living in the future, how Pizza girl is doing as the female love interest, how the teacher's locked up in a ditch somewhere, and how all his other friends are doing. 10 minutes minimum. 15 being reasonable.

[shinta|hikari]

Or Satoru could die here, justifying the title, Boku dake ga Inai Machi.

Like Yashiro said, he saved his town but died for it.

@KMK - Squeezing out of a seat belt is a bit difficult but doable for a child, especially if it is not maxed out, which it shouldn't be because Satoru kept leaning forward during the killer reveal. However, if you bring up the issue of Satoru being an idiot (and yes, I do regard "normal" people as idiots), then I can't complain anymore.

[David75]

If Satoru is to survive, Yuuki and the Journalist might be the potential saviors. Police is unlikely, unless they decided to follow Yuuki's father deliveries this far in time...
I do not see why, how Yuuki could be there near that far off bridge.
The Journalist had Yashiro on his short list, so it might be that he was following Yashiro at the right time in that timeline.

Now regarding the title of the show, it is extracted from Kayo's "poem" she recited twice. To me it is linked to her a lot, and since she isn't in that town anymore, it still fits. The only problem is that she's out of that arc.

OR
She's the one that will get the timeleap powers should Satoru die and that might be what we'll see in the last 2 eps:
Kayo trying to save Satoru from his death and get Yashiro in jail.

Kayo is be the best option, but Kenya would work too since he's the one closest to the secret and the smarter one.

[shinta|hikari]

Honestly, I'm fine with a supernatural twist at this point. Go Kayo!

I just hope her time leaping powers locked her body in a state of loliness.