Mirai Nikki (TV)

Notice: this review will contain a few spoilers. I'll mark them but if you haven't watched this yet, proceed with caution. Sorry about that.

Survival games have always been one of my favorite kinds of stories. I just love them. So naturally, when I heard about Mirai Nikki's premise, I was greatly looking forward to it. Unfortunately, after an excellent first episode, this series began to get worse and worse; by the end of it all, it had become nothing but a huge disappointment.

Let's begin with the positive aspects of this show. The art and animation in Mirai Nikki are, for the most part, rather good, ... but nothing very impressive. As for character designs, it's pretty hit-and-miss. Some characters look OK, while others are so ridiculous it makes the anime seem/feel less serious than it should be, which is NOT a good thing for a thriller/mystery.

The music is great. Most of the tracks are somewhat memorable and fit their scenes well. The OPs and EDs are also very nice, with the first OP being particularly awesome. I never skipped them. Voice acting-wise, everyone does a solid, consistent job, except for Yuno's seiyuu. I'm sorry, but her voice was annoying and hearing that infamous "Yukki!" every god damn minute was painful.

Now let's get to the bad stuff. While the premise is amazing, the story & script are very poorly written. Thing is, Mirai Nikki is a shounen trying (and failing) to be a seinen; thus, it lacks the maturity and depth needed to handle the kind of story it offers. Many questions are left unanswered, some of the writing choices are just plain stupid, half of the characters have a very low IQ and, for a mystery, there aren't that many twists, and those the anime DOES have are often predictable.

The whole concept of using Future Diaries to outsmart opponents in deadly, tense battles is BARELY explored, plus the battles themselves seldom involve complexity. When you've got tools as powerful as those, you'd think there'd be gambits just piling up on each other, but no. Many battles are over within a minute and are so basic it's insulting. Speaking of insulting, this show has a nasty tendency to have its world just forget about some of the big events related to the diary holders. Normally the media would be all over a series of bombings, massacres, etc... but here? Nah, it's just Tuesday again. It's astonishing how everyone can easily get away from anything.

Another problem with this anime is its bad habit of throwing in bits of humor in the middle of serious moments. It really kills the atmosphere and it's not funny. Even in the more lighthearted scenes it's not funny. Since we're talking about the atmosphere, have I mentioned that some details in crucial moments are overlooked, which obliterates the immersion? Empty hospitals, incompetent cops, silent bystanders...it's the little things that can make or break the mood. A shame, really, because the anime IS able to create a good, creepy atmosphere at times (ex.: the end of episode 3).

Remember what I said about there being a lot of predictable twists? I kinda lied. The biggest twist in the whole story, which unfolds in the last few episodes, took me by surprise. Did it make sense? Well, yes, at least until the anime began to blatantly make shit up on the spot. Did it answer a few questions? For sure. Did it raise even more questions - most of which remain unanswered - and present to us an INCREDIBLY STUPID twist later? OH YES.

Now for the worst part of it all. The characters. If you're already angry at me, stop reading because I will not be gentle.

For starters we have the male protagonist, Yukiteru (or just Yuki). This guy. Let me tell you something about this guy: he might just be one of the worst written characters I have ever seen. No hyperbole there. Not because he's a wimp 95% of the time - I can understand why. No-one normal would stay frosty after being dragged into a survival game full of maniacs. So why is he so bad then? It's because he's absurdly inconsistent. Most selective memory of all time, gullible when not paranoid (never with the correct timing), ability to forgive that defies common sense and, later on, he can't even settle on a personality (which seems to run in the family). Worst part is, his personality shift happens suddenly; he gets almost no development for 18 or so episodes then BAM! complete 180. If you're going to change a character's attitude, make sure it isn't baffling and that it sticks.

Then we have our female protagonist, Yuno, the main source of yandere-ness, fanservice and body bags. THE poster girl of Mirai Nikki, to the point where she may be more popular than the show itself - just look at how many favorites she has here at MAL. The creator knew of this, so s/he made her the most complex character in the whole cast and genuinely fun to watch. Unfortunately, that complexity only really shows up in the last few episodes, so until then she's pretty much a one note character - crush, kill, Yukki!. Moreover, the yandere trait eventually wears off, meaning she can get kinda annoying afterwards, even with all the carnage she provides. If it cannot wear off for you, then Mirai Nikki will be considerably more entertaining. Either way, Yuno was a hit-or-miss character for me.

The supporting cast - Yuki's friends and the other diary holders - is where it gets ugly. Out of the former group, the ONLY truly memorable character (and, might I add, one of the few characters in this anime that I liked) is the intelligent Akise. His personality and abilities are a perfect match for this kind of story, which is a shame because he didn't get enough screen time. The other three, despite getting some things accomplished, end up being inept at almost everything, to the point that Akise pretty much has to carry the team.

As for the other diary holders...just where do I begin? For starters, they're pretty much all insane or very dangerous individuals, except for maybe 2 of them; that alone raises a pretty important question: "why did Deus even consider letting one of those crazy bastards be his successor?". Another problem is that some may as well have "fodder" written on their foreheads: most don't even last for three episodes, plus they're lucky if they get a mediocre, unpolished back story full of cheap shocks to make you feel bad for them.

*SPOILERS PRESENT IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPHS* What kills me is that some of the diary holders are such piles of stupid writing it's absurd. I mean, one of them is a 5-year-old kid who's just as messed up as the others, somehow has access to stuff like toxic gas and who can formulate rather elaborate plans. Another is the mama bear of an orphanage composed of people who are willing to erase anyone for her - dressed as ninjas, no less. Yet another is a blind Power Rangers fanatic who dresses up as an eyeball (and who can somehow bring dolls to life. Never explained!) to fight crime. Remember, this anime takes itself seriously.

There's also the eleventh diary holder, the Hitler wannabe who gave Deus the idea for the diaries. Since the anime never even tries to further explore such an important character, allow me to ask some questions: how did he (or any of the diary holders) meet Deus? Why did Deus even listen to this obviously crazy man? Why future diaries, and not some kind of superpower? By the way, why is Deus decaying? What is MurMur's origin? Why did EVERY ONE of the diary holders only gun for Yuki? The questions pile up fast once the characters are taken into consideration.

Was there not a single diary holder that I liked? The answer is yes. That would be Minene, the ninth, the series' resident internationally wanted terrorist (at the tender age of 18. Seriously). She was pretty awesome and likable for most of her screen time, which made watching her turn into a textbook tsundere even more painful. And let's not talk about her ABSOLUTELY STUPID role in the final marathon of twists. *SPOILERS END HERE*

What about enjoyment? Believe me in this one: if you pay attention to the writing, Mirai Nikki will be painful. The mountain of questions, the absurd decisions that some of the characters make, etc...you just won't get a lot of breaks after the first few episodes. So what if you employ the good ol' "turn off your brain" strategy? It probably won't be all that enjoyable either. As I've said before, this is a shounen trying to be a seinen. You can just FEEL it try. And fail. I don't know about the rest of you, but that really kills the experience for me.

In conclusion, Mirai Nikki is a huge disappointment. Its messy story and weak characters are simply not fit for the genre it belongs to. Even if the art was OK, even if the soundtrack was great, even if the anime has its moments and holds the potential to be enjoyable should one ignore the writing issues, it simply does not live up to the hype. I'm probably gonna get lynched by its fanbase; however, I don't really care. I'm done. I needed to get this out of my system, and there it is.

Thanks for reading this review.

This is the first anime review I've ever written, so hopefully everything will turn out ok. Any feed back would be appreciated as long as its constructive ;)

This review won't contain any spoilers.

What would you do if you had something that told you the future? If you already had all the answers for an upcoming test, or knew how to avoid bully's on the way home from school? What about if it told you were going to die?

Mirai Nikki is a brilliant mix of a Psychological Thriller, Action, and Romance. Yuki is a boy who gains the ability to read the future ... through his personal diary, which is awesome until he finds out that there are 11 other people who also have their own diary's and are his opponents in a competition to become a god. But thats not all bad, he happens to have someone to protect him. Enter Gasai Yuno, a cute girl who goes to Yuki's school. She also has a future diary, and it turns out she has a bit of a crush on Yuki.... and is an insane psychopathic stalker, or Yandere if you will. The story follows these two as they try to survive in the killing game they've been placed in.

Personally, i think the anime is a 10/10, but for this review i gave it a 9 because of a few small problems in the story.

Story 9 - The story of Mirai Nikki is at its core a Romance, though its so much more than that as well. It explores how ones actions and willpower can change the future and how good people can do go insane or do terrible things because of traumatic experiences. The pacing is fairly fast, but not forced, even when there's no intense action going on, you find yourself on the edge of your seat knowing that an enemy could pop up at any time. I experienced all sort of emotions throughout the anime, fear, happiness, excitement, sadness.The shock value was insane. My reason for a 9 instead of a 10 was that some of the things that happen in the anime are soo over the top ridiculous and unbelievable that i just couldn't reasonably give it a perfect score and that some of the things that happen in the last few episodes get a bit out of hand, you'll see what i mean when you watch it.

Art 10 - Don't know what all there is to say about the Art. It's not the best ive ever seen, but there's no problems with it. The action scenes are fast paced and well animated and the characters all look fine. I see no reason to dock an anime points unless the animation is so miserable that it has negative effects my viewing experience, and one of my favorite animes is Berserk, which is terribly animated.

Sound 10 - The Opening and ending themes are fantastic, and go along perfectly with the anime. The first opening theme is my favorite song of all of them and does a perfect job of maintaining the feel of the anime. The music generally goes very well with the scenes that its played over, especially when Yuno does something awesome.

Character 10 - I would rate this higher if possible. The characters is where Mirai Nikki truly shines. Yuki is a kind of a wimp who has to rely on others to protect him, and ive seen plenty of people complain about this, but in all honesty i think that makes the anime so much better. He's a 14 year old boy thrown into a battle royal with people trying to kill him, I would probly be a bit of a wimp if that happened to me too. He's forced to seek aid from and rely on others in order to survive. And he isnt without redeeming moments either. All the side characters are well developed and have their pasts and motives explained in the story and a few of them are just plain awesome. All that being said, the part of this anime that got me hooked, and the reason its become one of my favorites of all time, is the female lead Gasai Yuno. She's incredibly cute, and incredibly psychopathic, and the perfect yandere. Shes also one of the most unique characters I've ever seen in an anime. Most of the psychological thrills stem from trying to figure out what the heck shes going to do next. At one moment your scared of her, another you can't help but smile at how cute something she does is, then you notice the knife in her hand and your scared of her again. Sometimes you want her to do something insane and at others your shocked about something insane shes doing. She's the selling point on the entire anime for me.

Enjoyment 10 - I couldn't stop watching Mirai Nikki, i watched it over the span of 2 days. And spent the entire day at work the second day anticipating what would happen in the anime after i got home. I have yet to watch an anime that kept me on the edge of my seat to such an extent as Mirai Nikki.

Overall 9 - Mirai Nikki is a great and unique story, the characters are excellent especially Yuno, who is one of the most unique characters ive ever seen in an anime. Mirai Nikki is certainly worth giving a shot.

I'm going to tell you all a story. Once, there was a man. A man who loved trains. This man loved trains so much that every year or so he would put different things on the train and send it off for other people to see and enjoy. Sometimes he would put fruit on the train, othertimes he would put toys. All to see the end result that his precious train would deliver.

One day, said man decided to put as many fucked up things that he could find on this train. He put razors, cyanide, bombs, and even decided to mix in some sweet things ... with all of this, like boxes of sugar and a pink dress fit for a loli. He piled the train up, barely being able to fit in all of this stuff onto it, and set it off - awaiting for the end result.

Of course, with the train being overloaded with a bunch of different shit on it, it was only natural that the man's train would crash. And crash it did. However, the man did not care. For he would see it that this trainwreck made all the way to its destination, no matter how much shit he had to pull out of his ass to make it work. And so, with everything in the train clashing into one another as the man pulled his own strings to make the train continue going (no matter how much logic it defied in the end) he eventually got the train to reach the end.

Some people looked at the mess of the train and thought, "Wow! Look at all of this stuff! There's knives in this train? Stuffed animals? Explosives? Books? How marvelous! What a wonderful thing this train has brought everyone!" while others looked at the end result and knew right away what a terrible mess all of this stuff was. Rest of the town was too busy watching K-On! to care.

The moral of the story? When you take as much random crap as you can and load it all into one train, it will crash. And if it crashes you should end it. Oh, and people like trainwrecks.

If you haven't already voted this unhelpful for the seemingly irrelevant story, I'm here to tell you that this tale was my description of "Mirai Nikki's" story - a trainwreck. I won't give you a rundown on what the story is about. You have the synopsis and Google for that, so I'll just get straight to the point. The story doesn't really have any idea where it's going or how it should be directed. They made sure to throw in as many psychotic characters, themes, events and mix it in to be able to attract as many viewers as possible. Seriously, you'll find everything from rape to child abandonment to feeding children grass - all to make the story and characters look like they have depth and the viewer to feel "cool" for watching such miscellaneous shit. The transition between events in the story doesn't flow and all seems very random at best. It's as if these events happen just because the plot demands it.

The story had some strong points - while the fighting scenes didn't always make the most sense or had little to no build-up, they were very entertaining to watch and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in seeing how it played out. However, the poor writing and lack of common sense in most of the story is what makes it so terrible. The plot loses all of it's purpose by the end of the show as well, which just makes everything worse. It's a good story to be mindlessly entertained, but for those of us who were paying attention you can tell just how often things failed to make sense. It was all driven off of shock value and crazy, psychological things.

Speaking of crazy, psychological things, let's talk about the characters, or as I like to call them, "plot devices." Each of the character exists only for convenience of the plot and nothing more, and same goes for their past. Every diary holder, save for First & Eight, has something that makes them insane or crazy in some way or another so that way they can serve purpose to the plot. If these characters weren't all deranged or had these insane backstories than they would be of no threat. So why did a bunch of characters with messed up lives get chosen to be diary holders, and then someone like Yuki (I won't focus on the Eighth) who lives a completely normal life gets chosen as well? It doesn't add up.

As for the characters themselves, Yuki is just a normal guy thrown into a pit of madness. Many hate him, some pity him. Me? I pity the guy. You can't help but look at it realistically - he's a normal kid thrown into this survival game where everyone has some type of mental issue and is out to kill him. This doesn't make his crying and patheticness any less annoying, but it's justifiable. At the same time you can't help but wonder why Yuki was chosen to be a diary holder in the first place considering how out of place he is. Then we have Yuno, the main reason why everyone watches the show. Yandere. That's pretty much her whole personality. (save for her own fucked up past that tries to give her depth and reasoning.) Yuno is like a robot, per say - only programmed when desired to scream "Yukii!", act innocent, then kill people. And apparently that sells. She's a selfish, unreasonable character who's popularity is earned from her constant blushing and murdering. While she was indeed suffering from major emotional trauma, none of that justified the actions that she had towards Yuki and the people he cared about. Despite her "love" for Yuki, she still constantly hurt him and the friends that he loved - doing what she can to turn him against them instead of letting him be happy with both him AND his friends. She's simply an annoying character with no actual depth or personality.

As for the other diary holders, they're mostly forgettable and run a cycle of "appear for a few episodes, fight Yuki/Yuno (mostly Yuno), win, reveal traumatic past, fight Yuno, lose" and repeat. In short, most of the diary holders were just forgettable and used only for the sake of being killed and adding excitement to the show. Side characters like Yuki's friends (namely Akise) are on-screen more and provide more to the story then even most of the diary holders. That doesn't change the fact that everyone is pretty flat. No real development is given the the majority of our cast. The development that does occur for a few of our characters is written or presented pretty poorly with very little reasons to back it up. I won't say too much as to not spoil the series, though. As I said before, these characters are nothing more then plot devices - created to make the story more "interesting" and to shock the viewer into thinking they're looking at an emotionally deep character.

Artwork is nothing to be fawned over and is mediocre at best. Character designs aren't terrible but they aren't something that I'd call memorable either. The bloodbath scenes are the ones that look the most realistic and it's obvious that the animators took their most time in animating these. The animation is pretty fluid throughout the fighting scenes, but it's an overall forgettable performance save for the blood and gore that they flesh out so well.

The soundtrack was again, not very memorable, but you can at least say that it stood out. Emotional music fit those so-called "sad scenes" pretty well (despite the lack of real feeling in the scenes themselves) and was well-played out. The battle music and of course, suspenseful tracks were also well-fitting and it's easy to say that those tracks were what helped keep you on your toes as to when something may be getting ready to happen. The seiyuu's did a pretty good job considering their roles, but based on a personal experience I can't say that hearing Yuno screaming "Yuki!" every episode and listening to Yuki cry every episode didn't get annoying or ear-aching. But overall no real complaints here.

Did I enjoy "Mirai Nikki?" I don't know, do I enjoy not knowing where the hell a story's going? Do I enjoy watching pink-haired girls who only exist for "love" do a bunch of random, messed up stuff to everyone every other episode? Do I enjoy trainwrecks? No, I can tell you right now that I don't. The thing that made this show bearable, however, was Minene and Akise, who were probably the two most interesting characters in this show for me. Minene got more screentime then most of the diary holders and was actually tolerable, while Akise held that intelligent personality that always spices up a show for me. Otherwise no, this show held little to no enjoyment for me. Even though I'm a sucker for thrillers if there's nothing to hold it up, not even a simple plot that can be explained in a few words, then I won't enjoy it.

Overall, "Mirai Nikki" left a bitter taste in my mouth. The lack of any reasonable directing - or even reason at all - along with a mix of unlikeable, forgettable plot devices, or as we all call them characters made this show nearly intolerable for me. It took as many different, fucked up things as possible in order to appeal to the general audience, threw in some blood and a horny yandere and viola! A masterpiece! Or so says the people who only look on the outside of the trainwreck. For those of us who are examining this train and everything that actually happened for the end result to be.. this, then you'll be able to see just how terrible "Mirai Nikki" actually was.

This anime is one that has a lot of good surrounding it by word of mouth, and every once in a while you hear someone say it was meh or not worth watching. When I originally watched this, I had only seen the opening and I thought it was amazing and one of the best openings I've ever seen, as I still hold to this idea today. Upon watching the first few episodes, I was intrigued, but not impressed. When I finally finished it, I felt like I had wasted a tremendous amount of time and immediately wrote it off with a one out of ... ten and rushed a poorly written and bad review of it here, which no longer exists. Then, after many months, I began to think: "What if it actually wasn't as bad as I initially thought?" and so I began the perilous quest of rewatching my most hated anime at this current time, and after finishing it, I wrote this review.

This review takes a bit to get going to my main points, but if you're seriously considering watching this anime, I HIGHLY suggest you finish my review, and then read some other reviews that may/may not be more positive than mine.

Art: 6/10
I will start with the art, as this is obviously the first thing you notice. For a 2011 anime, it's definitely up to par and has no really glaring problems, and is actually rather well done. That being said, I have seen much better anime, even in the same year. It also has some CGI, but it's nothing amazing, but it was done tastefully enough that it doesn't seem really awkward or make a bad contrast with the rest of the art. However, a large problem I have with this is if you are watching an uncensored version (AKA Not the TV version) like I had the misfortune of doing, then you will see some anime boobies. This may or may not bother you, but it bothered me as it was unnecessary fan service and it was more creepy and distracting than anything. Why am I mentioning this in the TV version? As a warning to those that there is a difference. The TV version also censors some very odd things, at least to a North American viewer such as myself, like severed limbs. Japan may have some different laws or preferences to us in NA, but it looks really dumb and childish when something like this happens, and it really takes you out of a suspenseful scenario.

Sound: 8/10
As I have already stated, the opening is great, and I watch it almost every time. Same goes for the second opening and both endings. I highly enjoy all of these, and they are worth sticking around for instead of just jumping into the episode or to the next. The background music fits the tone for almost every scene and Tatsuya Kato did a good job in producing it. However, unlike some other music directors, like Hiroyuki Sawano, none of his tracks are very memorable, and so makes the music in the actual anime lacking to an extent, as there was nothing unique or fresh about his style. This is only a real problem for those of us who like anime OST's and will search them up after watching a scene where the song is what really made it for you.

Story 4/10
Now this is where my review starts getting negative. If you're a big fan of the show and you don't like constructive criticism, turn away now. The story is about a young boy named Yukiteru Amano who is a very lonely and boring middle school child, who is just going through the motions of life trying not to disturb anyone and only observing the daily events that unfold around him. He himself never takes a large role in anything in his life. The only thing he has to go home to is his imaginary friends, Dues ex Machina, the "god" of space and time, and his servant, Mur Mur (Japanese pronunciation Mura Mura, which I much prefer and shall be writing it as such from here on out), who does nothing and a lot of it. One day, Yukiteru wakes up and finds that his diary entries, had already been written for him. Immediately writing it off, he starts his daily routine. Suddenly, the events in his dairy begin to unfold as they were written. Taking advantage of this, he starts utilizing his "future diary". However, he is soon approached by a pink haired classmate named Yuno Gasai, who somehow knows what Mura Mura looks like, even though she's just a part of Yukiteru's imagination. Yukiteru is appalled by this, and runs off, only to be continually cut off by Yuno, who then explains to him that there are eleven other diary owners that are all trying to kill each other to become "god", as the current one, Deus ex Machina, is dying and needs a suitable replacement in one of these diary holders. Yuno also makes it a point to confess her love for Yukiteru, by showing him her future diary, which tells her everything there is to know about Yukiteru, perfect for a stalker, as she has been doing for the past year. Now, thrust into this game of life and death, Yukiteru, with much help from Yuno, must outwit and outfight his enemies that are the other diary holders.

Okay, that's the intro. Cue lots of filler and boring episodes where nothing happens, episodes that are really reminiscent of generic "villain of the week" shounen anime, and so many plot holes you could sink a ship with them. Upon rewatching this, there were many episodes I skipped because either A: Nothing happens in them, or B: They're just so boring to watch you can't help but skip them. I have so many problems with scenes or ways characters handle things that I could write a spoiled version of this review and it would be twice as long, but I won't. I will just warn you that this anime assumes you're stupid sometimes and creates hype with no build up and no pay off. But let's be honest here. If you have a friend that told you to watch this, but you're not so sure and want to read a review first, there's a reason they wanted you to watch this show...

Characters 1/10
Now, for the absolute lowest point of this anime, it's characters. If you're a hardcore fan and decided to still read this review despite my warning, here's where you will be raging. My biggest problem with many shows are weak protagonists. Whether they are just too generic, too perfect, or in this case, too pathetic. Yukiteru, is not a good character. Most anime is marketed towards high schoolers and young adults, hence why most anime is in the Slice of High School Life Rom/Com genre. The reason for this is because if you can have a connection with the characters, you are way more likely to enjoy the show and keep watching. Therefore, when you're mains are all middle schoolers, you can't relate to them as much, or in my case, at all. In a survival game where you have to kill people, I understand why a middle schooler would be hesitant.

Sake Esuno, the original content creator's solution to this? Yuno Gasai, whose brain doesn't work normally and easily is the first thing that will pop into an otaku's head when they hear the term, "Yandere". Yuno murders everyone and anyone who gets in between her and Yukiteru, unless Yukiteru has explicitly told her not to, but occasionally not even then, if she really hates them. While this isn't always a bad thing, listening to a middle school kid cry and scream is not pleasant, even if it's warranted. More on Yuno, she eventually loses all purpose and then begins doing crazy things just to be crazy so that you'll point at the screen, laugh and say, "Oh that Yuno, always being so nuts!". This is another part of the "hype because hype" driving factor behind some scenarios that ultimately make them blow up in the episodes own face. As for the supporting cast, they are either really well done and don't get enough screen time, or get some but are very obnoxious and you'd just wish they'd go away. Because of this, none of them are worth even mentioning, even though I quite like some of them.

Overall: 3/10
I give this anime a three out of ten because I believe it had a ton of potential, but it was only squandered in favor of poor plot devices, lame twists, and boring fillers. An example of this is this anime is way too long. It has 26 episodes, but it could have easily been finished in 20/22, as the last four/five episodes all drag on very long with extraneous scenes. It may have only seemed like this as I have viewed the show before so I know what was going to happen, but I still feel it could have been shortened. Couple this with some episodes that literally have nothing to do with the plot, and you have a lot of wasted screen time, but more importantly, your time.

Also, a "spoilerless" note about the ending, on the topic of tediously long scenes, I have no idea why there is an OVA other than to make viewers scream at their screen until they find out about the OVA, as the Manga ending is literally two pages away from the animes. Keep in mind, a manga page would contain anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute and a half of anime screen time.Sorry, don't mind me. I had to have another tangent, as this anime has given me much to gripe about.

My final verdict is that this is not worth the watch. However, if, you still decide you wish to view this anime, please watch the subbed version, as the dub for this anime, while not bad, is just wrong, to put bluntly. While the dub voice actors do not do a "bad" job per se, I find it vastly inferior to the subbed version, as Tomosa Murata did such a fantastic job as Yuno, even though the character is poor.

As for alternate anime with survival game themes or feels, I redirect you to instead watch Deadman Wonderland. Bear in mind, Deadman also has a whiny protagonist and a mysterious girl that saves him from everything, and that I don't hold this anime in high regards. I would be cautious with watching it, and even though I enjoyed it, I don't think it's all that special or great, but still a better watch than Mirai Nikki, and you'll spend only half the time.

For an anime that I did like with a survival game feel, I highly HIGHLY recommend Fate/Zero, the prequel to the Fate/Stay Night series. And if the name "Gen Urobuchi" means anything to you, and you haven't seen Fate/Zero yet, I really suggest you fix that. And the dub is amazing, by the way.

Please rate my review as you see fit, and if you have any questions or clarification, please post to my wall, and I will respond when I see it, thanks!

I basically had went to the trouble of signing up an account for myanimelist.com just to write this positive review for Mirai Nikki after watching episode 5.

Like the synopsis said this is a psychological thriller, with murders, gore, sins and some demented killers.

However unlike most thrillers the story is extremely good, the characters are all very unique, each with deep, well developed personalities that are slowly revealed to the viewer as they watch more and more episodes of the series. Its a mechanic that makes shows very addictive to watch, just like how you want to spend more time with your date as they ... reveal more and more nuggets about their interesting personality.

Story 10 - Story is amazing, the first 5 to 10 minutes of the first episode was pretty typical, and it was deceiving (in a good way) because the story quickly ramped up and starts to deliver. Every time I watch an episode it delivers something new and unexpected, like a plot twist, or a revelation about the certain existing characters. And every time these plot twists had me wide eyed in pleasant surprise, thinking "Wow this is so cool!" or something like "OMG, holy S*&t! I didn't expect this!"

Art 8 - Art is decent i guess, the action sequences are well done, but pale in comparison to this season's "Guilty Crown" for action. Overall art is 8 as I compared it with last season's artistic masterpiece "Hanasaku Iroha" , which the art was so good for a weekly anime series that I believed it set a new benchmark for artistic quality in weekly anime.

Sound 8 - The music (OP and ED) are decent, they wisely avoided sound during some of the intense, dark & scary moments where they let the suspense and fear build up in the viewers.

Characters 10 - Characters are fantastic, awesome for an anime (or manga). Each and every starring character had unique personalities that are uncommon to the typical person. I am only at episode 5 of the anime and I have never seen such a demented and crazy cast. Only the main character Yukiteru-Kun seems the most normal, but even he has his fears and complexes that makes him withdrawn. The best thing about the characters is that the story only reveals small nuggets of their personality and motive every now and then as you keep watching the series. This means that the uniqueness and most likely, the demented craziness of each character drives the storyline further and further as each character's motives are revealed.
Best thing is that most of the time you don't expect the revelations made about these characters, giving you a "wow" moment and surprises you with a plot twist.
An yea, many reviewers give props to "Yuno" the other main character of "Mirai Nikki". And I agree, a pretty girl who has a hidden killer personality, stalks the lousiest loser in school like the most diligent killers in slasher movies, and hacks and slashes everyone else with a handaxe. How cool is she! She stays a mystery and keeps viewers wanting to see more and more of her real motives, personality and her backstory.

Enjoyment 9 - I would give this a 9.5 if they allowed it in the ratings system. After watching 1 episode of "Mirai Nikki" at a random anime livestream channel it drove me to find and watch all the other existing episodes and wait fervently for the release of the latest ones. Only thing is that I probably can't have a good appetite while eating and watching this anime, due to the gore :)

Overall 9 - Again I would give Overall a 9.5 rating if allowed, "Mirai Nikki" has a great plot. A psychological thriller with gore is not your typical anime. Most of the time anime makers would turn away from such bloody twisted story for the fear of censorship and lack of young viewers. However "Mirai Nikki" is a great watch for anyone above 16. Everybody can enjoy the suspense of a good thriller and be hooked to the various character developments and plot twists. I would easily rate this anime as my choice for anime of the year 2011. Basically if you are even reading this review, find a way to watch the show by any means possible, yes it is that good, enjoy "Mirai Nikki" :)

Mirai Nikki - you won't stop shaking your head.

Mirai Nikki is a poorly executed show filled with contradictions, illogical character behavior, forced plot advancements, haphazard personality changes, inappropriate scene changes, moronic plot twists, lunatics and most of all: imbeciles.

The plot is quite simple. The God of Time and Space (Deus Ex Machina) is looking for a successor. Thus, he invites Yukiteru (our male protagonist of this story), Yuno (our female protagonist and Yukiteru's ally/classmate/stalker/girlfriend) and ten others to a battle royal in which the last survivor becomes the new God of Time and Space. While everyone's identity is concealed from each other, Deus Ex Machina ... declares Yukiteru his favorite to win this death match. Subsequently the other participants decide to focus their attention on Yukiteru. Strangely they are kind enough to stand in line, waiting for their turn to make their appearance. Coincidentally the majority of the contestants are wacky, deranged individuals.

All contestants are given a "Future Diary" (in most cases integrated into their cell phones) which tells about future events as the holder would perceive it, as long as the future doesn't change due to any interfering actions of a diary holder. That means: First, the diaries can be used to change the future, which also automatically rewrites the entries of all Future Diaries. Second, the diaries don't necessarily tell the truth.
Example: A person holds a coin in his right fist, while his left is empty. Your diary tells you the coin is in his left. You respond accordingly. Without revealing the coin he assures you that your answer is correct, and your diary had predicted your perceived future correctly, even though it was a lie.
What kind of information those predictions contain is unique to each holder and seems to depend on his job and interests. Best example would be Yuno's diary: As she is quite obsessed with Yukiteru, her diary contains information about his future actions in ten-minute intervals.
Disadvantage of those diaries is, that damaging them results in the owner's death.

While the setting of Mirai Nikki had any means to create clever, sinister characters and stories, it turned out to be a badly executed, mindless slaughter show. That is primarily because of the vast number of inept characters and the implausible changes in their personality.

The average IQ of the cast seems to be crawling around the ten point mark. The plot advances often by exploiting the sheer stupidity of the cast, forcing them to behave in such unrealistic manners that it insults the intelligence of the viewers and ruins even the slightest bit of credibility of the characters as they simply don't act like humans.
Example: Your friend 'A' is sitting unconscious on a chair, located in a very suspicious-looking room which looks like an obvious trap. Your friend 'B' wants to go into the room to check on 'A', but before going inside, he tells you to stay back and hold the door open. You shout enthusiastically "Leave it to me!". Satisfied with your response he goes into the room.
So, what do you do as a brainy character of this show? Damn right: Ten seconds later you waltz into the room, the door closes behind you, locking you all inside, and you make a face which literally screams "Oh snap! I totally didn't see that coming!".
(While the manga handles this scene slightly differently, it isn't errorless either.)
The worst thing is, that such irrational behavior is being used all the time for almost every character as if there were no intelligent alternative.

Adding to the characters' idiocy comes their fluctuating personality changes.
Yukiteru is an antisocial, gullible, pathetic, insecure, unmotivated, spineless, gutless and brainless teenage boy and Yuno is a crazy, insane maniac with a psychopathic obsession with Yukiteru.
While the original personality of most of the characters can be accepted by itself, the real problem lies in their unpredictable and unreasonable personality changes - especially those of Yukiteru - making them do the most ridiculous and unbelievable things.
Turning a coward into a leader-like figure, letting him kill several dozen people with a callous countenance and then, just moments later, turning him back into his coward self, making him sob "I never wanted to kill anyone!", is just one example of many baffling personality changes.

As Mirai Nikki is a show about a tournament in which the winner becomes nothing less than the new God of Time and Space, you would expect that some events had an influence on their surrounding world or that they would carry some other sort of significance. But many events are just swept under the mat, as the characters act like they've never happened in the first place. That is not only due to a poorly written script, but also thanks to absurd and erratic scene changes. The combination of both makes it feel like the viewers are supposed to forget these events, as it seems much more important to see the characters visiting a bridal fair or grabbing boobs in a hot spring.

While the ending was already predetermined, the rest of the show felt like a messy series of introductions and killing offs of characters. Although some individuals were given a background story, none of them played a significant role or showed any ambition to win this death match. In the end they served no real purpose and were quickly forgotten.

Animation-wise there is nothing extraordinary to mention. It's pretty much mediocre. The animation shines best when showing one of Yuno's many facets of her going crazy.
The voice actors fit the cast quite well, the soundtrack is nice to listen to and serves the show as a decent musical accompaniment.

To sum it up: The combination of lacking intelligence of the cast, the fluctuating, random changes in their behavior, the nonsensical, erratic scene changes and the stolid, rushed plot advancements makes Mirai Nikki an utter disaster.
While I never take fictional work too seriously, Mirai Nikki's overkill of stupidities made it difficult even for me to enjoy myself.
Otherwise, I can only recommend this show to people with a predilection for trashy shows as they will most likely have their fun with it.

You know, having a future diary for myself would have been ideal for my viewing of this anime, so that I would be warned of how nonsensical and down right retarded the anime gets, which is a shame because I happen to have been enjoying the bloody fun so far...

STORY: Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) is, for lack of a better way to describe it, fucking nuts. A psychogist would be laughing at this mental breakdown of a plot, but I got to be fair, I do enjoy this anime to a certain degree, but it's the crazy sharp turns it loves to take is what ... nearly throws me off into complete confusion, not the "I don't understand" kind of confusion (Though is still includes that from time to time), but the "Why and how is this happening" kind.

However, let's avoid the deep end for now.

The series is based on a manga of the same name originally created by Esuno Sakae about a battle to the death style of competition between 12 eccentric characters, from a terrorist, to a leader of a cult, to a lovey dovey couple, to even a orphen caretaker for the chance for one of them to take the place of a god, who is literally Deus Ex Machina, before he himself dies. Each will battles each other by using future diaries commonly being in the forms of cellphones, which each one varies on what type of future it fore tells.
It's sounds like the love child of series such as Eden of the East and the Fate/ series, though doesn't even get close to them in the intellect or character development department.

The main character, Yukiteru Amano, holder of the future diary that works as you'd think every other diary holder's would work, is an outstanding leading... total pussy. He is your typical spineless wimp, borderline disgusting even (A kid who would stay behind the sidelines and let the guard dog handle everything as he runs away shamelessly, the hero ladies and gentlemen). From having no friends, to even recording what he does daily in his phone (Pre-future diary), he is the definition of an unlikable main lead, one would or should never root for him, under-dog traits or not, his actions are hardly redeemable, he's easily fooled countless times, and develops at the pace of paint drying on the wall... A wall that is told to pretend his character development... Seriously, he remains the same way until he is told to "act" like a badass and and forgets about being a total wimp until later on, but he's my best friend compare to the lead female character.
Yuno Gasai is what makes this anime surpremely entertaining and utterly batshit insane, this is an arkham asylum of lead character (I honestly believe she'd give the Joker a run for his money), but damn she is just fun to watch, wondering what she will do in the next episode is a one hundred post forum topic in of itself, for good and bad. She is also, for reminder's sake, totally insane and major threat to the cast by her self and a catalyst for the series' plot and character development breakdown. She is hopelssly obsessed with Yukiteru, calling herself his future bride, so she's your classic case of stalker too, but to disturbing lengths. She even goes to far so to kidnap Yukiteru, keeping him tied up, all the while prancing around in her underwear. She is a character that indiscriminately kills anything in her way, she's fun to watch but damn, how can anyone like this character? Especially Yukiteru, which he never can't get his hands washed of her.
I know that she's commonly categorized as a "Yandere" type character, but that's not a good reason to fawn over a character like her, she's not a character type, she's a damn psychopath with an endless thrist for blood in sheep's clothing.

But this where I jump right into the twenty feet deep portion of the swimming pool called the "plot" where seemingly anything goes, anything no matter how much sense it doesn't make. The future diaries do seem to be too convenient (Which is understandable since each character gets that advantage for themselves), but one of them practibly, or just flat out ruins the anime completely, as everyone seems to be pulling a future diary for their selves at random, and more over a lot of the diaries range from creative to just gimmicky, where the later is more common (Diaries predicting the actions of other couples and one that literally breeds more diaries is just absurd). Even the majority of the cast come down to one trick performances (Or well they only get one try before they're dead and forgotten forever), just a enemy of the week type of formula rules the most of them (And a lot of side characters that don't contribute to anything, like the stout Mur Mur, what is her purpose anyway? Sigh... You will laugh when you find out).

The anime is indeed addictive, from bloody murders and crazy fallouts from the lead characters, but it's stupidity is overwhelming and just wants to make you tilt your head at the story developments and the absurd character display (Yup, trusting the stalker that just doesn't know how to stop killing everything is the best choice of action Yukiteru, while you're at it, go ahead and hide right behind her back-? You're there already? Then disregard this then and watch your back, like you care pfffth).
But seriously, the main problem with Mirai Nikki is the inclusion of a character being Deus Ex Machina, it's rare that a story can do this effectively and even rarer for a story to not be confusing nonsensical gibberish, which by the way, Mirai Nikki ends up becoming. The anime is still capable of displaying solid moments with the main couple from time to time, but you'll be far from invested with it as the anime marches forward as it makes up shit as it goes along all the way towards the end.

ANIMATION: While it's not among the best, it's not terrible either. While the blood bathes in general get the most of the budget for the animation crew, it's overall pretty average, even character designs are pretty regular too outside the quirky ones and the 3d animated god.

SOUND: Outside of the craziness, the theme music is extremely addictive, with the first opening theme song, Kuusou Mesorogiwi by Yousei Teikoku, being the best. While the performances from the voice actors give off a love and hate vibe, especially where Yukiteru is concerned, his performance only reinforces the pathetic wimp that he is, from whining and freaking out the time... But that's good casting in hindsight (I'm trying to state a positive as a negative, I think this anime is making me crazy...).

OVERALL:
The Good:
+ Great theme music.

The Mixed:
+/- Bloody good fun with crazy as all hell characters / When the plot goes off the rails, it's not a pretty trainwreck.
+/- Creative ways for character to combat each other / Most of which is one time gimmicks.
+/- Yuno Gasai / The unlikable wimp of a main lead, Yukiteru and Yuno Gasai.

The Bad:
- Character development isn't acting like something you're not, which the main proceeds to do so.
- Towards the end, the story begins to literally make up shit as it goes along.

It's not okay for people to go "That just her character type heehee," when that character in question is unlikably insane, and it doesn't help when the show is almost a competition to see who's the craziest. An over the top psychotic free for all death match is one thing, but when you start to consider a line getting crossed, that line has already been beaten, stabbed, mutilated and and sculpted into something completely unrecognizable before your consideration begins to come across your mind, that's when it's time to get the fuck out.

Oct. 9, 2011:
Mirai Nikki's anime adaptation begins.

--DEAD END--

A mess. That's probably the easiest way to describe Mirai Nikki. From beginning to end, it was simply a total mess. The story begins as an apparently simple battle royale between a bunch of varyingly crazy people who can predict the future. By the end it's a dimension-hopping cluster of ridiculous plot twists and some veeeeeeery half-assed writing.

I wouldn't want to spoil this... unique series for anyone, but I'm just going to say that it involves stuff like one character killing and impersonating herself, a gay guy pooped out by GOD who sends texts while getting his head ... chopped off (yes, while), and a crazy bitch with a bomb fetish who can fly and has babies that can also fly. Around the final arc it has completely ceased being about the survival game and has degenerated into Dragon Ball Z-style energy beam fighting. Yes, really.

And, really, most of it comes out of nowhere. Whole plotlines are dropped and brought up very suddenly with alarming frequency. Character arcs are usually resolved in an extremely hasty manner with some form of contrived ass-pull excuse. This is just a very poorly plotted story, not that I've read the manga it's based on. Maybe that fared better? Probably not.

The protagonist is beta as fuck, too. I sympathised more with the 'villains' (using that term verrrrrry loosely) of the "Yukki's daddy issues" arc, as they had a genuinely sad, yet heartwarming backstory. Yukki is just a pussy and Yuno is a crazy bitch who makes no sense half of the time. Best character is Minene, though. She's cool. But her hair in episode 2... honey, no. That look is so not you.

The nicest thing I can say about Mirai Ball Z is that the opening songs are both fantastic. Particularly Dead END by the lovely Faylan, which I loved before I even started the series. The lyrics don't make any sense at all (The girl with the sharp thorn in her flesh, I met you at your story...?) but it sure is catchy. The first OP with its dramatic choir and counting up in German (EIN ZWEI DREI) was also very memorable.

It was fun, though. This is the kind of series you make fun of with friends. It was all just so ridiculous and stupid that I couldn't help but kind of like it.

If you want a solid "so bad it's good" series, Mirai Nikki will prolly satisfy your desires.

--HAPPY END--

DEAD END. You are facing your inevitable demise. But you possess a Future Diary, allowing you to evade death. However, other holders will be after your life to win Deus Ex Machina's twisted game and to become the next god. But don't worry. Gasai Yuno will protect you...

Mirai Nikki is an extremely excellent anime that does a fantastic job of incorporating the "Battle Royale" atmosphere and creating the perfect yandere. The storyline was complex and well-structured, almost flawless. It does well as a psychological thriller, weaving intense situations and suspenseful moments into an intricate pattern.

Story (10):

It is interesting how the director and character designer of ... Shuffle! were able to string Esuno Sakae's manga into an exceptional storyline. The story itself may sound a bit odd at first (diaries that predict one's future events), but its compelling components such as the prize, becoming a god to replace Deus Ex Machina, the absolute god of time, definitely justify the method of portraying the story in an uncommon manner. With diary holders trying to kill each other in greed for power, the content of Mirai Nikki is dark; much blood and gore is spilled in the survival game. To a person who enjoys "kill or be killed" style plots or psychological thrillers, such as myself, Mirai Nikki would be very appealing because of the intense survival game and dramatic focus on the character's mental state rather than the physical world.

Artwork (8):

Nothing much needs to be said about the artwork. Although the artwork and animation was good, without anything to complain about, it was not as extravagant as Guilty Crown and not as creative as Bakemonogatari. The animation is violent with much blood and gore spilled; it generally carries a Gothic ambiance of which is fitting for the dark story of Mirai Nikki.

Sound (8):

The first opening was fantastic, perfectly fitting the Mirai Nikki atmosphere. There is nothing wrong with the second opening, but I did not think it resonated as well with the anime as the first opening had done. But overall, the OST was great without many complaints.

Character (10):

The character development of Mirai Nikki is simply perfect. Gasai Yuno is the perfect yandere without a doubt, holding up an innocent middle-school girl exterior. Amano Yukiteru is portrayed as a weak-willed and timid boy, with a voice actress that accurately represents his personality. Yuno is developed into a psychopathic stalker who becomes obsessed with Yukiteru, stopping at nothing to preserve their "relationship." Yukiteru relies on her protection to stay alive in Deus Ex Machina's game. Yuno is a yandere; Yukiteru is a coward. There is absolutely no flaw in the characters' structure and development in Mirai Nikki.

Enjoyment (9):

With people constantly murdering, the little comic relief is enough to release the viewer from the intense buildup, such as the after-credits shorts with Mur-Mur. Generally, the action scenes are exciting but bloody. To some, it may even be nauseating. However, it is definitely enjoyable to one who enjoys these kinds of battles.

Overall (9):

I would recommend this to anyone who likes survival games, psychological thrillers, or yandere girls as it is a great anime. But if you want to watch cute shoujo romances, this is definitely one of the farthest things from it.

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” - Abraham Lincoln

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

When you're little, have you ever thought about the future? Have you ever wanted to know what it would be like five, ten, or twenty years from now before you grow up? It is probably a thought most of us came upon in our lives. However our protagonist Yukiteru "Yuki" Amano is a loner who instead of thinking about the future instead spends his time daily writing a diary on his phone. Talk about a strange habit for a ... kid without friends. But, surprise will hit him faster than a bullet train when he learns about the future in stored for him.

Mirai Nikki (also known as The Future Diary based off the manga of the same name), is a story of survival game where the ultimate prize is to become God and given the gift to change the world forever. Being a survival game, it is not complete without its contestants. These contestants known as the Future Diary owners are given diaries in their own form whether it's a cell phone, a sketch book, or a scroll which tell them different things about what will happen in the future. The contestants themselves are also worthy noting that have a wide range of stark personalities ranging from a terrorist, to the devoted collective couple, a child prodigy, and a man who seeks justice in his own unique twisted ways.

Then, there are the side characters. Yes, I'm talking about those classmates that later enters on into the story. Despite their relatively normal selves, we can see that the survival game later becomes realistic and changes their view on the world. I can't blame them though, I mean who can act and be themselves when you realize that you can see into the future?

In today's anime series, there are many type of characters. Tsundere, yandere, mysterious, princely, you name it. Then, there is our yandere (hero or anti-hero? you decide) Yuno Gasai. She is described as the typical Yamato Nadeshiko by those who sees her outer self...a girl of perfection who is popular with students, good at academics, and generally an ideal woman. Behind that outer shell however is a girl with insecurities with disturbing stalker-like tendencies for our protaognist, Yuki. Her obssession of Yuki can be labeled as yandere as she is willing to hurt or kill others. In fact, she won't hesitate to sacrifice other people because to her, the only important thing is that she and Yuki survive the game. Her goal of wanting to make that “happy end” (hehe, turn that imagination bulb on) with Yuki is one of the main drives she wishes to achieve in this story.

Of course with survival game genres, there are consequences such as life and death. In the end, there is only one winner and it's every man for himself. Luckily for our protagonist, his stalker is madly in love with him so that means an alliance. So do the math here: two heads are better than one right? Well, that would be the case but Yuki's insecurities tells him in his mind that killing is wrong and things like this can be ended peacefully. However, in survival games like this, there is no peace. There is no true alliances. There is no true God (yet), no angel, no heaven. There is only blood, betrayals, and power. And in the end, there is only one winner if by miracle that you don't reach your own Dead End first.

What I found this series quite interesting is that it sticks to the game from the very beginning. Yes, there are those sidelines and mini-fillers (even ones that weren't in the manga) but it sticks with the pace overall. The memories and flashbacks we see of various characters is realistic and the tragedy and mood of what they been through makes them who they are. And of course, there are those fan-service scenes that keeps our eyes glued to the screen involving our yandere Yuno and some other characters.

As a survival horror, blood and gore is present. What did you expect? This isn't one of those happy love-dovey series involving teenage romance and love triangles. If you want that, go watch Amagami SS or something. Honestly though, I thought that some of the violence is necessary for this series to engineer the reality of the game. In other words, the survival game for the throne of God is real. The contestants are dead serious on winning. And, the consequences for losing are disastrous.

The show being labeled as a psychological on MAL also shows its colors once the episodes progresses especially later on in the series. Like I mentioned before, there is drama, there is blood spilled, and backs being stabbed metaphorically. The moments are tense and for those who have watched Final Destination or any other related series of related theme would understand this with the thriller-like endings that keeps the viewers at our seats. In other words, it keeps the viewers from predicting what's next and what or when things happen. I mean, it's not like you have a real Future Diary to predict the events of the anime as you watch them. Now, that would be something you don't see every day.

Another noteworthy mention of Mirai Nikki in my book would be the soundtrack of this series. I'll be honest here. It is epic. The OST mixes in with the various scenes well ranging from psychological, comedic, emotional, and action. Additionally, the OP songs performed by Yousei Teikoku and Faylan portrays the metaphor of the series. If we look carefully and listen to the lyrics, we can see the realism of a survival game and picture it in our minds as the song plays.

Unfortunately, I found the art of the series to be just average. It's not that unique or something that made me go “wow, I haven't seen something this beautiful before!” I've already had that feeling after watching many Makoto Shinaki films.

Overall, I would say that this series is enjoyable. It's not just because I'm a sucker for thriller and psychological genre despite some of the fan-service and cliches. Thankfully, Mirai Nikki didn't push that too far even if it did in a few cases. Despite my initial hatred for that excuse of a protagonist by the name of Yuki, I did find his later character development and values to be worth noting. Then, there's the yandere Yuno in the series added in like a little bonus of cherry to a delicious cake. And of course, don't leave the terrorist Uryu out as her character development of the series is perhaps one of the most interesting aspects that makes you want to learn about her more and more. (perhaps even fall in love and marry with her like one of the other characters) The soundtrack is powerful and conveys every moment of the series from emotional, comedy, or thriller. It will keep you at the edge of your seat as you predict what will happen next using your own imaginative diary that's called a brain. Perhaps the only problem I had was with the ending of the anime adaptation. I won't spoil it for you but it's not something I originally hoped to see. With a package of 26 episodes, expect psychological plot twists, character development, and thriller that will make you want more and more. Looking to watch something with your best friend on a weekend after finishing your job or homework? Then, you might of just hit a jackpot because our yandere Yuno will surely give you something to remember by.

May 19 12:55 pm

Stark700 finishes writing his Mirai Nikki review.
Hope you like what you see and I wish you a Happy End.

Yandere.

Yandere.

What in the mighty fuck is a yandere?

Well, good sir / madam / whoever the fuck you are, a yandere is a common term in otaku fandom, a yandere is a person (usually female) romantically obsessed with someone to the point of using violent means to get them in their arms. Often seen with a sharp weapon and a psychotic grin. Now maybe the most known character to be this type is Kotonoha in School Days since while she’s calm and gentle, she can also be unstable and quite messed up in the head, as the final episode sequence proved that (although that was the ... only good part about that anime) but enough about that considering this anime I’m about to review also has an yandere character that either has its fans as of recently and it also goes to show you that we need to stray from crazy psychotic girls like Yuno Gasai, Yu no? *rimshot and then gunshot*


High school 2nd year, Amano Yukiteru, is a boy who has problem making friends. He thinks of himself as a bystander and will always write down everything he sees in a cell phone diary. Yuki initially has no desire to win the game, but after Deus informs the other contestants that Yuki, as the “1st” Diary owner, is his favorite to win the game, he is forced to team up with the 2nd Diary owner—his obsessive stalker, Yuno Gasai—in order to survive the constant attempts on his life by the other diary users, who see him as the biggest threat. Tormented by solitude, Yukiteru began to imagine things like a friend called Deus Ex Machina who is apparently the Lord of Time & Space. Seeing Yukiteru’s miserable state, Deus gives him a new ability. His diary will now record events that will happen in the near future. Yukiteru is then forced to participate in a game which the winner will become Deus’ successor.


Well, the plot is precise to mostly the concept of Battle Royale where you better make sure you got the tools and skills to survive whatever gets thrown at you but with the addition of knowing your future beforehand via a future diary but the thing about them is that they’re not exactly 100% reliable as some of them do manage to do the opposite of what the diary predicted and you also know the whole ‘anything can happen if you do the opposite of what the diary said and still might live or not. It’s your choice and all that bunk.’ But as the premise sounds entertaining for a while and it did executed it for a while, it went off the rails and ended up being a trainwreck and it’s not a pretty sight as it’s more of people doing some heinous ridiculous shit that really seems uncalled for. I’ve compared this show to Deadman Wonderland much like I’ve compared This Ugly yet Beautiful World to Mahoromatic and like how I said Mahoromatic is superior to TuyBW, Deadman Wonderland beats out Future Diary by a margin and while Deadman wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, it didn’t felt like it was trying too hard to be mature or a seinen as you will (Although Deadman should’ve been longer than Future). Yeah, there’s blood, gore, gunshots, knives, and tits and ass but it isn’t really trying to tell a mature story; it’s what people said in some professional or amateur reviews, it’s more like a shonen series disguised as a seinen series and we can see through its ruse and not to mention, the tone is inconsistent when it comes to humor, especially at the end of every episode where Murmur (Murmur? Really?), the apprentice to Deus Ex Machina encounters with most of the characters in the show in a comical fashion. I don’t mind it as most characters but it felt very jarring after watching an episode.



Characters are the worst part of the series as I really hated the two main leads, Yuki and Yuno, but more of Yuki than Yuno. Why’s that, you asked? Yeah, Yuno is a crazy pink-haired psycho bitch with the basic traits of being lovingly devoted to Yuki and killing everyone who gets in her way but Yuki…….the guy has some fault in this. This isn’t a trait where the main protagonist isn’t at fault since all the shit that happened, all the stuff that happened to his friends, his family (oh, the hell with his father!! I hate that guy even more!!) Even to some of the competitors, which 3 of them are exactly more interesting than the main two such as The 9th (or Minene Uryū), who actually has more of a compelling background story although she has the textbook tsundere bitch thing going for her and The 7th (or Marco and Ai) and both of them are a better couple than Yuki and Yuno. They’re psychotic and crazy killers but they’re more entertaining and I actually gave a shit about them more.


The animation quality is alright. I really don’t know much about the company, asread, as they do have their own anime productions such as Corpse Party OVAs, Minami-ke, Shuffle among other series they only did some parts of and the look of the show does give out its crazy psychotic vibe and sometimes it get too purple. Yeah, like how K uses blue way too much, Future Diary uses the color purple so much that you think someone splashed Grape Kool-Aid into your eyes and yes, gory shit is happening around these parts.



Music-wise, I think the first opening theme of the show, “Kūsō Mesorogiwi” (空想メソロギヰ) by Yousei Teikoku, is the most positive I can get with the show so far because the song will always be stuck in my head and it does got the destructive and terrifying tone that the show desperately tries to be. The other opening song was good but nothing that really grasp into my mind later on. For ending songs, while I equally like both of them, I’m sliding towards the 2nd ending theme, which is also sung by the 1st opening artist, Yousei Teikoku. Also, can you imagine someone using this song for their own personal life? As for the FUNimation dub, it’s not a bad dub but it just felt wrong and not wrong in the sense of watching the original language is better but I think it’s just the casting choices. Brina Palencia may not have been the right choice for Yuno, but I feel like no one else would’ve done it better than her. She’s acceptable in the role but not really a highlight for her. Josh Grelle is a good voice actor, but him voicing Yuki sounds a bit odd than usual. Rest of the cast does strike more as ‘meh’ choices and I did confuse some voices like how I thought Jamie Marchi voiced Yuki’s mom but it was actually Colleen Clinkenbeard and how I mistake Monica Rial for Murmur when it was Leah Clark.



FINAL VERDICT: Yeah, I hated Future Diary. That’s it. Some people said it was terrible but fun and while that may have a little bit of fun, it doesn’t convince me that it wasn’t entertaining. I hate the main characters and wish some of the supporting characters were treated better than they were in the show and the story is sloppily executed despite me being somewhat interested in it. It is one of those shows you should see once and if you like it, well, good for you but otherwise, avoid this clunker. It is not worth it.

--Sorry for my English, I'm from a non-English speaking country--
Ok, right now this show is incredibly overrated, at first I was enjoying it, there is some gore, action, and even some fanservice, but that's about it, because the story is a total mess, it makes no f**king sense at all! There is this God Deus and he is giving cell phones (or future diaries) to some people so they kill each other in a game and the one last standing will become the new God, that's the premise and I know it doesn't sound so bad (it kinda reminds me of Death Note) but things ... only keep interesting the few first episodes, the rest is just brainless fighting, oh and the characters, OMG, Yukiteru has to be one of the less likeable characters I've seen in my entire life, he's a coward and he's also f**king retarded, for example:
( SPOILER )
There's Yukiteru's loving mother and there's Yukiteru's selfish terrible father, his mother (who has showed love and affection the entire series) is killed by his father, yes his own father kills his mother, and if that's not enough he also tried to kill Yukiterou in exchange of having his debts paid. Ok, here's the problem, Yuki makes more fuss and shed more tears for his father than he did for his mother, it makes no sense, he even was aware of his father's intentions to kill him, and he knew he was the one who killed his mother, but this is Mirai Nikki, the nonsensical anime, so he even forgives him and then he becomes, totally out of the blue, a perfect assassin (he was a coward without combat skills), and all credibility goes downhill from there...
( END OF SPOILER )
Yuno is not as bad a character as Yukiteru is, but she's a very shallow character, she's there just for the sake of gore, I think the writers tried to make her a complex character, but they failed, she's also pretty annoying. In some episodes I was like " I swear, if I hear 'Yuuuukiiii' one more time..." LOL
The rest of the characters are even more poorly developed... there's a detective boy who looks exactly like Kaworu Nagisa from Neon Genesis Evangelion, he's supposed to be the mysterious white haired character, and the three friends of Yukiteru, they serve some purpose but there's no deep in their personalities, the same goes for the villains, there's many of them and they look more interesting than the "good boys" but they get killed so fast we don't get to really know them at the end, the only exception are the cop and the one-eyed terrorist psycho girl, these two are probably the more likeable characters on the show. Oh and I almost forgot, there's this woman with a HUGE head, she looks so out of place, but no one seems to care "Hi woman with the huge face", I know this is anime, it's not supposed to be realistic, but c'mon, she's the only person with such a huge head yet everyone seems oblivious to it (and she's the only character with a huge head).
As I said the story is a mess, a fan fiction could do better, it's full of ridiculous dialogue and laughable plot twists.
Sound is average, opening and ending themes are pretty good, the OST it's just ok.
The art it's not bad, I like the character's designs (especially the character design of the girls), they look a bit generic, but they look great. The animation remains consistently good (just don't expect the quality of Death Note or Code Geass), but it's downgraded in some episodes. If you are expecting a suspenseful psychological thriller, then you may end up very disappointed, Mirai Nikki it's not the next Death Note or Monster, it's all mindless action and nonsense... there's some mystery to the story, but I would rather recommend you to watch Another, it's infinitely more interesting and mysterious than Mirai Nikki.
I'm gonna give some credit to Mirai Nikki, the show is a bit addictive, each episode leaves you wanting more, but that's just because they come up with some stupid plot twist that seems interesting at first, but at the end nothing makes sense.

Story - 2
Art - 7
Sound - 6
Character - 3
Enjoyment - 5
Overall - 4

Bring me all the "Not Helpful" you want, but I know deep inside of you, you know I'm right ;)

Mirai Nikki is disappointing. My review will contain a few little "spoilers", though they have little relevance to anything and spoil nothing. This review is kind of a mess and all over the place, much like this series!

- - - S T O R Y - - -
Okay, so the story starts off really dark with some creepy kid who avoids making friends. He keeps a daily journal of the things he observes. He likes to spend his spare time sitting alone in his room with a blanket wrapped around himself, where he gets into "the zone" and hangs out with his imaginary friends, ... who are evil gods that have no regard for human life. At this point in the story, it's got you thinking this is pretty twisted and you're wondering what's gonna happen next.

The basic plot is simple, but effective - kill the other guys before they kill you; the winner becomes the god of space and time. Not knowing the identities of the other people turns it into a sort of psychological game, which makes it more interesting. Now, this was good when the enemies actually desired to become a god, but later in the story, there are characters who don't really care about that. So, you think they'd just stay out of things and keep their identities hidden? Nope! They attack the main characters head on for no apparent reason.

Anyway, about halfway through the series, it starts to get pretty senseless. Eighth's diary is based on the power of a computer server. Why? They didn't really explain this, so it makes no sense to have an ability like that. I can speculate and say it's because Eighth didn't actually have a diary and that the blog site she hosted allowed other people to write on "HER" blog, but c'mon. That's as stupid as saying that the cell phone diaries belong to the phone manufacturers. This part of the story also just really overcomplicates things without making it interesting. It just becomes less interesting as it is nonsensical.

Yukiteru eventually has a little revelation, causing him to change from a wimp into James Bond. Um... I guess it was cool to have a main character who acted more like a main character, but this was far too sudden and out of character. Akise reveals a "shocking truth" about Yuno, which is supposed to be like some ultimate plot twist... except they didn't give us enough clues to make it worth anything when they revealed it. The plot twist only makes sense after you've seen the entire thing, so it um... kinda fails as a plot twist.

There ends up being some big final battle between two characters that we really didn't get to know or care about. It's a battle with lots of beams and explosions, which uh... seems really out of place. It's like this anime was trying to be too much at once. The last episode doesn't really conclude things, so prepare yourself for some disappointment.

- - - A R T - - -
The art was okay, but it seemed a little cheaply animated at times. It seems up to standards, but sometimes it just stuck out to me how the animators looked like they got lazy.
Somehow, it feels like Yuno was in her underwear too often for no reason.

- - - S O U N D - - -
Nothing in particular really stood out. Same high pitched female voices you hear in any other anime.

- - - C H A R A C T E R S - - -
Oh boy, here we go.
Yukiteru - He starts of being some creepy kid like I mentioned earlier. This was interesting. He's kinda wussy, like any average 12 year old boy would be, but he's not unlikeable. It took him a while to realize how he felt about Yuno, but it was good to see the progress - it made it believable. His character does a sudden 180 later in the story. This kinda ruins his character since there was no real development leading up to that and no real development afterwards; he was just suddenly a completely different person. This was disappointing.

Yuno - She's a "stalker", which um... is a weird concept in itself. When you think of a stalker, you think of a 50 year old pedophile or something. In Japan, for some reason, I guess they consider kids and teenagers "stalkers" if they watch the person they have a crush on. Anyway, Yuno is supposed to be some psychopath who can only be tamed by Yukiteru's love. Can he help her calm down and give up her lunatic ways? Find out next episode!
It was fine that way. We could see their relationship develop. Then at the peak of Yukiteru's love and trust in Yuno, the writers thought they'd give us a plot twist? It was one of the stupidest plot twists I've ever seen. It ruined Yuno's credibility as a character and was just... why? What was the point? It made no sense at all for that to happen. They had what they wanted, so why the fuck would things downgrade to the point that their relationship might as well have never existed? They should've stuck to building her up into a respectable character instead of um... ruining the entire series. This was disappointing.

Eighth - What the fuck is she? Seriously. Her existence simply does not make sense. She is a chibi middle aged woman who is also gigantic. She is clearly not human, but nobody cares.

Eighth's Lucky Star apprentice girl - She was part of the Sacred Eye cult, then she became a member of Eighth's orphanage. In world 3, she is simply with Eighth, though. What a plot hole.

Akise - He's pretty much the only cool character. However, he is gay and kisses Yukiteru for no reason. Was that supposed to be a plot twist? I don't even know anymore...

Ninth - She's kinda stupid. She introduces herself in some kinda Victorian dress and big poofy pigtails, yet she's supposed to be some terrorist who specializes in explosives. She's loud and pretends to act a little crazy. She falls in love with the person she thought she killed, she becomes friends with the person who destroys her eye, and she plays a big plot hole role later in the story. This was disappointing.

- - - E N J O Y M E N T - - -
The plot was really enjoyable at first... y'know, before they butchered it. There was some mild fanservice, which we easily could've lived without. It was a strange kind of fanservice, though. Yuno's swimsuit falling off and floating gently down the stream? A pretty typical occurrence that happens to every anime girl at least once in her life, right? Instead of making her panic and bounce all over, instead of making her use this to seduce Yukiteru, instead of drawing her looking like she's ready to be raped... they honestly made it a pretty modest event. Yukiteru also accidentally pulls a girl's pants down, exposing her underwear, but they didn't draw the girl to look sexy or anything. She was simply a girl with her underwear exposed. These scenes were 100% unnecessary and added nothing, of course, but I was glad that they didn't try to make it look like hentai.

There are also 2 rape scenes and 1 sex scene, but they leave it entirely up to your imagination instead of making it really graphic. Again, I'm glad they didn't try to make it look like hentai. People can watch porn on their own time; it has no place in telling a story, and I can respect that this anime didn't ruin itself with that. However, I have to say that using rape in a story is pretty tasteless, lazy, and overdone. Getting to know the backstories of these characters, becoming a little emotionally invested in them, then they just have something like that happen to them... it's just a disgusting thought. I can understand if they wanted to make the characters tragic or like we could know more about them by seeing their hardships, but rape is just kinda crossing the line. It's not interesting and it's too harsh for simple entertainment.

I think the two most interesting things in the anime are the relationship Yuno and Yukiteru develop (before the retarded plot twist kicks in) and the betrayals. This anime has a lot of thrilling betrayals in the first half. The ones in the later half are kinda boring since you don't get setup to believe in the trust the characters share.

- - - O V E R A L L - - -
This had a lot of potential to be good. It's really disappointing they ruined it with all those inconsistent and random ideas. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, really, as it is just a big let down. If I knew ahead of time that the story was gonna go downhill so badly, I don't think I would've watched it.

Mirai Nikki (or Future Diary as it is known in English) is one of the most popular anime to come out in recent years along with Sword Art Online and Attack on Titan and much like those shows, it has divided the anime community into two camps, those who love it unconditionally and those who hate it with a burning passion, which results in a slew of insults complete with poor spelling and grammar being thrown around forums and comment sections. Now that I’ve got this little bit of superfluous information out of the way, you probably want to know what I think about the ... show. Well, that is the purpose of this review (obviously).


I’m just going to start off by saying that it is quite silly. Don’t get me wrong and start attacking my page, because “silly” doesn’t always equate to “bad” (case in point Gurren Lagann is one of my favourite anime of all time). But keep in mind that I didn’t say that the particular brand of silly is awesome. The premise is actually bloody interesting. It revolves around several people in a battle royale where the winner becomes the god of time and space and they are all equipped with supernatural cellphones that can tell the future (also known as “future diaries”, hence the show’s title) which they use to their advantage. A large perk of a premise like this is that it is perfect for setting up plot twists and for creating tension. Boy does the show use this to its advantage. Alliances are forged and broken by betrayal, good guys turn out to be bad guys and major characters are killed off. This makes the show unpredictable which we can all agree is a good thing. It also places a lot of focus on the side characters as well as the main characters as they off each other and help each other out so it feels more authentic than a lot of other survival game stories where the side characters are all placed in line for our protagonist to fight.

I am now going to address what I said earlier about the show being silly. It is over the top. And trust me, that is an understatement. Homicidal five year olds, zombies, the god of space and time (Deus Ex Machina) and the list goes on. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with being over the top to a certain extent (I love the Sin City graphic novels for crying out loud!) but there are times when the show tries way too hard and certain things just don’t fit to the point where you get the impression that the show doesn’t know what it wants to be. The show wants you to believe it is a dark psychological action/thriller. There are times when the over the top nature works in its favour, for example I thought the addition of zombies and a crazy religious cult added to the cool factor of the show as well as setting up entertaining action scenes (because honestly who doesn’t want to see a cute pink haired yandere fight zombies with a goddamn axe) but there were times when I felt like the show was saying “Oooh, we’re super dark and edgy because we have a five year old psychopath” and this gave me the feeling that they were trying too hard and made it seem quite stupid. And when you’ve added a character with an army of robot dogs, it stops being simply stupid and becomes fucking childish. Stuff like this prevents you from taking it seriously when the show obviously wants you to. That being said, the show was rather entertaining. Like I said earlier, it is quite unpredictable and has a certain cool factor. However the things I mentioned did hinder my enjoyment, which is quite a sad thing.

The characters are without a doubt the weakest part of the show and were what held it back the most. First off there’s fourteen year old Yukiteiru Amano, or Yukki as he is often referred to. He’s our protagonist. Yukki is dragged into the game by his friend Deus Ex (the god of space and time and the guy who started this competition) who Yukki had thought was his imaginary friend up until that point. Yeah, this fourteen year old boy has a fucking imaginary friend. Yeah that’s right, he’s a fucking loser! To further emphasize this point, before being dragged into this little game his only hobbies were recording mundane shit on his phone and unenthusiastically throwing darts (a feat which comes to his advantage later). But what’s he like? Well calm down and I’ll tell you. He’s a pussy. He cowers, cries and whimpers throughout the majority of the series making the viewer want to jam a screwdriver though his skull. “But dude, you have Shinji Ikari in your favourites, you’re contradicting yourself you biased prick!” is what some of you might be thinking right now. Well, Shinji is realistic and that’s the reason I like him. Yukki pushes this angst and wimpiness to the point where it’s not credible and exaggerated wimpiness is not something an average viewer would find appealing. I love Kamina from Gurren Lagann for his exaggerated manliness but that is an appealing characteristic in a protagonist. I guess the writer thought to himself “I’ll be different and put a scared kid in the role of the protagonist instead of the generic righteous leader type we’re so used to in these types of stories”. This would have been a really good idea if he was given more complexity than just “being a pussy” and if he were given a reason for being a pussy. A good example is the aforementioned Shinji Ikari. He’s an interesting and well thought out character that has layers (insert Shrek joke here). He also has good reason for being the way he is. His father treats him like shit and his mother died under dreadful circumstances when he was very young and to top that all off he’s forced into a situation that he knows fuck all about by his father. Yukki on the other hand grew up with a really chilled mom and an initially awesome dad (SPOILER: becomes a cunt later in the series) and his situation is nowhere near as bad as Shinji’s. And besides, Yukki makes Shinji look like Kenshiro on steroids. One Youtube anime reviewer referred to him as Noodledick Vaginasaurus and I can see why. He is without a doubt one of the worst protagonists I have ever seen. Towards the end of the series they try to make him seem like a badass but this drastic change feels really sudden and he doesn’t stay that way for very long so his character becomes very inconsistent.

The next character that I’m going to talk about is the character everyone thinks of when this series is brought up. Yes, the one and only Gasai Yuno. She’s become one of the most popular and iconic anime characters in recent years as well as the waifu of many lonely weeaboos. She is a psychopath who falls in love with good old Noodledick to the point where she is dangerously obsessed. She is also a contender in the survival game and is on Yukki’s side and she protects his useless ass from the other contestants. She flips between being a cute naïve teenage girl to being an all out psycho at the drop of the hat and these changes are unexpected and the transition is great. This genuinely creeps out the viewer and the fact that it can happen so suddenly adds to the sense of unpredictability that I mentioned earlier. She’s a fun character to watch too. Her insanity paired with her cuteness gives her a certain bizarre charm. However, as fun as she is, she is definitely not flawless. She’s ultimately just an archetype (that archetype being yandere) and this is a bit disheartening as it tells you that the writers were being lazy and just decided to use a simple, set archetype instead of adding more to said archetype. Another issue I had which was very much subjective was that she called out the protagonist’s name constantly throughout in a high pitched tone of voice. This was cute and pretty creepy the first couple of times but it got to a point where I felt like shoving screwdrivers in my fucking ears. She’s a really enjoyable yet problematic character who is frankly a tad overrated.

Now for the rest of this show’s cast. Unfortunately they’re the show’s worst flaw in my humble opinion. A lot of them are copied and pasted from other, better shows (we’ve got Kaworu and Revy here), are given less screen time than they deserve, feel like they don’t belong in this sort of show, have REALLY overblown backstories and for the most part they don’t behave in a believable way (dude, one doesn’t become someone’s close friend in three minutes).

Now let’s delve into the show’s art. It’s not spectacular but it’s definitely not bad. I particularly liked the depth and detail they gave the eyes of the characters and the scenes in Deus Ex’s world which had a really dreamlike quality due to all the purple used. The overall designs of the characters are standard fare and there is nothing about them that really stands out as being really good or really bad, with the exception of Deus who has the misfortune of being done in shitty CG.

The same can be said about the show’s soundtrack. It does its job sufficiently enough but when I think back there were no tracks that really stood out. The same can’t be said about the show’s OP tracks though. The show’s first opening is without a shred of doubt one of the greatest of all time. The contrasting red and whites and the song’s fast pace and grand scale are enough to send chills down one’s spine. The second opening is memorable for a different reason though. It’s in FUCKING ENGRISH and it is therefore goddamn hilarious.

In conclusion Mirai Nikki isn’t the deep mature thriller its fanbase make it out to be but it certainly isn’t the harbinger of anime’s decay like many critics would have you believe. Granted it can get REALLY fucking stupid but it can also be a ton of fun at times too. Whether I’d recommend this show or not doesn’t matter because you’ll probably watch it regardless due to its immense popularity. Since I’m more or less impartial to the show it’s not something I’d recommend but at the same time it’s not something I’d tell people to stay away from. So that about wraps up my review. Sayonara suckers.

Feedback would be much appreciated.

Have you ever watched an anime that simply left you speechless, unsure of what the hell have you just watched, but in the most obnoxious way possible? We all probably did, shows that cause this type of reaction tend to be considered the worst ones. Well, let me introduce you to Mirai Nikki.

Mirai Nikki is the worst anime I have ever watched.

No, I'm not kidding, nor am I being hyperbolic. This unholy abomination of a series left such a negative impact on me when I originally watched it back in 2012, that I actually started to hate anime in general and lost interest in the ... medium for a couple of years because of the fact that Mirai Nikki was the most popular anime back then. It baffled me how anyone could like such an atrociously-written crap without an ounce of irony, and if this is what people were accepting as "good" anime, then this medium is fucking doomed.

Thankfully, as the years went by, people started to notice Mirai Nikki's bullshit and this show's reputation nowadays is considerably worse than it used to be, which is exactly the kind of thing that happens with terrible shows that were once loved merely out of hype while not having substance to back it up. The hype dies away, people will watch it again, some new viewers will also give it a shot, and the awfulness of the content will come and hit you so hard you'll wish you were Chris Brown's wife. Maybe if Mirai Nikki was your first anime, or at least your first """""""""""serious""""""""""" (there's still not enough quotation marks there, believe me) anime, you'll probably feel nostalgic about it, and thus, unable to judge it as the shitshow it actually is.

For the sake of being specific about why I hate Mirai Nikki so much, be warned that >>>I'M GOING TO SPOIL THE HELL OUT OF THIS SHOW FOR THIS REVIEW<<< because I don't think I can express how bad it is without spoiling it. If you're somehow masochistic and want to waste your time with Mirai Nikki without being spoiled, then I advise you to not read any further, I also advise you to go watch something else that's more worthy of your time, or maybe go see a psychiatrist. For everyone else... You may also want to do something else that's more worthy of your time than reading some autistic weeb rambling about how much he despises a shitty japanese cartoon that's 7 years old at this point, but if you really want to keep reading, then be my guest.

Some people usually talk about how good Mirai Nikki's premise is, even others who also think this show is horse shit, tend to admit that it had a good premise. Well, I don't think it had a good premise at all, honestly Mirai Nikki seemed stupid to me ever since the very first episode, and I'm going to explain why. The premise is that there's this guy called Amano Yukiteru, he's your average socially awkward loner teen and has the habit of writing down everything that happens around him in his cellphone, while talking to his imaginary friends, Deus Ex Machina, and his partner, Murmur. Turns out Deus Ex Machina and Murmur are not really Yukiteru's imaginary friends, instead Deus is actually the God of Time and Space, he turned Yukiteru's cellphone into a Future Diary, a device capable of predicting the future up to ninety days, and dragged Yukiteru into a deadly survival game. In this game, Yukiteru and eleven other participants posessing their own Future Diaries with their own specific effects must kill each other until one remains, and the sole survivor takes Deus' place as God of Time and Space. Why? Because Deus is actually dying and must get a successor before that happens.

Yeah, if this premise being stupid wasn't self-explanatory enough for you, then I'll tell you why it's stupid. First of all: Why the hell is Deus dying? The show never ever explains what exactly is killing him, hell, I thought gods were supposed to be immortal, but I guess Deus just got some kind of God AIDS and now he's about to pass away. And second: If Deus is the God of Time and Space, then why doesn't he just use his powers over time and space to look into the future and just make whoever won the game there into his successor already? Isn't he in a hurry to get this damn successor before he dies? Does he just want to see a bunch of people killing each other before dying? Either way, it's fucking dumb as hell, there's no reason to even come up with this game when you know exactly who is going to win in the end. Even if you make the argument that he's giving the participants the chance to change this future that he already knows is coming ahead, this is pointless because the winner of the game by the end of the series is exactly who Deus knew was going to be all along. Really, what is the point of everything that happens in this series?

And no, that's not even the worst part, the story somehow actually manages to get dumber after that masterpiece of a premise.

Among the other eleven participants of the game is Yukiteru's classmate, a girl called Gasai Yuno, who has been obsessively stalking the guy and vows to protect him at all costs, her Future Diary is even made specifically to help her protect Yukiteru. Together, they vow to defeat the other Future Diary owners and bring this game to an end, and as you may have guessed it: Most of the diary owners are generic anime bad guys, ranging from a terrorist, to a girl who commands a creepy religious cult, to a serial killer, to a psychopathic loli who somehow has access to dangerous weaponry and so on. Why would Deus choose a bunch of deranged people to this game? I dunno, it's almost like this is an anime and Yukiteru is supposed to be the protagonist who fights against a bunch of villains or something. There's a cop in the game, though, apparenly Deus' motivation to choose him would be to balance things out because the other Future Diary owners were horrible people, because surely one cop can stand up to almost a dozen dangerous criminals.

Predictably, most of the other participants target Yukiteru because he's Deus' personal favorite pick for winner of the game (in other words, he's the protagonist of the show) and they all end up being defeated. Good thing they all conveniently attack him one at a time despite having a common goal in mind, otherwise I would start believing the characters in this show are actually smart or something. But even if they did attack Yukiteru and Yuno together, I'm sure the writers would find a way to make them fail, because Yukiteru has a plot armor that's somehow thicker than Sakae Esuno's skull. The bad guys have to be really dumb in such unbelievably contrived ways in order to lose their battles against Yukiteru and Yuno that it's really hard to take this shit seriously. Take Minene, the terrorist who's the ninth diary user, for example, she sneaks into Yukiteru and Yuno's school and somehow manages to set up bombs all over the place without being seen or suspected by anyone, which is fucking ridiculous, but I'll buy it. What I won't buy, though, is that she conveniently blows up one part of the school at a time, and it's always giving Yukiteru and Yuno just enough time to get away before they get blown up. She then blabbers about how this was all a plan to lure Yukiteru out, and she actually threatens to blow the whole school up. Well... Why doesn't she blow the whole school up? Isn't her objective to kill Yukiteru? By just blowing everything up from the get-go, she would have killed both Yukiteru and Yuno, two birds with one stone. But we all know why she didn't just do that, because then this garbage would have lasted for a mere two episodes.

The other battles against diary users aren't much better than this, it always comes to them having Yukiteru and Yuno backed into a corner, with all the opportunities in the world to kill them, but failing because they're plagued by the powers of bad writing. The Future Diaries themselves are barely even worth talking about here, seriously, they're almost completely forgotten by the characters during these fights, and only do actualy predict the future when it's convenient to the plot, which makes them more of a cheap gimmick than anything else. Action scenes in spite of that aren't even that good, so just turning my brain off and enjoying the action was an impossibility, they're serviceable enough, save for some really stupid moments such as the fight against the twelfth diary user who acts like a tokustatsu hero, he hypnotizes some followers of the sixth diary user and they also wear wacky tokusatsu costumes to fight alongside him. His strategy is to confuse Yukiteru and Yuno because the costumes look similar, so they have trouble telling this guy apart from the others... Except they shouldn't have so much trouble because the costumes have different colors in their helmets, so even if he did blend in together with the others, he still has a specific color in his costume's helmet, but Yukiteru and Yuno are fucking idiots and take forever to get this guy for some reason. God, this is so dumb...

Even worse than the fights is Mirai Nikki's pathetic attempt at character development. The diary users for the most part are generic anime archetypes with some edgy backstory thrown in there so the unfortunate viewer can maybe sympathize with them, and I mean, they do try really hard to get you to sympathize with these characters, if their stupid backstories didn't get you feeling sorry for them, the fact that most of them die right after those backstories are revealed definitely will! Or maybe you're an actual thinking person, and you realize these backstories don't matter in the end. Look at Tsubaki, the sixth diary user and leader of the previously mentioned generic evil cult that does whatever, she's a backstabbing bitch who wants to win the game because she hates the world and wants to destroy it. But hey, look at her background, she was randomly gang-raped by all the other males in her cult right after losing her parents, how ~sad~ and ~tragic~ a character this one is! The rape really drives the point home, it was completely necessary and had everything to do with the plot, man! What about Minene? The terrorist who blew a school up and possibly killed thousands of students in the process? Minene lost her parents and spent her childhood alone in some eastern country where religious extremists caused violent conflicts to happen, which eventually led to her hating religion... And eventually becoming a terrorist who fights against religion because God is evil and yadda yadda, yet doesn't think twice before blowing up schools and murdering thousands of students to achieve her goals. But wait, you're gonna love what comes next, trust me! Minene ends up being romantically engaged with a cop called Nishijima... A damn cop is in love with a terrorist who recently killed a lot of innocent people! Minene then "softens up" starts acting like a cookie-cutter tsundere in their "cute" romantic moments together, and it's like she never did anything wrong to begin with! She never shows any regret for killing all those people she killed back then, and may I remind you that Nishijima works for the Police! What the hell IS this shit? Am I supposed to just accept this as some kind of cute anime romance? What, does Nishijima see the real human bean behind this poor terrorist who's responsible for the grief of many families who sent their kids to school? Fuck you, Mirai Nikki. Fuck! You! It's already bad enough that you're implying rape victims become psychopaths, but now you're trying to pass murderous terrorists off as misunderstood humans who deserve love? What the fuck, man?

Not even our main characters are exactly well-written either, Yukiteru is wildly inconsistent through the story and can go from a helpless loser to a badass whenever the plot needs him to do so, his relationship with Yuno is as deep and engaging as the romance in the Twilight saga is. He slowly starts to realize that Yuno may have a few screws loose and keeps oscilating between trusting her and not trusting her, yet this motherfucker keeps trusting Yuno even after she tries to kill his friends and even turns against him later! He has no real reason to trust Yuno aside from the fact that she protects him, but at this point it's pretty obvious that she has obscure reasons for doing so. Yuno is a yandere who loves Yukiteru, and that's basically all the characterization she gets, all of her dialogue and actions are about Yukiteru, and she also has a dark past, of course she does. Yuno was abused by her parents and became depressed, she was a loner in the classroom until one day she talked to Yukiteru and sorta made him promise he'll marry her in the future, he thought it was a joke and just accepted the proposal in an obviously half-hearted way. Do you think that's dumb? Yeah, me too. Oh, and also Yuno has what seems to be some dead bodies inside her house, which makes Nishijima get on her tail and start to question her about these rumors, Yuno reacts in the most "obviously I did something wrong" way possible, but Nishijima for some reason doesn't follow her or anything. I swear this dude is the worst cop of all time.

But enough of this, time to crank up this diarrhea dile, because we're going to dive into the final act of Mirai Nikki, where things get even more hopelessly stupid than they already are! Yukiteru's father, who previously abandoned his son in a collapsing tower to save his own ass, by the way, was deceived into killing Yukiteru's mother by John Bacchus, the mayor of the city and the eleventh diary user. This makes Yukiteru go after him, the two to share an "emotional" reconciliation moment, only for them to get ambushed by Bacchus' goons who kill Yukiteru's father. Turns out this whole game was actually Bacchus' plan and he is the one who designed the Future Diaries, Bacchus somehow convinced Deus to go with this game and his motives for wanting to become the new God of Time and Space is that he's basically a Hitler wannabe. Why would Deus go with this plan to begin with? Is it even worth giving a fuck about the plot at this point?

Now Yukiteru wants to win the game because he believes that will give him the power to revive his family... Yes, he thinks the God of Time and Space has life-restoring powers... This is our protagonist, ladies and gentlemen! This is hilariously retarded enough as it is, but Yukiteru could have literally just asked Deus if he could revive his family if he became the new god, there was nothing stopping him from doing so in the scene where Murmur implied the revival thing to him! "Why doesn't Yuno tell Yukiteru that he's going full retard?" you may ask, it's actually because she's also deceiving Yukiteru into believing that! Woah, what a shocking turn of events! Yukiteru just believes her, of fucking course he does, even though she lied to him multiple times at this point, caused the death of his friends and almost even killed him. But yeah, there's a really nonsensical plot twist regarding Yuno, and I'll spill it out right now.

Walmart Kaworu eventually finds out that the Yuno that's been around the whole time is actually another Yuno from a different timeline where she indirectly killed Yukiteru and won the survival game. Seeing that she can't bring Yukiteru back to life, she then traveled back in time, killed her own parents in this timeline, as well as killed herself from this timeline and took her identity as Yuno. She's basically doing an infinite time loop where she spends time with Yukiteru, kills him at the end of the game and returns to the beginning to start it all over again.

First of all, how is Yuno even still around? She went back in time and killed her version of this time, which means she was killed before entering the game and shouldn't be participating on it as a result. Alright, let's assume she's immune to time travel bullshit because she's technically God of Time and Space, then... How the hell can two Gods of Time and Space exist in the same universe? How is Yuno's meddling with time affecting Deus? Couldn't Deus see that Yuno comes from another timeline or that she's actually another god? If Deus died in the previous timeline, how can Yuno just travel back in time and have him be alive? Why doesn't Deus just do that to himself so he can just exist forever instead of bothering with all this stupid shit? What does Deus dying even mean? He dies but can be brought back to life later? His existence gets erased out? Who the hell knows? It's not like the writers are going to explain shit!

Anyway, Yuno and Yukiteru are the only survivors left in the game, turns out Murmur has been secretly manipulating the game all along in order to have Yuno win, which is something Deus apparently never suspected, even though he's the fucking God of Time and Space and can see into the future! Murmur and Yuno travel back in time and end up creating a third timeline, but this time Yukiteru interferes with Minene's help. Yeah, Minene was kept alive by Deus. They end up saving the Yuno from that timeline and her parents before Yuno and Murmur could get to them, which ends up making this the happy timeline where not only Yuno, but everyone else apparently have peaceful lives now. How exactly does Yuno being saved affects everyone else's lives? What does Yuno's life have to do with Yukiteru's parents not divorcing? I don't know, I don't care either.

The Yuno we've seen this whole time kills herself and Yukiteru then becomes the new God of Time and Space. What does he do? Nothing, he becomes depressed over Yuno's death and doesn't do anything... Even though he's the fucking God of Time and Space and he can just travel back in time, meet Yuno in a new timeline, maybe save her and her parents like he did in the third timeline, I don't know. I guess that would mean Deus would also come back and there would be another death game, because this show's use of time travel is just great. Ten thousand years later, Yukiteru decides to create a new timeline while Murmur plans to create another survival game. Yeah, it's basically a failed attempt at a Gainax Ending.

What else can I even say about Mirai Nikki? The visuals and animation aren't anything to write home about, in fact it looks weird sometimes and the CGI is terrible, but at least it looks okay for the most part. Music is also just there, I don't remember anything when it comes to the soundtrack, but the openings are pretty good, so at least there's that. The direction is also pretty sloppy sometimes, although it may be the fault of the source material, but aside from the characters dying pretty much in the same episode that reveals their background, this show has the tendency to immediately brush their deaths off by showing the main characters doing some random comical stuff right afterwards, which diminishes the impact of those deaths even more, and those awkward transitions are present in most of the story. Even if it was the source material's fault for having those same transitions, the anime should have improved on that instead of being such a literal adaptation.

Regardless, Mirai Nikki is a trainwreck in every sense of the word. A poorly-written and poorly-directed mess that pretends it's smarter than it actually is, tries to mask its terrible plot and characters with shock value caused by gore, edgy characters and other themes it handles terribly, and can only be enjoyed people who literally turn their brains off, as many suggest. I would like to say there's some positives to talk about in the story, but I can't see them, the premise is stupid, the story has enough plot holes to cover the moon, the characters are not only unlikeable, but also poorly-written, and the ending is a forced attempt at tragedy. Some people still like Mirai Nikki, even though they admit it's not a good anime, because apparently it's "so bad it's good" so they watch it for laughs, but I seriously can't even give Mirai Nikki this much credit because I was outright pissed off when I watched it, I just couldn't believe how retarded all of this was getting, and the final act was the point where I just gave up and wanted to finish this anime just for the sake of finishing it. I would watch other bad popular anime like Sword Art Online, Guilty Crown, Akame ga Kill or even School Days over Mirai Nikki any day of the week, at least most of those shows had something going for them, they actually made me create expectations before going to shit. Mirai Nikki, on the other hand, is a show I went in with extremely low expectations, and it didn't even meet those low expectations to begin with.

[Spoiler Warning]

What would you do if someone would drop a "bomb" on you saying you can become god. It sounds fun huh? it is... until the same person says you have to kill other people involved in the same game. Mirai Nikki... Future Diary. The game spins around these devices that lead participants close to their objective.
I found it frustrating, in a good way, that when an episode ended it made me want to watch more.. so I couldn't take a break.So I continued watching being constantly impressed by the things people can do when their lives are at stake or when they want to ... become god(for more ambitious ones). It was really tiresome to see Yukiteru being "stabbed in the back" over and over again only to find him always alone. Still this points out a horrible truth about this world, the fact that you can't see someone for who he really is.
Also, the series is full of interesting motives and philosophical concepts that makes it worthwhile watching.
Artwork consists of a perfect balance since its not too flashy and characters as well as background are designed well, making it ideal for those who want to follow the story as me.

1. Introduction/Synopsis:

Suppose you are an everyday, normal high school student with no outstanding attributes or friends. You're not particularly good at sports or at academics, though you are pretty good at throwing darts. You spend most of your time keeping a diary of random things that happen around you and talking with an imaginary friend you invented called "Deus Ex Machina", the God of Space and time and his adorable little side-kick "Murmur".

Then suddenly, one day out of nowhere, Deus gives you a diary and mentions something about a game. Entries pop up in your diary you haven't written yourself and it foretells ... future events spanning the next 90 days. All of it comes true.

Your whole world turns upside down as you find out that your life is in danger and you have been placed in a game where there are 11 others like you with a diary that can be used to predict and even rewrite the future. You are forced to kill or die in an elimination battle to determine who will next ascend the Throne to Godhood after Deus. In the process, you gain an unnerving, relentless stalker girl who at first seems cute, but is completely insane.

You are thrown into battles with opponents several levels out of your league from child prodigy to cult leader, with no one to protect you except the stalker. And more and more is revealed along the way to unnerve you as plot thickens and conspiracies unfold to make you shake in both fear and excitement.

Congratulations, you now know what it's like to be Yukiteru "Yuki" Amano, the main character of Mirai Nikki.

1. Story: 9/10

Two things stand out most when watching Mirai Nikki - its thrilling plot and its vast array of characters with their own unique back-stories and layers of depth. What makes the plot amazing is the characters, and what makes the characters amazing is the plot.

The story itself employs the "layer" method, which peels away depths of the story and the background of the two main characters - Yuki and his stalker girlfriend Yuno as we progress through battles with each and every other unique diary user. And this method is extremely effective as we switch between finding out more about the two main characters Yuki and Yuno, battles and back-stories with the other ten diary users, Deus and Murmur, and even non-diary users that become relevant to the central story.

The mood of the story is very, very dark - it is both psychological thriller and partly horror. Not supernatural horror like ghosts and zombies, but the horror comes in the form of Gasai Yuno. And the best part about the story is ---spoiler--- that you cannot bring back those you have killed using either cheap plot devices or Deus Ex Machina (which is ironic, because that's the name of the God of Space and time). That in itself gets a lot of points.

With the dark mood and the layer method that slowly peels away at dark secrets and locked away pasts that we are scared, but excited to see, the story becomes very captivating and really draws you in. To be frank, I was pretty much addicted to the show throughout.

And the ending, My GOD the ending. If there is anything so perfect and amazing to the plot is how the series ends, when the final layer is peeled and we find out terrible things about Gasai Yuno, who is not whom she seems to be. I won't go beyond that so that I won't spoil anything, but trust me when I say you will want to watch it to the end to find out the unravel entire back-story of hers.

If I do have one gripe about the story, it's that it seems the original creator wanted Yuki and Yuno to touch base and have a standoff with every single character. That is not realistic, in my opinion, and I feel it would have been better done and more realistic if more of the other diary users could fight with each other rather than have them all face the two main characters.

It is a survival battle, after all and in reality, other characters will try to face other characters in the meantime.

2. Art 9/10:

The style of art is quite well done. I really enjoyed the dark style that comes with the setting and horror element complimented with some light-hearted, humorous events that span the series from school life to Gasai Yuno's awkwardness and hilarious stalker things she does.

And the best part was the style in the opening theme with the use of darkness and light. And Gasai Yuno's insanity was portrayed really, really well.

Excellently done. I am not a big fan of horror itself, so I couldn't find it in me to give the style of art a full score. If I particularly enjoyed horror, I would have given it a perfect 10/10!

3. Sound 8/10:

Music - the music was wonderfully done, complimenting the horror and the action scenes very well. The opening theme and the ending theme was superb in my opinion and I would personally love to hear more by people who created the music!

Voice Acting - Ugh... while I do enjoy some, if not most of the voice actors (especially Gasai Yuno, whoever voiced her is a genius), I could not quite find it in myself to give the voice a full score because of Yukiteru Yuki and his constant whining. He's not the character with the strongest of heart and he isn't the most annoying character in the history of anime, but that still does not mean I don't want to tear my hair out if I have to hear him whine one more time. Anyway, my rant on Yukiteru will continue in the Character section.

Sound effects - very well done, especially the gun shots, the explosions, and the clash of sword on sword.

Overall, aside from a few minor complaints on voice acting, I rather enjoyed the sounds!

4. Characters 10/10:

We're going to break this down into 4 major categories: Yuno and Yuki, Deus and Murmur, the other diary users, and the non-diary users. Warning - there WILL be LIGHT SPOILERS ahead. I will always try to keep it to a minimum, but with Mirai Nikki, it is almost unavoidable.

(1.a) Yukiteru "Amano" Yuki 6/10 - Starting out, he showed promise. He was a normal high school student, perhaps slightly selfish and a loner, but he seemed like the kind of guy who had potential to make exciting things happen. And then, he... doesn't follow through.

Now, I don't mind that he is a weak character. I don't need a character to be strong in order to like him or her. Gasai Yuno more than makes up for him (see 1.b Gasai Yuno). What I cannot stand is an overly idealistic character that whines all the time and tries to save everyone even though he neither possesses the skill nor strength to do so. He cannot accept reality and is extremely emotionally weak. To me, he is the true damsel in distress in the series who is constantly whining with Gasai Yuno being the knight in shining armor turned monster. If I have to hear him whine and say "I want to save everybody" one more time, I will either tear my hair out or the person's next to me.

But towards the end, he does turn out quite interesting in his own way, especially when he is later corrupted by Gasai Yuno and he does things that cannot be taken back, breaking gears just to find out that he cannot reverse it. And that's why I did not give him a failing score. We're going into heavy spoiler zone here, so I'll just leave it at that.

So to those who want to drop the series just because of this guy, I say - grind on. There is hope for him in the end, yet! :D

(1.b) Gasai Yuno 12/10. Yes. 12. Not 10 out of 10. 12 out of 10. That's how amazing of a character she is. I rarely grade a character above a full score, but for her, I had to make an exception.

She is Yuki's psychopathic Knight in shining armor turned Monster. She is the epitome of Yandere and characters. She did so many unspeakable things and hides them so well that it took Yuki and even Akise (the genius detective and the strongest non-diary user) a long time to find out. She stalks Yuki and tricks him so many times into loving her, then betraying his trust, but in the end, he still falls for her. Plus I love girls going after guys :D.

She also gets bonus points for being a strong female character, as I am quite fond of anime who have males and females balanced with equal status. I am a strong advocate of equal rights and opportunity after all. She takes out some of the strongest diary users like they are nothing as if she were rigged (and towards the end, you find out it makes perfect sense). She has one of the most horrible and darkest secrets that you WANT to find out about as well as a past that explains it all. She is mentally unbalanced and completely insane. And she seems to be in conspiracy with either Murmur or Deus.

She drives the plot forward towards the future and even back into the past with the backstories. Every time something is revealed about her or she does something unspeakable, you never fail to cover your mouth and gasp. She is full of surprises and never ceases to amaze you.

If there is any reason to watch Mirai Nikki, it is her. Trust me, just like you want to watch Great Teacher Onizuka just for Eichiro Onizuka, you will want to watch Mirai Nikki just for this girl.

Again 12/10. Masterpiece.

(2) Other diary users 10/10 - There are 12 in total, so excluding Yuki and Yuno, there are still 10 others. I enjoyed every single last one of them from child prodigy to cult leaders. I'm not going to go into depth on all of them as my review is already longer than I had anticipated. So I'm going to talk about the few that I particularly enjoyed.

Namely - Uryuu Minene XD! *Goes into fanboy mode* She hands down my 2nd favorite character next to Gasai Yuno. She is unpredictable as she is an international terrorist (yes, terrorist, and no I don't think she's part of the Al-Qaeda) and she uses BOMBS, takes HOSTAGES, and is not afraid to use any method no matter how unorthodox it is to survive. Plus she loses an eye early on and has to wear an eyepatch. I wanted to date at least one girl who wears an eyepatch after that XD.

After her would be Reisuke Houjou, the 4 year old child prodigy who has the knowledge of an elite university student and he is so cute that you cannot help but neglect thinking of him as someone dangerous. And then wake up and find yourself in a setting similar to the games that John Kramer from "Saw" has planned. The child sets you to be trapped in a twisted "game" where he makes the rules and you have to play by those rules. He has fun along the way, not killing you immediately but instead toying with you along the way to get maximum enjoyment to the point where even the invincible Gasai Yuno is almost killed by him. This is the first time we meet a character who is as twisted and insane as Yuno herself.

And the other 8 are nearly just as good! They each have their own backstory from twisted to tragic. Each of them are geniuses in their own rights and have their own unique ways of fighting from commanding humans/beasts to setting traps and even dueling you in straightforward combat.

Not all of the diary-users and their back-stories are strong, but they are strong enough overall to make me give them an overall 10/10. They are a wonderful cast and very few of them will leave you bored (*cough* though I can't stand that masked superhero*cough* He annoys me almost as much as Yuki).

(3). Deus and Murmur 9/10 - I can't say much without spoiling much, but let's just say they make quite an interesting pair. they are exactly the polar opposites of each other. He is huge, she is tiny. He is cold and calculated, she is cute and bubbly. He is sane and thinks with reason, she... doesn't. XD

And they play each other for fools, as they each have their own way of trying to figure out the intentions of the other.

(4) Non-diary users 8/10 - Most of them are a bit meh for me. Nishijima (a police officer who is in love with Uryuu Minene) and Kosaka (who used to bully Yuki and then turned his friend) are slightly enjoyable in their own way, but also very annoying. So is the girl Hinata Hino who ---spoiler--- commands the army of hounds for her grandfather who turns out to be the true diary user.

So why give it such a high 8 out of 10? One word - ARU AKISE XD! *Goes into fanboy mode*

He is my 3rd favorite character and hands down my favorite male character in the series. First, he is a genius detective and is extremely hilarious. ---spoiler---He fools you into thinking he is a diary user and even I suspected and groaned when I thought he was, but was shocked to find that he is not. ---spoiler--- He merely has genius deductive skills to the point that you think he could predict the future.

He is amongst the first to figure out the truth behind Yuno and Murmur (no, I won't tell you what it is in the review, so either you watch it for yourself or google it, though I highly recommend you watch it for yourself). He is the strongest of the non-diary user with both wits and brawn and nearly matches Yuno in hand-to-hand combat. If Yuno is the most unpredictable character, then Akise is the best character at deduction and prediction.

PLUS ---SPOILER--- He shares a kiss scene with Yuki at some point, which will probably appease all the Yaoi fans out there.

Again, the characters make the plot work, and trust me when I say you do want to watch the series for the character, which I feel is the one element Mirai Nikki did best.

5. Enjoyment 10/10

Finally, enjoyment? It sends me on an emotional coaster and a huge mindfuck through the entire series. It is one of the pinnacles of psychological thrillers alongside the big names of Death Note, Code Geass, and Monster, etc.

Is never failed to keep me captivated, even if I felt it started slow at first. It escalated really fast and ALL the characters get their own time and backstories.

Overall Conclusion

This is one of my all-time favorite series. It is one of the reasons I am glad to have joined MAL, with special thanks to AviJii who introduced this to me in the first place. :D

It made me laugh, it made me gasp, it made me cry, it kept me captivated through. This is one of those series that I highly recommend to anyone who wants to watch an anime that will blown your mind away.

Highly recommended to anyone who wants a good story with SOLID characters, including an insane stalker with an unstable mind XD.

9/10 Excellent


Remember, this review is personal and based on my personal experience of it, and it will be unfair to expect everyone to agree.

So I ask you, the readers of my review: What about you? What did you think? Feel free to agree or disagree and point out what you thought you liked or disliked about Mirai Nikki! :D

Just your average-everyday anime-viewer here, with another review!

As any accustomed anime-viewer on the internet and surfing about in the vast corners of the ever expanding sea of information (or in my case, the shallow waters of 9GAG), then you have probably already heard of what could really be considered as the birthplace to "The Original Overly Attached Girlfriend", or at least by the anime community. I am of course referring to Yuno. Booting up the first episode and having quite a few expectations as to what I am about to witness, not only were they confirmed but actually exceeded these expectiations quite exceptionally. But (yes, ... there's a butt), as this show is highly claimed to be one of the better horror, gore and phsycological anime out there, which I totally agree on, there are a few flaws that just needs to be adressed. And now, I can already feel that DEAD END coming for the button "Not Helpful" by mobs of people who are sharpening their pitchforks and lightening the bonfires. In this case, the Mirai Nikki fanbase...

Before reading on, this review is spoiler-free, so don't worry should you want to watch this show after reading the review. I take it that you've read the synopsis yourself and maybe even watched the show. This review also comes with a TL;DR section as well as a few additional details, right at the bottom before the conclusion.

The Story: 9/10
With a premise of a Deathgame (one that we should be quite used to after this, Deadman Wonderland and many others, including The Hunger Games), this one actually has the most interesting twist to the game, or at least in my humble opinion (IMHO). In the beginning of the show, everything we need to know is covered, nothing more and nothing less, leaving what will actually happen in the game itself very vague and up for the imagination to come up with how they will execute the plot (and players). This is crucial, as this leaves an exciting and often curious mind-set into each and every episodes, which however lasts only in the first few episodes. They show us these few episodes and the set-up quite remarkably fast and informative. Then, the show divides itself up in different parts where Yuuki and co. has to kill (or something else) the player of the episode. Or rather, episodes. Here lies one of the problems I metioned in the beginning. While the player-arcs are interesting, thrilling and a treat to watch, other arcs feel emptier. Not by means of action and excitement but BECAUSE of the player-arcs, they seem insignificant even though they are not. Towards the end, everything connects and starts to conclude the series when you suddenly remember that one thing from the second or third episode and realise that there's three more episodes left. I'm not saying that the ending was bad, but if it was something I want to adress to the ending, it was that urge and need to stand out, and therefore, it felt rushed and incomplete. Mirai Nikki, you already stand out in terms of storytelling, execution and characters. C'mon, you're better than that. But, it still leaves with a hail-mary and a strong, solid exit (as long as you see the OVA: Mirai Nikki Redial).

The Art: 8/10
One thing I immediately think of when referring to the art of Mirai Nikki is its great crispness of details and actual emotions & distress (and on multiple occasions, Yuno's absolute horrifying expressions she can make) that they manage to display to us. Blood and action is basically the name of the game here and it is where Mirai Nikki truly shines, with progression through aggression. Action-scenes are a feast for the eyes and every action counts, every DEAD END significant and every death remarkable. It blends extremely well with the tone of the show and even parts that aren't that common in anime makes great usage here. And by that, I mean how they use 3D models. Sure, 3D-models shouldn't really be used unless with absolute necessity but they managed to pull it of here. And after all this praising and telling how good it was, I gotta tell ya, it doesn't stand out. For a thriller, the colours are warmer than most other thrillers out there, but can get to those levels when the plot requires it to be so or under heavy rain (...). But still, it passes with flying colours and there shouldn't be any complaints here, but neither should there be excessive amounts of praise. Have to balance out...

The Sound: 8/10
I'll start off the same way an episode of a usual anime starts, with the OP. Having two OPs, the first one being "Kūsō Mythology" performed by Yōsei Teikoku is one that not only reflects the anime brutally perfect within the one-and-a-half-minute it is on air, but also sticks on your mind during the episode and after it as well. And as they usually do, they replace it halfways. Compared to the first, "Dead End" by Faylan has nothing on OP1. Inside the episode, the music amplifies the scenes complimentary with great effect, but only the heavy action scenes and the rare "feels-scenes". Here lies another problem, as great as they are, none are rememberable and are used a few more times than I wanted. Still, I find Mirai Nikki having great pieces of music that fit well with the show but not outside of it.

The Characters: 9/10
We've got the coward, Yuuki. We've got the mad one, Yuno. And we've got a heck of other characters where we do not know who to care enough of shit about. Don't get me wrong, the cop and the girl who can escape from anything are interesting characters and have an interesting backstory to boot. But what about the other characters? Is a two-minute explanation of a players motives good enough? Here, they can variey, as all characters are unique and have unique motivations along with unique diaries. Then there are the side-characters, who the series try their very, very best to make us give an actual fuck about and even made one of them important! All I'm saying is that there are many great characters, add on a few characters where we kinda give a fuck about and a handful of which we give absolutely no fuck about. The problem lies within the amount and significance ratio between them and spread butter evenly on a 24-sliced loaf and some characters will have more fucks deserved and a few lesser than they need. And you only have so much fucks to give...
But, all the significant characters are interesting, have actual human thoughts and reasons (excluding Yuno or others when thinking about it...) and their reactions and emotions feels real (excluding Yuno at certain times...).

My Enjoyment: 10/10
It was a fun ride, and with that 26-episode mark, a rewatch was all worth it. I give 10/10 here and I have nothing more to say other than that I really enjoyed this show despite its flaws that comes along with it.

How it was Overall: 8.8/10
By no means is this the best show ever, trust me. But it is a fantastic show that has the stamp of a "Must Watch" on it and it is a perfect addition to my (and hopefully yours) ever expanding library of anime. Having one of the craziest lunatics in anime-history, Yuno will kill you if you don't watch this anime and enjoy it to a certain extent. If not Yuno, then the Mirai Nikki fanbase. This show has hype, and most of it is well deserved :)

TL;DR
Story:
+ Original Deathgame
+/- Great pacing at certain parts, downright wrong in others
+ Every action and death has impact
+/- Twisted but strong ending (remember to watch the OVA)

Art:
+ Great detail and overall animation
+ Action-scenes are the best
+/- Doesn't have that kind of dark-tone that thrillers usually have, but it's good enough

Sound:
+ Awesome OP1
- Replaced halfway by a comparably worse OP2
+ Great overall background music that amplifies the show well
+/- No rememberable pieces
+/- Set on repeat

Characters:
+ Great main-characters
+ Interesting and diverse player-characters
+/- A tap too many characters
+/- The side characters overall
+ Most characters have real human emotions and reasons

Enjoyment:
+ Worth it
+ Must see
+ That urge to watch another episode is strong on this one

Additional Details:
* Romance: Well, not your average kind of romance...
* Gore & Blood: Excessive amounts, but used sparingly
* Comedic Add-ons: Rare and often not noticable
* Feel-warning?: You could say that towards the ending
* Fan-service?: In small amounts, nothing that'll bother you enough to ruin the show

Well, if you've managed to get this far without immediately gotten a DEAD END on your phone or just headed straight for the "Not Helpful" button after having read the intro to this review, I would like to thank you for your time spent on reading this review by basically the most pathetic, average, no-life of an anime-viewer that I am...just like Yuuki :)

So, smack that "Helpful" button for me (or Yuno, whatever you prefer) and leave a comment so I can make better reviews that might fit your taste better :)

- Just your average-everyday anime-viewer
//VoidX

It's been quite a while since I've seen a series as laughably bad as Future Diary. Focused on a survival game with our weak-willed male lead Yukiteru and a yandere gal named Yuno obsessively in love with him, this series is a huge mess with plot and character developments, proper logic, mood consistency and relishing in its graphic and depraved content way too much.

The biggest issue that stems with Future Diary is that it seems to get too fixated in advancing its plot head-on without any regard for proper depth, buildup and consistency. There are a number of unexplored elements to the series like how ... Yukiteru became acquainted with Deus and why many of the folks Deus chose for the survival game are a bunch of psychopaths, criminals and loons. Logic is tossed out the window with how certain plot setups occur and characters making decisions that don't make much sense like one character able to rig a ridiculous number of bombs throughout a school without anyone even noticing and Yukiteru continuing to trust Yuno despite knowing full well how much of a nutcase she is. A number of the players in the survival game don't get much depth beyond being crazed loons and criminals, and those who do get some sort of depth only get them in a scope of a couple episodes where their mentality for the violent and depraved acts they commit don't make any sense and seemed sloppily pasted together. The series lacks a consistent mood as it tries mixing around deadly serious storytelling and comedy at a number of points with the interactions between Yuno and Yukiteru, which felt awkward and ill-timed in execution. The final episodes of the series seemed sloppy in their execution with convenient developments and plot twists that either get convoluted or are poorly explored. And lastly, it tends to relish too greatly at many points in its graphic and depraved content with a good number of violent and gory scenes, a good amount of nudity and sexual content, torture, rape, child abuse, terrorism and a diverse number of ways to murder folks. It's like whoever made this series wanted to make it a seinen title, yet winded up with the immaturity and cheesiness you would find with a cookie-cutter shounen title in the way it is set up and structured.

The visuals to Future Diary are on the plain side with character designs sporting the typical mainstream look and scenery shots being decent with what they deliver. The CG animation for this (used mostly with vehicles or rendering the world of Deus ex Machina) is a bit sloppy as it looks awkwardly rendered and clearly sticks out from the typical animation of the series. The animation is nothing to write home about either with flat choreography during fight scenes and a decent number of animation shortcuts used throughout the title's run.

Overall, Future Diary is one of the biggest messes in quality that I've seen in a while from a title getting plenty of hype from anime fans. With no regard for proper depth, consistency and buildup in the treatment of its plot and characters, as well as relishing in its objectionable content and themes, Future Diary is a lovely train wreck of a title that may get either disgust or unintentional laughs from fans with its content and sloppy execution.

Sakae Esuno’s Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) is a fine combination of suspense, blood, and violent action. It is a psychological thriller that revolves around two middle schoolers, Yuki (the male protagonist) and Yuno (the female protagonist), participating in a deadly battle royale with 10 strangers. It’s personally one of my favorite gory anime, but it lacks the opportunity to become a more frightening series. Mirai Nikki’s reputation as a gruesome anime is mostly thanks to the memorable Yandere character, Gasai Yuno. Commonly known as Yuki's psychotic stalker in the series, Yuno describes herself as “a half moon” that has “a bright half and a dark ... half.” The anime involves reverse gender roles with the girl protecting the guy under any circumstances, delivering bloody violence at every corner. However, the few downsides of the anime, including plot twists and some wacky characters, can cause one to produce mixed feelings about this anime.

Story (7)
The rules of the game are pretty straightforward: kill everyone until you’re the last one standing. Thankfully, there are no sudden changes in the rules or mercy shown between characters to interrupt the flow. The participants’ sudden actions constantly changes the future of other participants, creating new objectives between characters. However, it causes a slight downfall when Yuki is immediately made the center of attention among the other 11 diary holders, when Deus Ex Machina declares Yuki as his favorite to win the game. Despite the shocking events that leads to the conclusion of the game, that particular part of the story already makes the story seem clichéd. The reward for the winner is becoming Dues Ex Machina’s successor as the next God of Time and Space. It sounds boring, but it is understandable considering the powers that come with being a god. Characters have either good (reviving a lost friend or family member) or evil (time traveling to cause destruction to an individual’s life) intentions. The characters’ motives bring some excitement to the story, but it could’ve been a more captivating story.

The plot is not original as it is another battle royale anime, but there are some unique aspects to the story. One is the different forms of their diaries. Although the majority of the diaries are cell phones, other diaries are suitable for certain characters’ situations. Each diary also has special features specifically for that particular diary holder, giving that person an advantage over other diary holders. The show provides backgrounds on each participant of the game, instead of only focusing on the two main leads, to help the viewer determine whether or not certain characters are likeable.

There is some light humor within the series, particularly with the quotes. E.g. Yuki yells “Crazy stalker alert!” or similar quotes in his head in reference to Yuno in an episode or two. Additionally, the characters' actions may seem illogical (e.g. a diary holder mysteriously hopping on a motorcycle to escape from death), but it’s important to be mindful that the anime is meant to be supernatural. The winner becomes the God of Time and Space after all.

The story is fast-paced and doesn’t beat around the bush with fillers. The violence in the anime goes from light-heavy-light (introduction of the game to its conclusion). Deaths are not sudden, allowing the viewer to understand the characters’ motives by providing backstories. Romance is one-sided in the beginning as a cowardly Yuki only teams up with the tough Yuno to protect himself. However, love slowly becomes mutual as they survive several obstacles together.

Multiple plot twists and plot holes cause questions like “Wait. What just happened?” There are tons of them present within the series. It requires patience as some parts are not fully explained until the last few episodes. The ending throws in a major plot twist by taking the viewer through parallel universes, so it could appear confusing. It ends with a cliffhanger, but its 30-minute sequel Mirai Nikki Redial completes the story.

Characters (7)
There are both notable and forgettable characters in Mirai Nikki, and the characters’ personalities range from wacky to badass. Character development is excellent, even though it takes a while to become present in some characters. Within the 12 diary owners, you have a terrorist, a 4-year-old mastermind, and a fatal married couple. Although there are a few unattractive villains, the majority of them are unforgettable and capable of becoming one’s favorite character from the show or anime in general. Uniquely, all 12 diary holders, including Yuki and Yuno, are named after Roman gods and goddesses. Yuki is named after Jupiter, the god of the sky, weather, and lightning.

Yuki appears in the show as a whiny and gullible male lead, who doesn’t seem to understand or accept the dangers of the game. His character develops into someone more self-confident and manly as one tragic event leads to another, contributing to the show’s terror. Yuno is the Yandere female lead of the show who truly highlights the gore and violence that makes Mirai Nikki an excellent psychological thriller. Although she is shown as strictly a creepy obsessive stalker in the beginning, her character becomes more reasonable near the end as her past is completely exposed.

Art (7)
Animation was mostly good and fit the horrific and bloody atmosphere, especially Yuno’s killing sprees. Character designs are both good and bad. All characters are distinguishable, even though some designs are non-menacing. Some of the villains had ridiculous designs that would probably scare the crap out of you if he/she stands at your bedside, but it may appear more comical through the screen, unless you’re watching it in 3D. E.g. The Twelfth diary holder wears a large, round one-eyed mask, while acting like a Marvel superhero. Also, Deus Ex Machina and Murmur looks more like child-friendly mythical creatures instead of horrifying. Although there are bloody and disturbing scenes that are intended to make Mirai Nikki horrifying, the character designs take away a portion of the horror.

Characters’ emotions and personalities were detailed, giving off the fearful atmosphere. E.g. Yuno’s appearance was timely with immediate switches from her innocence to psychotic features. Yuki’s eyes displaced fear within the series to fulfill his earliest role as a major coward.

Sound (10)
The Japanese voices expresses the anime’s terrifying atmosphere more so than the English voices. Japanese VA Tomosa Murata has the perfect voice to bring out Yuno’s psychological features. She gives Yuno an innocent voice to embrace her split personality. In contrast, English VA Brina Palencia makes Yuno sound like a tomboy, and there's no innocence in her voice. Yuki’s character is voiced by a female seiyuu named Misuzu Togashi. A female voice is more reasonable considering his pathetic and cowardly attitude within the series. The OP, ED, and background music suit Mirai Nikki’s creepy theme, making it one of the anime’s strongest points.

Enjoyment (8)
I’m a sucker for anime listed under the horror and psychological thriller genre, and Mirai Nikki is quite a thrill. The action and murders are entertaining, but I wished for the story to be more menacing that it already was. The character development enabled me to tolerate certain characters after a while and find some of them likeably remarkable. I grew confused with the plot twists, but the story began to unravel near the end. This is one anime I wouldn’t mind re-watching multiple times.

Overall (7)
Mirai Nikki has an interesting story full of gore and violence that overcomes the plot twists. The viewer is introduced to a vast amount of potential likeable characters. A small number of characters may look and act too comical, making the anime seem less serious. On the bright side, the combination of the suspense, character development, and sound contribute to Mirai Nikki’s psychological theme. If you're a fan of gore and survival anime, I recommend giving Mirai Nikki a try.