What would you do if you were to partipcipate in an all-out Battle Royale? If you were ordered to kill to achieve ultimate victory? Many books and manga have dealt with this: the phsycology of the characters, their actions, choices. In such a scenario, humans forget all they have learnt in society and rely on animal-like inscincts for survival. I am sure you have heard of the Lord of the Flies by Golding or Battle Royale by Takami Koshun (if you haven't check them out). These are perhaps the two most famous books that deal with diruptions of order and maintaining sanity.
The premise of Mirai Nikki is something similar too. We meet a shy, timid main character called Amano Yukiteru, who doesn't really have friends and refers to lie in the shadows. He is thrust into a world of muder and power games by his imaginary 'friend' Deus Ex Machina, who gives each contestant a special power with which one way or another they are able to witness the future. Each diary gives the owner strenghs and weaknesses. Naturally, there are some who do not wish to kill. Some who use their diaries for either good or bad actions. And like this, the battle begins.
The story is divided into what can be considered arcs, in which Yukiteru and Yuno (I'll talk about her at the Characters part) encounter diary owners and face them, some on purpose, some by coincidence.These parts of the anime are what make it truly a thriller, as we see dark twistes and turns, secrets unfolding, and something that can be callad a jigsaw puzzle unfolds. A mystery about the diary owners' identity, about Yuno's identity. And this is the problem.
The series has 26 episodes, and by the end of the 23rd and 24th, you will be biting your nails anxiously as you watch the curtain drop and see everything... explained. But somehow, the add a twist. Something you had no idea was coming and catches you totally off-guard. But it is exactly this climax that left me confused at the end. In other words, the ending could have been better. But when I think back, I remember the rest of the show, the cliff-hangers towards the end of most episodes, the dark elements. And those are what make the plot memorable.
Art and sound are definitely high points of this anime. Each opening is awesome and complements the dark undertones of the story well. The first one is definitely my favorite opening, and apart from the actualy music the visuals are also outstanding: they use only shades of gray and red, and make it memorable. The endings weren't that special, though. Anyway, the inserted pieces of music were awesome too and helpe to create a memorable mood.
So while the soundtrack is definitely a high point of the anime, the art isn't always great. At the beginning especially the motions of the characters can be a little unfluid, and the minor characters aren't drawn in great detail. But toward the end, they do work on that, and the last few episodes are definitely outstanding when it comes to visuals. So all in all art and sound do a good job in complementing the story, and there even are some highly outstanding points.
The part that left me puzzled in doubt are the characters. Yukiteru is our main character and who we are (supposed to be) cheering for. So basically he is 14 when the bloodbath starts, and he is quite a wimp in the first few episode, and I often felt an urge to scream at my laptop telling him to man up already. What the sudios decided what that they would make Yukiteru the misunderstood, always suffering character, who is constantly tormented between right and wrong, and they overdid this ridiculously. At the beginning he is like all the crybabies you can see in other animes who are afraid of their own strengh. However in this particular anime, Yuki does not have any strengh. In the first 10 episodes or so whenever he encounters a diary owner and needs to fight for himself, he breaks down in tears and relies on Yuno to save his ass. I mean, yes this whole Battle Royale comes a shock to him just as I am sure in would to anyone of us, but come on!!! At times, the anime creators exaggarate, like, a lot. But the does what I call flip. Basically from that moment on while he remains physically weak he at least has a few moments where he become more of a strategy-creator persone while he leaves Yuno to do the dirty work (killing people).
Which leads me to Yuno. I'll admit, if it hadn't had been for her, I would have either droppend the series or only watched if I would have been seriously bored. Anyway, she is by far the most intruiging and interesting person, and has a personality you don't really see in other anime. With her diary she can see Yukiteru's actions 10 minutes in advance, and becomes his stalker. Yukiteru accepts her help and they join forces, but basically ends up using Yuno. But she is not a wimp by any standard. She is a badass when it comes to fighting, and ends up protecting Yukiteru.
Their chemistry is intriguing and is one of the main highlights of the series. Yukiteru is a shy caharcter especially at the beginnign, but while Yuno can be sweet sometimes, she also has a side that is ready to kill any girl who lays her sight on Yukiteru for too long. You'll see. I guess you can call this emotional unstability, and is in un indirect way caused by this Battle Royale. Also, her identity, home etc. are a huge mystery throughout the series, btu I don't want to say and spoilers:)
The other diary holders are all interesting in their own way. They have their distinct personalities and diaries, which add a twist as they all either see the fuiture one way or another or have the ability to influence others. From Uryuu Minene through Katsugano (?) Tsubaki to John Bacchus, they all have their own stories to tell, and their reasons for desiring, sometimes in and indirect way, to become Deus Ex Machina's next successor and thus God. Their personalities are defined by roman/greek gods, and therefore the story is full of symbolism. Whether we look at Kuruso Keigo, who symolizes Hermes/Mercury the god of merchants, messages, thiefs, trading etc, or and obvious example, Yuno (or Hera) as the constantly jealous yet very powerful wife of Jupiter. (you can actually hera all these in the first OP).
So while overall this anime definitely has it's faults, I enjoyed it nearly all the way. If you decide to watch this, don't expect a masterpiece or you will be left disappointed. But do prepare to enjoy yourslelf. And for your own safety, watch this with the lights on.
