A number of people recommended this show to me, saying that it was some kind of masterpiece. Although I can vaguely see the appeal others may have, here I am to try and prove you wrong. Future Diary is very interesting in concept that falls flat on it's face in terms of story and characters.
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Story:
Although we have seen Battle Royale types of shows come out in all types of media beforehand, Mirai Nikki brought on a fairly unique take on the genre. That, however, is the only real praise the show gets in term of story. The writers basically made the show into a gory mess, trying to appeal to people who enjoy that kind of stuff. *MINOR SPOILER* For example, you have this 5 year old kid who is apparently taught himself to be some kind of killing genius and can get a hold of poison gas.*MINOR SPOILER END* They litter stuff like this to make the show more flashy than it actually is, which is a major dissapointment in my opinion. Also, like a lot of thriller shows, plot twists are thrown in to make things more dramatic. In this case, however, more is actually less. The plot twists are sloppy at best, and if you inspect them closely, you can see how flawed they are. While I won't spoil you on anything, around the 20th episode, this becomes blatantly evident. This anime just throws in so much random bullshit by the end of it that makes it so confusing that they try to hide the massive plot holes they have created.
The ending also wasn't much, as it was more or less entirely predictable. In the end, Mirai Nikki was a beautiful premise that failed with, to be blunt, sloppy writing.
*MOAR SPOILERS* One more thing about the story. We have this mess of a romance between Yuki and Yuno. I understand where Yuno was coming from as Yuki gave her a purpose to live, even though that purpose itself was flawed. Yuno never really listens to Yuki or what he wants, and just acts on her own desires. Like, she ties him up midway through the series and keeps him hostage for a short while. Yet, Yuki still, after all the shit she pulls, loves her. I swear the romance is written by a bunch of 2 year olds, but I digress. *END OF MOAR SPOILERS*
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Characters:
If you thought the story was bad, take a gander at the characters of this series. I just couldn't stop shaking my head at the terrible mistakes and lack of backstory they got.
First off, we have Yukiteru. He starts off as a complete coward, scared for his life and not knowing what to do. Because of this, I sympathized with his character for a short while as it added a sense of realism to him. But for half of the series, he just whines and cries about his shitty life, even though nothing really bad has happened to him. Also, when talking about character development, Yukiteru is an example of character development done COMPLETELY WRONG. There are moments where it seems he is finally trying to break out of his spineless cocoon, just to crawl back into it by the beginning of the next story arc. He does, however, start to completely change during the second half. This is also flawed as he changes from spineless wuss into ruthless killing machine over the course of 2 seconds.
Now, we have Yuno, the yandere for this series. She is basically put into this series to act as the resident badass who Yuki uses as his killing machine until about the halfway point. It was very refreshing to actually see a girl with a backbone, rather than having a useless girl who relies on her damn boyfriend to do anything useful. Still, the dedication that Yuno gives for this crybaby never failed from continuously angering me. I don't see why she has this undying dedication to Yuki, as he really isn't worth stalking in the slightest.
We are introduced to a vast array of characters, ranging from Yuki's classmates to the other diary owners and so on and so forth. However, none of them except for maybe one or two get any development at all. Some get a minutes worth of backstory, but in the end, it doesn't really help. This is just me, but when someone died, I really didn't feel any emotion towards them, as it just felt like their death was just convenient for the plot to move along. Of course, there is one ray of light known as Akise. He is undeniably my favourite of the series, as he probably gets more development than the main character himself. He doesn't even have a diary, yet hes more useful than him.
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Animation:
The animation was good, nothing spectacular, yet nothing that burns the eyes. Some scenes have a sense of style and fluidity which was a pleasure to watch, but some were just really flawed and very static. Also, special mention to the character designs for making the most laugh-inducing characters I have seen in a long time. Like, we have a girl version of the Pillsbury Doughboy. Why the hell...
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Sound:
Let's start off with a good note. The opening. Fast paced, great animation, fits the show well enough. Let's just say I loved the heck out of it. The second one wasn't as great, but it was still enjoyable to say the least. The soundtrack used for the actual show wasn't really anything special, but my eardrums are still intact, so that's a plus in my books. I did have a problem with the sound effects, however, as some did seem out of place, and didn't really fit with some of the actual scenes. In the topic of dub vs sub, sub is definetely the way to go. For someone as whiny as Yuki, you have a relatively deep voice portraying his character, which was terribly miscast. This is also a problem with Yuno's engrish voice actor, for basically the same reasons.
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As much as I wanted to enjoy this series, there was just so much wrong with it that I just ended up shaking my head for the whole ride, just waiting for the train to come to a crashing hault. The story has so many plot holes you could fly a plane through it, the characters either had no development at all, or, in Yuki's case, had too much of it. Also, the decisions each of the characters made where unrealistic and not very interesting in the slightest. There were some high points in the Sound and Animation departments, but nothing to really bring the show out of the rubble that it caused. Although, I know a lot of people will disagree with me, so even though I don't recommend it really at all, feel free to check it out as you might find something to you're liking.
