But not only is Mirai Nikki a terrible series, but its the kind of bad that makes you morbidly curious at how much worse it can get .And by the end of it actually delivers in that regard,but that's now saying much of course. A turd is still a turd no matter how you look at it.
Before going into to many details and without spoiling to much about it ,i would like to give some examples of situations that happen and as to what you should expect from this series, so if you haven't watched Mirai Nikki and don't want to get spoiled in any way shape or form please skip this next paragraph:
**Minor Spoilers
A 5 year old toddler getting violently killed for no real reason that could have easily been retrained or at worst slapped a bit,a female character who gets kidnapped and tortured also for no real reason after which she is immediately and casually released by the same person like nothing ever happened,a character writing a phone text message and getting beheaded at the same time (with a kitchen knife no less!!!!)
Notice a pattern here? Yes unnecessary violence for the sole purpose of pure shock value that adds nothing to the actual plot of the series ,exactly like in a low budged horror movie.Whats funny is that without these stupid moments the series would have ended up completely forgettable ,so at the very least it has that going for it.
So lets get to the story shall we.
Like most anime series nowadays the story starts out immediately from the very first episode, you are literally thrown into this world and into its plot with no proper introductions or any kind of foundation to it.
All in the idea of suckering in the viewer and leaving him/her curios as to where its going and adding crucial details and flashbacks along the way whenever it feels like doing so.
The basic premise is a survival battle royal following a young high school boy (of course) named Yukiteru and his classmate Yuno ,the other main character, in their efforts to combat the other participating members with their help of their future diary phones which can predict the near future.The winner of this death game will be successor to the God of space and time.Sounds simple and straight forward enough right ? How can it go so wrong then?
Well for starters the whole battle royal premise if misunderstood by the author from the very begging since all opposing opponents all politely take their respective turns to "battle it out" with the 2 main characters and almost never go against each-other.There are just 2 exceptions to this,where they do fight but it also directly involves Yuki and Yuno so it might as well not even matter.
Secondly the writing is just god awful,completely amateurish (he-he) as if written by someone just starting out in their early teens.
Flimsy plot - check,completely inconsistent characters with sometimes multiple change of motivation in the same episode - check,overly stretched story that takes to much time to go anywhere - check,plot elements that go nowhere or are completely forgotten -check, lackluster ending that cops out of whatever has happened and developed so far -check.
Mirai Nikki has it all that's for sure.
The absolute worst part of this anime however lies with its characters.
Yukiteru is just a atrociously bad and useless main protagonist ,he even makes the infamous Ikari Shinji from Neo Genes Evangelion look good in comparison. Spineless,childish ,gullible to the point of mental retardation,but of course very kind to his friends with no other defining characteristics .He is absolute joke of a character and downright cringe-worthy to have to watch.Even die hard otakus with no self-esteem would be like "ugh even i'm better than that loser".
Whats worse is the series tries to make a sudden 180 turn in character for him in the very last episodes ,but by that time it just comes out of nowhere and in no way well presented or acceptable story wise.
The second main character and the entire reason this anime got any sort of attention (the ridiculous fandom she has received over the years is just mind boggling), Yuno is a straight up psychopath.Lets not miss words here with all the yandere crap and so on .She is a psychopathic character which would have been good and maybe great if the writing wasn't so damn bad.
The motivation for her behavior is just laughable and a complete disgrace for people who actually suffer from this mental instability.Plus the anime never bothers to explain as to why she is so strong and has such keen reflexes and senses,the writer probably believed that if someone is a psychopath than he automatically is a super villain.
And lastly her constant shouting "Yuki-Yuki" will drive you absolutely insane by the time the anime finishes.
The secondary characters are extremely lacking and completely forgettable,they vary from nonexistent just to take some screen time to boring with no strong or defining characteristics to just all out laughably comically crazy.Notable mentioning goes to Minene Uryuu who is completely inconsistent and changes her character and motivation like a hundred times throughout the series.
Animation is the only thing this anime has going for it,but that's not saying much for a series released in 2011.Character design and backgrounds for the most part are good but somewhat inconsistent ,some character looks much better than others and there is some very weird use for CGI for simple things such as bicycles or mobile phones.
Sound is also ok,the VA for Yuno actually does a pretty good job at representing the soft and angry side of her character (minus the whole repeating Yuki-Yuki a billion times over and over) ,other VA do their job decent as well with no other stand out performances.
Overall when its all said and done the series just falls flat on its ass in multiple ways,the primary being the story and character which are the main factors for making or breaking a anime series.You can have all the highest production values you can possibly get,but with a terrible story and weak characters it wont get you very far.
What Mirai Nikki achieves is making the viewer either disappointed if they somehow still had any sort of expectations by the end of it or angry because they wasted so much time on such a sloppy series.
26 episodes is still a large number of episodes all things considered,you could easily spend your time with so many other series that don't have the nerve to mock the viewer the way Mirai Nikki does.
