Mirai Nikki or other people may know it as, Future Diary unfortunately falls under the category where the characters were good, the storytelling excellent but once you stop and look at it as a whole, it falls short of something. However as a stern warning to people whom are weak against violence or bloodshed, this is not the anime for you. Don't think that this would just be your typical normal comedy-romance series because it's nothing of the sort.
The story follows the lives of Yukiteru Amano, a rather cowardly (I will touch on this later) recluse who doesn't have anything to do other than recording down events happening around him inside his cellphone's diary. It so happens that he has an imaginary friend called Deus Ex Machina which is apparently the God of Time and Space. Deus then tell him that he had prepared a game for him, a game of survival where the last remaining survivor would be able to inherit his powers and title as the God of Time and Space because he, the current God of Time and Space, is dying. He's indeed 'God' *insert sarcasm*
Unable to escape from this survival game which he is dragged into, Deus gathered 11 other 'players' to join him in this little survival game of his by giving them 'future diaries' which gives the user powers of looking into the future depending on what kind of a diary it is. The diaries ranged from our main character's random events diaries(because like I said earlier, he has a habit of recording random stuffs) to escape diaries (it tells you route that you can escape to) to even a freaking Yukiteru diary(yes, it is not a typo but I will touch on that later).
Like I said before, our main character is RATHER cowardly (note the emphasis and yes he's worse than Shinji from Evagalion). After obtaining his power he immediately saw on his future diary that he was going to die as he immediately panicked. Then enters the highlight and what makes the series so much more entertaining - Yuno. If you have lurked around the internet for a while, there's no way you haven't heard of her. You know , that pink headed girl that always seem to have a psychotic look on her face? Yes, that's her.
Without spoiling too much, Yuno saves Yuki from his impending doom and managed to get rid of one of the twelve players. Oh remember I said about the Yukiteru diary? Yuno has that diary which predicts what our main character does. Wanna know why her diary does that? Well, take Juvia from Fairy Tail, Mikasa from Shingeki no Kyojin, Overly attached girlfriend from 9GAG and Lucy from Elfen Lied and combine all of them together and you end up with Yuno - an obsessive psychotic stalker which is a badass who won't let anyone touch her beloved. (yes I refrained from using Higurashi in those references).
In other words, she's obsessively in love with our main character because of an incident in the past. However, because of that defeat, our beloved God of Time and Space(no really I should really use Deus but I still can't fathom how can he die) decides to make the game harder for Yuki by telling the rest of the players that our main character is in the lead and is the one most likely to win, shifting all of their attention to him. And of course, being the cowardly protagonist he is, he succumbs to the pressure but our Yuno definitely won't let anyone touch him and that's where the story is going.
The Battle Royale concept is implemented in this show rather awkwardly in my opinion as the enemies would come one by one against Yukiteru which I find rather convenient as if they had teamed up. There's no way Yuno can protect him against all of them. However, there's no bullshit in that concept like plot armour which I personally hate. Oh did I mention that if your diary gets destroyed, you would die as well? " People die when they are killed" , yes thanks Shirou for the quote. So if you get killed or your diaries get destroyed, you disappear from the face of the Earth. Yes I'm looking at you Fairy Tail.
However, that was not the actual story of the show but rather -- the premise in my opinion. The storytelling of Yuno's backstory as bits after bits of the mystery behind her gets revealed along as the series progresses. I found myself immersed with her rather than the show's premise itself as each episode ends with me wanting to know what the hell is she. For a moment, she can be sweet and gentle like your average school girl and suddenly her attitude can change in a blink of an eye to that of a psychotic killer. It's the mystery that she's shrouded in which makes the show so much more entertaining.
As for the art, I don't really have any complains regarding the animation but there's nothing remarkable which I may want to add. However, this series has one of the best openings I have ever seen with stunning visuals in the OP1 along with a fitting song to go along with the dark theme of the series. The soundtrack - there's plenty of tracks which stood out and I can still remember them although I have finished with this anime for almost a year and the themes fit the scene nicely.
The voice acting, if I had to nitpick then choose one that has done the best job, Yuno's voice actor. I have heard both the dub and the sub and I would have to say that the sub takes the cake. Although the voice actor is inexperienced from what I can gather from the wiki, she does an excellent job of portraying Yuno to the extent like I think no one can replace Jun Fukuyama as Lelouch and Mamoru Miyano as Yagami Light. I simply can't think of anyone else that can do a better job at portraying a psychotic yet sweet girl.
I don't think I have to emphasis any more on the character department unless you would want to read me ranting on how much I hate Yukiteru and how much I love Yuno if you haven't figure out from the text above. Of course, there are several other characters which were developed pretty well and most of them did not feel bland at all. Some may find Yuno rather annoying but in my opinion, she carries the show much like the two examples which I have used earlier - Lelouch and Yagami Light (well, in Light's case, him and L). You would want to see her achieve her goal because she's really endearing.
I truly enjoyed this series as one of the most nerve wrecking and emotionally attaching series (mainly Yuno. Yuno is love Yuno is life). However, this series is not without flaws. Enough of me pandering about singing high praises of this show because after I simmered down at the ending (yes I know the ending because I continued on from the manga). I looked back and thought - " wow , this show has quite a lot of plot holes ". Things that I have never really stopped and think about started emerging in my head, putting down the series although I have thought it was one of the very best.
Like why did Deus make this game in the first place? Why would you want someone that murders 11 people to be the God of Time and Space? Wouldn't you want to entrust the title and power to someone more worthwhile by testing their leadership skills instead of pitting them in a battle to the death ? Also, because the series deals with time in general(future). There were several plotholes about time paradox which I shall not address here to prevent spoilers but those whom had watched the series should know.
To conclude, Future Diary/Mirai Nikki is a worthwhile watch in my opinion despite it's flaws and I truly enjoyed the series. Come to think of it, I didn't think of the flaws when I was watching it was probably mainly because of the fast pacing of the story and I was too absorbed into the episodes which is a merit in itself. Although I may contradict myself here, I highly recommend this series even to the weak-hearted because Yuno is one of the best written characters and it's a shame not to watch it because of other flaws.
