STORY
The premise of Future Diary is interesting as much as it is misleading. The story follows a shy and socially-awkward teen called Yukiteru Amano, or Yukkii, who likes to keep a diary of his day-to-day life. But one day, his diary begins to predict his future actions, which he begins to use to his advantage, like cheating in exams. Soon, he is called on by the God of Space and Time (Deus Ex Machina, because why the fuck not) who informs him and eleven other (un)lucky diary owners of a “battle-royale” situation they have been thrown into. The prize for winning: the successor of this God.
Oh yeah, there's also a girl. Her name is Yuno Gasai, and she's Yukkii's stalker and future love. For some stupid reason she's madly in love with him, and protects him for the duration of this game. She's basically a yandere, which is the show's major selling point.
So. There are a few problems that I have with the setting and the story in general. The story is misleading like I already mentioned. Firstly, the description “Battle Royale” is bullshit. This anime is not a battle royale. For some stupid reason, almost every single diary user attacks Yukkii, and in that case, Yuno. In a BR situation, it would be a stupid decision for everyone to focus on two individuals. This is just shameless plot convenience, as it allows for the anime to take two or three episodes at a time for each of the diary holders. And the others? Fuck do I know, have a sit down with a cup of coffee? These episodes are almost always predictable, which makes the middle section of the anime PAINFULLY difficult to watch. Huh, kinda makes sense now why they actually named a character Deus Ex Machina.
Then there's the whole time-travel ending. It is very difficult to remove all plot holes of an anime with time travel. The OVA episode only does so much, so by the end of it we still have unanswered questions. Luckily though, it did pick up slightly so at least the creators had kept the climax until the very end.
Mirai Nikki liked to take itself seriously. But sometimes it tripped over itself and fell face first. It felt like the show didn't know where it was going, so “serious” moments like raping an underage girl, or locking up a child in a cage and feeding it grass, turned out to be less serious. These fucked up moments were somewhat enjoyable, but they felt like they were done, just for the sake of being done.
Other than that and other ridiculous moments (gassing people in a vented room, I mean come on.) the story was fine. “Just above average” is the best description of how good the story was.
CHARACTERS
Oh my god, what the fuck is up with the cast? It's as if the creators didn't care one bit when they made the characters, since one stereotypical character would solve all problems. But let's start off with the MC. Yukkii is in my shitlist as one of the worst characters I have ever seen. Annoying, bland, and completely fucking useless, yet the show still tries to make him interesting by throwing him into really difficult situations, only for him to cry and whine in the middle of a battle. On top of that, the anime tries desperately to change him as a character by the end. And it does! From a useless bitch, he goes to a total selfish cunt, and has no redeeming features at all. NONE. Great job guys.
For those of you who find my description of him puzzilng, think Shinji Ikari developing into Makoto Itou. For those that don't agree, get out. And just like Makoto, he is just as indecisive about his relationship with Yuno. All he is is a plot device.
And then there's the psychotic bitch. Yuno is basically the face of the entire anime. Unfortunately, I hated her very existence, very much like Yukkii. If he is a plot device, then Yuno is a plot armor. All she is there for is to protect the main character from everyone else from killing him. I simply cannot understand why she is so likeable. All she does is act like a clingy bitch and then kill everyone. Don't get me wrong, I like the Yandere archetype, but it's difficult to get right – something this anime did not do. The best examples of yandere done right that I can think of are the Sonozaki twins from Higurashi. That anime doesn't just take the two main characteristics of the archetype and fuck the rest like Mirai Nikki. The personality is much more subtle than with Yuno, so it is more effective when shit hits the fan. However, Yuno's archetype is so obvious that it is practically leaking out of her. This causes her to change from the personality at one end of the spectrum to the other at the drop of a hat, and in especially in the worst moments. What is the result? Battles that are mostly predictable, where Yukkii cries like a bitch and Yuno comes in to save the day with a cliched monologue on her “love”. That is why I hate her, she just HAS to act warm and fuzzy, in the moments where it isn't called for. Nobody cares about your love, just decapitate that cunt and shut up.
Even though she is in love with Yukkii, she constantly puts him down. She is even more of a selfish bitch than Yukkii. I mean, she would rather isolate Yukkii, and have him all to herself, (which she ended up doing anyway) rather than letting him have friends and be happy...
So we have a bitchy and selfish main protagonist with an equally selfish and posssive bitch as a female protagonist. What a perfect couple.
So what happens when the nonexistant love between them develops? Episode 23 happens! Holy shit, that sex scene was the most hilariously misplaced part of the entire final part of the show. Sure, it wasn't pathetic, but let me just remind you that the two are 14 years old. Just let that sink in.
The rest of the cast is full of idiots and laughable villains. Even Deus, the creator of the game and the one pulling the ropes of the universe is an idiot. Honestly, out of all people to play the game, he had to pick Yukkii.
None of the diary owners are interesting at all, to the point of some of them being laughable. Apart from Minene. Uryuu Minene was somewhat likeable, mostly because she was the only character with a likeable personality in the entire show. Until, of course, they turn her into a by-the-book tsundere. Other than that, none of the other characters deserve any mention, as they're just as forgettable as they are shit.
ANIMATION & SOUND
Mirai Nikki was made in the fall season of 2011, by a studio called Asread. This anime is by far their most popular work, aside from a few hardly-known anime titles. Other than that, they worked with Xebec on Shuffle! back in 2005 and with AIC Spirits on Ga-Rei Zero in 2008.
When I first started watching Mirai Nikki, I didn't have huge problems with the animation. On the contrary, I thought the animation was pretty good....for an anime from the mid-2000's. Then I realised that the series was made at the same time as Anohana, Madoka Magica, Usagi Drop, Steins;Gate... Mirai Nikki is quite far below the standard of animation at the time. Poor detailing or just a lack of awesomness is the main issue with it, but it isn't something I'd consider “bad”. I'll admit, it's a bit unfair to compare the animation with that of anime from 2011, I mean, that was an amazing year! Mirai Nikki had its moments of decent animation. The gore scenes were well done, which was a sigh of relief for me. But there is one example of really fantastic animation, which is something I don't even need to go into: the first opening.
The soundtrack is large and impressive – it has its fair share of action-scene tracks, as well as some tracks that really pull at the heartstrings, for example, “Here With You”, which is probably the most popular track with the exception of the first opening. It has really well-written orchestral compositions, including my favourite, “Going Through The Trials in Time”. Good job to the composer Tatsuya Katou, who has some interesting titles under his name... Free!, Kämpfer, The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, Requiem for the Phantom, and Food Wars.
The opening track “Fantasy Mythology” is quite frankly, one of the best opening tracks in existence. It just screams out the violence of the anime, especially Yuno. It's loud, it's heavy, it's fucking awesome. But of course it had to get replaced with the dissappointment of the broken English of the second opening. Sigh...
The Japanese dub is really enjoyable, with the voice actors of Yuno and Minene doing what in my opinion was a great job. I haven't heard the English dub, but judging by the names of the dub cast, I may have something to look forward to, especially since Brina Palencia is in there. But seriously, the dub has some awesome names in there: Josh Grelle, Todd Haberkorn, Eric Vale, Coleen Clinkenbeard, Christopher Sabat, Caitlin Glass, Jad Saxton, J.M Tatum, Monica Rial.... just look at those names! It's gotta be a good dub, right?
FINAL EVALUATION
I'll be honest, this anime was somewhat of a dissappointment to me. Mirai Nikki has a lot of flaws, many of which are major, but it is still somewhat enjoyable. Although the premise of the story was interesting, shabby writing and a pathetic cast of characters let it down quite a bit. On the other hand, the animation wasn't the worst thing in the world, and the soundtrack was really enjoyable.
I must admit, my enjoyment of the show overall was somewhat ruined, mostly by the irritating moron that Yukkii was, and also Yuno for being similarly annoying, and not making much sense on a number of occasions.
I give Mirai Nikki a 6.4, and unfortunately, must round to 6.
The faults of the anime can be easily overlooked if you switch off your brain, but if you do that you won't understand the final episodes. The cast of characters was simply too much of a trainwreck, and that is what really brought down the final score. Do I hate Mirai Nikki? No. It's one of those shows that I can call “good enough”. Many will disagree, but oh well.
The anime simply spent too much time focusing on how much of a cold-blooded and blatantly stereotypical yandere Yuno could be, and after a while, it just became tiring.
I may watch it again with the hope of the English dub being any better, which may or may not raise the final score.
~thobiazz~
