Mirai Nikki – 12

Episode 12 –

This episode of Mirai Nikki confirmed one thing for me: that this series is all about throwing in crazy plot twists, even if a lot of it makes no sense. Mirai Nikki is much more about getting thrills out of each passing moment, and because of such, the series as a whole is much more focused on providing unexpected twists, rather than creating a high-stake battle of wits that I had hoped would come out of this show. The overall result so far is, well, a show that is entertaining, but also a show that doesn’t really captivate me to look beyond the surface. This show is just pure entertainment with each passing moment, and I guess the formula this show has followed is starting to get a bit boring to me.

That being said, I am rather surprised that this episode went about it’s villain in a very different manner from previous ones. Rather than having the stereotypical “evil villain” that almost all the opponents have been up until this point, Kurusu proves to be a much more multifaceted personality. Or at least, we can see from his motives that he isn’t doing all this in the name of evil. The man simply wants to cure his son of a heart disease, and is a family man who does hold a lot of concern for his family. I guess the reason why he seemed so cold about his family being held as hostages is because he knew that Yukiteru and Minene were people who wouldn’t pointlessly murder people. Yuno is a different story, but I guess he took the risk while betting that she wouldn’t kill them if it seemed that the hostages added no extra benefit to the situation. Or perhaps he was confident that if he won this game and became “God”, he would be able to revive his family with his newfound powers.

Either ways, this episode was intense in the sense that Yukiteru and Yuno were in a rather dire situation. However, once again, this show suffered from the problem of it being too repetitive in terms of overarching story. This time it was Yuno + Yukiteru vs Kurusu, and as expected, Yukiteru and Yuno got of the situation as victors. I really wish the story would change up, because as of now it’s getting tiresome to see the same situation unfold over and over again, only with some details changed around. To be fair, I might be complaining too soon. The signs toward the end of this episode seem to be indicating that Yuno might actually become the enemy. She’s always seemed to have been a mentally unstable person, but the strong hints this week look like they are pushing her into an antagonistic role. I mean, aside from being on the run from the police, she is carrying around a bunch of skulls in her bag and is deceiving Yukiteru at every chance she has.

In the end, Mirai Nikki once again ends an arc in a predictable fashion: Yuno and Yukiteru are thrown into a chaotic situation, and survive relatively unscathed. And lets not even start mentioning the plot holes that have started to show up. There’s the issue that Minene somehow escaped after being handcuffed to a police officer (and she is a wanted terrorist, right?). Then there’s the issue where Yuno murdered a bunch of police officers, as well as Yukiteru shooting a police officer or two. Those would definitely constitute as crimes, even if you weren’t the guilty party. And then there’s small little details such as Akise Aru mailing Yukiteru about a search warrant on Yuno. Why is a middle schooler even involved with chasing after Yuno if he isn’t a formal member of the police force? There’s a ton of little details that need to be taken as a given for this show, and when you start examining the details, things begin to fall apart.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.5/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mirai Nikki – 11

Episode 11 –

Haha, I think this was the first serious episode of Mirai Nikki that I found funny at the same time. Minene’s presence is probably what did it, where her character has a good blend of serious honesty that can make situations fun, but with serious undertones. Her introduction here might serve as a segway to her playing a larger role in this series, which I would very much welcome considering how she’s one of the few seemingly sane characters out of the main cast. But hey, the focus on Yuno and Yukiteru hasn’t grown dull either. It’s fascination how we’ve seen Yukiteru somewhat grow-up as a character, where now he actually feels a sense of obligation and responsibility towards Yuno. Previously, Yukiteru was the type that would just sit around and whine all day (and he still does, but he’s more constructive with his actions nowadays).

If anything, the character that hasn’t gotten much development is actually the star yandere to this series, Yuno. She’s been a “crazy stalker” since the opening moments to Mirai Nikki, and that hasn’t changed in the least since then. Ok, well, maybe she’s gotten even more obsessive, but that’s still in the same vein as being a crazy stalker. I guess Yuno’s appeal is that crazy yandere attitude of hers, but sometimes I can’t help but wish she had more of a complex persona than the one we currently know; a smart, ruthless girl who will do absolutely anything to protect Yukiteru.

But I digress, aside from the noticeable lack in overall Yuno character development, Mirai Nikki continues to surprise with it’s over-the-top antics of the cast. Yuno going crazy to try and save Yukiteru is nothing new, but the excessive actions that the policeman is taking, as well as Minene’s random defection to help out Yukiteru and Yuno, added a heightened sense of tension and flair to the overall plot. It’s this flair to the cast that’s kept the story captivating. The blaring in-your-face plot has so far managed to keep Mirai Nikki as a suspenseful, and fun, series to watch. My only real complaint is that due to the nature of this series, there aren’t really many things handled in more subtle manners. Subtlety adds some levels of complexity and understanding to characters that I think would work well in this series. For instance, little details such as reflecting upon Minene’s thoughts about having triggered her own death flag on purpose, or exploring in more depth Kurosu’s more understated feelings of guilt towards Yukiteru. Exploring key details like this would work great to flesh out not only side characters,  as well as Yuno and Yukiteru.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.6/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mirai Nikki – 10

Episode 10 –

Ugh, I’m surprised I managed to get through this episode. For one, it felt very filler-esque. But the real issue wasn’t that it was filler, it’s that the story was just poorly written. This is one of those classic examples of manga content that should’ve stayed as manga content.

I do appreciate how this episode tries to develop Minene a bit more, especially because Minene is one of the more likable characters of the series. Even if she is “a terrorist”, she’s one of the few characters to this series that is very genuine and honest, which is almost radically different from some of the other Future diary holders. That being said, the way in which the episode tried to flesh out her character felt pathetically shallow in some ways, and was jarringly different from the intense, chaotic and insane atmosphere that this series is known for. Because I’ve come to expect a lot of crazy antics from this series, the segment of the episode with Minene felt very much out of place.

The same can be applied to the second half, where the episode has Yukiteru and Yuno go through a fake marriage ceremony. While the second half was critical in the sense that it showed how Yukiteru would rationalize his attachment to Yuno, the marriage segment was so jarringly out of place that it got really annoying.

It was only the ending segment, with Akise, that proved to remotely hold my interest; he brings up some very valid questions about the nature of this ridiculous hole that Yuno dug up, as well as some speculations about Yuno’s personality and character. And as you might’ve expected, Akise has deemed Yuno’s personality extremely unstable and fragile. In other words, one wrong move, and Yuno can go from over-obsessed protector to a rampaging monster. With the policeman/detective finally revealing his true motives (and targeting Yuno + Yukiteru), it seems that the story will start moving again next week. Only, with the recent introduction of new characters (mainly Akise), I get the feeling the conflicts might not be quite like the stuff we’ve seen up until this point.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.2/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mirai Nikki – 09

Episode 09 –

Well, I have to say, this was a surprisingly good episode. It was surprising in the sense that the main characters played mind games here, as opposed to the standard “kill me if you can” that we’ve seen so far. Akise Aru so far seems like a promising addition to the cast (aside from the boy’s love vibe, that is…). Akise’s intellect and curiosity could prove to be interesting, and on top of that, now there are people outside of the diary game that are aware of the existence of future diaries. I wonder if they’ll play a larger role in the series somehow, and not to mention, now Yukki’s relationship with Yuno will change up completely. After all, declaring her his girlfriend is a pretty huge deal.

I do think there is a slight contradiction with how Akise managed to trick up the future diaries. After all, the future diaries should have been able to predict that he would try to trick the users, so they should’ve been able to see through any foul play Akise had in mind. But hey, I guess this just proves that the future diaries are flawed future predicting devices after all, or at least, are flawed in the hands of imperfect human beings. I would’ve never thought of the idea of deceiving Yukiteru to achieve the truth, but it was a clever idea on Akise’s part.

What else was interesting to see here was Yuno actually taking a bit of initiative, and calling out Yuno as his girlfriend. It’s been tough to see, but Yukiteru has slowly been growing more confident in the face of danger; in other words, he’s gradually starting to get used to all the ridiculous situations he’s been thrown into. So far it’s been more out of necessity to adapt than by his own choice, and he’s still a wimp, but it’s clear here that he’s grown up at least a little bit in the time that we’ve known him. As Yukiteru fears, though, I worry that Yuno might react to his little declaration in a way that Yukiteru would not be happy with. After all, she had been in the battle for Yukiteru’s heart in the long haul, so this sudden change up might throw her off balance.

If there’s one other thing worth mentioning here, it’s how the pacing kept the story this week fairly engrossing. The changing of the scenes between Akise’s speculative guessing, Yuno’s yandere suspicions, and Yukiteru’s constant whining, helped produce a surprisingly engaging atmosphere. On top of that, the involvement of the 10th, and his murder by the 4th (aka the policeman) also adds to the tension. It’s been rather obvious since a few episodes ago that the policeman is not to be trusted, but it looks like we might finally start seeing part of whatever the man has been scheming soon.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.9/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mirai Nikki – 08

Episode 08 –

This episode was rather thrilling, but it was thrilling in a different way than previous episodes. Rather than how it was before, where Yukiteru and Yuno would face off against a future diary user one at a time, this time around it feels that there are a couple of diary users scheming in the shadows. It almost feels like some sort of conspiracy is unfolding amongst a few diary users, with Yukiteru and Yuno ensnared by the turn of events. Or at least, that’s how the situation appears to be as of now; for all I know, there are more or less diary users involved than I’m anticipating.

One of the more blatant hints to note here is how Hinata, the new friend that Yukiteru made at school, is probably the daughter to a diary user. Or at least, the crazy old man who treats his dogs like kings has a picture of Hinata as a child, so they are probably blood-related in some manner. Considering the dog-lover’s strong resemblance to this diary user, it’s obvious that he’s the one controlling the rabid dogs in this episode. What makes me more wary of this guy, though, is not those dogs. Rather, his strange request to Deus ex Machina gets me worried, mainly because he wants to “transfer” his diary ability to others. While I don’t know if Deus approved of his request, the old man is obviously plotting something behind the scenes, and is using his daughter to do so. Or perhaps Hinata is also a diary user, we can’t really say as of now.

Yet, there also seems to be another diary user here, and his presence is also quite suspicious. Akise Aru, a self-proclaimed detective, is a peculiar presence. Considering how he’s investigating Yukiteru, there is the likelihood of him being involved in this whole diary war. And yet, what was Akise’s motive in telling Yukiteru that he was investigating him? Why would Akise reveal such a shady move on his part, especially if Yukiteru was the enemy? If Akise is truly a diary user, his revelations to Yukiteru strike me as odd, mainly because there is almost no benefit to him revealing his investigations. Or perhaps those revelations are part of some plan that we don’t quite see, where he’s trying to gain Yukiteru’s trust or something.

All I can say for now is that something about this situation feels off, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. There is the potential for multiple diary user involvement here, which is what’s really throwing me off. Just how are these unrelated diary users going to handle the situation, especially with Yukiteru’s diary being held captive, remains the big question. Oh yea, one more thing: Yuno actually did virtually nothing this episode (o_o). Considering how she’s normally done virtually everything in previous arcs, her lack of involvement is kind of surreal.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.7/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mirai Nikki – 07

Episode 07 –

While I’ve already grown accustomed to how crazy the main cast to this series is, I think this episode tried to push things a bit too far. It’s pretty tough to believe that a mere toddler could put together some of the rather elaborate plans he used here. Or at least, most toddlers don’t know about dissolving salt in water to make it conductive to an electrical current, nor do they know where to get their hands on lethal poison gas. And how the heck did he get his hands on a vial of poison and syringes to use with it? This really pushed my suspension of disbelief.

Aside from these gaping plot holes, Mirai Nikki is starting to feel a bit repetitive (or perhaps predictable is the better term here). Mainly, the show is going the whole “boss fight per episode” route, where this time around we got a battle between Yukiteru + Yuno vs another diary user. And the predictable part is that Yuno and Yukiteru always win. While the fights themselves are handled rather well, where one must outwit the other, I’m starting to lose the sense of thrill that I saw when I started watching this series. In other words, Mirai Nikki is starting to reuse it’s story setup, which is not good in the long term.

The characters are still great to watch, that much has remained the same. Seeing the interactions between Yuno and Yukiteru always manage to amuse me, especially now where Yukiteru feels like he needs to hold Yuno back. Yukiteru is gradually changing into a more assertive guy, but it’s going at a super slow snail-like pace. I’m anticipating more development for him and Yuno in the future (especially after Yuno’s declaration to him last week), but it seems like it might not happen for a while.

The one saving point to this episode is how, even with the confrontation between the kid and Yuno, the series doesn’t forget the other future diary users. We know that Minene is now in contact with that policeman, and the policeman is acting very, very fishy. It seems that he’s trying to play all the future diary users against each other, which is a rather smart move on his part. However, considering how Minene doesn’t seem to be too fond of his scheming antics, things might backfire for him. But nonetheless, the plotting amongst the other users in the background keeps the overarching story unpredictable, which I hope culminates in a much more unconventional story arc than the ones we’ve seen so far.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.4/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mirai Nikki – 06

Episode 06 –

Well, uh, this was a rather different episode of Mirai Nikki. I mean, I guess after all the crazy stuff we’ve seen so far, having a cool-down episode doesn’t hurt. But seriously, this episode felt almost completely pointless, where all we see is Yuno acting all romantic and corny (with a shade of insanity) towards Yukiteru. In other words, nothing really new happens in terms of their relationship as the main couple. Of course, that’s bound to change with time, but as of now this episode felt very filler-esque, with the brief introduction of the new Future Diary user being the only progress we saw in the plot.

If there’s one thing that I find a bit curious about this series, it’s how it seems that a good portion of the diary users are crazy or twisted in some way or another. Each one has some rather absurd personalities, or at least abnormal in comparison to normal people. While seeing these crazy characters is great, at the same time, introducing new crazy characters doesn’t come as much of a surprise anymore. It’s strange how I’m gradually starting to become desensitized to the “crazy characters” in this series, and introducing more of them probably won’t change up that dynamic too much. The “shock factor” is gone, so all that’s left is for the story to impress via over-the-top plot and sudden plot twists.

The strategy that the story has followed has definitely worked up until now, but like I said last week, there is the risk that the story format could get a little repetitive. I described it as almost a “boss rush” in video games, where after you fight one boss, you just move on to the next. Rinse, repeat.

Then again, I’m pretty sure that Mirai Nikki is holding back with regards to something quite big. I mean, there’s still the issue where Yuno had rotting corpses in her house, and then let’s not forget how in the beginning of the first episode it seemed that somebody was being hacked to shreds. And finally, there’s still Deus Ex Machina as well as the scheming of the policeman. There is quite a bit going on in parallel, and seeing how that plays out will be crucial for future episodes.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.2/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mirai Nikki – 05

Episode 05 –

Haha, now this is the type of stuff I’ve come to expect of Mirai Nikki. As I had already mentioned in a previous post, all of these future diary users are enemies that have to kill each other. After all, only “the last one standing” can inherit Deus Ex Machina’s abilities as a god. Therefore, it’s logical that these diary users will all fight each other. All the alliance making and stuff that we’ve been seeing in Mirai Nikki is completely contradictory to this very notion of “all enemies”, but it looks like that’s starting to unravel here. For one, the priestess girl did a good job of hiding her true intentions, where she broke her temporary ceasefire with Yuno and Yukiteru once she gained an absolute advantage over the rest of the diary users. And then, there’s also the plotting of the policeman, who seems to have also made some sort of alliance with the escape diary user. I suspect that the policeman is trying to use the ninth against Yuno and Yukiteru, which would also place himself further away from danger.

In other words, all of the diary users have been secretly scheming away at killing each other, even while under these false pretense of cooperation. As of now, the only ones who seem to be genuinely cooperating are Yuno and Yukiteru, while all the other diary users so far have been very selfish and trying to use these alliances to eliminate their opponents. Logically speaking, taking advantage of these alliances is the smartest way to go, because it has the highest chance of insuring one’s survival. Yet as we see in this episode with the priestess, if you’re not careful with how you manage these alliances, it can backfire on you.

Mainly, after Yuno eliminated the blind future diary user, the priestess decided to target Yuno and Yukiteru. Ironically, it’s probably her betrayal that probably triggered her dead end. A key thing to note here is how Yukiteru has one huge advantage over the priestess girl; he can make perfect predictions when he has Yuno’s diary. He can make predictions of the future around himself with absolute certainty, which is why he was able to muster the courage to charge straight into her stronghold. After all, his future said that he wouldn’t die, so there was no reason to fear a possible death. On the other hand, the priestess had no such convenience, and she had already triggered her death flag. A key thing to note here is how even if you seem to hold an absolute advantage, the diaries themselves is what you should actually look out for. After all, even when you have a horde of followers out to protect you, a slight mistake could end up costing your life.

Mirai Nikki as a series remains as ruthless as ever, and though it’s not as heavy and dark in atmosphere as other airing series (mainly Fate/Zero), it is still quite dark. This episode emphasizes how you cannot trust anybody if they hold some sort of interest in being the last one standing of this future diary battle. The paranoia surrounding all the events that unfold keeps things quite suspenseful and crazy, and strangely enough, does a good job at providing character development for both Yuno and Yukiteru. I almost forgot to mention it here, but Yukiteru actually got quite a bit of character development this time around. I mean, he actual comes to accept Yuno and even works up the courage to expose himself to the enemy. The Yukiteru of two episodes ago would have been too cowardly to even think of doing so.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.7/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mirai Nikki – 04

Episode 04 –

Sheesh, Yuno sure knows how to creep you out. If I was Yukiteru, after seeing those dead bodies in Yuno’s house, I wouldn’t even think about associating with her ever again. And yet, she manages to indirectly force him into staying quite through sheer intimidation, and other sly tactics. Yuno certainly isn’t someone to mess around with; at least, I wouldn’t ever want her as my enemy. That being said, the introduction of another Diary holder does bring up some rather intriguing possibilities, especially due to the clairvoyant nature of the new future diary. There’s already scheming going on from several diary users, and Yukiteru is trapped amidst all of the chaos. This series reminds me of Death Note in the sense that there’s a large sense of uneasiness, coupled with a ton of tension and a lot of unpredictable, thrilling plot twists.

Well, to be more specific, the story doesn’t treat these diaries as perfect weapons, but rather, points out and exploits all their flaws. For the clairvoyance diary, where the diary can see everything that other people can see, the episode exposes it’s flaw in a rather creative way; if everybody sees the same thing, then the predictions become worthless. This series feels like a very high-stake mind game, where each of the future diary users are using cutthroat tactics to try and kill each other. The deaf guy using his abilities to throw the outside world into complete chaos, and using it to confuse the enemy and create an opening, is indicative of just how much these diary users are putting at stake.

That being said, there’s one thing that makes me a bit uneasy here; a lot of these future diary users are forming alliances, but aren’t they all supposed to be enemies in the first place? There can only be one survivor in the end, so no matter what, everybody will have to fight each other. The issue that worries me the most is when Yuno and Yukiteru will eventually have to face off against each other, but even if you exclude that issue, both the policeman and the clairvoyance diary user can betray everybody at any time. This adds an extra dimension of uncertainty to the story, where anything can really happen. And that unpredictability adds a lot to the thrill factor to this series.

In the end, the game of cat and mouse that’s going on in Mirai Nikki has proved to be quite the captivating story. On top of that, we have some rather freakishly twisted characters (such as Yuno), which adds an element of uncertainty and craziness to the plot. I’m really liking the atmosphere to the series so far, and while there are some plot holes, Mirai Nikki does a good job at maintaining a highly suspenseful story.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.8/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mirai Nikki – 03

Episode 03 –

Well, erm, I’m not really sure what I should say about this episode. It was a mix of buildup, fanservice, a brief character introduction, and a cliffhanger. There was a bunch of things happening simultaneously here, but what’s throwing me off is how there is no apparent connection between everything that’s happened. That being said, it’s intriguing to see the actual character growth, especially between Yukiteru and Yuno. By the end of the episode, their relationship changes in the most unexpected way, but still; up until that point, Yukiteru was slowly starting to warm up to Yuno. We also get a bit more background info on that terrorist girl, though it’s not really elaborated upon in much detail.

First off, remember that “alliance” from last week? Well, the police guy who started the alliance wanted Yukiteru and Yuno to act as bait, sooo, he decided to just make them go together to an amusement park. It was quite the sudden plot twist, though I guess it’s somewhat sensible if you want them to be walking around all day in open daylight. However, I didn’t quite expect that amusement park visit to change to a pool scene, where Yuno just happens to lose her bikini while in the pool, and ends up hugging Yukiteru while bare-chested. Safe to say, during that scene Yukiteru was one lucky guy 😛

Interspersed in the episode itself was a bunch of flashbacks of that terrorist girl’s childhood, which I have to say seemed rather depressing based on the scenes we saw. She seems to have grown up in a warzone, and lost her parents at a young age. I guess her bombing tendencies had to come from somewhere eh? Anyways, long story short, the girl gets captured by a newly introduced character (most likely another future diary user), all while Yukiteru and Yuno are on their “date”.

What came as a sudden surprise, though, what happened at Yuno’s house. Yuno invited Yukiteru into her house, and while he was exploring around the house, he ran across a room filled with dead, rotting corpses. Why the heck does Yuno have dead corpses in her house? I do vaguely remember a scene back in the beginning of the first episode, where someone was being hacked apart in cold blood, so is that what these corpses are from? The more disturbing point to note here is how, by seeing the corpses, Yukiteru somehow drastically altered the future for every single diary owner. In other words, him coming across the corpses was a HUGE event that will almost definitely have strong repercussions throughout the rest of the series.

Well, this episode did answer one of my questions from last week; Yuno was obsessed with Yukiteru because she made a promise to marry him a year or two beforehand. It feels like a rather flimsy reason, but at least there is some reasoning to her obsession with the guy. However, Yuno is still one of the biggest question marks to this series. Why did Yuno had rotting corpses in her own house? Why does Yuno treat murder like it’s nothing? And how come Yukiteru discovering those corpses had such a tremendous impact on the future? I mean, even Deus ex machina noted the discovery as something big. Yuno remains very suspicious here, even if she at times seems to be a normal girl. She’s definitely hiding something about herself, that’s for sure. On a different note, I wonder what’ll happen to the terrorist girl; if she really is in the hands of another diary user, she’s almost as good as dead.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.5/5

Screenshots are later in the post.