This psychological thriller, based on the manga written and illustrated by Sakae Esuno, is about Yuki,
a loner who's not very good with people. He prefers to write a diary on his cell phone and talk to his
imaginary friend, Deus Ex Machina – The God of Time and Space. However, Yuki soon learns that
Deus is more than a figment of his imagination when he makes Yuki participate in a battle royale with
eleven others. The contestants are given special diaries that can predict the future, each diary
possessing unique features that give it both advantages and disadvantages. Within the next 90 days,
the contestants must try to survive until there is only one left standing. The winner will become the
new God of Time and Space.
(Source: FUNimation)
So after watching this anime I can safely say this: Much like movies such as Face Off with Nicholas Cage or The Room by Tommy Wiseau, Mirai Nikki specializes in the art of being so bad it's actually kind of amazing Everything about this series is insane to the tenth degree and that's thankfully what makes it so enjoyable: It knows it's beyond fucking stupid but the whole anime plays out like it's aware of that fact and just says "if we're not gonna make sense then we're gonna have shit tons of fun not making sense" and that's essentially what I got out of this series The premise: What can I say it's every death game competition story you've seen before but what does distinguish it is that the characters are just having such a blast with playing this game and that's where the bulk of the enjoyment for me came from is that I was just having such a fun time watching these people act like total raving lunatics And just to be fair as insanely over the top and Horrendously entertaining as Future Diary is I actually will give one legitimate criticism that for every over the top insane moment there are just as many dull and boring moments and episodes that make you just wanna get back to the over the top stupidity but on the plus side those are few and far between and don't take much time to switch gears Now where do I stand on recommendations of this series? Well unless you haven't been paying attention the recommendation criteria is pretty simple: If your looking for a balls to the wall fun ass time anime without having to think too hard then this is the anime for you. Of course if you're going in expecting a life changing story with deep and complex characters I assure you are NOT gonna get it here and if you are hoping for that stuff then might I re-direct you towards Death Note or anything in the Fullmetal Alchemist Series, hell I'd even argue Assassination Classroom for as goofy as it is will give you more depth with its characters and story But again if you are coming in expecting to see something over that's over the top stupid with how entertaining it is then you'll definitely enjoy this. All it is really is a time waster with some laughably enjoyable moments if you have the right mind set for stuff like that
There are anime that people say that you have to ‘turn off your brain’ to watch. While I’m not a fan of the term, _Mirai Nikki_ is the ultimate example of the ‘turn off your brain’ anime. The anime is edgy, not at all coherent, and most of all, fun and exciting to watch. If you tune in expecting to watch a gripping thriller, or just something good, _Mirai Nikki_ isn’t for you. But if you’re watching because you want something silly to watch, _Mirai Nikki_ is right up your alley. img1000(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/futurediary/images/a/a5/YunoYandereFace.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120128011750) _Mirai Nikki_ is a battle royale anime themed around ‘future diaries'. Each contestant in the battle-royale has a diary that can tell certain parts of the future. The main character, Yukiteru Amano, has a ‘Random Diary’, which tells him random events in the future. Yuno Gasai, his stalker and ‘protector’, has a diary that tells the future of Yukiteru. As with any battle royale game, the winner is the last person alive, the prize of winning being becoming a god. I have many complaints about _Mirai Nikki_. With any anime that has time-manipulation as a plot point, plot holes are abundant. _Mirai Nikki_ has more of them than the eye can see. It also has an ending that seems to be going on forever. Seriously, it’s so long. I can’t help but think the ending was inspired by _Evangelion_. It wouldn’t be the only thing that makes it similar to _Evangelion_. Yukiteiru is very similar personality-wise to Shinji. Akise Aru, a side character, is similar personality-wise to Kaworu. He even looks like him as well! If they wanted to have this anime viewed similarly as _Evangelion_, then they failed completely. _Mirai Nikki_ is a popular anime, with it being the 25th most popular anime on Anilist, but there’s nothing worth remembering about it except for Yuno herself. She’s the most popular ‘yandere’ character that I can think of, so at least they did something, even if that’s not what they were going for. img1000(https://animeblurayuk.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/mirai-nikki-future-diary-part1-dvd-screenshot-4.jpg?w=848) Speaking of Yuno, the most disgusting thing about this anime is the fact that it often conforms to the belief that she is the ‘only one there’ for Yukiteiru. While I know this is the modus operandi for most controlling people, the fact that the anime seems to go along with this is genuinely disturbing. While it’s not always this way, it happens enough to be to have to write this. The second most disgusting thing is that the characters never change their outfit. With all of that being said, the one reason for watching _Mirai Nikki_ is because it’s fun. The sheer insanity of it is worth the watch itself. You’ll probably find it bad, but it isn’t the type of bad that will piss you off or detract you from finishing it (most likely). It’s the same type of ‘bad’ that you get from action movies with little plot. _Mirai Nikki_ is a perfect anime to have a watch party with, it’ll surely entertain everyone watching. And honestly, isn’t entertainment what you want from an anime? Well, the entertainment that _Mirai Nikki_ may provide you is more of the ‘laughing at’ type of entertainment, but the point some-what stands. _Mirai Nikki_ may be a lot of things, but boring isn’t one of them. img1000(https://static.zerochan.net/Gasai.Yuno.full.885006.jpg) _Mirai Nikki_ is probably one of the dumbest anime that I’ve ever watched. That’s saying something considered all of the dumb anime out there. What _Mirai Nikki_ has that others don’t is entertainment value. You’re bound to be entertained with all of the crazy and stupid twists and turn this anime has out there to offer. Is it good? No. Does it have a million plot holes? Yes. Is it fun to watch? Also yes.
__Detailed Review of - The Future Diary Anime__ I really have no idea what I feel about this anime, whether it is good or bad. But anyway I feel this heavy urge to provide the review after having such a roller coaster emotional joruney throughout the coarse of this anime. Beginning with, my one sentence review about this anime would be something like this - >"Wtf fuck is happening! The story goes well, enjoyable but feels very twisted and weird in many ways" img620(https://media.giphy.com/media/pPhyAv5t9V8djyRFJH/giphy.gif) __Brief details about the anime -__ The anime has a total of 26 episodes and falls into multiple genres of Thriller, Supernatural, Action, Drama and Mystery. The whole anime is about a young boy finding himself trying to stay alive in a survival game hosted by Deus, The god of time and space. The protagonist, Amano is given a diary that randomly predicts future and using this he has to survive against 10 other such future diary onwers. The winner of this game would end up becoming the next God in place of Deus. img620(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/86/61/f2/8661f2c05e57c5bda502ea3e9013766b.jpg) __How is the overall anime?__ The overall anime does a great amount of work is keeping its watchers captivating through its mysterious plots and different characters. But the story falls short in making sense from time to time and also providing a meaningful conclusion. Author hass done a good job in shaping certain characters and these characters most of the times carry the show till the end. The opening soundtracks are awesome too. As much as the story keeping you attentive throughout 26 epsiodes, you may start getting uncomfortable and awkward at certain places, and this happens more than often. The anime also has few adult scenes showcasing certain characters naked (which really felt unncessary throughout the story). __Plot and concept of the anime__ The concept of the anime was definitely new and it certainly had a different taste and idea. The plot is well written but tends to get edgy in between but the balance is maintain till the end. The ending feel bad and I wasn't at all satisified by how the story was brought to a close. The justification given to all the characters was good and I felt happy about that. The story also falls short in making sense of Amano, our protagonist. The characters feels inconsistent and badly written. The best part about this whole anime that kept me going till the end were the amazingly number of twists. If it was not for the twists and revelations that you get, i would have dropped this show right after th 5th episodes. Every epsiode I was jaw-dropped and I cannot stress enough on how thrilling it was. The whole story keeps you on edge by throwing a bunch of mysteries surrounding the love interest of Amano, Yuno. She ehappens to be the most weird and mysterious character of the show. Ths story starts slow and takes time to become sensible. __Characters and Animation__ The animation was okay okay. I dont think they spent so much effort on the animation. It feels dry sometimes especially during night scenes. The characters are definitely good. Except the main characters, Yuno and Amano(whom its really hard to understand and I just hate them because that is how they were potrayed). Few Diary owners like Minene Uryuu, Kurusu Keigo, Yomotsu Hirasaka seem really well written and are the characters I enjoyed the most during the show. Aru Akise also is a well written character and manages to be in the spotlight multiples times. __Now what I didnt like about this anime__ First thing, the whole idea about love, bonding andbecoming one is super twisted in the show. Its hard to even like or understand it. I just have no what was going on in the author's mind while trying to justify this philosophy. It just felt like watching the documentary of two heavily foolish, immature and pyscho couple. Certain scenes and dialogues just make me want to vomit. Amano, the main character is the most foolish and badly written character that I have seen. Dude just is the most coward and useless version of human being. He keeps making foolish mistakes and decisions even though it was so obvious most of the times but he is just plain idiot. The character feels delusional becomes he doesnt know what to do most of the times, stays in a state of confusion and also keeps changing his decisions has the events unfold. Yuno, the love interest of Amano on the otherhand just doesnt make sense. Her character development was stupid and it felt robot and unrealistic throughout the show. Her being a crazy pyshcopath does justify her behaviour but it doesnt work well. Her character felt like the author just lazed around and wrote what came to his mind. img620(https://media.giphy.com/media/U3OsSu4BGEwFpQShWP/giphy.gif) The ending of the anime was also very bad according to me. Being a writer and movie/anime nerd, I can definitely say that the conclusion was lazy writing and didnt feel effective or satisfactory. Much better job could have been done. The last 3 episodes also feel like the show went down the hill. But the conclusion doesn bring the stories of other characters to a good close, especially Minene Uryuu and Keigo Kurusu. __My Final Suggestion__ Not the best watch but it was definitely entertaining. If you are a fan of thriller or mystery stories then this is a good watch. You will definitely enjoy the frequently occuring unpredictable twists. img620(https://media.giphy.com/media/9xijGdDIMovchalhxN/giphy.gif) __My Ratings__ Plot - 65/100 Characters - 75//100 Soundtrack - 80/100 Theme and concept - 70/100 Voice acting - 65/100 Animation - 60/100 __OVERALL RATING - 65/100__
TRAICIONEMOS LA CONFIANZA DE YUUUUUKIIIIIIIIII -El anime ~~~(OBVIAMENTE HABLARÉ CON SPOILERS ASI QUE LOL )~~~ Como es habitual, si te lees la obra original es complicado ver una adaptación sin hacer comparaciones en segundo plano pero a pesar de ello me gustó el anime incluso diría que más que el manga ya que pude ver como mejoran muchas de las partes donde el manga flojea y al mismo tiempo algunas otras que eran bueno se vieron afectadas, un buen ejemplo es la que ya es mítica escena de Yuno y su obsesión con Yuki: ~~~img220(https://i.gifer.com/YVVM.gif)~~~ Y un ejemplo de la parte contraria: la muerte de Akise Aru que muy a mi parecer su muerte se ve representada mejor en el manga aunque a simple vista se ve que es casi igual visualmente, lo que te transmite el manga es inquietud de saber si logrará comunicarle el mensaje a Yukiteru hasta el punto de que no nos dicen si lo llegó a entender hasta después y en el anime por otro lado cambia la inquietud por tensión a la escena haciendo cambios de escena entre la cabeza volando para terminar con ambos quietos y un trozo de escombros cubriendo la ya ausente cabeza de Akise. (Cuando vi el anime no encontré la versión sin censura, ahora viendo las escenas sueltas sin censurar me gustan muchísimo más) ~~~img220(https://pa1.aminoapps.com/6512/49e8f596c45391e9728947a024db798aa14470f1_hq.gif)~~~ Esta mala costumbre que tengo de empezar a hablar desde la mitad es culpa de NisioIsin. ~~~img220(https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.242301304.5864/flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.u1.jpg)~~~ "Volviendo a Mirai Nikki " Debo decir que los primeros 9 o 10 caps siento la ausencia de música de fondo o solo agregada en momento de persecución, entiendo que debe ser para buffar esa sensación de amenaza desconocida pero para minutos después agregar una música de persecución demasiado acelerada incluso cuando están quietos pero esto se arregla apartir del 11 sino me equivoco que es cuando ya agregan los ost para acompañar las situaciones y llegados a este punto pienso que aquí en adelante los capítulos van mejorando mientras que en el manga va decayendo. ~~~*Personajes que más se llevaron mi atención*~~~ YUUUUUUUKIIIIIIIII: Haber como lo digo.... Yukiteru sé que te siente triste por lo de tus padres, no tienes amigos pero los quieres hacer así que confías rápido en desconocidos buscando quien esté contigo PERO DESPUÉS DE LOS PRIMEROS 12 CAPS YA ES CACHONDEO Si ya sabes que Yuno tampoco es de confianza, sabes que tiene cadáveres en su casa y hasta te secuestró por un largo tiempo. El Yukiteru es tan iluso que hasta me da lástima pero ese momento donde comienza a matar gente va de sobrado aunque ya luego nos explica que estaba sufriendo (volviendo a ser el de siempre), siempre dependiendo de Yuno para salvar su vida aunque lo que si me gustó fue su conclusión al final del anime/manga siendo un dios y dejando que Yuno viva una vida normal sin él. "El cap extra en el manga y la ova del anime NO EXISTEN" ~~~img220(https://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lths25fSBZ1qhrztpo1_500.gif)~~~ YUNO: Quedé hasta los cojones de escucharla decir YUUUUUUUUUUKIIIIIIIIIII, a pesar de eso su desarrollo a lo largo del anime me fascina tanto en su presente, pasado y futuro. En lo personal no me gustan nada las yanderes por esa obsesión que las caracterizan pero Yuno como personaje me gustó ya que supieron representar esa falta de cordura al igual que esa antipatia ante los demás y que decir sobre esos momentos donde pone sonrisas sádicas o su inexpresión al matar. Después de todo lo que vivió con su madre, la obsesión de conseguir ese HAPPY ENDING (Siempre me hizo gracia que en el anime/manga se refirieran así a follar como si fuera un video de Jordi ENP). Me gustó la conclusión que tuvo viviendo una vida normal sin tragedia ni obsesión. ~~~img220(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/06/6e/47/066e4754371915b2ea179ac818fd8b5e.gif)~~~ MINENE URYUU (LA NOVENA): Curiosamente llegó un punto en el manga/anime que estaba más intrigado por la subtrama de la novena jajaja, En sí el como se desarrolla es bastante rápido con un pasado fijo que es el accidente donde pierde a sus padres Y YA ESTÁ XD, después de eso lo más interesante es el que hará ya que durante toda la serie va de aquí para allá ayudando a unos o simplemente de espectadora como con el tema del culto que ella era un cebo y para escuchar los planes de otro portador. Creo que no tengo mucho que decir ya que en la parte final parece tuvo una pelea estilo dragon ball con el ayudante de Deus y prefiero no hablar de eso. psdata: QUE MANÍA TENÍA EL AUTOR DE PONERLA CON TRAJE DE ENFERMERA XD ~~~img220(https://i.gifer.com/8NyT.gif)~~~ Akise Aru (Kaworu detective): Es literalemente Kaworu, Ojos rojos, albino, piel tirando a palido, mismo VA y les gusta el prota. Este hombre se la sacó enfrentándose a personas que pueden ver el futuro y defendiendo su amor por Yukiteru, fuera de eso creo que no hay mucho que decir. Me escanta este panel en el manga. ~~~img220(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/48/67/974867e429055fd045d69c47553c2338.gif)~~~ Y eso sería todo lo que quería decir de este anime creo, por mucho que sobre analicé cosas como la música de fondo, solo quería expresar cosas que me fijé cuando lo vi ¿Por qué? No sé LOL. Si leíste todo esto.... ESTÁS BIEN? ~~~img220(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0f/43/c2/0f43c2e2d51560431e590df4cf510439.gif)~~~
Yukitero Amano thought it was all a dream. Why would some bizarre looking God and his chibi assistant spend so much time talking to some shy middle schooler whose eyes are constantly glued to his cell phone? This illusion is shattered as his phone starts to update itself, and he finds himself the subject of two different stalkers... A man in a mask who wants to kill him, and a pink-haired cutie who wants to save him. Yuki soon learns that his contact with this very real God was no dream... Rather, Yuki and twelve others have been entered into a deadly survival game where they’re going to have to kill each other, or be killed trying. As it turns out, however, the pink-haired Yuuno wasn’t just saving him to be kind... She is head over heels in love with him, and she’ll do anything to ensure the two of them win the game, and I do mean anything. With several mysterious enemies lurking in the shadows, each one possessing some kind of device that tells them the future, and a psycho yandere girlfriend as his only hope of survival, Yuki’s going to have to learn the hard way that in the war to succeed the almighty, there are no lines between friend and foe. The term “Red flag” is defined as a warning of danger... A telltale sign that you’re approaching a situation that you would be much better off avoiding. For example, the resume of an anime studio called Asread is a bigger red flag than your date’s collection of red hats and AR-15s. Originally founded by former employees of Studio Xebec... Yes, we ARE starting off on the worst foot possible... They’ve only put out a handful of their own major productions since 2006, and while I’ve seen quite a few of them, none of it’s been especially great. Shuffle was terrible. Big Order was terrible. I didn’t hate Yuushibuu or Ga Rei Zero, but nobody talks about them anymore, I barely remember them, and they definitely didn’t set the world on fire. The biggest thing they’ve done recently was Arifureta, which is a strong contender for the worst isekai I’ve ever seen. Yeah, I liked the Corpse Party OVAs, but those are a guilty pleasure, and only a seasonal one at that. And then you have Future Diary, which is for better or worse their most famous title. While Future Diary and Big Order may share a creator/mangaka, the only thing I can think of that all of these titles have in common is the use of uncensored nudity... Well, except for Arifureta, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that kind of thing in an isekai before. As far as I can tell, that’s their only shared quality, which is why it’s especially weird that not only is the nudity in Future Diary really badly drawn and constantly off-model, but also, that’s pretty much the only complaint I have about this show from a visual perspective. That one issue aside, Future Diary is a damn good looking show. I don’t know if I’d go as far as to call it gorgeous, there’s nothing about the visuals that really stands out or inspires awe, but there’s nothing really distracting or incompetent about it either. I don’t think it had the largest budget in the world, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a good chunk of their resources went into certain CG effects, but whatever budget they had was managed exactly how it needed to be. Director Naoto Hosoda was at the helm for most of Asread’s output up until 2013, when the studio went quiet for three years, and he seemingly left the studio after that, but it’s clear why they kept using him until then, because he was good at his job. This series is really well directed in general, but Hosoda does a fantastic job with action scenes. There’s a lot of fighting in this show, and while these sequences are very well choreographed and paced, Hosoda’s biggest talent seems to be his usage of the settings. The locations where each action scene takes place are highly diverse, and Hosoda seemingly loves to explore how each fight both could and should work in the given space. For bigger locations, he explores the various possibilities offered within. For smaller spaces, he gleefully exploits the more claustrophobic nature of the setting. His action scenes can go from small and intimate, to damn near apocalyptic in scale, but it never feels like it’s gotten out of his control. I’m also really fond of the character designs. One of the anime that Hosoda directed after leaving Asread was Juuni Taisen, which is also a battle royale type series with a wacky and gimmicky cast, and yeah, if you’re telling a story about twelve strangers trying to off each other, you might as well make each one as memorable as possible. Unlike Taisen, however, Future Diary doesn’t entirely reveal every character at once, and from a visual standpoint, I like how the diary-using characters we haven’t really had a reason to meet yet are kept in the shadows, lingering in the corner of your eye as purple silhouettes as their outlandish visual features build up anticipation towards the reveal of who they are and why they’re there. This can lead to some disappointment when they do enter the story... My first time through, I was expecting eight to be some kind of creepy cannibal, but it turned out there really was no reason for her to have such a mutant-like body... But I do think it was the right choice overall. As for the English dub, well, it’s a mixed bag, but I do feel more glass-half-empty on this one. The acting is strong across the board, and I don’t necessarily think any of the performances were bad, but there’s only so much you can do with a script that was written by J Michael Tatum. One of the biggest tragedies of the dubbing industry(aside from every single Scott Freeman performance aging like milk) is the fact that Tatum has to be one of the sweetest men on the planet with an amazing voice, and yet he becomes otaku enemy #1 as soon as pen hits paper. I don’t think there were any particularly egregious memes or internet references in this dub, but Tatum still has a penchant for over-writing his dubs with pretentious phrasing and awkward English language expressions and idioms, and while that might not sound bad on paper... localizing the dialogue IS the idea, after all... These phrases rarely ever fit well in context, often softening the impact of an important line, or betraying the intent completely. There are a lot of examples of this in the Future Diary dub, but I'm going to give two highly noticeable examples. First, Yuuno is constantly calling Yukitero “Yuki-chan” in the sub, and Tatum decided to replace this with a string of cringey pet names that make the Hearts and Hooves Day episode of My Little Pony an easy watch in comparison. Yeah, nobody liked hearing “Yuki-chan” over and over again, but after a few repetitions of “Pookie” and “Sugar bear,” you’ll be begging to go back to Yuki-chan. The other example is a scene where Yuuno is talking to another character, and she says the line “I trust you about as far as I can pummel you.” I’m not gonna lie, my first time through the series, I had to listen to that line read about a dozen times to make sure I heard it correctly. It’s one of those magical lines that makes less sense the more you try to figure it out. All I can figure is that Tatum wanted to use the common American phrase “I trust you about as far as I could throw you,” but then he thought “Nah, that doesn’t sound violent enough for her... Oh wait! What about pummel instead? Aren’t I fucking clever?” As for the casting, it’s mostly solid. Josh Grelle plays a lot of very similar anime protagonists, usually weak-willed everyman characters who get dragged into larger than life situations, he knows his shit and can probably play a role like this in his sleep. Todd Haberkorn is suave and inquisitive as the less creepy of two queer characters. Emily Neves almost never disappoints in any role she’s given, so of course she does an exceptional job as the ninth diary user. The rest of the cast is filled out equally well with Funimation regulars, except for one role I can’t get behind... As much as I enjoy hearing her in most anime, Brina Palencia was not the right choice for Yuuno. That’s not to say there was anything wrong with her acting, oh no, she hits every note perfectly, the problem is that the character is just outside of her vocal range, and the way she pitches up her voice for the role just never sounds natural. I personally think Tia Ballard, Stephanie Sheh or Brittney Karbowski would have been better choices. But yeah, between Tatum’s writing and the overall performance of Yuuno, I do think the sub is the better option here. So because I said earlier that Asread’s resume was not promising, you’re probably wondering if Future Diary is just more of the same. Well, for most people, the answer to that question would be yes, but I am not most people, and I’m no stranger to having controversial opinions. I’ve changed a lot through the time I’ve spent writing these reviews. I can remember a time during the early days, back in my ‘why is my blog such a pathetic failure’ days, when I genuinely believed that there was such thing as objectively good media and objectively bad media, and I wound up writing some less than positive reviews of shows I genuinely loved and enjoyed, all because I couldn’t manage to find a compromise between my personal taste and my professional taste. I would review an anime that was an important part of my life, and I would wind up giving it a lower score than I wanted to, because it had committed some unholy literary sins that I felt obligated to hold against it. Well you know what? Fuck that shit. I hate those old reviews, and I’m not making that mistake again. When it comes to Future Diary in particular, there are three sides to the story that we need to examine. There’s the concept, the writing, and the execution. Starting with the concept, this series is based on a fairly standard idea, and it happens to be one I’m quite fond of. You have a baker's dozen highly unique and distinct characters all battling it out right in the gorram street to try and eliminate each other, while affecting the world around them in various intentional and unintentional ways through the pure chaos of their conflict. I’ve always enjoyed stories like these, even when they aren’t killing each other. Give me a cross country street race movie like Rat Race or Cannonball Run and I’m a happy Kyuubey. I love the variety of set pieces, I love the different dynamics and interactions, I just love this shit in general. Not all of these stories necessarily have to have main characters, but this one does, and unfortunately, this is where the problems begin. For most people, anyway. From what I understand, people seem to really despise Yuuno and Yuki. Not gonna lie, they’re both pretty shitty people, and they’re not well written either. There is a fanbase for yandere type characters, and Yuuno is obviously going to appeal to them, but general audiences seem to find her annoying and morally repulsive, and it is eventually revealed that there are some potentially problematic elements in her backstory... And Yukiteru is known as a selfish coward who constantly flip-flops between being in love with Yuuno, being terrified of her, despising her, using her out of necessity, and then loving her again, and the only thing consistent about any of it is that his feelings for her change depending solely on the plot. Put simply, the dynamic between these two characters does not make any logical sense, and while I personally don’t hate either character as individuals... Their moral issues are justified by the circumstances of the story, in my opinion... They are probably one of the worst couples in anime history. But you know, it’s not just the two of them that are badly written. There is a ton of material in this show that doesn’t make any sense, from the larger overarching plot points and reveals, to even the smallest little plot beats of a given episode, but here is where we need to have another important discussion that I’ve been holding onto for a while. The more you’re enjoying a story, and the more you’re engaged and invested in what you’re watching, the less it’s going to bother you when something doesn’t add up. For example, I’m probably the only person alive who hates The Nightmare Before Christmas. So I’m probably the only person who noticed how sus it was that even though Jack told the trick or treaters not to bring Santa to Oogey Boogie’s, that’s the first place he went after deciding to go retrieve Santa. So, either he knew where they were going to take him but said not to because he wanted to have Santa killed without getting his hands dirty, or, shitty writing. For most people, because you love and enjoy the movie, you’ll never notice this, and if I point it out, you’ll get defensive and attack me for taking a movie way too seriously. You won’t notice the fact that Sally’s prophetic vision comes right out of nowhere with no explanation, only to wind up having no effect on the story. Hell, you won’t notice that Sally herself has no effect on the story, as aside from her kiss with Jack at the end(which also comes out of nowhere, as he showed no interest in her up until that point) she does nothing important to the plot that’s actually successful. None of that matters to you, because you’re too entranced by the movie to give a fuck. And there’s nothing wrong with that, media is supposed to get you too invested in the story to question it, otherwise we’d all be cynical fucks like Cinemasins and nobody would enjoy their stories ever again. How does this apply to Future Diary? Well, for one example, let’s look at the Yuuno and Yuki vs. Sixth story arc. There’s a moment where Sixth arranges to have his diary shipped to the house from a convenience store he’d recently visited. When it arrives, Yuki snatches it from him and opens it, but he opens it from the wrong side, activating a booby trap that immediately spreads a toxic gas throughout the house, which Sixth has the antidote to. There is not a single word in that sentence that makes any fucking sense whatsoever. None of that should have worked, and yet, the battle of wits between these three diary users is so suspenseful and intense and well paced and fun that I don’t care, I’m still not being taken out of the story by any of this. This entire arc is basically Home Alone, but with Kevin as the invader, and who wouldn’t enjoy that shit? Hell, Home Alone didn’t make any sense either if you thought about it too hard! This is why I wanted to talk about the relationship between writing and execution, because they’re related to each other, but they’re also distinctly different from each other. Obviously it’s possible for the two to work together in harmony, and that is the preferable outcome by far, but it’s also entirely possible for one to actually pick up the slack of the other. Future Diary is not a well written series, from any angle, but the execution is fucking amazing, and I will die on that hill. I would even go as far as to say that it wouldn’t make sense for this show to make sense. Character inconsistencies are everywhere, but they work with the flow of the story. There are twists and reveals that seem immediately questionable, but the way they’re revealed is so perfect that my fucking goosebumps had goosebumps. The very idea of God finding his successor by making people kill each other over his throne, by itself, sounds like a terrible way to judge somebody’s potential Godliness, but that’s the premise, and it’s still awesome. Now, I will admit, there is an element of edgelord to this series, and I can understand that might turn people off. There were a lot of edgelord anime around the late 2000s-early 2010s, probably too much if we’re being honest. This show came out in a field of dark pseudo-psychological horror gore porn that was nowhere near as mature as they thought they were, all trying way too hard to achieve relevance through shock humor and puddle depth attempts at nihilism, using the most shallow tactics to trick the audience into thinking they had some degree of poignancy. Personally, I think Future Diary may actually be one of the better titles in this field. For one thing, despite its reputation, it doesn’t overplay its hand on violence. It’s not that gory, at least not to the point of sensationalism, sticking pretty hard to a relatively tasteful amount of violence that’s used in service to the plot(although it definitely could have used less rape). Also, I don’t want to spoil the ending too hard, but as bleak and edgy as his series can get, it ends on a positive and uplifting note that doesn’t feel forced at all. After an exciting and suspenseful multi-episode conclusion, we’re shown this really clever butterfly-effect scenario that turns everything dark or pessimistic about the story on its head, and it all just feels so damned emotionally satisfying. The only time these writing deficiencies genuinely bothered me was with the character of Minene Uryu, a constant presence throughout the series, who is usually shown to be an anti-hero squirrel-befriending badass, and her role in the story should make her an easy candidate for fan favorite, but here’s the problem... In her introduction to the story, she blows up a school, killing countless children. Like a lot of fucking children. And then, just like The Queen of Fables from the new Harley Quinn cartoon, the narrative goes a long way to try and pretend that didn’t happen, or at least never mention it as a mark against her character. She has several moments throughout the series that ultimately ring hollow when you remember “Yeah, but you killed a ton of kids though.” Yeah, nice speech about losing your parents in a war, but how many parents lost their kids because of you? Oh wow, a cop who knows damn well what you did just said you'd be a good mom, that's rich. Hell, right after all those kids die, Yuki and Yuuno take a trip to the waterpark, because “They’re still rebuilding the school.” Well, also mourning the dead, but whatever. Future Diary is available in physical format from Crunchyroll, and for streaming from Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime and Hulu. The manga is currently out of print from Tokyo Pop, but can be bought for Kindle from Amazon, and a recent live action adaptation is not available stateside. If you want to see the creator of Future Diary REALLY put out a disastrous piece of shit, check out its sister anime, Big Order. Future Diary is one of those weird shows where I don’t know if I’d recommend it to anyone, but I still personally love it. I am very aware of its litany of flaws and problems, but I think it’s actually because of all that shit that this show is able to fall into a category that I like to call “Awesomely bad.” It was clearly a passion project by the people involved, and while they may or may not have been aware of its issues, they still believed in it, and put as much energy, effort and pure crackhead determination into it as they possibly could, resulting in a series that’s a blast to watch, provided you’re able to get into it in the first place. While it may fail in certain areas, it succeeds in others, with high quality production values, inspired direction, a killer first opening that goes harder than it has any business going, and a genuinely exciting sense of pacing and execution. It’s not for everybody, but it’s definitely for me, and I’m not sorry. I give Future Diary a 7/10.