Mirai Nikki Review

Studio: asread
Year: 2011
# of Episodes: 26
Genre: action, drama, supernatural, thriller 

Synopsis: [Anime News Network: Mirai Nikki]
"Yukiteru Amano (Yuki) is a loner who never really interact with people and prefers writing a diary on his cell phone with his only companion being an imaginary friend named Deus Ex Machina, the God of Time and Space. However, Yuki soon learns that Deus is not a figment of his imagination but real when Deus makes him a participant in a battle royale with eleven others. Within this "Diary Game", the contestants are given special diaries that can predict the future with each diary having unique features that gives them both advantages and disadvantages."

Afterthought 
The "future prediction" trope certainly isn't anything new in anime, so when I first read about Mirai Nikki my expectation wasn't all that high. I mean sure, the "battle royale" premise with a time warp twist sounded promising, but it also run the risk of being convoluted.  To my pleasant surprise, Mirai Nikki managed to avoided that downfall through an unique plot twist, complete with psychological thrills that I haven't experienced in anime since Death Note. Of course, I think Death Note is still a notch above all the rest of its genre, but Mirai Nikki with its defining character will go down in history as something special. 

I don't want to delve too deep into the plot because there is not much to say without spoilers and that would defeat the whole purpose of being thrilled. The "Future Diary" game was created to determine the successor of Deus, who was rapidly losing its (I don't want to gender stereotype, so "it" it is) power at this point in time. I guess in this world, even a god's power is finite. So these lucky contestants will attempt to kill each other until the last one remains and the said person will become to next god of time and space. Sounds straight forward, except that's not what the story is all about. In reality, if there is one (ohohoho), the game is set up to fulfill a goal, a goal that's driven by an intention that's more than meets the eye, but let's leave it at that. 

The two main characters, Yukiteru and Yuno are fascinating to watch. It's safe to say that rather than the mechanism of the game, the relationship between the two is what drives the plot and what makes this series standout. Yuno is the epitome of what's defined as a Yandere character. She's mentally unstable, destructive and extremely obsessive over the male lead Yukiteru. I usually have trouble develop any fondness for this type of character, mainly because their personal qualities are hard to relate to. I think when characters are designed for the sake of being deranged, they often lack the personality range that can be explored in more wholesome characters. That being said, I like Yuno as a character. It's not to say I find her totally attractive, it's still cringe worthy every time she utters "Yukki" with her highly irritating voice, but good attempts were made to rationalize her behavior. If anything, it kept me interested enough to find out more about her and I felt like I was given the opportunity to see the world from her perspective. The discovery was thrilling and certainly creepy at times, but ultimately the different emotional phases I went through watching the story unwrap made Yuno a memorable and believable character to me. In short, She is what makes this series shine.

As for Yukiteru, I don't have much love for him. For most of the series, he was socially awkward, pathetic, indecisive and cowardly. On one I hand, I do find his character relatable on a psychological level, especially his opportunistic mentality when he manipulated Yuno for survival, I think it reflects a natural human instinct. On the other hand, all the whining and self justification becomes obnoxious and even somewhat despicable overtime. Rationalization doesn't make him a likable character, it only makes his whining a little more bearable. But regardless of my complaint, his character really works in favor of the story.

The supporting cast pales in comparison to the two leads. Perhaps due to the nature of the plot, the side characters, which include Yukiteru's friends and the game contestants, were not particularly well developed. Case in point, save for one character who had more screen time, I can't even remember any of their names. For some characters, the attempt to justify their motivation to win the game was poor, it felt cheesy and superficial. True to every sense of the word, the supporting cast was merely supporting, they exist for the sole purpose of facilitating the Yukki-Yuno relationship while keep the game going. 

That concludes my thought on the series. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It did was it was created to do, which is to thrill. No grand moral message or inspiring dialogue was needed, Yuno was the only truth.

Rating

Story: 8.5/10

Character: 7/10

Animation: 8.5/10

Music: 8/10

Directing/Style: 8/10

Enjoyment: 8/10

Overall: 8/10