Mirai Nikki 13 — Apathy

This is the first episode yet that I can unequivocally say I was disappointed with.

Lack of Tension

This episode was one of the most fucked up parts of the manga. Yet in the TV show, they’ve managed to turn it into a fairly generic high school detective mystery. The main tension comes from wondering if our intrepid detectives will survive the traps Yuno has set, not any concern for their actual goal.

In the manga, we knew that Yuno was torturing Yukki, chaining him to the chair and staring at him in her underwear with the skulls like we saw briefly at the end. And she did this for weeks, if I remember correctly, not the span of hours that it felt like in the anime (please correct me if I’m wrong, it’s been a few years since I read this).

This is the point in the manga where Yuno ascends to a completely new level of insanity. It made everything Yuno had done up to this point seem relatively mild by comparison. Yukki had to be rescued or he would die a terrible death. In the manga, the readers were made to care deeply about Akise’s search because Yukki needed to be saved!

Yet the anime completely skips over what happened to Yukki, aside from a few seconds at the end of the episode. It just leaves things so it seems like Yukki and Yuno went on a lovey-dovey trip to the mountains in the morning. Why should we care if Akise can find them? There’s no hurry. They think Yuno took Yukki against his will, but it’s not entirely clear why. We feel no urgency for Akise’s search.

Those Meddling Kids!

These detectives are taking stupidity to a whole new level.

So… Yukki has been kidnapped by Yuno? And they get a text from Yukki telling where he is… and immediately run there alone? Come on. It even took a while for Akise to figure it out? And somehow, his reactions (maybe it’s just the translation) don’t serve to elicit much fear:

What a deadpanned reaction.

Then there are brilliant lines like this:

Yes, abandoned buildings tend not to need water or electricity… That was probably the most emotionally delivered line of the episode, though.

Then this stupid friend is given one task by Akise: to stand outside and guard the door. So what does he do ten seconds later? He walks in and lets the door shut behind him! Come on, even idiocy has its limits!

Backgrounds

The backgrounds of the town really bothered me. Usually I don’t get caught up in small details like this, but look at this bridge:

It defies the laws of physics! (look at the cords near the center, it was more obvious before I shrunk the image)

Now look at the two walkways in this image. Something looks wrong to me. I don’t know anything about art, but I want to say something is off with the perspective projection?

I don’t know what’s going on here, but something is definitely off again. The staircase looks wrong, the way the two walls connect looks wrong… It’s like they used a 2D texture for the rocks, and put that A frame in front of it, but it doesn’t look like the stone wall itself has any depth to it.

9 thoughts on “Mirai Nikki 13 — Apathy

  1. Actually you were partially correct. At the end of the previous episode, Yuno and Yuki departed on their trip on June 19, about 5 days after the hospital incident. So the bus tour at the beginning of ep 13 and Akise knocking on Yuki’s door were on the same day. After Yuki drank the soda, the screen fades out, but immediately cut to fan-service in the hotspring resort, dated after June 28.

    A lot of people probably didn’t catch these details. The pacing and presentation of the timeline definitely left much to be desired.

    Although I think part of the blame falls on the episode constraints. The anime team decided at the beginning that episode 13 (out of 26) would be the half way point and they wanted to end with the big cliffhanger (that last 5 seconds before credit), a natural choice due to its significance like you said. Unfortunately they realized the first half would have to be expanded (24 chapters), and second half rushed (35 chapters) to even it out. Even worse, they landed on a Sunday airtime slot, and New Year day happened to be Sunday, so they have to carry the last episode of the first half to Jan 8.

    If they could tighten up some earlier parts, and squeeze in this big revelation on Dec 25 before a 2-week break it would probably have a better effect.

    1. Ah, so there actually was a timeskip. Like you said, though, they did a horrible job at communicating this.

      I hope you’re wrong that the second half will be rushed… but I think you’re probably right. This show might have been better off with three seasons, or with somehow condensing the first half.

      1. The presentation of the timeline has been very subtle so far. For comparison purpose, the corresponding manga chapter wrapped up the same way as the end of episode 12 (a frame showing those “other stuff” in her bag). The next chapter however, started with Akise inviting friends to go on a trip, and almost immediately informing others that Yuki has been missing for days.

        The split second transition from road side “doping” to hotspring scene looks like an intentional red herring added by the anime team. I say intentional because they chose to portray both events with sunset as the background, a seamless transition. I think it might be a little counterproductive. On the one hand they want to mislead viewers and increase the WTF effect at the end, but by confusing people about the timeline (most people wouldn’t bother tracking the time stamps), it risks lessening the gravity of the situation.

        1. That’s a good way to look at it, I guess it might increase the WTF factor at the end if you didn’t really know what was going on. Since I already knew what was happening I was a bit spoiled for that, but perhaps it would have worked for fresh viewers. I do hope they give more details on Yukki’s side of the story next episode.

  2. I actually quite enjoyed this episode. The highlight for me was of course the last shot of Yuno. Next to Yuno, however, Mao is now my favourite character since Tsubaki passed away. I find her dumb facial expressions priceless.

    Just take this one – http://bit.ly/yXakQY – with her being completely shocked by her love interest calling Yukiteru by his first name. Another favourite is this one – http://bit.ly/ycuQRT – with her half grumpy, half dumb face stiffly standing around listening to the policeguy’s explanations. And finally how she naively instantly believes the second cellphone message – http://bit.ly/yCOiwO – !

    1. I like Mao too— her facial expressions are pretty great. I wish they’d make better use of her though, now she’s kind of just the sidekick to the sidekick character.

      1. I always consider Mao the Yuno-lite. She possesses all the qualities that make a fine yandere: the look, the deceiving personality, the obsession for Hinata, and most importantly, a willingness to kill without remorse.

        If you remember from episode 8-9, she was the one who put a knife to Yuki’s throat, even after Yuki demonstrated he was a good person who just “saved” everyone. Next, when Akise proposed the coin-flip game, she urged Hinata just to release the dogs and kill everyone; after Hinata was willing to give up, she made an effort to stab Yuki’s cellphone.

        Also recall when they were playing in the park, with a huge grin on her face, she told Yuki something along the line of “isn’t Hinata wonderful? Don’t get any funny ideas though…” The hidden message was almost identical to Yuno’s later declaration “if [Yuki] gets along with [Hinata] too long, you might fall in love” Yanderes think alike.

        1. Yep, she is definitely a yandere. She did have some great moments too. If I remember correctly from the manga though, I don’t think she plays too big a role in the rest though. I might be wrong though, my memory is fuzzy.

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