Yukkiteru is thrown into the middle of a deathmatch between people with cell phones who can predict the future, where the winner will become the new god. Yukkiteru is nearly killed, but is saved by Yuno, a girl who claims to love him but is obsessive. Will Yukkiteru become a god, or will Yuno kill him first?
I love the manga this show is based on, so it came highly anticipated. Now, this show is not exactly consistent or logical, but I’m willing to set aside my disbelief.
Mirai Nikki was enjoyable overall, but not quite as strong as it could have been. The first two thirds of the show seemed to alternate between good and terrible episodes. In particular, some of the episodes devoted to side characters (especially the kid and the dog guy) were just plain bad. The main character can be whiny and annoying at first as well.
One thing I especially disliked was that they turned the relationship between Ninth and the cop into a joke. That was pretty much my favorite part of the manga! Now, the jokes were funny, don’t get me wrong. But I’d prefer if they’d taken that part seriously.
But the one thing the manga (and the show) is good at is keeping things entertaining. The story is filled with ridiculous twists and turns, and will keep you watching. Yuno is also an excellent character: gentle and loving one moment, then strapping you to a chair naked across from a pile of skulls for two weeks the next. It’s a show worth watching, despite its faults.
- Storytelling – B – A good story, but not the best told; very inconsistent presentation.
- Voice – B – Great use of Yuno’s eyes.
- Characters – B – Yuno is great, the rest not so much. Yukkiteru and his school friends are especially lame.
- Attention Grab – A – Always leaves you second guessing what will happen next and keeps you glued to the screen.
- Production – B – Decent, although I didn’t like the orangish and dark color schemes.
- Overall – B
Recommendations – Steins; Gate, Higurashi
B all around! I can live with that grade score so good work!
I first fell in love with Mirai Nikki through manga form right up to the “dog” arc with those freaky looking animals, but after I heard about the TV series I stopped reading and went for the anime! So I had a good idea about some of the episodes. That is until they got past that point it was all brand new! Sadly I think they dragged that series on way to long…honestly there were plenty of dull episodes and cliffhangers all over the place.
Yuno is still one of the best characters of the series at the start when she is in I GOTTA KILL EVERYONE! Phase aka “protecting Mr. Yuki” mode, but at the end she got a bit annoying personally. Then again she was the whole reason I kept watching so go Yuno!
Now we wait for specials and OVAs right? I have a feeling they will become more jokes than anything.
The dog arc was pretty much the worst part of the manga. Although it really picked again after that.
And I agree, Yuno is awesome. I think the OVA will have to have the hammer scene, but I can’t imagine that taking too long. Otherwise I have nothing against jokes.
The best part of the show was Yuno’s crazy faces .. the first time she appeared in front of yukki’s doorstep i nearly pissed myself. None of the higurashi characters could even hold a candle to her. Still though for all her awesomeness i dont think i’d want her as my girlfriend.
Hell yeah! Yuno’s faces were amazing, but the best face and line go to her “good night, Yuki” quote ahahah good stuff.
Good point, Yuno’s voice acting was superb. I especially liked her wail when Yukki left her after she tied him up: http://blog.draggle.org/mirai-nikki-14-i-used-to-be-a-worthless-side-character-then-i-took-an-arrow-to-the-knee/
Yeah, her crazy face definitely has the Higurashi characters beat. I think in terms of atmosphere, though, Higurashi wins.
At first I wasn’t sure if I should follow this show at all as I don’t like artificial “game settings” very much (the same applies for Deadman Wonderland) and as the animation was quite crappy at times.
I continued watching mainly for Yuno, one of the most charismatic anime characters of late. After a while this show really grew on me b/c it had so many quirky characters (not the kid, the dog owner and the mayor, though), some very fast-paced episodes, nice drama inbetween and a decent amount of violence.
With the town mayor’s arc I started to become a bit lost, though, as too many questions about the plot piled up and the pace became slower. Neither Eleventh, nor Eighth or Murmur were the formidable foes I expected them to be. I was also a bit disppointed about Yuno’s “terrible secret”. I also came to dislike Yukki as he started to kill his friends w/o second thoughts and w/o being a psycopath – even Luscinia is more sympathetic than him! Nevertheless, there were still lots of excellent scenes, e.g. Eleventh’ demise.
All in all this was quite an entertaining series for me. Thanks for blogging it, draggle, and for your plot explanations!
I don’t like the artificial game setup much either. But this show manages to use it well.
I pretty much agree with all your other criticisms as well (except that I wasn’t lose since I already knew what was going on from the manga).
Thanks again for all your comments!
Mirai Nikki is by no means perfect, but I really enjoyed the unpredictability of the series. I always looked forward to seeing what Yuno would do every week and was never disappointed with her actions. The animation quality could have been better though, a few scenes looked like they were drawn by an amateur.
Yeah, the best part is Yuno and how you can’t figure out what she’s going to do next. I’m not one to pay too much attention to the animation itself, but I think I know what you mean.
One more physiological masterpiece since Death Note.