This was one of the most underwhelming arcs in the manga, and the anime continued that trend. Continue reading Mirai Nikki 07 — Little Brat →

Yuno pays a visit to Yuki’s house to meet his parents. By breaking and entering. Unfortunately for Yukiterru, his mom and Yuno get along quite well. Continue reading Mirai Nikki 06 — Special Delivery →

I feel like I never have anything to say about this show except “Crazy people! This is awesome!”.

Twelfth — Last and Least

Not all diary holders are made equal. And Twelth is certainly among that group.

Come on. I mean, he wears a paper bag over his head and plays at being a power ranger? The ‘Diary of Righteousness’? At least he didn’t last long.

One thing I do like about this show is how most of the characters don’t actually want to win the game and become God. They just keep doing what they would have done anyway, but with supernatural aid. Twelve fits in this pattern, along with Yuno, Yukkiteru, and Fourth.

Goodbye Sixth

She wasn’t here for long, and she won’t be missed much, but Sixth was decent while she lasted. The whole backstory with the ball and her tragic past were yawn inducing, but bearable. I did like the twist they pulled with her at the end though. It’s pretty similar to Yuno, except they didn’t give any hint of her true leanings until it was too late.

It was a bit unbelievable (ok, completely unbelievable), but who cares? Mirai Nikki’s appeal does not include logic.

Still, Sixth did fulfill a useful purpose: to make Yukkiteru trust Yuno again. Sixth appeared much more innocent than Yuno, but ended up being equally deranged. Yuno, at least, is crazy about protecting Yukki, albeit in her own messed up way. I can only imagine that by the end of the game Yukkiteru will have developed some profound gynophobia.

Also, I love a jealous Yuno. That scene where Sixth was dragged into the wall was much more funny than it should have been. Not to mention Yukkiteru getting dragged in opposite directions by the two girls. What a player!

Yukkiteru also is starting to become less of a sniveling coward. Ok, well he’s still sniveling, but he’s doing it while he’s running to save Yuno, not when he’s running in the opposite direction.

Ninth and Fourth

(Spoiler Alert) This is something I don’t entirely understand myself. Pairing up ninth and fourth makes absolutely no sense.  One is a cop and the other is a terrorist. But it works so well. Honestly, they are my favorite couple in the series, above even Yuno and Yukki.

Opposites attract, I suppose. But I think part of it is that there’s just so much tension undergirding their relationship. Star-crossed lovers and all that.

Dismemberment and Rape

These sure are popular topics lately. Not that I’m complaining. I love crazy people. With Mirai Nikki, C^3, and Penguindrum, this has been a pretty good season for insanity. And for dismembered limbs.

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Ahahaha this episode was awesome! Definitely my favorite so far.

Yuno!

This episode did a great job at capturing what I loved about the manga. First off is Yuno.

I love the scene where Yukiteru gets picked up at his house. He just spent the past night with nightmares of Yuno clawing at his door after he saw the dead bodies at her house. And when he’s about to tell the police officer what he saw:

It’s a great mismatch between what Yuno’s saying and what she’s actually saying.

Then later on, we learn that she’s actually thinking of murdering other girls who get too close to Yuki:

I love the language in the diary. “I have to protect Yukki.” “I have to kill that bitch.” These are one and the same for Yuno. And some of the language makes it clear that, despite everything, Yuno is a high school girl. The phrases “What a horrible bitch!”, “talking crap about me”, and “It’s all her fault.” in particular come to mind.

It’s the contrast which makes me love Yuno’s character so much. Half the time she’s a sweet and innocent lovelorn high school girl, and half the time she’s a deranged serial killer. And as we see, there really isn’t much of a contradiction between the two.

So it leaves us and Yukiteru on our feet, wondering: what’s Yuno going to do next? Will she save Yukiteru, or will she murder him? Both seem equally likely. The scene at the end of the episode made this clear:

I wonder what it says about human psychology that the scariest thing about Yuno is her smile.

Everything Else!

Another thing I loved about this particular episode (and Mirai Nikki in general) is the sheer level of insanity they take things to. We have a massive brainwashed cult. The massive brainwashed cult gets hypnotized. The oracle and Yuno play tug of war over Yuki, a game which may turn deadly. The followers turn into zombies, which Yuno nonchalantly begins to chop up with her axe.

At the same time, we have Nine chained up in the basement for some good fanservice, while another crazy person dresses up as a hero. It’s ever so much fun!

Here’s another bag over the head, which I mentioned a few days ago while talking abut UN-GO. Where does this come from? This particular design reminds me of the teru teru bozu used to bring good weather.

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This is more like it. We took a step back, slowed down and fleshed out both Yukiteru and Yuno some more.

A Date

I liked how the creators used the trip to the amusement park. They took time to slow down and flesh out the two leads. Here are some things we learned about them:

• Yukiteru isn’t quite as innocent as he appears. In his monologue at the beginning, while waiting for Yuno to come back with ice cream, he imagines all the people on the ride falling to the ground and going “splat.”
• He is pretty cowardly though. Afraid of roller coasters and haunted houses. He’s even afraid to go out with his swimsuit on.
• But he does have a sense of adventure. When Four says that he has a mission for them, Yuki says “A mission?! Cool!” enthusiastically. Of course his excitement wears thins when he discovers what the mission is, and gets dragged around unwillingly by Yuno, but still…
• His inexperience dealing with people leaves him quite awkward, for example when he told Yuno in the pool “lots of people pee in places like this!”
• We already knew this, but Yuno is trying to seduce him quite actively. Losing her swimsuit, clinging to him in the haunted house, and more.

We also have some idea of why Yuno is interested in Yukiteru (although as Yuno says, this isn’t the whole story). I can’t believe Yukiteru actually agreed to marry her though. Bad decision.

Into the Closet

This was where the shit really hit the fan in the manga too, and the animated version didn’t disappoint. We spent half the episode making Yuno appear all innocent and girly, so when Yuki opens the closet it’s even more shocking. The chase back home is exhilarating, and it looks like he’s lost Yuno. But when that mail slot opens… that was well done, I jumped even though I knew it was coming.

Minene’s Troubles

Again, this was pretty creepy. The eyeball was gross, even though fortunately they didn’t show the worst part. I never want to get a dart thrown in my eye.  Or have my eyeballs removed from their sockets.

The way they revealed Minene’s drug induced state was nice as well. 1, 2, 3 and a snap of the fingers, and her cellphone transforms into a piece of wood.

Anyway, this episode did well at building up the atmosphere: the more innocent scenes at the amusement park, although with an undercurrent of something being horribly wrong, juxtaposed with sheer terror.

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