Yukiteru Amano is a second year middle school student who has trouble making friends and is considered a social outcast. He writes down everything he sees around him in his cell phone diary. Yukiteru then receives a special power from Deus Ex Machina (Lord of Time and Space) which allows his cell phone diary to report events that will happen in the near future. Yukiteru is then forced in to a game in which the winner will become Deus' successor. In order to win, Yukiteru must kill off the other people who have a "Mirai Nikki" (Future Diary) and be the sole survivor.
I have been a fan of Mirai Nikki since it first came out as a manga. At the beginning of each month, after finally getting hold of a chapter of Mirai Nikki and reading through it, you get to the end of the chapter at a major cliffhanger and go through withdrawal symptoms of having to wait another whole month to get your Mirai Nikki fix. Mirai Nikki is one of Japan's most underrated manga and now that it's an anime, does it still live up to the hype?
The answer is yes. Yes, it does. Sakae Esuno's art translates well in to an anime setting. The amount of gore and blood still remains the same and nothing seems to be different from the manga source.
Plot: The plot is very interesting as it draws in new viewers. So far there are no visible differences between the manga source and the anime. In the beginning we are introduced to Yuno Gasai, who seems like a cute anime waifu on the surface but has a violent urge to kill everybody underneath. Yuno has a crush on Yukiteru and she would kill anybody who would harm him. She would die for him, if necessary. Yuno is our casual girl stalker. Honestly, who wouldn't love to have a cute girl stalking them? What is found out later is that Yuno also possesses a Mirai Nikki and is part of the game to become Deus' successor. This creates an interesting plot development, and asks the question: What should happen if Yuno and Yukiteru are the last two remaining people in the game?
Characters: Yukiteru is relate-able to everyone and readers/watchers of both the anime and manga will sympathize with him. Character development flows smoothly in Mirai Nikki. The Yuno/Yukiteru pairing makes a good base for the story and pushes the story along quickly. Two characters who are exact opposites of each other actually make a good pairing. I guess opposites really do attract...
Art and Animation: Not for the faint of heart. The anime does contain scenes of blood and gore. But overall the animation translates well from the manga to the anime.
Music: The music for Mirai Nikki suits its suspenseful, psychological theme. The opening and endings contain hidden easter eggs which people who read the manga would be able to identify.
Overall: If you looking for a new fix for suspense horror and action, Mirai Nikki is the answer. Definitely check it out! Funimation has also acquired the rights to it, so if you don't like Japanese with subs, you can wait a couple of months for the English dub to be out.
If only I had a Mirai Nikki, man the things I would do with it...
