Weekly Episode Review: Mirai Nikki (Anime Series - 1st to 19th episode)

Mirai Nikki (or otherwise known as Future Diary) is the story of one Yukkiteru Yamano. Due to him being anti-social at school, he would imagine himself in a world where he would meet up with a god named Deux Ex Machina. One day, his cell phone became a diary that would foresee the future. He thought it was a nice gift to have, but it comes with a price. There are 11 other diary users out there and each of them must compete to kill each other until one stays standing. The winner will become the new God of time and space. 

The story so far:
For Yukkiteru, it has been so hard for him to survive knowing that he is a guy who is very anti-social. When he received the diary, other diary users were on his tail. Knowing that he was diary user #1, all users are on his tail. That is if they can get through Yuno Gasai who also has a diary too. Yukki (as what Yuno would call him) has always been trusting on Yuno to protect him and keep him alive in the game. Yuno, being a Yandere and all, would do anything to keep Yukki alive, even if it means killing people around Yukki! Currently, these diary users have died and lost the game…..(LOL)
#3: Takao Hiyama (Died first after Yukki and Yuno planned to kill him)
#12: Yomotsu Hirasaka (Died by axe from Yuno)
#6: Tsubaki Katsugano (Died from Yukki destroying her diary)
#5: Reisuke Houjou (Died after Yuno stabbed her)
#10: Karyuudo Tsukishima (Died by #4)
#4: Keigo Kurusu (Died by suicide)
#7: Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami (Died after a hard fight with Yukki and Yuno)
Now there are 5 users left in the game. The end is coming soon for each of them as well as Deux. Who will reign as God, and who will have a DEAD END?
In the last episode, Yukki is facing a horrible situation. First, Yukki’s dad has killed his mom Then, someone stabbed Yukki’s dad, immediately killing him. Now aggravated from his lost parents, he was furious. This is where Yukki finally showed his courage as he killed every cop around him. Yuno would help as well but Yukki would second guess her. Since she is a diary user as well, Yukki held a knife to her throat. But Yuno would help calm him down with a kiss. The two of them plan to work together to eliminate the other 5 users. From Mur Mur, this whole fiasco was 11th’s doing. And the story continues from there.

Review: Episode 19
Eleventh has been finally known thanks to Yuuki and Yuno finding out about his whereabouts. He is the mayor of the town they live in and already has plans to destroy the orphanage 8th is currently running! After all the users met with Deux, Yukki and Yuno would meet up in a cafe where they would make a plan to take down the users. With a plan already set up by Yuno, Yukki greatly agreed to it. The plan involved 8th and all of her orphans that she raised in Mother’s House. All of them, including the diary users, would ambush 11th. The plan seemed to work as they left him surrounded. But just then, he would activate his jammer which disables all cell phone devices. Now without cell phones, how can they pursue the attack?

Then out of the bloom, a shot was fired. IT WAS YUKKI FIRING AT THE ORPHANS!!!!!! A twist of fate, Yukki betrayed 8th! Instead this a plan to also kill 8th as well! All the orphans would end up dead, leaving 8th to hitch a ride with 11th. It was then a high speed chase to ending 11th’s run. They would fall out of the highway onto a road below. It seemed the end for 11th as Yuno was prepared to shoot him. 

That was until Akise and Uryuu came in to the picture. A secret was about to be told that Yuno NEVER wanted Yukki to know. To recall, Akise and his police group have found 3 bodies that were buried underneath the Gasai residence. 2 have been known to be Yuno’s parents. The other one was not known until now. With one piece of evidence (Yuno’s DNA), that made a perfect match. It was Yuno Gasai! YUNO GASAI IS ACTUALLY DEAD!!!! So who the hell is that girl next to Yukki!?!??! Then the ending came up….

Once again, another cliffhanger has come upon us and we have to wait yet another week to see what happens next. But let’s see what happened in this episode. And I have to say this episode finally is making the show run like I thought it would. First off is Yukkiteru. Ever since we have seen him in the beginning of the show, he was such a weakling that I really didn’t like watching the lead anymore, which almost made me lost interest in this show. And I think that’s what got people dropping this show too. But this episode finally is getting where it wants to go. Yukki has nothing to worry about anymore. He knows his parents are dead and all he wants to do is get them back to life. The only way is to win the game and become god. When he turned badass the last episode, he did not lose his rep. He came into this episode a courageous dude who is not worried at all anymore about the game. His confidence has gotten up and has become more of the guy we like to see in a leading role for an anime show. Today’s episode has given him a good start. He betrayed 8th and the orphans and killed all the orphans, something we definitely didn’t expect him to do at all. Not only that, but I like the commitment that he has to get a task done. Even if his plan had led 8th and 11th to escape, he still didn’t want to give up on the opportunity to make the game less hard. His commitment to getting things done was just amazing and it really blew my mind that he’s now like this. He’s not the shy person we have always seen. He’s using his own skills instead of getting Yuno out of situations. He just turned awesome. A great change of character can help lead this show into an incredible ending. 

Another big thing about this episode is the fact about Yuno Gasai. Now that everyone knows the real Yuno Gasai is dead, that “imposter” has gotten herself into deep water here. Yukki may not trust her anymore after hearing this. And with what Yukki’s acting like right now, I don’t think she needs her anymore. We will know what everyone will think about her now after the next episode. But what I can see here is that the couple has broke up for good. Yukki can handle himself now. KILL THAT YANDERE! (But seriously,don’t. she’s like my favorite character in the show)

Overall its a great episode to see. Everyone has definitely changed, especially with the lead character and it makes the show more appealing now that the lead is turning more into a great lead than a lame one. Hopefully, Yukki will be courageous enough to make a great ending to a show that has its ups and downs on its run. And I wonder how everyone will treat Yuno after this (or as who we thought was Yuno). A lot of things to expect in the next episode of Mirai Nikki. 

Episode Rating: 8.5/10

Click here for screencaps from this episode.

- Tomoya

February 25th, 2012 1 note #tomoya #mirai nikki #mirai nikki review #review #reviews #weekly episode review #weekly review #episode review