Thursday, December 11, 2014

Review: Future Diary Anime Series

 Review by Ninthgate_Show

So you're an antisocial, nonathletic, Japanese wallflower with really no ambition besides writing inconsequential sightings in your cell phone diary. No? Well, if you were, you would likely be Yukiteru Amano, the main protagonist in the anime Future Diary/ Mirai Nikki, one of most intense and disturbing sci-fi series in the last couple years.


Yuki describes himself as a bystander, even to his own life. His entries into his cell phone are simple observations of the world around him without any opinion or expression. His only escape is a parallel universe and home of his rightly-named pal, Dues Ex Machina, the lord of space and time. During one escape from reality, a busy Dues Ex Machina asks Yuki what would he do if he could see the future – would you reinvent yourself?

What transpires is a game of death with the lone survivor becoming the heir of Dues' throne and power over the universe, but in Fight Club-esque fashion, Future Diary quickly transcends beyond a simple action anime and becomes something sicker and more twisted, leaving the death game to be really nothing more than a plot device and a backdrop.

What Future Diary does excellently is, that while maintaining itself heavily rooted in reality, it introduces a drop of extreme science-fiction into the mix, shocks you, and allows you to accept it before bringing another piece in. Eventually, you find yourself surrounded by the most insane and otherworldly situations, wondering how you could have been lead down the rabbit hole so far, but by then, it's far too late. Now, the whole universe, time and space, weighs in the balance and it's up to Yuki to become the new lord of all things material and immaterial.

But what can one loser teenager do against nine other contestants? He can't possibly win, but luckily for him, he's not alone. One of the contestants, Yuno Gasai, is one of his fellow classmates, and she vows to make sure he sees it through to the end because she is completely and utter in love with him, and has been ever since she's been taking closer-than-normal tabs on him all throughout the school year.

Yuno Gasai makes this anime worth the watch on her character alone. She takes this action-packed battle royale series and makes it all about her. She is by far the most interesting thing going on, and the secrets that hide behind her innocent, cute, smile is far more intriguing and tantalizing to uncover than even how Yuki could ever have fast lane to the front desk of the lord of space and time. That alone speaks volume on her character, and when tropes are realized in future series, Yuno Gasai can be penned as it's inventor and innovator.

Soaking with blood, gore, sex, and psychotic elements, Future Diary cannot be recommended for everyone. Adults looking to always be guessing with something a bit strange and off-beat will find Future Diary nothing short of an emotional adventure of the mind and spirit, questioning your own morality when introduced to a world with virtually no consequences.

Does Yuki and Yuno make it to the end? You'll have to start the adventure yourself, but remember, there can only be one sole survivor...

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