Re: Mirai Nikki Anime Review (edited and finished)

Now before I start I have to warn you that this anime has now become one of my favorite anime series in existence. So as I will try to keep it as objective as I can, but in all likely-hood this review could be summed up in one line; OMG GUYSH GO WAHTCH THIS ANIME! !!! !! !111!111 ! AMAZING IT"S SO GOOOOOOODDDDD 



For those of you who don't know what you're getting into, this is not a happy anime. The characters don't walk on streets of rainbows, nor do they live in a world seemingly without rape, murder, torture, or any other crime. This is the world of Mirai Nikki, a world of mindf****, higurashi level characters, and  one of the best, and most strange romances that I've seen in recent years. So there; I warned you. However this is an awesome anime, so I urge you to check it out, after following and liking this review of course.

 What is Mirai Nikki? Hmmmm...Battle Royale with cell phones. Alright! We're done here, moving on! No, in all seriousness, it's a survival game anime that revolves around cell phones. You have Shin- I mean Amano Yukiterru, a sad shut-in that the otaku inside all of us can relate to. He likes to keep a diary on his cell phone detailing every little thing around him. He has no friends, and spends all of his time writing diaries and speaking with imaginary friends. Yes, he is basically a complete and utter loser.  One day while talking to said imaginary friend, he gets entered into a survival game. The object of the game is to kill all of the other players in the game in order to become the god of time and space. Here's the twist, each person has a diary that can tell the user the future. Each diary is tailored for a certain purpose. One diary can give a series of escape routes, while another can tell the user exactly how to corner a victim in order to commit murder. Un/fortunetly for Yuuki, he gets his very own over-attached girlfriend, and so it begins.

Animation- The first thing you'll notice when coming into this anime is the crisp animation. It's really good animation, though a bit understated. Is it Attack on Titan level animation, flashing its massive budget in your face every chance it gets? Does it make you have eyegasms, like a starry eyed fan-girl in a Doctor Who store? Am I asking too many questions? No. Is it still good animation? Yes. Very much so. Animation does pick up when it needs to into said eyegasm levels when it needs to, making a clear distinction from the rest of the anime. This is especially true for the characters, which are a standout in the series. Each character looks unique and at the same time appealing. Not in a sexual way, more from a artist's standpoint. This style of animation is most apprarent with the eyes, which allow the characters to tap into their own higurashi faces. As for action...well it's sorta non-existent. Okay well that's a bit of an exaggeration, but there is not a lot of action in this series. Instead we get a series of mind games, where it's more about your intelligence and wit, and less about how constipated you can get while transforming into Jesus Yamato Saiyan 9000+ Uzumaki Shonnnen Jr. This is certainly one of the highlights of the series.

Plot-- Hmm well the plot. It kind of doesn't have one. The anime focuses more on characters and less on plot. Depending on your point of view this could be a good or bad thing. However I would argue that it is a good thing seeing as how the characters are the best part of the series. Eventually the series comes into a final plot arc, and it is in fact really good, but until then, it really is a series of monter-of-the-week style mind games. I guess something to be said about the plot is that it's unpredictable. Take the plot of something like Naruto, which is like the streets of New York. From one end, with enough foresight, you can see fairly far ahead. Everything is straightforward and organized. Mirai Nikki, on the other hand is like Boston. Screw organization, it goes where it wants. Nothing is straightforward, or black and white. While the anime is often dark and gritty to the point of being heavy enough to sink the titanic, it can also be lighthearted. Now normally i would tear into this, accusing it of ruining mood and atmosphere a la Freezing, but it doesn't. The anime smoothly transitions right back into the action without a hitch. For some reason people put up a bunch of clips on YouTube, so I can actually support this with evidence. 

Sound- Hmmm, you know a pictures worth a thousand words, but I can't really show you a picture and expect you to get how amazing the soundtrack is, so I'll just show you.

The ending theme and openings are amazing, aside from the fact that there are some really screwed up pronunciations of English words in the second opening. The OST never fail to set the mood. In fact some times they can be good to a fault, meaning that I would give more attention to the OST than the anime itself. Voice acting is fantastic across the board for the Japanese sub. Yes, Yukii is voiced by a girl, but she still plays him very, very, very well. More than anything each and every actor is emotional. There are none that I can think of that are cheesy, unless deliberately meant to be. As for Sub vs Dub, I'm sorry Dub fans, but sub wins this one. In dub voices are too old for their characters, and they screwed up Akise, one of the best characters in the series. Oh, and they're missing Yuno, who sounds both cute, ditzy and terrifying all at once. 


Characters-- The characters are the best and worst parts of the series, why? Hmm I'll get to that. How to describe the characters, hmm. Got it. Take the cast of Higurashi and then just give them cell phones that can tell the future. Oh and throw Shinji in too. In all seriousness, this anime has some of the best character designs of any anime in recent memory. Each and every character is filled out. They are not the card-board cut out, mass produced, mustache twirling bond villain we have been so used to seeing as of late. They all have their motivations, with each one being more interesting that the last. No character is boring, and most are actually likeable in some way or another. This is not like Fate Zero, where the protagonist is obscured, and the victor is not clear from the outset. We all know who is going to win, it's obvious from the start. At the same time, I did not favor a particular character over the other. Most of them have very good and interesting motivations for doing what they do. Even the most despicable character has a reasonable motivation for wanting to win the game. Now I said that they are also the worst part of the series, this is true. You see the rest of the series is so good that this is truly one of my only gripes with the anime. Characters can be inconsistent, and sometimes completely defy themselves to further the plot.

Yuuki-- yes, i feel the need to dedicate an entire paragraph explaining exactly why Yukii is a good character. Why? Well, the amount of hate surrounding him is as much as Makoto, Shinji, and Relena Peacecraft combined so... I personally think that he is one of the best characters in an anime. The difference between him and all of the other characters above is development. He gets it. Lots of it in fact. By the end of the series, he is a completely different person. I mean in the beginning he might as well be Shinji Ikari for all the good it does him. To be honest, I hated him from the start. At the same time, he was one of those realistic characters that you know is going to get development so i stuck with him. The actual development doesn't truly start until a good ways in, but he does have flashes of badassery where he taps into his inner Neo. So he's not Shinji, he's way better. He has fantastic character development, and becomes not only a bad-ass in actions but also in words and ideals. Okay were done here.

Yuno-- Without a doubt the best character of the show. She is not a yandere, she is the Yandere. Yuno is a psychotic girl, with a personality disorder as fractured as a house of mirrors and a dude with really bad luck, and mood swings that are so frequent, they're might as well have been a strobe light labeled Emotions, and a five years old with too much energy behind it. She is fascinating, and makes up most of the intrigue throughout the anime. She is always unpredictable, up until the very last episodes of the anime.


Romance-- Well the romance in this anime is...interesting. at first I really wasn't sure if i actually liked the pairing. Why? Well as much as i like crazy psychotic girls with bizarre hair colors, considering my time spent with Elfen Lied, and Higurashi, this was sort of weird. No, that's not doing it justice, it was freaking messed up. Yes, it was cool to see Yuno go super-saiyan whenever Yukii so much as bats an eyelash at her.

At the same time, for the first half of the series the Romance is one sided. More than that it isn't really cute. Yuuki is really just using her as a tool to survive, and she is content with being that tool. Therefore, throughout most of the series i was more off-put by the romance rather than being enticed  by it.  That is not to say that the romance in the series is bad, in fact entirely the opposite. If you haven't noticed, I am someone who very much likes the romance genre. I have seen a lot of them, believe me. So trust me when I say that this is one of the best romance anime on the market. Is it as cute as something like Familiar of Zero? No. Even the cute parts of the romance are tainted by darkness.  I can't say more, but this anime has brought me to tears on multiple occasions. 

This paragraph may contain spoilers, read at your own risk!
Okay, so the elephant in the room is ready to trample my credibility as a reviewer, so i have to address it. The ending to this anime is sort of off. It's like the author wanted the anime to be emotional, without sacrificing the happy ending that we all want. Now this taps into what I said in my Oreimo review. The author is trying to be middle of the road, not wanting to pick sides in the matter. Now here's where I abandon all objectiveness and jump into my personal pod of praise. I loved the ending, the emotional part brought tears to my eyes, without sacrificing the happy ending I've come to know and love in romance anime. Dammit, even thinking about it is starting to make me tear up. Call me sappy, but the truth is the truth. I would rather have a poorly done happy ending, then a really well done sad ending. This is not a bad thing, it just shows how much I became attached to the characters. Oreimo's ending was made everything feel pointless, not only that but it was not happy for anyone. Now I just have to seal all of the anger and rage that is re-opening because of Oreimo, and re-focus on this. 


So, there you have it. If i used a rating system, I would give this a ten out of ten. The anime is complex, it isn't a freaking harem, it has one of the best and most unique romances out there, a fantastic soundtrack, and some of the best characters in anime. Now excuse me, while I go weep over the fact that i have no more Mirai Nikki to watch. As always, a like, and a follow are always appreciated. If you liked this review, feel free to share it with someone else. 


Author's note---- Yes this is a republication of an unfinished review that I have been working on since roughly the beginning of time(give or take a few years) Whenever I have a vacation, I always think "WOW IMMA HAVE SO MUCH TIME TO WORK ON MY BLOG! YAY!" What actually happens is another story. So there it is, sorry for the massive delay.