Mirai Nikki: Consistency versus Fanservice and Gore
La version française du post se trouve ici.
I decided to give Mirai Nikki (also known as Future Diary) a second chance.
The first time I tried it, my expectations were rather high: everywhere I looked, people were praising it for its qualities as a supernatural psychological thriller. I happen to be a fan of "deadly game" plots, and the idea of diaries that can predict the future held a lot of promise for strategic battles. I also heard a lot of good things about Yuno, the disturbing psychotic cute girl who pretty much codifies the Yandere trope; it got me curious.
What I was expecting: a relatable main character, suspense, creative use of foresight, morality issues and, above all, a believable, heavy take on human psychology. Save for a few clever tricks with the future diaries, I was disappointed on all accounts.
I gave up on the manga on chapter 4, when a Diary Holder pulled a motorbike out of her ass (literally) to get away. A scene like this kills all manner of suspense, folks: from then on I knew that whenever this character would be in a tight spot, I would wonder: "Why don't you just use the motorbike again?"
The second time I read it was for a much stupider reason: I had completed the game The World Ends With You and was browsing its tvTropes page because I missed the characters. That's where I heard of a certain Akise Aru, a character from Mirai Nikki I had yet to meet, whom Joshua Kiriyu from TWEWY might have been strongly inspired from:
Damn you, Josh.
As it turns out, the two do have many things in common, from appearance and behaviour to the lyrics of Akise's theme song, Aru Shinjitsu no Uta (Song of a Certain Truth), which fit Joshua surprisingly well. (It is a beautiful song, by the way. Check it out.) In both cases, other characters and readers/players alike spend most of these kids' screen time wondering how dangerous they really are, and whether or not they are trustworthy.
In many regards, Akise is in fact a better developed character than Joshua is: he is more human, and the conflicts he faces are more noticeable. This is why it is such a crying shame that he is the only round character in Mirai Nikki. (And has terrible taste in men, but I will get to that one in a bit.)
Before I talk about Akise, let's start with the problems this series has as a whole.
Here's the premise: twelve people are chosen by a dying God called Deus, each is given a special diary that can predict the future (a little differently depending on the Holder's personality - or lack thereof, as I will get to later) and assigned a number. Deus tells them that they have to find and kill each other until only one remains: the winner gets to take His place and become God. If a diary is destroyed, its Holder dies.
In this kind of setting, you expect to meet characters with different backstories and their own reasons to fight or refuse to fight: some of them will be psychos from the get go, others decent human beings trying to get out of this situation or getting corrupted along the way; or both. Mirai Nikki certainly delivers in this regard.
But here is the thing: if you are going to stick with one protagonist, this character needs to either pose enough of a challenge or be a good contrast to the rest of the cast in order to keep things interesting and the conflict going. It can work if this character is either:
A) a fundamentally good person who refuses to go along with the sadistic rules at first, but will stand up and fight if the lives of his or her loved ones are threatened:
(Mai Tokiha from Mai HiME)
or
B) a very capable and intelligent antisocial person struggling to survive with all he or she has got and gradually adapting to the deadly game:
(Neku Sakuraba from The World Ends With You)
It doesn't really matter whether they are weak or strong, intelligent or stupid, but at the very least, a protagonist in a serious setting needs to have common sense.
Our protagonist Yukiteru Amano is supposed to be the former:
he is an ordinary kid with no friends or ambition who randomly gets dragged into the mess against his will, is a pretty good shot with darts but doesn't have much talent otherwise - and is opposed to fighting anyway.
The only reason he survives his first opponent and the following fights is the impromptu arrival of Second Diary Holder Yuno Gasai, a crazy classmate of his who happens to be madly in love with him and determined to kill anyone who gets in the way of their "romance."
Handled well, this could make for great conflict: on the one hand, Yukiteru is averse to killing people and terrified of Yuno, on the other, he can't survive without her. So does he push Yuno away and risk being horribly killed, or does he take advantage of her feelings in spite of his misgivings and the fact that she is a loose cannon?
This conflict fuels the plot. Sadly, it is not handled well, for a simple reason: the characters' reactions and so called "development" have no consistency whatsoever.
Yukiteru angsts about Yuno being his homicidal stalker, but still manages to find her endearing when she starts to behave like an ordinary schoolgirl. (Even though these mood swings are completely random and never last, which should be even more alarming.)
[Spoiler for chapter 4.]
Even after siding with a cop who also holds a Future Diary, instead of asking to be protected by the police from potential attacks by fellow Holders (protecting citizens is kind of their job) and for Yuno to be assigned a guardian to make sure she doesn't step out of line, Yukiteru just... allows her to stalk him some more. Makes sense to me.
He angsts just as much about his parents' divorce, his friendless background and, wait for it, the fact that he can never protect Yuno the way she protects him. Which is also something other characters and readers tend to reproach him. Often.
Hello? She is an insane serial killer! She doesn't need a knight in shining armor, what she needs is a team of competent shrinks and a straitjacket!
It becomes impossible to relate to Yukiteru in any way when, after all the horrible killing he has either been witnessing or participating in, he still finds the time to ask Daddy to get back together with Mommy. You would think that he would be more worried about being targeted by a group of killers with superpowers and, you know, his family getting involved, but no. Also, that divorce? Yeah, it sucks, but it's none of his business, in the meantime Yukiteru has met people in far worse family situations than his, and it's about time this kid appreciated what he has a little more. Not to mention that there is an excellent reason his parents broke up:[Spoiler for chapter 30.]
his dad is a douchebag who cares more about his three million debt than his son and ex's lives. That is, until he accidentally kills his ex, apologizes, accepts to hand himself over and gets forgiven by his son. And then dies. Whatever. =___=
So instead of the everyday kid we are supposed to identify with, Yukiteru comes off as a blank slate at best and a self-centered sociopath who is so desperate to make friends that[there is a SPOILER for chapter 18.]he will risk his life for a girl he knew for a day who unleashed a pack of dogs on him and the rest of his newfound friends twenty minutes prior at worst. And guess what? Aside from that incident, turns out the girl is not only perfectly normal, but arguably the kindest character of the entire series. What a twist! 8D
This leads me to my second major problem with Mirai Nikki. In well-handled psychological thrillers, characters start out with defining traits and values, then tragic events take place and the characters evolve accordingly: ideals either have to be reconsidered, or be dropped entirely when a character reaches his or her limits and becomes mad, or gets redeemed by a significant event. It is either gradual or sudden, but if it is the latter, the change also tends to be irreversible.
In Mirai Nikki however, characters seem to go back and forth between madness and sanity whenever it serves the plot. Need some drama? Yukiteru goes insane. Need some humor? He gets a break and goes back to have fun at school like all the gory deaths never happened. Sometimes he goes back and forth in a single chapter. As a result, any character development can be cancelled at the drop of a hat, which makes the entire story feel hollow and pointless. You can't get invested if you know the characters are going to magically recover at some point.[Spoiler for the ending of Mirai Nikki.]
And lo and behold, even death can be fixed through time-travel and, I quote: "smashing space-time with a hammer!" (I couldn't make this shit up if I tried.) In the end everyone lives happily ever after in an alternate dimension! How bloody convenient.
The only thing that could have saved the plot would be the supporting cast, and indeed, I heard a lot of people say they watched/read Mirai Nikki just for Yuno. Sadly, she is not immune to character derailment. At least her mood swings are justified by her madness, and even her seemingly random love for bland Yukiteru eventually gets explained:[Spoiler for the ending of Mirai Nikki.]she doesn't love him so much as she loves the idea of being in love, because fighting for the sake of a loved one makes her feel justified in her actions... except she ends up loving him anyway... I think...? This ending is messed up, okay....Regardless, she is supposed to be intelligent, and she has her fair share of random stupid reactions:[Spoiler for chapter 16 of Mirai Nikki.]that time she attacked Akise and revealed that he wasn't a Holder while their enemies were still there and holding Yukiteru's diary hostage jumps to mind.
Not to mention this very contrived subplot of saving her from herself. Psychotic stalker, remember?
So why are this series and character so popular regardless of these flaws? I have two words for you: fanservice and gore.
Mirai Nikki has plenty of both, most of it involving Yuno wielding an axe in her underwear or handling skulls in a similar attire. Which in itself I have no problem with, as long as it only happens occasionally and doesn't feel too forced. However, the fanservice is not restricted to Yuno, and gets downright silly at times. The most memorable for me was Yukiteru's first day at school in chapter 14, when he tripped on his feet and grabbed Hinata's pants to catch himself, accidentally flashing her panties for the entire classroom to see. What were the odds?
Did I mention that the predictions of someone's Future Diary are entirely devoted to the state of Hinata's boobs?
As a matter of fact, Akise is also here to provide fanservice for another target audience: yaoi fangirls. Because he is in love with Yukiteru. Which, once again, I would have no problem with, if it weren't so damn random. Why does Akise love him? Well... because Yukiteru is cute, I guess? And[Spoiler to chapter 48.]
Deus may or may not have artificially made Akise feel the need to protect Yukiteru as an Observer of the game...which sounds like cheating and seems to defeat the entire purpose of the game, why not just pick Yukiteru as successor from the get go if Deus wanted him to win that badly...but I digress.
Still. No matter how misguided his feelings are, Akise's dedication is certainly admirable, especially when put against Yuno's obsessive affections. By contrast, Akise is actually reluctant to kill people if he can avoid it,[by the way, SPOILER for chapter 50.]even Yuno, whom he believes is irreversibly crazy and only using Yukiteru for her own ends. He is right, by the way.
That makes him a good antagonist for Yuno, all the more because he is not without flaws himself: he is confident in his skills as a detective to the point of recklessness. It doesn't help that he loves gambling and entered the game mostly for kicks; he tends to often get in tight spots as a result.[Spoiler for chapter 17.]
To his credit, you have to admire a guy who plays heads or tails with someone who can predict the future when he has no Future Diary of his own, and wins. This scene alone was worth reading the manga.
Of course, he is not beyond the general problem of behaving stupidly at random,[SPOILER for the ending,](kid, you have ties with the police force, most of them know about Diary Holders at this point and even if they don't, the giant black holes are dead giveaways that there is something supernatural going on. Instead of dragging your newly diary holding friends into protecting the target of two serial killers on their own, call reinforcements!)but what stands out about Akise is the fact that unlike the rest of the cast, he has established motives (both his love for Yukiteru and ambition to be a great detective), faces conflict as a result and has steady character development[and a SPOILER for the ending.]
that ends in tragedy, yet with a form of accomplishment, since he did manage to pass all the information he had gathered and deduced before he died, even though he failed to kill Yuno.
That makes him a great character, and a good way to keep the target demographic interested. Sadly, it appears that was all he was ever intended for. It is a waste. In order to truly shine, this kind of character needed the rest of the cast to be more fleshed-out, at the very least enough to be believable as human beings. Especially Yukiteru, who is supposed to be Akise's main motivation, even though he is a selfish spineless emotional wreck.
But the rest of the Diary Holders don't do a much better job. At first I had some interest in the 4th, who is not only a Diary Holder but a police officer as well, and intends to put an end to the game. It is not often that a member of the force is involved in the supernatural so early in a story, and I was really looking forward to how things would develop for this character. Unfortunately...[Spoiler for chapter 22.]in chapter 22, we learn that his son has an incurable illness (which was never hinted at up until that point, I didn't even know he had a son) and that the 4th has resolved to become God in order to save his life.
This twist might have worked, if there had been foreshadowing and we had actually seen him struggle with his ideals until he made the decision, but so much for that....
There is also the 9th Diary Holder, a cool terrorist who plays by her rules and is handy with explosives (which is always a plus for me). Sadly, she is also the one who poops convenient motorbikes, wears maid outfits and nurse uniforms for no apparent reason (to be fair, the latter was justified since she was hiding out in a hospital) and eventually [irrelevant SPOILER for chapter 41.]
has an epiphany in front of a pregnant squirrel. Yep.
And then there is the only Diary Holder who refuses to fight until the very end, the 8th. Who has a whole cast of people from her orphanage to fight for her instead, because they want her to become God.[SPOILER on her diary.]Not to mention the ability to create "Apprentice" Diary Holders to protect her.Does she feel conflicted about getting these people involved? I have no freaking idea. Because we never hear her thoughts on the situation beyond: "I want the children to be happy." You could replace her with a laying hen holding a "Kill me and lose all hope of redemption" sign and no one would be able to tell the difference.
She even looks like a hen. How am I supposed to take her seriously?
And then there is the ending.
I could write an entire essay on the ending alone, but this is way too long already, and I vented enough about the ending under the spoiler tags. I had long lost interest in the story at this point anyway.
For all that Akise steals the show with his sympathetic motives, daring personality and many talents (outbalanced by believable flaws and weaknesses), he doesn't save the plot. Given how popular the series is, and the fact that he made me read this stupid manga almost all the way through, I have to admit this much: good job Mister Sakae Esuno, your strategy is working. Gore and fanservice plus one or two interesting characters (if you can count Yuno) made you rich!
That being said, it doesn't make for a good story.
Really, I can't recommend Mirai Nikki. No character consistency = no suspense = failure as a psychological supernatural thriller. No amount of pool episodes and crazy cute girls chopping people up can make me look past that.
If you want to read about the believable struggles of relatable characters trapped in a deadly game with supernatural powers (and fanservice), I suggest you either watch the Mai HiME anime (stay away from the manga though) or play The World Ends With You on the Nintendo DS. They have their own flaws (especially Mai HiME; TWEWY is great), but this much, they both do right.
I decided to give Mirai Nikki (also known as Future Diary) a second chance.
The first time I tried it, my expectations were rather high: everywhere I looked, people were praising it for its qualities as a supernatural psychological thriller. I happen to be a fan of "deadly game" plots, and the idea of diaries that can predict the future held a lot of promise for strategic battles. I also heard a lot of good things about Yuno, the disturbing psychotic cute girl who pretty much codifies the Yandere trope; it got me curious.
What I was expecting: a relatable main character, suspense, creative use of foresight, morality issues and, above all, a believable, heavy take on human psychology. Save for a few clever tricks with the future diaries, I was disappointed on all accounts.
I gave up on the manga on chapter 4, when a Diary Holder pulled a motorbike out of her ass (literally) to get away. A scene like this kills all manner of suspense, folks: from then on I knew that whenever this character would be in a tight spot, I would wonder: "Why don't you just use the motorbike again?"
The second time I read it was for a much stupider reason: I had completed the game The World Ends With You and was browsing its tvTropes page because I missed the characters. That's where I heard of a certain Akise Aru, a character from Mirai Nikki I had yet to meet, whom Joshua Kiriyu from TWEWY might have been strongly inspired from:
Damn you, Josh.
As it turns out, the two do have many things in common, from appearance and behaviour to the lyrics of Akise's theme song, Aru Shinjitsu no Uta (Song of a Certain Truth), which fit Joshua surprisingly well. (It is a beautiful song, by the way. Check it out.) In both cases, other characters and readers/players alike spend most of these kids' screen time wondering how dangerous they really are, and whether or not they are trustworthy.
In many regards, Akise is in fact a better developed character than Joshua is: he is more human, and the conflicts he faces are more noticeable. This is why it is such a crying shame that he is the only round character in Mirai Nikki. (And has terrible taste in men, but I will get to that one in a bit.)
Before I talk about Akise, let's start with the problems this series has as a whole.
Here's the premise: twelve people are chosen by a dying God called Deus, each is given a special diary that can predict the future (a little differently depending on the Holder's personality - or lack thereof, as I will get to later) and assigned a number. Deus tells them that they have to find and kill each other until only one remains: the winner gets to take His place and become God. If a diary is destroyed, its Holder dies.
In this kind of setting, you expect to meet characters with different backstories and their own reasons to fight or refuse to fight: some of them will be psychos from the get go, others decent human beings trying to get out of this situation or getting corrupted along the way; or both. Mirai Nikki certainly delivers in this regard.
But here is the thing: if you are going to stick with one protagonist, this character needs to either pose enough of a challenge or be a good contrast to the rest of the cast in order to keep things interesting and the conflict going. It can work if this character is either:
A) a fundamentally good person who refuses to go along with the sadistic rules at first, but will stand up and fight if the lives of his or her loved ones are threatened:
(Mai Tokiha from Mai HiME)
or
B) a very capable and intelligent antisocial person struggling to survive with all he or she has got and gradually adapting to the deadly game:
(Neku Sakuraba from The World Ends With You)
It doesn't really matter whether they are weak or strong, intelligent or stupid, but at the very least, a protagonist in a serious setting needs to have common sense.
Our protagonist Yukiteru Amano is supposed to be the former:
he is an ordinary kid with no friends or ambition who randomly gets dragged into the mess against his will, is a pretty good shot with darts but doesn't have much talent otherwise - and is opposed to fighting anyway.
The only reason he survives his first opponent and the following fights is the impromptu arrival of Second Diary Holder Yuno Gasai, a crazy classmate of his who happens to be madly in love with him and determined to kill anyone who gets in the way of their "romance."
Handled well, this could make for great conflict: on the one hand, Yukiteru is averse to killing people and terrified of Yuno, on the other, he can't survive without her. So does he push Yuno away and risk being horribly killed, or does he take advantage of her feelings in spite of his misgivings and the fact that she is a loose cannon?
This conflict fuels the plot. Sadly, it is not handled well, for a simple reason: the characters' reactions and so called "development" have no consistency whatsoever.
Yukiteru angsts about Yuno being his homicidal stalker, but still manages to find her endearing when she starts to behave like an ordinary schoolgirl. (Even though these mood swings are completely random and never last, which should be even more alarming.)
[Spoiler for chapter 4.]
Even after siding with a cop who also holds a Future Diary, instead of asking to be protected by the police from potential attacks by fellow Holders (protecting citizens is kind of their job) and for Yuno to be assigned a guardian to make sure she doesn't step out of line, Yukiteru just... allows her to stalk him some more. Makes sense to me.
He angsts just as much about his parents' divorce, his friendless background and, wait for it, the fact that he can never protect Yuno the way she protects him. Which is also something other characters and readers tend to reproach him. Often.
Hello? She is an insane serial killer! She doesn't need a knight in shining armor, what she needs is a team of competent shrinks and a straitjacket!
It becomes impossible to relate to Yukiteru in any way when, after all the horrible killing he has either been witnessing or participating in, he still finds the time to ask Daddy to get back together with Mommy. You would think that he would be more worried about being targeted by a group of killers with superpowers and, you know, his family getting involved, but no. Also, that divorce? Yeah, it sucks, but it's none of his business, in the meantime Yukiteru has met people in far worse family situations than his, and it's about time this kid appreciated what he has a little more. Not to mention that there is an excellent reason his parents broke up:[Spoiler for chapter 30.]
his dad is a douchebag who cares more about his three million debt than his son and ex's lives. That is, until he accidentally kills his ex, apologizes, accepts to hand himself over and gets forgiven by his son. And then dies. Whatever. =___=
So instead of the everyday kid we are supposed to identify with, Yukiteru comes off as a blank slate at best and a self-centered sociopath who is so desperate to make friends that[there is a SPOILER for chapter 18.]he will risk his life for a girl he knew for a day who unleashed a pack of dogs on him and the rest of his newfound friends twenty minutes prior at worst. And guess what? Aside from that incident, turns out the girl is not only perfectly normal, but arguably the kindest character of the entire series. What a twist! 8D
This leads me to my second major problem with Mirai Nikki. In well-handled psychological thrillers, characters start out with defining traits and values, then tragic events take place and the characters evolve accordingly: ideals either have to be reconsidered, or be dropped entirely when a character reaches his or her limits and becomes mad, or gets redeemed by a significant event. It is either gradual or sudden, but if it is the latter, the change also tends to be irreversible.
In Mirai Nikki however, characters seem to go back and forth between madness and sanity whenever it serves the plot. Need some drama? Yukiteru goes insane. Need some humor? He gets a break and goes back to have fun at school like all the gory deaths never happened. Sometimes he goes back and forth in a single chapter. As a result, any character development can be cancelled at the drop of a hat, which makes the entire story feel hollow and pointless. You can't get invested if you know the characters are going to magically recover at some point.[Spoiler for the ending of Mirai Nikki.]
And lo and behold, even death can be fixed through time-travel and, I quote: "smashing space-time with a hammer!" (I couldn't make this shit up if I tried.) In the end everyone lives happily ever after in an alternate dimension! How bloody convenient.
The only thing that could have saved the plot would be the supporting cast, and indeed, I heard a lot of people say they watched/read Mirai Nikki just for Yuno. Sadly, she is not immune to character derailment. At least her mood swings are justified by her madness, and even her seemingly random love for bland Yukiteru eventually gets explained:[Spoiler for the ending of Mirai Nikki.]she doesn't love him so much as she loves the idea of being in love, because fighting for the sake of a loved one makes her feel justified in her actions... except she ends up loving him anyway... I think...? This ending is messed up, okay....Regardless, she is supposed to be intelligent, and she has her fair share of random stupid reactions:[Spoiler for chapter 16 of Mirai Nikki.]that time she attacked Akise and revealed that he wasn't a Holder while their enemies were still there and holding Yukiteru's diary hostage jumps to mind.
Not to mention this very contrived subplot of saving her from herself. Psychotic stalker, remember?
So why are this series and character so popular regardless of these flaws? I have two words for you: fanservice and gore.
Mirai Nikki has plenty of both, most of it involving Yuno wielding an axe in her underwear or handling skulls in a similar attire. Which in itself I have no problem with, as long as it only happens occasionally and doesn't feel too forced. However, the fanservice is not restricted to Yuno, and gets downright silly at times. The most memorable for me was Yukiteru's first day at school in chapter 14, when he tripped on his feet and grabbed Hinata's pants to catch himself, accidentally flashing her panties for the entire classroom to see. What were the odds?
Did I mention that the predictions of someone's Future Diary are entirely devoted to the state of Hinata's boobs?
As a matter of fact, Akise is also here to provide fanservice for another target audience: yaoi fangirls. Because he is in love with Yukiteru. Which, once again, I would have no problem with, if it weren't so damn random. Why does Akise love him? Well... because Yukiteru is cute, I guess? And[Spoiler to chapter 48.]
Deus may or may not have artificially made Akise feel the need to protect Yukiteru as an Observer of the game...which sounds like cheating and seems to defeat the entire purpose of the game, why not just pick Yukiteru as successor from the get go if Deus wanted him to win that badly...but I digress.
Still. No matter how misguided his feelings are, Akise's dedication is certainly admirable, especially when put against Yuno's obsessive affections. By contrast, Akise is actually reluctant to kill people if he can avoid it,[by the way, SPOILER for chapter 50.]even Yuno, whom he believes is irreversibly crazy and only using Yukiteru for her own ends. He is right, by the way.
That makes him a good antagonist for Yuno, all the more because he is not without flaws himself: he is confident in his skills as a detective to the point of recklessness. It doesn't help that he loves gambling and entered the game mostly for kicks; he tends to often get in tight spots as a result.[Spoiler for chapter 17.]
To his credit, you have to admire a guy who plays heads or tails with someone who can predict the future when he has no Future Diary of his own, and wins. This scene alone was worth reading the manga.
Of course, he is not beyond the general problem of behaving stupidly at random,[SPOILER for the ending,](kid, you have ties with the police force, most of them know about Diary Holders at this point and even if they don't, the giant black holes are dead giveaways that there is something supernatural going on. Instead of dragging your newly diary holding friends into protecting the target of two serial killers on their own, call reinforcements!)but what stands out about Akise is the fact that unlike the rest of the cast, he has established motives (both his love for Yukiteru and ambition to be a great detective), faces conflict as a result and has steady character development[and a SPOILER for the ending.]
that ends in tragedy, yet with a form of accomplishment, since he did manage to pass all the information he had gathered and deduced before he died, even though he failed to kill Yuno.
That makes him a great character, and a good way to keep the target demographic interested. Sadly, it appears that was all he was ever intended for. It is a waste. In order to truly shine, this kind of character needed the rest of the cast to be more fleshed-out, at the very least enough to be believable as human beings. Especially Yukiteru, who is supposed to be Akise's main motivation, even though he is a selfish spineless emotional wreck.
But the rest of the Diary Holders don't do a much better job. At first I had some interest in the 4th, who is not only a Diary Holder but a police officer as well, and intends to put an end to the game. It is not often that a member of the force is involved in the supernatural so early in a story, and I was really looking forward to how things would develop for this character. Unfortunately...[Spoiler for chapter 22.]in chapter 22, we learn that his son has an incurable illness (which was never hinted at up until that point, I didn't even know he had a son) and that the 4th has resolved to become God in order to save his life.
This twist might have worked, if there had been foreshadowing and we had actually seen him struggle with his ideals until he made the decision, but so much for that....
There is also the 9th Diary Holder, a cool terrorist who plays by her rules and is handy with explosives (which is always a plus for me). Sadly, she is also the one who poops convenient motorbikes, wears maid outfits and nurse uniforms for no apparent reason (to be fair, the latter was justified since she was hiding out in a hospital) and eventually [irrelevant SPOILER for chapter 41.]
has an epiphany in front of a pregnant squirrel. Yep.
And then there is the only Diary Holder who refuses to fight until the very end, the 8th. Who has a whole cast of people from her orphanage to fight for her instead, because they want her to become God.[SPOILER on her diary.]Not to mention the ability to create "Apprentice" Diary Holders to protect her.Does she feel conflicted about getting these people involved? I have no freaking idea. Because we never hear her thoughts on the situation beyond: "I want the children to be happy." You could replace her with a laying hen holding a "Kill me and lose all hope of redemption" sign and no one would be able to tell the difference.
She even looks like a hen. How am I supposed to take her seriously?
And then there is the ending.
I could write an entire essay on the ending alone, but this is way too long already, and I vented enough about the ending under the spoiler tags. I had long lost interest in the story at this point anyway.
For all that Akise steals the show with his sympathetic motives, daring personality and many talents (outbalanced by believable flaws and weaknesses), he doesn't save the plot. Given how popular the series is, and the fact that he made me read this stupid manga almost all the way through, I have to admit this much: good job Mister Sakae Esuno, your strategy is working. Gore and fanservice plus one or two interesting characters (if you can count Yuno) made you rich!
That being said, it doesn't make for a good story.
Really, I can't recommend Mirai Nikki. No character consistency = no suspense = failure as a psychological supernatural thriller. No amount of pool episodes and crazy cute girls chopping people up can make me look past that.
If you want to read about the believable struggles of relatable characters trapped in a deadly game with supernatural powers (and fanservice), I suggest you either watch the Mai HiME anime (stay away from the manga though) or play The World Ends With You on the Nintendo DS. They have their own flaws (especially Mai HiME; TWEWY is great), but this much, they both do right.