YMMV / Future Diary

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Does Yuno really love Yukiteru, or is he just a Living Emotional Crutch to her? Does Yukiteru really love Yuno, for that matter, or is it A Match Made in Stockholm?
• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • "Cell Phone Diaries" are not uncommon at all in Japan, but the practice is nigh-unheard of in the west, leading to the set-up to be a little funky for audiences unfamiliar with the subtler aspects of modern Japanese culture.
  • It can feel weird for a Westerner reading or watching the first time how they outright call Tsubaki's group a cult and yet the characters treat it rather casually when it is introduced. We find out more about the cult and what goes on behind the scenes, but it can feel weird that it's so matter-of-fact with the police with no one even trying to deny it or pointing out how strange it is for some people to casually start a cult around a little girl. As seen with Shinzo Abe's assassination, Japan has had a problem with cults with the government not doing much about it, but it can still feel weird that the group is not going out it it's way to get it to be referred to as something else and forcing people to refer to it with a different term, or how the police acknowledge that it's a cult but it doesn't seem to be in legal trouble or has had any friction with them.
• Angst? What Angst?: In her introduction, Hinata is manipulated by her father, who uses her desire for his love to do so, into becoming a serial killer, betraying her new friends, having her closest friend almost die, and then having herself almost die, only for her father to then reveal he was lying to her the whole time, after which he is promptly shot dead. None of this is ever referenced again, and Hinata carries on as a normal girl who shows no sign of stress or trauma from that experience.
• Awesome Music:
  • Many can agree that the first opening song, Kuusou Mesorogiwi by Yousei Teikoku, is very catchy. It's even more amazing when there are two lyrics that contain nothing but Greek gods' names, while the song overall has three languages sung by the same person: English, Japanese, and German.
  • While every Diary holder has a catchy Image Song, special mention must be made for "Justice Rangers GO 12th!!". Which suiting a Crazy Is Cool character like 12th, is a bombastic, awesome number straight out of a badass Sentai show.
  • "Upper Class Speed Game" is an especially epic track that accompanies some major climactic battle scenes.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Opinions are split on whether Yukiteru is either a major woobie and realistically-written, relatable Tragic Hero who deserves a happy ending (and a hug), or a spineless, cowardly and whiny angst-bucket on the level of Shinji Ikari who is outshone by his more likable supporting cast, while simultaneously also being a Dirty Coward willing to do morally reprehensible things in the name of his goal.
  • You may think Yuno is a delightful Yandere as well as the main highlight of the series, or just an unlikable lunatic who hardly deserves the praise she gets. Some fans acknowledge that as a person, Yuno is terrible, but as a Yandere and Villain Protagonist, she's delightful and exciting to watch.
• Bizarro Episode: Tsubaki's arc is... out of place in the series (though it's up to the viewer if it is), between the zombies, the Gratuitous Rape, and the simple existence of Twelfth, and is never mentioned again beyond Reisuke's parents being in the Cult of the 6th and dying being a factor in the following arc, and a brief Call-Back at the end of the series where we see how Tsubaki's fate is changed. Some overlap with Angst? What Angst?, given that Yuno should probably be a little more broken up about being almost gang-raped.
• Broken Base:
  • The English dub voices of Yukiteru and Yuno. Some fans think their English voices are terrible and don't fit their characters, other fans think that not only do the English voices perfectly fit their characters, but also make them a refreshing change of pace from the high-pitched girly voice and shy, insecure, young boy voice that have been overused a lot in anime.
  • Future Diary: Redial; the continuation of the main series, has two versions: manga and OVA. Some people prefer the manga version while the others like the OVA version better. While both versions lead to the same ending, there are significant differences between the two, such as the addition of Beach Episode in the OVA. Also, the way 3rd-world Akise confronts 3rd-world Yuno is totally different in the OVA compared to the original manga version.
• Complete Monster: Funatsu, though a minor villain, caused one of the most horrific events of the series. Once a member of a peaceful cult based around a young girl, Tsubaki Kasugano, who allegedly had prophetic powers, Funatsu killed her parents when they planned to disband the cult, fearing losing said powers. Becoming the de facto head of his reformed cult, Funatsu allowed the members to rape Tsubaki regularly, possibly taking part himself, and drugged her to keep her defenseless against their constant assault. So intense was Funatsu's cruelty to Tsubaki that she went insane and began plotting to destroy the world.
• Crazy Is Cool:
  • Yuno, in spades. In the first world, she attempts to get around the whole There Can Be Only One thing by forming a Suicide Pact with Yukiteru and then resurrecting him when she becomes God. Naturally, this doesn't quite work out, prompting her to fucking break space-time and go back to the beginning, The Dark Tower style, and this time do whatever it takes to save her Yukiteru. Whatever. It. Takes.
  • Minene Uryu. "Cosplay Bomber" is not her Fan Nickname for no reason.
  • Yomotsu Hirasaka, though that's kind of inevitable for a blind insane Super Sentai parody.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • Takao Hiyama appears in a flashback in the middle of one chapter... only to take a spear in the back, courtesy of Yuno. Him being an Asshole Victim is probably what makes it so funny in the first place.
  • The post-credits short at the end of the first episode, which primarily consists of him constantly dying out of sheer paranoia and stupidity.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • The more avid fans of Yuno tend to tone down her more negative and violent qualities in favor of her devotion to Yukiteru.
  • Similarly, Minene Uryu has some fans who see her as a hero, selectively ignoring the fact that she's a violent terrorist who will kill anyone, even children, with little remorse.
• Die for Our Ship: Both Yuno and Akise are victims of this, though the latter has it more prominently within the fandom. Notably, it actually is in-character for Yuno^note the main one from the first world, anyway — her second and third world counterparts, not so much to kill people that come between her and Yukiteru, though it's more often this trope than Murder the Hypotenuse.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Minene (Ninth), Marco and Ai (Seventh), and Yomotsu (Twelfth).
• Fan Nickname:
  • Yuno Gasai is known by many as the Queen of—no, Goddess of Yandere.
  • Uryuu Minene is called the cosplay bomber, primarily for her first appearance where she bombs Yukiteru's school while wearing a lolita-style outfit.
• Fashion-Victim Villain:
  • The only defining feature on Twelfth's costume is a giant one-eyed bag with an out-of-place Code Lyoko-esque design on it.
  • Similarly, it's fairly difficult for some viewers to take Marco seriously with his needlessly eccentric pompadour.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Yuno/Akise (despite their mutual hatred) is a popular alternative ship for Yuno fans who dislike Yukki. Zig-zagged after the release of Redial manga, as Yuno from the third world has no animosity toward Akise.
• Growing the Beard: Many think that the anime becomes more interesting after Fourth's death, with Yuno taking on a more antagonistic role and characters such as Aru Akise becoming more prominent and proactive in the story.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • One quote associated with Norio Wakamoto is "God exists and he is Japanese." Guess who voices Deus in the anime adaptation?
  • Emperor Charles zi Britannia overthrew God? "All candidates are not created equal!"
  • Father (Kent Williams) has finally become God.
  • Who knew that Rick and Morty would share a plot point with this, of all things? In both, a major character goes into an Alternate Timeline to try and fix a mistake, and ends up killing that timeline's version of themselves to ensure their cover.
  • The Netflix Death Note film also causes some of this; the changes to the protagonists make them more reminiscent of Yuki and Yuno than of Light and Misa.
• Ho Yay: Has its own page.
• I Knew It!: Yuno being from an Alternate Universe had been more or less accepted as a solid theory long before The Reveal confirmed it.
• It Was His Sled: Yuno's true nature,Akise's death, the ending in general, really.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some people watch the series for the resident Yandere.
• Magnificent Bitch: Mur-Mur is the humorous minion of Deus Ex Machina, but schemes behind her master's back to continue the survival games for eternity to amuse herself. Convincing Yuno Gasai to travel to the 2nd World and take that Yuno's place so she can still be with protagonist Yukiteru Amano, Mur-Mur would also take her own 2nd world counterpart's place so she can manipulate the people in that world; She tells Keigo Kurusu that he can cure his son's illness if he wins causing him to turn against Yukiteru, and lies to Yukiteru that he can resurrect his dead parents if he becomes god. Mur-Mur also takes direct manners to those that interfere with her plans such as erasing all of Akise's actions in Paradox, abandoning Yukiteru in the 2nd world before traveling to the 3rd world with Yuno, and brutalizing Minene Uryu when she fights her; she would have won if Yuno had not killed herself out love for Yukiteru, leading Mur-Mur to unite Yuno's 3rd world counterpart with Yukiteru.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The face that Yuno makes at the end of the first episode◊ spread to the point that it's been drawn on several different characters from entirely unrelated series. Known on Pixiv as 恍惚のヤンデレポーズ (lit. "ecstatic yandere pose") and on various *boorus as yandere trance.
  • "...tea, biscuits, biscuits, fuck this tea! Senpai!"^explanationA portion of misheard lyrics from the anime's first OP (actually "Thee can't resist this fantasy! Survive!" in Engrish).
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Tsubaki crosses this when she orders her followers to strip off Yuno's clothing... and to gang-rape her, all so she could lure Yukiteru out of his hiding place. This one is a particularly sad example, since given Tsubaki's own Rape as Backstory, it's clear that she has become so desensitized to sexual violence by this point that she would casually threaten it against someone else.
  • Mur Mur crosses this when she undoes the positive future in Paradox by deliberately erasing everyone's memories and goes back in time to make sure that the 2nd is still alive and kills them all. She also uses the wounded Yukiteru to prevent Akise from stopping her plans.
  • Akise in the manga crossed it when he abandons Yukiteru's friends to let them die by Yukiteru's hands, just so he can get the chance to kill Yuno. Even Yukiteru is disgusted by this. Defied in the anime, where he actually tries to stop Yukiteru.
• Narm:
  • The English covers. "Every text could be your last."
  • The soundtrack in the anime often uses stock music stings heard in various others shows (such as Cyberchase) for dramatic scenes, torpedoing any tension to oblivion. One such moment is The Reveal in episode 3.
  • When Yuno and Yukiteru eventually do fight each other, the former asks why he always has to interfere in her plans. Yukiteru's response in the original Japanese was, "Because I love you!" The English dub, for whatever reason, opted to expand this into, "Because I love you, you crazy bitch!" Though it also crosses into Narm Charm given that it's completely in-line with the Superlative Dubbing and characters at that point.
• Periphery Demographic: There are a significant number of females who watch the series just for Yuno. Given that Yuno is one of the relatively few women in Shōnen series of the period to be a proactive (Dark) Action Girl rather than a Damsel in Distress or Satellite Love Interest, this probably shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • While originally hated for being a Dirty Coward who allows Yuno to hang around him, despite all she's done, for his own protection, Yukiteru Amano Took a Level in Badass and started to stand on his own feet later in the game.
  • In the main series, Tsubaki earned plenty of ire for her Bizarro Episode arc and Moral Event Horizon crossing, but her depiction in the spinoff manga Paradox won over some fans, as she's kept a sympathetic character with notable endearing traits without ever crossing any serious lines in her actions.
• Rooting for the Empire: Plenty of fans were rooting for some of the other Diary Holders (like Minene or Yuno) to win instead of Yuki, seeing as how they came off as more sympathetic and likable.
• Spiritual Licensee: For the amount of borderline-NC-17-leveled Gorn and intense violence and each arc being some sort of "Die Hard" on an X premise, it can be seen as though this anime and manga was made by action genre filmmaker Renny Harlin of Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger. Someone on YouTube even made a fan trailer inspired by the trailer to the latter.
• Superlative Dubbing: It has a rough start, but it gets much better; the Woolseyism improves as the series goes on.
  • Even those who don't like the dub version can't help but agree that Kent Williams as Deus Ex Machina is GLORIOUS.
  • Notably, the English dub replaces all of Yuno's constant exclamations of Yuki's name with cutesy pet names, which is simultaneously unsettling and absolutely adorable.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: With The Reveal of Yuno being the winner of the original Survival Game and stealing the role of the Yuno native to Yuki's timeline, you can't help wondering how that original Survival Game played out without otherworld "foresight"...
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: In a similar vein to Elfen Lied, the series has drawn a lot of criticism for its constant barrage of dark backstories for Villain of the Week characters that ultimately get killed off at the end of their arcs and the grimdark storytelling exhausting itself after a while to the point where it's just shock value.
• Too Cool to Live: Marco is the strongest physical combatant, and only dies because he promised he'd stay with his lover.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • There are some fans who just can't quite get on board when Minene Uryu becomes portrayed by the narrative as an Anti-Hero, which expects them to feel sorry for her tragic backstory and root for her and Nishijima. The reasons stem from her introduction having her gleefully bomb a school room full of innocent children and then take the school hostage under the threat of more bombing and not finding the drift away from that characterization convincing, to feeling like a Middle East-bred terrorist who kills out of hate and intolerance for religion is too close to reality for comfort. Then there's the matter of her acting as if Yuno is eviler than her; while both she and Yuno are horrible, murderous people, Yuno's the only one between them who would likely get a verdict of "not guilty by reason of insanity" in a court of law, whereas Minene accumulated a higher body count in a (generally speaking) right state of mind.
  • Kurou Amano probably is the worst offender of this trope in the series, as after making a deal with Yuki's enemies to destroy his diary, stealing a parachute and leaving his son to die, and stabbing his ex-wife, Yuki's mother, to death in order to stop her from alerting the police, the story suddenly has him break down in remorse over it all, with him being Easily Forgiven by Yukiteru. The fandom, on the other hand, was not so forgiving.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Orin, the second-in-command of the children in Eighth's orphanage, is confirmed to be a girl in Mosaic.
• The Woobie:
  • Yuki could be considered this. At the start he is a shy and introverted young boy, and then he gets shoved into a duel to the death with a bunch of psychopaths. His only consistant ally is the craziest of them all, the biggest Stalker with a Crush Yandere ever, who, at one point, chains him up and imprisons him, so that no one would get in the way of their love. Poor guy.
  • Second World Yuno. Yes, her stalking Yukiteru is kind of reprehensible, but it's never taken to the extremes that her First World counterpart goes to. Her Freudian Excuse is explored in detail more than the previous Yuno, and unlike the next Yuno, she doesn't live long enough to see a happy ending, getting killed by her previous incarnation without knowing why.

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