Manga when the power or love is disfuncional
I saw Mirai mikki thanks to tv tropes after see the yandere page, i saw this for 4 days and is one of my favorite mangas,also want to argument some critics
1)the history:the premise is not new but it work thanks to the chararters, the pacing es really fast and quite chaotic to time to time but i really holds well, sometimes if shiff between shonen moments(like yuno gunning down the police who have in full armor) and seinen (6 backstory for example) and it jarring to time to time
Chararters: this is the best part of the show, because it manage to make amoral chrarter every likable or a lease enjoying, the fact that is short make some chararter flat(10 for example) or wasted potencial, there is also some silly chararters(12 of course and 5 for being to young)
Also, it for one call bullshitt to the whole "yuki is useless and a pussy" because is the only one to see the fact that he was push to a psycopath tornament with a staker as am ally and he only when he is broken, of course not that it matters to the fandom....
Consistency: here is the overall flaw with mirai mikki, with the pacing so fast and short time there is many thing that could be explain in a more clam way(for example deus and his power as a god)also the show uses many shonen moments(like 12 and his hipnotic habilities or yuno blocking the knives) that can be quite jarring in contrast of the more dark moments of the series, also the ending is the disfuncional use of the power of love
overall the plot is fast , the chararter are enjoyable and yuki and yuno are one of the most shining examples of mad love ever produce a least for me is one of my favorite anime in this times
Manga Takes a Left Turn Toward The End.
I'll be honest, I quite liked the first two thirds of Mirai Nikki. It had an interesting concept with the future diaries (Though the author was clearly having difficulty coming up with all the ideas for different diaries.) The series could shift it's tone nicely, going from being lighthearted to fucking terrifying at a rapid rate and some of the plot twists did actually surprise me.
The characters, the ones that matter anyway, are pretty interesting too. The cast is comprises of a colourful bunch of psychopaths (Some of them so colourful that they probably moved to Japan after Batman kicked their asses.) The other diary wielders can be badass (Yuno, Keigo, Minene) some can be tragic (Tsubaki, Reisuke) some can be hilarious (Yomotsu.) and some are...weird (Kamado).
But the main focus when it comes to characters are Yukki and Yuno. Yukki is...an interesting case. For the first half of the series he's an utter bitch like Shinji Ikari, but towards the end of the series he does become a much more badass character. So he has some interesting growth. But the reason everyone comes to look at this series, and the most memorable thing about it, is Yuno Gassai: The Yandere Queen. She manages to jump between being adorable, terrifying, badass, creepy, attractive and sublime at complete random. You never know just what she's going to do next, she's both an invaluable asset to Yukki in surviving the game but potentially the biggest threat to him due to her psychopathic nature and unhealthy obsession with him.
But this series is not without it's flaws, and its biggest one becomes apparent toward the series closing act. While I won't spoil anything I will say the series tries to become more complex than it actually is, introducing elements like omnipotence and time travel and alternate dimensions.
It's like watching an episode of Breaking Bad and then all of a sudden Silver Surfer shows up and tells Walt he needs to go back in time and sell drugs to dinosaurs.
Manga A So Bad It's Good addition to the schoolboy god subgenre
Among anime series, "schoolboy is granted godlike powers by a whimsical and capricious entity, then engages in complex Batman Gambits" is a plotline so common that it has practically become a genre unto itself. Mirai Nikki does very little that the series that came before it did not, but it handles the ideas so badly that it becomes, in its own way, brilliant. The plot veers between Wangst and Angst What Angst. Being thrown into a fight to the death barely bothers Yukki at all, while characters cheerfully murder civilians with no compunction yet the show never seems to acknowledge this: in one episode, a hundred schoolkids die, and Yuki is be unaffected, yet as soon as the topic of his diary is broached, he decides to fling himself to the floor weeping about being a "bystander" even as a killer hunts him down. Even Shinji would tell this guy to get a grip.
The idea of a diary that predicts the future is interesting, if not really unique, but trying to find a dozen-plus variations on this clearly strained the writers. A crime log? Sure. A stalker's scrapbook? Fine. An "escape diary"? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense given that future diaries are supposedly based on the diaries they kept beforehand, but OK. A "future diary" that controls dogs? Err...
The animation is generally pretty, but Deus Ex Machina - a monstrous god so over the top he may as well eat blood bananas, with a name so stupid that it will shatter your Willing Suspension Of Disbelief in the very first episode - is a CG effect so awful that every scene with him in automatically becomes a PS 2-game cutscene.
Before long though, the one-note sociopathy of the characters becomes hilarious, the inconsistent attempts at symbolism become Narmful, and the frequent Shocking Swerves become a joy to behold. Mirai Nikki/Future Diary is definitely worth watching if you need a laugh.
Manga Good Series but is there Unfortunate Implications?
There might be spoilers here so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't read the second to last paragraph.
There are so many people that came to this series for the yandere girl Yuno Gasai. There are many reasons to like her though. She's a Dark Action Girl, Ms Fanservice (despite being 14) and a huge fetish for many people is her yandere personality. While I admit that she is the Queen of Yandere, I feel like I should point out the other characters.
While each character is indeed fleshed out, they're all killed by Yuno because they all dare to get in the way of her relationship with the main guy Yuki. However, what disturbed me was how the author treated Yuki's other love interest Aru Akise who is a guy.
Now since this is just an opinion, I felt like the author favored Yuno over Akise not because she was the main girl that would get Yuki but because of Unfortunate Implications. To sum it up, Akise while a nice guy most of the time is constantly trying to warn Yuki of the dangers with getting in a relationship with Yuno. Yuki doesn't listen due to Stockholm Syndrome but the fact that all that Akise does is for nothing from the end of the series, the fact that he ends up another victim is what bugs me. Out of all the deaths, why is his the most gruesome? Is it because he's the rival that gets in the way of the main pairing? Or is it because the author is homophobic and wanted his death to be the worse? Whatever the case, I did not like how the author handled this character and while Akise might be the lead in Paradox, what happens to him in the series is a stab in the back if Paradox was read before the main series.
Other than that though, the series is REALLY good. The pacing is fast, the battles don't get boring and there are points in the series that will make you laugh (rarely) and cry (often). If you don't like yandere girls though, then this is not the series for you. Otherwise, if you have a fetish for these types of girls, I would recommend picking it up and reading it. The anime comes out this fall.
Manga A good series overall, and mostly that it made me like a character I used to hate.
In researching more about Yandere to satisfy my own macabre curiosity, I stumbled upon Gasai Yuno and found Mirai Nikki.
The premise was interesting enough, a socially-inept boy given a prescient diary and thrown into a fight to the death for godlike powers and his yandere stalker. But after a while, I started to root for Yuki (poor incapable, bewildered kid caught in dangerous circumstances) and dislike Yuno, because after the novelty of her cute-and-murderous-with-no-qualms persona, being a typical Yandere, I could not find any other redeeming qualities in her. She was an unstoppable force and flat character, and seriously starting to annoy me. She killed of my favourite character, which was Akise Aru, and that act was the one that began my hatred. A girl solely dedicated to one guy with no personality other than that and a complete doormat to the person she obsesses over - a perfect Yandere, but Yanderes, after the bloody awesomneess do not strike me as enduring - or endearing characters. She is a slave. She has no self, other than the one that comes into existence because of another person.
I went on with the series just to see how it ended...and Yuno grew on me. Her backstory that was finally revealed actually made me pity her and make her more likeable. The Yanderes I dislike most, despite the appeal of apathy toward murder and willingness to go to extreme lengths, are the ones with no fleshed out backstory and no justified motivation, who are just kawaii killing machines. Yuno's backstory of her control-freak parents, the abuse and neglect she suffered, the breaking point of her parents' death, meant her mind would have been in a terrible and fragile state, and once her parents died, she snapped, and her shattered mind would have clung to anything to save herself - Yuki and his minute act of kindness, and hence the game by Deus to achieve Yuki. There was a method to the madness, and in an instant Yuno became a pitiful, broken girl who just wanted to be loved. A Deconstruction? Perhaps.
Overall, the plot is good, the characters believable, and action fast and gripping. But what really got me were the characters I liked and supported. And the fact that the author got me to care for a character I used to hate? What can I say? I'm impressed.
Manga Come for the Yandere, Stay for the...
Like many others, I first came across this series because I heard of the legendary Yuno Gasai, who supposedly could out-Yandere the combined cast of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, Shuffle, and School Days. I have no particular love for such characters, but my morbid curiosity made me check it out eventually.
I have to admit, Yuno delivers. She's psychotic, unpredictable, and obsessive with her target. Sometimes I was amused and rooting for her, and sometimes I was shocked that anyone would dare associate with this nutcase. Regardless, I kept on reading, and many chapters later I had a startling realization: she hasn't freaked out in a long time. I've heard so many tales about her insanity, yet they've all come to pass by the halfway point of the story. So what does this series have left without its cute psychopath? Plenty, as I would come to discover. Most notably, I came to enjoy her strange relationship with Yuki.
The other protagonist of the series, Yukiteru Amano, has a less than stellar reputation among some readers, who consider him something like "the wimpiest protagonist since Shinji Ikari". I didn't think I'd like him, but I gave him a chance, and found him closer to Jacuzzi Splot of Baccano!: a crybaby who nonetheless pulls through when the chips are down. Before you write him off as a Useless Protagonist, do note that he ends up saving Yuno's life almost as often as she saves his. He's not much of a fighter for most of the series, but he still displays remarkable skill at manipulating Diaries. As the series went on, I finally concluded that he and Yuno really were perfect for each other, in a twisted sort of way.
The rest of the cast can be just as colorful as the protagonists, and the Black And Grey Morality of the series keeps you guessing. The diaries keep the action unique, as they play an important role in every conflict. The plot is not Death Note-level complex, but it's fast-paced and exciting. The art quality leaves something to be desired, but it's tolerable. However, your final opinion of the series will still depend largely on how much you like the characters. As for me, I'm staying for Yuki and Yuno.
Manga Oh No, Not the Plot!
So by the title, yes, the plot is as bad as it is dreadful. The main plot focuses on 12 "Diary users" who all compete for the title of God. Now there's nothing wrong with making some kind of Action/Adventure series where you can focus on multiple characters and how the prize will benefit each other, giving the audience their own character to root for, sympathize even if they want another to win, etc. But we're mainly focusing on two Diary Users; Yuno, a 14 year old girl who has learned about this competition prior and plans to protect a boy she is madly in love with, Yuki, a 14 year old boy who learns of this competition by her and is more concerned of avoiding its dangers at all costs. My first problem is Yuno's popularity is based on her character as a yandere, a love interest that is attributed to being mentally unstable, clingy, and...you know what, I'll outright say it; she's a horror villain.
That's what I was expecting throughout this entire series; horror. Yuno could have worked as an interesting character who falls in love with Yuki, but her psychotic behavior could leave for a suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat series that would be much better to watch. There are always hints of this possibly happening, but it gets interrupted by the main plot, that we get no real characterization of Yuno and Yuki. People call Yuki useless, but his trouble should be being the victim of a controlling girlfriend, not enter in some tournament to the death. We get glimpses of why Yuno is the way she is, but again, for some reason the main plot has to be told for some ungodly reason.
I went into this because yandere characters could make for an excellent horror series that can be interesting on it's own right, but instead it feel like it's shoehorned into Future Diary's main plot as a fetish no different than tsundere or moe (did I mention they were 14, and there's plenty of creepy fanservice to go around). I would suggest reading the description before going into this. The only description I got was "examples of yandere" and Yuno being one of them. The series really should have been split into two; focus on the horrific, romantic tragedy that is Yuki and Yuno and the other with the Diary User competition. Mixing both was an agonizing mistake.