OP Sequence

OP: (Kyouki Chinden) by (Yousei Teikoku)

「未来日記リダイヤル」 (Mirai Nikki Redial)
“Future Diary Redial”

At long last, I can finally talk about the manga ending. About damn time.

Well, now we know why Asread elected not to animate the epilogue from the manga. It took a while to get here, but this was always the place Mirai Nikki seemed likely to end up. As expected, it all had to do with that “next project” announcement at the end, and what “Redial” amounts to is a fleshed-out version of that epilogue – or rather, how it came to pass. What’s interesting is that there’s a Redial manga, too (this OVA shipped with it), but the anime only tangentially overlaps it – the content of the OVA is mostly anime-original, even if the two more or less line up philosophically and end up at the same place.

Mirai Nikki has, in fact, become something of a cottage industry in its own right. In addition to Redial there’s also two short mini-series – the back-story oriented “Mosaic” manga and the “Paradox” manga which re-tells the story with Akise as the protagonist. But it’s Redial which most closely intertwines with the original series, and it does manage to give the anime a measure of completeness that seemed lacking in its absence. Which ending you prefer is entirely up to you, but what can’t be argued is that this is closer to the ending that Esuno Sakae himself intended.

I won’t attempt to rehash the incredibly complex story of Mirai Nikki, as I assume you’ll have seen the anime or read the manga if you’re watching this OVA. Materially, Redial most differs from the original series in tone. We’re seeing a very different Gasai Yuuno here (which is the whole point), a girl who hasn’t been warped and twisted along with her family into a sick tangle of psychotic rage. And Redial focuses heavily – with varying effectiveness – on the slapstick comedy surrounding this Yuuno and her friends in the Third Universe we briefly saw in the original series.

Additionally, we see some of the other diary holders in quite different contexts here. Little Reisuke acts as Akise’s sidekick in a sort of comic detective duo. Hirasaka Yomotsu runs a souvenir shop promoting his exploits under his super-sentai alter ego. Tsubaki is still a Priestess, only this time crushing hard on Akise. Kousaka, Hinata and Mao, meanwhile, are something like more exaggerated versions of themselves. Akise, Minene and Bacchus interact with Deus, who’s still looking for a permanent replacement for himself in this world – Bacchus more or less acts as a buffoon, offering suggestions that inevitably lead to his own deification, Akise remains in his observer role and Minene pops back and forth from minding (and breastfeeding) her two kids.

Plot-wise there’s nothing here that differs much from what’s hinted at in the anime finale. Yuuno is plagued by memories of a boy she doesn’t know, but remembers. Meanwhile the dead Third Universe’s Yuuno’s memories are trapped with “her” Murumuru inside a celestial prison of this world’s Murumuru’s design, and Yuuki remains isolated in the Second Universe with only his Murumuru for company, 10,000 years and counting, just as we left him. The whole point of all this, more or less, is that Yuuno’s love for Yuuki is strong enough to break through the prisons of time and space, and she’s not going to rest until she gets to him – which she does, with some help from Minene (probably the funniest moment of the OVA comes when an exasperated Murumuru scolds Minene to “Pick a side and stick with it!”), quite literally shattering those walls. And that brings the story full-circle, to that last manga panel – the one the anime so conspicuously omitted from the end of the TV series.

I think Redial amounts to an unusual OVA in that it’s most certainly canon, and might even be argued to be indispensable for an authoritative adaptation of the manga. It’s not particularly exceptional in that it’s very much an extension of the TV series itself, and mostly contents itself with depicting a lighter side to the Mirai Nikki universe. It’s fitting, I suppose, that like the series that it so obviously uses as a jumping off point, Evangelion, Mirai Nikki is a story that its author continues to reinvent. The ending is a dynamic rather than a static thing – but unlike Anno Hideki I think Esuno-sensei has never wavered in what he wanted the ending to be in essence. And Redial, without question, brings the anime closer to that essence. It may not be brilliant or a game-changer as a stand-alone entry, but it performs an essential role in completing the transition of Mirai Nikki from page to screen.

 

ED Sequence

ED: (Happy End) by (Faylan)

40 Comments

  1. It is good that the once evil Murumuru seemed to got a change of heart.

    I was looking forward for Akise to get together with a certain girl. The only shame was someone made a mistake.

    As for Minene. Did her breast got bigger? I don’t think they got that big.

    Anyway. AT LAST, LOVE PREVAILS AND THE TWO BECOME GOD. I always loved such a lovely ending. The plot was artistic, I would have loved to see them have some fun under the stars.

    L002
  2. Enzo, I think the Tsubaki was going after Akise and not Kousaka it’s just that the rest of them mistook it for that (and she didn’t know till last min cuz she has bad eyes).

    KoroshiyaKi
  3. I recently had some time to give a chance to some “old” series which I had had no time to watch in the past, and decided to try Mirai Nikki…

    Oh boy, I liked it so much and felt so stupid for not having watched it back when it aired. I even went to see RandomC’s posts on each episode after watching them, but of course the comments section was closed already.

    The good thing is that this OVA had just appeared, so I watched it after all the other episodes 🙂

    As others have mentioned, a nice happy end, quite consistent with the rest of the store, and which gives a good sense of closure. One cannot forget all the drama from the previous world, but it’s nice to see that all the “new” versions of the characters are having a happy life thanks to the good actions of the 2nd Yukiteru. And the fact that the 3rd Yuno remembers everything from the previous Yuno brings a lot of optimism.

    If the author / anime company ever decide to produce more material, I would be interested in a prequel: how the 1st game happened. I wonder if Yuno was so psychotic in the 1st world as in the 2nd ; I guess in the 2nd she was even more ruthless (and had semi-godly powers to boot; a 15 year old girl cannot slice people in half vertically with a katana…). Probably the ways in which Yukiteru and Yuno defeated the other Diary Holders in the first world, and their personalities back then, would make an interesting story.

    Thanks Guardian Enzo for writing this post!

    Domo-kun
  4. By the way Enzo, do you know how many chapters of the Mirai Redial Manga have been released in Japan already? I could only find the first one online yet, even if it seems it was released in April.

    Domo-kun
  5. Took a damn long time.

    But I can’t remember the manga end being like this. Adding some scenes now maked the whole thing feels like an anime original episode.

    Anyway:

    G.E. “Well, know we know” -> “Well, now we know”. First sentence. kthxbye.

    TheMoondoggie
    1. the last bit was actually very similar when compared against the last chapter, iirc.
      Spoiler for Manga ending. Read at your own risk.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      fyi, I didn’t bother to look at Redial (yet).

      info600
  6. Funny thing that you just brought this up OVA since I’ve watched it like a month ago. Not that I’m complaining though.

    What bugs me is the fact that the MN:R manga has a completely different story-line. And even though I’ve only read the 1st chapter, I’m liking the manga take much more than the OVA. As for the OVA itself, I don’t personally think it’s as bad as I want it to be. If anything, it gave us a proper closure for both the original manga’s ending and the anime’s.

    https://randomc.net/image/Mirai%20Nikki/Mirai%20Nikki%20-%20OVA%20-%20Large%2007.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Mirai%20Nikki/Mirai%20Nikki%20-%20OVA%20-%20Large%2034.jpg

    On second thought, maybe the OVA are a lot better than what I expected.

  7. Felt like a fill-in-the-blanks episode in relation to the original manga ending really. It seems to consciously focus on characters for whom closure was not provided in the manga- Kousaka’s gang and minor diary users. To provide closure for these characters (economically omitting the endings of characters like Minene that were present in the manga and only hinting at them) and to explain in more detail the process through which Yuno regained her memories and smashed into god-Yuuki’s world which just kind of “happened” in the manga. Really the manga ending and this OVA are more or less entirely logically reconcilable in terms of causality- this extra episode was probably intended to augment rather than amend the manga’s original ending…

    Zen
    1. The ending (Yuno breaking those “walls” and reaching down for Yuuki) is cannon. the way we reach that ending is not on the Mirai Niki manga… but on the “Redial” Manga (the OVA , is mostly a resumed version of the Redial manga .. but the “ending” itself is the same as in the Mirai Nikki managa.. the redial just tells you how we got there.

      I think the OVA as an epilogue was good , solved several of the issues that were left “hanging” in the last episode of Mirai Nikki.

      PS: personally i like stories as Redial .. we all know how is gonna end .. but it doesnt matter to me.. the destination (ending) is never as important as the trip (story) itself … mebe that is why i dont care much for spoilers … or why endings that $%#*& the story really get me mad >.<

      inanis
  8. We bring you another “If Yuuno loves you” PSA!!! Basically, if Yuuno loves you, don’t bother trying to run into multiple other dimensions or parallel worlds, she will find you. Really. Even if you are the god of said parallel world, no problem, Yuuno will destroy the barriers of your own self isolation and find you. Oh Yuuno, you silly girl you.

    This has been brought to you by the Yander Love Foundation, “You can always count on my love and your death at my hands.” and the following sponsors (insert various knife manufacturer logos).

    cyprinious
  9. Nice to get some proper closure to a lot of those characters. Also, this is and probably will continue to be for a long time the only story where a beta main character and a yandere get a HAPPY END. I’m okay with that.

    Stilts
  10. I really liked the scene between Murumuru and Yuno. I always wanted them to show a bit more of their strange partnership that lasted over several survival games across time.
    Now both Yuno and Yukki have their own Murumuru. If only I could get one, too. ;_;

    As for the ending. It’s silly and makes no sense but hey, at the end of the day, I always favor a happy ending and I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for it.

    Access

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