First Impressions / Mirai Nikki

「家族プラン」 (Kazoku Puran)
“Family Plan”

Don’t get too comfortable, because just when you figure you have Mirai Nikki figured out, the game changes.

This episode is proof for me that a director doesn’t have to make a word-for-word adaptation of a manga for it to be a good adaptation – or a faithful one. Manga is not anime, and the same structures that work well with one don’t always work with the other. This episode was an unusual mix of some material that’s not in the original manga at all, and some slightly tweaked but essentially spot-on (and important) manga material. It was also a nice combination of exposition, introduction and teasing that did a fine job of creating a mood substantially different from any of the prior episodes.

For starters, I’m astounded at how good the section with Ninth was, given that it’s from the Mirai Nikki Mosaic spinoff manga and thus wasn’t present in this part of the original story. It was a feast for Minene fans – and who isn’t a Minene fan – as she continues to prove one of the hardest characters to figure out. After a brief look at her still holed up Unabomber-style in her cabin making bombs – and calling Fourth a “slave driver” for making her do it – we flash back to April and “only the third time” she’d used her diary. And it appears that she let overconfidence get the better of her, using her escape diary in an attempt to ambush Third (bet you thought we were done with him) but not realizing that he was prepared for her assault with a heavy dose of body armor. While attempting to retreat she’s arrested by Sakurami City police detective Nishijima Masumi (Ishii Makoto – Shinichiro from “True Tears” and a voice we haven’t heard often enough) who seems rather smitten with her and proves a considerate captor as he tries to engineer their escape together.

Hosoda-sensei makes an interesting choice here in the way he depicts the switch to a surrealistic fantasy mode as the meeting and escape is seen through the eyes of Murumuru – highly skewed eyes, as she’s trying to predict human courtship behavior through the tropes of shoujo manga. There’s some interesting cross-cutting between the “real” world, Murumuru’s fantasy and a conversation between she and Ninth, with Deus listening in. It’s a bold and unusual thing to do, putting in extra material and severely unorthodox at that, but I think it works. Nothing too much is given away, but all this provides an insight into Minene’s rather fragile psyche (she’s rather, dare I say it, moe during this sequence) and a good introduction to Nishijima, who I felt entered the scene rather abruptly in the manga.

After the eyecatch, we change gears completely to some pure canon material focused on Yuno and Yuki – unseen up till now apart from a brief scene of Yuno digging a hole to open the episode. Yukiteru is excited, thinking Akise has asked him out invited him to a movie, but when Yuno shows up instead, her diary bearing a message from Akise about a “trial wedding ceremony” event being held that day, it’s clear he’s been set up by Akise. In some ways this sequence is similar to the amusement park scenes, but with a major difference – those took place before Yuki had looked in “that” room. And that’s made all the difference, as we find out by sharing Yuki’s reflections over the next few minutes of the episode. He wants to tell Yuno that his confession of the prior episode was all a lie, but he hesitates – first, because he sees how happy Yuno is at this fairy-tale pretend wedding stuff. Second (and much more interestingly) her finds himself somewhat seduced at the notion of actually falling for Yuno. She’s devoted to him, she’s fiercely protective, and she looks beautiful in a wedding dress. But there’s that room, and Yuki can’t undo what happened that day when he opened the door.

There are some interesting elements to the sequence at the wedding event, not least of which is that the guide is a woman named Kurusu Naomi who says her husband is a police detective. Mostly, it’s some of the most low-key and least ironic material in the series so far, as Yuno throws herself into the fantasy and Yuki begins the enjoy playing the “husband” to this lovely girl. But when they return to Yuno’s house (she asleep on his back) we discover the meaning behind Akise’s plan – he wanted them both out of the house so he could snoop around. And much to Yukiteru’s shock, what Akise found behind that door wasn’t corpses, but a room whose exterior wall is gone, exposing it to the central courtyard, and a giant hole so deep he can’t see the bottom. Yuno has no memory of having dug it, and when Yuki confronts her about what he’s seen in the room, she quite convincingly claims not to have any memory of that either. Finally, we briefly move to a conference room at the police station – where Fourth is announcing to his team (Nishijima included) that Yukiteru and Yuno are to be arrested immediately for the murder of Karyuudo Tsukishima.

What this episode manages to do above all, for me, is effectively create atmosphere. It’s relaxed by Mirai Nikki standards and even wistful during the wedding event, but also quite intense at the same time. it also does a fine job undermining our confidence that we know the cast as well as we thought we did – all of the holdovers are seen in a somewhat different light after the events of the episode. And once again, while the animation isn’t lavish on the whole, it manages to convey a real sense of style – interesting and distinctive and effective at creating an unsettling mood throughout. Asread has retained a lot of staff from Production I.G. to help with the visual side of things here, and it’s really paying dividends as they’re getting maximum value out of the budget.

 

Omake

85 Comments

    2. You need to have fame and fortune to have a stalker. Try being a rock star or a celebrity. Your wish comes true…but beware of what you wish for. Stalkers have a negative stigma because it is. I have never met a good stalker. It is an oxymoron like honorable thieves or benevolent killers.

      Chaos
      Reply

      1. Yuno is all about helping The Yuuki, not killing The Yuuki. So when she says she is digging a hole for him, she could be digging a hole in a way to help out the situation. This is what I tell myself so I can sleep at night.

        skylion
        Reply

  2. Fourth has made his move… Uryu Minene is so cool, mad cosplayer terrorist, also Yuno is broken, very broken… Looks like Yukiteru is the only thing that separates her from total and complete insanity… D:

    Kingdragun
    Reply

    1. 4th has always been up to no good. Because 10th revealed his position, he now can’t used 1st and 2nd anymore. They are deemed as a threat to him. He even made 9th build bombs for the upcoming battle.

      I think Yuno was already broken. Yuki seem to be the glue that been keeping her sane and alive. It is funny really how the weakest player play such a vital role to the strongest player. Is Yuno a blessing to Yuki or his curse?

      Chaos
      Reply

    1. I was wondering if anyone else spotted that lol. That episode was definitely one of the most memorable of Idolmaster and I loved that cameo here. They were pretty blatant about it too with that poster showing up on multiple occasions XD

      Taiakun
      Reply

  7. Deredere Minene FTW!
    More evidence of Yuno’s utter madness… Yet she is just stunning in the wedding dress. A girl to die for?
    Detective Kurusu makes his move! But I’d love to see his motivation…
    I wonder if his “investigation diary” includes the possibility of HIMSELF being investigated?

    ewok40k
    Reply

    1. Maybe that the weakness of his diary.. Aki or the other detective Nishijima Masumi are going to be the ones that will be causing his fall… This is gotta be the hardest enemy to beat yet, C`mon the guy has the entire police department behind his back! Looks like the diary owners with power will prove to be overpowered… (Theentrepreneur guy, the mafia guy, detective Kurusu)

      Kingdragun
      Reply

      1. I have a strong feeling that Akise and 4th “feel” like the same person…

        Maybe they are both on the same team. Maybe 4th his not a diary owner, but Akise is. Maybe they are father and son.

        I just feel that 4th and Akise are one and the same. Their behavior seem so similar. I just can’t quite explain it.

        Chaos
        Reply

    1. Definitely a love story…

      More like a tragic love story. He got shot in the heart. Talk about breaking a guy’s heart, Ouch!

      With scenes and background stories around 4th and 9th, it looks like one of them will be gone in the next episode. Because I know Yuno and Yuki cannot be dead, they are the main characters. Main characters don’t die. Well, at least not til the end like some tragic story.

      If I have to choose between 4th and 9th, I say 4th can die. I am starting to like 9th. But with the Omake on her side, it could be a foreshadow of death for her. I didn’t get the thing about the hairstyle. I just assume it meant a change in 9th next episode. If that is also true, then we all know a changing character means sacrifice.

      Chaos
      Reply

      1. Okay, no. Omake =/= Death. This was already proven with the omake that featured Yukiteru’s mom and Akise. They just expand on given material. The only reason why Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Twelfth had their omake’s so quickly attached to the ends of their episodes was because they didn’t last long in the game. Heck, Tenth just died last episode, did we get an omake to “foreshadow” it? No.

        Donyo
        Reply

      3. Partially right. Traditionally, people thought the heart was in the center. Later, they say it a little to the left.

        The right answer is it is in the center, but slightly tilted to the left where is hardly noticeable.

        Chaos
        Reply

    1. I never saw the connection. I saw how she got that dress. Speaking of which, she still kept it. It means while she desperately tried to hide her girly side, she doesn’t complete reject it. Typical Tsundere.

      Chaos
      Reply

  12. Everyone’s gonna think this episode was filler (and technically, it was) but this was actually made up of one episode from the manga AND one from a spin off from the POV of 9th!

    Anyway, shit gets real next episode. Like realer than before.

    And after that it gets slightly more real.

    Da5id
    Reply

  13. yeah, the sidestories/spinoff mangas are actually canon. id recommend not checking out paradox yet though until you finish the anime/manga. its like… a prequel, more enjoyable to read once you finish the original.
    though they cut off the part of mosaic during minene trying to dissuade 5th on “avenging” his parents(well, that was her thought and she didnt know his targets would be yuki and yuno).

    anyways, this anime was quite great. I withdrew my earlier statement that this is “okay” for an adaptation, it is great. I loved how murumuru made it look like a scene from a shoujo manga.
    and I didnt realize you knew about “tropes” as well, enzo.

    amado
    Reply

  15. If they didn’t have that opening part where Yuno was digging the hole, it might actually made the entire “The first time Yuki’s visited my home” sentence much more mysterious. That hole digging animation made it obvious that she was having selective amnesia.

    Also 9th holding that grenade like it some embarrasing item was funny

    Zaku Fan
    Reply

    1. Girls have teddy bear and locket, 9th have flash grenade…

      What to do when you’re out bombs?

      Speaking of which, I haven’t seem 9th with a gun ever. You would imagine a girl raised up on the guerrilla warfare to have RPG and machine armed to the teeth, but not 9th. Just bombs. The very same thing that killed her parents and took away her life she choose to give back to the world. Karma!

      Chaos
      Reply

      2. The funny thing about girl and weapons is that they have a lot of “places” to hide their weapons. So just because you don’t see it, doesn’t she isn’t carry one? “wink wink” -_o

        A guy in prison manage to hide a grenade in his ass. It worked until one of the prison guard thought something was funny about the guy and gave him a cavity search. Let just say it didn’t end well for that guy when the guard accidental pull out the pin. LOL! Horrible way to go if ask me.

        Chaos
        Reply

      3. do you know how hard it is to get a gun in Japan? on the other hand explosives are easily made with some specialist knowledge and easily obtainable materials – trust me, I’m military otaku…

        ewok40k
        Reply

      4. There are all kinds of crazy stuff in Japan. Plenty of kinky stuff, too. It is one of the country where it is okay to have sex with another women other than your wife if you agree to pay her in money and not love. I can buy an organ if I wanted to. What surprise me the most is that a kidney or heart is a lot more expensive than paying somebody to kill a person you hated kinda like how you paid $100 for a junk car in a junkyard, but a window cost like $50.

        Chaos
        Reply

  16. This episode absolutely solidified my opinion that this is a great adaptation of the source material. I really like how the director is handling all the material he’s been given to work with. Manga-readers and anime-only watchers really have nothing to complain about here.

    It’s also interesting that even though people are complaining that Yukiteru needs to trust Yuno more, here we see him making an effort to put what he saw at Yuno’s house behind him. He even gets angry at Akise for snooping around at Yuno’s place and opening that door, bringing up an issue that he wants to forget. He is well-aware that if he hadn’t seen that, it would be okay for him to fall for Yuno. And between everything she’s done for him, from protecting him without any reservations to being perfect girlfriend-material, he finds it isn’t such a bad deal.

    I mean seriously, this series is addressing your complaints and rectifying them, what more do you want.

    Also, Minene’s flashback was probably my favorite part of the episode; I was particularly fond of that chapter in Mosaic. Although, now her cameo in the first episode makes no sense; she was standing next to Nishijima in her disguise, looking at one of Third’s murder victims. If she was investigating him as a diary owner by then, Nishijima should have already known who she was. Of course, if she wasn’t, then the point is moot.

    Donyo
    Reply

  17. Nice to see that they’ve added the Mosaic spin-off in the anime. I wonder if they’ll going to add anything from Paradox? Would be interesting, considering how Akise’s true origin in the manga blows me in a bad way.

    Terrorhunt
    Reply

  18. Who saw Azusa Miura on Wedding ads Thumb up!?

    How come this two anime related .lol

    PS. Didnt saw it? just go look at the screenshot when Yukki wAS on the bus and was reading his diary about Akise .

    pokpokza
    Reply

  20. It is funny how nobody mention anything about 3rd…

    The guy was heavily armor like a Juggernaut in MW3.

    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_REuP22NTqxY/Syg9fjr1kOI/AAAAAAAAAtg/luBnZsh-SvY/s400/juggernaut_paul_01.jpg

    I guess he wore that cheap coat over it to hide that fact that he was bullet-proof, bomb-proof, stab-proof, and nerve gas-proof. I bet ya a bus can hit him, but he just get up and keep walking like it was nothing.

    Now I feel bad that he died so easily in Episode #1. He would have made an awesome boss in the end…3rd: the Juggernaut!

    Chaos
    Reply

    1. well, aside from yuno w/ a bladed weapon, there’s one diary holder who can take him on directly and win. in fact, the very nature of his diary is the perfect counter to the “murder diary” more so than the “investigation diary”.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      amado
      Reply

  21. Yukiteru is excited, thinking Akise has asked him out <– THIS xD
    Lol we finally are going to get an explanation for 'that room' (i think)! And , was it just me, or is the anime hinting Ninth x Fourth , since she first appeared. Cool review ^^;
    Akise FTW!

    *Agi
    Reply

    1. It’s just you.

      No, seriously, where are people getting Fourth and Ninth as a couple; we even found out he was married this episode. Granted he’s seeing his wife less, but I think it’s safe to say that’s because he’s busy being a murderer, not because he’s having an affair.

      Donyo
      Reply

      2. AFFECTIONATE SMILES LMAO. Are we looking at the same thing here…?

        Also, she found that dress thing that she was wearing before he came to arrest her; the scene of her putting it on in front of Twelfth was cut for time. I’m not sure where it came from but if anything, Twelfth gave it to her, not Fourth.

        Donyo
        Reply

    2. 4th is just using her. The other detective guy was the one who made 9th all moe.

      I know exactly why Yuno dug that huge hole now. She is planning on burying the entire police force and 4th in there. Plus some extra room for 9th and Akise.

      Chaos
      Reply

  22. Yuno is completely out of her mind, it is official with this episode. I always thought that I like her because she was crazy and psychotic, but what she did in this episode was above and beyond. She artificially manipulated her own memories. She is extremely delusional now.

    Which is kinda funny because in reality, people do that on a regular basis. They just don’t realized that they do it. In fact, I didn’t realized it unto I was on some hallucinogenic stuff a while back. I was expecting to be taken to a fantasy world and seeing blue smurfs. Ironically, it took me to reality. Quite a shocker in my opinion. I was never quite the same after that day. Funny how it takes a delusion to wake a person from a delusion. Of course, I pretend like it was a joke and try to glue the pieces to my broken mirror of reality. But, it just crumble to the ground. You can’t unseen what have been seen.

    I like Yuno. She is starting to resemble me, down to the completely crazy side. Except that I can lied and put on a smile whenever I wanted. I have a few more levels to my personality of course, but all of Yuno isn’t shown yet either. If she is truly like me that she will shared the same fate as me…a tragic end. There is no happy ending for people like us. LOL! Oh, whatever enjoy life while it lasts.

    Chaos
    Reply

    1. Yuno is completely out of her mind, it is official with this episode

      Where have you been for the past 9 episodes where she was keeping dead bodies in her house, splitting heads with axes, preparing to kill someones mom with an assortment of fun tools, sticking a knife in a five-year old and stabbing dogs in the face?

      I think it’s been official since the end of episode 3 when Yuno wished Yuki goodnight – through the mail slot of his house. This is of course after he ran all the way back to his house after witnessing two corpses rotting away in the her house. Oh Yuno, you’re so crazy.

      7godeohs
      Reply

  23. GOOD LORD, SO SHE DIDN’T USE SOME MACHINE TO HELP HER, SHE REALLY DIG UP THAT HOLE WITH HER OWN HANDS. NO WONDER SHE IS SO ROBUST. To anyone who saw the movie Holes, you should be surprised how just ONE LITTLE CUTE GIRL was able to do the work that most of the people in that movie could never do alone.

    L002
    Reply

  24. ok then um say this ep yea let say it was uh i don’t know give spilt into 2 parts

    give we got

    yuno digging a hole.
    uryu making bombs look at her dress so flashback with battle with 3rd.
    during the battle she fall meet young cop decective got cuff & run with him with murmur doing dubbing on it.
    of course some hmm give lol got splash by toilet water & here the dress.
    3rd got big sound flashbang blast by uryu while after that she shoot the cop give he also wearing a vest & notice murmur dubbing give uryu past is very messed.

    yuki waiting for aru it was yuno cause aru set them to a bridal fair date.
    yea give sorta fine give yuno in wedding dress yea yuki uh-oh with lead practice marriage.
    after got yuno house there aru & big hole yuno going like “yuno-hiding” something.
    oh cop dairy now plan to arrest yuki & yuko oh young cop decective is there as meeting.

    murmur extra on uryu with many hair styles from topknot, swilry blonde, cop dairy’s hairstyle?!, afro hair yo yo, samurai, & baldy.

    MR.KLAC
    Reply

      1. Yeah, it tell ya he doesn’t understand the definition of “No” and rejection. Typical guy.

        I kinda feel sorry for him, in more than one way. Especially, when he had to stand there while 9th was taking a dump. DOn’t get me wrong, girls are beautiful and all…not all the time. The time in the bathroom is a no-no. If she is naked and taking a shower, that is yes-yes.

        Chaos
        Reply

  26. https://randomc.net/image/Mirai%20Nikki/Mirai%20Nikki%20-%2010%20-%2010.jpg
    Enzo… ):3
    Can’t wait for the shower scene XD
    As for the episode itself, I’m really glad they added the sidestory as part of the series itself, it’s these kinds of stories that flesh out a character really well, especially ones like Ninth, who’s pretty enigmatic right now.
    My biggest worry though is if there will be enough time for all the material covered in the main story of the manga. I was already worried when I thought they were only doing the main storyline but if they’re going to include Mosaic stuff too, and possibly even Paradox (though this seems more like bonus BR/DVD stuff), then I’m not sure if it’ll have enough timwe without rushing things.

    Airon
    Reply

      1. Not necessarily Enzo, we are only finishing chapter 19 out of a 59 chapter series. That means 40 chapters to go (32.20% completed) but 38.46% of the time allocated gone. If we add in the chapters they added from Mosaic then we get 61 total chapters but I’m anticipating they will add in one more chapter that hasn’t been covered yet for a total of 62 chapters with 21 completed and 10 out of 26 episodes. Completeness ratio of content is 33.87% where as the episode progression percent is the same at 38.46%. So in order to get similar results though there is a problem because if you try to break up the chapters then no matter how you try to break up the ratios you will need 17 more episodes to keep going at a pace of 2 or 3 chapters per episode. The easy argument to make on how to solve this is that you can just make some of the 2 chapters per episode 2.5 chapters instead but then we run into climax problems being aligned with the ending of an episode as well as the fact that they will probably want to slow down the progression rate at the end of the series due to it being the conclusion but we can probably get through some of those parts faster than the manga could as well for various reasons. And we haven’t factored in additional omake inclusions either.

        So in short we probably should still worry a bit about the pacing of the show.

        KoroshiyaKi
        Reply

      2. @KoroshiyaKi

        While mathematically correct, it is important to keep in mind that the story pace in manga is slightly different than the anime. Action scenes are often given larger panel sizes or splash pages, double-page spreads, while a more mundane story takes up more panels a la Watchmen.

        For anime, the screen/fps doesn’t change. It’s just that the pace becomes more kinetic, and feels faster once the action kicks in.

        Bottom line: the manga chapter to anime episode ratio is not a flat, fixed one after each episode. Check your numbers again, but after each episode.

        Zammael
        Reply

      3. Well my numbers are derived from the standard mathematical model but there does tend to be a correlation with the two given that they have been following the manga rather closely, even ending most episodes (I’m only using that term atm because I don’t wana check all of them) at the same part where the manga left off at (which tends to be the smart thing to do). I also said they would naturally want to slow down near the end to make sure you get the full impact from whats going on but I calculated it as if it was standard because I figured that the speed of the final chapters will get slower but at the same time the scenes will go by faster due to the battle sequences which balances it out and generally accounts for it at the same time. So my statement still stands, though I say that I do have an idea on where they might be trimming time from to make it fit nice and neat but I will keep that to myself because I’m not as sure yet.

        KoroshiyaKi
        Reply

      4. Nope.

        The ratio is not consistent. For example, half of Episode 10 came from the Mirai Nikki Mosaic manga, which hadn’t been prevalent in the anime hitherto.

        That you refuse to try your cute ratio with the previous episode-to chapter correlation says everything. 🙂

        Zammael
        Reply

  29. Selective amnesia…

    Great, now we will never know how those corpses got there and where they disappear to. On the bright side, the house doesn’t smell like dead people anymore. She must have use Febreze.

    Chaos
    Reply

  31. Its so weird how they just ended the last episode’s problem like it didn’t even happened!!
    So that breeder diary guy got shot by 4th/detective. So what happened to that? And what about Mao who got stabbed?! Hmmph

    nutcracker
    Reply

  32. LOL to be honest this episode marks as my favorite. Also to Minene Uryuu, who has just become my favorite character of all time. XD Her tsundere attitude is not to be missed. I like how they made half of Mirai Nikki: Mosaic in animation…

    …and also that awesome (yet funny) chemistry between Minene and Nishijima. I just love it. XD

    Thousand Mistress
    Reply

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