First Impressions / Mirai Nikki

「サービス終了」 (Sābisu Shūryō)
“Service Termination”

This episode of Mirai Nikki was a bit of a roller-coaster, quality-wise, but it was so exhilaratingly paced that I can overlook some of the deficiencies in deference to the sheer entertainment value.

I’ll get the gripes out of the way first, and I do have a couple. The first is fairly minor and amounts to a simple matter of style: I didn’t especially find the silliness of the scene with Yuki and Minene when he accidentally detonated her bomb effective. I should say, elements of it were terrific – namely Ninth’s dialogue – but the use of the light-hearted BGM track and the overplaying of the absurdity felt jarring in the middle of such a serious scene. That’s a fine line for the show at most times, because it’s a life-and-death drama that’s played out in absurdist style, and so far, they’ve gotten it mostly right. The second problem is potentially a much larger one, and that’s the use of the luminescent pink eyes for Yuno’s “crazy mode”. It’s no secret that Yuno’s erratic and subject to wild personality swings, but I don’t want to see the audience hit over the head with it every time it happens, and I also don’t think’s it’s a service to her character to imply that the crazy comes and goes like there’s an on-off switch.

That aside, I think most of the episode worked pretty well and there were a couple of very strong moments. Certain episodes are easier for me to talk about than others, but this is one of the ones that’s hard to discuss without saying stuff I shouldn’t. So I’ll stick to safe territory and say that a lot of questions were answered for the audience in a very straightforward way – by what happens in the episode, though you do have to do a little interpreting of what you saw. Mainly, this is when Fourth’s story finally begins to take shape, and we see why he made (and broke) his alliance with Yukiteru and why he made one with Ninth.

Fourth’s motivation becomes obvious when we see his son lying near death in the abandoned hospital, with his wife (Morinaka Aoi, in no less than her firth role in the series) at his bedside. As Fourth tells us this week, his goal isn’t necessarily to win, but to achieve the end he seeks – the salvation of his son. Fourth is a complex man and his thinking is complex, and the scene where he plays Russian roulette with Yuki is every bit as chilling as I’d hoped it’d be. Simply put, Fourth is playing this like a game of chess – thinking several moves ahead, willing to sacrifice pieces to achieve the ultimate result. When Yuki and Yuno are no longer the right pieces, he moves on to Ninth – but he still needs Yuki and Yuno out of the way, and as a policeman whose very diary is only effective as long as he’s in that professional role, he can’t do anything to jeopardize his position. But like any good chess player, he’s learned how his opponent thinks, and tries to use this to his advantage by provoking Yuno and turning the children into fugitives.

As for what Ninth is all about, you’re going to have to wait on that because the episode doesn’t answer anything definitively. Sufficient for our purposes is to say that she’s a great character, a necessary contrast to Yukiteru and Yuno with her fierce directness and cutting humor. Some of the scenes in the episode would have risked tipping too far into absurdity without her, but she’s an anchor- and she acts as a sort of audience proxy by calling BS when she sees it. Ninth realizes full well just how bizarre is this game she’s playing in – as does Yuki – but her approach to that absurdity is very different from his.

Not to be forgotten in all this is Yuki himself, and this is an important ep for him as well. He’s sliding deeper into the trap – in Yuno he sees someone who meets every definition of delusional paranoia, to a psychotic level. He still recoils when she goes off on what appears to be a rant and proposes something horrific – but what if she’s right? And the fact that she so often is makes it even worse. Every decent instinct he has tells him to resist her, and she is wrong some of the time – but what if she’s not? What you’re really seeing with Yuki is the building frustration at being a helpless bystander while the others in his life knock him around – he’s the pinball, and they’re the flippers. The irony is that this is exactly how he chose to live his life before all this started – as an observer, not a participant. And now he’s realizing that inside Deus’ game at least, that’s not a very pleasant way to live.

 

Omake

72 Comments

    1. No. I think she fell in love with he because he is the only person who care about her, at least in her mind. I figure there is a history about them and he must have done something right in the past to win her off (probably the one thing he ever did right), he just didn’t know it.

      We probably won’t find out til the very end…I just feel it.

      Chaos
      Reply

  5. I completely agree with the comment about the eyes. The best thing about Yuno is that she’s crazy all the time, but you never really know if she’s going to walk up to someone and say hi or stab them in the face with a box cutter. The blank stare pink eye thing lets you know that something is coming. Plus she seems to go in a trance now when she gets like that, which makes no sense to me. I hope this is not a trend but I have a feeling it will be from here out.

    7godeohs
    Reply

    1. Apparently, you and Enzo have never been crazy or met crazy people…

      I know for a fact that it IS an on and off thing. Nobody is crazy all the time?! That is ridiculous. You can’t survive in the real world solely on craziness. You would killed yourself in no time. It is like running on pure adrenaline all the time. That is not possible. Eventually, it will exhausted itself and need to be recharge like everything else in your body.

      For everybody else, it is more like a train of thoughts that normally end with a filter of some kind (aka the wall). When people hit this wall, they stop. Crazy people don’t. They crashed into the wall and go beyond. Nothing is crazy or obscene on the other side. It is where anything goes. It is very true for me, so I can’t speak for ALL crazy people, but I am pretty sure they wouldn’t disagree either.

      And yes, you will always feel that wall..for both crazy and non-crazy people. The only difference is who can continue going afterward.

      Chaos
      Reply

  6. thanks for the post, Enzo 🙂
    To me, the light-mood scene actually works, after we have seen what ninth is capable of doing during last week’s episode… maybe this is the so-called gap moe?
    Yuno’s “crazy” mode doesn’t come as a surprise since they did speculate that she erased her own memory for Yuki, and it gives another “reason” for Yuki to try to “save” her.
    My biggest question, without having read the manga is the Russian Roulette… If 4th actually killed himself or Yuki, then what would that achieve? He couldn’t save his son if he is dead, and he will certainly be killed/arrested for killing Yuki (likely to be killed by Yuno anyway)… this guy is indeed complex
    and am I the only one who doesn’t enjoy this week’s omake?

    jrj
    Reply

    1. Just to clarify what I meant, it’s really the zany music that made that scene feel “off” to me. It’s indeed an absurd scene and it’s in the manga – I just think the weirdness speaks loud enough without the incongruous BGM.

      And I kind of liked the omake this week. The sheer notion of Murumuru as Kurusu and Nishijima being fooled by it is so crazy that I couldn’t help but appreciate it.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

    2. “My biggest question, without having read the manga is the Russian Roulette… If 4th actually killed himself or Yuki, then what would that achieve? He couldn’t save his son if he is dead, and he will certainly be killed/arrested for killing Yuki (likely to be killed by Yuno anyway)… this guy is indeed complex”

      To answer this question, 4th had his diary out the entire time and he was reading it almost the entire time. If he was to die due to the bullet he himself shot it would be recorded in his diary but it wasn’t (and even if it was he could just change the future) and therefore the only probable outcome was Yukiteru being the sole receiver of the bullet unless something was to happen, like he planned with Yuno jumping in and saving Yuki by trying to kill him (probably with a gun as it would be the only thing fast enough) in the first place. What he didn’t anticipate was the ear shot he received instead of a body shot (but he was still essentially gambling here as a good head shot would have ended his bid for godhood but hes already planned for that as well (but that’s for later unless you can figure it out now).

      KoroshiyaKi
      Reply

      1. The gambling part of his plan WASN’T Yuno shooting him. The gamble was on Yuki. If for any moment Yuno DIDN’T show up in time, he would have failed miserably. By that I mean, she could have gone in a minute late and Yuki would have been dead. Thus, he gamble on Yuki, not Yuno. He just anticipated Yuno jumping in like she always does. It just happen that she shot randomly and almost got a headshot first.

        Chaos
        Reply

      2. You make like 4th wanted to kill Yuki right there. It would be kind of hard to explain away how you just had to use lethal force in the form of a gun on a kid who is physically your inferior and when searched would not have anything of considerable danger. And I don’t think sitting in prison is a good way to become god.

        His entire plan was just that, he could stall out on killing Yuki for any amount of time until Yuno arrived. Now that they are registered as criminals he can now use his diary to change the future because he will now know what their actions will be based off of what is described in his Detective diary while being able to use the full force of the police department to attain his goals. His biggest risk in this entire event was Yuno’s shooting, nothing more and nothing less.

        KoroshiyaKi
        Reply

  7. starting to wonder if yuno has like a split personality or something. She goes from innocently cute to freakishly strong pyscho. I mean the only person that’s overcome her might is Akise.

    kaine
    Reply

  8. Now we’re starting to see more of Ninth. Can’t wait for more of my favorite character. Still just the tip of the iceberg for her character, though.

    And I agree; not a fan of Yuno’s craziness being “switched on/off” and showing it in that way. They did great with her expressions so far; I don’t know why they decided to do that in this episode.

    And I’ve gotta say that I really liked the MuruMuru segment at the end of the episode; Nishijima is a fun character to jerk around, hah.

    Donyo
    Reply

      2. It’s not that she’s “crazy all the time”. The great thing about Yuno is that there is no warning for when she’s going to snap. There’s always high suspense. And a lot of the time she’s doing something brutal/psychotic while she’s wearing a normal expression. Yuno’s mental state is supposed to be hard to gauge. That’s why Yukiteru has such a hard time trusting her; he never knows when she’s going to take extreme measures. Hell, her body language had more cues than her facial expression when he was protecting Sixth from her.

        Donyo
        Reply

    1. Honestly I agree, I like seeing her face hostile. I was a little annoyed by the “blank eyes” that they kept giving her. Enzo hit it on the head when he said they made it look like she had a “crazy on/off switch”.

      bijyu
      Reply

  10. Well, I hope this episode becomes the first and last one, quality-wise, in the series. They’ve been coming in a pretty good streak, but this episode highlighted the main issues I’m currently having with the show.

    One problem I had watching this episode was definetly Yuno’s eyes…But Enzo already explained this much better than I could hope to do. Still, this was the first time this happened, so that leads me to the final (and only, actually; considering they fix Yuno’s eyes :B ) issue I’m having with the show lately…

    Maybe it’s just me being too picky, but I cannot stand such convenient, yet minor, plotholes. I hate it, even more in this case, where the story is what drives the show forward. If Mirai Nikki was all about explosions and action, I wouldn’t mind much, since the developers clearly didn’t focus on that; but Mirai Nikki is not about that.

    -Yuno and Yuki jumped off the rooftop of a building. And fell into a truck. Am I really to believe they were able to casually walk away after landing, like they apparently did?

    -Perhaps the worst one this week, what’s up with the hospital scene? I actually laughed and all with Yuki and Ninth’s scene, but, unfortunately, it seemed those 3 were isolated from the real world for that good while. Sure, the police sent troops and everything after hearing the explosions, but what about the people in the hospital? Fourth’s wife inside that room? She just heard two explosions in the corridor outside and didn’t even peek outside to see what was going on? When 1st, 2nd and 9th came in, she just turned around from her seat, amused, like it had been a quiet, peaceful afternoon up until their arrival. And when the 3 had their rather long conversation, she remained quietly offscreen in the meantime……Seriously?

    …All this may have sounded like a whine, but please, do know I enjoy Mirai Nikki. It’s just that, from my perspective, all these problems could easily be solved with another way of developing the situation, no major changes…Alas my frustration in seeing these scenes, which push me away from total immersion.
    If this chain of events is actually different in the manga, please, DO tell me, as it may somewhat ease that little little stingy pain left inside me… 😛

    Justinnnnnn
    Reply

    1. Oh, and, haha, this is the first time posting in this series blog. Thanks for your early posts Enzo, they are very fun to read! I’ve said this before, but what I enjoy the most from your writing is your first sentence-paragraph of every post you make…You sum up your thoughts of your entire post there, and straight to the point too. Thanks for your continued blogging; keep it up!

      Justinnnnnn
      Reply

      1. Thanks. And while it may not be the answer you want to hear, I think it’s best not to worry about plot holes too much with Mirai Nikki – this isn’t a show that really goes heavily for photo-realism. It’s really more about the general atmosphere and the larger-than-life characters, and suspension of disbelief…

        Guardian Enzo
        Reply

    2. “-Yuno and Yuki jumped off the rooftop of a building. And fell into a truck. Am I really to believe they were able to casually walk away after landing, like they apparently did?”

      It’s possible they could do that, did you see the gutter rail going down the side of the building?

      Your second issue is quite valid though and one I had an issue with in the manga but I forgave it for lack of caring about it.

      The chain of events are as depicted, some minor screen adjustments due to covering two chapters and thus making more sense to put the 9th and 4th’s dialog at the beginning of the episode instead of at the beginning of the 21st chapter (half way through the episode).

      KoroshiyaKi
      Reply

    3. For the second one:

      1. It’s an abandoned hospital.
      2. You’re right, she probably should have been a little more curious about the explosions.
      3. It is pretty strange how she just sits there, but she either remembers Yuki/Yuno or she’s silent with fear.

      Luxor
      Reply

      1. It was an abandoned hospital? Oh. I totally missed that, thanks for that. I guess one issue could then be somewhat overlooked; leaving Fourth’s wife of course…

        It’s just that Enzo and some others commented on this woman’s later importance, so I guess I built up some expectations for her character. It doesn’t look like she’s a diary holder, nor being a serial killer when nobody’s looking; and she is being as unintense as she could ever be having all the already-explained-issues-I-had-with-that-scene.

        I’m just hoping next episode I’m blown away by awesomeness that makes me forget these little things, heh…I’m calling it now: they will use Fourth’s family as hostages to escape! No spoiler by the way, haven’t read the manga.

        Justinnnnnn
        Reply

  11. I found my suspension of disbelief starting to crack this episode. Usually, Yuno’s yandere pushes aside plot holes and narm both, but this week’s ladder scene was too dissonant, and I’d have to disagree with Enzo on the interrogation scene — it’s probably due to already reading the manga, but I felt that the presentation could have been a lot better. It’s just that much of the scene was the same side-shot of Yuki and Kurusu sitting (saving budget?)

    Yuno’s crazy on/off eye thing isn’t necessarily a bad thing; I think as long as Asread contains it to this arc. It’s just showing that she’s on auto-pilot/”save Yukkii, Happy End GET” mode.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Also, was it just me or was Yuki crying way too much this episode? I don’t remember him being quite so bad in the manga.

    Carp
    Reply

  13. welp…. this is one of the episodes that I’ve been waiting on feverishly since hearing the manga was going to be animated…. And while I can’t say it failed (can mirai nikki fail?), it… kinda missed the mark. Kinda.

    WHY did they start with that goofy music? WHY? With the music being as… intense as it can be at times, I kind of feel like if they wanted a scene to pass off as goofy they could just have the scene play out with no music at all. Those shrieking violins are almost as nerve wracking as “Zawa Zawa”, if you know what I mean. lol

    I love how they delved into 4th’s reasons for stressing Yuki into being a criminal so he could track him with his diary. Wait…. I just realized something. Wouldn’t he have been able to track Yuno’s movements with that diary? I mean, she’s an axe crazy murderer. He has memories of her killing folks en masse… eh. Maybe he gambled on killing two birds with one stone? I for one would have avoided invoking Yuno’s unpredictability at all costs.

    Aaaaaand 9th Nurse. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3.

    For some odd reason, the scene with Yuno and the fire extinguisher is one of my favorite in the manga. lol IMO, it didn't translate as well here. But that's a minor nit pick. I'm pretty sure the folks who havent read the manga dont mind at all.

    And what's up with her eyes? I hope they don't keep that. One of the things that makes Yuno so effective as a character is the fact that you really couldn't predict when and where she would lose it. Unless you were messing with Yuki. Having a glowy eye warning waters the character down.

    All in all though, that's what I get for wishing for perfection.

    Wait
    Reply

    1. As for why 4th couldn’t track Yuno… He can’t make predictions on anyone if they aren’t part of one of his investigations. And he always covered up for Yuno’s crimes (mass murder of the cult, disappearance of Reisuke). He used 10ths murder to mark them as suspects and bring them in for questioning, but since they weren’t truly the perpetrators and he couldn’t falsify enough evidence to get them killed, he lured Yukiteru into the interrogation room and provoked Yuno to shoot in order to protect Yukiteru. Then he could actually make a criminal case out of it and track her.

      Donyo
      Reply

  14. Well…
    Yukki tries desperately to rein in Yuno’s psycho side and eventually fails…
    when Kurusu threatens his life to create a situation when Yukki and Yuno show up on his radar.
    Kurusu is so much great chessmaster that he plans a contingency for a situation he is defeated, too! My fave char, definitely… too bad he has plot armor stacked against him.
    Last but not least, is Minene, hard bitten, cynical, but seemingly not overtly evil. And exceleent cosplayer to boot, with nurse outfit!

    ewok40k
    Reply

  15. Thats the stupid thing about Yuki. If you want a certain result, lead your team (of Yuno) to that result. If all you do is let others lead, then THEY CONTROL THE RESULT. Don’t cry when the result is not what you wanted in the first place

    If you want to be a decent guy, then take action before the others. Find and take away their diaries, every single one of them. Without their diaries they are extremely weak and each one knows that destruction of their diary = death for them.

    Take for example 4th’s situation. Ambush him, take his diary and phone him from a public phone to tell him that he can choose to die by diary destruction right then and there and leave his wife and kid behind or be by his kid’s side in his last moments and comfort his wife at the end.

    IIRC, this game has no time limit. The only time limit is death. But it does not mean that you cannot effectively suspend the game by burying the other phones. Deus might be pissed at you and kill you but that’s what you risk if you want to maintain your decency. If he takes the phones back and gives it to everyone again, do the same thing again.

    Zaku Fan
    Reply

    1. Well, for one, you gotta find out what everyone’s identity is first, which was stated at the beginning, and NONE of the diary owners so far have found a way to find out who the other contestants are all at once.

      Da5id
      Reply

      1. Why do you need to find out everyone’s identity? From ep 1 til now, has Yuki actually found out anyone’s identity before he was tracked down/attacked? If so, why do you need to find the other identities when they will all willingly come to you? The weakness in this plan would be if you were ambushed but notice how Yuki’s and Yuno’s diaries work in tandem to reduce that chance to extremely low levels of probability. Also notice some of the others know each other’s identities. The result? Fish for 1, hook 2 instead.

        Zaku Fan
        Reply

      2. Well, obviously not ALL of the players will just sit and twidle their thumbs, but you need their identity to know who you’re actually against. 9th, 3rd, and 4th all used reconnaissance tactics to find out more about the diary owners around them. It’s a general NEED to know who you’re up against. No matter who strikes first, if you have no target or info, you’ll never get the diary. It’s not gonna just fall into your lap.

        Da5id
        Reply

      3. As i already noted in the previous post
        “why do you need to find the other identities when they will all willingly come to you?”

        This plan in fact depends on the others not sitting and twiddling their thumbs.

        Zaku Fan
        Reply

    2. Yukki really tries his best to try and peacefully resolve the conflicts so far… only problem is, his only weapon (aside the few darts) is a psycho ax-crazy girlfriend/stalker…
      The best he can do is to stop her from killing innocent bystanders, and pretty much everyone around him who looks vaguely threatening.

      ewok40k
      Reply

    3. @ Zaku Fan The game does have a time limit: the diaries predict the future for only ninety days. It takes place over the course of three months.

      And Da5id is right; it’s stated upfront that the Diary Holders need to find out each others identities before they can strike and eliminate other players. It’s the whole reason why their dentities were hidden from each other in the first place. The only one who could be argued to take the course that you suggested was 3rd, who used his Murder Diary to track down and kill unrelated people. The other Diary Holders have been actively participating by tracking down the others.

      Also, Diary Holders cannot effectively suspend the game. MuruMuru makes sure of that. Her job is to make sure the game stays interesting and continues until the three months are up. So if anything like that were to happen (taking others’ diaries, stopping the game etc.) and there was inaction in the game, MuruMuru would appear and provoke a response among the Diary Holders.

      There’s also the fact that Deus made those diaries in the first place. Show Spoiler ▼

      Donyo
      Reply

      2. Again as noted prior
        “why do you need to find the other identities when they will all willingly come to you?”

        This is called baiting. It is an age old tactic that should not require explaination. You let others find you then counter attack them aka you are the bait. As noted, the weakness is if you are ambushed. And also as noted, the 2 diaries in tandem reduces this is minimal risk.

        As noted,
        “Deus might be pissed at you and kill you but that’s what you risk if you want to maintain your decency.”

        You cannot have your cake and eat it. You have to choose whether your decency is worth the risk. Since this game is limited to 3 months, it is actually easier to handle. The girl can provoke any response she wants but unless she
        i) Takes their diaries from you and gives them back
        ii) Gives new diaries to them
        iii) Finds new people to give diaries to
        iv) Kills you
        v) Blackmails you

        Then your opponents remain the diaryless holders

        Zaku Fan
        Reply

      3. But not all of them willingly come to you. That’s just how it happened for Yuki, now it happened for everyone in the game. If he weren’t the main character, then they wouldn’t be coming to him. It has nothing to do with Yuki’s ability to attract them, he was just lucky. He just sat there. He didn’t have anything to prepare, the others just came to him directly.

        Now, as for your plan: Even if they went after you, you’d have to find a way to secure their diary, if you could at all, and if you can’t identify them immediately, you will be at a disadvantage. Even if you were able to take it from ALL ELEVEN OTHER PLAYERS WITHOUT BEING KILLED OR INJURED, Deus will take them back and kill you, which you already stated. In short, it’s a crap plan that wouldn’t work in any situation. End of story.

        Da5id
        Reply

      4. 2 things
        i) As noted prior
        “Also notice some of the others know each other’s identities. The result? Fish for 1, hook 2 instead.”

        You catch 1, you catch more than 1 identity

        ii) Each participant other than Yuki/Yuno wants to win or they would not willingly join. It really is as simple as motivation. They will come to you not because you’re the main character but because to win by Deus’ rules, they need to kill you. AND THEY WANT TO WIN, YOU DON’T.

        If they do not come to you, then its even better. Remember that the plan is to wait out the time limit because you don’t need to win.

        As each shows up, you get a target or 2. To dispossess them of the diary is not that difficult because you have Yuno on your team who is both capable and whose diary works with yours. You just need to link the relationship between the both of you with whether the diary holders are breathing as a way to point her in the right direction.

        Seriously, think and try to understand what it is i am saying before making me repeat things again and again with “noted prior”.

        Zaku Fan
        Reply

      5. But if I were playing, I WOULD want to win. For Yuki, specifically, it was the story that revolved around him, which is why everyone came to him. In the story, the pretense is that the others saw him as a threat because he was able to overcome a DEAD END threat on his phone, and was the first to kill someone in the game, but IRL, the author just had all of them come to him so the story would speed up, because at that point in the story, Yuki wasn’t the type to go out and look for them himself, having not understood the stakes of the game.

        Look at other shows that had similar competitions, like Eden of the East for example. It had different types of phones and didn’t have a time limit, but it showed a different side to this kind of game. Not all characters are gonna come straight out of the woodwork to come and kill you. There may even be people that don’t want to participate at all, like No.’s 3, 7, and 8. If you’re in a game with people like that, and you’re NOT a complete wuss like Yuki was at the beginning, you will need to find out their identities. Show Spoiler ▼

        I don’t understand how your “fish for one, catch two” theory works, because it’s entirely possible one diary holder will be working alone, like with 5th (the toddler, Reisuke Houjou). He came directly to them, but they didn’t bait him, and he came on his own.

        It seems you’re only talking about this game from the point of view of Yuki, in which case…you’ll just have to keep watching to understand why none of what you said works.

        You keep putting this plan of yours from the POV of Yuki

        Da5id
        Reply

      7. @Da5id
        Unless Yuki’s internal monologue is all pure acting, in which case, he should be applauded for running a plan on par with Light from Death Note, he has not been shown to want to win. YOU want to win and probably you’re all up for killing people. He doesn’t and isn’t. He wants a normal life and normal friends which if fine. However he is stuck in the game.

        As noted prior
        “Thats the stupid thing about Yuki. If you want a certain result, lead your team (of Yuno) to that result. If all you do is let others lead, then THEY CONTROL THE RESULT. Don’t cry when the result is not what you wanted in the first place”

        The problem then lies in his self delusional “everything is all roses, everybody are wonderful people” thinking followed by whining when the other diary holders come after him.

        The conditions are as follows
        i) Winning is not necessary and would contravene iii)
        ii) You are forced to play and cannot quit
        iii) You do not wish to kill
        It is possible to do this by simply running down the timer as already mentioned prior. It is not an impossible mission by any sense but it is also not a risk free attempt. Simply, if the risk is considered too high compared to the desire to maintain decency then stop whining and start killing the diary holders. If not, take action rather than wait for things to fall apart and whine.

        The idea of the “fish for 1, catch 2” it does not need to work all the time. It is a bonus but hardly the real plan. The real plan as already mentioned prior is simply baiting which 5th fell for.

        @amado
        As already mentioned by characters in the anime, the team up of Yuno and Yuki = no blind spots. They can be tricked but will not suffer the problems of not having information. Example 6th. Her diary cannot predict anything if nobody from the cult sees her diary taken or it will only see a package/present/whatever handed over if the diary is simply wrapped up. In fact, the anime specifically tells us the weakness of each diary in the holder’s monologue or dialogue

        Zaku Fan
        Reply

      8. I think there may be some misunderstanding here. I’m talking about this plan from the perspective of any random player in this game. You’re talking about it just from the perspective of just Yuki.

        Either way, Yuki didn’t do any baiting, the story made it seem that way in order to introduce all of the diary owners in time. He doesn’t stick with the mentality you mentioned for very much longer after this arc anyway, AND starts taking lives and acting on his own, so your points are moot anyway.

        Da5id
        Reply

      9. It’s not about “letting the clock run out”. Deus will have a successor from the game, the winner. That was half of the reason he approved of this game. The other half is that he likes watching the players fight against each other for his entertainment. It’s also why MuruMuru has her job in the game. They are both trying to make sure that someone wins before time is up. The difference between them is that Deus would rather not stir things up too much, letting them play out naturally, while MuruMuru is more than willing to provoke the players into action.

        However… Show Spoiler ▼

        “Baiting” is only working because Yukiteru has notoriety among the Holders. And it’s still not a smart move; over and over again it’s shown that once Yukiteru finds out the identities of the Diary Holders, they’ve already planned ahead and have changed the future accordingly in their favor, leaving Yuno to be the one wild card that saves Yukiteru. Yukiteru can’t predict their moves either unless he knows their identities, and by then it’s too late to do anything but ruin their plans somehow.

        And Yukiteru’s not worried about his “decency”; he’s worried about surviving. He partnered up with Yuno because she provided the greatest chance for survival. But he’s still conflicted because he doesn’t want to take anyone’s life either. In that way, he’s still very much a bystander who is letting his future be decided by others. I won’t argue that he doesn’t come off as whiny sometimes, and I’m not defending his actions either. His actions may not be “smart”, but within his character, it makes sense.

        Donyo
        Reply

  16. Like a lot of the people who have commented above, I really did not like the way Asread has suddenly created this on-and-off switch for Yuno’s eyes. It’s insulting to audiences. I agree with Guardian Enzo’s comments when he wrote, “I don’t want to see the audience hit over the head with it every time it happens, and I also don’t think’s it’s a service to her character to imply that the crazy comes and goes like there’s an on-off switch.”

    It also is a reflection of how unimaginative the direction of this episode is. A more imaginative way to portray Yuno’s moodswings would have been to use carefully-placed perspectives and angles. Better cinematography would have done wonders to portray emotions more subtly and stylishly.

    Also, the up-and-down QUALITY moments do get annoying at times with this show. Nevertheless, this is still one of the best anime adaptations I’ve seen so far. It does an excellent job bringing out what the source material had best, which is an intense and manic atmosphere. Asread should not ruin that atmosphere with insulting directing choices like the one I mentioned above.

    Butterbean
    Reply

  18. When I was reading the manga, I felt this arc was really bad. 4th had a lot of potential to be a fantastic antagonist if developed slowly and properly, but the mangaka didn’t think that way. In fact, the mangaka probably just said “You know what, I don’t like 4th anymore, so let me just give him a dying son and

    Show Spoiler ▼

    suff
    Reply

  19. Amazing episode from the beginning to end, but seriously Fourth is taking desperate measures, fighting against three diaries owners at once (that do synergy pretty well if you ask me), well his family is as risk so is understandable, still I don`t see any good results to him against them, either the unpredictability of Gasai “bat-shit crazed axe wielding” Yuno or the cunning of our resident Uryuu “nurse bomber” Minene are going to be his demise… D:

    Kingdragun
    Reply

  21. Glade i wasn’t the only one that found Yuno’s ‘crazy mode’ absurd. Granted obviously the chick isn’t stable, that has been established. However, when she’s able to go in and out of it at the slightest instance of uncertainty. It stops being unique character trait and becomes a character flaw (and a rather annoying one at that.)

    It’s like if Banner Hulked out every time something annoyed him or made him upset. It would stop being a strength and become a liability. (no pun intended.)

    Snicket
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *