Posted by OP2 Sequence
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OP2: 「Dead END」 by 飛蘭 (Faylan)
Watch the 2nd OP!: Streaming ▼
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「ダブルホルダー」 (Daburu Horudaa)
“Double Holder”
The pacing was pretty breakneck in episode 15 of Mirai Nikki, along with episode 5 maybe the fastest yet.
With three chapters to cover and a new OP and ED to highlight, it’s no wonder the omake was skipped this week. It’s probably a good thing too, as just about these were jam-packed chapters that were crammed into the ep. In spite of that I didn’t think it felt insanely rushed, just busy. But I’ve come to the same conclusion with the anime that I did with the manga – more so than in most cases this is a scenario that works better when things are happening really quickly. The impact of Mirai Nikki is strongest when the reaction is visceral, not reflective – to be honest, the series is better when you don’t think about it too much. At it’s best, the show is a ride in a really fast car with all kinds of scary and interesting things whizzing by so fast that they’re in the rear-view almost as soon as you’ve seen them.
Last week’s setup turned out to be something of a troll, and a rather convincing one at that I thought. While the strangely-shaped woman at the child care facility was indeed Eighth and she was indeed making “apprentice owners”, that wasn’t really where the story was headed. Deus himself did respond to it, inviting the surviving diary owners to a meeting at the “Causality Cathedral” to discuss their concerns over this aspect of the game, and Kousaka did indeed have one on his iPhone (there’s an app for that) – until Yukiteru destroyed it in a rather callous experiment, anyway. But the more immediate problem is those folks we saw in the speeding car last week, who were only using the apprentice diary plan as a cover to hide their true identities – two of them are, in fact, the Seventh diary holder.
Two of them? Indeed – Ikusama Marco (industry heavyweight Seki Tomokazu) and Mikami Ai (Kuwatani Atsuko) are a matched pair, their “Exchange Diaries” allowing each to keep close tabs on their true love. If Ai looks familiar it’s because you saw her at the religious compound in episode 5, posing as one of Sixth’s followers – which means, of course, that over half of the total diary owners were present in that gigantic kerfuffle of an episode. She and Mar are deeply in love, their diaries allowing them to work in perfect harmony with each other – and Mar, especially, sees this is a duel where their love will be measured against that of Yuki and Yuno. That’s a bit of an issue because, of course, Yuki has washed his hands of Yuno in last week’s episode. But despite the fact that Yukiteru did get the help of his four friends, to his dismay it immediately becomes apparent that when it comes to defending him, four friends doesn’t equal one yandere Goddess.
You know it wouldn’t be that easy, of course – every time he thinks he’s out, she pulls him right back in – but it sure didn’t take long for Yuki to have to make the hard decision about whether to put himself in Yuno’s hands again. Hinata, Mao, and (barely) Kousaka are willing helpers, and Akise is clever – but once again, his plans (like my cat) get him into trouble, but not out of it. Kousaka’s house burns and Hinata and Mao lay wounded, and Yuki has no choice but to free Yuno from the bonds they’d tied her in to prevent her interfering with their plan. Fortunately he discovers that a small word of praise from him elevates her already stellar combat abilities to super-saiyan levels, and she’s almost able to fight off Marc and Ai – but they have a backup plan that leaves Yuki and Yuno unconscious and helpless. Seventh flees the scene with their captured diaries.
This seems to be a low-water mark for Yukiteru. He’s had to place himself in Yuno’s hands again, his friends have proved themselves unable to protect him (and two have been badly hurt trying) and he’s admitted to Marco that he’s “pathetic” and weak. But for Yuno’s part, she seems a lot more cogent than she did when we left her in her undies in that hotel basement. In fact, she tells “Yukkii” an important secret – he just has to tell her to save his friends, and she’ll do it. All he has to do is pretend to be in love with her. It seems simple, but it’s a lot more self-aware than anything we’ve heard from her to this point. And in fact, that admission of helplessness is more self-awareness than we’ve gotten from Yuki at any point up until now as well – so in spite of their defeat at the hands of Seventh, both of them seem to have entered a new phase in terms of their relationship, and their own existence.
Looking forward, we have Seventh now in possession of Yuki and Yuno’s diaries, and off-hand references to a “Ka-chan” they seem to be working with. We also have Ninth, who’s made her long-overdue reappearance at the hospital where Yuki and Yuno are recuperating – though at this point her motivation for doing so is unclear. As for the new OP and ED, my initial inclination is that I prefer the first ones musically, though these new ones have same interesting stuff going on visually (especially the ED).
ED2 Sequence
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ED2: 「filament」 by 妖精帝國 (Yousei Teikoku)
Watch the 2nd ED!: Streaming ▼
My goodness. Things are turning better with Yukiteru and Yuno’s relationship or worse? Let’s hope better. I mean, the new guy and his parrner/wife should smack some sense into this punk. I mean, sure Yuno is a little wacko, but she genuinly cares for him. Though there are still so many unanswered questions. Let’s hope Yuki gets more cool and less wimp as the show continues.
You sure she is just “a little” wacko? 😛
I get your point though. At the end of the previous episode a lot of people were cheering for Yuki finally “maned up” by slapping Yuno. Didn’t get my hopes up because I could see that same old dilemma all over again: choose Yuno and live, choose an alternative and die… just a matter of time.
i would just tell her to save my friends and i m sure she would listen 🙂
wonder whats wrong with yuki… anyone would choose yuno but why wont he
Her single mind nature to SMASH anything they get’s in her way? If this was a guy I knew I’d be looking for a retaining order… like that would stop Yuno. lol
She’d probably cut down the entire government for getting in the way of her perfect love.
i think Yuno does not really care about Yuki in the way you think. Yuki is more a tool for Yuno’s self delusion. Now lets say “someone” tells you that if you do something (in this case being with Yuki), you get eternal happiness, how hard would you fight to ensure that the action happens. In this case that “someone” is Yuno herself, by building a sort of mental fantasy, since she’s not completely stable in the brain department.
If the action was changed to “if you keep a certain coin in your pocket for 100 days”, then Yuno would “care” for the coin in the same way she does to Yuki.
And now we’re OFFICIALLY halfway through the manga.
Well that’s good to hear. Pacing seems right on track that they won’t have to rush anything.
I just love Yukiteru’a freak out face
https://randomc.net/image/Mirai%20Nikki/Mirai%20Nikki%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
You thought you were out of her shadow Yuki-kun…. I was thinking “OH that looks good on you!”
No MuruMuru bullshit at the end = WIN,
Yuno’s “Yukki praised me” scene = WIN,
New OP = WIN.
Next ep! Nao!
I still think they shouldn’t have revealed 7th’s identity in the 1st ED. I mean the fact that there are 13 Diary Owners in the first sequence.
I actually thought that was a pretty good move, I initially thought it was a bad move until I saw everyone here figuring it out after paying more attention but no one here really figured who it was out truly aside from the people who already read the manga.
I’m kinda depressed they never kept in Marco’s depressed look when Ai was talking about her flirtation diary. That was pretty funny.
Mmm.. Too spoilery ~GE
spoilerish opening
and uhmm is it dead en or dead end?
I love the opening XD
Minene sama!!!
Love this episode 100%
So Gilgamesh (also voiced by Tomokazu Seki), unable to win the Holy Grail War, now decides to become god instead. XD
Imagine if 7th had Gate of Babylon. The other diary holders would be screwed.
Best episode yet so far in terms of animation quality, if my eyes are correct. Compared to the other episodes, there weren’t that many low-quality moments of weirdly-drawn body parts.
I agree with the writer of this piece: musically, the first OP and ED are far superior. I’ve also been visiting other forums and websites and apparently, this is also the consensus among viewers. What I don’t like about the second OP is that it recycles animation from the first one. Couldn’t it have made a new visual of Yuno going mad? My other complaint about the OP is that it shows off characters that are already dead. What’s the point? They have no more influence on the story. Why show them? I was expecting a new OP that focuses on the diary users that are left.
Finally, I’m glad that Minene is back. She’s my favorite tsundere cosplaying terorrist.
Yes, I really agree here. And the parts where her animation was recycled were very short intervals too, so it isn’t like they couldn’t have replaced those scenes with something else. Also, since this is the half-way point and half of the players are dead, they really should have taken this opportunity to showcase the final players (and Mur Mur and Deus) a bit more and emphasize Minene and Akise’s characters since, as we’ve seen already, they are pretty much the next protagonists after Yukiteru and Yuno.
Show Spoiler ▼
Are you serious? In my eyes this episode actually looked worse than previous eps. It had a lot of scenes with off looking characters, e.g. his mother or Nishijima.
I have to also agree about the dead diary holders appearing in the new OP though.
Yukki’s mom is so weird.
Loving the animation in this episode. It seems different in a good way.
On the ED credits YUI was mentioned there, can someone please translate what is YUI’s role? Or is it a different YUI [Yoshioka, singer of Again, LIFE and other AWESOME songs]?
She’s the songwriter.
Oh forgot to state what YUI it is, but I think “YUI” in capital letters is exclusive to the YUI who also sang Fullmetal Alchemist’s “Again”.
that YUI is Yousei Teikoku’s vocalist
Tried a bit of research on the group Yousei Teikoku (it’s my first time hearing them)…
” They consist of “fairy” vocalist/occasional lyricist YUI (ゆい) and composer Takaha Tachibana (橘尭葉). ”
but YUI is copyrighted already right? (SONY). oh well..
It’s necessary to have this kind of pace with this arc, because this is where a lot of crazy stuff happens that will impact the story later. It’s good that they’re going through the storyline so quickly here, since this is the most eventful part of the story yet.
Oh, in the episode summary, “four friends” links to the picture of Sixth.
fuuuuuuuuuu!!!
how long is next week!?!?!
Couldn’t help but laugh at Yukki’s “omg I’m not forever alone!” face.
The four friends image link is wrong. At least, I’m assuming it is wrong seeing as it leads to a picture of Sixth.
Poor Kousaka. First his phone is broken, and now his house just got burned down.
I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Nope.
Note to myself – when I capture the diaries of my opponents, I will destroy them immediately instead of relying on them to track my enemies…
I really can’t understand why 7th didnt do just that…
Other than that episode is quite well developed, though I really can’t see a couple of street punks getting thru a dedicated police watch, diaries or not. Not even a diary can save someone in a bolivian army ending.
We have all but one holder (11th) identities known, and irrepresible Bomber Cosplayer joins the action now for reasons unknown. I expect hilarity.
My words exactly. What’s the point in letting them live and taking their cellphones? I know Yuki and Yuno are the main characters, but this has been by far the most absurd event yet. This is a game to the death, and they just lost.
I really want to like the show, but these things are slowly making me more and more skeptic. Didn’t 7th throw Yuki off the hallway and down to the floor, supposedly dying? Why were there only 5 people inside that enormous mansion? No cops there?
What happened to the badass, determined Yuki who said GO TO HELL last episode? This week he returned to being the weak Yuki of always. And 7th scolding him for not protecting his girl…I was waiting for the moment Yuki would snap and say all the horrible stuff Yuno has done, explaining his situation. Instead, he cried.
And like someone else said here, what’s the point in having dead players in the opening? We had that already in the first ending. And it was damn cool. But now…Ugh, again?
Negativity aside, two points made this episode slightly better amidst the cons I just mentioned.
-The appearance of 7th. The more messy and crowded these showdowns are, the better. When he started combing his hair to shape it like the diary owner’s shown in the OPs and ED, I was like “OH SHI-Cool!”.
-Animation clearly got better. Hope it keeps like this.
Please Mirai Nikki, don’t let me down…
I haven’t read the manga, so I can only make a guess. The smart thing to do in this elimination game is to make alliances. Classic Prisoner’s Dilemma route. At this point I would assume that our unseen diary holders (as of last episode) have formed alliances of their own, offstage, un-revealed at this time. My guess is this other alliance views Ninth as the most dangerous, needing more coverage to take out. Just like our original alliance with Fourth, 1st and 2nd. Or a distraction, as when Fourth took out Tenth.
…forgot to complete my thought. My guess is that the Two Sevens are playing a strange combo of alliance and distraction. By keeping them alive and their diaries with them, they can still have tabs on whomever Yuki and Yuno form up with. In this case Ninth. They’ve shown they have little to fear from Yuno after all.
Put it that way, and I see some sense into it now.
I can see 1st, 2nd and 9th get to the 7th duo to get back their cellphones. The 7th couple then tell them they’ll only give them their cellphone if 9th hands over hers first. Their plan would be to eliminate all three of them, but of course their plans are foiled by the good guys somehow.
I hope you’re right, Skylion…
Picture me Rage-ing in my desktop if the 7th duo actually confess they let Yuki and Yuno live only to have a second round of whose love is strongest.
I somewhat agree with Skylion. First of all, we can’t deny the plot armor around Yuki and Yuno, but that aside, I can see why 7th would keep them alive. Let’s just say every bit of information helps in the survival game. By disabling 1st and 2nd and holding on to their cellphones, not only their lives are at 7th’s mercy, their literally become scouts. Yuki and Yuno’s diaries are of particular value because they complement each other and provide huge amount of information in their surroundings. 11th is still unrevealed and 9th is a wild card. So if either of them interact with 1st and 2nd (an attack or just a conversation – like 9th did at the hospital), their identities are immediately revealed to 7th, who can then deduce their personalities and future plans based on the recorded interactions. If they are smart they can even blackmail 1st and 2nd to do their bidding to some extend.
@Skylion
Actually you have to admit that the Seventh Diarists must respect Yuno because it took their combined abilities plus a burning house to take her down.
They logically went after Yukiteru because killing him will neutralize Yuno’s stalker Diary. I’m not too sure Seventh knew that specific information, though.
Also, I suspect there’s a reason behind the refusal to destroy First & Second’s Future Diaries, and it may have to do with their alliance with Eight as her “apprentice” diarists.
Ghh, I’m going to have a hard time divorcing that first op. That, or the new one is going to have to realllly work on me to get me to accept it :/… That I’m not fond of the reused animations in the new OP, doesnt help either… and Yui… … … (runs away to listen to the first OP on repeat for a while).
Why am I the odd man out when it comes to the latest OP/ED? I cannot stand GC’s newest offerings, yet everyone is loving them. I totally dig Future Diary’s newest songs (but agree with you all on the recycled animation….total bleh) from the get go, but here, I see panning left and right.
Ah well, I’m my own little planet circling the sun.
I thought it was a pirate ship.
Mirai Nikki’s new OPs and EDs were on par with the old ones for me and though I didn’t like GC’s new OP/ED at first since they had less impact than the first ones, the new ones have actually grown on me.
I can see why the new OP might not appeal much to the viewers:
1. The recycled animation which wasn’t handled brilliantly, and felt like it was put in there randomly, which didn’t help “Dead End” one bit. I do enjoy seeing 9th’s crotch-grabbing dance moves and 11th’s “Unlimited Diary Works”, though. XD
2. “Küsö Mesorogiwi” sends more chills down my spine than “Dead End”; the creepiest thing in new OP was 5th injecting poison into one of his dolls. I mean, that’s it? Yuno smiling with a sky-red background while her face is concealed with her bangs is scarier.
3. Lyrics. While I do not have the translated lyrics of “Dead End”, it felt to me that miss Faylan was just spewing out TOO MUCH gratuitous Engrish in between her lines. “Küsö Mesorogiwi” had better arrangement of lyrics (and perhaps better symbolism in the lyrics AND perhaps better lyrics, period), and it made more sense when hearing it. The tone of the lyrics feels like it would be fitting more in a shounen series like Canaan than a psychological horror show like Mirai Nikki.
4. The Color/Visuals. Blue doesn’t really match well in a series where one is practically required to spill the blood of competing diary holders to win the throne of god. Red = Blood = Death. Symbolism is important I have to make the point twice. The arrangement of visuals in the first OP is superior to the second, in my opinion.
*I do not have complaints with the ED because a loli-version of Yuno is just too adorable.*
“I do enjoy seeing 9th’s crotch-grabbing dance moves”
Whoa, man, I think you need to back up and realize what you just said.
I’m happy that I’m not the only one hating GC’s new OP/ED. Anyway, animation reuse for the OP is not that bad (for me).
This ep mostly made me realize how much I want to squeeze the filling out of that plump’n’ rosy Pillsbury woman.
I fear that Akise has been wearing a poker face for so long that he has actually forgotten how to make proper, natural expressions. Can’t wait for his purpose in the plot to get revealed.
Yandere Goddess is more like-able in this ep, for sure. Her knife skills are literally unbelievable. Did she prep in the army when she was a toddler?
9th the cosplayer…. total win for me
The new OP and ED isn’t that bad for me, but I prefer the previous one for being simply dark and visually insane.
You know, back then (when I’ve read the manga) I’ve always thought that 7th did the smartest thing by using the Apprentice Diary to cover up their real one. Now, I still think it’s the smartest move they’ve ever pulled of. It might have been useless for Yuki and/or Yuno if they’re thinking of doing the same thing now, but I can see how useful it’ll be for them, Show Spoiler ▼
Yay, Minene. Finally. That’s way overdue.
ok then look like indeed really half way point series really began with new op with everyone all blue except for yuki ,yuno all wandering outfit, & ninth going mu ha ha ha.
yuki hiding mode got called deus about 8th.
then yuki, aru, & others seeing that 8th is server to give dairy to anyone so make plan get 8th followers.
yuki bit ugh so went see anyone in his home just his mom some talk & oh potato too big yep yuno was here make potato & left indeed oh no for yuki.
few days later set plan but here the wrench aka yuno cause yuno being yuno messed it up.
yet cause here come 8th followers by pwn’d the door & cops.
meanwhile 8th checking in going on (really whoever design 8th must been really WHY so BIG).
during yuki, yuno, & two females running til knives attack & yea reach attic bur yuno closed the door on them all to keep yuki.
but door pwn’d again here come male & female followers but phone disconnect just in time.
but wait not so fast cause pull in “money in the bank case” cause reveal male & female are both 7th yea it two in one dairy.
indeed panic unleash the yuno yea lots of knife throw but all yuno-block.
back-up plan for double 7 yea burn the place yet also bandage two female they attack cause they just target only yuki & yuno.
so flaming mansion fight with yuno vs female 7 then male 7 make block & down goes yuno.
male 7 grab yuki & yuki indeed admit he weak so yea male 7 toss yuki down.
next day wonder to do here come a “nurse” but that not regular nurse it’s 9th.
yea all blue right now on it.
I cannot believe that Marco was able to “fix” his hair into that rather ugly hair do. What’s that style even called? Anyway, obviously in terms of combat Yuki sucks like hell and only specializes in darts, which I really wish were kunai or shurikens instead.
Pompadour, I’m sure he could hid a switchblade in there as it seems to be all the rage in thug like behavior characters in animes. lol
Never underestimate the power of a Yandere, noclear bombs are nothing compared to them, they never stop to protect their target. Normal human beings doesn´t stand a chance to their crazy might.
Hate to say it, but this show is starting to get boring…O_O
How do I know? Episode 15 is out since last Sunday and it is Wednesday and I haven’t watch it since. I have almost no desire to watch it now. Yuno’s craziness is tiring and predictable. You must admit, the last few episodes was boring since 4th died…
At least Senjougahara and Araragi made it interesting, especially with the occasional mix in with Kanbura, Sengoku, Hanekawa, Hackiju, and Shinobu. Plus now his sisters are in the harem.
This show isn’t quite comparable to Nisemonogatari though; they’re a bit too different.
more harem girls = more interesting?
I’m the only one who thinks Yuki’s mom is a weirdo.
Trust me, you’re not. But in this cast, she seems practically normal.
LOL, no thank you. There are only 3 people in the world that I trust: me, I, and myself.
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