First Impressions / Mirai Nikki

「データ転送」 (Dēta Tensō)
“Data transfer”

Speaking as a huge fan of the manga, I’m extremely pleased with what Asread did with the chapters that made up this week’s episode – some of the most important of Mirai Nikki, and among my favorites.

I’ve said this before, but I think the breakneck pacing that the adaptation has left for itself in the home stretch – just under three chapters per ep, give or take – actually works to its advantage. Mirai Nikki is at its best when it doesn’t give you a chance to breathe. It’s not so much a story as a sensory assault, making you laugh and shocking you and horrifying you and surprising you, all in turn. It’s better reacted to than analyzed, and an episode full of unpredictable and outlandish events like this one is a real thrill ride. This is like a great trashy novel or pulpy action flick, the kind people love but prefer not to admit it to their more “sophisticated” social circles.

Of course, any episode featuring Minene is going to have a head start, and she was very much the star here. Minene is a very good manga character who made the transition to anime perhaps better than anyone in the cast – somehow seeing her in motion (and with Mai Azawa’s voice) multiplies her appeal by a factor of ten. With so few pieces left on the board every move is critical now, and Minene always seems more at home taking the fight to enemy than waiting for it to come to her. To that end she’s taken it upon herself to try and take down Eleventh’s supercomputer, the HOLON III (third in Japan in processing power behind the JSDF computer and the one tallying the Saimoe votes). John Bacchus reveals himself to be a man of foresight – he’s got his endgame plan very much complete in his mind, and it involves blackmailing Eighth into letting him link her Blog Diary into the HOLON, thus turning everyone in Sakurami City into apprentice diary users.

It’s interesting to look at the contrasting styles of all the remaining diary owners. Ninth is the woman of action, fearless and hard to read. Single-minded Second and newly-resolute First are more or less an open book to us by now – almost. Eighth seems genuine in her disinterest in “winning” and trying only to do the best she can for her children. And then there’s Eleventh, who speaks with admiration about past citizens of fascist regimes and empires who were “touched by God”, using this as his rationale for giving them the diary power – he wants to make them a master race (a loaded term if ever there was one). What we didn’t know until this week was that Bacchus had jobbed the system – he was the one who came up with the concept for the future diaries, working in concert with Deus. The goal? To “evolve” the human race by giving some a taste of divine power. Not only was Eleventh in on the creating of the game itself, but he designed the prototypes under which every diary’s powers fall – and gave himself the “Watcher Diary” with the ability to spy on all the others. It’s as if Rupert Murdoch’s wet dream came true.

Clever Ninth is the one who figures this out, eventually, by noting that Bacchus was able to predict her actions but not Nishijima’s. While her initial plan was able to destroy the HOLOS at the university – because Nishijima turned on his fellows – it turns out that there are two more HOLOS, at the top of the massive (and oddly named) Quad Towers, of which there are two. Nishijima has only one price to ask for his help – for Minene to bear his children. The scenes between them are both very sad and very funny, as it becomes clear just how socially broken Minene is. Nishijima may say he wants her “pretty much” just for her body, but his actions say otherwise. He even gets Akise to recruit Kosaka, Hinata and Mao to help out, but the best laid plans don’t always work out, and Bacchus proves himself to be very careful and resourceful opponent – with tragic results. While nothing that happens in a story where nothing is off-limits should be a total surprise, it’s nevertheless sad to see how cruel fate treats Minene. In some ways she’s the most complicated and conflicted character here – guilty of terrible atrocities yet capable of great kindness (even to chipmunks). For all the directness of her fighting style, her motives remain a real mystery.

This turn of events isn’t a total accident of course, and one of the two other key developments this week is tied into this. If anyone doubted Yukiteru’s newfound steel, his actions this week should go a long way – not only did he absorb Akise’s bombshell and decide to stand by Yuno anyway, but he and Yuno had been waiting in the wings using Ninth as a stalking horse – “bait”, as she calls it. They show themselves to be the ones thinking as many steps ahead as Bacchus is, and apparently willing to do whatever it takes to bring him down. The other big reveal was that Murmur was shown to have been plotting against Deus – and Deus to have known about it all along. The web of deceit grows ever more tangled, and Eleventh isn’t the only one with an endgame scenario laid out.

This is pretty much classic Mirai Nikki in my view, and it really succeeds by holding true to its dedication to the absurd. And it doesn’t discriminate – the scenes with Mao’s diary and between Minene and Nishijima are extremely silly and quite funny, and they exist side by side with the over the top violence and intrigue. As long as it’s absurd, it’s all good. And it doesn’t hurt that some of the legendary seiyuu in the cast are getting a chance to shine. Wakamoto-san has been used sparingly so far as Deus, but he’s clearly the right man for the job – the voice of God, indeed. And Hashi Takaya is proving a brilliant choice as the complex and difficult John Bacchus, getting his low-key megalomania with a twist of sardonic humor just right. Asread can’t take the credit for turning Yuki and Yuno into wildcards so late in the game – Sakae Esuno gets that – but they have managed their transition very well. After some hiccups in the middle, I’m back to thinking Asread has a good handle on getting this right.

71 Comments

  2. Funny you brought up the saimoe reference. Just curious, how many people here keep track of how your favorite characters perform in those so-called popularity contest?

    As for the anime progression, I’m still pretty worried about how they’ll wrap some of the most unreasonable scenes near the end of the show.

    mafias
    Reply

      2. I mean, I know how it turns out, I just remember thinking “woah, that was a great move by that person!” and then “HOLY SHIT, THEY DID THAT?!” and so on and so forth. It became less of a matter of who was more likable and more of a matter of whose plan was the most sinister and badass.

        Da5id
        Reply

  4. THIS EPISODE WAS PURE AWESOMENESS! FINALLY! If you’ll excuse me Mr. Enzo, I’ll proceed to praise this episode like a little kid before reading your review!

    First things first: There was no break-up of Yuno and Yuki with last week’s revelation about Yuno…Phew! Yuki pretty much adressed everything I had to say: “Yuno is Yuno.” You can picture myself raising eyebrows with this surprisingly good development–which was in the very first minute of the episode!
    So first half was all about Minene…And a very good half too (not counting the fact Minene is one of the most interesting characters in the show). Nishijima’s proposal, her shaking-resolve of being a terrorist, the tsundereness…Pure greatness. I could rant on and on how I loved all the scenes.

    “Marry me? You just want my body, don’t you?!”
    “…Yes!”

    Ohhhh the hilarity! I feared Nishijima would pull a cliché romance speech there (he barely knows Minene’s person and past!), but then he answered and I laughed so hard……Well done DEEN studios/manga author.

    Now, there are interesting developments EVERYWHERE! Deus’ plans regarding Minene, Murumuru’s ulterior motives, Akise probably plotting something somewhere, Deus and Eleventh’s mysterious backstory, Yuki’s friends having superpowers again (except for Hinata, their abilities were HILARIOUS..Even the name Neo Kousaka King Diary) and, my personal favorite, Yuki and Yuno not caring a sh*t about Nishishima or Minene’s state…I applaud DEEN studios/manga author for making me hate the once-wimpy-Yukiteru-and-now-cold-determined-Yukiteru.
    I mean, he just shows up in that staircase all like “HIIII MINENE! You got a dead man’s body over u btw trololol”, and calls up Yuno all smug. What is Yuno doing? Killing people with a rifle and then DRAWS A SAMURAI SWORD TO CONTINUE HER RAMPAGE! Gah! This duo has become far more entertaining than what they were two-three weeks ago, and I’m loving it.

    Now Yukiteru seems to have hostages, and (even better) may be tricking Minene into being a future hostage too. I hope that’s the reason he didn’t kill her right there (that would have been a great Romeo-Juliet scenario too). His character has changed so much; I only wished this had happened sooner.

    I once mentioned I enjoyed Mirai Nikki the most when it was all about character interactions, and this episode was all about that. Even Kousaka and Minene’s interaction was very interesting, given how the kid is now helping the terrorist who killed his friends in his previous school. There was a lot of character development everywhere. If only the past months of Mirai Nikki had been this interesting..!

    Anyway, this once usual-Mirai-Nikki-hater has been more than pleased this week, and I can’t wait for next week!

    PS:

    Minene: “Holon?! Let me see your diary!”
    Kousaka: “D-don’t break it!”

    LOL

    Justinnnnnn
    Reply

  6. Yes this episode has successfully cracked the good episode/shitty episode formula Mirai Nikki had been recycling for a while now. Perhaps the high number of chapters remaining has forced asread to make serious decisions in their adaptation within the few episode left. That forces them away from filler-ish tropes, I think.

    Zammael
    Reply

    1. There really hasn’t been any filler more than a tiny blip here or there. Everything has been either from the manga or Mosaic. They’ve re-ordered a few things, but that’s about it.

      Who knows, but I suspect they had the adaptation laid out in advance – they knew exactly what chapters would be in each episode, and knew the last couple of arcs would move faster. I think they did that on purpose because they knew the material was suited for it.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

      1. I don’t know Enzo… I personally think it would have done better with more time given to Minene and Nishijima’s relationship development. An episode for glee and hope, an episode for realization and despair. The twin brown paper bags, one for “work” and one for Minene, I personally loved that minor interaction and eventual reveal along side the pregnant squirrel which had been with her for the length of the show and manga and her hopes for a future.

        KoroshiyaKi
        Reply

      2. I partly agree with Koro, I would have liked to see the 30 seconds (or less) that the bag scene would have lasted. Also, I hope we get just a little more background on Minene (again, 30 seconds would have worked) – maybe it will be one of those parts that are “re-organized” but I kinda doubt it.

        Regardless, I agree that this was a great episode and that this show is to be consumed and not dissected. If you step back for a second you’ll see more plot holes than people Minene has killed – but so what? 😉

        7godeohs
        Reply

      3. Just going to add and say that, yes, it was a mistake to cut out that double paper bag scene. It showed the point their relationship ended up progressing to, while here it seems like in the beginning they were more cooperating on business and Kurusu’s last requests, making Nishijima’s proposal seem like it came more out of left field than it was supposed to. In all honesty they could have shortened the scene where they met with the kids to give another 30 seconds to a whole minute of time for their relationship, which would have been more than enough.

        Donyo
        Reply

      4. It fits the manic pace of the episode for it to be completely after left field. It would have lost some WTF-iness if there were foreshadowing.

        This is coming from someone who say the episode then read the chapters.

        Tez
        Reply

      5. I’m going to have to disagree with you Tez, at that point in time if Nishijima said it was for “work” you would have believed him because of how the setting was construed. Only for it to later be revealed what it actually was (while you were still thinking it was something for his work and he was giving it to her to assist in killing the 11th like some info or something) which would have increased the shock value rather than decreased.

        KoroshiyaKi
        Reply

      7. Just gonna add on a little bit more to this; I’d actually prefer to not think that Nishijima’s proposal was supposed to be a WTF moment, especially when it wasn’t handled that way in the manga. Minene was surprised and her reactions were played for laughs, but from the get-go Nishijima was very serious and sincere in his proposal. Its suddenness is a bit too abrupt here, and for a second is really does seem like he’s only proposing to Minene for her body.

        Donyo
        Reply

  8. This episode pretty much sums up my hatred toward 11th. Having a Diary with God mode is one thing, but the fact that he wanted the power as a way to create an advanced civilization for him to control. It may not look like he’s being a Hitler for giving civilians the same taste of divine, which in this case the future diary. But remember, with him having the ability to spy on other people’s diary, it gives him pretty much the ability to control EVERYONE.

    Now that Nishijima is dead, you can bet that Minene’s relationship with Yuki are going to change, seeing that Yuki is indirectly responsible. Despite my lack of interest toward Minene when reading the manga, I’ve always thought that she makes a decent sister-like figure toward Yuki. And, despite of their shaky first meeting, Minene did ended up saving Yuki on few occasion, and helped him out in a way I didn’t expected. In a way, she’s sort of like (if not similar as) Misato Katsuragi who plays a a mother-like role to Shinji in the time of his need.

    With Yuki and Yuno showing up, Show Spoiler ▼

    Terrorhunt
    Reply

  11. Well they went though 4.5 chapters this week… They bought themselves some breathing room if at the expense of a lot of the small humanizing actions of the characters and a bunch of explanations.

    KoroshiyaKi
    Reply

  13. 8th Fanservice FTW!

    But honestly great episode. And you’re right Mirai Nikki is at it’s best with this more exhilarating pacing. Think they want to go out with a bang, making it more exciting as you go along towards the end.

    Can’t wait to see how it’ll end.

    Koroshiyou
    Reply

  16. Let me guess, this is the Yuki I should like right? Cuz if so, ya darn right I like him.

    First giving Akise a “And? Your point being?”, and then appearing out of nowhere and do just exactly what Minene wanted to avoid (and she’s the terrorist, right?). He’s gotten awesome with his pink-haired lady and her f’ing hot katana.
    Minene gave us a great episode and Wakamoto was awesome as Deus as always.

    It’s this episode that really makes me love me for watching Mirai Nikki.

    ~and I have to agree with Mao, Hinata has a great rack~ X3

    JHN
    Reply

  19. look like now indeed this is turning to what best way to say yea all or nothing now.

    mayor 11th going to shoot yet yuki save “yuno” why yuno is yuno so yea yuki still want yuno.
    few days later 9th get info from Nishijima on mayor 11th.
    reveal mayor 11th want make city full of diary owners with 8th server (cue brain bleach for 8th service) but spread on super comp.
    9th try to make go boom but denied on run yet rescue by Nishijima.
    who want 9th to get married, sword the cake, & a baby yea 9th reaction total pink shock.
    9th try to blow place again but capture with flashback with her bread.
    once again Nishijima to rescue kaboom server.
    but part of it got in yea now people got dairy owner.
    mur mur & deus watching looking at it goes give deus know mur mur is up to something.
    9th & Nishijima got help from aru by sending in those 3 with own jobber batch of dairy.
    yet notice two more super comp (at least it not Venjix) so wonder to do.
    9th let her mr & mrs. squirrel go to safety give misses already “on the way” & Nishijima still want 9th.
    next day after scope 9th figure out mayor 11th dairy.
    9th meet deus give quick gut buster for 9th.
    then reveal deus & 11th we’re also mix before give include making of all the dairy.
    so 9th idea spread random blah to distract 11th.
    it work but 11th had another back-up plan.
    during with 9th lose a hand, those 3 got caught, & Nishijima too give he shield himself for 9th.
    yet just who came in yuki & yuno during yuno go crazy gun shots.
    & yea another plan let go used 11th people as plan.

    ok yea now i guess we’re so going more mu ha ha ha.

    CAPTAIN MAR-KLAC-VELOUS
    Reply

  20. for people who have read the manga, I missed something important. In the anime we only see 11th as a bad guy but in the manga you see him like a normal person or at least you see he has manners how he treats 8th in the manga. Something else is the assistant of 11th. He looks kind of weird with that hair color. When I read the manga I thought he would have black hair but there are more people who look different from what I thought they would look like.

    santino
    Reply

    1. Well that’s why Enzo and I were worried from the start of this adaptation about the pacing. Though we still slightly disagree now on that front for these reasons. I thought if they had speed things up earlier so that we would have had more time for these parts (and included the humanizing actions) it would be better but they went with the chaos approach to the story.

      KoroshiyaKi
      Reply

  25. What interested me the most in this episode are the ramifications of Sakuramai City full of Future Diaries. The lives of an entire city are now literally bound to their cellphones. Do they die if HOLON goes boom?

    Bio D
    Reply

  27. I was complaining about this last week because it looked like a freakout was about to happen but…..THANK GOD, I MEAN THANK GOD we did not have see see Yuki freaking out over whether Yuno was who she said she was. If I were in Yuki’s shoes, her lying about who she was would be the last of my concerns.
    .

    OrinX
    Reply

    1. Well, it’s not gender exclusive to keep a written record of your activities, diary or not. We noticed some people were just keeping track of certain things like race numbers or stocks, so that’d probably happen similarly in the US.

      In my case, it’d probably be either a Future Diary that keeps track of my rants about stuff, or what I’m writing.

      Da5id
      Reply

      1. While my Future Diary will be the Philosopher’s Diary:

        A thorough exposition of the nature of foreknowledge itself, as well as the moral nature of the other Future Diarists. Consist mostly of argumentation, analysis of various rhetoric, metaphysical speculations and other dialectical knowledge.

        Instead of texts, it’ll be composed of paragraphs and essays!

        Zammael
        Reply

    2. Also, they aren’t just “diaries” as that strict definition; they’re kept as blogs and such since 8th’s diary works as a server network that others can connect to. And if you’re wondering why everyone in the city has one that’s affected by 8th’s diary, it’s because 11th previously offered the city’s citizens free access blogs that were connected to HOLON III before he apprehended 8th. So naturally, as soon as her server diary was connected to the supercomputer, everyone’s diaries became apprentice diaries.

      Donyo
      Reply

  31. Just have to say this: 11th’s plan is stupid beyond words. The Watcher can be powerful – when you are hiding in the shadow and reading about your 11 oppponents’ diaries.

    But when you have thousands of diary holders, that stupid tab interface on your cellphone turns the whole thing into a handicap… How can you track multiple targets in real time? 6th’s scroll was in fact much easier to read for this purpose.

    Not to mention when thousands of people become diary holders, their futures interact to such a degree that all screens would be constantly updating… a nightmare to track.

    dene323
    Reply

    1. Well, he kind of said why he did it: He wanted all of Japan to have a special power to make them uniquely powerful in the world. Plus, there’s the fact that he has access to pretty much the name of most of the important people in that town, so 9th would never have been able to get away if he can check all diaries to see where she’s going. Plus her own diary, at that.

      So it’s pretty complex yeah, and a bitch to keep track of, but it is by no means stupid for what he had in mind.

      Da5id
      Reply

      1. Perhaps dene323 was just pointing out the fact that it would have made more sense to show the process of keeping track of the diaries differently. I’d plug that phone into a MHL splitter relay for a clean interface at the very least. If his staff were competent enough (he IS the designer of the system, after all), they could plug his phone back into the server and use some of that horsepower to parse and filter the numerous feeds and send them to dedicated staff for analysis and real-time reporting. Kind of like what the US Government is often said to do with their “call screening/Patriot Act” staff.

        Or at least plug the phone into his own computer and block the bloggers who lie about specific facts. That should be possible even for a single person to do in realtime (especially after apparently being able to sort out what information pertains to the specific circumstances in question).

        But like we all said before, these details don’t matter. The show is over-the-top and extremely fun to watch, so plotholes and nitpickable details be damned. 🙂

        hoiut
        Reply

      2. Well since we passed the part where it should have been shown then I guess I can explain. What they were actually doing was changing the entries in their diary’s to false reports and essentially lying to him about the future. The point was to relay false information instead of anything real so that he would always be wrong rather than flood him with information. His diary actually has tabs that tell him the names of the person who owns the diary (9th, Kousaka, etc…) and he can flip between these tabs to read the various entries. So it’s pretty well organized in actuality (there is probably a search function for names as well).

        KoroshiyaKi
        Reply

  32. Note the brilliance of the 11th move: becuase he has insight into 8th’s diary via his diary, extending the apprentice army to pretty much everyone makes him having access to pretty much everything that is happening in the city!
    pun of the day: Keeping TABS on your enemies never was so easy!

    ewok40k
    Reply

  33. … other than that, Minene and Nishijima were a riot to watch with tsundere attitude on one side and blatant pervy sincerity on the other. After all what is the fundamental purpose of marriage? Reproduction. Minene’s reaction (ss#10) was simply priceless!
    Behold, badass Yukki with a MP-5! If anyone doubted his superiority to some other lead male chars out there, you get it now.
    Oh, and even Deus is aware of Murmur plotting behind his back, and it seems he put some contingency plans (involving Minene) into place…

    ewok40k
    Reply

  35. Yuno with a MP5 and katana looks good. Minene hugging the bread was sad but does not absolve her of killing so many people. Losing Nishijima could have been avoided if Yuki simply shot the mayor immediately in the last episode though it is advantegous for Yuki/Yuno to have 9th wounded and without any allies.

    Guessing Deus stuck a bomb in 9th since given her own track record and Deus desire to move against Murumuru’s plan. Seriously Deus sucks in his abilities. You have the ability to make phones that tell the future but you can’t tell the future in a more precise wat for a further period yourself? Duh. If this is a recurring game like Battle Royale, he must have been as Yuki with Murumuru as Yuno.

    Zaku Fan
    Reply

  36. I know now why the creator of this anime(manga) made Yukkii they way he was when this first began. It wouldn’t have been so satisfieing watching Yukkii kick ass, as it would have been if he’d had kicked ass from the beginning.

    Pera
    Reply

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