Notice: this review will contain a few spoilers. I'll mark them but if you haven't watched this yet, proceed with caution. Sorry about that.
Survival games have always been one of my favorite kinds of stories. I just love them. So naturally, when I heard about Mirai Nikki's premise, I was greatly looking forward to it. Unfortunately, after an excellent first episode, this series began to get worse and worse; by the end of it all, it had become nothing but a huge disappointment.
Let's begin with the positive aspects of this show. The art and animation in Mirai Nikki are, for the most part, rather good, but nothing very impressive. As for character designs, it's pretty hit-and-miss. Some characters look OK, while others are so ridiculous it makes the anime seem/feel less serious than it should be, which is NOT a good thing for a thriller/mystery.
The music is great. Most of the tracks are somewhat memorable and fit their scenes well. The OPs and EDs are also very nice, with the first OP being particularly awesome. I never skipped them. Voice acting-wise, everyone does a solid, consistent job, except for Yuno's seiyuu. I'm sorry, but her voice was annoying and hearing that infamous "Yukki!" every god damn minute was painful.
Now let's get to the bad stuff. While the premise is amazing, the story & script are very poorly written. Thing is, Mirai Nikki is a shounen trying (and failing) to be a seinen; thus, it lacks the maturity and depth needed to handle the kind of story it offers. Many questions are left unanswered, some of the writing choices are just plain stupid, half of the characters have a very low IQ and, for a mystery, there aren't that many twists, and those the anime DOES have are often predictable.
The whole concept of using Future Diaries to outsmart opponents in deadly, tense battles is BARELY explored, plus the battles themselves seldom involve complexity. When you've got tools as powerful as those, you'd think there'd be gambits just piling up on each other, but no. Many battles are over within a minute and are so basic it's insulting. Speaking of insulting, this show has a nasty tendency to have its world just forget about some of the big events related to the diary holders. Normally the media would be all over a series of bombings, massacres, etc... but here? Nah, it's just Tuesday again. It's astonishing how everyone can easily get away from anything.
Another problem with this anime is its bad habit of throwing in bits of humour in the middle of serious moments. It really kills the atmosphere and it's not funny. Even in the more lighthearted scenes, it's not funny. Since we're talking about the atmosphere, have I mentioned that some details in crucial moments are overlooked, which obliterates the immersion? Empty hospitals, incompetent cops, silent bystanders...it's the little things that can make or break the mood. A shame, really, because the anime IS able to create a good, creepy atmosphere at times (ex.: the end of episode 3).
Remember what I said about there being a lot of predictable twists? I kinda lied. The biggest twist in the whole story, which unfolds in the last few episodes, took me by surprise. Did it make sense? Well, yes, at least until the anime began to blatantly make shit up on the spot. Did it answer a few questions? For sure. Did it raise even more questions - most of which remain unanswered - and present to us an INCREDIBLY STUPID twist later? OH YES.
