Mirai Nikki - 18 - Lost in Anime

There are an awful lot of revelations in this episode, some more obvious than others, but I suspect it will mostly be remembered as the one where Yuki finally “manned up”. I doubt that will satisfy the legions of haters out there, but at least the specifics of the complaints might change a little.

This was a mighty important ep, and none too soon as we’re down to 8 weeks left and there’s not a moment to spare. I think think Asread can make it without drastic changes, but it’s going to be close, and there are going to be weeks when multiple threads converge like this one. Not a lot was changed from the manga, but a lot of the manga found its way in here, starting with the revealing flashback to a year before events of the series’ present, where Yuno’s nascent crush on Yukiteru was beginning to solidify. The tone of the guys in the schoolyard – “She’s hot, but I don’t have enough lives to go there” – was the prevailing attitude amongst Yuno’s male classmates, I suspect. Yukiteru’s virtues to Yuno were simple and understandable – he was nice, and he didn’t judge her (largely because he was as much a social outcast as she, and a little oblivious to his surroundings).

I was hoping the scenes with Wakaba Moe would survive intact, and they did. There’s lots of interesting stuff here – Yuki’s interest in another girl, for starters, and she’s one that looks eerily like his mother. Here we see Yuki in one of his few “normal” adolescent moments, shyly working up the courage to confess via a letter, and we see Yuno in proto-stalker mode. It’s her misfortune that her “strict curfew” leads the teacher to send Moe instead of her to accompany Yukiteru to buy supplies for the class’ maid café for the culture festival, and even more misfortune that she can’t speak up and say why her curfew no longer matters. So she dons a bunny suit and tails Yuki through the mall, terrorizing a small boy but basically seeming to be an eerily benevolent “lite” version of the yandere queen she’ll become. But when that trip is over, we see that things have already turned deadly with Yuno – and why. Bad parents are quite the hot topic in anime lately (and certainly in Mirai Nikki), but despite what she did to them it’s impossible for me to feel much sympathy – they seem like pretty sick bastards. We now know the identity of two of the skeletons the police found at the Gasai house, but not the third.

In the present day, Yuki has taken it upon himself to go to Deus and demand that his mother be revived – something the God declares he cannot do, as he no longer has control in the space time continuum. What has been hinted at, Deus confirms – he’s dying, literally falling apart – and if no one fills his place, the world will collapse and all within it perish. Murumuru suggests to Yuki that there’s only one way his mother can be saved – for him to become God himself. As this is happening Nishijima is trying and failing to find out the identity of the third body from Yuno, and Yukiteru’s father is hiding from the police and eventually, coming to Yukiteru’s house to “make his peace” with Rea. He neither confirms nor denies Yuki’s accusation that he killed Rea (which Yuki has learned from his diary) but when Yuki tails him the next day to a pawnshop, looking for proof, it turns out that Kurou is instead buying back his telescope – the very one Yuki and Yuno was on their way to pick up to watch the stars on the day she kidnapped him. Just as Kurou bares his soul to Yuki and declares his intention to turn himself in and make amends, several men dressed as police offers accost the pair and Kurou is stabbed.

Deus and Muru haven’t been interactive participants in the story much lately, and this certainly serves as a reminder of why this game was started in the first place. But the main focus will surely be on Yukiteru, who now joins Yuno as an orphan and seems to have finally been pushed past his limit. Yuki isn’t a natural-born killer, and it doesn’t come easily to him – but as his father lies dying it appears that he’s finally decided he has nothing left to lose, and when the attackers turn their attention to him, he fights back in a way he hasn’t done before – spontaneously and with anger in his heart. Three dead attackers later, Yuno arrives on the scene to finish the fourth – and Yuki is forced to confront the hard reality that in order to bring back those he loves, it won’t be enough merely to kill off strangers and those hostile to him – he’ll have to kill Yuno too, and while she declares herself “ready to die at any time for him”, it remains to be seen if he has the stomach to finish the job.

If you’re keeping score at home, the anime has averaged almost exactly two chapters per episode as of this week, and to finish the manga they’ll have to average just under three the rest of the way. That won’t be easy but it can be done – this ep covered just about three chapters – although I suspect there are going to be quite a few things left to the viewer’s interpretation rather than implicitly spelled out. Fundamentally this story is about Yuki and Yuno, and episodes like this do a lot to flesh out their characters and shed some light on how they got to be who they are – and who they’ll become – and that makes the job of wrapping up the story easier. People will likely fixate on the fact that Yuki finally stepped up and got his hands dirty in his own defense, but more than anything I think what happened is that this was the episode where he truly realized for the first time what the stakes were – the stakes of success in the game, and of failure. But even whatever small peace that might have provided him is short-lived, as the boy who’s been systematically betrayed by everyone he’s ever depended on realized that he could only achieve his goals by killing the one person he might still be able to depend on. In short, with these two, it’s no wonder they’re as messed-up as they are.

16 comments

belatkuro

February 13, 2012 at 8:06 am

Gotta wonder why Yuno or even the neighbors aren't even bothered by the smell of the corpses.
That should really smell you know.

And yeah, no turning back now for Yuki.
It all comes down to his conviction to kill the remaining competition and if he will really be able to kill Yuno at the final moment. If they will really be the last ones alive in this farce…
8 episodes left. Will you finish it in time Asread? Hmmm…

deafvader

February 13, 2012 at 8:16 am

Well Yuno's house is pretty large. And she is a pretty intelligent girl…
What is more interesting is why no one noticed Yuno's dad did not turn up for work. I am sure the police just need a quick tour round the house to find something fishy.

FlareKnight

February 14, 2012 at 12:15 am

Yeah only a few guesses there. Could be a combination of things. Possible Yuno's father and mother worked from home so not many connections to people. Also possible they were pretty anti-social and people thought they were jerks so when no one saw them anymore they simply didn't care. Possible I suppose Yuno emailed a letter of resignation as well and since no one liked her father it wasn't questioned. In the end it might simply be a plot hole.

deafvader

February 13, 2012 at 8:14 am

Was this chapter corresponding to this episode. Seems like the order of chapters are a bit off. Regardless, I am surprised Yuno did not take care of the competition.
Question: If Deus has no power and is dying… How does the new guy get the power? I name thee the winner, and WaLa! power comes from nowhere and the guy become lord?

admin

February 13, 2012 at 8:25 am

Gotta stay tuned for that info.

I believe They added the bunny flashback to this sequence (which I agree with) but other than that I think it was the same order…

deafvader

February 15, 2012 at 5:10 am

bunny is real. i remember it.
but i can't remember the history of Yuno parents reviewed in the same chapter

Nayrael

February 13, 2012 at 11:19 am

OK, I can understand why the Detective lets them play their little game, but how did he persuade the rest o the police to not interfere? I mean, he talks about Yuuno's murder of her parents as if she bought a hamburger and I can't possibly see the rest of officers giving a seal of approval to that.

Awet M

February 13, 2012 at 9:12 pm

I suspect only the detective knows: he probably has exclusive access to Kurusu's files and hid the information relevant to Yuno Gasai's actions from his peers for leverage.

Solid jumpstart for the next story arc.

The studio adapted two & half chapters of manga material and they should keep up this pace in order to finish the adaptation within the remaining 8 episodes.

Stöt

February 13, 2012 at 10:46 pm

Guardian Enzo, I like it better when you havent read the manga beforehand. This style of telling the story again doesnt suit my tastes, and I wish somebody else was covering it at RC.
I do believe writing an anime review without knowing all the answers suits you best

admin

February 14, 2012 at 12:04 am

Sorry, Stot – "cannot unsee".

Eternia

February 14, 2012 at 2:34 am

Agreed. People who already enjoyed the manga can't help but have biased opinion.
This anime is full of plot holes, such how the powerless already God can power up a mere human to be the next god, why people took so long to notice Yuno parent's death, how Nishijima orders other cops around while keeping secret from them at the same time.

Awet M

February 14, 2012 at 6:33 am

Rather than a plot-hole, I suspect that Deus Ex Machina isn't an omnipotent god like the God of theism, but rather a powerful deity who has the office for a fixed amount of time. During that time, he has control over space & time, and perhaps only the space/time within those parameters.

Since the classic god of theism lacks all & any limitations, it's a categorical mistake to treat Deus as an omnipotent/omniscient/omnipresent being. Therefore, he probably doesn't "power up" a human — perhaps the mechanism of the universe demands the current occupant to choose his successor, and Deus decided to make a game of it — ergo, Future Diary. Recall that the diaries all have only 90 days' worth of predictions in them.

Anonymous

February 14, 2012 at 5:45 am

indeed yuki is slowly embrace both hate & dark side of mirai nikki yet now fully want get his parents back.

& yea indeed yuki really got a mama-love issue even giving a letter who look like your mom ok who order mother-son incest on it even a lookalike?

yet more yuno mu ha ha ha.

Felix

February 14, 2012 at 2:14 pm

I havent read the manga, but i have an idea of who is going to be, is just to damn obvious, unless im being deceived.

Felix

February 14, 2012 at 2:15 pm

forgot to add, who is going to be, the third corpse

Awet M

February 15, 2012 at 4:10 am

I suspect the studio changed the opening from the original manga chapter in order to justify the identity of the third body, cuz it would seem trolling otherwise on the author's part.

Not a spoiler, but my speculations may be spoiler-ish.

Mirai Nikki – 18

Guardian Enzo

16 comments

belatkuro

deafvader

FlareKnight

deafvader

admin

deafvader

Nayrael

Awet M

Stöt

admin

Eternia

Awet M

Anonymous

Felix

Felix

Awet M

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Stöt

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