Mirai Nikki – 26 (Fin)

As she prepares to kill her, Yuno recalls how her past self used to dream of becoming a happy family. When she delivers the killing strike, it hits her father instead, shielding his daughter. Kurusu arrives and holds Yuno at gunpoint. In the Deus fragment, Yukiteru gradually realizes there’s something he needs to do; his parents support him. He breaks out of the fragment with the Second Murmur, who catches Kurusu’s bullet. Yukiteru tells God-Yuno to kill him, but she stabs herself instead, as neither of them could stab the other in the end. Amano wins the game, and the Third World begins. All the former diary holders, including the other Yukiteru, carry on normal, happy lives, but Yukiteru remains in a void for 10,000 years, unwilling to create a world without Yuno…

Mirai Nikki delivers a powerful and rousing finale, in which everything Yukiteru and Yuno did, and everyone they killed are restored to the time before the game touched them, and it seems to be for the better. The Yuno who sought to reset the game and court Yukkii once more decided on her own to stop the cycle, and while Yukiteru’s love and devotion to her played a part in it, witnessing her mother and father and the other her come together also had an effect. Her father was always away at work, her mother suffered from depression, and she took it out on Yuno until she snapped, locked them up, and let them starve to death. In short, this Gasai Yuno had bad luck. The cards just didn’t fall her way.

But something Yukiteru did in that fragment, whether it was intentional or just the result of his determination, gave Yuno and everyone else a second chance at life, including himself. In the new Third World, the third Yukiteru doesn’t even know Yuno, but Yuno seems troubled by something she forgot, while the Yukiteru who became a god wallows in self-pity in some void, alone save for Murmur…for ten millenia. After all those happy endings, seeing him end up there was equally troubling. So Yukiteru and Yuno are troubled, despite how things worked out – and you know what that means…their story doesn’t end here.

Rating: 4

Car Cameos: The cops show up in black-and-white Toyota Crown GRS180s, while Kurusu and Nishijima pull up in what could be a black Subaru Legacy B6 (judging from the headlamps), an interesting choice of detective’s car.

Mirai Nikki – 25

Yukiteru flees to the school with Minene and Past Yuno, but with her Yukkii diary it doesn’t take long for God Yuno and Murmur to find them. After warning Kurusu about his son’s heart condition, Minene duels with Murmur as Yuno chases Yukkii. Finally, she catches him in a Deus Fragment, an illusory world in which Yuno doesn’t exist and all of his dreams can come true; even his parents are alive and together. Yuno releases Murmur’s seal, making her infinitely more powerful, and Minene is killed. As Yukiteru loses himself in the fantasy world of the fragment, Yuno prepares to kill her defenseless past self…

Throughout this episode, God Yuno struggles with her feelings for the Yukiteru trying to save her from herself, but ultimately she fights them back. She reveals the truth that Yukiteru probably knows, but neither of them have brought up before: Yuno would have loved anyone if she became dependent on him – as she did Yukkii – just as Yukiteru would have loved anyone as long as she protected him. It’s harsh, but it’s true. Still, she doesn’t want to lose him, nor does she want to return to the second world, so locking him away is her answer.

In the fantasy world of the Deus fragment, she even dangles a pliable Wakana before him. Initially, he protests, but once she seals him in he seems to go along with things. After all the crap he’s been through, could he be ready to settle for the dream world Yuno’s given him? Is it better than death, or worse? At what point will he forget his world isn’t real? Minene is dead (again) thanks to a downright frightening Demon Murmur (after a stunningly-animated fight), so it would appear he’s fresh out of allies with godlike powers to free him. We’re very curious to see how this all comes to an end, and if the other diary holders – still alive in this world – still have a role to play beyond Yuno’s prey.

Rating: 3.5

Mirai Nikki – 24

Yuno prepares to kill Yukiteru so Murmur can help her become a god and restart the cycle, but Ninth flies in to save him. Deus brought her back to stop second and Murmur, who try to escape by time warping, but Ninth follows them with Yukiteru in tow, to two years in the past in a third world. Despite Ninth’s warnings, Yukiteru interferes with the third Yuno by calling an ambulance, but Murmur and God-Yuno show up, forcing Ninth to retreat. She urges Yukiteru to choose who he really wants to save.

With the second world about to end and no winner to the game yet, the series had nowhere to go but the past, and so back we go, to a third world where one of two things will happen: either Yuno will kill herself again, restarting that vicious cycle we talked about last week, or Yukiteru will stop her. Both have powerful sidekicks in their corners: it’s great – and indeed actually plausable within this series’ mechanics – to see Ninth alive and kickin’, now infused with Deus. Watching her fly around, manipulate matter and travel back in time like, well, a god, is fun stuff.

Yuno, meanwhile, has Murmur, who as it turns out isn’t playing favorites out of some desire to rebel against Deus. This particular Murmur isn’t beholden to the dying Deus, but to Yuno. When Yuno became a god, Murmur became her loyal servant. We love how things are fitting together in these final weeks. And now we see how Yukiteru could bring back his parents, friends and Yuno: by becoming a god, going back in time, and preventing the game from ever being developed. That’s the key to saving everyone. Is that what he’ll choose to do? Will the ‘rules’ allow that?

Rating: 4

Mirai Nikki – 23

With all other diary holders destroyed, the world will end on July 28 until either Yukiteru or Yuno are killed. After a few days of reflection and guilt for doubting Yuno, Yukiteru decides to express his love for her. The night before the last day of earth, they make love, as Yuno’s diary said they would. However, when Yukiteru brings up Akise’s text about Yuno being the winner of the last game come back to the past, she snaps and tries to kill him. Murmur shows him the past, and how the Yuno he loved and who loved him was killed by her copy.

Now that was awesome. The other diary holders may be dead, but this episode opens up a whole new can of worms by finally confirming that Yuno is far more than she seems. And hey, our man Amano finally gathered the courage to finally get it on with Yuno, even if it was the wrong Yuno. Mirai Nikki got super-metaphysical this week in order for Murmur to show him the truth, but we can hardly fault the means when the ends are this satisfying, and fit so well with what we’ve seen of Yuno and the game.

It would seem they were already in love in the first world, but her plan to become a god for him failed, and he didn’t wake up, so she went back in time to be with him. Only there was that other Yuno in the way, so she killed her, making that mysterious third body. Of course, nothing either she or Yukiteru do will change the fact that they can never really be together, as the world will end if one of them doesn’t always die. Is this a cycle that can be broken? We’re guessing not if Yuno becomes a goddess again…

Rating: 4

Mirai Nikki – 22

Akise learns he’s just an observer created by Deus to collect information. He’s about to decompile into raw data when Kousaka finishes turning his diary into an apprentice future diary using Eighth’s phone. Deus releases him back to the real world, where briefly separates Yukiteru and Yuno, using his new Detective’s diary to predict their actions. Hinata warns Yukiteru that even when he’s a god, he won’t be able to bring anyone back. He doesn’t believe her, and kills her, Mao, and Kousaka to get to Eighth. Akise destroys Yuno’s phone, but she has another identical one, and she slits his throat, but before he dies he types a message into his phone that Yukiteru reads…

What if you’ve been working towards something, sacrificing your morals in the process, only to learn that that thing is impossible? Well, as in Yukiteru’s case, you’d probably be in denial, but believe it deep down. But having come so far and killed so many, what does he have to lose by killing a few more? It’s pretty obvious now that as a god, he could bring back the “flesh” of his dead parents and the friends he so quickly and thoughtlessly murdered, but he’ll never be able to bring back their souls. That sucks….

Akise Aru is revealed as another part of the game, and one that was supposed to remain neutral, at that. But he fell in love with Yukiteru, and managed to survive long enough to possibly deliver him the information that will save his life, even if Yukiteru doesn’t want to live anymore at this point. What would it matter to Yukiteru at this point if his Gasai Yuno is really a fake…or even a doppleganger of some kind, who wants to kill him? She’s already succeeded in killing everyone else in the game. We’re curious to see how the series will use the remaining four episodes, which seems like a lot to be left considering how much has happened.

Rating: 3.5

Mirai Nikki – 21

Uryuu will wait until Yukiteru kills Eleventh, but if he fails, she’ll kill him to avenge Nishijima. He manages to get the vault door where Eleventh is hiding open, but there is a second door he can’t open. Uryuu takes a shot at Yukiteru, but misses, and is losing blood fast. Yuki uses noise from his phone to misdirect her, then shoots her gun away. Dying, she admitting she likes Yukiteru and understands his situation, so when her heart stops, it sets off a bomb.

It doesn’t break through, but by then, Yuno has arrived, with access to the vault. Only Eighth stands in Yukiteru’s way, but Deus is starting to die, and may take the world with him. Akise, who is protecting Eighth for the moment, travels with her to the cathedral and asks if a god will really be able to fix everything bad that’s happened.

The pursuit of Eleventh gets pretty ridiculous – I mean, two bank vaults? Really? – and it costs the lives of Nishijima, Uryuu, and a lot of armed guards standing around while Yuno guts them. But Yuno gets him, using Yuno’s Gasai Bank access code to open the vault. But wait, if she’s not the real Gasai Yuno, how did she have the code? Was it just an illusion, as he thought when he saw her in there? Or is Eleventh really dead? We didn’t see him implode like Uryuu, after all. If he isn’t, that’s one more person Yukiteru has to kill to gain godhood, and he – and the series – are running out of time.

Huge mechanical orbs are apparating all over the city, threatening to swallow up everything (and at the pace they’re growing, we’d estimate it would only take a day or so to do so). Naturally, that pace will be slowed for dramatic effect, but Akise Aru’s question looms: how much power will the diary holder who wins actually hold? Was this all just a boondoggle so Deus could dump the world onto some other poor sap? Also surprisingly still up in the air: whether Yuno will really let Yuki kill her.

Rating: 3.5

Mirai Nikki – 20

Yukiteru disregards all this talk of imposters – “Yuno is Yuno” as far as he’s concerned. Ninth wants to defeat Eleventh, but she barely escapes from his guards while spying on him and Eighth, whose Server diary he connects to a supercomputer to make all the citizens of Sakurami into apprentice diary holders. Deus tells Ninth that Eleventh designed the diaries for use in the survival game, and his allows him to spy on other diary holders, while his secretary lets him avoid misinformation. Nishijima is killed and Ninth is cornered, but she’s saved by Yukiteru and Yuno, who arrive with civilian hostages, the mayor’s weakness.

And so Nishijima follows his late superior to the grave, protecting the person he loves, as his late superior did. He tries his best to get Minene to agree to marry him in order for his help, but it doesn’t come off as desperate or creepy, and even Minene can’t help but be flattered. Just when she thinks she’s found a way around Eleventh’s spying by using Kousaka, Hinata, and Mao, he sets a bomb off that takes off her hand, and Nishijima gets a bullet to the heart, followed by more when he makes himself her shield.

This episode primarily followed Minene around. She’s certainly a much deeper character than the touched-in-the-head school terrorist from her first appearence, but all this talk of getting married and having kids bemuses her teribly. It seems absurd to her: she’s always lived alone, for herself. Still, she appeared to find the possibility at least somewhat intriguing, and when Nishijima was killed, eliminating that possibility, she seemed genuinely hurt. As for Yukkii and Yuno, they’re still cheerfully wreaking havoc, running along that path to godhood. Eleventh is a tough cookie, but if anyone can crumble it, it’s that pair.

Rating: 4

Mirai Nikki – 19

The mayor of Sakurami City successfully gets the city council to vote to close down Eighth’s child care center. In the Causality Cathedral, he almost has First and Second expelled, when the two arrive and reveal his identity to Eighth and Ninth, the other remaining diary holders. Yuno and Yukkii then ally themselves with Eighth’s team to bring down Eleventh, only to stab them in the back after intentionally faling into the Mayor’s trap, causing all phones to be jammed. Eighth escapes with Eleventh, and they lead Yukkii and Yuno on a car chase. When the cars are wrecked, Yuno is about to shoot Eleventh when Ninth arrives via motorbike with Akise, who has determined that the third corpse is Gasai Yuno, making the living Yuno an impostor.

Well, it’s about goddamn time Yukkii grew a pair again, and this week he does, and how. At first we were confused about his sudden, utter change of behavior, but his initial display in the Cathedral was just an act. Still, throughout most of the episode he’s more calm and confident, and follow’s Yuno’s handwritten plans to the letter without hesitation or pussyfooting. He even kills (and lets Yuno kill) with impugnity, something inconceivable up to this point. Perhaps the loss of his parents released a lot of the fear that plagued and paralyzed him so long. He knows the only way to be with them again (aside from maybe dying himself) is to become a god. The road to that outcome is bloody, but straight. The certainty of what needs to be done – and his faith in Yuno – are his new comfort.

But hold on…what’s behind Corpse Number Three? Oh, snap, Yuno isn’t really Yuno? Then who in the heck is she? More to the point, with her death necessary for Yukkii’s ascent, does it really even matter at this point? Apparently it does, since the show goes out of its way to milk the revelation for all it’s worth. Just when we thought we’d learned something about this crazy girl, and just a week later they turn her into an unreliable narrator. And let’s not forget that Yuno had a loaded gun pointed at Eleventh for quite a long while, but didn’t pull the trigger. Very un-Yuno like. Now she has some explaining to do.

Rating: 3.5

Car Cameo: Mayor Bacchus travels around in Epicurean
splendor in his top-of-the-line Toyota Century.

Mirai Nikki – 18

The episode flashes back to when Yuno first falls for Yukiteru. Her emotional problems stem from being caged and starved by her parents, and in turn she cages and starves them to death. She then tries to sabotage a “date” between Yukiteru and the class rep Moe, but Moe turns him down anyway. Back in the present, Nishijima needs to know who the third body in Yuno’s house was. Yukiteru’s dad shows up at home, knowing he’s about to be caught by the police and wanting to spend his last day of freedom with him. However, agents from Eleventh kill him while they’re at a shrine. Yukiteru kills a couple agents in turn, then turns the knife on Yuno, learning from Murmur he can bring back his parents if he becomes a god. Yuno doesn’t resist, and Yuki spares her for now.

Oh man, poor Yukiteru. These last couple days have been pure Deadman Wonderland, and now he learns that the current god is literally crumbling away in his realm, now unable to further manipulate the “causality continuum.” Only the new god can bring back Yuki’s mother and now father – and I doubt any of the other diary holders other than him consider that a priority. Yuki may be a weenie but he is one of the saner characters, and I’m sure stabbing someone to death and using another as a human shield was tough to do and will haunt him. Unfortunately if he wants his parents back he’ll have to spill a lot more blood and shed more of his humanity; Eleventh is a tricky and obviously well-protected bastard.

We knew this score though. What we didn’t know was the slightest thing about Yuno’s past, specifically why her house had corpses in it and how she became the gorgeously unhinged lunatic she is today. Well, not surprisingly, the answer to both is abuse. Yuno’s parents were as cracked as she was, trying to mold her into an elite student through the use of incarceration (mirroring Yuno locking Yuki up earlier, in desperation), starvation, and general contempt for her very existence. Her parents were awful people, so Yuno paid them back in kind, but then she was alone. All it took was a token promise from Yukiteru to make her his ‘little bride’ for her to latch onto him, and presumably that’s when the stalker diary became active. Regular guys never interested her. It’s also clear she harbors no plans to become a god. If she has to die so Yukiteru can become one, so be it. By his hand, so much the better.

Rating: 3.5

Mirai Nikki – 17

The episode begins with a flashback to when Ai met Marco, at the very Sakurami Tower where they find themselves in the present. Both were abandoned by their parents, and for better or worse, stuck like glue all through school. One day, Ai was lured into a trap by her classmates, leading her to get gang-raped in an abandoned warehouse. Marco is too late to help her, but kills the assailants in a rage, and promises never to leave her side.

Back in the present Yuno saves Yukiteru from falling, then uses the fake phone to trick Marco into getting separated from Ai, who gets her throat cut by Yuno. A cave-in of concrete traps Yuno, Yuki and Ai underneath, but Marco comes back to get them out so he and Ai can die in each others’ arms.Yuno and Yuki escape with the only parachute, only to find his father, who escaped with the other parachute, killed his mother.

There’s been some bleak and tragic diary holder stories in Mirai Nikki thus far, but perhaps the most tragic so far is that of Marco and Ai. Their love, which had been something of a novelty used for comic relief in previous episodes, really comes to life this week, now that we have a firm idea where it comes from. Marco has always looked after Ai…always, and the only two times he didn’t, she met with horrible fates. They desired to become gods together, and that’s what they worked towards. Once it was clear either one of them would die, the other was sure to follow. Their sob story really had us sympathizing with their plight.

Unfortunately, they’re not the protagonists, but with their excellent, dramatic death, we’re down another diary holder (only one, since they didn’t count as separate holders). Now Yuki will no doubt have to deal with another wave of trouble from that mother with the freakishly big head. But more importantly, Yuki’s father somehow managed to top the awfulness he displayed last week by abandoning his kid by escaping, then stabbing Yuki’s mom. Yuki’s dream of a reunited family? Poof, gone. Of course, if he becomes a god, perhaps he can turn things around…

Rating: 3.5

Mirai Nikki – 16

‘Nurse’ Uryuu / Ninth is acting as a coach for Yuki to toughen him up, claiming she has a plan to defeat Mar and Ai / Seventh. In reality, she doesn’t, but she must make him think there is so it shows up in his diary. Yuno watches from afar, and is concerned when Yuki’s dad shows up. Her concerns are justified; his dad is only there to destroy Yuki’s phone so his debt will be forgiven. But Yuki is blinded by happiness and the prospect of his parents remarrying. Finally meeting with the Seventh duo, his dad even manages to break Yuki’s phone, but it’s a decoy; the real ones are hidden in Ai’s bouquet. When the tower they met in starts to crumble, Yuki has to choose between Yuno and his dad’s hand to save his life…

What? Really? Yuki’s deadbeat dad shows up this week? Was that really necessary? Isn’t there enough going on? Yuki’s mom has been presumably around this whole time, but we’ve only seen her in a few episodes. Even more aggravating, Yuki goes right back into weak little weenie mode when he sees said dad. Hoping your parents will remarry is all nice and good, but getting him to promise same without any input from his mother? All so they can “see the stars?” What is he, seven? Uryuu tells him he’s too quick to give up and let his weaknesses discourage him. In this case, his weakness is a longing for a happy, complete family; something both his enemies and his father are all too happy to exploit.

Unfortunately for Yuki, his dad isn’t really interested in reconnecting this week. He’s three million yen in debt, and someone – presumably a diary holder like Eleventh – has offered to eliminate that debt if he breaks Yuki’s cellphone. His dad may not be aware that will kill his son, but who cares? He’s a weasel. And his continuous cheating to beat his son in a variety of challenges set by Uryuu doesn’t help his likability. The two saving graces of this episode were Uryuu – who was surprisingly civil and helpful this week – and Yuno, who proves that even without her phone, her instincts vis-a-vis Yuki are almost always right. When Yuki has to talk her down from stabbing his dad – only for her to start adding poison to his tea – was one of the more gut-busting scenes of the series. She may be nuts, but she’s not stupid, and as always, is trying to protect Yuki no matter what.

Rating: 3

Mirai Nikki – 15

When Yukiteru asks, his friends agree to continue to help him. With Eighth and her apprentices after him, Akise suggests they hole up in Kousaka’s manse, a massive property with a cell phone tower that will knock out the apprentices’ connection to their diary server. Their plans are foiled when Yuno cuts the power, apparently there to continue protecting Yukkii. They are able to stall their pursuers until Akise shuts down the cell tower, but the stylish couple cornering them aren’t the Eighth’s apprentices, together they’re the Seventh, Mar and Ai. A battle between couples ensues, with Yuno managing to fend off both attackers for a time, but one of Eighth’s people sets the house on fire. Yuki wakes up in the hospital with Yuno and his friends safe, but his and Yuno’s diaries were taken. Ninth shows up disguised as a nurse to gather info.

Wow, a lot happened this week, and showed just how rich and chaotic Mirai Nikki can get with so many different friends, foes, and in-betweens in the mix. And heck, Yuki’s estrangement from Yuno didn’t even last a whole episode! Here we were thinking she was on the back burner while Yuki deals with new threats, but leave it to her to show up and insert herself right in the middle of things. In typical stalker fashion, she even stopped by his house to cook him dinner without him even knowing. This episode got us thinking (as it did Yuki): left to her own devices, will she always default to drugging and confining Yuki? Perhaps, but there are more pressing matters. She can’t have Yuki if he’s killed by these other diary holders.

Here, the series pulled another fast one on us; making us believe for a while that the lovey-dovey couple were apprentices of the huge-faced Eighth. But like all the other holders, they have their own individual motives, though it’s cool that their diaries help them operate as protection for one another. For all the dark, ridiculous insanity this series cooks up, it not only provided a smidgen of comedy with the Sevenths, but also kept things realistic: Hinata and Mao couldn’t do much against the seasoned fighters. Interestingly, the Sevenths also lack that killer instinct of say, Minene (who they also managed to squeeze in, yegods!): once they had Yuki and Yuno’s diaries, they just left, and even carried the girls out of the burning house. What kind villains!

Rating: 4

Mirai Nikki – 14

Akise trys to negotiate with Yuno, but she alters her memory to forget about them. Kousaka is about to give up hope when his phone suddenly becomes an “apprentice future diary,” listing his brilliant successes, the first being escaping from the gas chamber. When he reaches the control room, an agitated Yuno pretends to make nice, but once he releases Akise and Mao, Yuno shoots him with a dart gun. She’s about to kill him, when Yukiteru – awake and freed by the tied-up Hinata kicking his cuff keys to him, rips the gun away. With three more apprentice diary holders on the way, Yuki has Nishijima get them out all out of there. Yuno remains.

Meddling Kids Akise, Hinata, Mao and Kousaka really got themselves into a pickle, with Hinata tied up as Yuno feeds Yuki (and helps him wee-wee) and the rest about to asphyxiate in a cloud of gas. When Akise’s bargaining fails, its all up to Kousaka, funnily enough – someone who’s been pretty useless and whiny up to this point (and is responsible for locking them in the room in the first place). The series introduces the birth of new future diaries, making his “Kousaka King” variant in the nick of time. It isn’t perfect, as it only sees his successess and not his failures, but thanks to some good luck (Yuki coming to at the right time; his key landing close to Hinata), it gets the job done.

With Kousaka and the trio of apprentices sent to the abandoned hotel to kill Yuki (led from their home by a woman with a freakishly big head), we now have this bred of not-quite future diary holder, and Kousaka would seem to be an apprentice to become the next Eighth. We’re wondering if this is because no one has killed everyone else fast enough, or if this just a system we weren’t told about until now. That Yuno is merely left behind – not killed outright – she’ll remain a threat to the end, but in the meantime, there will be some new faces going after Yuki. We’ll see how much more involved his friends get.

Rating: 3.5