Mirai Nikki / Future Diary

This entry contains spoilers and violent imagery in its galleries. View at your own risk.

About

The Future Diary (未来日記, Mirai Nikki ) is a psychological-thriller and romance manga and anime series. The manga was written and illustrated by Sekae Esuno in 2006, while the anime adaptation was created by Studio Asread and directed by Naoto Hosoda.^[1]

Premise

In the world of Future Diary, the God Deus Ex Machina is dying. In order to find a successor he hosts the Survival Game. Twelve contestants must participate in a battle royale, using supernatural devices called Future Diaries, to see who is the last one standing over the course of 90-days, otherwise the world itself will end. The story focuses on Yukiteru Amano and Yuno Gasai as they struggle to survive and win the Survival Game.

History

Manga

Future Diary ran from January 26, 2006 – December 27, 2010 and it comprises of 12 volumes.^[2] There are also two side story manga. Future Diary: Mosaic, focuses on Uryu Minene (9th) and reveals some unexplained plot points from the original series.^[3] Future Diary: Paradox focuses on Aru Akise and Murmur trying to restore the timeline after Murmur ended up killing Yuno on accident before the game even began.^[4]

Anime

An anime adaptation of Future Diary from Studio Asread began airing on October 10, 2011 and ran for 26 episodes.^[5] The series was directed by Naoto Hosoda and written by Katsuhiko Takayama. The adaptation was faithful to the manga, save for a few minor tweaks. At the end of each episode, Murmur would have her own special segments where she helps fill in some exposition, or generally has some comedic moments with each of the diary holders. English dubbing of the series was handled by Funimation.^[6] The series ran from October 10, 2011 – April 16, 2012.

Redial

Future Diary: Redial is the epilogue to the original series. It further explains what happened in the 3rd universe and how Yuno reunites with Yuki. Redial was bundled as a manga and OVA in April 2013.^[7] Despite having the license for it, Funimation has yet to dub Redial.

Visual Novel

A visual novel based on the manga Future Diary: The 13th Diary Owner was released for the PlayStation Portable on January 28, 2010 in Japan.^[8] A re-release with new graphics, artwork and the voice actors from the anime was released on April 26, 2012. The game centers around its original character Azami Kirisaki and her involvement in the Survival Game.

Live Action

Future Diary: Another World is an 11-episode live action drama aired between April 21 and June 30, 2012 on Fuji TV.^[9] The series followed a familiar plot with original characters. Some of these characters are combinations of the original ones.

Online Presence

The series has a sizable following within in the online anime and manga community. On Tumblr there are numerous posts under at least to different tags, ^{[10] [11]} as well as several blogs dedicated to the series, such as Future Diary, ^[12] Mirai Nikki Confessions ^[13] Crazy-Pink-Haired Yandere ^[14] as well as many others. ^[15] On Reddit there is a subreddit dedicated to the series. ^[16] On Fanfiction.net there are around 320 stories involving characters and settings from Future Diary. ^[17] There are also numerous sites that provide information about the series such as the Future Diary Wiki,^[18] TV Tropes,^[19] and Anime News Network.^[20]

On YouTube YouTuber JillZenith uploaded the full version of the first Future Diary opening, titled "Kuusou Mesorogiwi (Fantasy Mythology)", on January 26, 2012 (shown below). As of July 2015 the video has over 10 million views.

The shortened broadcast versions of each opening theme have also been uploaded to YouTube, and have over 7.8 million and 2.9 million views respectively (both shown below).

Fandom

On Tumblr there are several blogs dedicated to the series, such as Future Diary, ^[12] Mirai Nikki Confessions ^[13] Crazy-Pink-Haired Yandere ^[14] as well as many others. ^[15] On Reddit there is a subreddit dedicated to the series. ^[16] On Fanfiction.net there are around 320 stories involving characters and settings from Future Diary. ^[17]

YouTuber TheBestAMVsOfAllTime uploaded an AMV titled Nightmare (shown below) by VictoriousAMV on September 2, 2012 featuring Yuno Gasai. As of July 2015 the video has over 6 million views.

On April 15, 2012 YouTuber TehN1ppe uploaded a video entitled "Yuki Yuki Yuki 10 hours" a 10 hour long version of a video titled "Yanderes are Misunderstood" by YouTuber TheBestAMVsOfAllTime (shown below) ^[25] and originally created by producer "水先案内人" as a part of the 'On and On' MAD remix fad. The video has since spawned several derivatives. ^[26]

Fanart

There are currently over 6,800 images on Pixiv^[21] using the tag '未来日記' and over 7,000 images on DeviantArt ^[22] using the tag 'Future Diary'.

Cosplay

Related Memes

Yandere Trance

The Yandere Trance is an exploitable image of Yuno in her yandere state. It’s variations mostly stem from amateur Japanese artists on pixiv, but they have gained popularity across the internet. These images have made appearances on 4chan’s /a/ board, Tumblr, and deviantART.

Yanderes are Misunderstood

Yanderes are Misunderstood is a version of the "On and On" MAD remix fad that features Future Diary character Yuno Gasai speaking to and about protagonist Yukiteru Amano created by producer “水先案内人” and uploaded to YouTube by YouTuber TheBestAMVsOfAllTime. The orginal video has since spawned several derivatives.

Queen of the Yandere

Yuno Gasai is the main female protagonist of the series. She is a charming and sweet girl that is one of the top students in school. However, she has a dark past that has messed her up mentally. Whenever Yuki is threatened, she becomes a calculating and merciless psychopath, going to any length to protect the only person that brings stability to her life. She has become an icon in the online anime and manga community, not only becoming the poster child for the yandere character archetype, but she has also been dubbed Queen of the Yandere. ^[23][24]

Search Interest

External References