Welcome to Anime Rants. I’m a bit of a completionist, so in order to begin my next big anime analysis series, I must first finish the one I started in summer last year. If this doesn’t look familiar to you, it’s because it appeared on my Wix blog, which I temporarily used when I couldn’t afford WordPress. Eventually, I will move most of the posts from that blog back over to this, my main blog. However, for now, I will just provide links to the previous posts in this blog series. You can catch up by reading them if you’re interested, or just start here, with the last arc of Future Diary.

The idea of a critical analysis is to evaluate an anime with a critical but not hateful or cynical mindset. I have loved Future Diary for eleven long years, so I’ve been heavily biased with my view of it in the past. The goal now is to present a balanced look at the anime, pointing out and discussing issues and mistakes. Positive elements will also be evaluated, as that’s only fair – but I won’t use rose-colored glasses this time. I have one final disclaimer: these analyses do not contain episode recaps – only my responses to what happens in them. Now, let us begin.

---

~Links to Previous Posts~

Future Diary Critical Analysis Part 1 (Episodes 1 and 2)

Future Diary Critical Analysis Part 2 (Episodes 3 and 4)

Future Diary Critical Analysis Part 3 (Episodes 5, 6. and 7)

Future Diary Critical Analysis Part 4 (Episodes 8 and 9)

Future Diary Critical Analysis Part 5 (Episodes 10 and 11)

Future Diary Critical Analysis Part 6 (Episodes 12 and 13)

Future Diary Critical Analysis Part 7 (Episodes 14 and 15)

Future Diary: Critical Analysis Part 8 (Summary So Far)

Future Diary Critical Analysis Part 9 (Episodes 16 and 17)

Future Diary Critical Analysis Part 10 (Episodes 18, 19, and 20)

Future Diary Critical Analysis part 11 (Episodes 21 and 22)

---

~Episode 23: Breach of Contract~

This episode is extremely important as the beginning of the final arc. I’m not going to recap all the events, because that would take too long. But this episode contains three main steps: 1) the bond of trust between Yukki and Yuno growing stronger, culminating in their physical intimacy; 2) the breaking of that trust on both sides, and 3) the secret of the two universes and Yuno’s act of killing her other self. (Note: you might be wondering what I mean by the trust being broken on both sides. This episode is called Breach of Contract because Yukki breaks the agreement first, by refusing to follow his promise and kill Yuno. Then it can be argued that Yuno also broke the trust by deciding to attack Yukki after that.)

I believe this episode was excellently executed, at least for the third step and the plot twist. When I first saw this and understood it 11 years ago, it totally blew my mind. Now, while it’s less mind-blowing with increased exposure to psychological anime series, it was still handled very well overall. Murmur’s exposition of the facts was made interesting by the immersive visions of the past that she showed Yukki. The shocking and tragic nature of the ending of the first survival game was poignant. Yukki’s emotional reaction to seeing Yuno kill her other self was also important. All in all, the plot reveal was done impressively.

Putting aside that positive element, there are several issues with this episode. Let’s start with the Yukki/Yuno sex scene. I shouldn’t have to explain how this scene was unnecessary and wrong. We really don’t need to see two young teenagers having their first cringe sex experience. Likewise, don’t show us the naked breasts of a fifteen year old, even if they are clearly modeled after a young adult. I was mostly alright with the occasional fan-service of Minene, as she is an adult canonically. Fan-service of a teenager is a different story. And yes, this was clearly fan-service, since it was not necessary in any way to show.

The bigger problem here is the sexualization of Yuno throughout the series. Yukki is sometimes sexualized as well, but not nearly to the same degree. Notice that the show puts Yukki back in his undershirt and shorts after the sex scene, while leaving Yuno in her lingerie and showing multiple shots of her mostly naked body. I will always hold that Yuno is a complex and well-written character, but whenever she is sexualized, it takes away a little of my good opinion. Don’t disrespect your characters in an otherwise serious story by making them sexual icons – at least for teen characters.

Later on in this post, we will discuss the potential issues and inconsistencies regarding Yuno’s god-powers. But for now, I want to touch on a little character analysis, which is also part of this blog series. Why exactly was Yuno so desperate to prevent Yukki from knowing that she killed her other self? It’s obvious that she found it safer to lie to Yukki or avoid the truth in order to keep him by her side for the survival game. It was a strategy. But it’s also more than that. Yuno completely loses her cool and starts shrieking, “Don’t see it! Don’t look!” She slashes at the door with an axe despite knowing that Murmur sealed her out with god powers.

The truth of how she killed her other self is clearly a matter of emotional importance to Yuno. I think it’s that she doesn’t want to be vulnerable. Anytime Yukki gets near any truths about Yuno’s family, Yuno reacts terribly. She’s ashamed of killing her parents and her other self because these killings were not for her own survival or to protect Yukki. Yuno will not allow Yukki to see this shameful past. It’s always been critical for her to be the strong one and the protector. If Yukki sees everything, he will have a compassionate response, and Yuno will be ultimately be seen as someone who needs to be saved. And Yuno is correct; that’s exactly what happens.

Future Diary continues to impress me with its character psychology. However, going back to being critical, the show sometimes tries too hard to be emotionally appealing. It goes over the top with a theme and seems cheesy. A great example is in this episode, when a miracle happens. The dying Yuno from the second world is able to hear Yukki calling out to her, giving her some comfort as she passes away. But that’s impossible – this is only a vision, not the real past. Yukki shouldn’t be able to interact with the events. Future Diary tried to give a sappy, hopeful spin on Yuno’s death, breaking its own rules in the process. That’s all for episode 23.

---

~Episode 24: Searching~

There’s a lot to cover in this episode, so brace yourself for a lot of writing. Interesting character psychology and story themes appear during the talk that Yuno and Yukki have in the theater of causality. From a purely logical standpoint, Yuno made some good points. 1) If Yukki wants to die anyway rather than become god, why not just let Yuno kill him? 2) Everybody is going to die tomorrow at the end of the world unless one person becomes god and saves it. 3) From the view of a god of time and space, it would make sense to see people as “game pieces.”

I think this whole scene was very well-written, from Yuno’s cold logic to Yukki’s more personal, human view. I wanted to give that scene credit where it was due. There were also other moments that were well-written and powerful for the characters. For example, when Yukki calls Yuno insane, she responds that what’s truly insane is the world that won’t let them be together. Another instance would be when Yukki fully realizes his mistake of selfishly killing his allies and friends. It occurs to him for the first time that he’s in the same boat as Yuno – both have killed people for selfish reasons.

Next, I’ll discuss a topic that is important throughout the last three episodes of Future Diary: Yuno’s god powers. If Yuno became god in the first world, why didn’t she use any divine powers in the second world? There are a couple different opinions about this, and the anime does not verify which is right, nor explain in any way. The most likely answer is that Yuno’s god powers did not transfer over to the second world after the time-leap. She only had god powers in the first world, and she willingly left them behind.

If the above argument is true, though, then why is Yuno suddenly so powerful in the last three episodes of the series? You can argue that this is all Murmur’s power and not Yuno’s, but it seems like making excuses at that point. The anime should have been more consistent with this issue and explained when and where Yuno and Murmur used their supernatural abilities. It’s not exactly a plot hole, but it’s a fairly impactful weakness in storytelling at a crucial point in the narrative.

There are two other points to go over quickly. First, I just want to mention that the inclusion of the emotional abuse scene with Yuno and her mother was a good choice. It was hard to watch for sure, but it was important to include because it showed the kind of shit Yuno went through daily. It would have been bad enough if the mother was just emotionally unstable, shaming Yuno intensely, and threatening suicide because of Yuno’s alleged misbehavior. But on top of that, she also locked Yuno in a dog cage and refused to let her go to the bathroom or eat anything other than grass. This horrific abuse is putting Yuno’s health and even her life in danger. With all this going on, I’m surprised Yuno feels any shame at all for killing her parents. I wouldn’t.

The last problem is the lack of believability of Ninth’s choice to help Yukki. Deus gave her part of his power and told her take down Murmur and Yuno. Going against Yuno means siding with Yukki. But why in the world would Minene suddenly start listening to a god? She hates god for making the world such an unfair place. At one point, Ninth states that she’s helping because she just wants to see Yuno cry. While that is an explanation, it doesn’t satisfy me. Why does Minene hate Yuno so much all of a sudden? It could be because Yuno’s plan led to the death of Nishijima, but in that case, the anime definitely should have explained it instead of leaving Ninth’s motivations unclear.

---