I think some of Yuno has finally rubbed off on Yuki. Best case scenario here is the man ends up with a busted iphone. Worst case scenario: He spins into a swirling black vortex of nothingness. Way to be a dick Yuki.
This scene. Holy shit this scene was effective. I quite literally hid my face under my bed covers (and promptly felt like a bit of a twat for doing so). She had barely been gone 5–6 minutes in this show and already she’s like this spectre hovering over everything. This unseen evil, only ever observing the product of her work but not her physical self. Which is why I’m torn on reintroducing Yuno so quickly back into the plot. On one hand, the idea of holding her return back, constantly working as a background threat, would have done wonders for the tension in the show. The fact that you can’t see her only enhances the Legend of Yuno. Plus think about the thrilling moment when she does finally return, saving Yuki when he least expects it. It would have been a marvellous moment. On the other hand though, it’s as though Future Diary realised that it doesn’t have much to keep you entertained if Yuno isn’t on screen. Still, I’m disappointed Future Diary couldn’t keep it in their pants for a bit longer.
Even with that factor though, this was still one of the strongest episodes of the series so far. I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this new diary pairing. Deus messing with its own rules again, as they both apparently count as one diary owner even though Yuno has the exact same power and counts as one on her own. But that did tie back into the narrative Future Diary has had going since the very start. The same twisted dichotomy Yuki has always had. Either has to pair up with Yuno or basically die. On one hand, if he does pair up with Yuno, he returns to the threat of a comatose state in an abandoned building or whatever crazed possessive sexual fantasy Yuno has next. And he has to commit to that relationship wholeheartedly for them to win the game. Future Diary drove home that fact by presenting them with a couple with the same powers as Yuno but with totally different levels of trust between them.
Mind you, why exactly did they decide to take their diaries instead of snapping them in two? I had a similar problem back when Minine didn’t break their diaries after the kid gassed Yuki’s house, but an insightful commenter pointed out that the police chief would see if she planned to do that, so her hands were tied. Maybe some bright commenter can justify why the couple didn’t snap Yuki and Yuno’s diaries in two (although no spoilers kthx). If it’s for some silly reason like “we wanted to see you grow as a couple” I’m going to Get Very Angry About Cartoons On The Internet.
Did anyone else notice the animation quality leap in this episode? It’s not like Future Diary ever had great animation or anything, so it really stuck out how fluid some of the animation was. In fact, the entire episode was really well directed for a change. The timing of certain scenes felt bang on, such as the action directing during the fire fight scene and Yuno’s return to delirious ‘Yuki praised me’ form. Boy did I love that scene. A teenage girl deflecting throwing knives with a knife of her own through the power of a single line of praise. It’s completely fucking ridiculous, and I love this show for that.
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Yeah, 2–3 episodes of Yuno hovering in the background would have been a great idea. Hell, that two minute scene had more tension and was generally more unsettling than the first 3 eps of Another. Her return really should have been held off a bit longer. Still, that smiling, knife-wielding nutjob is bafflingly adorable, so I can’t really complain!
I really enjoyed the new OP/ED’s. The originals were also decent, but it’s nice to see something different, especially after the dearth in quality this season. Well, maybe Black Rock Shooter will also prove a pleasant surprise (on mute).
I thought the new OP and ED were kinda shit. The ED was ok I guess, but the OP was dull and generic. Plus the imagery was cooler in the first OP. Why change to blue for a horror? Blue is calming, red is the angry one
Future Diaries goal is to defy all logic and rules.
That must include color schemes for horror!
I agree with you on the new OP Scamp. definitely more dull
I agree the new OP isn’t quite as good the first, but hey, I don’t mind them changing it after 15 or so eps. I still think it’s better than pretty much every other opening this season, bar Lagrange and Space Pilots. As the colour scheme, well I guess you could say red is about the anger/passion/chaos of the first half, as all the factions clash together, while blue is a colder/downbeat colour, representing the dwindling of contestant as the endgame draws closer, with Deus’ inevitable death and the Yuki/Yuno arc coming to head. Either that or I’m just talking out my ass!
Also, if memory serves red is used traditionally to highlight a hero in Japan, whereas blue is the colour of villains/the anti-heroic. And I’m inclined to believe that while the show would paint all of their characters not as villains, but at least sinful in their own way. Yuki’s sin being his indecisiveness, lack of courage, and relying on Yuno despite the risk it poses for everyone around him.
Not sure if I believe it myself, just a thought.
About 7th not destroying their phones / killing them, for the record, I agree that’s plot armor. On the other hand, it can be somewhat justified. Let’s just say every bit of information helps in the survival game. By disabling 1st and 2nd and holding on to their cellphones, not only their lives are at 7th’s mercy, their literally become scouts. Yuki and Yuno’s diaries are of particular value because they complement each other and provide huge amount of information in their surroundings. From the perspective of 7th, 11th is still unrevealed and 9th is a wild card. So if either of them interact with 1st and 2nd (an attack or just a conversation – like 9th did at the hospital), their identities are immediately revealed to 7th, who can then deduce their personalities and future plans based on the recorded interactions. If they are smart (by not pushing it too far) they can even blackmail 1st and 2nd to do their bidding to some extend.
OK, I can buy that explanation. It does have a pretty big flaw on their part though. Those two diaries together will give them everything they need to know about Yuki’s whereabouts, and who gives a shit about Yuki, but tells them nothing about Yuno, who’s the one they really should be scared of
They got that somewhat covered with their own diaries (anyone getting a surprise attack from Yuno would be predicted by the other diary). Of course Yuno can easily come up with ways to trap them both at the same time.
But yes, I think the reason why Yuki x Yuno pair survived this long has a lot to do with other diary holders targeting Yuki first (3rd, 9th, 10th) or targeting both of them at the same time (6th, 5th, 4th). The better strategy would be to isolate the two and throw everything you’ve got against Yuno, who has no way to predict her own future.
Maybe I missed it somehow, but do the diaries work if they’re not in possession of them? Since Yuki can’t add entries to his diary because he doesn’t have it, do the entries stop until/if he gets it back? I’m trying to remember if there was an example of this happening or not.
The scene where they were all trapped in the park and using each others phones to predict whatever the other person would choose.
but of course,
if Yuki was trapped in a dungeon all his entries would say
“trapped in dungeon“
“can hear … outside“
“lunch arrived“
etc.
When the dog girl stole Yuki’s phone to predict Akise’s coin toss. Still worked fine then
Ah ok then, yeah his diary would be valuable to them then.
I didn’t expect the twist about the diary owners. Does this mean I’m bad?
“I think some of Yuno has finally rubbed off on Yuki. Best case scenario here is the man ends up with a busted iphone. Worst case scenario: He spins into a swirling black vortex of nothingness. Way to be a dick Yuki.”
Eh, I’ve been hoping he’d die for a while now. Remember that he betrayed Yuki back in episode 2, so I can’t really blame him. That guy has been a dick in pretty much every episode he’s featured in.
Yukiteru betrayed Yukiteru? I don’t remember him betraying anyone in the showdown with Ninth. In fact his classmates sacrificed him for their safety, correct?
“Yukiteru betrayed Yukiteru?”
What? Are we talking about the same thing? I’m saying Ouji Kosaka, the guy in the top most picture with Yuki, is one of the guys that betrayed Yuki in episode 2 and dragged him outside to Minene Uryu. I thought that was a dick move, and I’m saying I can’t blame Yuki for breaking his phone.
No, Kosaka wasn’t one of those guys from episode 2. That school got blown up and Yuki goes to a different school now.
That was the same guy though, I think. Remember Kousaka was all “hey, it’s that Yuki twat who blew up our school”. Yeah, he’s kind of a shit character
Simple answer: if you have the diaries, you can kill them at any time, from anywhere. This lets you order them around / use them as pawns.
Fast-forward, 2nd half is fuller-tilt than the 1st half.
Good call on the suspense factor: it was effective for a short while and it seems that Sakae Esuno can’t resist recalling Yuno whenever things get hairy for Yukiteru to come through. I suspect the anime adaptation will not deviate from the source material very much, except in cases of direction and a slight cater to realism (due to the nature of the visual medium).
OTOH Yuno is the most fascinating character in this show, so her absence will take too much off the plate. It seems that Esuno wants to keep highlighting the fact that Yukiteru cannot survive without Yuno’s assistance, despite police protection or the help of the next world’s greatest detective.
Then again perhaps a more mature or sober writer would realize that the effectiveness of a powerful character is tied to her presence: the more we see of her the more ordinary she seems.
In addition to Dene232’s response, the reason that the phones aren’t broken yet involve characters/situations that have been briefly mentioned within the series, but we never actually saw. I think is a lazy man’s justification, especially since Guilty Crown always uses this justification whenever it attempts to answer one of its many plotholes (if it ever attempts to justify one at all). But as long as it happens next episode, I can sort of buy it (I remember Durarara having this same problem as well).
I think another interseting question to ask is — does 8th know the true identities of 7th? They seem to know each other quite well and are on friendly terms, but there could only be one winner.
Goals of 8th are yet to be explained.
By the way, I noticed a lot of people are complaining about Yuki’s wimpiness, even going so far as to say Shu Ouma from Guilty Crown is better than him. While I know you haven’t really kept up with GC, what are your thoughts on that? Or just Yuki in general?
Personally, I think Yuki is better because he’s a wimp who’s caught in a dangerous situation, even if he can be annoying about it. Shu right now is like a combination of a wimp and Yuji Everylead. Boring AND annoying really doesn’t sit well with me.
Gotta agree. Yukiteru’s an anti-social wimp, while Shu Ouma is a selfish, little bitch.
But Yukiteru is self-aware, and wants to break from his loner ways while Shu isn’t.
I think they’re dots on the scale between Shinji Ikari and Yuji Everylead, where Shu is closer to the latter. Shinji is a fully realized loser, whereas Shu is a caricature nobody can empathize with.
People have complained that Yuki is a caricature too since he hasn’t really developed after fifteen episodes. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see that, but I think the anime is aware of that fact, and creates entertainment out of it.
Shu, ugh! I can’t say I agree that Shu doesn’t want to break from his loner ways, but the anime is handling him so terribly. No self-awareness at all, and the few times the anime becomes a little self-aware, it doesn’t take advantage of it.
Agree that the difference is how they’re handled. I actually liked the idea of Shu, but the show treats it like they are developing him when it’s not. Yuki works better because he gets quite obviously punished for making wrong and wimpy choices.
Also the key difference is in their love interests. Shu does nothing and gets an instantly subservient girl at his disposal. Yuki sorta gets that too, but it completely backfires on him because she’s a fucking psycho. Future Diary subverts the magical girlfriend thing by making her undesirable
About the suspense thing and showing Yuno too early: I don’t really hold Asread responsible for that.
This episode (like most episodes) covered roughly 2 chapters or so of the manga. wasn’t really there in the first chapter and the manga was a monthly so readers had almost two suspenseful months without Yuno. Asread is following the source material pretty closely so there was little they could do about the inevitable disconnect between the pacing of a 30–40 page chapter and a 25 minute episode.
The only way they could have kept Yuno out of the picture for even an episode was if they used filler. And do you really want a studio filler’ing up its ONE non-shit series unless absolutely necessary? I don’t like that the whole “where’s Yuno” hook only lasted 15 or so minutes either, but the only alternative I can think of is MUCH MUCH WORSE.
I’m not sure you can do Future Diary filler anyway. Maybe an episode where they take on a renegade sub-diary owner. Ultimately doesn’t change the plot and you could do some very clever things with it. Then again, you need some really good writers to do that, and I kinda doubt asread has anyone of that quality behind it. Besides, they did a fine job with the directing in this episode anyway
I was majorly disappointed by the change in OP. I mean the first fit the series well enough on its own, it didn’t need to be replaced by something that you’d hear pretty much anywhere else.
That aside, I don’t know how Yuno keeps getting more and more batty with each passing episode, and it’s that sense of mystery that makes this the thing that I look forward to the most each and every week.