Welcome to the next part of my blog series offering critiques of Future Diary. As usual, I'll say that the purpose is not to hate on this anime. The purpose is to practice being a little more critical and balanced than how I am usually. Let's begin.
~Episode 16: Repair~
The first half of this installment is spent showing Yukiteru recovering from his injuries and training to get stronger with his father, Kurou. their coach is Ninth, who is currently cooperating with Nishijima. The second half of the episode is the start of the confrontation with the Sevenths at Sakurami Tower. It was a pretty good episode, but I have a few complaints or things that stuck out at me in a weird way.
The first oddity is how Ninth is suddenly some wisdom-granting goddess. This episode frames it so she seems like she is admirable. She also treats Yukiteru well and seems to have fun with him and his dad. But remember, Ninth is a terrorist who has killed many people, including innocent school children. She's a psychopath, just like Yuno. Therefore, the way the narrative suddenly makes her seem likeable and soft is extremely jarring. If more time and thought had been put into Ninth's character development, it might have been believable. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
Another issue was the way the Sevenths took so little action against Yukki and Yuno. They weren't consistently attacking and didn't seem to have a particular plan. At first, I thought this was a cheap move for convenience purposes. But actually, it makes sense if you think about Marco's perspective. He has all the power, so he's basically underestimating Yukiteru and Yuno. Moreover, he wishes to fight with Yukiteru because apparently he likes beating up on kids to teach them how to be "manly." (I hate Marco intensely.) Anyway, the point is, Marco and Ai were going easy on their opponents. They wanted to give Yukki and Yuno a fighting chance.
Besides a few issues, this episode was great. Some of the humor actually made me smile, and didn't feel too forced. There was an important moment for Yukiteru, where Ninth tells him not to give up even if he's weak. Even if he can't make a difference, he should still fight for what he wants. That's the only way to survive this game and win respect from those around him. That's it for episode 16.
~Episode 17: Family Discount~
Despite having some good action scenes, this episode had a lot of stupid stuff in it. First of all, nothing involving Kurou (Yukiteru's father) was remotely believable. It was too contrived. You want me to believe this man, who was a good father up to this point, suddenly lost all love for his child when put in danger? Then he got impatient and attacked his ex-wife when she called him out for leaving their child behind? It's way too obviously contrived to make the situation worse for Yukiteru. It will prompt him to play the game in a more desperate way.
The next issue is more of a personal complaint than an issue with the writing. Marco is the character I hate most in Future Diary, and I don't agree with him on many of his points. In this episode, he kept lecturing Yukiteru about being a coward and not learning his lesson that he needs to get his hands dirty. It irked me. Marco was royally pissed by the plan that Yukki and Yuno used.
Now, it's true that Yukiteru gives up to soon and hasn't worked hard enough on improving his combat capabilities. To grow as a person, he needs to find his courage. And Marco was also correct that Yuno is a controlling bitch who never listens to Yukki's wishes. However, that doesn't mean the plan used in this episode was wrong. Yukiteru and Yuno worked together perfectly, and on short notice, this plan was the best thing they could have done. Just because it involved Yukiteru hiding and Yuno doing the fighting does not mean it was a bad plan. It was an excellent strategy, and it ultimately worked out.
Moving on, there was another issue, but it wasn't as bad as the first. The backstory of Marco and Ai also felt over-the-top and contrived. It's just pointlessly dark. That being said, I think the voice actors and excellent music really helped make the story work. But there's still the unbelievable dad character and the ridiculous murder of Yukiteru's mom. This episode wasn't very good.
~Takeaways from These Episodes~
Issues | Positives |
Glorifying Ninth in episode 16 | Some funny moments |
The dad's character is not believable | Good action scenes |
The murder of Yukiteru's mom is too contrived | |
That's it for now. Thank you for reading!