Otakuism

Story:

Amano Yukiteru has always been anti-social, a lonely bystander who records everything on his cell phone diary; his only “friends” being imaginary: Deus ex Machina, the self-proclaimed god of time and space, and his servant Murumuru. One day Deus gives Yukiteru the power of the future diary, where his cell phone now shows his entries from the future. What Deus neglects to tell Yukiteru is that he has given eleven other people the same power and that it’s now their job to kill each other. The last one standing will inherit the power of time and space. When an attempt is made on Yukiteru’s life, he is saved by Gosai Yuki, another future diary holder. She professes her love to him and promises to protect him from the other diary holders. But can Yuki, a girl who has stalked Yukiteru repeatedly for the last year, has no qualms about killing others, and even has a pile of dead bodies in her house, really be trusted?

Impressions:

Future Diary exists in a genre I like to call “psychos doing crazy stuff.” These stories basically follow the premise that if you get crazy people and put them in a critical situation, excellent drama is sure to follow. Future Diary follows this idea perfectly. First Yukiteru, despite being kind of emo, is the only sane character in the cast. All the other diary holders are basically insane. There’s Yuno, who wants Yukiteru to be her lover forever and kill anyone who even looks at him; Minane, a goth-loli terrorist bomber; Yomotsu, who believes he’s a henshin hero; Tsubaki, the object of a cult’s affection; and Reisuke, a creepy kid who makes the kid from The Omen look like a saint. So, yeah, it’s an eccentric cast of characters, but they’re all unique and make the battles a lot more fun. It’s also nice that all their future diaries are different. Yukiteru’s will only tell the future of things around him but not himself, while Yuno’s always says Yukiteru’s future. They add an element of surprise to what would be a boring battle if everyone knew the same thing.

Future Diary is foremost a psychological thriller, and it does a good job at it. The underlying sense of horror, suspicion, and jealousy work wonderfully to create a tense atmosphere. Reminds me a lot of Higurashi, with the same feeling that anyone could snap and kill at any moment. So far it hasn’t become repetitive yet with the constant battles, though Yuno is grating on my nerves. Her “kill first, don’t ask questions” style is annoying me, and despite caring for Yukiteru she seems to cause him more harm than good. I really hope he kills her in the end. Deus is my favorite character, just becauce he’s a badass god who doesn’t care about anything. The art is good, especially the many crazy expressions of the characters. So far all the chapters have been translated by an anonymous on /a/ and can be downloaded from rapidsearch. Future Diary is a great thriller/horror and definitely a must read for people who haven’t gotten tired of Higurashi’s gore yet or crave something a bit darker than this summer’s sugary sweet shows.