Minene Uryuu

Minene Uryu is the Ninth diary owner, and becomes one of the leading characters in the story. Introduced as a terrorist bomber with a vendetta against all things religious, Minene becomes a central character, turning from villain to anti-hero to protagonist. She is the star of the spin-off Future Diary: Mosaic, which focuses on Minene before and after she gains her Future Diary, the "Escape Diary".

Appearance & Personality
Minene is a young, beautiful woman in her twenties, who has dark purple hair with eyes to match. She later loses her left eye during the survival game and wears an eyepatch, although she has a glass eye beneath it. Due to the death of her parents when she was eight, Minene was forced to live a brutal life as a streetrat in a Middle Eastern country overrun with conflict caused by religious extremists. As a result, Minene developed a hatred towards God and religion as a whole, eventually becoming a terrorist bomber as she grew older. Despising everything related to religion, Minene targeted religious structures, individuals and organizations to destroy them, her ultimate goal to wipe out the very idea of God from the world.



Minene considers herself a survivor first and foremost, and her Escape Diary reflects her belief. Before gaining her Future Diary, Minene still had an early version of the Escape Diary which she used as a regular journal, and had to navigate her own ways out of situations, writing down the possible escape routes in the diary. Because of her survival instincts, Minene believes she does not need anyone else in her life to help her, after spending her childhood and teenage years alone with no love or guidance. Minene is very tactical and intelligent, able to deduce and gather information easily.

Upon introduction, Minene is very intimidating, easily unnerving Yukiteru Amano. She appears very psychotic and excitable when performing her acts of terrorism, more than willing to obliterate anyone who gets in her way. However, after her first appearance, she mellows out and is really a tough woman with a hidden touch of vulnerability to her. She does have a friendly side to her, having an attachment to small children and keeps a family of chipmunks with her for a time, eventually releasing them before her attack against John Balks. She has a feminine side to her, wearing several outfits during her time. Her standard outfit consists of black, sleeveless jacket, military trousers or jeans, with a tank top under the jacket. She also wears a gothic lolita dress in her first appearance, which she hangs on to despite not wearing it again. When she first wears the dress, Minene is temporarily reduced to a jibbering, embarrased wreck when complimented as "cute" by Masumi Nishijima. Minene appears to be haunted by her eight-year old self, and the memory of crying over her dead parents, symbolising her desire to escape her own past and be saved.

Minene and Nishijima have a unique relationship in the series, having several coincidental or possibly fateful encounters before they become allies. Minene considers Nishijima an enigma, and rejects his friendly, romantic outlook on life, even more baffled by his concern towards her. Nishijima eventually falls in love with Minene and proposes to her, much to Minene's shock. This confuses Minene to her core, questioning the belief that she needs no one and must remain alone. However, she drops her belief and accepts Nishijima's love and proposal. Minene also forms an on-and-off friendship with Yukiteru, first starting off as enemies but become friends later on. Minene sympathises with Yukiteru when his parents die, pondering if he can earn a happy ending like she failed to. Minene concludes she wants to be saved, and both Nishijima and Yukiteru help her to achieve her wish.

Backstory
When eight years old, Minene and her parents were travelling through the Middle East when they were caught in a crossfire between two different religious groups. Minene survived but her parents were gunned down, devastating Minene and she stood for hours crying over her parents corpses. Minene was forced to live a life of survival, having to steal food and escape harm at every turn. She was one of the lucky ones, as other homeless children are shown to have been shot dead by the religious extremists. Minene eventually grew up and became a terrorist, hating religion and vowing to wipe the very existence of God from the world.

Meeting God
On April 18th, four days before receiving her Future Diary, Minene had disguised herself as the rookie policewoman Natsuko Ooshima, who Minene had murdered beforehand by drowning her, trapping her within an oil drum whilst scuba diving. Able to perfectly match Natsuko's personality, and wearing a mask to hide her face, Minene used the disguise to infiltrate Sakurami City's police department to assassinate Cardinal Fred Haiman, thrilled to be able to gain police information so easily. During a meeting between police officers, Keigo Kurusu, soon to be the Fourth diary owner, reveals Minene actually sent a notice to the police beforehand to tell them of her planned attack on the cardinal. Cardinal Haiman is staying at the Sakurami Empire Hotel on the twenty-seventh floor, which the police have reserved along with the floor below. However, Minene is stumped when Kurusu explains all the officers will only learn of the cardinal's room number shortly before he is moved to another each day.

Kurusu assigns Minene to work with Nishijima in their first proper encounter, Nishijima being head of security. Minene is forced to use a cute-sounding voice in Nishijima's presence, who refers to her as "Natsu-chan", actually having a crush on the real Natsuko. At the hotel, Minene, under the guise of Natsuko, tries to assassinate Cardinal Haiman several times over the course of the next couple of days. Her first attempt involves placing a timed bomb in the car park, with a ten minute countdown. However, Nishijima appears inviting her for breakfast. Minene is forced to flee with the bomb, claiming the bomb is really a radio. The second involves Minene trying to take some food to the cardinal, intending to poison him, only for Nishijima to show up inviting her to lunch. Minene flees, claiming she has a habit of not eating lunch. In a third attempt, she sneaks out during the night to petrol bomb the cardinal, but runs into Nishijima again, who invites her to dinner. Minene screams that she must be in bed by nightfall.

By the 20th, Minene is at her wits end. Nishijima approaches her, sitting with her during lunch. Minene is surprised by how much he eats, questioning his ability to work after eating so much. Nishijima notes an indoor chapel where a wedding is taking place, hoping Minene would not disrupt it at that moment. Minene openly objects, revealing she despises God. Nishijima ponders if she will find happiness and offers to take her out on a date. Minene is intimidated by this, not wanting him to become too overfamiliar with him.

Meanwhile, Nishijima and Kurusu find the real Natsuko's body and are shocked when a nametag with her name on it is recovered during the autopsy. On April 21st, Minene is present as Kurusu performs the usual security checkup, telling everyone the cardinal's room number. Knowing her room is right below the cardinal's, Minene already planted a bomb on the ceiling to kill him. As the bomb counts down to its final seconds, Minene spots Nishijima and begins to grow concerned about the possibility of his death. The bomb goes off and Minene attempts to leave, only for Nishijima to raise his gun to her, the latter clearly shaken upon learning Minene's room was the source of the explosion.

Nishijima reveals he knows Minene is not Natsuko, and she was the only person sent the room number, Cardinal Haiman actually moved to an alternate room and is evacuated. Nishijima calls Minene a devil and demands to know why she killed Natsuko. Minene laughs at Nishijima's change of attitude, implying he actually knew she was Minene to an extent. Minene casts off her disguise and makes her escape from Nishijima and Kurusu. Minene leaps off a balcony and uses a wire attached to the building to escape, only for Kurusu to shoot out the wire, much to Nishijima's attempt to stop him.

Minene begins to fall, vowing never to pray to God for help. Suddenly, her eight-year old self appears before her. The younger Minene stops crying and comments that Minene is an interesting person, her form dissolving to reveal Muru Muru. Muru Muru further comments how Minene uses her own strength to decide her future, and touches Minene's phone, creating her Future Diary. It is at this point that Minene joins the survival game, and meets Deus Ex Machina for the first time. Minene's fall is softened by several hanging lines of lights, and she lands in the hotel's water fountain, stunned that God exists after all.

Later, Minene speaks with Deus in the Cathedral of Causality. Deus explains the purpose of the survival game, and Minene agrees to win and become God. However, Minene smirks and tells Deus that when she wins the throne of God, she will truly wipe out God from the world and kill him, much to Deus' surprise.

An Explosive Entrance
Minene's start in the survival game is a dangerous one, crossing paths with the Third diary owner Takao Hiyama. Minene tries to kill him, only to discover his coat is apparently both bulletproof and bomb-proof. Fighting Hiyama at an abandoned art university, Minene is unable to harm him and has to use her Escape Diary to find a way to evade him. Leaping out of a window, Minene lands in a pile of garbage but hurts her foot in the landing.

That is when she crosses paths with Nishijima once again. It appears this is their first encounter in the anime, although she is later seen dressed as Natsuko after Hiyama killed a woman. Minene tries to run from Nishijima but collapses due to her damaged foot, allowing Nishijima to handcuff her. Hiyama arrives, forcing Minene and Nishijima to flee into the university. The two hide, Minene mentioning the Future Diaries for the first time in front of Nishijima. The two hide in a room, but Minene suddenly feels the urge to visit the bathroom, demanding Nishijima to remove the handcuffs until he realises what the problem is. After Minene goes to the toilet, Nishijima notes she is shivering from the wet clothes she is wearing and suggests wearing new ones.

The two find a room filled with forgotten designer clothes, Nishijima giving Minene a frilly, bright, gothic lolita dress to wear. Minene is at first uncomfortable with wearing the dress, until Nishijima compliments her, totally bamboozling Minene to the point that she becomes a mumbling wreck. This reaction is likely from not being complimented on for years, leaving Minene red in the face, soft spoken and nervous. Nishijima asks what weapons she still has, Minene revealing a flashbang grenade. Nishijima realises Minene's attitude has changed and further compliments her, but the two fall over and land in an awkward position which Nishijima immediately apologises for. Knowing his gun is useless against Hiyama, Nishijima turns to Minene for other weapons to use.

Minene lures Hiyama into an enclosed audio room filled with soundspeakers. Safe behind a wall of glass wearing headphones and goggles, Minene invites Hiyama to witness what an explosion looks like in an enclosed space and sets off the flashbang, dazzling Hiyama with a blast of light and sound that allows her and Nishijima to flee. Deus and Muru Muru watch the scene unfold, Muru Muru mocking it by reading quotes from her shoujo manga. However, Minene suddenly shoots Nishijima and flees, although he survives, wearing a bulletproof vest under his shirt. It is revealed that Minene is aware of Muru Muru's presence, appearing in the Cathedral of Causality and scaring Muru Muru. Minene laments that she never had a proper childhood, since Muru Muru seems to live an eternal one, commenting that she does not need love as she never received it after her parents died.

After Yuki kills Hiyama, Minene is present at the first meeting of the survival game, dressed in her lolita dress and has put her hair up in a hairstyle to match it. Minene expresses her hope that Yuki is not dead by the time she gets to him. The next day, Minene has already infiltrated the school by planting motion sensor bombs across the campus. Approaching Yuki when he is alone, Minene reveals who Hiyama really was, much to Yuki's shock, and identifies him as a diary owner. Yuno Gasai charges in, but Minene leaps out of the window, activating the bombs in the building, killing countless people but Yuki and Yuno survive. Whilst the two sneak around in the buildings trying to evade explosions, Minene addresses the school's staff and students through a megaphone, telling them to surrender Yuki to her or they will all die.

Several students, including Ouji Kosaka capture Yuki and drag him out to Minene. However, Kurusu and Yuno both arrive to aid Yuki, Kurusu instructing Yuki to retreive his discarded diary and defeat Minene. Following Yuno's instructions, Yuki dodges the landmines planted in the courtyard by Minene, and tries to stab her diary with one of his throwing darts. However, he misses and punctures Minene's left eye. Minene collapses in pain, Yuno disabling her detonation equipment. Kurusu comes over, telling Minene to surrender as she has no where to run. Minene angrily leaps up, telling him not to underestimate her, firing a smokescreen out from under her dress. Minene races past Kurusu on a motorcycle, telling him that her diary is the Escape Diary. She races out of the school, escaping her captors.

The Sacred Eye Incident
Minene flees into the mountains on the outskirts of the city, now targeted by the followers of the Omekata cult. Still in pain after losing her eye, Minene collapses out of sight. Yomotsu Hirasaka appears, wearing a bag over his head, and helps Minene to his log cabin where he heals her. Examining her eye, Yomotsu offers to take her to an opticians. Giving Minene a piggyback, Yomotsu heads down a hill, but Minen tries to unmask him, instead finding a second paper bag under the first one. Omekata followers appear, searching for Minene, under orders of the Sixth diary owner Tsubaki Kasugano. Minene goes on foot and takes the lead, but is still in pain. Yomotsu informs her that he has called for an ambulance to meet them at the bottom of the hill.

The two jump down a cliff, but find several Omekata followers between them and the ambulance. Yomotsu decides he will distract the followers whilst Minene makes a dash to the ambulance. Yomotsu reveals he knows who Minene is, questioning her goals, leaving her in stunned silence. Yomotsu and Minene run off in opposite directions, Minene rushing down the hill and makes it to the ambulance where she is helped in by paramedics. However, the paramedics are revealed to be hypnotised cult members, and they inject a truth serum into Minene. Minene tries to fight back, discovering her diary has been replaced with a block of wood. Yomotsu appears, and begins to remove Minene's eye as they drive to the Omekata temple.

In the anime, Minene hides from the police but all of her escape routes are cut off. Yomotsu appears, taking Minene to his cabin. However, he drugs her, paralyzing her body, so he can remove her eye. Several days later, by the time Yuki, Yuno and Kurusu are summoned to the temple by Tsubaki, Minene's eye has been removed by Yomotsu and she now sports an eyepatch, but is Yomotsu's prisoner. Yomotsu tells her of the cult's evil secrets, but is shocked when Yuno figures out his plans and how he has hypnotised the followers. Yomotsu hears a Dead End on his diary, and borrows one of Minene's explosives to use against Tsubaki, tossing Minene the keys to her handcuffs to escape. Minene tries to escape but runs into Kurusu who holds her at gunpoint and handcuffs her hand to his so she cannot escape.

The two go to the roof where they witness Yomotsu's death, Yuno's capture and Yuki's escape. Kurusu forms a partnership with Minene, offering to give her police intel if she helps him to defeat the other diary owners. Minene is freed by Kurusu after Yuki kills Tsubaki, receiving his phone number and e-mail address.

Ninth and Fifth
Three days after the incident at the temple, Minene visits a doctor to get a glass eye whilst keeping her eyepatch. Upon arriving at the clinic, she notices Reisuke Houjou waiting to be checked up. After having her eye examined, Minene looks over to Reisuke, the doctor explaining his parents were killed during the Omekata incident, the police covering up the events as a mass suicide. The doctor suspects Reisuke may be thinking about avenging his parents, but Minene says it would be a waste of time since it is natural for the parent to die first. The doctor asks Minene to send Reisuke in for a checkup.

Minene goes out into the hall but finds Reisuke missing. Hearing noises in a storage room, Minene looks inside and finds Reisuke trying to grab a bottle from a high shelf whilst standing on a teetering pile of boxes. He grabs the bottle with the hand puppets he is wearing, but the boxes give way. Minene leaps in and rescues Reisuke, scolding him and removes the bottle and the puppets from his hands. She finds a list of items, including potassium cyanide, hydrocyanic acid from a factory, a stun gun, a gas mask, and money from the bank. Reisuke snatches the bottle from Minene, who guesses Reisuke wants to avenge his parents after all. Reisuke says no, claiming his parents were mean and he would not want to save them. His true reason is to beat the people who killed them, namely Yuki and Yuno. He asks for Minene to hand over his puppets, but Minene starts playing with them, claiming that revenge is pointless and he should go to bed with his puppets. However, Reisuke suddenly bursts into tears and asks her to stop. Minene offers to give his puppets back in return for the bottle, again saying revenge is pointless. Reisuke cries, revealing he never slept with his parents and runs off.

Left with his puppets, Minene decides to chase Reisuke down to give them back. Running outside, Minene steals a man's moped and uses the list to gather Reisuke's items. Minene goes to a chrome plating factory, terrifying the guard who has had an uneventful career there for forty years. Minene places the acid and the puppets outside. Reisuke arrives on a bike, but does not take the puppets with him, claiming he is too old for toys. Exasperated, Minene gives chase. Reisuke visits a supply store and baffles the clerk by asking for a stun gun and a gas mask, although it turns out Minene is holding the clerk at gunpoint from below and Reisuke is allowed to leave with the items, again, leaving the puppets behind. Reisuke goes to buy a drink from a vending machine, but the puppets fall out, Reisuke running away.

Meanwhile, Kurusu and Nishijima are on Minene's trail, Kurusu trying to convince Nishijima that Minene is just a lookalike. The enraged Minene vows to give Reisuke back the puppets, causing numerous crimes just to give Reisuke his puppets and is chased by the police. Minene goes to a bank to get money, only for Kurusu and Nishijima to arrive to take Minene in. Reisuke arrives a little later, deciding to ditch the money and cycles away. Minene escapes the bank, noting that the last thing on the list is not finished. Reisuke arrives at the elementary school and goes inside the gym hall, finding the bodybags of the Omekata victims. Reisuke finds those of his parents, noting that his mother and father never slept together when alive, but he lays down in-between them. He recalls one of the few days his family was happy, when his parents bought him his puppet, but only because both of them were having a good day themselves.

Minene arrives, having realised the list's final entry was "Papa and Mama". Realising Reisuke is a diary owner, Minene leaves the puppets with Reisuke and tells him to sleep peacefully while he still can. Several days later, Minene is informed by Kurusu that Yuki and Yuno will be attacked by Reisuke at Yuki's house. After Reisuke's death, Minene appears and uses Reisuke's antidote to heal Yuki and Yuno from the toxic chemicals they inhaled, warning Yuki to rid himself of Yuno before its too late.

Allies
Nine days before the events involving the Tenth diary owner Karyuudo Tsukishima, Minene is out of money and food. She meets Aru Akise who suggests in order to get money, she participate in the Sakurami Beauty Pageant, saying the winner will get 10,000 yen. Knowing who Minene is, Akise alters her details on the pageant form so she will not get into trouble. At the pageant, Minene finds herself against Hinata Hino, Mao Nonosaka, Rea Amano, Kamado Ueshita, Orin Miyashiro and Ai Mikami. Akise warns Minene that Kamado, Ai and Orin wreck the pageant each year. In the first match, Minene and Orin have to untangle a metal wire to win, but Minene gets frustrated and resorts to snapping the rod in two, and is declared the winner.

In the second match, Minene and Ai must throw darts at spinning boards to get the highest points. However, due to her hunger, Minene begins to think she is hallucinating and throws the darts at an attendant whose head becomes a dartboard. Minene manages to beat Ai, for pinning the man to the wall, much to Ai's shock. Minene considers quitting whilst she is ahead, but the cheers from the crowd inspire her to take on Kamado in the final challenge, an arm wrestling match. Akise asks Minene if she hates the festival, enraging Minene to the point that her anger boils over and she easily beats Kamado in the arm wrestle. Kamado is sent flying into a wall, causing the whole stage to collapse. Minene flees back to her makeshift home, complaining she can't get her money now. Akise arrives, revealing a large bag of foods, sent from the pageant management staff as a thank you for livening up their festival.

At some point, Kurusu visits Minene and pleads with her to look after his ill son Yoi, just in case he is targeted by other diary owners. It is at this point that Kurusu joins the game to win, murdering Tsukishima and frames Yuki and Yuno for his death. Yuki and Yuno flee to the hospital where they recognise Kurusu's wife. They follow her, but Yuki is ambushed by Minene. Yuki accidentally blows up one of Minene's bombs in the hospital, alerting Kurusu to their location. Minene is called by Kurusu, who warns her that if she even thinks about doublecrossing him then she will die too. Enraged, Minene abandons her partnership with Kurusu and forms one with Yuki and Yuno instead.

Taking them to Yoi's room, Minene plans to use him and his mother as hostages, but is shocked when Kurusu refuses to negotiate, planning to storm the hospital himself to save his family. Whilst Yuki and Yuno fight Kurusu, Minene slips out of a window to escape, but runs into Nishijima once again. Nishijima handcuffs Minene just as the flashbang grenade she gave Yuki goes off, followed by an explosion from one of the timed bombs. Minene reveals the existence of the flashbang grenade to Nishijima, knowing Yuki would not be able to handle a real grenade. The two run off to check on Yuki, Yuno and Kurusu. By the time they get there, Yuki has shot Kurusu who tries to stab Yuno with a knife. Minene reveals to Kurusu that Nishijima has been told everything, from the survival game to Karyuudo's death, and Nishijima places Kurusu under arrest. In the anime, Kurusu's conviction is further increased when Minene reveals she recorded the request he made to her, and explains since he is now a criminal, his diary has now power. In regret, Kurusu asks Minene to look after his son and eliminates himself from the game by breaking his diary.

Some time later, after Yuki and Yuno lost to Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami in a fight, Minene, disguised as a nurse, is summoned by Nishijima to train Yuki so he can put up a fight against Marco once again. However, Yuki's father Kurou Amano arrives, leading Minene to test father and son against one another to exercise both of them. Minene eventually departed on a moped, Nishijima thanking her for her help.

Diary and Abilities
Her Diary is the Escape Diary which tells her of the escape routes she must take if she's being tracked of losing. The diary will tell her IF there is any escape route and if there is, where to go, where to hide, for how long, etc. This means she can avoid defeat, IF the conditions allow her to do so, and if she goes on the defensive, as if she is defeated when she attacks the diary is likely to not work, seen when she failed an attack against The Eleventh and how a "Dead End" flag triggered when she defied The Fourth.

Being the longtime terrorist she's, Minene is an expert in mostly any kind of explosives, C4 bombs, grenades, flash grenades, dynamite, etc. She is skilled enough to fill the whole of Yuki's school with bombs unnoticed as well as Sakurami Hospital, and has a special control device that she can set to detonate if her heartbeat stops, which makes her a technological expert.

During several times it is shown that she is skilled in infiltration as well as disguise, as she disguised herself as a Police and even a Nurse with nobody knowing it is her. The fact she spends most of the time disguised as a nurse implies she also has some medical skills at her disposal.

Late on the series she's given limited powers by Deus himself, and shows several new abilities such as being capable of flight as well as to travel other dimensions. The full degree of her powers in this state is unknown but it can be seen they last long enough for her children to be capable of flight as well.

Her long experience in deadly situation since childhood have made her one of the longest surviving participants.

Trivia

 * She is named after the Roman goddess Minerva. Alongside Yuki and Yuno, who are in turn named after the Roman god and goddess Jupiter and Juno, Minene and they also refer to the Capitoline Triad, where Jupiter, Juno and Minerva were honoured as the highest of the gods. Yuki, Yuno and Minene all become gods, although Minene only is a god partially.