Future Diary

Future Diary (未来日記 Mirai Nikki) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by manga author Sakae Esuno. The manga was first serialized in the Japanese shōnen manga magazine Shōnen Ace on January 26, 2006, and is published by Kadokawa Shoten. As of April 26, 2011, twelve tankōbon volumes have been released in Japan. The manga has been licensed by Tokyopop, and the first two English volumes released on May 11, 2009 and June 9, 2009, respectively.

A TV anime series animated by Asread began airing in Japan on October 10, 2011 and concluded on April 16, 2012. Funimation has licensed the anime for distribution in North America. Each episode runs roughly 26 minutes and after the ending credits finish, a small segment plays -- running about 2:00 to 3:00 minutes -- from Mur Mur's (Muru Muru) PoV or has her interact with the character that the small segment is about. Usually, it will tell the viewer a little more about the Diary User's (especially if they were in that specific episode), show how they came about getting their Diary, or have them interacting with Mur Mur/Muru Muru. It's all humourous, and will often tell the viewer some other story elements, such as why _________ is doing something (specific), or other "backstory-ish" things that most viewers would appreciate the characters more for watching.

Esuno has also authored two side-story manga, each one spanning five chapters: first Future Diary: Mosaic which focuses on another Diary Holder, Minene Uryu, and tells unrevealed plot points of the main story; and in 2009-2010, Future Diary: Paradox (published in Young Ace), which tells the exploits of Aru Akise and Muru Muru set in an alternate timeline.

Plot
Yukiteru, a lonesome recluse, fills most of his time by writing a diary on his cell phone. His only friend is imaginary, a god called Deus Ex Machina. However, Deus who turned out not to be imaginary now wants to play a game with Yukiteru, a game of survival. There are twelve contestants with Yukiteru being the first of them. The winner of the Survival Game will succeed Deus Ex Machina as the god of time and space. In order to win the game, the contestants must use their diaries to eliminate one another, and be the last man standing. For Yukiteru to survive, he must team up with another diary holder, a girl by the name of Yuno.

Each player is assigned a number based on the order that Deus modified his or her diary. The diaries now record the future in the same manner their future selves would have written down events that have already happened; the only exception to this rule is when the holder reaches a "Dead End", a time when their lives would be finished without significant intervention. Each diary varies in properties and functions depending on the holder's personality, occupation and lifestyle. All the diaries have their advantages and shortcomings, some more so than others, and can be used without the diary owner's consent should they fall into another's hands. Because the diaries are written from the perspective of the holder's future self, the future can still be misinterpreted and the diary entries can then turn out to be inaccurate. Each of the diaries have become the diary holder's future, so if the diary itself is destroyed or broken, so too is the holder's future, killing them.

Main Characters
Yukiteru Amano (天野 雪輝 Amano Yukiteru)
 * Sees his own life as if he were a bystander. His "Random" (Indifference) diary reflects that attitude. In a detached, neutral tone, the diary records the future changes in his surroundings every couple of minutes. This gives Yukiteru timely, detailed entries of the future around him and is perhaps the one of the most accurate diaries revealed so far. It is extremely versatile and useful in just about any given situation. Its only flaw is that nothing short of a Dead End will make the diary record anything about Yukiteru himself.

Yuno Gasai (我妻 由乃 Gasai Yuno)
 * Is hyper-obsessively in love with Yuki, as one can safely guess from just the simple name of her future diary. His condition and actions are recorded every ten minutes in her "Yukiteru" diary while also providing small commentary made by Yuno in some of the entries. Its most obvious weakness is that it does not show Yuno's future at all &mdash; her condition, situation, or surroundings &mdash; unless it somehow involves Yuki's or her own's Dead End. Working with the First's "Indifference / Random" diary, however, covers both of their diaries' individual flaws; as it has been said, the two make for a perfect combo, both in theory and in practice.

Episodes

 * See List of Episodes.

Music
The anime series uses four pieces of theme music, two opening themes and two ending themes. For the first fourteen episodes, the opening theme is "Fantasy Mythology" (空想メソロギヰ Kūsō Mesorogiwi) by Yousei Teikoku whilst the ending theme is "Blood Teller" by Faylan. For episodes fifteen onwards, the opening theme is "Dead END" by Faylan whilst the ending theme is "filament" by Yousei Teikoku. In the OVA, the opening theme is "Madness Children (狂気こども, Kyōki kodomo) and the ending theme is "Happy End" by Faylan.


 * Kuusou Mesorogiwi - Episodes 1-14
 * Blood Teller - Episodes 1-14
 * Dead END - Episodes 15-26
 * filament - Episodes 15-26
 * Madness Rain (OVA 1)
 * Happy End (OVA 1)

A dubstep artist that has recently used clips of this manga in CruciA's music in the song "Yandere Lovin". The clip that was used translates into "Yuno, do you really love me,﻿ or are you just insane...?"

Manga volumes

 * 1) ISBN 978-4-04-713839-1 published on July 21, 2006
 * 2) ISBN 978-4-04-713872-8 published on October 24, 2006
 * 3) ISBN 978-4-04-713912-1 published on March 26, 2007
 * 4) ISBN 978-4-04-713954-1 published on October 26, 2007
 * 5) ISBN 978-4-04-715026-3 published in February 2008
 * 6) ISBN 978-4-04-715072-0 published on June 26, 2008
 * 7) ISBN 978-4-04-715130-7 published on November 26, 2008
 * 8) ISBN 978-4-04-715248-9 published on May 26, 2009
 * 9) ISBN 978-4-04-715323-3 published on November 26, 2009
 * 10) ISBN 978-4-04-715400-1 published on March 26, 2010
 * 11) ISBN 978-4-04-900801-2 published on September 9, 2010 (limited edition) / ISBN 978-4-04-715580-0 published on December 25, 2010 (regular edition)
 * 12) ISBN 978-4-04-715679-1 published on April 26, 2011


 * In English (e-book)
 * 1) ISBN 978-1-4278-1557-6 published on May 27, 2014
 * 2) ISBN 978-1-4215-7806-4 published on June 17, 2014
 * 3) ISBN 978-1-4215-7807-1 published on June 24, 2014
 * 4) ISBN 978-1-4215-7851-4 published on July 22, 2014
 * 5) ISBN 978-1-4215-7958-0 published on August 26, 2014
 * 6) ISBN 978-1-4215-8010-4 published on September 23, 2014
 * 7) ISBN 978-1-4215-8057-9 published on October 28, 2014
 * 8) ISBN 978-1-4215-8113-2 published on November 25, 2014
 * 9) ISBN 978-1-4215-8158-3 published on December 16, 2014

Reception
During mid-November 2008, the seventh volume of the Future Diary manga ranked as the twenty-first best selling manga in Japan. The volume remained in the top 30 during the following week, though it dropped to twenty-fifth place. Later it was adapted into an anime series.