is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Sakae Esuno is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his manga series ''Future Diary'' and ''Big Order''. Esuno started drawing at age 15, at the time he was an admirer of the works of Rumiko Takahashi in particular her horror manga '' Mermaid Sag ...

. It was serialized in

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...

's '' Shōnen Ace'' between January 2006 and December 2010, and has been collected into 12 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. The plot depicts the Diary Game, a deadly battle royale between 12 different individuals who are given "Future Diaries", special diaries that can predict the future, by

Deus Ex Machina ''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...

, the God of Time and Space, with the last survivor becoming heir to the universe. The manga has been licensed by

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed J ...

, and ten of the English volumes were released, with a release for the last two now uncertain due to Tokyopop ceasing publishing in North America. A "

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

anime" DVD was released with the 11th manga volume in December 2010. A 26-episode

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series produced by

Asread stylized as asread. is a Japanese animation studio established in November 2003 by ex-Xebec A xebec ( or ), also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft ...

, aired in Japan between October 2011 and April 2012.

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

has licensed the anime for distribution in North America. An 11-episode live-action television drama aired between April and June 2012. Esuno has also authored three 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; in 2009–2010, ''Future Diary: Paradox'' (published in ''

Young Ace is a monthly ''seinen'' manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 2009. A spin-off web manga magazine titled ''Young Ace UP'' began publication in December 2015. Series ''Young Ace'' *''Akuma no Ikenie'' ('' Devil's Sacri ...

''), which tells the exploits of Aru Akise and Muru Muru set in an alternate timeline, and in 2013, ''Future Diary: Redial'', which serves as an epilogue to the series.

Plot

Yukiteru Amano () is a 14-year-old, shy and daydreaming loner who observes life and jots down the events on his cell phone. His only friends are Deus Ex Machina (), the God of Space and Time, and his assistant Muru Muru (). Deus transforms Yukiteru's phone into a Future Diary, capable of predicting the future up to ninety days. Yukiteru discovers he and eleven others are part of a battle royale survival game orchestrated by Deus. The aim of this game is to eliminate the other diary holders, the winner to succeed Deus as god and prevent the

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

. Yukiteru finds himself protected by

Yuno Gasai is a fictional character and the main female protagonist of the manga series ''Future Diary'', created by Sakae Esuno. In the series, Yuno pretends to be a perfect model student on the surface, but is actually a psychopathic ''yandere'' who is ...

(), a charming but psychopathic classmate who obsessively stalks him after they had promised to go stargazing together a year before. Two major players they encounter are

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

Minene Uryu, who wants to destroy all religion after her parents died in a faith-fueled war; and Keigo Kurusu, a police officer who wants to end the game. Later, Kurusu betrays Yukiteru and Yuno when he discovers his bed-ridden son is suffering from a

terminal illness Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced he ...

. He assassinates diary holder Karyuudo Tsukishima and frames Yukiteru and Yuno. Minene turns to detective Masumi Nishijima, exposing Kurusu's crime. In his shame, Kurusu eliminates himself from the game. John Bacchus, the city's mayor and designer of the Future Diaries, tries to manipulate Yukiteru's debt-ridden father Kurou into stealing his son's diary. Kurou fails, unintentionally murdering his ex-wife Rea, and is then assassinated by Bacchus' men. Yukiteru vows to win the game and resurrect his parents. He and Yuno target the remaining diary holders, Minene, Bacchus, and Kamado Ueshita who runs an orphanage. Meanwhile, Yukiteru's astute friend Aru Akise, and Nishijima investigate the discovery of three corpses in Yuno's house, two being her parents, and the third identified as being Yuno Gasai, bringing her identity into question. Kamado's diary, which can give others substitute diaries, is connected to a supercomputer, giving citizens in the city Future Diaries as part of Bacchus' plan to help humanity evolve. Yukiteru and Yuno, Minene, Nishijima, and Yukiteru's friends storm Bacchus' headquarters. He seals himself in a

bank vault A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents are stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, much like a safe. Unlike safes, vaults a ...

owned by Yuno's parents, her fingerprints the only way to access it. Minene sacrifices herself to destroy the vault but fails, only for Aru to witness Yuno access the vault and kill Bacchus. Wanting answers, Aru confronts Deus who reveals the boy is an artificial human designed to observe the game and keep it in balance, but confirms there is a conspiracy around Yuno. Yukiteru murders his friends and then Kamado. Aru battles Yuno, destroying her diary but discovers she has a spare. Realising the truth, Aru shows a text to Yukiteru before Yuno decapitates him. As the days to the Apocalypse approach, Yukiteru and Yuno consummate their relationship. However, Yukiteru reveals Aru's suggestion that Yuno originates from another timeline and she immediately turns on him. Muru Muru, the true mastermind behind the game's course, confirms Aru's theory. Yukiteru died and Yuno won the game in another timeline but discovered not even the power of a god could bring back the dead. In her sorrow, Yuno went back in time, creating an alternate

timeline A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale representi ...

, murdering and replacing her other self. Yuno and Muru Muru go back in time again, creating a third world, pursued by Yukiteru and Minene, kept alive by Deus as a wild card and imbued with a portion of his power. Both parties battle to protect or kill the third world's Yuno and her parents. Yuno, unable to kill Yukiteru, traps him in a dream world where she doesn't exist, and then attacks her alternate self. Yukiteru remembers Yuno, escaping his prison aided by the second world's Muru Muru, and stops Yuno. Though Yukiteru asks Yuno to kill him so she can live, she instead eliminates herself and dies in his arms. Yukiteru becomes god and is dragged to the second world by Muru Muru. Ten-thousand years later, a mournful Yukiteru has done nothing with his godly powers. He managed to cut off all influences that the first and second worlds had with the third and prevents the third world's deus from dying. Yukiteru gazes at his diary, mourning that he will never see the first world Yuno, the only one he will ever love, ever again. However, the interdimensional walls are broken down by the third world Yuno, who possesses the first world's memories courtesy of an atoning Muru Muru. Yukiteru and Yuno reunite as gods of the second and third world and prepare to fulfill their promise to go stargazing with each other.

Characters

''Future Diary'' follows Yukiteru "Yuki" Amano, a socially awkward boy and one of the game's competitors who only wants to survive;

, another player of the game and a friend who would do anything to be with Yuki; Minene Uryū, an infamous terrorist with a grudge against God; and Aru Akise, a genius teen detective and a friend of Yuki who investigates the true purpose of the game and Yuno's dark secrets.

Media

Manga

The manga was serialized in

's '' Shōnen Ace'' magazine from January 26, 2006 to December 25, 2010 and was compiled into 12 volumes published by

, plus two side-story manga, ''Future Diary: Mosaic'' and ''Future Diary: Paradox'', compiled in one volume each. The manga was originally licensed in English by

for North America, but only ten volumes were released before Tokyopop ceased publishing operations on May 31, 2011. The series is currently licensed by

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

, who released first nine volumes digitally. An additional manga titled was previewed in the May 2013 issue of ''Shōnen Ace'' sold on March 26, 2013, and a single volume of ''Redial'' was released in July 2013.

Anime

An anime television adaptation by

and directed by Naoto Hosoda began airing from October 10, 2011. Character designs are done by Eiji Hirayama and Ruriko Watanabe. An eight-minute "pilot" edition DVD was bundled with limited editions of the manga's eleventh volume, released on December 9, 2010. The series uses four pieces of theme music: two opening themes and two ending themes. For the first 14 episodes, the opening theme is by

Yōsei Teikoku is a Japanese rock band formed in 1997. Their music mixes elements of gothic metal, heavy metal, electronic and classical music. Their works include the opening tracks of several anime series, including ''Future Diary'', '' Magical Pokan'', ' ...

, and the ending theme is "Blood Teller" by

Faylan is a female Japanese singer affiliated with management agency S, run by veteran singer Hiromi Satō. She is known for many of her songs being in video games and anime. Her stage name was given by composer Noriyasu Agematsu. She is affectionately ...

. From episode 15 onwards, the opening theme is "Dead End" by Faylan, and the ending theme is "Filament" by Yōsei Teikoku. For the pilot, the main theme is "The Creator" by Yōsei Teikoku.

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

licensed the series for North American distribution, simulcasting the series on Niconico. They later announced they had acquired the rights for release on home video. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll. An

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

episode titled ''Future Diary: Redial'' acts as an epilogue to the television series. It received a special broadcast on Niconico on June 19, 2013. It was also bundled with the manga volume sequel of the same name. The opening theme for the OVA is by Yōsei Teikoku, and the ending theme is "Happy End" by Faylan.

Other media

produced a

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

based on the manga titled for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

, was released on January 28, 2010 in Japan. A re-release with new graphics, artwork and featuring the voice actors from the anime was released on April 26, 2012. An 11-episode live action drama titled ''Future Diary: Another:World'' aired between April 21 and June 30, 2012 on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

. The TV series has an original plot line that differs from the manga and anime. The opening theme is "Another World" by

Ko Shibasaki is a Japanese actress and singer who has performed in television shows, movies, and commercials. She is managed by Stardust Promotion. Biography Acting career Shibasaki debuted in 2000, when she portrayed Mitsuko Souma in '' Battle Royale.'' ...

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. As of April 2012, it has sold 4 million copies in Japan. The Japanese name of this series is the inspiration for the naming of the Mirai botnet program.

References

External links

*
''Future Diary: Another:World''
at

* {{Asread 2006 manga 2011 anime television series debuts 2012 Japanese television series debuts 2012 Japanese television series endings Anime and manga about parallel universes Asread Battle royale Battle royale anime and manga Comics about time travel Fiction about death games Fuji TV dramas Crunchyroll anime Japanese television dramas based on manga Kadokawa Shoten manga Kadokawa Dwango franchises Madman Entertainment anime Manga adapted into television series Mental health in fiction Mystery anime and manga Psychological thriller anime and manga Romance anime and manga Shōnen manga Time loop anime and manga Anime and manga about time travel Works about mobile phones Tokyopop titles Viz Media manga