Future Diary: Top 5 Best -and- Worst Diaries

[Chase]

Alright. So.

I shamelessly re-watched this 'Mirai Nikki' anime over the course of the week, and I have to say - I actually really like the aspect of the survival game in general. Each contesting having a personalized look into the future in order to play either offensively in taking out the other diary users -OR- defensively through various means (Escaping Dead Ends, fighting from the sidelines, waiting out the carnage from afar, or if you're a certain psychotic stalker, locking your boyfriend in an abandoned hotel so that you are doubly sure your Diary is effective.)

OR even bat switch, choosing the time to kill and the time to flee as the game goes on.

But, out of the all twelve possible diaries one could wield from the original anime - which ones are the ones to go for in terms of effectiveness? What about the ones you should really stay away from if you want to win?

I'll give you my take on it - but remember, if you disagree - COOL! Tell me yours. I like seeing how you all think too.

THE WORST, of the worst.

5. the "Rearing" Diary (held by Tenth)

This diary is heavily centralized on the command of attack dogs and gives future readouts on the dogs' condition. There are definitely some pros to having squads of attack dogs - such as being able to play the game offensively but not nearly as recklessly as someone who is having to play the game hand-to-hand or within range of gun. However - the downfall this diary has is pretty significant.

And this is how Fourth is able to kill Tenth. The diary only focuses on the attack dogs, not the diary holder. If the dogs have been called elsewhere the diary will not give any readouts of the user or anything within sight of the user in enough haste for the user to react. It's a fantastic offensive diary if you know how to command other agents and does provide a little measure of defense as such, but it also leaves the back door open.

4. the "Clairvoyant" Diary (held by Sixth)

Sixth's diary is a very "big picture" diary. She essentially has a "bird's eye" view on virtually everything that is to come and it's an extremely informative diary to have. The main detractor from Sixth's diary though - is the other side of the coin. Sixth won't be able to handle situations in which the future is rapidly changing due to information overload - meaning if there's an extremely volatile play being made from multiple users she's going to have to step back from the scroll and not have the future guide her out. Any time you can't effectively use your diary ineffectively severely hinders you in this competition - as well as your chances at survival.

3. the "Case" Diary (held by Fourth)

If anyone not named Fourth were using Fourth's diary it would be a bit less of an enthralling experience. Fourth is heavily reliant on future criminal activity -and- is limited to Forth's jurisdiction. This is seen most applicably in the situation where Fourth turns on First and Second, but has to bait Second into reacting in order for a "crime" to take place and thus activate the effectiveness of his diary. You have to do a LOT of dancing around to play the game offensively with this diary, and while it's a decent diary to have when it comes to picking out other offensive targets (due to Homicide being a crime) after criminal reveals - it doesn't do too much defensively other than tell him where he should stay away from (which due to his profession, he simply can't do). In other words. Fourth wields a very big "Hit-and-run" diary that is focused on offense - and it's inability to be straight forward at times causes it to be a very spotty diary down the stretch.

2. The "Murder" Diary (held by Third)

Speaking of OFFENSIVE gameplay, this diary is ALL about it. Third is given the future destinations of his targets once identity is deduced. The major, MAJOR drawback of this diary is the flip-slide. The diary does NOTHING in the form of protecting Third at all. First scores the very first kill of the survival game by killing third via the flank.

1. The "Yuki" Diary, or the "Diary of Future Love" (held by Second)

Excuse me for a moment, while I find my safety bunker - because I can hear the mobs of fangirls wielding torches and pitchforks now.

Yuno Gasai is EASILY the most experienced player in the game, having played it before and having some insight on the strategies everyone else has, on top of being exceptionally good at being a serial killer in general. None of those qualities however are pertained to the diary she uses. Second's diary gives the drop on First's location in ten minute intervals - and includes notes from herself. Forget everything you know about Yuno's ability to play this game for a second to realize this.

Yuno's diary is completely dependent on the actions and livelihood of another user. This means that if Yuno wants to win, the only way she CAN win is to keep First alive to the end of the contest. She's essentially having to play two games. Thankfully for her, she's the PERFECT person to do so, but if someone else were to try and step into Yuno's shoes it wouldn't quite be the same. On top of having to play for two people, her diary rendered completely useless should Yuki die. This means that she's playing without any foresight in that instance. Thirdly, it doesn't actually do anything to protect Yuno REGARDLESS of if Yuki is vertical or horizontal. That's three strikes.

The Ideal Diaries

5. The "Super-Vision" Diary (Held by Fifth)

This children's coloring book diary makes a solid case for being a good diary to have for any balanced game player. It gives you a small summary of what you, the diary holder, would do three times a day, given at the same time - giving you times to plan what to do next. In my opinion, this diary allows the player to be a much better defensive player than any of the five on the above list, while being flexible. It doesn't do much in providing the player information on other targets and requires a little bit of personal investigation, but with the proper knowledge this diary is a tough one to beat.

4. The "Watcher" (Held by Eleventh)

This diary could be listed much higher - but in my opinion it does have a strange major weakness in that one person (Detective Nishijima) is able to be completely invisible to it for whatever reason (To get his beloved Minene out of what would seemingly be a dead end which even SHE couldn't escape.). Aside from the detective, this diary watches the other diaries in play. It's a pretty cheap one to have, but you can't deny it's immediate effectiveness. If you're intelligent and influential enough to wield a diary like the Watcher, you're going to go far in the game almost by default.

3. The "Server?" (Held by Eighth)

There's a reason someone with as much power as Eleven was interested in combining the power of his diary with Eighth's - and that power could be extremely base-covering both offensively AND defensively. Eighth uses a server-based diary to rank up other people into "Apprentice Diary Users" - or people who essentially get the same future diary ability without the nasty "phone breaks, you break" trade-off. Losing connection -does- render those users powerless, and as the diary holder, if your diary needs you to communicate with minions and you can't, that's a hard obstacle - but there's no power like the power of having other allies that you KNOW you can trust.

2. The "Indiscriminate" Diary (Held by First)

This is essentially the OPPOSITE of the Diary of Future Love. Everything around the observer is able to be picked up clearly. The only roadblock is that anything directly happening to the user is -not-. While you could argue that this shares the same weakness Yuno's diary does - and be right - it doesn't come with the "absolute need" to utilize Second as an ally - regardless of the two diaries functioning together VERY seamlessly. Yuki could at any time kill Yuno if he wanted to and still be able to play the game with a pulse on the future. He also isn't as in the dark about his surroundings as a bonus. It's wider scope and ability to be used in case of severance with Second allows those wielding the discriminate diary to pick and choose their own allies as the time comes.

1. The "Exchange" Diary (Held by Seventh)

Ai and Marco are a mirror image to Yuno and Yuki in many respects. Both couples are playing a complimentary game. However - Ai and Marco get the added bonus of having each other's backs completely covered AND not having to depend on an opponent to progress throughout the game - even more than Yuki could. The Exchange Diary gives details of what's going on with the other diary it's conjoined with. It's major weakness is the same as Yuno's. If one player goes down, the other is left playing without the future on their side - which is a steeper mismatch in comparison to Yuki's diary. I just think that Seventh doesn't have as many unknowns to deal with - while still being able to dictate playing the game their own way. That's why the Exchange Diary is certainly one of the better ones to have.

[nepeta100]

i just binge watched this series and finished it recently and i 100% agree with you on all of these

[IdleThoughts]

The only thing I would have to mention is since the Diaries are typically tailored to the individual's personality, we should probably follow the assumption that the ideal player always has the diary. I agree that anyone other than Yuno would have trouble managing the second diary, but logistically, we're never to see a person other than Yuno wield said diary.

But looking at it objectively, yes, it is a bit limited.