Future Diary: Part One - Thrilling Anime Series | Action, Mystery & Suspense | Perfect for Anime Fans & Binge-Watchers

This review is for now about the anime itself. Those wanting to see a review of the box set itself should come back once it's released and I have a chance to get a hold of it ;)Those who are coming into this expecting a series about a cute little girl with pink hair that does silly things, are going to find themselves disappointed. A true successor to Death Note, minus the disappointing second act, Future Diary, aka Mirai Nikki, is a darker, more emotional, and more thought provoking story than one would think at first glance.The anime centers around two characters, Amano Yukiteru and Gasai Yuno, who are caught up in a high stakes game of life or death. Deus ex Machina, the God of the Future Diary universe, is dying, and he's set up a game to determine who will take his place. Each of the 12 contestants is given a 'future diary' that, as the name implies, predicts future events and records them as diary entries, each in a slightly different way. The goal of the game is for each contestant to kill the other 11, and the last man (or woman) standing is the winner.The great thing about Future Diary is that it gives you a little bit of everything, and holds it together well. The show has a great mix of romance, suspense, comedy, drama, and even horror. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it even has a straight up shonen, super saiyan beat down towards the end.The characters as well, are one of the places that the series excels at. Even the villains or characters that you hate, will absolutely make you fall in love with them by the end. One in particular comes to mind, one of the first villains you see shows up doing some of the most terrible things in the series, and by the end still manages to come off as not only sympathetic, but one of my personal favorite characters in the series. One of the main characters as well, Yuno, is absolutely exquisitely written. She's adorable, and terrifying, and hilarious, and psychotic all at the same time.Don't make the mistake of thinking you know what's going to happen either. With a Hunger Games-ish story like this, you can fall into the trap of identifying the main character, and assuming that he's going to win the game and that everybody else is dead. This story has an ending that you will never see coming, although all the clues are there (hint, watch the opening credits closely).The Japanese voice acting is great, and the animation and soundtrack are both superb. Each perfectly compliments the tone of whatever you're watching, being silly and bubbly one moment, and creepy or suspenseful the next.If you enjoy series like Gantz and Death Note, then Future Diary is for you, and even if you don't I can't imagine anybody really not liking it. I'll be editing this review once the DVD itself actually comes out to give my thoughts on the box set and the dub.UPDATE 8/27/2013:Still waiting for the special edition of the box set to be released, but here are my thoughts on the dub. The editing is very well done, no awkward lip flaps or anything like that (so far). Same with the subtitles, no mistranslations or misleading phrases that I've been able to pick up on.The voices themselves however, I'm not a huge fan of. Most of the actors are okay, but I have to take issue with the choice of Brina Palencia as Yuno. This isn't to say it's a bad actress, because I very much liked her role as Natsuki in Summer Wars, but she is wrong for this part. Part of Yuno's charm is that she is a complete psychopath, but she sounds and looks like some cute little non-threatening schoolgirl. I'm not saying that the actress has to be as high pitched and cutesy as the original in order to be effective, but miss Palencia really cannot do cute and bubbling very well at all. Yuki and Deus are decent enough, although I still prefer the Japanese versions. Murmuru is barely audible at times. Minene's is great, I instantly fell in love with her English character. In the end I think that this is fairly typical for a dub. Those who prefer subs will hate it and those who prefer dubs will like it.The good news is that Funimation has given us the uncensored version. A big complaint about what we've seen so far on Hulu and some of the Japanese releases is that the gore and nudity is blanked out, which kind of ruins the immersion factor. Many people have feared that Funimation would be following this trend (ala Deadman Wonderland). However, I'm pleased to report that you will get to enjoy all the blood and gore (not to mention Minene's boobs) in the way that they were originally intended.