Mirai Nikki – 03 Impression

Sadism breeds sadism, is it any wonder why I find joy in Yuki’s predicaments?

Episode 03

Jesus, what an episode.

I thought I was going to be disappointed again, but damn, that was a good ending to the episode.

Impression

The episode essentially starts off with me loving my favourite character of the season – Yuki. (Am trying to be sarcastic)

After learning a bit more about Yuki as a person, I am sort of forced to see him as the lonely little kid who is twisted into thinking that he has to depend on only himself, all due to his parent’s divorce. My parents are divorced and honestly, I think the guy is over-reacting. But like I said, I can see where he is coming from with this line of thought and it is interesting that the first thing the episode starts off with is Yuki’s twisted, self-centered nature that holds no value for anyone apart from himself. (I *might* be over-exaggerating)

The first half of the episode had me deceived into believing that perhaps this episode was going to be a sentimental one (although I was question that whole fact to begin with), but when the second half of the episode came on, everything became better. I really like the slower pacing of the show in this episode, it had helped with building up the atmosphere. The whole lack of bombs and crazy killers made for a less noisy and more low-key buildup of suspense for me.

Just a little something to bring back that uncomfortable mental pain. =D I know that I cringed whilst watching this part.

I am not sure if I was the only one who did not realise that Minene was under hypnosis but yeah, I did not realise it at all. However, I have to give myself some credit for questioning that student (obviously a student with that uniform he is wearing, unless that is also an illusion. Maybe he is not even wearing anything? =O I think I am ranting…) As I was saying, I did question how that student was able to look through the paper bag when he handed Minene the water and sat down on the chair. I am happy that it was all an illusion.

That part with the digging of her eye out made me wonder if the scene last episode with Yuki poking her was worse or if this episode’s scene was. That girl can’t seem to catch a break with that eye of hers.

I love the way the glow of her eyes is used to create a “supernatural creepy atmosphere” around her character. Also, I couldn’t help but notice that even a year ago, she was already nuts and had a deep dark secret.

Then we have Yuno. There had been many hints to her psychotic side but boy was that freaky. I had expected her to be in Yuki’s house when he had gotten home (we all saw her super-speed running ability in the last ep), but then the way her eyes shone through the letter hole in the door was a very simple and effective way of upping the suspense/scare-factor, way better than what I had expected to see.

I still have to say that the whole theme park thing felt like a fan-service moment but at least it did bring up questions about Yuno’s and Yuki’s pasts. It also added to the whole romantic element between Yuki and Yuno as well as the questionable split personality the Yuno seem to have around Yuki.

This was the best moment of the episode for me.

Overall, the episode did well in summarising the current state of everything at the beginning of the episode. It had also established the fact that there are certain teams starting to form in this series even though the line between good and bad is still blurred at this moment. The mid part of the episode was a nice character development moment and the ending was simply good. It had the right amount of horror and suspense to keep me craving more of this series. I can’t wait to see what the whole deal with the rooms and the game is really about. It is starting to seem like a bunch of caged rats stuck in a game of survival.

Episode Rating: 7.5/10 – I really liked the last part, it was nicely done.

-ra