Future Diary

Future Diary (未来日記) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Japanese 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 September 2010, eleven bound volumes have been released in Japan. The manga has been licensed by Tokyopop, and eight of the English volumes have been released. A "pilot anime" DVD was to be released with the 11th manga volume in September 2010, but has been postponed to December 2010.

Esuno has also authored two side-story manga, each one spanning five chapters: first Mirai Nikki: Mosaic which focuses on another Diary Holder and brings to light otherwise unrevealed plot points of the main story; and in 2009-2010, Mirai Nikki: Paradox (published in Young Ace), which tells the exploits of Aru Akise and Murumuru, filling the roles of Yukiteru and Yuno respectively, attempting to fix a timeline paradox created by Murumuru. Paradox is told in an alternate timeline which diverges from the main one at its beginning, and it may or may not eventually collapse into the main timeline.

Plot
Yukiteru always rejected any offers to go with friends and just keeps writing a diary on his cell phone. He has what he believes is an imaginary friend called Deus Ex Machina. However, one day Deus asks him to play a survival game along with eleven others. The winner becomes the next Deus Ex Machina. In order to win, the contestants must use their diaries of the future to eliminate one another. For Yukiteru to survive, he must team up with another diary holder, a girl named Yuno.

Each player is assigned a number based on the order that Deus modified his or her diary. The diaries begin to record the future in the same manner their future selves would have written down events, with some even being able to influence the beings whose future they divulge to the owner; 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 its properties and functions depending on the owner's personality, occupation and lifestyle and they all have their shortcomings. The diaries can be used without the owner's consent should they fall into another's hands. Since the diaries are written from the perspective of the owner's future self, the future can still be misinterpreted and thus the entries can become inaccurate. In addition to killing someone through normal means, if a diary is destroyed or broken, the owner also dies.

Diary holders

 * Yukiteru Amano (The First)
 * Status: Alive
 * Diary: No Difference Diary
 * Yukiteru Amano (天野 雪輝) is a 14 year old boy how sees his own life as if he were a bystander. His "Random" (No Difference) 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; though given the myriad of functions displayed by the other Diaries, this appears to be a very common flaw for most, if not all, Diary Holders.


 * Despite his severe lack of social skills, Yukiteru (nicknamed Yuki) is a fairly normal middle school student who has gotten in way over his head in Deus' survival game. He is favored by Deus to win the game because of his ability to overturn grim, inevitable outcomes to certain victory.  For that same reason, he is also viewed by the other diary holders as being the most likely to win the game, and is therefore the most dangerous player who must be taken out.  Yukiteru possesses remarkable accuracy in throwing darts, which he practices every morning with several dartboards in his room.  He prefers to eliminate the other holders by destroying their diaries utilizing his darts instead of using the simpler method of outright killing them with sharp, pointy objects; possibly because he is one of the few people who is actually sane. Even though Yukiteru was socially withdrawn at the beginning, he has decided to at least change the way he used to be by making some friends.


 * Despite being at odds with the diary holders, Yukiteru has overcome several dire situations by himself using his own wits and hidden abilities. In the final confrontation with the Fourth, he was able to change an unavoidable future made by his diary seemingly through mere willpower.  As of chapter twenty-nine, Yukiteru is in the hospital recovering after being thrown off a balcony by Marco Ikusaba of the Seventh. His diary has been taken from him, but has not been damaged as Yukiteru is still alive.


 * Yukiteru and Yuno face off against the Seventh at a tower somewhere hidden, while he lets Gasai Yuno face the both of the Seventh. Eventually, his plan turns into a disaster when Gasai kills Ai, the Seventh, while the tower was being destroyed by the Eighth. Trapped between inside obstructions somewhere in the tower he is distressed about Gasai's unpredictability and her obsession. Marco saves them from and gives Yuki and Gasai a parachute that will land them safely down from the obliterated tower. However, when Yukiteru lands, his diary reveals his mother's death. Shortly after his mother's death, Yukiteru seems to be on the verge of insanity. Yuno reveals through text message that she is on her way to save him.


 * His father was killed in chapter 35 by the Eleventh's men and he finally snaps and attacks them using his diary to gain the advantage killing all but one, who was beheaded by Yuno. He resolves to become God and kill all the other diary owners, including Yuno, who agrees to die for him. Five days later, he appears sporting a new look, accepted Yuno's feelings for him as they appear together and share a kiss, and a startling confidence (revealed later to be an act), exposing the Eleventh's identity and goal to once and for all become God.


 * Even though it is revealed to him that Yuno is not the real Yuno Gasai, he continues to stay by her; stating that "Yuno is Yuno". His personality also changes to where he won't hesitate to kill anyone else and he is able to use his diary in conjunction with another's diary(Uryuu's Escape Diary for example)to look into various futures and obtain information.


 * Though absent from a few chapters after it was revealed that Yuno is not the real Yuno, he returns during the Ninth's attack on the Eleventh, revealing he has always known what the Eleventh's diary was and has been following the group. He was planning on their attack to be a distraction while he sets up the downfall of the Eleventh with the help of the Second. Using his position as Mayor to their advantage to finally defeat the Eleventh for his father's revenge. Unfortunately the Mayor hides in the Bank Vault but using his diary to look into the future he obtains the password for the first door but not the second. He is nearly killed by the 9th for failing to kill the 11th, but manages to shoot her before she could kill him. The ninth later reveals herself having survived the gunshot wound and sacrifices her life in a failed attempt to destroy the safe using her Heart Bomb. This sends Yukiteru into an emotional rage and Yuno is forced to pull him away to avoid the oncoming police. After Yuno kills the 11th, Yukiteru begins making a memo to bring back all the people who have been killed because of the game so far. After Akise and Hinata tell him he cannot properly bring back the dead, Yuki, egged on by Yuno who claims they are lying to him, shoots Hinata.

After killing not only Hinata, but Kousaka and Mao, Yukiteru tries to kill Akise. Akise convinces Yukiteru to rethink about Yuno's doings up until now, but before he can do some serious conclusions about the case. Before Akise dies, already having being decapitated by Yuno, Akise reveals the truth to Yukiteru through a cellphone message. Later, after all diary users have died, Yuno reveals to Yukiteru that the world will end on July 28. One day before the end of everything, Yuki asks Yuno to confirm him two things to regain his trust, One of them was the reason why she lied about being able to revive his parents if he became God. After Yuno answers this one, Yuki asks about the truth in Akise's message: That Yuno from a parallel world where she became God in the survival game, and she leaped through time and space to get to that world. After Yukiteru asks that, Yuno attempts to kill him.


 * Yuno Gasai (The Second)
 * Status: Alive
 * Diary: Yukiteru Diary
 * Yuno Gasai (我妻 由乃) is in love with Yuki. 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 or her own Dead End.  Working with the First's "No Difference" 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.


 * Smart, beautiful, and diligent; those who don't truly know Yuno would simply see the model student role she plays while at school. In truth, she is secretly obsessed with Yukiteru and her continued interaction with him leads her mind to become increasingly unstable, to the extent of kidnapping and confining him. She can be quite clingy and is highly fond of stalking him.  When obstacles arise that either endanger Yukiteru's life or threatens their relationship, her thoughts turn murderous and she lets nothing get in the way of her path.  Yuno is also able to quickly analyze and adapt to unexpected situations that may arise, and she puts thoughts into action without hesitation, performing what needs to be done without ever losing her nerves.  These traits make her one of the strongest players in Deus' game, despite having the weakest diary for providing self survival aid.  And while Yukiteru is credited for triggering the greatest shift in future occurrences, Yuno is the one who has created the largest influence in those events.  Despite her strengths, however, she does process a rather unstable, antisocial and possessive personality; going so far as to kill anyone who tries getting close to Yuki. She would have gone as far as killing Yukiteru's mother, had she not approved of their relationship.  Yuno tends to carry around a utility knife with her at all times, though she will make use of other weaponry such as kitchen knives, hatchets, etc, when required.


 * Yuno lives in a poorly-kept house where there is no electricity. The first time Yuki visits, he discovers a room of rotting corpses. On a later visit with Akise Aru present, the room with the corpses and the foundation under it have been obliterated from the structure. However, Yuno saved the heads of two of the corpses, which were identified as her parents, and is currently carrying them around with her. She becomes distressed when questioned about the unidentified third corpse from the room. It is revealed that her control-freak parents, who measured everything she did from how many hours she got to sleep to how many calories she had a day, used to keep her in a cage and starve her in an effort to raise her to be a model person. She murdered her parents after she had enough of their strict and unrelenting upbringing.


 * After Yuki resolves to kill all the diary holders, Yuno agrees to die for him whenever he wants, they then disappear for 5 days reappearing with Yuki during a meeting of diary holders, in a black dress. Her feelings for Yukiteru are shown to finally be accepted as they kiss during the meeting before she takes her place. It is suggested that after they eliminate the rest of the Diary Holders she will kill herself so he may become God. Later, it is revealed by Akise that she is in fact an impostor pretending to be Yuno Gasai, as the mysterious third body at her house is the real Yuno Gasai. Yuki continues to stay by her side regardless of this evidence; the fake Yuno believed Yuki would abandon her with this information. Akise is currently wondering why this impostor took Yuno's place, believing it has something to do with wanting Yuki to become God.


 * She returns with Yuki by killing the 11th's men in the twin towers and causing a stir that gains the media's attention, a strategy of Yuki's to use the 11th's position as Mayor to their advantage. She says that she loves Yuki as she comes to greet him. She is current heading to kill the 8th. She failed this while rushing to save the 1st from the 9th. She later kills the 11th through what seems to be a secret passageway into the vault. She then tells Yuki that she killed 11 when the latter came out from the vault. However, Akise later reveals that this is not the case. Hidden from her view, Akise sees Yuno entering the vault by bypassing the retinal scan, something that only the real Yuno should be able to do. When 8 and the other children question Akise about this, he claims that she cannot possibly be the real Yuno since the DNA evidence proves otherwise, but it is certain that she is hiding a major secret and can't be trusted. She cuts herself with a knife after fighting Akise and covers herself in blood, telling Yuki that his friends have betrayed him and that Akise is going to kill her, causing Yuki to shoot Hinata.

After hearing Akise convincing Yukiteru to rethink his beliefs on her, Yuno attempts to kill him. Akise defends himself, and destroys her diary, only to reveal another one. Akise concludes is not a false diary, but a real Yuno Gasai's diary. After finally deducing the truth, Akise attempts to warn Yukiteru, but can't because of Yuno having cut his throat. When Akise tries to approach Yukiteru to tell him the truth, Yuno decapitates him, but Yukiteru gets the message by Akise's cellphone.

It is revealed thanks to Akise, that Yuno is actually a Yuno that came from a parallel world by having became God in this first world. When that world got destroyed, Yuno leaped through time and space, and got to the present world. She then went to her house in that world, and killed her other self, in order to take her place in the survival game. Yuno time-jumps one more time when Yuki realizes the truth and is assisted by the 9th. She does this so that she can jump to the past and create another alternate world to go through the Survival Game again by killing herself once more.

Despite her resolve to kill Yuki and herself, she is shaken when she realizes that her Diary is writing her true feelings for Yuki ("Yuki told me he loves me! I love him too!" etc). The world's future is rewritten as a domino effect takes place - the 3rd is captured by the 12th, etc. Even more, her past parents who had previously abused her come to save her past self from death, and even the 4th stumbles upon the scene and calls her a terrorist, putting her at gun-point. Reflecting how she feels like the 'bad guy', she steels herself to kill her past self once more - when Yuki suddenly breaks out from a type of 'cage' she had made for him, being unable to kill him herself, and stops her, a smile on his face.


 * Takao Hiyama (The Third)
 * Status: Killed
 * Diary: Murder Diary
 * Takao Hiyama (火山 高夫) is a teacher in Yuki's school and is the serial killer reported within its vicinity. His "Murder" diary records the location of his next intended victim.  It is a handy diary if one knew the true identity of the other diary holders and wishes to take the offensive in the game, but it does little in the way of anything else. Of course, this Diary will not react if his target is beyond his ability to kill, as Akise demonstrated in Mirai Nikki Paradox


 * Not much is known about Takao character-wise, since the man was only given four lines of dialogue in the series, all related with finding and being surprised by the First. Takao wears a heavy bulletproof trenchcoat complete with a hat and mask that hides his identity when stalking prey, and carries a large machete as his weapon of choice. His diary was destroyed by a dart thrown by Yukiteru. In the spin-off series where Muru muru accidentally destroyed Yuno's existence, he was able to critically injured the 1st, however was soon killed when he thrust his machete into a power-box, electrocuting himself.


 * Keigo Kurusu (The Fourth)
 * Status: Suicide
 * Diary: Investigation Diary
 * Keigo Kurusu (来須 圭悟) is a police officer, so it follows with reason that his diary relates to his work. The "Investigation" diary gives Keigo information of future crimes and activities committed anywhere within the prefecture he is assigned to.  Whether or not this means his diary can record events that will happen simultaneously in different locations is still up in the air.  Its major flaw is a location issue; his diary is rendered useless at predicting anywhere outside his patrolling district.


 * Calm, cool and collected, Keigo does not show any outward interest in wanting to win the game. He gives his reason for participating as an effort to stop the murders that will occur if it continues.  He makes an effort to recruit some of the other diary holders into his cause, but his main goal is to capture the ones too dangerous to be left roaming free.  He was chosen by Deus to balance out the criminals and maniacs that are also taking part in the game.  As a high ranking police officer, Keigo naturally carries a handgun with him.  He can also mobilize the entire Investigation Division at his command.  However, there may be more to his character than meets the eye, as there may be question to where his true alliance lies.


 * In chapter twenty-one, it is revealed he wants to be God to save his hospitalized son. During the standoff in the hospital with Yuki and Yuno, Keigo commits suicide by breaking his diary.  Before he does, Keigo makes one last deal with Minene, most likely that in exchange for his life, she will save his son's life if she won Deus' game.


 * Reisuke Houjou (The Fifth)
 * Status: Killed
 * Diary: Super Vision Diary
 * Reisuke Houjou (豊穣 礼佑) is a seemingly harmless four-year-old child. Accompanied by some drawings, his "Super Vision" diary is a coloring book that gives a small summary of the activities he will perform for the day.  However, not only is there a large time gap between the entries, the diary only shows three of them per day: morning, noon, and night.  It does have a certain advantage of giving Reisuke all three entries at the same time, which allows him ample time to carefully plot his next move, as well as some pictures drawn by him, giving him some source material other than writing.


 * Reisuke comes from an unhappy background where his parents neglected him and his family was gradually falling apart. Due to that, he wants to win Deus' game in order to prove he is "super elite" and that he doesn't need to depend on adults to live on his own.  He is highly intelligent for his age, yet still possesses both a child's innocence as well as a child's cruelty.  Often, his actions make it difficult to tell which of the two traits is the more dominant.  During his time at the Amano household, Reisuke grows fond of Yukiteru and especially Yuno in a uniquely sadist fashion; calling them brother and sister.  Due to his size, Reisuke improvises with non-visual weaponry such as poison syringe and cyanide gas. He was killed by Yuno.


 * Tsubaki Kasugano (The Sixth)
 * Status: Killed
 * Diary: Thousand League Eyes Diary
 * Tsubaki Kasugano (春日野 椿) is a maiden and figurehead of the Onukata religion. Her "Thousand League Eyes" diary is unlike the other diaries, as it is a scroll, rather than a cell phone.  As its name would suggest, it is able to report the future of all her followers; allowing her to gain some form of mind control over them.  Unlike Yukiteru's diary, it is not limited to just her surroundings, but sees far-off events; ones that lie a great distance away from where she resides.  Her diary can also record near-future events; those that will occur after only a few seconds ahead from the present.  This provides Tsubaki with massive amounts of information to work with.  However, it can pose as a hindrance in times where a situation changes constantly or when she needs to react quickly to incoming threats.


 * Tsubaki's background is quite possibly the worst one revealed so far. From her birth, she was caged within the temple. Unable to see daylight, which resulted in her bad eyesight. Not only has she been imprisoned since birth but she also became a sexual toy/slave by the Onukata's for the purpose of their religious activities and is abused as a daily basis before she receives her diary.  As a result of her experiences, she has become jaded with the world, and wishes for it to disappear.  Tsubaki wants the First's abilities in order to avoid the prediction her diary made about herself.  As she is able to control her worshippers, Tsubaki does not make use of any weaponry. She was killed by Yukiteru destroying her diary.


 * Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami (Both The Seventh)
 * Status: Killed
 * Apprentice Diary:
 * Diary: Exchange Diary
 * Marco Ikusaba (戦場 マルコ) and Ai Mikami (美神 愛) were originally thought to be mere apprentices of the Eighth at first; Marco's apprentice diary predicted attacks before they happened, while Ai's located who ever she was looking for. In chapter twenty-eight they revealed themselves as together being the Seventh diary holder as well. The powers of their diaries, together known as the "Exchange" diary, are operated by two separate cellphones. It does appear their diaries are not affected by disruptions in the cell phone network as Akise's jamming plan only causes them to discard their Apprentice Diaries from the Eighth and use their own.


 * The Seventh's own diaries, which they nicknamed the "Love Love Diary", tell the immediate future events of the other holder. The Seventh are a romantic couple and their respective diaries keep track of each other in much the same way Yuno's diary does with Yukiteru. This allows the Seventh diary holders to protect each other in times of danger. The pair do not seem to wish harm to those they are not in competition with, as they carry Hinata and Mao, who they had previously attacked, outside Kousaka's house so they are not harmed in the fire they start after that. They also render first aid for the knife wounds Ai inflicted.


 * In chapter twenty-nine, they escaped having believed they defeated the newly reformed team of Yukiteru and Yuno, and have stolen the pair's diaries, as per the Eighth's orders. This allows them to gather information through both Diaries and hold an edge against the two Diary holders. In chapter thirty-two, Ai is killed due to blood loss by having her throat slit by Yuno. After the tower they are in is destroyed, Marco saves Yukiteru, Yuno and a near dead Ai. With his last act of his bond of "love", he gives Yukiteru and Yuno the last parachute and stays at the obliterated tower still holding onto a lifeless Ai.


 * Kamado Ueshita (The Eighth)
 * Status: Killed
 * Diary: Blog Diary
 * Kamado Ueshita (上下 かまど) is a large, strangely shaped woman in charge of an orphanage named "Mothers Home". Kamado's diary seems to be in the form of a website where she can rent out blog space to others and can automatically promote its users' rank based on the number of posts the user makes.  For instance, Ouji Kousaka, in chapter twenty-five, submits enough entries to be promoted from "commoner" to "apprentice diary holder".  The latter rank appears to give users the same abilities that the original diary holders possess without the drawback of the user dying if his or her diary is destroyed. The only apparent problem with this diary's effects is that the apprentices have to stay connected to the server, or else they will lose use of their diaries. She is currently in the process of having her orphanage about to be demolished as part of the Eleventh's plan. Noted by the children in her orphanage, she has no motivation to become God, where it is her "children" who wish to make her God so she won't be killed. All of her "children", who also each possessed an apprentice diary, are killed by Yuno during a failed attempt to kill the 11th. She is later recruited by the 11th, in hoping to use her Diary combined with the Holon III, a massive computer system for Sakurami, to turn the whole city into Apprentice Diary Holders. She is taken hostage by the 11th afterwards (possibly for the 11th to ensure the safety of her diary) and protected by Akise when Yuno comes to kill her. She is currently bringing Akise to Deus ex Machina's realm so he could have a conversation with the god. She is later killed by Yuno.


 * Minene Uryu (The Ninth)
 * Status: Questionable
 * Diary: Escape Diary
 * Minene Uryu (雨流 みねね) is a terrorist bomber. Like the Fourth, her "Escape" diary goes along with the type of profession she is involved in.  Whenever Minene faces a dire situation, the diary will chart out the best course of actions she can take in order to get out of a tight spot.  Based on the function of her diary, it might even help reduce the chances of her receiving a Dead End and it is probably one of the best diaries to have in Deus' game of survival.  The diary's only shortcoming is that there are some circumstances where the odds are too heavily stacked against Minene to the point where the diary won't be able to secure an escape route for her.


 * During her childhood, Minene went through Hell when her town was dragged into a war and made into a battle zone. Her family died in the crossfire, ever since then she has led a personal crusade against all those in association with God.  Her objective in Deus' game remains the same as her life's goal.  At first glance she may seem completely insane, but deep down she does hold it together better than one would expect.  Fearless and brash, Minene spares no expenses in attempting to eliminate her target, as she can be a pretty psychotic extremist in her line of work.  While she doesn't go out of her way to kill innocent civilians who aren't involved in the game, Minene remains apathetic towards unlucky bystanders who get caught up in her activities.  Minene's skills as a spy are top-notch and hostage takeovers seem to be a breeze for her, but the infamous terrorist's main forte is the handling and use of explosives; in addition, she is able to make sacrifices to ensure that she does survive in an instant; when Yukiteru was about to pierce her diary with a dart, she instead chose to let her eye (which was right behind it at the time) take the dart instead, which eventually led to it becoming infected and being taken out by the Twelfth.


 * In Mirai Nikki: Mosaic, another manga of Future Diary that shows what she has been doing in the background of the main story: she killed Ooshima Natsuko (a rookie policewoman) and takes her place by disguising as her in order to kill Father Haiman. She originally planned to blow up the building, poison him, and set the fire in his room but failed due to Masumi's recurring appearance, asking her to eat with him; asking her out caused Minene's feelings to go in a frenzy. Her secret was blown when Keigo and Masumi discover that the real Natsuko is dead and set a trap for her. After revealing herself, she tries to escape by using a rope she had set up.  Keigo shoots her rope and makes her fall and she survives after landing onto a water fountain. Afterwards, Deus and Muru muru meet her and give her the "Escape" future diary.  It is also hinted in a later chapter that she reciprocates Masumi's feelings, but states that the girl side of her had died many years ago. She started dressing in gothic lolita because of that incident.


 * In chapter twenty-three, Minene disappeared after escaping from the police, where she was being held for questioning following the hostage incident and standoff with Keigo at the hospital. However, in chapter twenty-nine she reappears disguised as a nurse at the hospital Yukiteru is being treated at following his and Yuno's defeat by the Seventh team. She demands information from Yukiteru about the abilities of the Seventh and their diaries. Afterwards, she continued to work at the hospital as a nurse, appearing to like being around children and working with Masumi and Aru Akise. She was nearly killed by the 11th but Masumi saves her. Afterwards, he tells her that he wishes to stay by her side, reveals a diamond ring to her, and proposes which renders her speechless. In Chapter 40, she constantly fights against the idea of staying alone or marrying him, and because of his constant pestering she blurted out that she would if he would destroy the Super Computer.


 * In Chapter 41, Deus impales her with his arm. Deus explains to Minene that he is giving her half of his power as she is the only one he can trust. Minene then is reset back to the second before Deus attacks, and thinks of the whole event as nothing but a hallucination. In the same chapter, she loses her right hand just before Masumi is killed by the 11th's men. She then works with Yukiteru to attempt to catch up with the 11th and kill him. When this fails, she tries to kill Yukteru on a promise that if she could not exact revenge on the 11th, Yukiteru would die because he, indirectly or not, let Masumi die. However, after remembering herself after losing her parents, she hesitates to shoot Yuki, and eventually gets shot instead by him. Even after all of this, she is later shown to be alive, and uses her Heart Bomb, a bomb strapped to her heart that will activate when it stops beating, to try to blast open the second vault door which the 11th is taking shelter in. She is last seen breaking her diary with the image of Masumi standing over her. Her efforts were in vain, as the bomb did nothing to the vault door.


 * However as of recent chapters, it is not known whether she actually died or not. She appears just in the nick of time, saving Yuki from an untimely death, sporting half of Deus' powers, which includes the ability to time-jump. The two follow Murumuru and Yuno to the past, two years ago, to try to stop them from creating a third (alternate) world. Though Uryu protests against him interfering with the world (as it is not theirs, so they should not disrupt it), she does the opposite and informs the 4th of his son's condition. She then proceeds to attack Yuno, but is ultimately defeated by Murumuru.


 * Karyuudo Tsukishima (The Tenth)
 * Status: Killed
 * Diary: Rearing Diary
 * Karyuudo Tsukishima (月島 狩人) loves and values his dogs more than himself; as shown when he cooked them steak and give them thirty-year-old wine for dinner, while he himself was content with eating cup ramen. He is the owner of the "Rearing" diary, which allows him to check on the status of his beloved dogs and control them in squads via voice commands.  The dogs can be used to chase and kill people.  The diary's weakness seems to be issuing the order of chasing multiple targets, which would require greater concentration in herding the dogs and would also leave the user vulnerable to attack as the holder would be alone.


 * As he was concerned about a stalker and potential diary user, the Tenth literally placed his future in the hands of his daughter, Hinata Hino, who recognized the stalker as a classmate of hers, Akise. Armed with the diary and her father's dogs, Hinata set an elaborate trap to capture Akise, using Yukiteru as bait. The Tenth was killed by Keigo.


 * John Bacchus (The Eleventh)
 * Status: Killed
 * Diary: Watcher Diary
 * John Balks (ション バックス) is finally revealed in chapter thirty-six as the mayor of Sakurami. He uses his influence to take down the other diary holders. His Diary is the Watcher Diary, its inability to predict Masumi the only person involved who didn't have a Diary means that his power is to read other peoples Diaries. However, he is able to move the voters with his words alone to demolish Mother's Home and even convince Deus to remove the First and Second because of their absences. His true goal has later been revealed that he wishes hook up the 8th's diary with a super computer, giving everyone in the city the potential to becoming a Apprentice Diary Holder in hopes to make a new and great kingdom that he will rule, which may be a ruse to ensure his winning of the game as giving everyone a Diary means that he can access all of their information the same way 6th could with her diary. Interesting, the Eighth considers him to be a gentleman. He is currently hiding in a safe that used to be owned by Yuno's family and shot his assistant so Yuki couldn't use his diary to get the code for the second door. Yuno later bypasses the retinal scan somehow, enters the vault, and beheads the 11th.


 * It has been speculated, though his "Watcher" diary has the ability to 'peep' into other people's diaries. The Ninth had considered this idea in Chapter 41 when seeing Oji Kosaka trying to 'peep' at other people's diaries with a telescope, this explaining why it never could react when Masumi intervened (as her Escape Diary only tells her where to go). The Eleventh would use this ability in coalition with the Eighth's diary ability to 'peep' into the diaries hooked up into the Eighth's servers. He claims it is for the evolution of mankind. He is also the one who invented the Future Dairy. But like all other Future Diaries, the "Watcher" is not without weakneses unique to its own; the Diary will show the contents of entry to Balks, and not just future predictions made by other holders future-selves but also those written by the holders' present selves in real-time. This makes it possible to deceive the "Watcher"


 * Yomotsu Hirasaka (The Twelfth)
 * Status: Suicide
 * Diary: Justice Diary
 * Yomotsu Hirasaka (平坂 黄泉) is a blind man who makes use of a tape recorder that he dubs the "Justice" diary, where it records the wrong-doings of future events he thinks need correcting. It's a pretty misleading name since Yomotsu considers the evil deeds committed by a religion cult as much of an injustice as finding random trash on the floor.  His diary's functions are actually similar to the Sixth's "Thousand League Eyes," but rather it's the Thousand League Hearing.  He is able to create illusions using hypnosis granted by his diary.


 * Yomotsu is quite possibly insane and fancies calling himself a Hero of Justice. He seems to talk with a heavy accent since katakana is used whenever he speaks.  He defines justice as always being on the side of the winner.  He wears spandex along with a toy transformation belt as seen in many super sentai series, as well as a strange one-hole mask which bears similarities to a large eyeball.


 * When his death flag is raised, Yomotsu makes use of Minene's confiscated bomb and tries a last ditch kamikaze attempt to take Tsubaki's life. However, Yuno manages to stop Yomotsu and he ends up killing only himself as the bomb explodes.


 * A running gag is that his face is never seen, even in the series Mirai Nikki: Mosaic when the ninth tried to remove the paper bag he was using as a mask, there was another paper bag underneath.

Other characters

 * Deus Ex Machina
 * The god of time and space, Deus Ex Machina (デウス エクス マキナ) is Yukiteru's supposed imaginary friend and the mastermind behind the game. He is looking for a successor, which is why he gave future diaries to twelve candidates and placed them in a game of life and death. He seems to favor Yukiteru the most out of all the candidates as his next possible successor due to the miracles Yukiteru is able to pull off, not paying attention to the fact that Yuno is helping him. In chapter twenty-four, it is revealed that, despite being a god, his lifespan is coming to an end, thus there has to be a replacement. As of recent chapters his body is starting to deteriorate, causing the destruction of the world where as Chapter 51 all that is left of him is merely his core, which looks like a small gem.


 * Muru Muru
 * Deus's servant, Muru Muru (ムルムル) is often seen with the eliminated candidates in omake panels. As of chapter twenty-four it is revealed her favorite is Yuno Gasai, and she is betting on her to win the game. Murumuru also admits to having a hand in the Fourth's death to speed things up. She has a rather playful and nonchalant attitude toward Deus despite his warnings to her. In a spin-off series she accidentally destroyed Yuno from existence, so she currently has taken Yuno's place as the Second till the damage can be fixed. In the final chapter of Mirai Nikki Paradox, Akise Aru goes into Muru Muru's memories and before the paradox is restored she is conspiring with the fake Yuno who is standing next to the recently killed real Yuno. It is revealed in Chapter 51 that she was behind everything, and wished for Deus to deteriorate so she could take over as ruler of the world in its destruction.


 * Rea Amano
 * Yukiteru's mother, Rea Amano (天野 礼亜) is rarely at home because of her work as a video game programmer. Despite this, she maintains a very casual and close relationship with Yukiteru and approves of Yuno as a potential bride for her son.  She later dies in chapter thirty-three after Kurou stabs her with a knife while trying to drag him to the police.


 * Kurou Amano
 * Yukiteru's father, Kurou Amano (天野 九郎) is divorced with Yukiteru's mother due to a debt amounting to three million yen which he could not pay. Initially, he appears in chapter thirty claiming to just want to check on his son, but it turns out that he has only returned to destroy Yukiteru's diary in order to fulfill a deal with the Seventh. Despite his only clear desire being to free himself from his debts, he does try to save Yuki when the latter almost falls to his death, but takes the parachute away from Yuki before the tower crumbles soon after. He then stabs his wife when she tries to take him to the police and escapes, though is stabbed to death himself two chapters later by the Eleventh's men.


 * Masumi Nishijima
 * Chief Investigator and Keigo's subordinate, Masumi Nishijima (西島 真澄) is part of the investigation team assigned to protect Father Haiman from the terrorist, Minene. Masumi had feelings for Natsuko and, much to Minene's confusion and dismay, would take every opportunity to ask "her" out for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  He is then seen as the Ninth's informant and is assigned by the Mayor of Sakurami (the Eleventh) to be his bodyguard. He works with Aru to figure out the true identity of the third corpse found in Yuno's residence and later helps the Eleventh and the Eighth escape from Yukiteru and Yuno. However, he is really working for Minene and Akise, and even proposes to Minene at the end of chapter 39. He is later shot and killed by the 11th's men during the failed attempt at destroying Holon.


 * Aru Akise
 * A classmate in Yukiteru's school, Aru Akise (秋瀬 或) dreams of one day becoming the world's greatest detective. The student detective is able to correctly deduce the culprit behind the serial dog murders even before the police. He is mistaken for being a future diary holder due to his quick wits and superior deduction abilities.  An additional evidence of his supernatural intelligence is shown through few arcs, where only Akise is able to compete against Yuno's analytical, deceptive mind. His physical prowess is nothing to scoff at either as he is able to overpower and out maneuver a psychotic Yuno in two encounters. His reason for involving himself with Yukiteru and the Diary affair is left vague at first. But as he participated in the investigation of the Diary Holders and worked with Masumi and Minene, and after revealing himself to be apart of Nishijima's plan to eliminate the 11th, Akise calls a meeting at his house and reveals his intentions of wanting Yukiteru to become god, yet stating his deep distrust of the 2nd, Yuno. Currently, he is speaking with Deus in order to bring to light the 2nd's intentions. It is revealed that Akise is just a character that Deus created to keep tabs on the Diary Holders. When Deus decides to 'dismantle' Akise and return his soul to the heavens, Akise activates his "Detective Diary" which allows him to remain as a human. Now he is facing Yukiteru and Yuno in a final showdown. He was able to figure out how Yuno and the Fake Yuno secret, but couldn't tell Yukki due to Yuno cutting his throat. He managed to give him the message through his cellphone even after Yuno decapitated him. It is later revealed by Yukiteru that the truth he discovered was that the Yuno all know, is a Yuno from a parallel world that was already destroyed, and that Yuno won the survival game in that world. Using her powers, leap through time and space and got to that world. This truth helps Yukiteru to reveal Yuno's true colors.


 * He is the main character in a spin off series (Mirai Nikki Paradox) where Murumuru accidentally destroyed Yuno from existence, meaning Yukiteru is still vulnerable from the Third. So until the damage is fixed, Aru collaborates with Murumuru and together, take the place of the First and Second. When Akise sees Yukiteru for the first time, his heart thumps, causing him to wonder out loud "Is this love?" leading to confusion on Murumuru's part. He also states that his reward for killing the Third is for Murumuru to save Yukiteru. By the end of second chapter of "Paradox", Murumuru suspects he is gay because of his strange actions around a recovering Yukiteru; refusing to leave his side because Yukiteru's just too cute, stating how he could kill all the diary users to make Yukiteru 'God', and so on.


 * In chapter 17 of Mirai Nikki, Akise admits in secret to Yuno that he likes Yukiteru beyond friendship, leading her to panic momentarily when he purposely wraps his arm around Yukiteru's waist to aggravate her. This might be one of the reason why Yuno is so anxious and aggravated whenever Akise is appears in front of Yukiteru. Finally, in chapter 48, Akise admits to Deus that he is in love with Yukiteru, however Deus revealed that he only made him believe he did. Akise, desperate to prove his independence from Deus' will, claims a future diary and returns, attempting to convince Yuki that Yuno is using him.  Yuno attempts to kill Akise, but his diary's power allows him to foresee her actions and guard against them.


 * Ouji Kosaka
 * Another one of Yukiteru's classmates, Ouji Kosaka (高坂 王子) is in Yuki and Yuno's classroom during the previous semester and is one of the first people to betray him during the terrorist bombing incident. He writes down a list of all of his proudest accomplishments in a blog he dubs the "Kousaka King Diary", often using the phrase "I'm Shining!" after each sentence. Due to having blogged many times on his cellphone, which is connected to the Eighth's diary, he becomes a "Diary Holder Apprentice". His diary helps him save his friends, but since it does not reveal what is happening around him, Yuno is able to shoot him with a crossbow. Since he is inadvertently working as the Eighth's spy, Yuki destroys his diary in chapter twenty-seven, though does not die because it was not a true future diary. Later on, when the 11th connects the 8th's diary to Holon, he receives a new diary, the "Neo-Kousaka King Diary," which instead of revealing what he will do, it reveals what people around him will do; the journal entry is ended by saying that they are "shining like he is." He was among the team to take down the 11th but was taken hostage and rescued by Yuno. Currently, he defends the 8th from Yukiteru Amano along with Hinata and Mao.


 * Interestingly, in a special chapter of the main series, Ouji Kousaka appears to have bullied Yukiteru Amano prior to the survival game. If considered canon, this contradicts Yukiteru's indifferent behavior towards Ouji in the first chapter of the series.


 * Hinata Hino
 * The Tenth's daughter, Hinata Hino (日野 日向) is aware that her father is instigating the carnivorous hound attacks. In order to shake off suspicion from her father's pursuer, she accepts the "Rearing" Diary and uses it in her father's place. Hinata is a classmate in Yukiteru's homeroom and is the first person to reach out to him and become his friend. In chapter twenty-nine, she is treated for knife wounds inflicted by the Seventh. She is was among the team to take down the 11th but was taken hostage and rescued by Yuno. She is the one who tells Yuki that he could never truly bring back the dead. After Yuno calls Yuki and tells him that they (Hinata, Mao, and Kousaka) are lying to him, he shoots and presumably kills Hinata.


 * Mao Nonosaka
 * Another one of Yukiteru's classmates, Mao Nonosaka (野々坂 まお) is good friends with Hinata and is a willing accomplice in Hinata's scheme to kill Akise Aru. After the carnivorous hound incident she becomes friends with the group. It is implied that she has feelings towards Hinata, which is later confirmed in chapter 41 through her Apprentice Diary which practically mirrors Yuno's diary towards Hinata. Hinata apologizes for using Mao's feelings during the aforementioned incident. She is later treated for knife wounds inflicted by the Seventh. She was among the team to take down the 11th but was taken hostage and rescued by Yuno. Currently, she defends the 8th along with Hinata and Mao, but is shot after trying to stop Yukiteru from getting to the 8th.


 * Wakaba Moe
 * A girl that appears in a flashback in chapter 34, in which she turns down Yukiteru after he gives her a love letter. She was the class representative that came in place of Yuno, who could not attend due to strict curfew, for supply shopping. It is currently unknown if her presences will have any meaning in future chapters.


 * Natsuko Ooshima
 * A rookie detective who was part of the Investigation division, Natsuko Ooshima (大嶋 夏子) was killed by Minene so that she can assume the rookie's identity and infiltrate Sakurami Police Station undetected. She has only appeared in the side series about the Ninth (Mirai Nikki Mosaic) to date.

Manga volumes

 * 1) ISBN 978-4-04-713839-1 (Volume 1 - published on July 21, 2006)
 * 2) ISBN 978-4-04-713872-8 (Volume 2 - published on October 24, 2006)
 * 3) ISBN 978-4-04-713912-1 (Volume 3 - published on March 26, 2007)
 * 4) ISBN 978-4-04-713954-1 (Volume 4 - published on October 26, 2007)
 * 5) ISBN 978-4-04-715026-3 (Volume 5 - published in February 2008)
 * 6) ISBN 978-4-04-715072-0 (Volume 6 - published on June 26, 2008)
 * 7) ISBN 978-4-04-715130-7 (Volume 7 - published on November 26, 2008)
 * 8) ISBN 978-4-04-715129-1 (Mosaic - published on November 26, 2008)
 * 9) ISBN 978-4-04-715248-9 (Volume 8 - published on May 26, 2009)
 * 10) ISBN 978-4-04-715323-3 (Volume 9 - published on November 26, 2009)
 * 11) ISBN 978-4-04-715400-1 (Volume 10 - published on March 26, 2010)
 * 12) ISBN 978-4-04-715412-4 (Paradox - published on March 26, 2010)
 * 13) ISBN 978-4-04-900801-2 (Volume 11 - published on September 9, 2010)


 * In English
 * 1) ISBN 978-1-4278-1557-6 (Volume 1)
 * 2) ISBN 978-1-4278-1558-3 (Volume 2)
 * 3) ISBN 978-1-4278-1559-0 (Volume 3)
 * 4) ISBN 978-1-4278-1560-6 (Volume 4)
 * 5) ISBN 978-1-4278-1561-3 (Volume 5)
 * 6) ISBN 978-1-4278-1630-6 (Volume 6)
 * 7) ISBN 978-1-4278-1751-8 (Volume 7)
 * 8) ISBN 978-1-4278-1761-7 (Volume 8)

Pilot anime
A special anime DVD containing a "pilot anime" was to be bundled with the limited edition of the eleventh volume of the manga, released on September 9, 2010, but it has been postponed and will be released on December 9, 2010.

Video game
Kadokawa Shoten produced a visual novel based on the manga titled Future Diary: The 13th Diary Owner (未来日記 -13人目の日記所有者-) for the PlayStation Portable, which was released on January 28, 2010 in Japan.

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.