I'd been hearing some buzz about Future Diary for a while, but decided to hold off until I could check out a dead tree edition. So far, it's not too bad; this first volume reminds me of Death Note by way of Battle Royale, with a dash of trendy psychotic heroine.In a nutshell, compulsively-journaling schoolboy Yukiteru's grotesque-looking "imaginary friend" updates his cel phone diary to cover the next 90 days of his life, then informs him there are twelve others with the same gift, and they're to wipe each other out until there's only one standing. Who will then become God. And the hilarity, she does ensue.
It'd be nice if the main character had more personality than a wet dishrag (it's no accident that the more... colorful female lead gets foregrounded on the cover), but Esuno does at least treat his lack of character as an actual flaw he'll (hopefully) grow out of, instead of an implied point of reader-identification. The art is so-so, and the story hasn't fully gotten into gear, but it's an enjoyable potboiler with enough kitchen-sinky enthusiasm that I'm willing to see where it goes next.
I actually got tagged to take over translating duties on this with Volume 5. Weird little series. The supernatural-game-with-arbitrary-rules thing makes DN comparisons apt. This one is much more fast and loose though. Nothing about it makes very much sense, but I find something charming about the amateurish feel.
ReplyDeleteSadly, the protagonist is still a pointless dweeb from what I've read, but it doesn't really matter much. The series is a star vehicle for that insane heroine.
Oh, he does grow, or at least he tries to. The insane heroine's insanity does actually become a problem at some point as well.
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