Mirai Nikki: Redial

You won’t be blamed if you come into redial with a bit of hesitation, whether you enjoyed or hated the original series, the fashion in which it concluded didn’t leave much in terms of stones unturned that viewers might be too curious to unearth. Redial however could leave you pleasantly surprised. Redial takes place in the 3rd world following the end of the series. A girl named Gasai Yuno experiences a sense of Déjà vu from most things around her and faintly recalls fragmented memories that she doesn’t know of and someone whose face she can’t seem to remember, Kingdom Hearts-esque stuff. There is an amicableparadigm shift in redial, gone are the future diaries and plot twists, redial take a more subtle approach and focuses on the characters. Redial takes most of the characters from the original and realizes them in very interesting fashion. Most characters in the original were yes, a bit over the top a times, but one thing it did very well is memorability, the characters were crazy and just over the top enough that most would not be forgetting them anytime soon. Redial embraces this heritage so well and uses it to weave a very interesting side story. Redial shines the most when showing us what became of them, the various situations and sometimes friendly or goofy personalities to some of the more serious characters is sure to leave most people with a smile on their face. The writers of redial were of course aware of some of the writing issues in the original and it was a bit funny here to see them make several parodical remarks about it throughout the show. Whether you enjoyed or hated the original, redial gives a cute and interesting look at some of the more subtle moments the original wasn’t able to realize, it’s a nice short side story that’ll certainly leave all parties satisfied.

Honestly this OVA is nothing but a fan service, showcasing a path that the actual anime would definitely not take, as it slaughters the tragedy and eternal melancholy that ripped fans hearts out but was necessary for the success of the show, leaving an ending full of fluff and contradiction basically to the entire series. Now if this had developed into a season 2, i.e. shown the result of this, maybe Yuno becoming the God of the third world, other complications, I would definitely support this turn of events. The episode itself is beautiful - action scenes are wonderfully choreographed, fast-paced, and artfully consistent; the Japanesevocal cast is intune with the needs of the character; the music is phenomenal, the opening scene blew me away with the art and fit of the song to the anime. Unfortunately the humour (a present but not vital part of the original story) dominates the piece, and the drama, fighting and reuniting (THE GOOD BITS) are all shoved into the last minutes of the episode - come on, you haven't seen the love of your life in 1000-10,000 years Yukki! Writers please give this some time! Overall I love the series and the concepts, but this was really underwhelming. Sorry, not sorry.

You finished watching Mirai Nikki? Do you feel like something is still missing? You crave some kind of epilogue or closure? In that case, watching Mirai Nikki Redial... ...will do nothing for you. I'm sorry. As much I hated the plot-hole-ridden, crazy and unfinished ending of Mirai Nikki, at least it kind of ended the series on a fairly positive note. As for Redial, it's pure fan-service in every way. The first half is the obligatory beach trip, the staple filler episode that was missing from the main series. Yes, sure, we get to see a random group of the main characters again, frolicking on thebeach in swimsuits, having fun or goofing off with each other, but it's only that. It really adds nothing to anything. The second half is where everything happens. It's a corny, tacked-on prologue, that forces in a half-assed "happy ending", continuity and plot holes be damned. It's pure fan-service. It completely destroys what meaning and power left in the original ending, the impossible choices and sacrifices made by the main characters, only to magically bring them together in some sort of weird pseudo-reality and give the fans a totally out of place, saccharine HAPPY END. So, if you just couldn't handle Yukki and Yuno not ending up together and live happily ever after, well, there you have it. The tear-soaked pillows and sleepless nights are finally over. Good for you. Yes, it was nice to see the old gang again, some more fun, action and some extra story... But if you were looking for some real answers or closure after Mirai Nikki, well, I'm sorry, but you won't find that in Redial.

I really enjoyed the original series, but the ending of ep 26 felt awfully rushed and left me craving for more - I mean, you can't just open up a whole alternative world in the last episode of your series and then just show like 50 seconds of it. That's why I was very pleasently surprised when I found out that this OVA existed: It achieves everything the final episode didn't, and even though the OVA's ending also felt kinda rushed, it still gave a very good sense of closure to the series. Most of the important characters make their appearence in this alternative world, and especiallythis alternative, pure version of Yuno is interesting - living a "perfect" live (especially in comparison the one the original Yuno had to go through), but still feeling strangely empty... like something very important to her has just been missing her whole life.

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