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Future Diary, Vol. 1
2 journalers for this copy...
I found this fair-condition ex-library paperback at the Used Book Superstore, and as I'd enjoyed it when I first read it, I was glad to find another release copy.
I'd first read about this manga series in TV Tropes (see its entry here). It has some elements in common with Death Note, such as a set of supernatural gadgets powered by gods who like to play with the human realm, but it's got its own spin.
It opens with a shocking scene: a girl and boy kissing, and the lines: "I had the dart right there. 'That's right, just stab her and it'll be all over.' That's what I was thinking... but then she whispered in my ear, 'You won't stab me. That's not in your future.'"
Okay! From that dramatic opening we step back a week, and meet Yukiteru, a lonely young boy, who keeps a daily journal on his cell phone of all the things going on around him. In his room at home, we see him chatting with his imaginary (?) friend Deus Ex Machina (pause to groan here!), who is a huge, hideous god who likes to mess about with people's lives. He starts a "game" to liven things up, and before Yukiteru knows what's happened, he's being stalked by a girl from his school - and is seeing his cell-phone journal showing events that have not happened yet...
Eventually the characters learn that there are a dozen of these "future diaries", some in the form of phones, others actual journals. They can describe future events for up to 90 days out, but can only show events that the owner of the diary would have written down if it had already happened. [This has amusing/bizarre side effects: the hero writes about everything but himself, so he can't read his own future in his diary, but his stalker writes only about him, so putting the two together...]
To add a twist to all this: Deus Ex Machina announces that the diary holders are competing in a life-and-death battle to be the sole survivor - and to inherit his power. (This would explain the scene with the dart!) And so the hunt begins...
[I see that there's a 2011 anime series based on the manga, but so far it's only in Japan.]
I'd first read about this manga series in TV Tropes (see its entry here). It has some elements in common with Death Note, such as a set of supernatural gadgets powered by gods who like to play with the human realm, but it's got its own spin.
It opens with a shocking scene: a girl and boy kissing, and the lines: "I had the dart right there. 'That's right, just stab her and it'll be all over.' That's what I was thinking... but then she whispered in my ear, 'You won't stab me. That's not in your future.'"
Okay! From that dramatic opening we step back a week, and meet Yukiteru, a lonely young boy, who keeps a daily journal on his cell phone of all the things going on around him. In his room at home, we see him chatting with his imaginary (?) friend Deus Ex Machina (pause to groan here!), who is a huge, hideous god who likes to mess about with people's lives. He starts a "game" to liven things up, and before Yukiteru knows what's happened, he's being stalked by a girl from his school - and is seeing his cell-phone journal showing events that have not happened yet...
Eventually the characters learn that there are a dozen of these "future diaries", some in the form of phones, others actual journals. They can describe future events for up to 90 days out, but can only show events that the owner of the diary would have written down if it had already happened. [This has amusing/bizarre side effects: the hero writes about everything but himself, so he can't read his own future in his diary, but his stalker writes only about him, so putting the two together...]
To add a twist to all this: Deus Ex Machina announces that the diary holders are competing in a life-and-death battle to be the sole survivor - and to inherit his power. (This would explain the scene with the dart!) And so the hunt begins...
[I see that there's a 2011 anime series based on the manga, but so far it's only in Japan.]
I'm adding this book to k00kaburra's re-started Manga/Graphic Novel bookbox, which will be on its way soon to BCer quietorchid in Minnesota. Hope someone enjoys this book!
This was really interesting. The premise is fascinating. The story was a bit too fast-paced, I felt, and it would've been better if they slowed it down and gave it a creepier vibe instead of an action feel.
Apparently this is a fairly rare series... the library doesn't have any past the first, and to get the rest of the series on Amazon, you'll be paying a LOT. Sad, since I was really interested in what happened next. :/ Leaving this in for the next person. :P
Apparently this is a fairly rare series... the library doesn't have any past the first, and to get the rest of the series on Amazon, you'll be paying a LOT. Sad, since I was really interested in what happened next. :/ Leaving this in for the next person. :P
