Parents' Guide to The Future Diary

This violent anime series has a confusing plot and ridiculously insane characters, but its supernatural elements can be morbidly interesting. The Future Diary is a dark series that has some intriguing elements but is ultimately dragged down by a convoluted narrative and unbelievable characters. The story follows a standard battle royale structure with characters pitted against each other fighting to be the last person standing. The twist is that each character is privy to future knowledge thanks to their phones known as "future diaries." This is the most interesting element of the show and could have been used to create a more clever story; unfortunately, these future diaries often just feel like plot devices used simply to get characters from point A to point B. Characters seem to be able to find each other or know important information about the other diary holders without any logical reason for how or why they have said info. Characters are also unpredictable and contradictory at times, committing actions that seem to inexplicably fly in the face of their previous beliefs. Overall, The Future Diary is still somewhat interesting to watch thanks to its supernatural elements, but viewers will have to turn a blind eye to the messy plot and contradictory characters.