Mirai Nikki Episode 17

A few hours after posting about my slow internet speeds, they suddenly returned to normal. This allowed me to clear my anime backlog, get hold of Mirai Nikki when it came out, and make this post on time. This, along with a sudden and inexplicable surge in blog views which led to today being it’s busiest day ever, has made me quite happy. 🙂

In episode 16 of Mirai Nikki, explosions in Sakurami tower caused the ground underneath Yuki to give way. As he fell, both Yuno and his father Kurou rushed towards him… but whose hand will he grab onto? Episode 17 starts with the same cliffhanger, before taking us on a flashback 14 years into Ai’s past.

In brief, Ai was abandoned in Sakurami tower as a child, but met Marco there later that day. A few inspiring words from him and an invitation to ‘Mother’s Village’ turned the worst day ever into the best day ever, and as she grows up alongside him over the years, she develops strong feelings for him.

One day, she receives a letter which is supposedly from Mar, telling her to meet him at an abandoned factory… She gets there, but with no sign of Mar anywhere, she sends an email asking  where he is. Unsurprisingly, this invitation turns out to be a trap – a group of boys surround her inside and rape her.

Mar gets the email from Ai, realizes something is wrong, and heads straight for the factory. He arrives too late, but proceeds to beat the living daylights out of Ai’s assailants. Until one of them takes out a knife… what happens next isn’t shown in detail, but it ends with the attacker lying face down in a pool of blood, his knife now in Mar’s hands.

Feeling that life as he knew it has now ended, Mar tries to kill himself… but Ai persuades him to keep going, saying she’ll share his pain and sadness. In reply, he promises always to protect her. Now we know why they’re so close – close enough to count as a single diary owner, in fact.

After a belated OP, we return to the present… and finally find out that Yuki grabbed Yuno’s hand. A good choice, since the ground underneath his father gives way moments later. Kurou is rescued by Mar, however, who still thinks the man may have useful info about other diary owners, and takes him hostage. While Yuki recovers, Ai and Mar get a head start, making their way further up the tower. Using his diary, Yuki learns that they plan to escape using parachutes.

As Yuki and Yuno pursue them, they discuss how to defeat the strong team that is Seventh. It has become apparent that Yuno can’t beat both of them alone, and Yuki isn’t much use in a fight… but Yuno has a plan.

At ‘Mother’s Village’, the police search is still underway. It seems they’re looking for Eighth’s server, but haven’t managed to locate it. A detective approaches Nishijima, telling him that explosions have been seen at Sakurami tower, and that Yuki is supposedly in the area. He tells the guy to let Yuki’s mother know. I wonder what she thinks he’s been getting up to recently!? 😛

Back at the tower, Mar and Ai exit the lift to find Yuno waiting for them. When Mar asks where Yuki is, his voice is heard from speakers in the room – he claims that’s he’s hiding, because he’s weak. This makes Mar very angry. He charges towards Yuno; Ai tells him which direction her attacks will come from, and Yuki does the same for Yuno. Their fight is over in an instant, however – Mar disarms Yuno and sends her flying with a kick, reopening her earlier wound.

Mar learns Yuki’s location from Yuno’s phone – he’s in the broadcasting room. He heads there, leaving Ai to deal with Yuno, who’s down but certainly not out. When Mar arrives in the room, however, it is empty. Double-checking Yuno’s diary, he suddenly realizes it’s the fake phone from their earlier trick! Yuki then reveals himself, not to Marco, but to Ai… their plan was to split up Seventh and gang up on her from the start.

Yuki moves to attack with his darts, while Mar (having learnt of Ai’s danger from his own phone) runs back to warn her. The dart narrowly misses Ai’s phone, but distracts her long enough for Yuno… who gashes her throat with her knife.

Before Mar can get to her, more explosions start in the tower, causing the ceiling to start crumbling. Yuno is overjoyed, however – their plan worked, and now they can escape using Ai’s parachute! But before they can do so, Kurou steals it and escapes himself! Yep, I now have no doubt he’d have still broken Yuki’s phone to cancel his debts, even if he knew it’d kill the boy.

Outside, Yuki’s mother watches the tower… when she unexpectedly sees her ex-husband parachuting to safety. She makes her way to where he landed, demanding an explanation, and trying to drag him towards the police. He denies having any knowledge of Yuki’s current situation, and demands her to unhand him. When she refuses, he lunges forwards with the knife he’d just used to cut himself free from the parachute, and… back to the tower we go.

The ceiling has collapsed, trapping Yuki, Yuno and Ai in a small space underneath the rubble. Ai’s phone informs her that Mar avoided the cave in, which makes her happy despite her fatal wounds. Knowing that she’s dying and that there’s no point rescuing her, Mar can escape, the tower will fall and he’ll have two less diary owners to stop him becoming god. Yuno doesn’t like this idea though, and threatens to cut Ai even more, hoping that her screams will convince Mar to dig them out.

It turns out that threatening Ai was unnecessary, however; Marco planned to get her out from the start. He promised he’d protect her, and that they’d stay together forever, after all. Using the power of love (and with negligible help from Yuki pushing below), he manages to uncover them… and we see for the first time that he is also fatally wounded, impaled by a metal pole.

Working together, they finally remove the rubble… but by the time Mar reaches Ai, she is already dead. Mar passes Yuki the one remaining parachute – might as well, since he won’t be using it himself. Yuki and Yuno escape, leaving Seventh alone together, and the remainder of the tower explodes soon after.

On the way down, Yuki tells Yuno that he plans to talk things over with his parents – seems he’s still set on getting them back together, despite his father’s multiple betrayals. Unfortunately, once he reaches the ground, he is greeted by a frantic Nishijima. The detective tries to tell him something, but the words don’t sink in… because behind him he can see his mother’s body being lifted into an ambulance. Her death is confirmed by his phone.

How will this affect Yuki? We’ll have to wait and see. If he wants revenge, I imagine Yuno will be all to happy to help out…