There aren't many other anime that create conversation like "Mirai Nikki," also known as "The Future Diary" in English. The show is a mixture of the psychological suspense and God-like mystery of "Death Note," the power-game setup of "Eden of the East," and the violent bloodbath of cult-classic slasher film "Battle Royale." "The Future Diary" became an instant meme factory, thanks to it's female lead: a cute pink-haired girl that stalks her crush Yuki, repeatedly saying his name throughout the show, and not afraid to swing an axe at anyone who gets in her way. The show was also controversal for its extreme violence and use of sex. Perhaps the core reason why it was so popular to discuss was because is was difficult to determine if the show was actually good or not: even if it was horrible, it had so many plot twists that one couldn't help but watch out of sadistic interest.The plot is a fairly straightforward battle to the death: Yuki gets a surprise when the imaginary God named Deus Ex Machina (or "Deus" to his friends) he sees in his dreams turns out to be real, and assigns him and 11 other Japanese citizens to be particpants in a game to determine who will succeed him as the God of Space and Time. The game requires each particpant, without knowing the identity of the others, to kill each other. To help them, each is given a "Future Diary" on their phone, tied to the personality of the user (like a real diary, it only records what the user is likely to enter), and capable of seeing minutes, hours, or even days into the future. Able to see attacks ahead of time, each user can strategize countermeasures to survive or counterattack. Yuki's personal situation only gets more complicated when a second participant happens to be Yuno Gasai, a cute girl in his class, who almost immediately reveals herself to him, also claiming to have a crush on Yuki and promising to protect him to the end of the game. Her love seems a little too pure, and when she seems to have no hesitation killing dozens of people for his safety, or when she takes further action to keep him safe by her own definition... well, it's hard to guess if she's a blessing or a curse for poor Yuki.A good death-match game of wits makes for good television, but "The Future Diary" is plauged with plotholes from the start. Time-travel-enthusiasts will be scratching their head about the diaries: is it really so easy to change a person's future after reading how it takes place? The show is selective about what parts can be changed and what can't, excusing itself as a fool-proof way for someone to survive a given moment if they were meant to die some minutes later under different situations. Each user of a diary also likes to give stupid names to their power, like "The Escape Diary," "The Clairvoyance Diary" or "The Watcher Diary," when in reality, the diaries are all almost nearly identical: even when their personalities affect the content of each diary, it's usually more superficial than anything. Another serious problem is Yuki himself: a quivering hero unable to stand up for himself, he shifts opinions on people on a dime: with Yuno, he can never decide if he should love her, pretend to love her, fear her, or harass her for her actions (I think this was where the phrase "don't sleep with the crazy girl" came about... and yes, it does go there by the end of the series). Yuki's motivations seem to change purely when the story needs him to. When the core element of the plot is so flawed on paper, things are only bound to spiral out of control for the rest of the series, containing an array of moments that don't make sense (how could a throwing dart pierce and break a metal or plastic phone?!?!).And it almost does, giving much of it's entertainment value. Aside from being fun to watch as a violent slasher-thriller, there are so many plot twists that one can't help but marathon the show from start to finish. And it owns those twists: unlike many similar shows, the story feels pretty complete by the time it gets to the final episode, making it surprisingly satisfying. It's like watching a gymnist perform a flip while juggling chainsaws on a unicycle: it's stupid, but even when most of the things drop mid-trick, it's impressive to see the gymnist stick the landing without accidently killing themself, and impressive that such ambition was attempted at all. 
Regarding the entertainment value, the show will attract a certain type of audience for its controversial content. "The Future Diary" is violent. Limbs and heads get chopped off. An eyeball is pulled out of a live-human's skull. Knifes slice open people many times over. Explicit rape is used not once, but multiple times to explain a character's past trauma or current threat. In the same episode, the show will throw odd moments of comedy, and occasioanlly, sexual fanservice at expense of the female characters. Every episode ends with a short featuring Murmur, a cute Chibi-style assistant to Deus, meant to diffuse the horror with a final moment of pure humor. The whiplash between these extremes can be hard to deal with. I know people who laugh out loud during horror films, due to how stupid characters can be up to the scene where they get what's coming. Those same people will laugh throughout "The Future Diary," but I'm not sure I could. This is why I couldn't score "Fun" to be a full 5/5, and why this show really isn't for everyone, so check yourself before going in.The visuals and animation don't have much to aspire to. Character designs are varied, but sometimes too much so: one late character is a short woman with a head bigger than her body, one such outlier without any explaination to her design, that I'd swear she was meant to be in a different show. Animation is generally fine, and there is a variety of action setpieces, but no better than any other average anime from 2011. Deus himself, animated in 3D CGI, is acceptable given his difference to the rest of the cast, and has an interesting robotic design that I grew accustomed to. The hardest moments come in distance shots (of characters running, for example), where shortcuts were clearly made, and animation looks downright amateurish. And some scenes were clearly not "drawn" in 1080p, making a Bluray of the series a mixed bag for sticklers. The music is generally appropriate, but the only exceptional piece is the first opening song, paired with impressive abtract animation coated in red blood (even if not intending the watch the series, I highly recommend watching that opening). The English dub also impressed me. Yes, it's hard to imagine not watching "The Future Diary" without hearing Yuno's soft Japanese voice whispering "Yuki..." every few minutes, but the English actors do a great job with the material themselves. Funimation released the show in North America, and that release was an unusually confusing one. It's delayed release first came out on DVD only, a shock when just about all other anime content was being pushed on Bluray, especially given how popular the show seemed to be. Some time later, a Bluray was also released. Fans were vocal about the sets missing the "Redial" OVA that acted as an important epilogue to the show, and eventually, Funimation released the series again with that same OVA included, fully dubbed to boot (not releasing the OVA separately, but to get and dub the OVA at all was rare for Funimation at the time). I appreciate their effort, but this could very well mean that some dedicated fans have bought the show three-times over. And is "Redial" worth it? The main show actually ties it's ending pretty well, and already alludes to the ending that "Redial" portrays. Being an OVA, "Redial" is really just a beach episode with some extra explaination to how that final-final ending could really come about. It isn't absolutely necessary, even though fans will appreciate the happier ending, so don't feel too left out if you own the show without that OVA."The Future Diary" is a bizarre action-thriller. And horror. And comedy. And romance. Yes, I classify the show as a good romantic story, if you don't mind a bit of blood. After understanding Yuno's secrets, her behavior doesn't really seem all that unusual, giving a whole new way to look at the show upon a second watch. And it's entertaining enough to warrant watching again.