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"Future Diary: the 13th Diary Owner" is a visual novel based on the manga and anime of Future Diary, with two official versions: the original release and a re-release dubbed Re:Write.

The game was never officially translated to English; however, some of us within the community have been working on the fan-translation, and I've decided to post my own work here. The following is a link to a Google Drive folder with all of the translations I've personally worked on so far, in the form of pdf scripts. I want to clarify that this are my personal translations, which I've been working on since 2019. Nothing on the folder is related to the group-work on the game's translation, official game files and coding, since it only includes files that I've created. For that reason, the translations for each game chapter appear as pdf scripts, instead of it being a ROM translation.

... Can you tell I need the devlog to come out tomorrow? The entity is tired of waiting in his chair y’all.

Sooo I intended to post these on the official page a while ago, but completely forgot about it because I couldn’t figure out how to do the pull requests on the twilight menu github. Thanks for reminding me I still hadn't posted them! Anyway, since I still can’t figure out how to do the pull requests, I’ll share the themes directly on here with a little tutorial:

How to add my custom DSI themes

You can find the folder for each theme here. Simply download the folder of the theme you’d like to install.

As for the installation process, you’ll need to have Twilight Menu on your DSi in order to apply the theme (just in case anyone reading doesn't know how to do it, here’s the guide for DSi modding).

To add the themes, access the contents of your SD card and head to the _nds folder. Once there, you have to access the theme directory for Twilight Menu. This folder is located inside TWiLightMenu > dsimenu. Now, all you have to do is paste the folder for the theme you downloaded inside the “themes” folder. 

After this, you can remove your SD card from your PC and insert it into the DSi to boot into Twilight Menu. To load the theme, all you have to do is go to the settings in Twilight Menu by pressing the SELECT button on your DSi. This will bring you to the DS Lite menu, the settings are located on the DS icon (bottom middle of the screen). Within settings, scroll to the “Custom Theme” option and press A. Here you should see the names of your themes, and to select one simply press A, then exit settings by pressing B twice.

Btw, in case you’re interested on making your own DSi themes, I followed the following tutorials:

This Youtube video gives you the basics on making a theme, which include backgrounds and audio. It's a good rundown and easy to follow if you just want to create those two elements.

In my long analysis post that I made about Decay last year, I mentioned a trend I was beginning to notice from the author regarding overcorrection. To quote my original take:

The author, as offline as she appears to be, is keenly aware of people’s opinions of the game and takes quite the contrarian attitude to people who miss the point of the story (something I can’t blame her for entirely, and seems to be the reason why things escalated so much in this chapter)... I’m glad the author is aware of people’s criticisms and takes the time to sort through them, but part of me wishes she didn’t try to over-explain some plot points. The thing that I originally loved about the game was the subtle storytelling, how it takes you a couple of playthroughs to fully understand everything lying beneath the surface. It plays tricks with you and makes you think about the characters’ true intentions, goals and desires, all the way until they spiral out of control and pretenses can’t be kept anymore.

This was in response to the changes made in episode 2, especially regarding the rephrasing of the choices leading to the Burial route, as well as a comment from one of the NPCs in the high school Decay flashback. 

I was hoping this wouldn’t continue, but it seems like the author’s doubling down on it, even expanding the comment from the high school NPC to be a clear call-out to people who seem to project their kinks onto Andrew and Ashley’s relationship. I understand what she was meaning to get at, asking for people to look deeper into the story rather than taking it as mindless goon bait, but my question is… was this really necessary? The original NPC dialogue was already crossing the line between cheekiness and annoyance, but now it’s a straight up steel bat beating me in the face black and blue. 

I’m aware that the literacy levels are plummeting right now, and I too have seen one too many dumb takes about this game, but that’s the nature of writing anything remotely transgressive these days. You can’t create a story like this and expect everyone to get it when even the average adult struggles reading anything above high school level. Some people take things at face value, and that’s okay. Some people simply want to goon to anything they find on the internet, and there’s nothing you can do about that. Ultimately, you can’t police who will enjoy the game or their motivations behind it. If that’s not who you’re writing for, then the quality of the writing itself will make it obvious. But scolding your audience and beating any bit of subtlety to the ground is not only doing a disservice to the fans, but to the game itself by cheapening the storytelling and sending mixed signals. Cuz yeah, it’s totally not inconsistent to complain about people projecting their kinks onto the characters, while also creating promotional material like this:

I know it may sound harsh, but she reaped the gooner audience by sowing the seeds. And that’s not to say the game doesn’t have value beyond that, hell I’m here because I see the value, but just because the game alludes to sexual taboos doesn’t mean it can’t also be profound. It’s a misconception I often see, perhaps as a result of purity culture, where believing that any piece of content with a strong sexual element is vapid and devoid of value, when those traits aren’t mutually exclusive. I believe the author is aware of this, or should be given her story is a prime example of this, but it’s something she should own rather than negate. 

Now, I know that’s a lot to say for a small NPC comment. While it may be an insignificant piece of dialogue now, if she keeps doubling down on the overcorrections and trying to placate a holier than thou audience, that’s only going to take away from the story and hinder the actual message. It’s inconsistent, and also an unnecessary slap to the face to many of the fans who support her. 

And speaking of inconsistencies… we have the new Burial at Sea ending. 

Just to clarify, I actually like this ending, but I like it in the same way that I like the brain tumors vision; they’re both mock endings, ridiculous, but funny and entertaining if you don’t take them too seriously. That said, there are a couple of glaring inconsistencies in the writing of this ending, namely Ashley being disgusted at Andrew for wanting sex from her, when previously in the route she said she wouldn’t mind indulging him if that meant using it as leverage. More importantly, is the sudden drop of Andrew’s mask, suddenly going from deep denial and aversion to the vision to full-on hitting on Ashley. This I find more glaring than Ashley’s disgust, because at least that can be explained by Ashley’s disinterest in sex and fear of tipping the odds in Andrew’s favor by pushing the issue further. However, the change in Andrew’s attitude is so stark, so aggressive, it almost feels like whiplash. And that’s not to say Andrew’s above being nasty, as we’ve clearly seen in the Decay route, he’s capable of that and so much more. But it’s more so that I fear the overcorrections extend to Andrew’s attitude. 

In the early stages of the game, many people were quick to point fingers at Ashley as the sole cause of everything toxic in their relationship, while babying Andrew for being a victim of her manipulation. We know thanks to Decay that this isn’t the case, and that their issues carry an equal amount of weight in the relationship. As S&S Andrew puts it, her issues are all tangled up with his, some even caused by him, which is why introspection is needed in order to amend their relationship. When their problems escalate and can’t be ignored any longer, they each resort to their own violent ways, Andrew more so than Ashley due to his growing frustration, and also because he's much stronger than her. It’s important to bring this up because it explains why we may be seeing more of Andrew’s abusive nature in Burial. Nemlei has previously said that true “chaos and mayhem” can only be achieved by unearthing the rot within, meaning that burying their issues is not conducive to an improvement in their relationship. That being said… 

It feels like more and more of the content we’ve been getting lately regarding Burial is hinting at a big escalation towards Andrew’s abusive tendencies, akin to his attitude in Shots and Such. What I fear, and truly hope isn’t the case, is that it’s a result of overcorrection, to really drive home the fact that Andrew isn’t simply a victim of Ashley. It’s still too early to say, but seeing this growing trend from Nemlei isn’t giving me too much confidence. 

I’m aware though that she has said each route, Burial and Decay, will have their respective good and bad endings, and I don’t think this has changed. Decay has shown us the absolute worst from Andrew and Ashley’s relationship in S&S, but has also hinted at a positive outcome for the main route, so I imagine something similar will also happen in Burial. Though it would be a little redundant to have two endings so similar in nature to one another, but who knows what Nemlei has in store.

I will say that the latest devlog has had a lot of people doomposting about the game, saying things like “we’ll never get a good ending,” “their relationship is doomed to fail,” “the only good ending will be them separating since Nemlei is mocking shippers,” and worst of all, people legit thinking Ashley will be getting with Six Eyes romantically. Ashley “I’d rather let him kill me than live without him” Graves. While I don’t discard a possible ending where the cult manipulates Ashley into becoming their leader and somehow getting rid of Andrew, I don’t see it as more than a fail state or a bad end like S&S. As much as Ashley may threaten to leave and latch onto someone else, she’s incapable of it. All bark no bite. 

She doesn’t want to shoot Andrew in Decay, much less let him kill himself and leave her all alone. She feels empty without him, since he’s all she’s ever had. You can try to replicate that dynamic with someone else, as we see briefly in Decay where Ashley tries to banter with the entity, only for it to not reciprocate. You can try, but after your entire life has been shaped around a single person, it’s near impossible to grow out of that habit. Ashley knows this, and would be miserable without him. It’s why she doesn’t leave. So any ending where she leaves Andrew out of her own volition to join Six Eyes would ultimately be a dead end, as she’ll feel empty and alone no matter what, not to mention leaving him still doesn’t address any of her underlying issues with being incapable of growing up and moving on. (side note: I have a hc where an ending like this is called Leyley and Leyley alone. It’s a phrase used in Burial and sounds cool, so there’s that.)

Anyway, all this to say that, despite the concerns I voiced earlier, I haven’t lost hope on seeing their relationship improve, as I find that the game would feel kind of pointless without an ending that allows us to break the cycle of abuse. I know that these are supposed to be horrible characters doing horrible things, but there’s a particular line in Decay involving one of Andrew’s theories that I always draw back to:

Have these horrible people really crossed the line of no return, or is there hope that something good, even a sliver of it, can be built from the heaping pile of garbage that is their lives. To me at least, that’s what the game has always been about, and perhaps that’s the reason why we’ve been seeing so much of the abusive side of their relationship as of late (and possibly why we’re getting this side of Burial before Decay Pt. 2). Leaving the true resolution of their issues for last, the calm after the storm if you will. 

So, it’s pretty clear that the new devlog is teasing Burial as the next chapter to be released, along with a new mock ending for the route called Burial at Sea (in case you’re curious on how to get the ending and new achievement go > Questionable Burial Door > “Never” > Finish the chapter).

Now, the first hour that this devlog was out I was like “ohh Nemlei you silly goose, I’m not falling for the oldest trick in the book.” I was fully convinced that the whole thing was a sham and that the real devlog would drop in the next hour or two, cuz there’s just no way, right… right? 

... This seems way too elaborate to just be a simple troll, however. Fully drawn CGs, a new video teaser + a new mock ending related to Burial. All signs seem to point to Burial (aka episode 3B) to be the next release. However…

The whole thing reads like a joke. Do forgive my skepticism, we are on April Fools after all, but the timeline simply doesn’t add up. We know Decay Part 2 has been in development since October of 2024, when the author announced that Part 1 was completed and opened the poll for us to vote on whether shipping both parts of Decay together or separately. Fast-forward to March of 2025, where the author clearly stated in a devlog that Burial’s development hadn’t started yet.

Decay Part 2, a conclusion and possibly shorter chapter than all of Burial combined, has been in development for well over a year and a half. Burial, on the other hand, could only have started development on March of 2025 at the earliest (and it’s possible it started later than that, given the developers were probably busy with the release of Decay part 1 in April). This means Burial, a chapter possibly equal in length to Decay, has only been in development for about a year at the earliest, likely less. Yet, I’m supposed to believe it’s somehow more advanced than Decay Part 2? Something's not adding up, especially when you consider Decay Part 1 had been in development since before July of 2023 (aka over a year and a half of development):

I don’t doubt the CGs that we’re seeing in the new devlog are from Burial, but the statements from the author feel awfully suspicious. My theory is that, since the episode that will be released next hasn’t been announced yet, it’ll probably be Decay Part 2 and the author is using Burial CGs to troll and avoid spoilers from Decay. We’ll see what happens in May, since we’re most likely getting the announcement then, and perhaps this post will age like milk, but I don’t actually think we’re getting Burial just yet. It feels odd to release Burial when Decay hasn’t been completed yet. Though I may be speaking from bias, since I don’t want to start a new route without having the narrative conclusion to the previous one (plus I’ve been dying to see the ending for the cliffhanger, so this whole thing kind of disappointed me ngl). They say denial is the first stage though, so who knows. If Burial is actually releasing first then holy shit was it cooked up fast. Though I do wonder if it'll also be split into two chapters like Decay... 

Now, let’s talk a little more about the CGs and leave the technical stuff aside, we have more Six Eyes stuff that definitely relates to Burial:

It seems like Ashley will become the new leader along with Six Eyes, and that will send Andrew up in a jealous frenzy. HOWEVER, I think there’s a mole amongst the Devlog’s CGs:

This reminds me of the wedding cake puzzle in Decay Cliffhanger, where if you cut up the Leyley plushie, the TV turns red:

This could possibly be a dream/introspection for Andrew (as what are the odds of a TV in the real world airing an episode of Andy and Leyley). So, I have a feeling this CG might be related to Decay. Again I could be wrong, but this one reads more of Decay than Burial.

Update: Just realized these scenes are actually in the game and not hidden in the files, looks like I have to play the whole game again and stop jumping the gun. Whoopsie.

There are also new CGs hidden in the game files, possibly for Burial that relate quite a bit to Ashley. If these are for Burial, then this further reinforces the theory of Burial focusing more on Ashley:

Also, Ashley’s birthday is confirmed to be September 21st 199X in the hospital pic. Neat. (And if she was born in the 90’s, then the game would actually be taking place in the 2010’s, which kind of changes up one of the author’s earlier statements about the game taking place between the 90’s and early 2000’s...)

Quick emergency post incoming. Y'all have probably already seen the news, but I also wanted to make a short little dedicated post to add to this information. It was recently announced that the plushie line Kurmitapinui will be releasing a Future Diary collection! Which includes not only our titular characters, but others like Nishijima, Tsubaki and Akise (who haven't gotten their own dedicated merch before!)

What possessed them to do this? No idea! Though this plushie company has a lot of different anime franchises under its belt, it's still surprising they'd make merch of an older show with such little attention at the moment. It might have something to do with acquiring the rights... so hopefully, hopefully we get to see more Future Diary merch come out in the next years.

To add to the information that is already going around, these little beans are currently up for preorder (they release on July of this year). A single plushie is 1100 Yen, or around 7 USD, and the full pack is 6600 Yen, which is around 42 USD (see here for more information). An important thing to note is that these are actually blind box keychains, so you don't get to pick the one you actually want:

Here's an example of a collection. The full pack is also made up of six characters (which explains why they chose to include some of the side characters aside from Yuno and Yukki). My advice is that if you want one in particular you should buy the whole pack, since a full unopened pack is guaranteed to come with all six characters.

I'll be honest... I'm really burnt out from the blind box fad, but hey I'll take what I can get. I never thought we'd get new merch of the series, and on top of that to get representation of characters like Nishijima and Akise is making me hopeful we might see more in the future (perhaps not of this brand though, seeing they cap their collections at six characters I don't think they'll make more). Anyway, if you need me I'll be in the corner of my room freaking out about this.

I'd say at least for us western fans, most MN merch is inherently rare due to it only releasing in Japan (save for the stuff that was licensed by Great Eastern Entertainment). Because of this, I'd say that rarest doesn't necessarily equal most sought after in our case, since a lot of the rare merch isn't super well-known. For rarest, I'd suggest some of the merch that was put up as raffle gifts back when the manga was first in circulation; among these were a Yuno t-shirt signed by Esuno, a wall clock with the silhouettes of the 12 diary owners, mp3 players and the second part of the Hanako and the Teller of Allegory x Future Diary crossover. Here are some example pics:

As for most sought after, definitely the Yuno RAH figure (a.k.a the first Yuno figurine we had). This item is not only rare but insanely expensive (I've seen it going for upwards of 3000$, plus many reported scam listings). Of course, being the only Yuno figure we had for a very long time, she was really sought after, and probably one of the most famous pieces of merch in the fandom.

At last, my video review for Another World is out! This video contains a deep dive on all things related to the show, from the cast and interviews, to an overview of each episode, music and symbolism present in the series, as well as how it managed to capture the essence of Future Diary while maintaining the live-action format. I hope y’all enjoy this video review and my own little commentary (and hopefully y’all can overlook some of the shortcomings in terms of quality…).

I'll be honest... it's not the highest quality video out there, after all it's my first time taking on a project like this. The audio is certainly not that great since I lack a proper microphone (and my voice sounds like 12 year-old going through puberty) but I hope that it's still entertaining enough to watch. Anyway... this project has been delayed for long enough, so I'll refrain from nitpicking every little detail.

Thank you for the input on the Another World post, I hope the video is to your liking.

Today’s post was a special request from @kimaterishi (thanks for the request!) who asked to see a post about Yuno’s diary entries. I compiled a good chunk of Yuno’s diary entries from the anime and included some of my personal commentary, but I didn’t want to just leave it at that. You see, there’s a lot to say when it comes to the diaries. That’s where the show gets its name after all! So, I decided to divide this post into different sections: one where I talk more in depth about Yuno’s entries, another about the diaries in the visual novel, and one where I talk more about the phones themselves. So with that out of the way, let’s dive in!