DRAMAtical Murder is perhaps one of the most well known video games of this decade. Originally released in March 2012, this BL (abbreviation for boys' love) R-18 (not for the kiddos) visual novel catapulted to the tops of Tumblr blogs and wedged a way into the hearts of fangirls everywhere. Following a young man named Aoba Seragaki, players were put into his shoes as he tried to take down a utopian society. However, that wasn't what was on everyone's minds while they were playing it or watching walkthroughs on YouTube.
The choices that the player makes as Aoba in the game also influences which of four guys could be his lover for life. You have the token best friend character who's very protective, the seemingly cold and aloof guy, the adorable and upbeat guy who calls Aoba by a nickname, or the tough and actually cold older man who doesn't seem to care about anything. Besides trying to figure out the best way to take our villain down, Aoba will also kiss and have sex with all of the guys at some point during the routes while dreamy music plays in the background and pixelated penises appear on screen (because Japan censors genitalia due to a complicated reason I don't know). Depending on additional choices you make, you can also have a happy ending or a bad ending for each character, and then there's a hidden route where you can become lovers with Aoba's dog AllMate who's actually something more but I can't reveal spoilers, and then there's the sequel game where there's extended good endings, and then there's the drama CD's....
Yeah, it would be an understatement to say that DRAMAtical Murder took off. It shot up to the moon and back exponentially, so it came as absolutely no surprise when an anime adaptation was announced in the spring of 2014. I didn't watch it while it was airing, but I did get the series for Christmas after Sentai Filmworks licensed it (with a dub, much to my brother and friend's frustration) and released it on DVD. I've been wanting to see this for a while, and I was expecting something good.
What did I find in DRAMAtical Murder? Was it an entertaining and exciting show? Or did it end up running on empty?
The choices that the player makes as Aoba in the game also influences which of four guys could be his lover for life. You have the token best friend character who's very protective, the seemingly cold and aloof guy, the adorable and upbeat guy who calls Aoba by a nickname, or the tough and actually cold older man who doesn't seem to care about anything. Besides trying to figure out the best way to take our villain down, Aoba will also kiss and have sex with all of the guys at some point during the routes while dreamy music plays in the background and pixelated penises appear on screen (because Japan censors genitalia due to a complicated reason I don't know). Depending on additional choices you make, you can also have a happy ending or a bad ending for each character, and then there's a hidden route where you can become lovers with Aoba's dog AllMate who's actually something more but I can't reveal spoilers, and then there's the sequel game where there's extended good endings, and then there's the drama CD's....
Yeah, it would be an understatement to say that DRAMAtical Murder took off. It shot up to the moon and back exponentially, so it came as absolutely no surprise when an anime adaptation was announced in the spring of 2014. I didn't watch it while it was airing, but I did get the series for Christmas after Sentai Filmworks licensed it (with a dub, much to my brother and friend's frustration) and released it on DVD. I've been wanting to see this for a while, and I was expecting something good.
What did I find in DRAMAtical Murder? Was it an entertaining and exciting show? Or did it end up running on empty?
