Dramatical Murder Complete Collection
Released By: Animatsu
Rating:15
Running Time: 300 Mins
Audio: English DD 5.1 Japanese DD 2.0
Release Date: 13/2/2017
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes
Popular BL games are rife in Japan, take for example Gakuen Heaven, Fragrant Tale and Gigolo, this was a game and visual novel published by Nitro+Chiral and released back in 2012 to an audience that liked the idea of handsome men falling for other handsome men, being called Doramatikaru Mada it had a sequel Doramatikaru Mada Rikonekuto in 2013 and an anime adaptation by studio NAZ in 2014.
Aoba Seragaki is the protagonist of this anime, wanting to live out his life on the island of Midorijima in Japan, after the privatization by Toue Konzern, it is now Platinum Jail, an upmarket resort for the rich. Lucky for Aoba, he has his own business, running a shop called Junk Shop Mediocrity, he does well for himself until he is brought kicking and screaming into a popular game, Rhyme where his life is anything but what he meant it to be.
Aoba likes his life the way it is, he's carefree, has friends, but everywhere he goes, there are some who always urge him to be a member of one of their clans, which he often refuses. His refusal, however results in him getting into trouble when he stumbles into other gang's neighborhoods. Koujaku is one of these friends who helps him out of being beaten-up by these rival gangs and he's been doing this since they were kids at school. In BL terms, Aoba even if he is the main character could be described as the uke of such a story as he doesn't like conflict of any kind (and is probably why he's never played Rhyme.)
The main characters other than Aoba are Koujaku, Clear, Noiz and Mink and the story revolves around how they have been able to fit in as members of rival gangs and made a name for themselves, and as far as most are concerned, the fact Aoba isn't a part of one makes him a nobody. The first episode started to remind me of Sword Art Online as guys who play Spirited Away are never seen again. The game of the moment in Dramatical Murder is Rhyme and created by a group called Morphine and like the player who when he returned to the real world lost all his memories, could be the stuff of legend rather than real, but when Aoba stumbles across a Rhyme game going live, he is dragged into it.
I got this through the mail without knowing what it was at first and I was glad I investigated it and watched it as BL is my thing, but also it's an involving plot with some flamboyant yet interesting characters.As the viewer goes throughout the story, they will find out that Aoba isn't the man he's supposed to be, even though he was supposed to have had an accident, which piqued my interest even further, needless to say, I enjoyed what happened in the final two dvds of this thrilling BL anime.
This review is for the DVD release of this anime.
Bonus Material: Clean Opening and Closing Animation.
Summary: It's nice to see BL anime series being dubbed into English and hope to see more quality titles like this one.
