Boys’ Love Game Review: DRAMAtical Murder (Part 1)

DMMD_Common_01

Pretty gay porn with plot. SFW.

I’ve played this game since forever, and I kind of promised to release this on White’s Day, teheh. Alas, things happened (such as college and sleeping), so I procrastinated a litttllee bit too much until it hits me that the anime will premiere soon. I guess that pushed me to do this post. For anime perspective, I’m pretty sure that not everything will be covered but for people who are curious about the source material, this post is it. Also, the review is divided into two parts since one route is long already, and I don’t want to fill the post with huge walls of texts. Anyhow, let’s get on with the game.

Game Setting

The setting of the place is an island named Midorijima. It is divided into two, Old Resident District (ghetto Midorijima) and Platinum Jail (rich kids’ place). Midorijima was actually one, but some jerk named Toue forcefully built Platinum Jail, making the original Midorijima “ghetto”. Old bastard. Ehm, although the setting looks plain and normal, the technology here is pretty advanced because people browse on the internet, make phone calls, and other things through their robotic pets that are called Allmate.

But hold on! Allmates aren’t mere robotic pets because they have their own avatars in a virtual game named Rhyme! Basically, each robotic pet has its own human avatar in the virtual world, and users fight each other with their Allmates’ avatars. That’s what basically Rhyme is all about.  There are two kinds of Rhyme: legal and illegal. The legal one has an official referee called Usui, and the illegal one is where a player forcefully drags another unprepared player in the virtual world (thus forcing the game to happen). There is also a real-life game named Rib, which is a fancy name for gang fights, but it has fallen into decline due to the popularity of Rhyme. What can I say, 2D > real life.

Game System

Like any usual visual novel, the player gets the guy depending on his choice during the common route. In DMMD though, the player has to play a mini game before the ending. If the player loses at the mini game, the player will get the bad ending and vice versa. To know whether the game is getting closer to the bad ending or good ending, just look at the brain at the bottom right of the in-game menu. If the red is taking over, it’s a bad route. If it’s blue, Aoba’s ass is still safe.

Common Route

God, I can’t remember the common route at all. I can only remember gist of it. Maybe because it’s so damn long, but I’ll try my best to remember it. Before going to Aoba, the game starts itself with this black screen and 8-bit (yes, 8-bit, your laptop isn’t broken) text saying that some princess needs to be saved and so on.

After the 8-bit text, the story starts with the introduction of the main protagonist aka the player’s character named Aoba… Seragaki? Right, Seragaki Aoba. He works in a junk shop as the customer service representative and the one who receives orders online. Apparently he has this extremely sexy voice that people literally order stuff just to hear it. Oh, and his hair is extremely sensitive to touch *giggle* yeah, literally, a touch. It sounds like a new sex play or something. Funny how this becomes important later. Anyway, skipping the entire introduction on Rhyme, Rib, childhood friend (Koujaku), stalkers, randomly attacked on Rhyme (Noiz), alter ego, suspicious-but-sexy twins (Virus and Trip), random American-Indian biker (Mink), starving masked stranger (Clear), and so on.

DMMD_Common_04

Aoba’s abilites are 1) sexy voice 2) sexy sensitive hair 3) sexy positions

As it has been said in the setting, Rib is declining due to Rhyme, and Mizuki, a Ribster who is also Aoba’s friend, is not amused. There is also the rumor that some random person has been attacking Ribsters, turning them into members of Morphine (another Rib group). Next day though, Koujaku mentions to Aoba that he saw Mizuki all spaced out. Aoba checks Mizuki’s turf only to find it desolated. Something smells fishy.

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Seriously, what’s up with Nitro+CHIRAL and their long common routes? Anyhow, here are two of the four hot guys who will accompany Aoba to Platinum Jail:

Koujaku

DMMD_Koujaku_01

Like Mizuki, he is Aoba’s friend who is also a Ribster and… A hairdresser. I was surprised how he turned out to be a hairdresser, out of all occupations, because he has this gangster appearance and carries a sword around. Does he cut his customers’ hair with his sword? Apparently people in Old Resident District do not mind his appearance because he has a fanbase, and they are willing to line up just for his haircut. Voiced by Takashi Hiroki (Prince of Tennis’ Eiji & Hetalia’s Japan), Koujaku is also a Rib player, being the leader of a Rib gang named Benishigure. Getting his route is pretty tricky since his choice is the first choice the player will get. Although getting Koujaku is pretty hard, his route is probably the shortest, easiest, and second lightest compared to the rest (with Noiz’s taking number one). To get Koujaku, just avoid windows, starving strangers, and get on his good side when he argues with Noiz.

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Noiz

DMMD_Noiz_01

Voiced by Satoshi Hino (Sousuke in Hakkenden, Saito in Zero no Tsukaima franchise), he is a Rhyme player who is obsessed with getting Aoba into his team. It seems that he is fond of pain to the point where he literally has piercings everywhere, including his…. Yeah. That’s his charming point though. He does not talk much, but the words that come out from his mouth are pretty sharp, which always piss Aoba off. Of course, being a Rhyme player, he does not get along with Koujaku.

In the common route, he is the one who forcefully drags Aoba into the virtual world, forcing the Rhyme game between him and Aoba. Aoba is about to be defeated, but then suddenly a whole new persona comes out of Aoba who knows how to play Rhyme really well. This is the reason why Noiz wants to recruit Aoba because he was famous in Rhyme world, known as Sly Blue. Unfortunately, Aoba does not recall his Rhyme moments at all. To get Noiz, just get on his good side and do not reject him right away if he offers Aoba stuff.

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Koujaku route was definitely fun. Out of all the routes I’ve played, his route is the sweetest, fluffiest, etc. Seriously, nothing beats having a doomed trope (childhood friend) that actually ends up with the main character. I love how the chemistry between Koujaku and Aoba is perfect, starting from friendship to love. Because of their matched personalities that have been with each other since the beginning, I can actually imagine the two hooking up with each other until they’re old. Childhood friends FTW! Besides the perfect chemistry between the two, Koujaku’s character is another thing that I enjoyed the most in his route. His character is totally the opposite of his physical appearance. He has the appearance of a yakuza and a playboy, but his character is sooo kawaiii. I just love it when he blushes like mad just for holding Aoba’s hand at the end and how he ends up having a nosebleed in the middle of the sex just because of Aoba’s sex face www. Perverted stalker, much? >ヾ(。◕ฺ∀◕ฺ)ノ (link contains spoiler).

Noiz’s route is also as cute as Koujaku’s, but in a different way. Koujaku’s route is cute in a way that he is a childhood friend and so on, but Noiz’s route is cute in a childish way. Noiz is pretty much a kid anyway, since he is 19 and all (borderline between pedophilia and maturity. Nice one, Nitro+CHIRAL!). Just like Koujaku’s route, his story is pretty cliché, probably even more cliché than Koujaku’s. His CIPA disease is pretty unique, but I guess that’s about it. Take that out, and Noiz’s route will be boring as hell. Not really boring because there are some cute moments, but plot-wise, Noiz’s route won’t stand out. It’s too bad because Noiz, as a character, is great. The one thing that entertained me in his route is definitely peeling his personality. He was introduced as a quiet character, who is pretty ignorant about everything, but as the story progresses, Aoba gets to see the different sides of Noiz that was not previously shown. Heck, I’m starting to think that Noiz himself is the only thing that stands out in his route. I mean, who could have thought that he carries white handkerchief all the time? And who could have thought that he likes to give surprise kisses and talk dirty while having sex? Those things were definitely not there when Noiz was introduced as a quiet person. I was really surprised when I saw those cute moments of his. Noiz is… SO KAWAAIIII о(ж>▽<)y ☆. Ehm, so yeah, although the plot of Noiz’s route is pretty cliché, it is balanced with Noiz’s personality that became one of the biggest surprises in DMMD. Well, not saying that there are no other surprises in DMMD. There are many surprises, but I’ll leave that for the second post.

That’s it for this post. I’m putting Koujaku and Noiz together since both of them are the most unrelated guys in this game (the others are connected with each other). See you in the second post!

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7 Responses to “Boys’ Love Game Review: DRAMAtical Murder (Part 1)”

  1. Kyokai says:

    This was much much entertaining that TnC. For some reason I just could never go through the routes because of too much angst. I think Nitro+Chiral found a good combination of fluff, mystery and BL in this story.

    What really attracted me the most was clean, colourful and light graphics and of course the ACTUAL PLOT. I somehow got invested in the characters and damn isn’t Ren too cute?! Even when I was taken aback with his very MANRY voice. My favourites are still Noiz and Kojaku, while Clear comes a close third. Don’t even get me started on Mink…. >>;

    • anaaga says:

      The problem with TnC is that the genre is not quite there. It is angsty, but not too angsty, it is gore, but also not gore, it’s as if the game doesn’t know what kind of story it wants to be. With DMMD though, I think Nitro+CHIRAL finally knows how to blend in all the different stories into a game.

      I like Noiz more because of his sex voice UFFFF SO SEXY. Well, Mink is… I don’t know what to say on his route lol

      • Kyokai says:

        I LOVE SATOSHI HINO, HHHNNNNNGG. His voice is just too smexy for his own good. I guess I liked him more because of it. Also, his character design was the most unique in terms of piercing and the whole cube and bad boy thing with neon colours and casual attire. I just overall liked his ensemble more than anyone.

        Mink’s route scarred me, yeah there I said it. >>;

        • anaaga says:

          True about Noiz’s appearance is probably the most unique one. Heck, I think he’s the most unique character so far in the yaoi world. Appearance-wise, of course. About personality, it’s another matter *glance at secret route*

          But Mink’s re:connect part is definitely sweet though. Him making Aoba beads and all that www

  2. Karakuri says:

    So many random terms for things! …Yeah, I’m probably not going to understand the whole plot until I play this myself or watch the anime. It’s good that there’s a plot though. Hopefully the anime works out.

    Hino has ended up just being scary in the last couple of otoge I’ve played with him in it (NSFW or not), but uwaaaaah Takahashi. I’m just waiting for your explanation on Clear’s route (specifically that naked apron scene wwwwwwww).

    • Kyokai says:

      Hino’s variety is amazing! He can do both positive and negative roles pretty nicely. He’s going way up on my like chart these days. :3

      Btw, you should play this Kara! You’ll love Clear, he’s sooo kaawaiiiii! xD If you have watched NGNL, I’ll compare him as a male version of Miyuki’s cat-eared loli-des.

    • anaaga says:

      Lol yeah, you actually have to play the game to understand the whole concept. There’s the anime coming up though, so I guess you can just watch the anime then get back here for all the sexy yaoi moments www

      Lol that naked apron scene is probably the best in Clear’s route (and the bad ending)

      and downloading many MANY of Satoshi Hino’s anime now

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