DRAMAtical Murder

Some time ago, the influential and powerful Toue Inc. bought the island of Midorijima, Japan, with the plans of building Platinum Jail—a luxurious utopian facility. Those who are lucky enough to call it home are the wealthiest citizens in the world. The original residents of the island, however, were forced to relocate to the Old Residential District; and after the completion of Platinum Jail, they were completely abandoned.

"Rib" and "Rhyme" are the most common games played on the island. Rib is an old school game in which gangs engage in turf wars against each other, while Rhyme is a technologically advanced game wherein participants fight in a virtual reality. To be able to play Rhyme, you must have an "All-Mate" (an AI that typically looks like a pet), and the match must be mediated by an "Usui."

Aoba Seragaki has no interest in playing either game; he prefers to live a peaceful life with his grandmother and All-Mate, Ren. However, after getting forcefully dragged into a dangerous Rhyme match and hearing rumors about disappearing Rib players, all of Aoba's hopes of living a normal life are completely abolished.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Noiz Main

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Clear Main

Nakazawa, Masatomo Japanese

Seragaki, Aoba Main

Kisaichi, Atsushi Japanese

Koujaku Main

Takahashi, Hiroki Japanese

Ren Main

Takeuchi, Ryouta Japanese

Mink Main

Matsuda, Kenichirou Japanese

Virus Supporting

Majima, Junji Japanese

Trip Supporting

Higuchi, Tomoyuki Japanese

Sei Supporting

Iguchi, Yuuichi Japanese

Mizuki Supporting

Takahashi, Kenji Japanese

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Beniya, Yoshikazu Producer

Tanaka, Hiroyuki Producer

Miura, Kazuya Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Feb 2, 2015

Blska1441

Recommended

Why are you all hating?

The plot may be difficult to follow, but when it all finally clicks into place you end up sitting there like "HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED THIS?" Don't give up on Dramatical Murder just because you don't understand what is going on in the first episode. Or the second...Or third...Or...Well you get the point (Amnesia fans understand the struggle).

Each time I clicked 'next episode', I felt as if someone rammed something into my brain and started picking on it : "Oh look..You've seen this character before. Haven't you? Ohhhh he seemed suspicious! I knew it! I knew it!". In ... essence the author did an amazing job at trowing javelins at my imagination through plot twists. You'll never know what will happen next.

In reference to the art...Well hella. The detail of the landscape is quite similar to Durarara or Cross Ange (basically a 'society in the future' landscape). However, it has it's own 'high' to it. When you watch, notice that most of the city is animated as if behind a block of ice. It's blurry, shiny and magnificent. But the blurriness foreshadows the instability of perfection created by humans in Dramatical Murder. And the characters...Well they're all completely (and I mean totally) to die for. Each of the (significant or insignificant) characters have incredibly beautiful eyes that pierce straight through your anime/manga-loving heart. But...That's not all that captivated me when it came down to their looks. All of them were unique in a million different ways. You need to see it to understand.

Characters? Characters...Yes...Well...I need you to promise me something ok? Have tissues near (Not just for tears if you know what I mean). The moment I laid my eyes on Aoba and Ren, I needed more. Aoba is the main character, and let me tell you... Everyone wants, loves and adores Aoba (For whatever reason). However...His personality pivots between Kaneki-ken (and his struggle to remain human) and Mikado Ryuugamine (who fights to stay a simple human despite his curiosity). He is beyond special and so is his Grandma and his dog, and all his friends ( :D ).

But I don't want to be too specific, or i'll spoil everything for you.

In general the characters were all quite well developed (Even supporting characters had a unique personality that made them stand out). Each radiated a different side of humanity. They all had their fears, goals, grudges and dreams that eventually lead them to Aoba. I bet you'll find yourself in at lest one of them.

I don't know If I motivated you to watch DM, but please consider it. It's a work of art. You will remember the names of the characters even if it's a 12 episode anime.

Cheers --

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 22, 2014

smolbeanaria

Mixed Feelings

"DRAMAtical Murder" was a train wreck of an anime, sullying the video game's name.


When I first heard that "DRAMAtical Murder" was becoming an anime, I was so excited, I couldn't stop thinking about it. What I was met with, however, was a show consisting of average animation, bland plot lines, and no romance whatsoever.

Voicing Aoba is Kisaichi, Atsushi, known for his role of Aizawa, Yuuichi (Kanon). He is not very popular in the anime world, but his voice is pretty nice. He did a wonderful job of voicing Aoba regularly, and then digging deep to bring out Aoba's "dark" side. Most of the voices ... were too deep for my tastes, but they all sounded so good.

To be specific, the thing I hated most about the anime was the actual animation. When I expected something to rival the video game, I received awkward expressions, still panels, and just all around derps. The animation got better as the anime started to close, but it was still disappointing. Another sad fact was the no romance! This anime turned out to be like another "Togainu no Chi." All the romance was taken out. However, the anime did redeem itself at the end, but that alone cannot make up for the mistakes it had in all the episodes up to eleven.

I recommend playing the gmae instead of watching the anime, even though it has its good point. This anime is either a hit or miss; love or hate. Some players of the game will love it, while others will shake their head in dismay, just questioning why Nitro+ ever let this happen.

-

Story - 6
The story is good, in a sense that it has potential. However, the anime never really elaborated on the story. I'm not sure whether they did this on purpose because of the preexisting fan base, or not. In any case, some elaboration would have been nice.

Art - 3
Again I say the animation was very badly done. The game's art was very good, and it was quite a disappointment that it dropped down to such a level.

Music - 8
At first I didn't like the music, but as I continued watching, the techno grew on me. I still feel that the opening song needs to be a little faster, but that's just me being nit-picky. All in all, the music fit very well, and the soundtracks played were nice and soothing. I especially enjoyed Clear's Jellyfish Song.

Character - 7
I got to meet a lot of different characters and learn about their back stories, but I felt like something was missing. There are still a lot of plot holes in all the characters, but overall each one was very enjoyable.

Enjoyment - 5
I actually started losing interest about halfway through. It became a chore to watch, but I couldn't stop because I had already watched over five episodes, and needed to write a review. Some moments were really nice for me, but those were few and far in between. I do have to say that the last episode was the best out of all the others.

Overall - 5.8
This anime had a lot of potential and showed promise, but studio NAZ didn't really do anything with it. Instead, it's left to sit on its heels. But as I said, this anime is either a hit or a miss, so while I didn't enjoy it very much, others may love it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 26, 2014

emptyemptyempty0

Not Recommended

May it be said that this horror of an adapted anime has forever ruined my picture of DMMD. Anyone who gives this anime a decent score is just going easy on it. This anime is not a ten, not a seven or even the lowest score to ever be conceived of on MAL, a six. No, this is far worse.

What I was hoping for was, alas, too much. I feel sorry for previous fans of the series, as this does no justice to the original VN. Honestly, I think you should never remove the "L" from "BL", as the original ... had some plot points revolving around the romance between characters. I understand what the producers were trying to do here, which was acquire a new demographic. What a mistake.

In doing this, along with the short amount of episodes, they stripped the characters of any real feeling. You couldn't get attached to them because they didn't get a chance. Noiz, for example, was reduced to a background prop after his arc ended and Clear's began. There was no development because it wasn't long enough. ( Aside from Aoba using Scrap on them. ) The only character I really even liked was Clear. Every time an arc was finished Aoba stuffed that character into Glitter like he was building his own harem or something. I didn't like this at all, although I can understand why they did this. ( Basically so every character could achieve their "happy ends". )

The animation was mediocre at best. It seemed very rushed, especially towards the beginning. Near the end it was somewhat decent, but I've definitely seen better.

As for the sound, I'm pretty satisfied with it. It sets the mood fairly well in most parts. Probably the anime's only redeeming quality.

Okay, plot! Pretty much the same as the VN, which, mind you I found mildly boring too. This isn't really the anime's fault, but yeah, it's especially boring in the beginning. There were some plot holes, some of which the anime was at fault for due to not enough episodes. There were some pretty original ideas here and there, but without the romance there's really nothing all that amazing.

In conclusion, this anime sucks. I didn't enjoy it by any means. It was aimed at the wrong demographic, was rushed, had a low budget and not enough episodes to flush it all out. I think this anime would've been a lot better with more of a budget and more episodes. I recommend the VN if you're interested in it, but not the anime unless you're really bored. (or are a hardcore fan of the VN.)

NOTE: I'm not a professional at all. If you have a criticism of this review please tell me, it would really help! :)

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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