Dramatical Murder, styled as DRAMAtical Murder, is a Japanese BL visual novel developed and
published by Nitro+chiral.
It was released on March 23, 2012 for Windows PCs as a first press edition, with a regular
edition released on April 27, 2012.
A sequel, DRAMAtical Murder re:connect was released for Windows PCs on April 26, 2013.
An anime adaption by studio NAZ premiered on July 6, 2014.
Story Dramatical Murder is set in the near future
on the fictional island of Midorijima, Japan.
At some point in the game's recent history, the island was privatized by the powerful
Toue Konzern and turned into a resort called Platinum Jail, with the island's original
residents being forced to live in the Old Residential District.
Protagonist Aoba Seragaki lives on the island and works at a store named Junk Shop Mediocrity,
hoping to live a simple life.
However, after being forcefully dragged into the popular cyber game Rhyme with its virtual
world and its use of Allmates, mobile devices that usually appear as if they are the owner's
pets, and hearing rumors about disappearances involving Ribstiez, turf wars between groups,
all semblance of a peaceful life for Aoba ends.
Characters Main
Aoba Seragaki is the primary protagonist of the game.
He works part-time at a junk shop called Mediocrity, and lives with his grandmother, Tae.
Aoba has a special ability called SCRAP, which allows him to mix his consciousness with other
people's through his voice and use it to control them, though he can also destroy them and
leave the victims in a comatose-like state.
Aoba has a caring, honest, and open-minded personality, but is noted by Ren to have a
short temper.
Inside of Aoba lies another persona that represents Scrap, who usually comes out whenever Aoba
is in trouble.
The "other Aoba" desires chaos and destruction, and has shown to be sadistic and masochistic.
He is voiced by Atsushi Kisaichi, and by Hiroko Miyamoto as a child.
Ren is Aoba's Allmate, who resembles a dark blue Pomeranian.
He takes a human form in Rhyme.
Ren has a mature, patient, and pragmatic demeanor.
Despite being an older Allmate model, Aoba considers Ren to be his important partner
and cherishes him like family.
Originally, Ren was a part of Aoba's consciousness that was created to keep the balance between
the Aoba and his other personality that wishes for destruction.
He is voiced by Ryōta Takeuchi.
Koujaku is Aoba's childhood friend, and the leader of a Ribstiez group named Benishigure.
He has many tattoos on his body and works as a hairdresser.
Koujaku is compassionate and strong-willed, and he cares deeply for his loved ones.
Despite his dark past, he retains a positive and gentle personality.
Koujaku is a bit of a womanizer, and is incredibly popular with girls.
He is voiced by Hiroki Takahashi, and by Eiji Miyashita as a child.
Noiz is an information broker for Rhyme, a skilled hacker, and the founder of his Rhyme
group, Ruff Rabbit.
Since he was a child, Noiz suffers from CIPA, causing him to accidentally hurt others.
His wealthy parents regarded him as a disgrace and imprisoned him in his room for years until
he ran away from his home in Germany.
Due to this, Noiz is apathetic to the world around him and bases everything on cold logic,
though he can be immature.
His inability to feel pain also causes him to be reckless, and eventually turns him to
play Rhyme aggressively in order to feel the illusion of pain.
His body is covered with many piercings.
He is voiced by Satoshi Hino.
Mink is the leader of Scratch, a Ribstiez group of former prison inmates.
Mink hails from a Native American tribe that grew special herbs that affect the human's
scent and control the mind.
They were slaughtered by Toue in his attempts to obtain them, and Mink was captured and
brought to Midorijima to be experimented on.
Mink broke out and began plotting his revenge on Toue for his people's massacre.
As a result, Mink hardened and distant himself from personal attachments.
He has a stoic, ruthless, controlling personality, constantly using violence as a means to reach
his goal.
Despite his rough exterior, he does have integrity and a soft side he rarely shows.
He is voiced by Kenichiro Matsuda.
Clear is an android that previously served under Toue as a prototype for Scrap before
being discarded.
Clear was saved by a man who was in charge of the disposal, who treated Clear like a
son until he passed away.
Clear addresses this man as his grandfather and speaks about him fondly to Aoba.
He refers to Aoba as his "Master", whom he is always eager to please.
Although cheerful, polite, and kind, Clear is childish and his eccentric antics cause
others not to take him seriously and be annoyed by him.
He is almost always seen holding his vinyl umbrella and owns two masks to hide his face,
one is a black gas mask and the other is a mask depicting a traditional Japanese woman,
though he wears it as a joke.
Clear enjoys singing, and can often be heard singing a song called the "Jellyfish Song".
He is voiced by Masatomo Nakazawa.
Supporting Beni is Koujaku's Allmate, who takes the form
of a Northern cardinal.
Beni has a short temper and is easily provoked, but is good-hearted.
As Koujaku and Aoba are childhood friends, he is good friends with Ren.
He has a strong dislike for Tori.
He is voiced by Keisuke Goto.
Tori is Mink's Allmate, who takes the form of a pink cockatoo.
He is voiced by Hitoshi Bifu.
Pseudo Rabbit is Noiz's Allmate, taking the form of multiple, small rabbit cubes which
Noiz connects to his waistband like chains and hangs over the sides of his hips.
When in Rhyme, it has two forms, one being the head rabbit that gives out orders, and
the other being numerous rabbits with red boxing gloves that does combat.
It has an excitable personality, and displays great confidence during Rhyme battles.
It is voiced by Hiroko Miyamoto.
Mizuki is the leader of the Ribstiez team Dry Juice and owner of a tattoo shop called
Black Needle.
Mizuki and Aoba met and became friends when Aoba was a teenager.
Mizuki has a cool and friendly personality, and he treats his team members as family.
Despite being the leaders of different Ribstiez teams, he is also good friends with Koujaku.
He is voiced by Kenji Takahashi.
Tae is the grandmother of Aoba, whom she often scolds but deeply cares for.
Years prior to the series, she worked as researcher for Toue, but quit upon learning that her
research was being used for illegal experimentation.
As a pharmacist, she prescribes medicine for Aoba to ease his headaches.
She is voiced by Fuzuki Kun.
Nine is Aoba's adopted father and Haruka's husband.
Mysterious and quite whimsical, he was once Toue's experiment subject and apparently hears
"voices" of things.
He travels frequently as an result and came across Aoba during one of these journeys,
and could sense Aoba was special.
Nine and Haruka left Aoba with Tae to go on another journey when he was a child, and they
have not be heard of since then.
He is voiced by Reiji Hibiki.
Haruka is Aoba's adopted mother and Nine's wife.
She and Tae are distant relatives; the latter took her in after she ran away from her abusive
parents.
Despite her terrible childhood, Haruka's love for Nine and her family makes her a cheerful
and kind person.
Nine and Haruka left Aoba with Tae to go on journey when he was a child, and they have
not be heard of since then.
She is voiced by Nana Nogami.
Tatsuo Toue is the owner of Platinum Jail, and the main antagonist of the game.
Toue is loved by the citizens of Platinum Jail, but is despised by the citizens in the
Old Residential District.
Ostensibly, he is known as calm and idealistic man who desire peace and happiness for mankind.
However, he is truly a manipulative and self-righteous individual, justifying his horrendous crimes
to achieve his goals by claiming it was for the greater good.
He is also a fatalist, and merely sees life, including his own, as a game.
He is voiced by Tadahisa Saizen.
Usui is Toue's Allmate, who takes a the form of a young human girl with ten arms but speaks
in a masculine voice.
She acts as the judge and initiator of Rhyme, and was created from a fragment of Sei's consciousness.
She is voiced by Tsuguo Mogami.
Virus and Trip are acquaintances of Aoba who work for the yakuza and leaders of the group,
Morphine.
They are often mistaken for twins due to their similar appearances.
They became Aoba's "fans" after witnessing him play Rhyme in the past and will occasionally
act as allies to him.
In actuality, they are two-faced, and are simply looking out for their own self-interests.
They are voiced by Junji Majima and Tomoyuki Higuchi, respectively.
Sei is Aoba's older twin brother that is held captive by Toue.
He also has the ability of Scrap, but the power lays in his eyes.
Sei wishes for Aoba to kill him in order to be release from his suffering after years
of being subjected to Toue's experiments.
He is voiced by Yūichi Iguchi.
Kio, Nao and Mio are mischievous siblings who live in Midorijima.
They often visit Aoba at Mediocrity and annoy him.
They are voiced by Satosaki Ume, Megumi Matsumoto, and Emi Motoi, respectively.
Haga is the owner of the Junk Shop Mediocrity where Aoba works.
He is a kind and considerate man, only losing his temper when being called "baldy" by Kio,
Nao, and Mio.
His Allmate is Bonjin-kun.
He is voiced by Eiichirō Tokumoto.
Bonjin-kun is Haga's Allmate.
He helps around the junk shop and is often chased by Kio, Nao, and Mio for their amusement
whenever they come by.
He is voiced by Inchiki Echigoya.
Akushima is a violent and hot-headed police officer in the Old Residential District.
He is always seen carrying a megaphone that also functions as a modified gun.
He is voiced by Nanbu Tetsuyoshi.
Yoshie is an overdramatic woman who works at Delivery Works, a local courier shop.
She enjoys gossip and soap operas, generally sharing what she hears to Aoba, usually against
his will.
She is voiced by Riasu Oboredani.
Clara is Yoshie's Maltese Allmate.
Stubborn and straightforward, she has a romantic interest in Ren, much to his dismay.
She is voiced by Aya Kuyama.
Ryūhō is a mysterious and sadistic tattoo artist that is connected to Koujaku's past,
and the target of his revenge.
Mizuki admires his designs as a fellow tattoo artist.
He is voiced by Akira Sasanuma.
Takahashi is Toue's loyal assistant, who appears in the anime only.
He is voiced by Daisuke Kishio.
Related media Manga
A manga adaption illustrated by Torao Asada began serialization in the August 2012 issue
of Enterbrain's B's-Log Comic magazine.
The first tankōbon volume was released on April 1, 2013.
An official anthology volume for the series was released on June 30, 2012.
Anime An anime TV series was announced to air in
summer 2014.
The opening and ending themes are "SLIP ON THE PUMPS" and "BOWIE KNIFE" by GOATBED, respectively.
The anime aired on July 6, 2014.
The series is currently being streamed on Crunchyroll.
A DVD/Blu-ray set will be released on December 24, 2014 with all twelve episodes.
Along with an original soundtrack and a drama CD titled Welcome to Dramatical Tea Shop Cyan
Moon, a special OVA called Data_xx_Transitory will be included.
Other games A PlayStation Vita game titled DRAMAtical
Murder re:code has been announced for October 30, 2014.
DRAMAtical Murder re:code is a remake of the original game, but is targeted towards a younger
audience, as it is rated CERO - C for ages 15 and above.
As such, some of the game's contents will be revised in order to make it more appropriate.
References
External links Nitro+chiral DRAMAtical Murder visual novel
website Nitro+chiral DRAMAtical Murder re:connect
website Nitro+chiral DRAMAtical Murder re:code website
B's-Log Comic manga official site Anime official site
Anime official Twitter