Otome Game &#039;Diabolik Lovers&#039; To Be Animated

Offline

Aug 2011

'ereee we go.

I, for one, am a fan of the Diabolik Lovers drama CD & PSP game [both of which, I assure you, are truly R-15+; if you disagree about the drama CD, I suggest you try Shinsengumi Mokuhiroku Wasurenagusa, a drama CD series which is /still/ not R-18 technically]. I am not an M, yet I can't say that I didn't enjoy this do-S series. Mostly for the voice actors & art, and the dummy head mic. I suppose the last will be nonexistent in the anime, though.

It was one of the two otome drama CDs I had found for the first time. The other being Amemakura, a much calmer and romantic one, so this hit a bit hard. Also, they both used dummy head mic, so it was as if the characters were actually there, whispering into your ear & whatnot. Except with Diabolik Lovers, they were biting the hell out of you/Yui. It's a miracle she didn't die of bloodloss.

I liked vampires; however, I didn't like the romanticized view of them, which is why I was quite surprised after stumbling across Diabolik Lovers. It portrayed vampires in a strangely unique way compared to how they are in typical popular culture. The drama CDs lack in romance. Completely. Admittedly, some of them are quite smutty. The situation CDs consist of each brother speaking to "Yui," which would be you, as a meal rather than a love interest. Every single one of the Sakamaki brothers is sadistic; the level of sadism each brother has varies, though.

The game goes into romance more; however, I feel that most of the endings were twisted and dark rather than romantic. The romance develops late into each route, as well; like I said, it mostly consists of their regarding of Yui as a meal and a toy.

I guess that it would be better to say that if you are here for the sparkly, romantic vampire stuff, you should leave. If you can't handle the heroine being treated as I've mentioned, do the same. If you get scared of the content and/or are not at all masochistic, you should be wary of the drama CDs and games.

Honestly, I prefer a dark story to a sweet one. I was glad that I found Diabolik Lovers in the end. I love the voice acting especially. Toriumi Kousuke immediately became my favourite [and so did Shuu]; I hadn't heard Midorikawa Hikaru in such a role [it took me fifteen minutes on Ayato's situation CD to realize the same voice belonged to Tomoe Yoh from Starry Sky]; Kaji Yuuki was perfect, despite and especially because of the fact that he sounded so annoying [his cute but yandere yelling was impressive]; Kondo Takashi portayed his character very well [I love tsundere characters, anyway]; Katsuyuki Konishi shocked me quite a bit [I was used to his America voice from Hetalia]; and... Hirakawa Daisuke was too perfect for his role [whenever I hear his voice anywhere, I freeze up out of fear].

From oldest to youngest: Shuu [19], Reiji [18], Raito [17], Kanato [17], Ayato [17], Subaru [16?]. Based on their official birthdays, Ayato is the youngest of the triplets & Raito is the oldest of them, which I refuse to believe due to earlier evidence of Ayato being the oldest among the three.
They have different mothers. Shuu & Reiji are Beatrice's children; Raito, Kanato, Ayato are triplets of Cordelia; Subaru is the only child of Christa.

My favourite to worst list based on the drama CDs alone: Shuu/Ayato, Subaru, Kanato, Reiji, Raito.
My favourite to worst list based on the PSP game: Shuu, Subaru, Ayato, Kanato, Reiji, Raito.

I won't go into specifics. Shuu's character was very interesting, but scary in the VERSUS CD. Ayato was the rude, obnoxious "ore-sama" who liked to mess around with the heroine, but he balanced it out in the VERSUS CD with Shuu. Subaru is a tsundere. I have bias towards them, as long as they're not annoying; he's not. Kanato was probably the most annoying character, a yandere [which I hate, but he's so interesting]. He's the middle of the triplets [with Ayato & Raito], but he acts like a spoiled child. Reiji was like some sort of messed-up sadistic butler character, but he was a bit funny at times, although dull. Also, his biting sounds are scary. Raito, however... I hate him. A lot of people seem to like him, but he's the most perverted character & I might have suffered some sort of trauma listening to him. Enough to the point that, despite being aware of Hirakawa's nice voice at times, I freeze up when I hear it. I can't like it anymore.

If I were to speak of the story itself in the PSP game, which I won't go into detail, I would say that it was very dark. Very dark and somewhat confusing. There are a few holes here and there. I didn't especially like Yui; however, I can't blame her for the situation she got herself into. I'd rate it about 7-8, though.

Art's beautiful, though. Lovely, lovely art. Lovely...

When I heard that Diabolik Lovers was receiving a sequel game, more drama CDs, 4 more vampire characters, character songs, and an anime... well, I was surprised that I was actually /dreading/ most of it. There is such a thing as too much, after all. Especially an anime, I'm not too fond of otome games being adapted into anime. Most of the Dialovers fandom seemed to await it with joy, but I simply wondered, "WHY WOULD YOU DO SUCH A THING?" Even the 4 transfer student vampires, who are said to be even more sadistic than the first 6. 10 of them? Crazy.

The Mukami brothers; Ruki [Sakurai Takahiro], Kou [Suzuki Tatsuhisa], Yuuma [Kimura Ryohei], Asuza [Kishio Daisuke]. No point in talking about them yet, though, and they shouldn't have anything to do with the anime.

Oh, crap, I ended up typing a wall. WELL, ANYWAY...

tl;dr - I'M ACTUALLY DREADING THE ANIME BUT I'M TRYING TO LOOK FORWARD TO IT. Seriously, I like the dark story and all, but I can't imagine it being adapted. And so early... I'm most definitely looking forward to the voice acting and hopefully the art [I really hope they don't do too badly with it]. All the characters are sadistic and there's no Twilight/Vampire Knight sparkly kirakira dokidoki romance crap. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.

OH ALSO, RAITO'S NAME IS OFFICIALLY WRITTEN AS LAITO, I THINK... It's habit.

Feb 28, 2013 7:41 PM

#166

Itami

Offline

Aug 2011

2773

Blippity said:
tl;dr - I'M ACTUALLY DREADING THE ANIME BUT I'M TRYING TO LOOK FORWARD TO IT. Seriously, I like the dark story and all, but I can't imagine it being adapted. And so early... I'm most definitely looking forward to the voice acting and hopefully the art [I really hope they don't do too badly with it]. All the characters are sadistic and there's no Twilight/Vampire Knight sparkly kirakira dokidoki romance crap. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.

Haha, well said. Most if us are looking forward to it and scared about how it's going to turn out. I just hope they aren't going to tone things down needlessly because it's the anime adaption. Character butchering is a no, but sadly I can see it happening. I'm also slightly curious as to how they'll deal with that art...

Blippity said:
OH ALSO, RAITO'S NAME IS OFFICIALLY WRITTEN AS LAITO, I THINK... It's habit.

Hope that this is not going to turn into a Light Yagami situation. In that case Raito/Laito's name would eventually be turned into Light. Let's hope not, that'd be a weird change.

Feb 28, 2013 11:22 PM

#167

Offline

Aug 2011

1581

Itami-chan said:

Blippity said:
OH ALSO, RAITO'S NAME IS OFFICIALLY WRITTEN AS LAITO, I THINK... It's habit.

Hope that this is not going to turn into a Light Yagami situation. In that case Raito/Laito's name would eventually be turned into Light. Let's hope not, that'd be a weird change.

Yeah it's not Raito it's Laito. It was in a magazine once, I've forgotten which one but it's lost in the sea of books and papers in my room.

What I'm most scared of is how they're going to do the art. I mean look at KuroKin.

the game:

the anime:

THE HELL DID THEY DO TO IKKUN.

Mar 1, 2013 4:27 AM

#168

Shadow-Chan

Offline

May 2007

2190

UtsukushiiYume said:
Yeah it's not Raito it's Laito. It was in a magazine once, I've forgotten which one but it's lost in the sea of books and papers in my room.

Also this site has already listed their names. I'm looking forward especially to the character CDs. Finally songs by each vampire, 6 character CDs in total and I hope there will be more ♥

Mar 1, 2013 7:46 AM

#169

Yuu120

Offline

May 2012

153

Sadistic boys? I'm now interested when's this coming out?

"If the king does not lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?" - Lelouch Vi Brittania

Mar 1, 2013 11:46 AM

#170

Mimiko

Offline

Jun 2008

444

Shadow-Chan said:

the game:

the anime:

THE HELL DID THEY DO TO IKKUN.

... wha.. I don't even know what to say after seeing that -.-

Mar 3, 2013 10:14 AM

#171

Offline

Aug 2011

1581

Shadow-Chan said:

UtsukushiiYume said:
Yeah it's not Raito it's Laito. It was in a magazine once, I've forgotten which one but it's lost in the sea of books and papers in my room.

Also this site has already listed their names. I'm looking forward especially to the character CDs. Finally songs by each vampire, 6 character CDs in total and I hope there will be more ♥

Character CDs?! Oh man, I'm really looking forward to this. (The Drama CDs and game wasn't enough xDDD) I'm also looking forward to the sequel game (or is it a fandisc? Or is there a fandisc and a sequel game? ... so confused)

Regardless, I can't wait until the anime comes out. Rejet, I've always put my faith ( and money) in you. Don't let me down.

Mar 3, 2013 11:30 AM

#172

Offline

Aug 2011

The genres "shoujo" & "vampire" aren't really helping its reputation. OTL.

For the sake of the pride of the otome gamers & drama CD listeners, & the rest of the merchandise to be released after the anime comes out plz dont be bad plz dont be bad plz dont ruin it--

I really can't see how this is going to have a good outcome. I have a bad feeling about this.

Mar 4, 2013 3:56 PM

#173

Offline

Aug 2011

1581

Blippity said:
The genres "shoujo" & "vampire" aren't really helping its reputation. OTL.

For the sake of the pride of the otome gamers & drama CD listeners, & the rest of the merchandise to be released after the anime comes out plz dont be bad plz dont be bad plz dont ruin it--

I really can't see how this is going to have a good outcome. I have a bad feeling about this.

Don't be so negative, have faith in the producers.

Unless it ends up being Deen.

Then there's no point.

Mar 4, 2013 10:57 PM

#174

Disapparate

Offline

Feb 2011

1344

I'm definitely not watching this since the summary sounds like it would piss me off to no end. S&M, no thanks!

Mar 5, 2013 2:06 AM

#175

Junekos

Offline

Oct 2011

700

I do think that we shouldn't pretty much judge the anime yet until the official trailer of the series has come out yet. But this surely is on my PTW already! I'm really an Ayato-biased fangirl eversince, because he's like the most misunderstood one among all the characters. ._.

Mar 5, 2013 2:10 PM

#176

YuinaTsukino

Offline

Mar 2012

102

I hope that Yui isn't going to end up like Heroine in Amnesia, where she is always so darn expressionless along with her never saying or doing much.

If this turns out like anything like Amnesia, then I'm giving up on otome anime.

Mar 5, 2013 4:14 PM

#177

Offline

Aug 2011

AkaKuros said:
I'm really an Ayato-biased fangirl eversince, because he's like the most misunderstood one among all the characters. ._.

I think a lot of the characters are misunderstood at different levels... Like Shuu [I'm Shuu-biased, lol].

The reason Ayato didn't rank higher for me was that his route felt a bit lacking in something [can't put a finger on it] & it felt... lustful [not as much as Laito's, but...]. A lot of people have a hard time understanding whether or not he really loves Yui by the end.

silentlildreamer said:
I hope that Yui isn't going to end up like Heroine in Amnesia, where she is always so darn expressionless along with her never saying or doing much.

If this turns out like anything like Amnesia, then I'm giving up on otome anime.

I might be that I haven't played through Amnesia yet, but I don't find the anime to be all that bad [maybe once I play through it...]. The heroine for Amnesia has a reason, but I think it's a bit of a stretch...
I don't think Yui will be like that, but she'll have to end up being M, right? I hope they at least let her make some "S" choices, to someone fight back. I don't think she's a bad heroine, but not particularly good. But she's not that bad to be hated on for being a useless, masochistic doormat who suffers from Stockholm syndrome.
She tries to run away, after all.

Mar 5, 2013 5:15 PM

#178

Offline

Sep 2011

1073

@Blippity
Lol where do you guys get the idea that the heroine is masochistic? Just because a normal girl is surrounded by sadistic guys doesn't make her a masochist, it's not like the guys are always torturing her and she enjoys it and asks for more or anything, and it's not like the guys are 100% sadists, there is a difference between dominant and sadistic you know lol, and i'm sure the heroes lean more towards the former.
There is no such thing as "S" choices, or "M" choices for that matter -_-

Just saying, don't jump to conclusions plox.

dang i'm getting a little too deep into this otome sea.

Mar 5, 2013 9:12 PM

#179

Offline

Aug 2011

Downgrade355 said:
@Blippity
Lol where do you guys get the idea that the heroine is masochistic? Just because a normal girl is surrounded by sadistic guys doesn't make her a masochist, it's not like the guys are always torturing her and she enjoys it and asks for more or anything, and it's not like the guys are 100% sadists, there is a difference between dominant and sadistic you know lol, and i'm sure the heroes lean more towards the former.
There is no such thing as "S" choices, or "M" choices for that matter -_-

Just saying, don't jump to conclusions plox.

dang i'm getting a little too deep into this otome sea.

Actually, she kinda does end up at least a bit masochistic at the end of each route. Minus the ridiculous amount of bad ends, but she's pretty M in most of the Heaven scenarios, too.
I've gone through the game, so I'm just referring to it.
I'm serious, in most of the Heaven scenarios, she just ends up shyly pleading for the specific guy to bite her or something.
Sometimes the guy in question just has to point out her "avaricious face". How she keeps wanting more and more pleasure from being bitten urghh.

In some parts of the game, the choices you can make as Yui are either S or M-based. S would be retaliating while M would be submitting to the character, especially when they're out for her blood.

A heroine who only submits will end up facing the wrath of the viewers most of the time, which is why I hope the anime doesn't portray Yui as completely submissive [though admittedly she has no choice at times because they're gonna bite the hell out of her anyway].

Seeing how much of the Diabolik Lovers fandom consists of M's, S's that enjoy M stuff, fans turned M after being introduced to it, or just curious & interested people who aren't exactly M or S... It somewhat reflects how Yui starts off as a nice, caring & naive girl who ends up falling in love with a sadistic vampire & therefore becomes M.

In many endings, she doesn't really change from how she was at first, but she is in love with whomever the route belongs to at that point, so she ends up being even a little M... Maybe only to that character in particular. Though it was a bit in general for some...

And I know that the guys aren't all completely sadistic. Some of them are considerably sweet [even in a twisted way, I suppose, for some], while all of them are pretty dominant over Yui at all times. But they're all still somewhat sadistic. It's called the do-S vampire drama CD 'cause they are unmistakably sadistic, even if some of them can turn caring. But then again, some of them are simply, unmistakably sadistic in the end.

For those that are caring, it'd be something along the lines of... he bites/injures her & then tries to treat her with care. While still enjoying the fact she's in pain regardless 'cause they're all out for her blood anyway.
mainlysubaruiguess. Tsundere characters are so nice...

The main thing I'm worried about is how the characters will be portrayed in the anime, because it can't be the same way as they were in the game. I'm wondering if it's gonna be like a "common route" type thing where she doesn't end up with any guy. Actually, maybe Ayato since he has the "main guy" feel. Which would leave out the rest of the characters... aaaghh. If it were strictly the drama CDs, there wouldn't be as much character exposure, too...

I'm just panicking over how this'll turn out. This is for masochists for a reason. Literally for masochists. I'm not sure about the anime itself, but the drama CDs & game... with the dummy head mic... aaaaaghh.

BlippityMar 5, 2013 9:20 PM

Mar 6, 2013 5:07 AM

#180

Offline

Sep 2011

1073

@Blippity
I know what you're trying to say and i have a general idea about the game and it's concept (Thanks to a certain crazy friend of mine who's batshit obsessed with otome games).

While i agree that the guys in this game are unusually sadistic, it doesn't really make the girl completely M, it's more like she doesn't have much of a choice, but like i said the guys aren't completely S and aren't really trying to inflict pain on her, if you noticed, in most otome games the guys are "ideal", it's just what the fandom is attracted to, sadistic guys might not be everyone's cup of tea, but Dominant and capable guys are just all over the place, admit it, you like that lol, i mean "plain" and "average" guys get no attention whatsoever.

You know the sad thing is, you'll only find Dominant AND attractive guys in stuff aimed at females, elsewhere it's either a dorky dense idiot+ attractive, or a dominant macho, thats what kind of got me interested in otome games, the heroes are cool, but whenever i watch something intended for guys i end up facepalming at how dense and stupid the protagonists are (not all of them of course).
looks like i went a little offtopic there.

But all in all, what i'm trying to say is that there is a difference between sadistic and dominant, truth be told, the heroes in this game lean towards sadists a little more than usual, since in most otome games there is one or two sadistic heroes at the most, but i'm assuming that's all part of the fanservice lol.
they focus more on the heroes, to make them "unique", it's not like you're gonna buy a Otome or an Eroge for the protagonist, you buy them for the heroes/heroines (most people do, at least), that's why companies focus more on making the characters you can date more appealing (Though we can agree that not every single character will be appealing).

Downgrade355Mar 6, 2013 7:02 AM

Mar 6, 2013 7:55 AM

#181

Offline

Aug 2011

Downgrade355 said:
@Blippity
but like i said the guys aren't completely S and aren't really trying to inflict pain on her

I have a hard time believing that for at least 3-4 of the guys out of 6. It's more that I refuse to believe it. Because it doesn't feel true, at least according to when I went through the entire game.

I dunno who I'd point out to be the most sadistic, though. I can say that I mostly blanked out during Laito's because he scared me. Maybe Reiji? His route was all S&M-like. I was summarizing the acts of violence done to the heroine in the drama CDs to my friend, and I noticed that they really like to strangle her...

And even Shuu, with the stepping-on-her-hand thing & in the VERSUS CD, he was really scary because he really enjoyed cutting her...

I'm sure that otome game heroes are typically "ideal," and I'm more than sure that a lot of people don't enjoy sadistic guys. At the same time, a lot of people do. If they didn't, they'd more than likely stay away from a title & synopsis that says "do-S vampire" & "six sadistic vampire brothers."

As much as there is a difference between dominant & sadistic, I feel that they're all generally dominant over the heroine. Of course, I suppose it also depends on how you're using the word. It's not that it's a choice between the two, but they all have different levels of sadism. "A little more than usual" is a bit... like I said, they were meant to be sadistic, even if some aren't as much as others.

And fanservice, I suppose. It was using dummy head mic, after all. Though I think the sadistic vampire approach worked better w/ what they were going for, I do wonder what if they weren't as sadistic as they are.

Then again, this is made for a particularly group of people, typically masochists, while other groups can still enjoy it despite the sadism.

As for the heroine, I know she's not completely M or anything. In some endings, she's just as she was, while in others she's ridiculously do-M. In others, she's... not, but those are typically bad endings. Reflecting the group of fans who weren't M yet they turned M after enjoying the drama CDs.

But there's something 'bout a submissive heroine that keeps on making "avaricious faces" while being bitten as if she's really enjoying it or something, y'know. & that's fact, at some parts she ends up like that, and she even asks the guy to bite her at particular places on her body.

You would typically buy an otome game or w/e for the characters you can "capture," I suppose. And the art and the story and feel and voice acting and whatnot.

I've seen a lot of otome game fans complain about doormats-of-heroines who are completely useless or other characteristics. That's not to say all of them are like that, but they become upset because the character doesn't reflect their own choices, I suppose. And here, it'd be easier to enjoy if you were part of the target audience, being masochists.

Though I recall in a radio drama where the seiyuu for Diabolik Lovers were wondering about S and M. From what I could understand if only barely, I think they had a hard time understanding the appeal [since it's for masochistic girls typically]. Though it was nice that they discussed whether they were S or M [Midorikawa Hikaru is M... I believe Toriumi Kousuke is S, what a shame].

Though that's a bit offtopic. But anyway, a lot of people I know complain about the heroines of otome games, which is why I'm hoping that she isn't portrayed badly in the anime. Then people would worry more about her than they would about the guys.

Hmm, maybe they could start off with the prologue and instead of picking a guy to suck her blood, she doesn't & then Shuu announces that they can't kill her anyway... Then it'd be open to a "common route"-type story but then it would seem like some twisted reverse harem... They'll have to tone down on the sadism, too... As an anime, would it try to appeal to the masses or keep to the original target audience... I felt that Diabolik Lovers got its anime pretty fast [though I'm not sure, I was certain that it wouldn't become one when I suddenly woke up one day and heard the news].

not sure what i'm saying anymore i'm trying to do hw while thinking about dialovers and i can't seem to find a place to end at.

Mar 6, 2013 8:29 AM

#182

Offline

Sep 2011

1073

@Blippity
Well yeah but like i said, it's not a straight out sadism game, i've seen "normal" Otome games with S&M themes in some routes, and the guys aren't even sadists, it's just there for fanservice.

Most people don't enjoy Sadistic or Masochistic characters, it's kind of a mental illness, which is why i said it's better not to confuse dominant with sadistic, as most guys in otome games are Dominant and not sadistic, and dominant guys happen to be the "ideal" type of guys for girls (not all girls though, some like plain/cute) along with being extremely attractive and still nice and caring, which is like, 90% of the guys in Otome games.

i doubt the game was meant for masochists as masochism is rare and so is sadism, it's more like S guys are becoming more popular with the consumers, every otome game has at least 1 or 2 S guys, all of Aromarie's otome games do, most of Idea factory's games Do, doesn't mean the game was intended for masochists, like i said it's more like S guys are making it into the mainstream media, hell now even Shounen anime's starting to have sadists, i can make a long ass list right now lol, gintama alone has more than 4 Sadists.
i personally don't see the appeal of Sadists and Masochists, but i choose to ignore such minor details when i get into something.

Well, wether the voice actors are "S" or "M" are no big deal, i've also seen many VA's mention they're S or M (i think i've read somewhere in twitter that Kugimiya Rie is an M lol), but that doesn't mean they act S or M or they like to inflict pain or receive pain, they just do that for the heck of it, you know, if i was a celebrity and i had fans i'd definitely post somewhere i'm an S or an M and then sit back and watch people gossiping and going apeshit for the heck of it lol, it's kind of an attention thingie, and sure as heck those voice actors aren't S or M, it's no big deal for them, if it was then i see no reason for someone to go ahead saying the have a mental illness. so there is no need for you to be disappointed because two of your favourite VA's said they were an S or M.

I've seen people complain about useless otome heroines too, (or any useless protagonist of any genre), though they're only a minority, as most people don't, they don't care about the protagonist when it comes to down to these kind of genres, if you can't identify with the protagonist then you ignore her/him, most consumers in this day and age buy the stuff for the characters, story, voice acting, art, etc as you mentioned.

anyway, all in all, sadistic heroes are almost everywhere, be it a game meant for masochists or not, consumers don't have to be masochists to like the characters, and like i said, masochism itself is rare, so thinking a game with sadists = aimed at masochists is kind of unreasonable, since at this point nearly every game has at least one sadistic hero, if you play R-18 Otome games, you'll find that many of them have at least one S&M scene (even non R-18 ones), while the game was clearly not made with S&M fans in mind.

Downgrade355Mar 6, 2013 2:20 PM

Mar 6, 2013 5:11 PM

#183

Offline

Aug 2011

Downgrade355 said:
@Blippity
Well yeah but like i said, it's not a straight out sadism game, i've seen "normal" Otome games with S&M themes in some routes, and the guys aren't even sadists, it's just there for fanservice.

It's an otome game, so naturally it can't be all sadism. That doesn't mean that the characters in this particular game aren't sadistic, though.

Most people don't enjoy Sadistic or Masochistic characters, it's kind of a mental illness, which is why i said it's better not to confuse dominant with sadistic, as most guys in otome games are Dominant and not sadistic, and dominant guys happen to be the "ideal" type of guys for girls (not all girls though, some like plain/cute) along with being extremely attractive and still nice and caring, which is like, 90% of the guys in Otome games.

But this isn't like most otome games where they're all "ideal." I'm just talking about Diabolik Lovers specifically, where all of the guys are, I suppose, affected with this mental illness, if you will. I've seen both extremes for the reactions to this, as well as the in-between. Some freak out over it, some enjoy it immensely; people are all different, so it's difficult to be able to understand their preferences. Unless you're fine with saying the majority of the fandom consists of mentally-ill people. To say people are mentally ill for having what you think is an extreme tendency is a bit much. There are plenty of people who think either way [and also plenty that think "normally"]. If they like things that go against social norms, does this mean they have brain damage? It could just be a matter of cultural differences, different upbringings, conflicting interests. It probably seems extreme from a "normal" point of view, but it seems much more common than you say it to be. And they might just be normal people with some different interests. Besides that, I'm more than sure plenty of them enjoy dominant characters, but this is quite a different approach. This game obviously appealed to a large target audience for it to have an anime, but not as many other otome games. Otome games with dominant characters, caring ones, all interesting and ideal but with a different theme.

i doubt the game was meant for masochists as masochism is rare and so is sadism, it's more like S guys are becoming more popular with the consumers, every otome game has at least 1 or 2 S guys, all of Aromarie's otome games do, most of Idea factory's games Do, doesn't mean the game was intended for masochists, like i said it's more like S guys are making it into the mainstream media, hell now even Shounen anime's starting to have sadists, i can make a long ass list right now lol, gintama alone has more than 4 Sadists.
i personally don't see the appeal of Sadists and Masochists, but i choose to ignore such minor details when i get into something.

I've seen sadistic characters become more popular in otome games [not all games have them, as some of them are actually yandere characters, which aren't necessarily S]. If masochism & sadism were so rare, it'd be difficult to see them in even more popular culture. Then there's the sexual S&M [I mean, look at Fifty Shades of Grey, lots of people have enjoyed that though I really don't get it]. But that's different. Even if the player isn't M, S & M serves as a premise for the game. There's a reason you /can/ make S or M choices as Yui in the game. I've read plenty of reviews from people who have played the game, as well, and it's all mixed. Some enjoy it immensely, some detest the idea and the characters, even if they like typically dominant characters. Can't judge all of them not to be masochistic in general. As hypocritical as that sounds, I'm just pointing out that a game featuring /all/ sadistic characters isn't exactly meant for a general audience, despite the interest in otome games. As for me, I do enjoy Diabolik Lovers, despite the fact that I have become frightened at times. Parts of the drama CDs and games really aren't meant for curious onlookers.

Well, wether the voice actors are "S" or "M" are no big deal, i've also seen many VA's mention they're S or M (i think i've read somewhere in twitter that Kugimiya Rie is an M lol), but that doesn't mean they act S or M or they like to inflict pain or receive pain, they just do that for the heck of it, you know, if i was a celebrity and i had fans i'd definitely post somewhere i'm an S or an M and then sit back and watch people gossiping and going apeshit for the heck of it lol, it's kind of an attention thingie, and sure as heck those voice actors aren't S or M, it's no big deal for them, if it was then i see no reason for someone to go ahead saying the have a mental illness. so there is no need for you to be disappointed because two of your favourite VA's said they were an S or M.

I only brought that up for the hell of it [the main reason I got into Diabolik Lovers was for the voice actors]. My main point is that although they aren't sadistic like their characters, there was mention of the lack of understanding about the appeal, as most people who enjoy this are just /likely/ to be masochists, which isn't saying that they necessarily are. I'm not. Besides, they just said they were S or M based on the scale of... S to M. Because the world is made of up either S or M [no not really, but Inu x Boku SS]. It's just more common that society lets on.

I've seen people complain about useless otome heroines too, (or any useless protagonist of any genre), though they're only a minority, as most people don't, they don't care about the protagonist when it comes to down to these kind of genres, if you can't identify with the protagonist then you ignore her/him, most consumers in this day and age buy the stuff for the characters, story, voice acting, art, etc as you mentioned.

That's a very strange minority you're speaking of, because I know of lot of otome game fans that bring up the heroine [sometimes they don't at all, it depends]. I think in galge/eroge, the hero is typically... loosely characterized? In otoge, there is that, too. But there are also games like this where the heroine has a defined appearance, personality, etc. Also, even though you can change it, the heroine has an exact name. The problem with games that give too much room for the player is that the heroine literally becomes a doormat, like in Amnesia. And you can't say that people don't complain about that. I mean, look at the post before all of these, at the top of the page. I see these kinda things all the time. Of course, some heroines in other otome games are even more clearly defined. Some even have voices. I mean, you can simply ignore the heroine, but there are plenty who can't easily ignore her because the choices made are based on her personality [and development of it].
Though this is out of the otoge fandom, I've played Katawa Shoujo, an eroge, & wanted to try the bad ending of a particular character, Hanako. Going through it, I got really, really sick of the hero's personality and how badly he treated her. It's not really easy for me to ignore such an important character. For some other games, I just go through them without saying much about the heros/heroines because they sometimes don't put themselves out there as much, but they're manageable by personality & decisions.

anyway, all in all, sadistic heroes are almost everywhere, be it a game meant for masochists or not, consumers don't have to be masochists to like the characters, and like i said, masochism itself is rare, so thinking a game with sadists = aimed at masochists is kind of unreasonable, since at this point nearly every game has at least one sadistic hero, if you play R-18 Otome games, you'll find that many of them have at least one S&M scene (even non R-18 ones), while the game was clearly not made with S&M fans in mind.

Sadistic guys are spread out among other games & whatnot, but this particular one groups them all together. And then the sequel/fandisc with 4 more characters that are even /more/ sadistic. I still feel that the target audience is masochists or at least people who don't mind a bunch of do-S vampires. And I know that not everyone in the fandom is masochistic. I mean, I enjoy it, but I'm neither S nor M. But I feel that masochism isn't as rare as it seems, otherwise these kinda things wouldn't be present in popular culture. This was well received, after all, whether those who enjoyed it were masochistic or not. I think society just doesn't want to admit to how common S & M are. Actually, I've seen different target audiences' reactions to otome games like this and games that have one or two S characters. The reviewers for the latter tend to stay away from Dialovers, and not all of them seem to enjoy the one S character that much. If anything, they like the personality/quirks but not the sadism. But that's different for Diabolik Lovers, too. And for R-18 otome games, the same goes, Honestly, most of the otome game fans I've seen seem to loathe rape in them & whatnot. Better not to lump all the fans together, one way or another. Same with the otome games. Though this is one of the games with a darker theme, plenty of those, but in the end they're essentially different and simply because a person enjoys otome games does not mean that such a person will enjoy Dialovers as well, even if they like the game's characteristics. It's strange to mention other games & say that they have one or two sadistic characters, yet aren't made for S&M fans. That's because Diabolik Lovers is not one of those otome games with the occasional sadistic character.

Mar 6, 2013 8:34 PM

#184

Offline

Sep 2011

1073

@Blippity
I think you're misunderstanding me, What i meant is Sadism and Masochism are considered mental illness, i mean, enjoying people's sufferings or enjoying pain sure as hell doesn't seem normal to me, but to each their own ;p

Yeah i do agree that Diabolik Lovers especially focuses more on the Sadistic aspect of the heroes, but my point was that Sadistic heroes are very common in otome games regardless of the target audience within the fandom.

No, it's more like the media that makes it look common than it actually is, and that goes for many things, not just S&M, and honestly, Fifty shades of Grey is too extreme and it makes me wonder just how many women have those masochistic fantasies, i read some messed up crap about 50 shades of grey, i'm not one who's oversensitive about things but i do think that it degrades women, despite the fact that most of the consumers are women :/
But then again, some people are curious, and some people like "unique" things, it doesn't mean every woman who reads 50 shades of grey is a masochist.

I never said a game that has an all sadistic cast was meant for the general audience lol, all i'm saying is that Sadistic heroes are present in most otome games, at least one of the cast is a sadist.

Well yeah, if it's the scaling then it would be reasonable.

trust me, they are a minority as most consumers don't bother with such details, what i'm trying to say is, people with the "the Heroine/Hero is useless and has no presence, screw this" mindset are a minority, as i mentioned earlier, people nowadays often buy Otome games/Visual novels for the Characters, Story, art, VA's, soundtrack, etc
the protagonist not having much choices isn't big of a deal for them, i've played many VN's with shitty protagonists and it doesn't really bother me, though i don't deny that there are people who aren't fond of these kind of protagonists.

Well yeah, Sadistic guys are becoming more and more mainstream for some reason and i'm see'ing them alot even in mainstream genres like Shounen, Shoujo, etc
i don't really mind but it does make me wonder sometimes.
And yup, Liking S characters doesn't mean your a masochist.
rape is despised wether in Otome games or Eroge or anywhere, it's rape, people will naturally despise it, but the thing is that there are people with those kind of fantasies lol
Chou no Doku Hana no Kusari is an R-18 Otome game, it has some rape and S&M, but here's the big surprise, on Amazon JP, it ranked high and has more than 90 reviews and most are positive (62 or so are 5/5), that's higher than even the top selling Eroges of 2012. i'm still to this day wondering how did it get to that.

People have different tastes and different "sides" to them i guess lol. and if you're shocked then i'm mindblown.

Downgrade355Mar 7, 2013 9:31 AM

Mar 7, 2013 1:07 AM

#185

zoze

Offline

Oct 2012

231

oh my... please..please..no... not again?!
i absolutely adore the otome cd, but i dont want this to end up like uta no prince sama or starry sky, amnesia... otome animes are just..ugh...
drama cd and games are enough! bawww....
hope shinsengumi series [rejet] dont get anime adaptation...
im so sad... [hope it's either JC staff or DEEN]
anyway.. i'm pretty sure yui will be like the typical "oh-so-innocent girl" and a bit of masochist...[like the rest of otome's mc is]... oh yeah, but raito is too good for yui! bawwwwwwwwwwww.....

zozeMar 7, 2013 1:27 AM

Mar 18, 2013 1:35 PM

#186

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-06-09/zexcs-makes-diabolik-lovers-anime-about-vampire-brothers

Offline

Aug 2011

1581

zoze said:

im so sad... [hope it's either JC staff or DEEN]

You hope it's JC Staff or Deen? I hope you're joking.

zoze said:
i'm pretty sure yui will be like the typical "oh-so-innocent girl" and a bit of masochist...[like the rest of otome's mc is]... oh yeah, but raito is too good for yui! bawwwwwwwwwwww.....

What.

Jun 9, 2013 3:58 AM

#187

Shadow-Chan

Offline

May 2007

2190

Anime PV was just screened at Otomate Party 2013!

Screenshots:

Animation studio: ZEXCS

Jun 9, 2013 4:56 AM

#188

symbv

Offline

Sep 2012

10121

Apparently this will air this fall.

So MAL finally starts locking news threads that are only a few weeks old?

I wonder where was the announcement of this change? Or we are seeing yet another case of changes made that impacted users but not communicated to them?

I wonder how long people would put up with this.

As much as I have a bunch of information to share about anime announced recently I cannot share it in news board, and the anime series is too disorganized and chaotic to share information except with people already interested in the particular series.

Jun 9, 2013 12:03 PM

#189

Stark700

Offline

Nov 2011

127893

Shadow-Chan said:
Anime PV was just screened at Otomate Party 2013!

Screenshots:

Animation studio: ZEXCS

Interesting.

And preview:

Also, some cast members:

Stark700Jun 10, 2013 12:07 AM

Jun 18, 2013 11:42 AM

#190

AkiyamaMiyuki

Offline

Jan 2009

"Otome Game" ... "Otome Game"... "Otome Game"..

Really??

Otome game??

Everyone is forgetting that this "Otome Game" is based on the Drama CD's, and this is DEFINITELY not shoujo and THUS not the "Otome Game" most people are familiar with. It's wayy more dark. Needs to be rated adult or smtn imo.

Either way, I am a huge fan of the Drama CD/ DIABOLIK LOVERS series (even bought the game and "manga's" that were published) however, mixed feelings about the anime. Untill now all "Otome Game" based anime's have been TERRIBLE ( they really destroyed their awesomeness, sadly.) Not sure about any DRAMA CD based anime's btw.

I can only hope they don't destroy this one and actually don't dissapoint the fans who've been waiting for more DIABOLIK LOVERS stuff so eagerly.

Tbh, I, ONCE AGAIN, dislike the art of the anime version. Usually the game art ( character design) is wayy better but they somehow always make it look like some anime from the 90's... Wish they'd actually keep the art the way it is. It would make it very appealing imo.

But enough with the complaining, I'm still very excited to see more of DIABOLIK LOVERS. Hope everyone will be able to enjoy it!

Edit: After watching the preview a few times I must say Sakamaki Reiji-sama ( My fav) doesn't look that bad.. A bit more excited now.

AkiyamaMiyukiJun 18, 2013 1:23 PM

Jun 18, 2013 12:02 PM

#191

hpulley

Offline

Sep 2012

3948

I enjoy Zexcs animation and will be giving this a try for sure. Dark sounds good!

Jul 18, 2013 10:02 PM

#192

Stark700

Offline

Nov 2011

127893

Main character info:

The main character, Komori Yui will be voiced by Rie Suegara, who has not done any major roles other than Toyokawa Fuuka from The Idolm@ster Million Live! game, which is distributed by GREE, which makes the anime adaptation her first major role in an anime.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2013/07/18-1/diabolik-lovers-main-character-voice-actress-confirmed

Jul 28, 2013 10:16 AM

#193