I will say right up front that before you watch this anime, you should definitely read the BL visual novel first. Of course this complaint has existed as long as books have been made into movies or tv shows, and even manga into anime; it’s simply impossible to recreate the exact kind of impact that an original format has.
I think my favorite parts of the anime are the animation and the music... especially because they’re the parts that most closely resemble the original. The world in which Dramatical Murder takes place is incredibly vibrant and fantastic, so it’s great to see it coming to life. Even then, so much of it feels lackluster and rushed that it leaves me just wanting to reread the visual novel.
They tried really hard to cram in as much as they could, compressing the story into tiny chunks which made the progression feel unnatural. It’s not like most adaptations where time was taken to make sure the plot was paced correctly; it was more like they tried to fill an episode with entirely too much at once.
Although you can watch Dramatical Murder on it’s own and kind of understand what’s going on, it really is in your best interest to enjoy the original (and even it’s sequel, re:connect) before watching the anime. That being said, if you don’t like yaoi but for whatever reason like incredibly strong sexual tension and a very misplaced plot, skip the novel and only watch the anime. Still, you will probably be really confused the whole time because the plot is speeded along.
A prime example of this confusion comes from my boyfriend who knows nothing about Dramatical Murder. He watched part of an episode with me without any context, and any time two characters shared a moment on screen he made comments like “Why does it feel like they really want to bone?” or “Why is he looking at that guy like he’s a love interest?”
Ultimately, if you like a unique story and interesting characters but you don’t want to commit to a long anime, it might be worth a try if you have nothing else to watch. It all comes down to the same thing though… just read the BL visual novel instead.
!!! LIGHT SPOILERS FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE OR HAVE NOT READ THE NOVEL !!!
For the spoilers part of the review, there isn’t a whole lot to say. They seemed like they really wanted to show every route and that was pretty cool. Their intentions seemed honest, and that’s okay… it was the execution that was problematic.
Even if a little more time was taken to expand the plot, it would have been way better. I did like how the last episode still took the time to wrap up everyone’s story, but that was the most fluid part of the anime to me. I really didn’t like the intro… it just sounded weird. I was almost hoping they’d just remake the intro from the visual novel.
It was awesome that they animated scenes and poses straight from the visual novel. In the last episode when the camera lingered on the mirror while Aoba was helping Clear move into his place, I couldn’t stop laughing! It felt like the studio was saying “Yeah, we know it was supposed to be a total bone-fest. We don’t care! Neener!”
