05/12/2011

Meisaku Bungaku (warai) Yabu no Naka

I wrote a review for this ages ago but for some reason I didn't post it? Anyway, as per request:


 
名作文学(笑)ヤブノナカ

Company:  Frontierworks
Based on: Literature
Released: 2009.08.26
Official Site: http://www.fwinc.co.jp/www/


A version of the famous literary work 'Yabu no Naka' in which all of the characters are male. Despite the title, there is not much 'warai' about this story. It is  very serious, and I actually have a lot of respect for how this adaption of  Yabu no Naka was made, if you see to which extent it mirrors the original.

The opening sounds far to sexy xD Other than that it is a very serious story. The same story is told from the perspective of three people, however their versions differ immensely from each other. In the original the story a man who is traveling with his wife is attacked and murdered. Three witnesses tell a completely different story of what happened.

In this version Tamaru Joutarou goes on a trip to Kamakura and saves a boy who is drowning in the sea. Afterwards the boy introduces himself as Kanazawa Masago. Only after saving him Joutarou notices how pretty he is. Soon afterwards Masago his older brother, Takehiro, comes running as well. However Takehiro seems strangely suspicious. To makes things worse, Masago whispers "you are a terrible person" when they leave.

Masago and Takehiro are brothers but don't have the same father. Which resulted in a rather twisted relationship. However the nature of this relationship also varies with each version. Likewise, It is always Takehiro who gets killed but the motive and killer differ. The dialogue is also partly the same, partly different in each version. Personally I like the third version best.

Track 7, 8 and 9 are parody trailers for different versions of the story; Renai game, re-imagined novel, and a movie. Especially the weird English in the movie trailer is hilarious, but the second one is also brilliantly over the top.

Track 10 is the cast comment, in which all three seiyuu seem to be somewhat tired and no longer able to be serious. Yasumoto-san also comments on the fact that the story parallels the original to a large extent. I especially like the comment on how if this were a 2hr tv drama a new character would appear in the last 15 minutes claiming to have done it all xD


Conclusion:
Whether you know the original story or not, this is a very good drama. I'd almost say whether you like BL or not this is a drama worth listening. Yes, technically this could be considered BL, but expect no karami, this is a drama filled and dark story.

However if you compare the original version and this one you can see how well this version is constructed. Most, if not all, of the characters completely parallel the original.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you very much!! :DD

    This is one of those drama CDs that is quite difficult for me to understand since it uses more "uncommon" words to it. I have listened to the first track but decided to wait for your review :D. I didn't know this is around the BL side already >.< (I'm not much a BL fan) But still, thank you very much for the very nice review. This will certainly help me understand more of what's happening with the story :)))

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  2. Well like I said, this is technically BL. But saying "all characters just happen to be male" is a more accurate statement. And don't be discouraged by it, I'm not a BL fan either and I loved this CD.

    Changing all characters to be male is supposed to be the 'warai' part. Although, like I said, It is a super serious and dramatic story.

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