Diabolik Lovers Vol.5 Reiji

DIABOLIK LOVERS ドS吸血CD Vol.5 逆巻レイジ

Company: Rejet
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.04.25
Official site: http://rejetweb.jp/dialover/index.html


Diabolik Lovers is a series that leaves you at the mercy of sadistic vampires. The project features drama CD's, radio broadcasts on NicoNico Live, and a PSP game by Otomate. The drama CD's are the first to be released together with the radio broadcasts, and this is vol.5 featuring Reiji

 Reiji (CV: Konishi Katsuyuki) is the second oldest brother in the household, and is described as being almost like a butler. He does look the part, but I wouldn't liken him to a butler. He does speak in a polite manner, but the things he actually says are usually very harsh.

The CD begins with you wandering around the house, accidentally meeting Reiji. Apparently you had a nightmare and couldn't sleep. Reiji is busy drinking tea, and admiring the tea cups and the sound the spoon makes while stirring etc, but he immediately notices you entering the room. He orders you to sit on the ground in seiza (probably to reflect on what a stupid idea it was to wander around the house).

You don't manage to sit like that for long, so he allows you to stand up again and drink tea with him (because the sound of you crying prevents him from enjoying his tea). You talk to him about having a nightmare, and he replies that it would be weirder if you didn't have any nightmares, considering the situation you are in. After that he reverts to talking about how wonderful cutlery is, showing you a teacup he especially likes. And then you break it. 

This is were I expected him to snap and do something horrible, but instead he actually shows concern for you because you cut your finger. He kisses you finger, saying that it is 'treatment'. He continues with saying that your blood is really tasty, and that tasty must be why the others always want to drink it. He pretends to be driven mad by it too for a little while, but shows restraint immediately after.

He tells you that if you want to seduce him you'll have to become a more refined woman. After ordering you to clean some tea that he spilled on purpose, he starts complaining about your bad posture. And the fact that you can't dance. And so he decides to teach you how to dance, but not before you've changed into a dress, including a corset. How on earth you got into that corset in such a short time I won't ask.. While dancing he teases you about drinking your blood again and you trip, spraining your ankle.

He carries you off to his room (enter dummy head mic). Interestingly enough, there isn't much blood sucking going on in Reiji his dummy head part. Instead he spends most of it looking down on you, shackling you, and humiliating you. The moment he really starts drinking your blood is when the CD ends. It also ends with the Diabolik Lovers theme music playing (the music from the official site) which never seemed more ominous to me.

They've taken a considerable step back from the course the series was taking, which is a good thing if you ask me. Of course Reiji is still an incredible sadist, but you are in less imminent danger than with say Raito or Kanato and he treats you a bit better. Only a bit though. Either way, the amount of S was getting a bit too much for me, so I am glad to took a little step back.

One of the things I am wondering though is: am I the only one that kept being distracted by the background music? From Beethovens Symphony No.7 right at the beginning, to the Waltz of the Flowers (from the Nutcracker) and finally the Moonlight Sonata during the Dummy Head Mic part, every single time a famous piece was playing in the background I got distracted by it. But that is probably just me. Whether it was distracting or not, it does suit Reiji his image.

This review is getting far too long as it is, but I just wanted to make one more remark: almost the entire CD Reiji tells you that you are not refined enough for his taste. Yet at the very end he does call you 淑女 (shukujo, a lady), making me wonder whether he actually considered you one all along.



Conclusion:
I'm really glad they took a step back instead of making this CD even more S. It might be just my personal preference, but I kind of like Reiji. And despite me complaining about being distracted by it, I loved the classical music as bgm (I just get distracted by the pretty music). I'm also really curious about the last CD, as I've read many interesting stuff about it on tumblr...