2023 Dramatical Murder Stage Flashback Report
I am finally back in Japan, and I am coming back with maybe a controversial post.
Back in 2019 I think I was the primary one on Tumblr talking about the stage play and I saw it twice live.
This time I managed to see it 5 times live and I have so many thoughts.
I have not seen the livestreams yet so these are all my thoughts based on seeing it live and on the Ren, Clear, Noiz, and Vitri routes which I saw. I will also not be putting in screenshots as I don't have any from the livestream.
Which route do you most want to see?
Koujaku
Noiz
Clear
Mink
Ren
Vitri
Voting ended onMay 15, 2023
Before I get into the report I just felt like I should deal with the recast I understand was hard for some people.
I just wanna put out a few thoughts i had on this.
No.1: Your feelings of being sad to not see Seiichan back are completely valid
No.2: Seiichan himself decided to step back and the fact that Nao was announced so soon shows that he was the understudy, and Seiichan knew about this. Therefore, Nao being there as an understudy allowed Seiichan to prioritize his health and not worry about the show his friends were so excited to return to was canceled and feel pressure to perform for them or fans.
No.3: Tsuchiya Naotake had less than a month to prepare everything for the character and yet developed such a deep and close bond with the cast, the character of Aoba, and the stage. He improved so much as the show continued and poured his heart and soul into this role. He respected the character that Seiichan set up for him and took care of the role very well.
I want to emphasize that Seiichan was not in this show and still made money from all the merchandise that had been prepared, however Nao had barely any merch, which is often the bulk of their pay for stages in Japan, and yet never once complained about the amount of work he was putting in. In the final show he even said that he has never once had negative thoughts about the show or thought it was to hard, he just loves it so much.
P.S. I am not saying Seiichan doesn't deserve to get money from merch, I am just pointing out that it is slightly unfair on Nao.
Since I've been talking about him, I will start my thoughts on the play by talking about the man playing the lead.
I will say that I liked Nao before this role in something else and was very excited to see him, however I feel like he still won me over as the show went on and I discovered trepidations about his performance I didn't know I had. I just want to highlight my thoughts by specifically talking about 3 shows that I saw.
Additionally, this is a bad situation that was not Nao's fault and this is probably the worst situation to get cast in your first main role but Nao never showed any negativity towards Aoba or the fans for this.
The first show I saw him in was Ren's route on the 2nd. I immediately knew he was very good for the role, but overall was not wowed by his performance. I think a big part of this was his chemistry with Shogo which I will get back to later.
I could not have been more shocked by the difference only a couple of days made to Nao's performance. While on the 2nd he still seemed extremely nervous and to be holding himself back, on the 5th he was throwing himself as hard as he could into the role. My friend and I had spoken before the show about how we believed Seiichan had been better at screaming in Mink's SA scene in the first half and that night Nao performed that scene and put every ounce of himself into it. His chemistry with Yuuki was off the charts and when Yuuki (Clear) was giving him 100% of that Clear love he was giving it back 100%. Clear's route is also had bc it has 4 adlib sections for Aoba and Shogo (Ren) was being a bad senpai and not helping at all. His adlibs were so funny and really got Aoba. My favourite being 'I wonder what Clear’s face is gonna be like. Well, he has to be good looking as no one with an ass that good has a bad face.' Overall in this show he felt more relaxed and at ease with the show.
Nothing in heaven or earth could have prepared me for this route. I did ask my friend not to spoil me and I'm glad I went in blind but wow it went so much harder than I expected and Nao performed so incredibly. This route would be nothing without Nao's acting and the fact that it was so good is predominantly down to him. He was willing to go quite far to deliver a performance as game accurate as possible. His subtle changes from blank, to fear, to sadness, to anger, to pleasure were incredible to see and I was genuinely moved by his acting.
He gave himself freely to his costars and trusted in them to look after him and simply immersed himself in the performance which is difficult to do, especially for a show such as that.
I am so glad he got a route all of his own where he cannot be compared to anyone else as I feel this took the pressure off him and relaxed into it.
P.S. Also if you see any post show pics around curtain call of Nao looking blank they are most likely from Vitri route as in all the other curtain calls he was smiling so widely and was so happy, and the contrast with Vitri's was amazing.
He put his whole heart into this show, did so much research and loves this show and every character truly so much
He could have acted the exact same without the same love for the show and he still would have been excellent
But the amount of positive things he said about the other actors, characters, rehearsals, all the routes, and the play in general really showed a deep love and appreciation for the original and the fans. He even was constantly positive about the Vitri route, shocking even their actors, as he poured out his love for every single one in an effort to make the audience love it even a little bit more
He had to, rather quickly, learn a really difficult script and choreography (created for another actor with acrobatic talents that he did not possess prior to this show) And by the final shows there was no way you could have known any of that from just watching the show
Aoba is truly one of the hardest roles in not just 2.5D, not just Japanese theatre, but theatre in general bc you basically have to learn 6 separate scripts, hard dance and fight choreography, be on stage for like 2 hours straight and in every scene, do all of the sex scenes too
But this never once dampened his love or spirit.
In the first show for Noiz route, he forgot two of his lines and had a couple of seconds of silence before he remembered them and he was crying at curtain call.
He put so much pressure onto himself and delivered to us I think some of the best acting in 2.5D, especially from a relatively new actor
As a result of this role, it would not be an exaggeration to say he is among my favourite actors.
I also appreciate how, despite this being his first ever experience of anything BL (yaoi is a term used exclusively in the west), he approached it with 0 judgement to the genre or fans. He said he once believed it was a genre where men fell in love with men, but through dmmd has discovered it is rather about a love that gender is not dependent on, or someone you fall in love with that happens to be a man.
Also, he is an absolute Koujaku simp and it was so sweet to see his eyes glitter every time Koujaku did anything. (This made me want to see Koujaku's route so much as my friend said it was their best one and Nao even added an extra kiss in the final performance)
Whatever you think about Nao and the recast, he has now played Aoba for the same amount of time as Seiichan and has made the role as much his own as Seiichan did. Aoba belongs to Seiichan and he now belongs to Nao too.
I now want to finally give my thoughts on some of the routes and the show in general. The only order I have put them in is how much I have to say about them.
5/2-5/5-5/6-5/7-5/7 First Half, 'Mizuki's route'
Unofficially dubbed Mizuki's route by some of the cast, which is incorrect pls give us actual Mizuki route, the first half of the play is a simple improvement on the original. The group has different dynamics, acting choices are different, and there are parts I prefer with Nao and parts I prefer with Seiichan but overall as a show, it is an improvement on the original and the blocking and staging sees little change. Naoya (Mizuki) screams his heart after scrap and he is truly the mvp of the first half.
I will start with the show I have the least to say about. It was good! Nao and Rikiya (Noiz) have good chemistry and the show felt very true to the original. Personally Noiz and his route isn't for me and I think some of the jumps they make in the story can be a bit jarring but overall is very good. The hospital sex scene is still really weird in its choreography and I don't necessarily vibe with it. If you liked it before l, good bc it is exactly the same XD
I'm not gonna say too much about this route bc I don't want to be negative but I do think this is the worst route on stage, including Koujaku's and Mink's too from what I have heard about them. Nao and Shogo have fantastic chemistry...as brothers. They never give off the vibe of lovers and first day I saw the sex scene they barely looked at each other. Nao is a very reciprocal actor and it was clear that there were not really any romantic sparks flying from either side for the route. This is the only route I will say, and ever say, that I wish we'd had Seiichan instead of Nao for. Shogo felt like he was holding himself back with Nao and, with how well he knows Seiichan, I can't see him doing that with him. Whenever not with Ren, Nao was excellent but I was left wanting a bit more from their dynamic.
This was beautiful and heartbreaking in all the right ways. On the final night of Clear’s Route, Yuuki poured every single ounce of love he has for Clear into the role and Nao answered this in kind. During their final sex scene there was not a dry eye around me.
Yuuki delivered the cutest Clear but also showed how mature Clear could be when speaking to his brothers or Toue. Despite not having much to work with as Toue not having an official actor to play off, Yuuki screamed, shouted, and showed us the human heart that Clear has. His kindness, his love, and his maturity.
Like I said above Nao's adlibs during Clear’s various dressing scenes were also very amusing, and it contrasted well with the heartbreaking moments in Clear’s Route.
So, where to begin. I do want to say, in my very personal opinion, this route would have been very different either Seiichan and I don't know that he would have been comfortable with going as far as Nao did for parts. This is purely speculation and is not meant to demean Seiichan as an actor. It is a hard thing to do and we are not owed him feeling comfortable with it.
Sections that are covered in this route are:
- Beginning of Ren's route
- Introduction of Aoba in Vitri's house
- How Vitri became fans of Aoba
- Being taken from the box and back to Virus' room
- Ending with Aoba's situation after half a year with them
We did also get to see them talking to Mizuki about Dry Juice and Morphine but I cannot remember where this slotted in.
Whereas other routes had 2-3 min sex scenes, Vitri route had 3 seperate scenes, not including force feeding, all about 2-3 mins.
It was weirdly moving(?) to watch? Nao's acting was just phenomenal and was incredible to see three completely different sides to Aoba. Modern Aoba, past Aoba, and Vitri route Aoba, within a short span of time and acted so differently.
Also, Nao's dancing without a shirt on to Masculine Devil is something that has to be witnessed.
I love how before the curtain call for every show Nao was smiling ear to ear in every route as he looked at the character Aoba had fallen for, but in Vitri, he removed all expression from his face and just looked empty.
There was a lot of hilarity about the fact that when the dancing starts Aoba is just lying on the ground as everyone claps their hands and waves their ringlights.
If you are thinking of which one to buy, this is my ranking of the ones I've seen:
- Vitri (mainly for Nao's acting) 9/10
This show was a fantastic Rerun that showcased many actors improvements from the years they've been away and an amazing performance from a new Aoba.
I can only hope that we get another stage soon and get to see more of these actors and characters.
Let me know if you have any questions or what me to expand on anything!
