From Pain to Pleasure: DRAMAtical Murder- Noiz Review

It has really been a long time since I last picked up this game. DRAMAtical Murder and the Koujaku reviews were my first ever reviews on this blog, and here I am almost seven months later writing another one. Boy has the time flown by…my only hope is that I’ve improved some since those first reviews (at least I think I have). I have since written an updated review of DRAMAtical Murder, which can be found, HERE. After muddling through Koujaku’s route, I set my sights on Noiz… But, I was so overwhelmed by how dull Koujaku’s route was that I put DMMd on the back burner until I could forget about it. Well it took seven months, and here I am finally ready to give DMMd another shot!

I did not expect to love this route as much as I did, but oh boy did I ever! Noiz is hands down my favorite route of the game! Noiz is the creep who drive by Rhymes Aoba in the common route. At first his blunt attitude rubbed me the wrong way, but the more I played, the more I began to like this socially awkward bunny!

**Disclaimer: I don’t own these images, they belong to Nitro+chiral…and this goes without saying, but there will be some character related spoilers under the cut and one or two NSFW images in this post (censored) you have been warned**

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Following the White Rabbit

Noiz is an information broker for Rhyme and the leader of the Ruff Rabbits Rhyme team. He is adept with all technology, possessing genius level hacking ability. He uses his abilities to “predict” the locations of Rhyme battles by tracking the movements of Usui. His skills have earned him respect among other Rhymers and amassed him a considerable fortune. In the prologue, Noiz is the mysterious Rhymer that attacks Aoba during the common route. Unknowingly, Aoba uses his Scrap power on him and wins the match. Frustrated at being beaten by an amateur, Noiz tries to convince Aoba into joining his Rhyme team. He initially starts hanging around Aoba in order to challenge him to a Rhyme rematch, as a result he becomes an unwitting participant in the Toue Takedown Club.

While Noiz is adept at using technology, he has dismal social skills. He is generally very blunt with his responses, when he answers at all. When he is working he becomes absorbed in his work, tuning out everything around him, which gets him into trouble later on in the route. Noiz is extremely confident in himself and his skills, so he’s often unwilling to follow the plans of others. His abrasive and rebellious personality that usually rubs people the wrong way, especially Koujaku. As a Rhymer, Noiz looks down on the outdated and boorish Rib teams, so his opinion of Koujaku was rather low from the beginning. For a majority of the game, He and Koujaku are at each other’s throats. I found their back and forth amusing, but when the situation gets too heated Aoba is there to break them up. I find it super hilarious that despite hating each other so much Koujaku and Noiz are always seated next to one another, in group CGs and artwork. However both (reluctantly) put aside their differences for Aoba’s sake.

Noiz has a condition that makes him unable to experience intense feelings, namely pain. While, his condition isn’t explicitly stated within the game, it can be inferred that he may have Congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP). Because of his condition, Noiz was unintentionally violent and impulsive, often injuring the other children he’d play with, as he was unable to understand/empathize with their pain. His parents were embarrassed by the way he acted around others, so they locked him away within their home, providing him with everything he would ever need. He spent his entire childhood confined to one room, frightened and alone, he would often cry and injure himself. As time passed he began to grow disillusioned with his lot in life, viewing himself as someone different from others. He began to think that life was meaningless and that it didn’t matter whether he lived or died. He throws himself into Rhyme, because it is the only place where he can truly feel pain. Rhyme is the only place where he can really feel normal, so when Aoba beats him at his own game, he becomes obsessed with figuring out why.

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Down the Rabbit Hole

Unlike Koujaku’s route, Aoba and Noiz are complete strangers, so they…and by they, I really mean Aoba, have to work to build a relationship with one another. There is a unique back and forth between both men that I really enjoyed watching play out. Aoba is  overly expressive and intrusive, while Noiz is closed in, preferring to handle things on his own. Couple that with Noiz’s past trauma and you have a fun dance, with one man stepping forward and the other stepping further away. Considering the circumstances, I feel that the relationship between Aoba and Noiz progressed very well. The character development was gradual, and you can really see how each interaction brings them closer to one another.

Noiz is very distrustful of others, he assumes that Aoba has ulterior motives for his so called selfless acts. He can’t understand or empathize with the feelings of other people, so he finds it especially strange when other people are kind to him. Since he has never had the opportunity to experience genuine kindness. As a child he was raised in a wealthy family, he’d only ever met people who were interested in appearance or status. Even his own parents locked him away to save face, he’s had a really hard life, and each of those experiences made him into the man that he is today.  On top of that his pain condition has made him reckless, both with his own life and with the lives of others. Aoba spends the majority of the route trying to teach Noiz empathy, but it isn’t until Noiz opens up and explains his past that Aoba makes any headway. Once Noiz opens up to Aoba, he becomes an adorable cinnamon bun, I spent the whole second half of his route going squeeing over how adorable he was being. Because Noiz has lived a sheltered life, he has almost no knowledge about the outside world. There’s this really cute scene where he buys a crap ton of food, because he’s hungry, but he has no idea what any of it is. He can also be a bit childish, recklessly running off on his own from time to time, which more times than not gets him into trouble. However, I was most surprised by how passionate Noiz was, considering how emotionless he is in the common route. Good God! I’m fanning myself as I write this, Noiz, because of his condition is a bit of a pain junkie. During their first sexual encounter, he is unable to properly enjoy Aoba’s “services” so he asks him to be a little more rough…if you catch my drift. Even Aoba gets off on the foreplay… And don’t get me started on the Hospital scene, I was not ready for that at all! On top of that, Noiz has piercings everywhere…and I mean everywhere!

As with Koujaku’s route, the conflict with Toue took a backseat to the character development, so if you were expecting any glaring revelations, you’ll have to wait for Ren’s route. In this route, Noiz and Aoba storm the citadel in order to get more information on Toue and the mysterious invitation into the Platinum Jail. After Aoba is injured, Noiz ventures off on his own to find a first aid kit (but not before giving Aoba a goodbye kiss). He gets captured and it’s up to Aoba to save him, but when he confronts Noiz, he’s been brainwashed by Toue. Aoba uses his Scrap and enters Noiz’s mind…and I’ll have you know that place is pure nightmare fuel! Everything is in black and white, and there is no sound, which triggers a glitchy 15 minute long sequence. I swear I thought my computer was spazzing out.

After the sequence the screen cuts to black and white text will appear on the screen. The player is then asked a series of questions. If answered correctly the player will trigger one of three endings.

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Endings List

Bad End 1-If you select “Nice World” as your final answer, the game switches to an 8-bit version of the game. The events of the common route play out relatively the same (except in 8-bit form) then Akushima appears and attacks, Noiz and Aoba in Heibon. After defeating him, Aoba and Noiz leave the shop to watch a Rhyme match.

Bad End 2-If you select “Real World” as your final answer, Aoba wakes up to the sound of something wet dripping and the smell of blood. The screen pans out to reveal Aoba and Noiz locked in a bloody embrace. The more they touch the more pain they each feel…

Good End- Aoba successfully uses his Scrap on Noiz, freeing his mind and allowing him to finally experience pain. However, using his power causes the Oval Tower to collapse, forcing Aoba and Noiz to make their escape as the building crumbles around them. A few weeks pass an life returns to normal, Noiz has been admitted to the hospital so Aoba visits him…surprise hospital sexy time occurs. Once he’s recovered they have their Rhyme battle and soon after Noiz disappears for three months. When he returns he literally sweeps Aoba off his feet.

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Do I Recommend His Route?

There is so much that didn’t make it into this post, and for that I highly suggest going over to my Tumblr by clicking HERE, you won’t be disappointed! I had so much fun live blogging this route. I loved this route so much, Noiz was perfect in every way! The development felt natural, definitely not rushed at all. Noiz’s back story was compelling, and kept me reading until the very end. I did dislike the fact that Aoba kept treating him like a child on account of his age, but, eh, what else does our precious uke have to hold over him?

Noiz’s character design is great, from his outfit, all the way down to the pierced member. His whole look just worked! Even when he changes up his wardrobe towards the end (which makes him look 100x hotter), it still works! I did play a patch, which if you already have the game can be downloaded HERE (you will need to make an account with Aarinfantasy), if you don’t have the game, Aarinfantasy offers links to purchasing sites and proxies!

Overall, there were very few errors or awkward phrasing in the patch translation and I enjoyed reading it!  You can really tell that the team that worked on the patch did a great job with it! The art is amazing and a few of the backgrounds were anime quality work! The CGs were gorgeous, and did a great job of highlighting the characters in them. The music is stellar! Each ending comes with it’s own track, and I’ll have you know I listened to them all on repeat while writing this review! They all have a techno/8-bit sound that goes really well with the overall gameplay, each track enhancing, rather than detracting from the mood of the game.

This ended up being way longer than I originally intended, but no matter, Noiz was worth it! So, I highly recommend this route, if you don’t play any other route in the game this is the one to play! I laughed, I teared up, and damnit my little heart went doki doki! Noiz is an adorable cinnamon bunny!

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