From Machine to Man: DRAMAtical Murder- Clear Review

Blerdy

6 years ago

I was feeling pretty low after finishing Mink’s route, in fact, I completely lost all desire to even finish this game at all….but after taking a few days away from DMMd, I gained some of my fighting spirit back. So, after seeing Clear’s antics in the common route, I was expecting this to be one of the more light-hearted routes of the game (which I seriously needed after finishing Mink’s route). Clear is the most upbeat of the available love interests, and his route is full of hilariously over the top moments. I think I laughed myself silly during the first half of the route, but suddenly without me noticing, Clear’s route did a complete 180. There is so much more to Clear than meets the eye, and I never expected this route to be the most emotional and heart-wrenching route of the game.

Clear is a mysterious character, as you can see from his above character profile, very little is known about him at the beginning of the game. He is a very energetic and friendly, but his odd mannerisms often confuse those around him. He’s like a cute puppy following the others around as they plan their assault on Toue.

**Disclaimer: I don’t own these images, they belong to Nitro+chiral…and this goes without saying, but there will be minor SPOILERS under the cut… Also, there is a NSFW image in this post (it’s rather tame by BL standards, though) you have been warned*

Clear has absolutely no chill!

It’s funny how you can go into a route feeling one way and come out of it feeling something completely different. I spent a good deal of his route either laughing uncontrollably or face palming myself at the sheer ridiculousness of his actions. He seriously did not know when to quit, I suppose you could liken the experience of playing Clear’s route to being Rickrolled over and over again, and still managing to be surprised by it after the hundredth time. No matter how many times Clear would do something off the wall, and believe me it happened often, I still found myself getting surprised by it all. Yet, somehow, each surprise uncovered a new layer of Clear’s personality. So that by the end of the route I understood Clear much better than I ever imagined I would.

In the common route, after hearing Aoba’s ‘voice’ during his drive-by Rhyme with Noiz, he makes his way to Heibon via rooftop. However, in his excitement at finally locating Aoba he falls from the roof he was standing on, scaring the living daylights out of him. After a few tense moments Clear gets up, proclaims that Aoba is his ‘Master’ and wanders off again, without any explanation. Simply calling Clear strange would be a gross understatement, of his overall character. With his cheerful disposition and his eccentric behaviors, it’s hard to take Clear seriously. In reality Clear is highly intelligent and extremely polite, just extremely naive to the ways of the world. He also possesses an enhanced sense of hearing which he uses to locate immediate danger.

Clear also possesses a beautiful singing voice, during the common route Aoba hears singing coming from his veranda. When he goes to investigate, he finds Clear sitting on his roof singing to himself. Despite being confused, Aoba complements him on his singing ability and the two share a private moment together. Clear reveals that the song, the Jellyfish Song, was taught to him by his grandfather, who has since passed away. After awhile, Clear vows to follow Aoba where ever he may lead, and to protect his life at all cost. He then instructs Aoba to get the bed, as he drifts off Aoba can still hear Clear singing from the veranda.

Can a robot become human?

After the events of the common route, Aoba receives an invitation to the Platinum Jail, so he and Clear head for the secret entrance located in the Northern District. Once there, they are directed to the Aqua Forest, one of the brightest Platinum Jail locations yet. They settle into their residence without much incidence from Toue, what follows is a Clear induced hurricane of shenanigans.

At least he’s using proper knife handling techniques

In the beginning the relationship between Aoba and Clear can be likened to one of those slapstick comedy duos, with Aoba playing the Straight Man to most of Clear’s antics. Prior to the game, Clear spent a very sheltered life, so everything he knows about the world was either told to him by his grandfather or he found out about it from books/other media. So a lot of his eccentric behaviors are completely unintentional. But, that doesn’t make them any less, ridiculous. There were times when I had to stop playing because I couldn’t stop laughing at how silly Clear was being, like the infamous breakfast scene. In addition to his actions, Clear has a funny verbal quirk that might not be apparent to non Japanese speakers, thanks Vocaotome for the tip. Clear has a habit of literally saying the actual word for all of the noises he makes. Instead of actually snoring when he’s asleep, Clear will literally say ‘snore, snore, snore’ instead. However, most translators just translate them as sound effects, so you’d miss it if you didn’t know to look for it (you can read more about it, HERE). Again, I have no idea whether he’s doing this unconsciously or what, but I completely understand Aoba’s need to knock some sense into him.

But, the strangest thing about Clear is that he constantly hides his face behind a gas mask. When asked about it, Clear explains that his grandfather instructed him to never reveal his face to anyone, because he is different from other people. He is extremely insecure about his face, believing that he is somehow deformed, so he goes to great lengths to hide himself. However, after a run in with some local thugs, Clear is forced to reluctantly reveals his face to Aoba. In doing so Clear becomes extremely self conscious and vulnerable, as he waits for Aoba’s verdict on his appearance. It’s a critical moment for both Aoba and Clear, that dictates the trajectory of their relationship moving forward. So when Aoba assures him that he is in fact normal, something within Clear breaks as he finally lets go of his anxieties and fears. The moment becomes even more emotionally charged when the pair silently reassure one another by tracing each other’s faces. From this point on their relationship takes a noticeable shift. Clear tones down his off the wall behaviors, instead become more contemplative. He poses several questions to Aoba about the meaning of life, revealing his anxieties about mortality and death. Despite being stumped by his questions he does his best to answer them. It’s around this time that Aoba begins to realize that Clear isn’t altogether human. His suspicions are confirmed when two of Toue’s humanoid robots, with the same faces as Clear, appear to collect the Clear. But, after a fight breaks out between them, Clear is damaged beyond repair, so they leave. Clear explains that he, along with several other humanoid robots, were created by Toue as part of their mind altering experiments. Toue planned to use the robots to hypnotize the residents of Midorijima into being his slaves. But, before the plan could be realized, Clear’s grandfather, a researcher for Toue, stole Clear (the prototype) before going into hiding. He reprogramed Clear and raised him as a son until the day that he died. After Clear explains everything to Aoba, they recieve an invitation to the Oval Tower.

Ending List

Bad End- The Bad Ending is triggered if Aoba selects any answer during his Scrap expedition. During the final confrontation, Clear’s song is unsuccessful against the robo-twins and he succumbs to his injuries. He and Aoba are captured by Toue, Clear is reprogrammed and Aoba subjected to experimentation.

Good End- The Good End is triggered by not choosing either response during Scrap. During the final confrontation, Clear’s song successfully destroys the robo-twins. Clear, now dying, asks Aoba to fulfill his last wish, which just so happens to include some sweet Aoba booty… This was the saddest sex scene I have ever seen…I actually teared up during it…Clear dies…Aoba takes his body back to the Old Residence and vows to fix him.

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! This was the most interesting route to live blog. There were so many twists and turns that I never knew what to expect, Clear managed to genuinely surprise me! This route was a roller coaster ride of emotions from start to finish, I never knew what to expect from Clear.

Wow! I was completely blown away by the plot progression in this route. When I say I laughed out loud at the entire first half of the game, I mean it! Clear was so ridiculously funny, there were moments when I had to stop playing completely until I could calm down. But, what really got me was the second act, The light fluff of the beginning blended nicely with the more emotionally charged second act. Ya’ll don’t know how emotional I got towards the end, this route had me on the verge of tears…

Even the Good Ending had me tearing up! Talk about working for your happy ending, sheesh, I almost couldn’t deal with all the feels. On top of that, Clear had one of the saddest and most emotionally charged sex scenes I have ever seen. Like damn, it was one of the most beautiful and tragic moments in the entire route. I am still blown away by how bittersweet the whole moment was, way to go Nitro+, way to play with my emotions…I highly recommend this route, this is tied with Noiz’s route as my favorite routes in the game. So brace yourself, Clear will have you riding an emotional roller coaster from start to finish.