Out of the frying pan…
What They Say:
Based off of a drama CD and PSPS game, the Diabolik Lovers series centers around the six sadistic Sakamaki vampire brothers, and the positive and kind-hearted heroine, Yui Komori. Due to her father’s work, she has to transfer to a new school, and ends up living with the Sakamaki brothers.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Diabolik Lovers pretty much set the basic stakes the first episode with the new band of boys that are out there to deal with our familiar leads. It was a little convoluted to get them to that meeting point but it did the job needed. A lot of what we got was mostly material prior to that which reinforced Yui’s position in everything while also giving us a look at something bigger that may be in store for her with that otherworldly place with the tree and spinning walkway. A little hallucination never hurt anyone, right? At least her position as livestock continues to mostly be secure.
With her brought to the residence of the others that set the situation into motion, she gets a basic introduction to three of the brothers and a nod towards the mansion itself. Essentially, Yui has found herself being traded from one cage to another, just with a different slate of cruel masters. Their cruelty is different though, as they try to make the Sakamaki residence come across as the bad place while they’re the good guys. There’s the same kind of intensity about this group as we got from the others and you can even imagine just about all of the dialogue coming out of the mouths of those from the first season. What they’re mostly doing here is just trying to bring Yui to their side as they need her to be their Eve for their own plan. And not what those silly vampires have done in using her as just a plaything.
Their need for her, through her blood, to find the Adam they’re looking for is a pretty basic but workable setup – especially since she’s really just caged here for the moment. What’s amusing is that we get time with our original group as well to see how they’re coping with this. And they’re not, at least not well for the most part, because she slaked their thirst for a while now and they now have nothing. Most of the focus is on Yui though as she’s essentially reliving the opening of the first season in trying to find a way out, just with the amusement that she’s looking to find a way back to the Sakamaki household. At least with this experience Yui isn’t running around crying or freaking out. She’s scared and wary to be sure, but she’s handling this better.
In Summary:
Diabolik Lovers II takes a more relaxed approach here as we get Yui settling into what she’s found herself dragged into now. It’s not full of reveals or anything, but we do get some nods towards this new groups goals and why they need Yui. There are some nice touches from different areas here and I rather liked some of the echoes with differences to what went on during the first season. But this is a lot slower overall and it doesn’t feel quite as threatening as before, partially because Yui’s not freaking out like she used to. That’s a mixed blessing to be sure.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
