Line #46 YMMV/DiabolikLovers


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: Even though the franchise started out as drama [=CDs=], the [=VNs=] definitely took over as the core canon. Drama [=CDs=] never went away, though; there are many dozens of them, with a wide range of content - some are pure silliness, some are fluffy romance, and of course some are sadistic bodice-ripping. Drama [=CDs=] even extended the franchise for a few years after the last [=VN=] came out in 2019. Unfortunately western fans have less access and awareness of them.
2	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Can apply to the entire cast, depending on individual levels of charitibility toward the story being told. Is Yui a fool for not running from the vampires, or is her fear and curiosity about them its own justification? Do the love interests have enough emotional turmoil to balance against their bad behavior?
3	** Karlheinz is a standout in this regard because every VN portrays him a little bit differently. A shadowy string-puller in ''Haunted Dark Bridal'', a mild-mannered, outwardly helpful confidant in ''More,Blood'', distant and inscrutable in ''Dark Fate''... While it's possible to interpret his actions as altruistic, done in pursuit of a greater good, he seems utterly indifferent to all the collateral damage he causes. It's a matter of opinion if he honestly cares about anyone in his family.
4	* AmericansHateTingle: The franchise is major success in Japan and a surprising CultClassic in Spanish-speaking regions, but widely ''loathed'' in English-speaking fanbases.
5	* BaseBreakingCharacter: The love interests are supposed to be appealing, but since the franchise is so alienating outside of its core demographic, (and still controversial even ''within'' it,) it makes for a love'em-or-hate'em situation for close to all of them. The few boys that approach generally likeable status, from most morally dubious to least, are:
6	** [[HiddenDepths Shu]], for being not particularly coercive...but still insulting (and wow, what a dirty mouth).
7	** [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Subaru]], for being a sweet kid underneath that violent exterior, especially in the anime (where he doesn't get around to very much coercion).
8	** [[NiceGuy Azusa]], who's a creepy weirdo masochist on the outside and a gentle sweetheart masochist on the inside.
9	* BileFascination: The negative buzz around the [=TV=] series attracted viewers looking for a train wreck to watch; even some anime industry insiders like Creator/TomokazuSugita mentioned watching the series just to see how bad it would get.
10	* CriticProof: But only in the sense that professional media critics have seldom reviewed it, certainly not in English. None of the [=VNs=] or [=TV=] series have Metacritic scores.
11	** Negative impressions to the [=TV=] series come from viewers turned off by its polarizing content, rambling plot, and paucity of coherent character motivation. But despite all this, a second season was produced along with dubs in English, Mexican Spanish and Portuguese at a time when shows that weren't guaranteed hits were unlikely to get this treatment. There is much speculation about why all of this happened - pure contractual obligation? The low budget requirements of its short, 15 minute episodes and limited cast of characters? It has also been theorized that the Mexican Spanish dub was created as a showcase for new voice talent to themselves get known, as well as trying to renew interest in Spanish-dubbed anime.
12	** On the other hand, the [=VNs=] avert this trope via the Japanese gaming press. The majority of them have Famitsu review scores, and every one that was reviewed has a gold or silver award. While they certainly have their detractors due to the nature of the subject matter, they are well-constructed visual novels.
13	* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Several characters exhibit symptoms consistent with behavioral disorders, but no specific diagnoses are ever mentioned in the story.
14	** Shu's disproportionate fear of fire seems to be a specific phobia caused by trauma.
15	** Kanato's mood swings, explosive anger, and fear of abandonment match up well with borderline personality disorder.
16	** Ruki's persistent nightmares and physical responses to having his TraumaButton pressed suggest [=PTSD=].
17	* DracoInLeatherPants: It can be difficult, thought not impossible, to distinguish between fan-initiated [[TookALevelInKindness levels in kindness]] and {{character development}}-based levels in kindness, since the [=VNs=] actually do gradually make the love interests into {{Romantic Vampire Boy}}s. Fanfic tends to overshoot this by turning them into [[NiceGuy unreasonably sweet]] suitors [[{{Adorkable}} competing to win Yui's heart]], unlike the [=VNs=], where they get nice ''after'' entering a relationship.
18	** Sympathetic portrayal of the parents are canon in the [=VNs=], which may surprise those primarily familiar with the anime. Even ''Cordelia'' gets the benefit of the doubt. While it puts her in KarmaHoudini territory, [[spoiler:the writers don't skimp on the [[BreathTheHaughty haughty-breaking]] and they sic the PlotReaper on her right when she does something redemptive.]]
19	* FanNickname:
20	** ''Diabolik Wifebeaters'', courtesy of [[http://sandeian.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/otome-game-review-diabolik-wifebeaters/ this review]].
21	** Subaru is given the nickname "Tsunbaru" because of his Type A {{Tsundere}} qualities.
22	** "Mama Reiji," based on his domestic inclinations. He likes to cook, manages the household, and gives put-upon, overbearing mom vibes.
23	* FandomRivalry: With ''Anime/DanceWithDevils'', another Rejet franchise with similar ParanormalRomance themes. The second season of ''Diabolik Lovers'' and the ''Dance with Devils'' anime aired at the exact same time. DWD may have benefitted from being developed AnimeFirst - it didn't have to deal with the pitfalls of adaptation from another medium and it got a reasonably good reception from viewers. ''Diabolik Lovers'' season 2, on the other hand, has the same fundamental weaknesses as the first season and was hated on just as much as much, if not more.
24	* FetishRetardant: A lot of people find the story too scary or disturbing to be sexy; some even feel the game would've worked better as a straight-up horror story.
25	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
26	** The anime became a SleeperHit in Spanish-speaking anime fan circles thanks to the high entertainment value of the Mexican Spanish dub, and the franchise continues to be popular there.
27	** English-speaking fans seem to gravitate towards Azusa since he is the only vampire who isn't an abusive jerk to the heroine. However, this is only in the West; in Japan, Azusa regularly places low on popularity polls.
28	* HamAndCheese: The English dub is generally praised for its overly dramatic voice acting - particularly Creator/ChrisPatton's Ayato and Creator/MaggieFlecknoe's Yui add enjoyment to the anime. The Mexican Spanish dub tends to be enjoyed for similar reasons.
29	* HardToAdaptWork: It didn't start out as one, but it certainly became one.
30	** The move from the original drama [=CD=] releases to the [=VNs=] is an AdaptationExpansion which adds a significant amount of of detail to the premise and adjusts the love interests so they are all about the same level of FetishizedAbuser.
31	** The anime has the typical problems with [=VN-to-TV=] adaptations in abundance - too much content, too little runtime. A single route of the VN could take longer to play through than a whole season of the anime. The anime functions best as a high-budget highlight reel for existing fans, offering the opportunity to watch fully-realized scenes of their bad boy of choice being sexy. The one aspect of the show that both fans and detractors are likely to agree on is that it's good at looking good.
32	* MemeticTroll:
33	** Karlheinz is powerful, manipulative, and frequently invoked in the funny audio dramas to push the love interests into silly situations, so he could be a canon troll for anyone who considers the funny dramas to be canonical. Fanfic authors have been known to depict his absolute authority and sociopathic tendencies as a means for generating drama [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]].
34	** Kino is similarly powerful and manipulative, he indubitably causes drama [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]], and his gamer characterisation makes him a shoo-in for meme references.
35	* MoralEventHorizon: Viewers often regard Cordelia as completely irredeemable, due to her many heinous actions against...well, anyone who has the misfortune of knowing her, but ''especially'' her own children. She's undeniably vile, abusive, and made it very, very difficult for her kids to ever find happiness in their lives. However, the [=VNs=] give her some nuance, portraying her as a middle link in TheChainOfHarm with her own struggles, who is even capable of real goodness if events line up ''just'' right.
36	* {{Narm}}:
37	** Anytime Laito calls Yui a "little bitch" (bitch-chan). It's supposed to come off as domineering and humiliating with some sort of endearment attached to it, like the word "pet", but it really downplays Laito's Casanova image and comes off as hilarious instead.
38	** The sequence from the first episode where Ayato drops Yui into the mansion pool. What was supposed to come off as an act of unnecessary cruelty became gut-bustingly hilarious to a whole other audience due to the fact that he tells her to call him "the best" while she's desperately fighting for air, and the fact that the whole scene is taken ''completely seriously''. A similar sequence where [[spoiler:Cordelia possessing Yui is thrown into a lake when she didn't know of Yui's inability to swim]] is treated along the same manner.
39	* NeverLiveItDown: Although Rejet has an overwhelming number of other otome [=CDs=] and franchises that don't pander to masochists or feature solely dickish love interests, and the same goes for the rest of the otome industry, many curious Westerners stumbling onto the series for the first time think that this is ''the only'' type of CD they put out.
40	* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Some of the heat this series draws is based on the notion that its content is distasteful. It's creepy and unwholesome, socially retrograde, possibly immoral, and only sickos would like it, if the negative comments are to be believed. The fact is that a decent percentage of people can and do get into the fantasy of an intense (even predatory) lover sweeping them off their feet, and all the negative attention only seemed to make it more popular.
41	* RonTheDeathEater: Occasionally, fans turn Yui into the total opposite of her canon self; she becomes [[BitchInSheepsClothing horribly cruel]] to the boys, dumps the Sakamaki brothers and cheats on them, treats Reiji like a slave, and becomes the antagonist to fans' self inserts or [=OCs=]. Others who don't want her to interfere with their self-inserts pretend that she never existed instead, but either way they give her little respect.
42	* TheScrappy: Given that about half of the viewership of ''Diabolik Lovers'' seems to hate the narrative and especially the characters and the other half still contains Yui-haters, fans who are neutral-to-positive toward Yui seem to be a minority. In Western countries her [[ExtremeDoormat meek and pliant behavior]] don't go over well, and in the [=VNs=] she is often a passive DamselInDistress prone to perceived irrational behavior. {{Original Character}} heroines enjoy substantial popularity in the fandom, and both self-insert and reader-insert fanfic is widespread; as for what fic writers do to Yui, see RonTheDeathEater above.
43	* SoBadItsGood: Yes, a lot of people found the anime to be ''really bad'', but there is no denying that the English dub is on-point and the art style is gorgeous. In fact, the English dub and art style are sometimes regarded as the ''only'' redeeming qualities of the show.
44	* StrangledByTheRedString: The anime adaptation ''really'' tries to push [[spoiler: Ayato]] as the main love interest, going as far as kissing Yui twice during the first season (Which, for an otome anime, is quite a lot of times). The trouble is that their interactions through the first half of the series are limited at best, and in those he doesn't even bother to hide the fact that he sees her as nothing more than a toy for his enjoyment.
45	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: This is a dark series. Whether or not it is too dark to enjoy is a matter of taste, but it's also true that it front-loads, or otherwise prioritizes, its darkest material.
46	** The first few drama CD series are the {{squick}}iest and the most open-ended. Listeners may question if the heroine makes it out of her vampire encounters alive, and there's no way to know if she does. And yet, later drama series are among the most unabashedly romantic scenarios the series has to offer.
47	** The first [=VN=] is the darkest one, and it tackles psychological themes that the later ones don't return to. In the 2nd [=VN=] the love interests are still jerks, but Yui isn't as emotionally isolated so it has a less oppressive feel. And in the later [=VNs=], the conflicts are more externalized and love interests are more nice than mean.
48	** The anime is basically just the dark parts with nothing to break it up and none of the payoff (of actual romance happening.) There is very little in the way of a light at the end of the tunnel, and viewers in the love-to-hate camp are known to lament that Yui does not [[RapeAndRevenge avenge herself on the love interests for their maltreatment]], or wish there was an EverybodyDiesEnding.
49	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Most of the love interests come across as this, even ''after'' their FreudianExcuse is revealed. Not even resident NiceGirl [[ExtremeDoormat Yui]] get sympathy from some fans.
50	* TheWoobie: Yui is an innocent girl who doesn't deserve to get tormented by monsters. She doesn't have many choices in terms of escaping the situation she's in. The fact that the audience tends to scream at her to run away is a part of her woobification. It reflects a wish to save the woobie from her pain.
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Context YMMV / DiabolikLovers