A forged fairytale
— Tagline
Royal Scandal is a song series created by the creator unit of the same name, featuring Kanon69 (music and story), luz (singer), and RAHWIA (movie and illustration). The series tells the story of Bar Masquerade, a particular bar with all the affairs surrounding them, in and out, with a hint of bigger mysteries afloat and fractured fairy tales as its central theme.
So far, the series has been releasing one mini album (REVOLVER), one album (Q&A -Queen and Alice-), an official character book and official doujin (drawn by RAHWIA), and a stage play adaptation titled Royal Scandal ~Hiren no Diva~ produced in 2018.
Discography
Songs with MVs
- Episode 0 - Cherry Hunt
- Episode 1 - Queen of Hearts
- Episode 2 - REVOLVER
- Episode 3 - Beast in the Beauty
- Episode 4 - Hikari
- Episode 5 - Bitter Sweet
- Episode 6 - Phantom Pain
- Episode 7 - Chelsea
- Episode 8 - Royal Flash
- Episode 9 - Magic Ring Night
- Episode 10 - Chesire Game
- Episode 11 - BULLET
- Episode 12 - Wonderland in Alice
The songs with MVsnote also get coupled with Vocaloid covers, with Luka Megurine as the singer. Here is the official playlist.
Album-exclusive songsnote
- Q & A -Queen and Alice- (2019)
- Once Upon a Time
- Happy Unbirthday
- Wondertale (instrumental only)
- 777 -Three Seven- (2022)
- Mermaid Theatre
- Casinojack
- PLAY note
- Mahou
A tro(u)pe of fairytales and dreams starts at midnight:
- Abusive Parents:
- Alicia's mother seems to be the kind and caring sort, which is why Alicia is so shocked to meet the Queen of Hearts, who sets her soldiers on the young girl.
- Rosetta's father was The Alcoholic and beat her mother. While her mother tried to shield her by shouldering the abuse, she eventually did abandon Rosetta to the troupe's custody to commit a Murder-Suicide.
- Alice Allusion: Alice in Wonderland stands out as the most used theme among other fairytales, with our protagonists named Alicia and Lewis as a starter. There are some songs that are titled Queen of Hearts and Chesire Game. Plus, many lyrical references are alluding to the wonderland here and there in most songs.
- Anachronic Order: The releases of MVs (and songs, to some extent). It often jumps back and forth from the present time, to the childhood time of several characters, and to an unclear time.
- Arc Words: "Midnight/Twelve o'clock" and "Under the mask".
- Book Ends: Queen of Hearts begins with a young Alicia and ends with an adult Alicia waking up. Wonderland in Alice begins with an adult Alicia and ends with a young Alicia waking up.
- Call-Back: Catherine swooping down to save Alicia from the casino security in Cheshire Game references how she was saved at the end of Queen of Hearts.
- The Diva: In the most traditional meaning. Lilian is the first diva of the Bar Masquerade and passed her role to Alicia as Chelsea the Red Diva. Rosetta also got dubbed the White Diva per the official site introduction.
- Dual-Meaning Chorus: Many, and we say many, songs in the series have these, and it will be hard to understand when it comes in audio only. The MVs give better insights into how some lyrics are written in a particular way to amplify the effect.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Cherry Hunt.
- MV-wise, Lewis joined the troupe after being sold by some adult man, and it got retconned in Hikari MV some years later. The songstress also has a more basic design, which got fleshed out more as Lilian in REVOLVER. And there are some bar girls in the opening, but not Rosetta, which are never seen again in later MVs.
- Song-wise, there is remotely nothing in the song that refers to a fairy tale, except if you count the twelve o'clock lyrics as a nod to Cinderella. Justified since this song was first conceived as a standalone song, hence its position as Episode 0.note
- The Ending Changes Everything: A rather unique example. Beast in the Beauty introduces us to Olivia and her Jerkass Gold Digger Boyfriend Alam, who bleed her dry. Thus, it was such a
Catharsis Factor to see her finally step up her game and kill him in his most vulnerable moment. Cue Magic Ring Night MV, telling about how the two met, genuinely fell in love, and separated due to their social status. It is also about how Alam fell into the trap and curse of the Ring of Spades, turning him into the Jerkass boyfriend we knew first. - Fairy Tale Motif: Each individual song is themed after a fairy tale. As well, individual characters have their own theme.
- Queen of Hearts, Cheshire Game, Wonderland in Alice, and Happy Unbirthday all have an Alice Allusion. Character-wise, so do Alicia, Lewis, Matt, and Catherine.
- Beast in the Beauty is themed after Beauty and the Beast. Except here, Olivia is both the Beast and the Beauty.
- Hikari is themed after The Little Match Girl.
- Bitter Sweet is themed after Cinderella. Alicia loses a shoe twice in the MV, and Lewis goes after Alicia at midnight after she leaves with Prince Albert. The Arc Words "midnight/twelve o'clock" also refer to how Cinderella must leave the ball before midnight, before her magic runs out.
- Magic Ring Night is themed after Arabian Nights.
- BULLET theme Rosetta and Sven after The Adventures of Pinocchio. Sven is Pinocchio while Rosetta is the Blue Fairy.
- Mermaid Theatre is themed after The Little Mermaid.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Magic Ring Night has some Arabic lyrics to emphasize the setting.
- Intercourse with You: Queen of Hearts has suggestive lyrics full of Double Entendre and rather explicit language.If you want this nectar,
Lick the dirt off my lap and show your sincerity (love)
Now give up your heart to me - Leitmotif: Queen of Hearts and BULLET have the snippet of Cherry Hunt and REVOLVER, respectively. Interestingly, both are played in the music box version.
- MacGuffin: The Royal Cards, a set of treasures from the late King to his quadruplet sons, the princes.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Some songs and MVs are framed in such a way that the fantastical portrayal of events could be what's actually happening, or it could be an extended metaphor for what's really happening. Subverted in that this is only the case if you consider the MVs on their own without accounting for supplementary information.
- Queen of Hearts has a young Alicia discovering that her mother is the titular Queen of Hearts and getting attacked by her soldiers. This could be interpreted as a young child's rationalization of a traumatic event based on her readings of Alice in Wonderland.
- If you don't know about the Royal Cards or the power of the Ring of Spades, Magic Ring Night can read as an extended metaphor about Alam's Start of Darkness and subsequent corruption of his relationship with Olivia.
- Mood Motif: Magic Ring Night establishes itself as something slightly different from the others, with a hint of a Middle-Eastern vibe.
- Music Box Intervals: Queen of Hearts and BULLET.
- One-Woman Song: Chelsea. Zigzagged as it is actually the name of the cherry blossom tree that Lewis and Alicia found, but the lyrics themselves hint at Lewis and Alicia's thoughts for each other. Alicia then uses Chelsea as her stage name in the Bar Masquerade after the tree died and was chopped due to a heavy rainstorm.
- Oddball in the Series: Royal Flash is somewhat equivalent to an opening song/number of a show, rather than a single song that narrates certain events in a particular timeframe like the others. The MV itself is more fluid and animated than the others.
- Once More, with Clarity: Latter half of BULLET shows the same scene from the latter half of REVOLVER. Overlapping with P.O.V. Sequel as BULLET tells the event from Sven's perspective about Rosetta.
- Playing Card Motifs: Going hand-in-hand with the Wonderland theme and sometimes appearing in the ending of MVs. The MacGuffin and four countries/princes also based on this, as follows:
- Ring of Spades, owned by Poder.
- Necklace of Hearts, owned by Amor.
- Brooch of Club, owned by Feliz.
- Earring of Diamonds, owned by Riqueza.
- Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: To receive the full power, The Royal Cards must be donned all at once. Using only one of them will only bring misfortune as follows:
- Ring of Spades will gain you power but lose your love. Alam (unknowingly) experienced it firsthand in Magic Ring Night.
- Necklace of Hearts will gain you love but lose your happiness.
- Brooch of Club will gain you happiness but lose your fortune.
- Earrings of Diamonds will gain you a fortune but lose your power.
- Rewatch Bonus: Despite every song having some connection to each other as a whole series, some songs are clearly designed to be a set within the series itself. Hence, rewatching a particular song after another will give a different perspective.
- Shout-Out: So far, the series has a handful of literature references as the base of their songs, with fairy tales and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as the biggest ones:
- Twelve o'clock/midnight time lyric appears a lot in the songs, a shout-out to Cinderella.
- BULLET contains references to the story of Pinocchio, with Sven comparing himself to a wooden puppet with Rosetta, his "Blue fairy", bringing him to life.
- The MV of BULLET shows a reserved "Box 5" in the bar, referencing the box reserved for the titular Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. According to the official website, REVOLVER, Phantom Pain, and BULLET are all themed after The Phantom of the Opera.
- Villain Song: Queen of Hearts, Chesire Game.
