Yui Komori is a positive-thinking girl who nevertheless is troubled by seeing spirits and experiencing poltergeist phenomena. She lives with her father, a priest, until he is called overseas due to work and she is not allowed to accompany him. Instead, she is given a certain address and instructed to go there, saying the people living there are "relatives". Yui follows her father's orders and arrives at a mysterious mansion as the address had suggested. As she discovers what's in the house, she meets the six Sakamaki brothers (Shu, Reiji, Ayato, Kanato, Laito and Subaru) who are actually vampires. In order to have some control, she requests to be able to choose who sucks her blood. As she she spends more time knowing them more, she discovers a shocking secret inside her body.
Diabolik Lovers started out as a series of Drama CDs which were developed into a otome game developed by Rejet and distributed by Otomate. It became a popular series and has spawned more games and Drama CDs, an anime series, and Character Songs, to the point where it serves as Rejet's flagship franchise.
Games in the Series:
- Diabolik Lovers ~Haunted Dark Bridal~: The first game of the series. It was released on October 11, 2012 for the PlayStation Portable.
- Diabolik Lovers Limited V Edition. The second version of the game ported for the Play Station Vita with additional content. It was released on December 19, 2013.
- Diabolik Lovers ~MORE,BLOOD~: The fan disc for the first game featuring four new characters. It was released on October 24, 2013 for the PlayStation Portable.
- Diabolik Lovers ~MORE,BLOOD~ Limited V Edition: The second version of the game ported for the Play Station Vita with additional content. It was released sometime in 2015.
- Diabolik Lovers VANDEAD CARNIVAL: A fan disc for MORE,BLOOD which featuring mini-games. Released on December 4th 2014 for the Play Station Vita.
- Diabolik Lovers DARK FATE: The sequel of the first game. Released on February 2015 for the Play Station Vita. Includes an Original Video Animation episode.
- Diabolik Lovers LUNATIC PARADE: A fandisc for DARK FATE also for Play Station Vita. Release date TBA.
- Diabolik Lovers LOST EDEN: Yet another installment of the series that adds a new vampire to the lineup.
- Diabolik Lovers Chaos Lineage: Based off of the CHAOS LINEAGE CD series, released for the Nintendo Switch.
- Diabolik Lovers Grand Edition: A rerelease of Haunted Dark Bridal and MORE, BLOOD for the Nintendo Switch.
Comics in the series:
- Diabolik Lovers YOUNG BLOOD: A three-issue mini series following the childhood of the Sakimaki triplets.
An anime adaptation by ZEXCS premiered in the fall of 2013, with a second season based off of MORE, BLOOD following in the fall of 2015. It is licensed by Sentai Filmworks for English release in December 2014.
As part of Rejet's Archive YouTube channel project in 2020, the entire first series of Otome CDs was made available for free listening, but they were taken down with the first channel's termination in 2021.
Has nothing to do whatsoever with Diabolik.
This series provides examples of:
- Actually Not a Vampire: Carla and Shin are actually not vampires as they're really creatures call First Bloods (or Founders).
- Asshole Victim: It's really difficult to feel sorry for the Sakamakis in the endings where one or more of them end up getting killed.
- Berserk Button: After Yui accidentally rips off the arm of Kanato’s teddy bear, he snaps.
- Biblical Motifs: Yui is said to be Eve who needs to pick one of the boys as her Adam.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Sakamaki brothers act cold and look down upon humans because their parents and even the family servants raised them that way. Cordelia (Ayato, Kanato and Laito’s mother) pretty much mentally scarred her children with her actions, Karl is a Chivalrous Pervert who has three wives (one part of an Attempted Rape). Subaru was scarred by his mom Rape as Backstory and Shu lost his first and last friend. Reiji had to deal with years of neglect and being completely ignored in favor of his elder brother, which had a lasting effect on his mentality.
- Bishōnen: The Sakamakis, Mukamis, Tsukinamis, and Kino.
- Break the Cutie:
- Again, the Sakamaki brothers (except Reiji):
- Ayato was forced by Cordelia to be the best and be better than Beatrix’s children (Shu and Reiji). She forced him to study really hard and instead of praising his efforts she would constantly berate him. She would sometimes physically abuse him as well for any perceived failure and throw him in a lake nearby, even though he could not swim, watching him struggle and beg her to save him. Due to this he ended up believing that he must always be the best at everything, becoming a selfish jerkass.
- Kanato was traumatized upon being forced by his mother to watch as she screwed with Ritcher. Also, due to his mother’s Parental Neglect and her sexual antics, he acts childish, needy and Ax-Crazy.
- Laito, often had sex with his own mom, who was into Anything That Moves. He grew up believing she loved him and got jealous of all the men she screwed. When Karl found out the relationship between Laito and Cordelia, he locked up Laito in the basement prison and when Cordelia came to see him, she has sex with Ritcher in front of him, traumatizing Laito and becoming a sexual deviant.
- Subaru, revealed to be a Child by Rape. Karl took Subaru’s mother Christa, forced her to become his bride, raped her and made her have a child, Subaru. A mentally broken Christa often asked Subaru many times to kill her and even gave him a silver knife, which can kill vampires. Subaru, however, never could bring himself to kill his own mother and he had to watch her being frequently abused and raped by Karl. The trauma was bad enough, and he became violent as a result.
- Shu, an Extreme Doormat since childhood, one day befriended an human boy named Edgar. Both became best friends, but Reiji, who disapproved of his brother being friends with an human, burned the whole village Edgar lived in, leaving Shu traumatized and feeling useless upon not doing anything to save Edgar. The nail in the coffin was Reiji twisting his mind by constantly telling him that because of his failure, he is not apt to be the family head.
- Bowdlerise: A very, very slight case of this happens in the Mexican Spanish dub. The voice actors have no problems using words derived from sex and excrement like the Spanish for "shit". However, due to recent Mexican laws against the use of mysoginistic language in Mexican media (including dubs), Laito's use of the phrase "little bitch/bitch-chan" is toned down to the "slightly" (emphasis on slightly, due to the very hammy perfomance of his voice actor and the tone of his voice) tamer "little vixen", which is a euphemism for "little whore" in Spanish.note Meanwhile, this is averted like hell in the Brazilian Portuguese dub.
- Broken Bird: All of the boys, once their pasts are expanded.
- Casting Gag: It's not the first time Takahiro Sakurai (Ruki Mukami) voicing a handsome vampire. Neither Toshiyuki Morikawa (Carla Tsukinami).
- Chivalrous Pervert: Karl. He even has three wives.
- Color-Coded Characters:
- Sakamaki brothers: Ayato - Red, Kanato - Purple, Laito - Green, Shu - Yellow, Reiji - Blue, Subaru - Grey.
- Mukami brothers: Ruki - Black, Kou - Pink, Yuma - Orange, Azusa - Teal.
- Tsukinami brothers: Carla - Dark Red, Shin - Dark Blue.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ayato and Shu.
- Daywalking Vampire: According to Reiji, daylight don't actually harmed real vampires in the series. The Mukami brothers shows that they are fine in the sunlight.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune:
- 真夜中の饗宴(MIDNIGHT PLEASURE)[1]
, the opening theme of Haunted Dark Bridal and 極限（UNLIMITED）BLOOD [2], the opening theme of MORE,BLOOD, were sung by the voice actors for Ayato, Shu, and Subaru respectively. - 幻日理論-Parhelion Logic- [3], the ending theme of Haunted Dark Bridal, was sung by Ayato's voice actor. 月蝕(Eclipse)[4], the ending theme of MORE,BLOOD, was sung by the voice actors for Kou, Yuma, and Azusa respectively.
- Mr.SADISTIC NIGHT, the anime's opening theme was sung by Ayato and Shu's respective voice actors.
- 真夜中の饗宴(MIDNIGHT PLEASURE)[1]
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Most of the Good Ends (except for Kanato's). They're more of a Bittersweet Ending.
- Elopement: In some endings, Yui and one of the boys do this in order to be together.
- Ruki's mother did this to be with her secret lover in his past. Of course, that meant she left him and his father on the worst day of their lives when the family went broke.
- Females Are More Innocent: Averted. While many of the female characters have sympathetic backstories, they have harmed others for their own benefits. Yui herself can also become just as bad as the boys in some endings if she's pushed too far.
- Hemo Erotic: Oh, so much! Many of the scenes have the boys feeding from Yui in sensual poses with noises to match. Case in point, Kou feeds from her from the back in one of his Character CDs, seemingly for no other reason than to have a little variety in his feeding.
- Holy Burns Evil: The reason why Yui is protected from the vampire influence and Cordelia, at first is because she is protected by the rosary she always wears.
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: The Sakamakis towards Karl. Justified, though. The Mukamis, however, are grateful for what Karl has done for them.
- Informed Ability: Played for laughs.Shu: "Because we’re vampires?"Yui: "Eh? Va-vampires?"Ayato: "Aaah. Did you have to spoil it that quickly?"
- It's All About Me: Ayato, Laito and Kanato.
- Jerkass: All of the Sakamakis, but mostly Ayato.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Reiji’s Normal End falls into this. Cordelia is defeated and Yui is saved, but her personality changes as well and becomes an Alpha Bitch, treating Reiji as her slave.
- Lighter and Softer: After Haunted Dark Bridal the games and routes ease up on the love interests abusing Yui. The series has plenty of dark and cruel moments though.
- Love Makes You Evil: Cordelia and Ritcher. In the case of the Sakamakis, it will be something more like Love Makes You Jerkass and Blood-crazed.
- Matricide: The Sakamaki brothers had killed their mothers. Ayato, Kanato, and Laito murdered their mother, Cordelia, in cold blood after the pain and suffering she put them through. Reiji sent a vampire hunter to kill his mother, Beatrix, after years of her neglecting him in favor of Shu. In some endings, Subaru granted his mother Christa's wish to die after the suffering that his father put her through.
- Oedipus Complex: Kanato. His teddy bear contains his mother's ashes.
- Orphanage of Fear: The Mukami brothers ended up in their childhood. It's also where they met.
- Our Vampires Are Different: They can age as normal humans.
- Parental Abandonment: Yui’s father abandons her at her own, forcing her to live with the Sakamakis. Also, Karl and Cordelia, towards Ayato, Kanato and Laito.
- Patricide: Carla killed his father on the request of his already dead mother.
- The Power of Blood: Yui’s blood, naturally. Read Yui's Character entry as to why.
- Relationship Upgrade: The CD series Bloody Bouquet portrays each of the vampires on the day of their wedding with Yui.
- The Reveal:
- Yui is revealed to be Cordelia’s vessel, whose heart was transplanted to Yui after Ayato killed Cordelia for good, thus the Sakamakis' attraction towards her. Ayato, Kanato and Laito are especially attracted to her because they are Cordelia’s children.
- Dark Fate reveals that Christa, Subaru's mother, is not only perfectly alive and well, but also willingly chose to be a part of Karlheinz's experiments, therefore her madness was not the result of rape, but because she realized that she was being used. Oh, and she's also Karlheinz's sister.
- Romantic Vampire Boy: The whole point of the series, and the numbers just keep increasing with each installment. Though you can make a case that the majority of them aren't all that ''romantic'", per se.
- Self-Made Orphan:
- The triplets killed Cordelia.
- Reiji had Beatrix killed.
- Carla killed his father in battle on the request of his beloved mother.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: There are many chapters that cut out as Yui and her love interest get more intimate than blood drinking, leaving it up in the air if there was intercourse or not. The anthology manga, however, tends to be more explicit.
- Something about a Rose: Christa was known as the White Rose among the vampires due to her beauty.
- It's implied that the same can be said about Yui since roses have always appeared around her.
- Son of a Whore: The triplets, Ayato, Kanato, and Laito. Having their mother sleeping around with other men, including their uncle. It also doesn't help that Cordelia often flirted with other men in front of her children.
- Soul Jar: Yui, of Cordelia. It becomes worse in Reiji’s route, after Cordelia possesses Yui.
- Tangled Family Tree: Shu and Reiji are the sons of Beatrix, an average vampire woman. Ayato, Kanato and Laito are the sons of Cordelia, a turned-vampire. Subaru is the son of Christa, another average vampire woman. The reason of this? Papa Karl was such a Chivalrous Pervert. The Mukamis were adopted by Karl when they were children, making them the adoptive bothers to the Sakamakis as well. Both Carla and Shin are cousins to Cordelia on her mother's side, making them second cousins to the triplets. Kino is an illegitimate child of Karl from another woman.
- Took a Level in Kindness: The boys still have their trademarked jerky attitudes in later visual novel installments, but ultimately they're much nicer to Yui as the series goes on.
- Token Mini-Moe: Kanato, although he is Older Than They Look.
- Trademark Favorite Food:
- Ayato likes takoyakis.
- Laito likes macarons.
- Reiji likes pasta and English tea.
- Shu likes meat.
- Kanato is very fond of sweets.
- We Used to Be Friends: Yuma turns out to be the first and only friend Shuu ever had.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Some of white hair and can be very cruel.
- Yandere:
- Kanato, which is the reason he doesn't get a happy ending.
- Reiji verges on this in Shu’s route.
- Yui becomes one in Shu's Brute Ending in MORE,BLOOD. She also becomes one in Ayato's and Kou's Manservant Ending in MORE,BLOOD and Kanato's Second Ending in Haunted Dark Bridal.
- Your Days Are Numbered: In Bloody Bouquet, Yui is mysteriously given a bouquet of black roses that curse her, spoiling her blood so that the vampires can't drink from her (which at this point, is just consensual intimate time), but poisoning her so that she will eventually die without intervention.
