Genre: Adventure
Developer: Light
Publisher: MangaGamer
Release Date: Dec 19, 2017
Edited by KnightAvenger
Novels where the powers of the supernatural are unexplained have never been my forte; usually, due to these ideas, you cannot explain with logical thoughts. What happens when the past and present collide together through story and visuals to tell this exact type of story? You get the interesting and slightly confusing case of Dies Irae 18+. Dies Irae 18+ is an action, fantasy visual novel developed by Light, released by MangaGamer that, while its core concepts of battle, storytelling and unique characters are an interesting prompt, leave us with some elements that are not so well designed.
Starting from the beginning of the timeline, Dies Irae 18+ throws the reader into a war-torn world during a version of World War II, leading into the present, which, while I enjoyed the shift in the story pretty frequently, left some confusing plot points. We, the reader, start off in a prequel story during 1945, where we follow some German soldiers and a master sergeant named Walter Gerlitz, who is on the move with those who remain in the city of Berlin. Walter is quickly left alone and, in his time of need, something shoots down from the sky, leaving only char and ash in its wake. The man (or child, in this case) responsible is known as Schreiber, a sergeant who died prior to this point and has now returned with the ability to absorb souls into his eye patch. Walter quickly dies, his soul being absorbed, as we are told of others like Schreiber, such as a woman who can wield fire the strength of nuclear bombs and a man who can punch tanks down with just his fist. We are then cut to two men, talking to the citizens and soldiers who remain as they take their lives and their souls join a grand army of sorts, before saying one last goodbye for six centuries, taking us to the now present time of 2006, where an eruption of fire from a cave blasts out in Japan and a single man comes out from the blaze, greeted by a young woman. This ends the prologue and begins our main tale, as we follow Rin Fujii two months after a fight with his now former best friend Yusa Shirou, as he tries to return to a normal life when he starts seeing visions of a mysterious blonde haired girl named Marie, with what seems to be a severe mark on her neck after visiting a museum and seeing a guillotine. Rin’s life quickly reverses, though, as the days that follow force him to accept this guillotine and its curse to protect his friends, later the world, from being “cleansed.” I will end the synopsis here, as to dive much further in, storywise, is very spoiler heavy, but I will admit this story took me by surprise with how much it twists with each chapter.
Dies Irae 18+ is far from a perfect story, however, in regards to how it is presented and later explains many of the events from the past and to come. The first issue is how Rin actually deals with the weapon at an initial glance. The idea that Rin now has this guillotine attached to his body in spirit does not really kick in until later chapters, where an enemy (of all people) has to remind him that his weapon was made for execution, seeking blood, and he will never be strong enough to fight his enemies in the future without accepting this fact. It’s one of those details that, while it seems important, goes over his head until he starts getting the urge to behead his own friends. My other issue lies in how the novel tries to explain the events of the past, with little pointing to the future of this until later in the story. The prologue beautifully sums up the events prior to the main story, even pointing out that they are waiting for the new destined to be born in six centuries, but then the main story kicks in and the presence of these newly reappearing people are barely explained, as if they came in sometime after with little to no pretense behind them. It just felt like an off choice in storytelling in the end.
While the differences between Dies Irae and Dies Irae 18+ are far and few between, there are some I do want to point out that do make this version rather unique. The first thing is that, in some scenes, the 18+ version actually shows full nudity, such as in some of the boss fights. This was honestly a minor thing in my opinion but it does look much better than its more friendly counterpart. The sex scenes, for good reason, were honestly a welcome change of pace, as it made the novel feel complete and broke up much of the unneeded tension in some parts of the novel. The characters in these scenes felt natural, reacting in good sense and honestly, while it was not the best, does hold up well.
With descriptive flair and sound, the presentation of Dies Irae 18+ is one where the detailing was on point with some minor issues in the combat scenes and some, on occasion, lackluster music. Visually, I found Dies Irae 18+ to be well presented, using an anime style of art but not going too over the top crazy with it, using just the right amount of detail. The backgrounds, for the most part, were nicely drawn and detailed to bring the story one step closer together; especially, when you’re talking, it shows the guillotine change during the novel’s start from being clean to very bloody, a sign of the story change. The character art was presented well, with the female characters (in this case) not being too oversexualized, as they were fairly covered throughout most of the novel, the times they weren’t being used for specific scenes. The only problem I honestly had with the visuals was the combat scenes where they were using their weapons. The actual scenes where you see them with the weapon are a feat in itself to watch, but here, you get black images with just colored marks to indicate the weapon being used. It would have been cool to have just seen these get swung around by the actual characters, instead of shapes representing the type of motion you would see with the weapon.
With a nice classical ring to it, the soundtrack of Dies Irae 18+ played as a carrier of a story, not just a set piece. Musically, I have to give credit, as I feel like the music was well placed to act as both a warning of change and a mood setter. The classical tones did have some help from more modern instruments, like the guitar and drums, but kept a heavy tone of the piano and winds as its base, letting it act as a set piece, alongside an attention grabber. The sound effects were another thing altogether. The sound effects, in most novels, are there to act as small bites adding to the overall feel, whereas here, they take the stage but it doesn’t always work. Sometimes, the effects act as they need to, giving a blood pumping sensation with the clangs and swooshes as added flair, whereas others, they overtake the scene and become an annoyance in their own right. It just felt like a lack of balance in the long run, not something the developers intended.
Overall, I found Dies Irae 18+ to be a great experience all around with a few problems scattered about that ranged from minor to bigger issues but never really hindering the overall story, awesome soundtrack, and interesting characters. The solid writing, decent storytelling, interesting and unique characters, well-detailed anime-themed presentation, excellent fighting scenes, well-used adult content and excellent soundtrack made for a novel worth fighting to save the world.
Pros:
- Solid writing across the board
- Decent storytelling to match it
- Some of the more interesting and unique visual novel characters
- A nicely played and detailed anime theme all around
- Some really good fighting scenes
- Adult content that fit the novel well
- An excellent soundtrack overall
- Multiple routes to complete
Cons:
- Some story explanation issues
- Adult content may lack for some readers
- Weapon combat scenes could have been more visual
- Sound effects overtake some scenes
DarkLunarDude gives Dies Irae 18+ a Drastik Measure 8.3 out of 10 (83)
For the price of $39.95 (USD) on MangaGamer, I can recommend Dies Irae 18+ to those seeking a unique adventure, fantasy novel with some adult content sprinkled in to add to the mix, considering the hours of readability to get through all the routes.
