First 3 images, credits to Miki for helping me make them
A otome gamer can never feel complete without drama cds. Especially for voice actor enthusiasts. And since not many people here listen to drama cds, I thought it’d be a good chance to write and introduce them to everyone. The different types of drama cds available.
What are drama cds?
Drama cds are audio dramas. Also known as situation drama CD. It’s a CD that has a recording of a story told in audio format. They can be either a first person perspective or a third person perspective. First person perspective is when the listener is the main character themselves (with and without voice depending on the type of drama cd) while third person perspective is more towards the character interactions with one another in a third person point of view.
How many types of drama CDs are there?
Up till now, there’s around 5 that I know of.
★Normal Drama CD or Talk CD★
☆Otome CD and Otome R18 CD☆
★BLCD★
☆GLCD☆
★Doujin CD★
Normal Drama CD or Talk CD
1 Shuukan Soine series (Also has a mobile app)2 Mofudol3 Colorful5
A normal drama CD or talk CD tends to be adaptations of manga or light novels or tokutens from otome games. There are also original drama cds in these formats. They include dialogues, inner thoughts of every character accordingly, narrations and follows a proper storyline. The perspective shifts from character to character from time to time. You can also describe it as an anime without images/video. Some features interactions between characters with a short and simple storyline. Tsukiuta is a good example of a talk CD especially in one of their drama CD where they act out a play named “Shunderella” or “Akazukin?”. Otome game tokuten drama cds examples Amnesia, Marginal#4, Code Realize, etc. Anime drama CD (normally original side stories) are included as talk CDs as well.
Otome CD
Accidentally all Rejet CDs1 Thanatos Night 2 Dear Vocalist3 CRIMINALE (recommendation from Klaudyna)4 Midnight Jiang Shis (if you like Diaboliks Lovers, thi
One of the few popular types of drama CDs. Many people prefer listening to otome drama cds because the listeners get the be the heroine and it’s as if the listeners are talking/confronting the character himself. They come in all varieties. Sometimes they add character songs for the listeners to enjoy. Most otome cds uses “Dummy Head Microphone” or DMH for short.
Ume's Kiss in the ear
What are dummy head mics?
Dummy head mics are microphones that is shaped like the head of a dummy. Dummy head mics have pinnae and ear canals where at the end of the ear canals are microphones. Dummy head mics are used to record audio for the listeners to listen through earphones in the dummy head’s perspective. Dummy head mics are used to make audio dramas a more realistic feel and helps to record music at a higher quality.
Tatsun trying to be funny
Suzuki Tatsuhisa and Okamoto Nobuhiko + DHM
Umehara Yuuichirou + DHM
That moment when u listen to dummy head mic
Fangirls when listening to some super cheesy drama CD
Otome R18 CD ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
1 Aka no Hanayome2 Switching3 Koibito x Nijigen4 Enemy Coupling
This genre is exactly like Otome CD but with explicit scenes and explicit genres. Like this
Tachi doing french kisses to a DHM
And the voice actors will use aliases to disguise themselves (but it won’t work coz fans are too good at picking up their voices). For R18 by Rejet or Otomate such as Wasurenagusa and Katsubo Method, there are explicit scenes but not as detail as the ones where the voice actors use aliases. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Wasurenagusa
If you want any recommendations on this genre, PM me or join the drama CD chat group. Everyone is always ready to give recommendations.
BLCD
1 Hitorijime My Hero2 Ten Count
BLCD is as the name suggests, stands for Boys Love drama CD. It’s leans towards boy-boy romance. It can be either an original BLCD or an adaptation from a manga or light novel. May or may not include explicit scenes as BL is a general term for both “shounen-ai” and “yaoi”.
GLCD
GLCD is Girls Love Drama CD. Leans towards girl-girl romance. Like BLCD, it can be original or adaptation. GL is a general term for both "shoujo-ai" and "yuri".
Doujin CD
1 Kareshi Igai2 Sugar and Spice
Doujin CD are known as unofficial drama CDs to some drama cd enthusiasts. Most doujin CD are NSFW and more explicit than the official R18 drama CDs as there is no censorship.
there are recommendations in the link above
More Recommendations:
Talk CD
1 Handsome Rakugo (uses deep Japanese so use Translations)2 Zenryoku Shounen Tachi no Outa to Toriai 3 Ouritsu Ouji Gakuen (Very old drama cd)
Otome CD
1 Youmei Kareshi2 Rencaroid3 Honeymoon 4 Theatrium (recommendation from my friend who’s more knowledgeable in drama CDs)5 Guilty7 6 Kiss x Kiss Collection
BLCD
1 Danshi Koukousei Hajimete no. series2 Escape Journey
Conclusion: Drama CDs are a sin (quote taken from Klaudyna in the drama CD chat)
Author’s note:
The reason why I made this blog post is because I can see that not many people here on Otome Amino are familiar with drama cds and from Miki’s poll, I can see that more people voted for series that they are familiar with. It’s good to start with something you know but be more adventurous and listen to other drama cd series too. I was trying to avoid adding series with KENN in them too but it backfired. I added 4 series with KENN. Good effort I guess.
If you need more recommendations, you can drop me a private message (make sure u comment on my profile/this blogpost first coz i wont recieve any message from people i dont follow) or join the drama CD chat group if you’re interested to know more. If you need drama cd info or translations, you can check out this google doc with links of useful sites that I compiled. You know you listen to too much drama cds when this happens.
PS: My BG is the very embodiment of walking down the path of drama CDs
Bonus: I wanna be the DHM