[Drama CD] Corpse†Heart 5th Night Ness – Summary & Impressions

****SPOILERS AHEAD****

Label: Rejet
Release Date: 22nd November 2017
Cast: Ishikawa Kaito (石川 界人)
Official Site

This is the 5th volume of rejet’s Corpse Heart drama CD series; this volume focuses on the argumentative, kuudere wratih Ness.

Track Listing

1. 黒ノ霧
2. 赤ノ月
3. 復活祭のヒミツ
4. 黒魔術
5. 信じてる
6. キャストフリートーク

The first two tracks are songs & the CD’s total runtime is 35 minutes.

Our story this time begins with the heroine finding Ness in some tower on campus, when questioned as to what he’s doing he replies that he’s been fighting with his classmates again and is laying low. He says that the only one he cares about is the heroine. She remarks that he’s changed since they met and he concurs that she has too – she knows that he and everyone else in the school is undead but it doesn’t seem to even bother her. He said that it would be normal to get scared and run away from him. He agrees that the undead do look similar to humans on the outside and goes to say something else but drops the subject. The heroine brings up the upcoming Easter Festival and Ness suddenly remembers that it takes place the following day so asks her to stay over at his house that night. She thinks what he’s saying is weird but Ness reminds her that they’re dating so surely spending the night at her boyfriend’s house isn’t exactly considered strange. He asks if she really doesn’t want to go, even if he asks her to stay. She agrees so he takes her hand and they head home.

At his house, she ends up sitting in the corner which annoys Ness so he pulls her over to him, asking why she’s blushing so much since it’s not her first time over at his house. She replies that it’s because she’s never stayed over before and Ness quips that if she’s going to act like that then she won’t be getting much sleep tonight. He tells her not to worry about the festival tomorrow and proposes that they skip school. He goes onto explain the secret behind the festival – that it is the one day of the year when the undead have a chance to come back to life by stealing the heroine’s heart, aka the “Jewel Heart”. He apologises for not telling her before but it’s one of the school’s top secrets, however since all of the students will be after her he wants her to stay by her side so he can protect her. She says that she’ll be fine going to school, to which he gets angry, reminding her that literally everyone will be trying to kill her. She then replies that she’ll be fine because she’s already given her heart to him. Ness gets flustered,  says that she can be too honest at times and admits that he too wanted to obtain the Jewel Heart and return to being a human but says that he’s changed and wants to live together with the heroine forever so asks her for the Jewel Heart. She replies that it’s his to take and Ness asks if she’s sure before thanking her, telling her he loves her, promising that they’ll find happiness together and finally kissing her…

The CD continues later that night with Ness asking the heroine if she’s still having trouble sleeping; it turns out that she’s curious about how he became undead and he admits that he’s never told anyone that story. He begins by saying that he became undead after trying to kill himself and that before dying and coming to the school he was locked up in his own house for many years. As it turns out, he was abused by his family and at first wondered why he was the only one being treated in that way but as the violence continued numerous times he still loved his family, even if that meant losing his heart and accepting his punishments as they still showed a kinder side by praising his singing. He would wait for his parents to come home every day for many years.

His family’s justification for his punishment was that there was an evil demon inside of him and that being locked away was the only way for him to keep himself safe and that the beatings were his burden to bear. He realises that the “darkness” was just an excuse, their way of justifying their cruelty but could never accept it as such since he wanted to believe that his family did love and care about him. However, on the night of his 17^th Birthday, he kills his entire family and tries to kill himself. He believed that they would all move onto another world, one where they could re-do everything and he would be loved by them again. However, he woke up later as a wraith, unable to die and join his family. Once he realised that he would never see his family or be loved again he falls into a deep despair. However, all this changed once he met the heroine – someone who loved him – and decided that he wants to live again as a human by her side. He gets embarrassed and tells her that it’s time to go to bed but agrees that he’ll tell her more of his story another time. He tells her goodnight and kisses her.

The next day, Ness tells the protagonist that her brother Aron recently told him about a kind of black magic that uses the Jewel Heart in order to turn someone back into a human. He says that he’d like to try it out and starts the spell. The room gets enveloped in a dark cloud and after it dissipates, Ness starts acting very strangely and laughs because the heroine is worried about him. He pushes her down and delights in her terrified expression, telling her that she’s now his prey. He asks her if she still doesn’t understand what’s going on and explains that his usual “self” has already disappeared and he’s now become a demon. He reminds her of the story he told her the night before about his past and about the fact he was called a demon by his family. He explains that this wasn’t a lie and that he was born with two different “souls” in his body – the kind Ness she knew and the “demonic” Ness standing before her now.

He continues by saying that normal Ness never noticed but demon Ness had been inside his body from the start. Thanks to Aron telling him a fake spell, demon Ness was able to be freed. The spell Aron taught Ness was not one for turning an undead into a human but was a spell to destroy one’s soul. Ness is delighted that his weaker self has disappeared so he can finally be free. Although he doesn’t know Aron’s reasoning for teaching the wrong spell, he simply doesn’t care. He scoffs and says that he’s sure the other Ness’ soul has disappeared and has absolutely no intentions of returning to how he once was. However, promises to show her a good time and grabs her, saying that since he looks the same on the outside, surely she shouldn’t have a problem? She pushes him away and tries to run, Ness follows after her shouting that there’s no point in running to the school looking for Aron since all of the other students will get her first. She tells him that she intends to find her brother and he tells her good luck because she’ll need it.

The heroine makes it to school and is searching for her brother when she’s surprised by Ness, who asks if she’s found him yet. He explains that it’s super easy to find her since she’s the only one with a heartbeat in this world. He then asks if she knows where she is and she replies that it’s Aron’s room but it appears he’s not at home and Ness then asks why she’s reading a book. He laughs when he realises that she’s searching for a spell to save the other Ness and demon Ness laughs and tells her that an idiot like her has no chance so she’d be better waiting for Aron to return, although he’s probably too busy out looking for her. He asks why she’s so keen for the other Ness to return, although he does remember that he’d promised that they’d find happiness together. He pushes her against the wall and says that he’ll give her until the stroke of midnight to search but when she finds out all of this was for nothing; she should become his for eternity, especially since she’s his prey and he’s more than happy to hunt her.

Fast forward and the heroine is still searching for a spell and Ness laughs over the fact that Aron never came to save her and reminds her that her beloved’s soul has disappeared and will never come back. The clock strikes twelve and Ness says time is up, and as per their bargain, it’s time for her to be his plaything for eternity. He then laughs, saying that he’s sorry that he couldn’t keep his promise to find happiness together…

 

OH GOODNESS this CD pained me, I made the mistake of listening to the songs first (as per usual) and was dismayed to hear the usual betrayal stuff so had pretty much written off Ness’ CD as filler but it was actually really good? Ness is the only guy so far who hasn’t downright deceived the heroine and I actually cried when it was revealed that the spell erased his soul. Poor Ness, he just wanted to be loved 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I mean, looking at this CD objectively, the family problems are definitely reminiscent of Diabolik Lovers and him actually killing his family doesn’t exactly make him an angel (although it is probably justified and Ness really only wanted a chance to re-do everything) and the whole “evil twin” type idea isn’t exactly novel but I still really enjoyed this release, even if I never got a happy ending.

I’m a big fan of Ishikawa Kaito anyway but this CD honestly had top-notch voice acting, with the first half being very emotive and Ness playing to the Tsundere/Kuudere trope which is one of Ishikai’s real strengths. However, the second half playing “demonic” Ness is also very well done! It’s been a while since I’ve heard him voice someone so unhinged(?) but he did an outstanding job and the last line was honestly so perfectly delivered!!! His cast commentary is actually the shortest in the series because he just flies through the questions so it wasn’t *quite* as bemusing as the others, sadly 😦

Final Thoughts

My Score: 6.5/10

Well, this is easily my favourite of the Corpse Heart CDs so far and is actually a fairly good drama CD in general. While I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who wants a happy ending, it’s definitely worth a listen for those interested in a more tragic ending and for fans of Ishikawa Kaito who truly delivered here. The songs from this series continue to be pretty good and fans of rejet’s usual style of music will probably enjoy these too~

In terms of the series as a whole, I’m glad that we’re finally getting Aron’s volume next! I’ve had it pre-ordered since the start of November so it’s fair to say I’m pretty hyped! The amount of things they’ve been hinting at with him is really incredible for such a short series and I hope his CD lives up to my (admittedly high) expectations…
After listening to Ness’ volume I really want a sequel with happier endings so hopefully something gets announced at rejet’s January event or at the special Corpse Heart talk event in Feburary (although that’s only going to last like 30 min so there’s probably not enough time to announce much). I’m quite amazed at how strangely attached I feel to this series, even though I think half of the CDs are kinda “meh”.

Thanks for reading!