Drama CDs

Crossworld AllStars
This is probably the very first instance of Sotsugyou M in dramatic form. It's a CD from a live event focusing on the various Sotsugyou generations (largely female) but also introduces the M characters in their most basic, raw forms (and the seiyuu as well, of course!).

Crossworlds
This is, I suppose, M's proper "debut". No, in fact, I'll rephrase that. In terms of M as a unit, it is their dramatic debut, and the first E.M.U single was released not long after. It is perhaps because of this incarnation of M as much as anything else that Nakamoto wound up playing guitar like his Seiyuu Kanna-san, since the two things do seem to go pretty hand in hand.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time explaining what the boys were crossing "from", except to say that Sotsugyou M was originally a dating sim aimed at teenage girls on the Playstation. In itself it was spawned by the dating sim "Sotsugyou" which featured female characters. Although I'm reliably informed by those who know much better than me that there were novels and other bits and pieces associated with the female side, I haven't really pursued it so I can't be specific about what was available. What I do know, however, courtesy of this better educated fan of the Sotsu world is that the surnames the boys use are the same ones used by the original female sim characters.

Crossworlds has pictured a lot of girl characters on the back of the disc, but only the M boys on the front. Yes, the art is a touch odd. The pictures for the bios inside are somewhat better on the whole, however, and include information introducing the characters, photos of the seiyuu with signatures, the character's name and a brief handwritten message.

The key thing about the M boys in this disc is that it is not the same M as appears in other media. The characters are somewhat different, and so is the setting. The boys are still pupils at the Seiryuu Academy, however they are not in the dorms until they are forced to become boarders in order to resolve their varied "issues" in school life. (Things like grades, social inadequacies, etc etc). They are forced to cooperate with one another and the end result is that they form a band - "M".

In this incarnation, Nakamoto's language is not formal at all (this actually made me stop and blink, when he told Takagi to shut up, and so on and so forth...LOL...it seemed like Nakamoto on angst overdrive). He's much more obsessive about his grades, somewhat harsh in his manner - but rather than being the clumsy social reject that he is in the manga etc, he's much more sang-froid and dismissive of his companions. Mikimaro's relationship with his parents is stronger, he's "homesick" and the others seem to be somewhat "picking on him" at times, treating him like a little kid. Arai calls Mikimaro "Shimura". Yuusuke's sports spread over several different interests, not just basketball...Takagi has a part time job (modelling, probably) so the others all try and cadge money off him for food and stuff. Takagi himself is pretty...er...well, if Nakamoto is sang-froid, Takagi is ten times as bad. I understand a little better Okiayu-san's live drama performance at the first live now - this Takagi has no interest in other people, their needs, their interests...but unlike the solitary guy from the manga, he's actually quite unpleasant to begin with. He and Nakamoto have a very heated, snarky conversation in the library which sums this up, with Nakamoto angsting over keeping hold of his top placing over Takagi, and Takagi snidely pointing out that - when they are called to the staff office - his name was called first.

There are some amusing moments also - such as Katou's desperate quest to get anyone to lend him underpants (long story) and the boys' interesting instrumental capabilities. It ends with Takagi thinking that he's maybe been too naive in assuming this band thing is going to be easy...;)

I like this CD - and have written about it in depth simply because it is so different from the others. But I'm glad that the final continuity was somewhat different..LOL :)

The CD features four actual drama tracks and music (instrumental) which may or may not have come from the PS game. It was released in 1995 with an introduction inside the front cover from M creator Arisugawa Kei.