Anime Review: Detroit Metal City

Sorry for the lack of a post last week. My computer gave me no end of grief as it decided to just stop working until... well... it decided to start working. I really have no idea how else to describe it. With that, and the fact that after it started working I had an online class to take, and I finally gotten one of my life long goals accomplished; finally being able to play Shining Force III, I really didn't get around to actually sitting down to write a review. Anyway, this week, I had a choice between which anime to review, either it was a magical girl show about friendship or it was a show about a death metal band who's motif is killing and raping, and so I decided to go with the anime that didn't leave me feeling completely depressed. Thus, I present to you Detroit Metal City! (In case you where wondering the Magical Girl anime was Puella Magi Madoka Magica.)

Really? White Face paint? Couldn't you try to be original?

Soichi Negishi is your average down on his luck musician. He loves his family dearly, he wouldn't hurt a fly, and he has a love for cheesy pop songs about love; however, he is stuck in the role of Johannes Krauser II, lead singer and guitarist for the indie death metal band Detroit Metal City. This foul mouthed supposed demon spawn is well known by his fans for killing his parents, raping anything that could potentially be raped, and his wicked "10 rapes per second" feat. It goes without saying that Soichi hates his day job, but can't walk away from it because of the success of DMC (NOT to be confused with Devil May Cry), his real passion doesn't get him anywhere, his manager won't let him, and even if he ever told anyone about they would either hate him for the actions of his stage persona or just wouldn't believe that such a tender quiet boy could ever be the Demon Emperor of Darkness. What is Soichi going to do when he can't even tell where he ends and Krauser begins.

It's been done already....

Detroit Metal City can be best described as a screwball comedy. Not only do you have the juxtaposition of the main character's duel personas, but you also have the outrageous escalation of events that quickly spiral out of control and that often ends with Krauser supposedly raping another inanimate object. Add to this Soichi's manager's strange obsession with gauging the success of Detroit Metal City's performances with her current levels of arousal (You'd be amazed at how many different ways she can say "This makes me wet"), the dry and rapid pace of the dialogue, and that every single action Soichi does (even unintentionally) somehow becomes lore in the legend of DMC, and you have one really REALLY funny series.

Because every Death Metal band needs their own sex slave.

DMC does have it's fair share of problems. One is that with the rapid pace of the dialogue there is a lot of information that is thrown at you that you'd have to catch. It doesn't help the fact that this is a Sub only series, which means that unless you are use to reading subtitles, a lot of the dialogue is going to pass you by, and even if you are use to subtitles it's still going to be difficult to follow. The series is also really short, only having 12 episodes that only go on for 12 minutes each, although if any episode went any longer the gag would probably be ran into the grown by that point. But this does leave a few things unexplored. Like many series I've covered there really isn't an ending to the series, it just kind of stops, and there is one thing I really would have liked to see. See, partway through the series, DMC goes to have a "Battle of the Bands" against a few different bands, including an American Death Metal singer. And even though we saw Death Metal get crossed with Punk and then Rap, we didn't see Death Metal get crossed with cheesy pop. What the hell? The series was asking for that since the beginning. It would have been hilarious. Oh well.

At the end of the day, Detroit Metal City is a really REALLY funny series that goes on just long enough without overstaying it's welcome. While it probably won't be something you see more than once, unless you have friends who haven't seen it yet, it is a series that you won't forget. Highly Recommended.

Until Next Time.

-Crescent, "Someone is using DMC without your permission."