Ranked #110

Detroit Metal City

It’s about a reserved young lad, Negishi, moving to the city of debauchery that is Tokyo and fronting a death metal band, as Krauser II, even though he would rather be at home drinking green tea and listening to laid back indie pop.

It’s tear-inducingly hilarious.

DMC's humour is similar to Cromartie High School in its lunacy, albeit more traditional in narrative-stakes, and it’s also more unrelenting and risqué with its filthy potty mouth and explicit scenarios usually involving casual public simulated rape. Rape isn’t funny, but when it involves a young man dressed like an 80's prog rock gone wrong band member who looks a bit like a tranny furiously thrusting his groin against a piece of government property in order to placate his maniacal fans, well, it’s pretty damn funny then.

DMC's cast of deranged characters, animated by the ever-brilliant Studio 4c, liven up every scene they're in, thanks to each episode's short length. There are no typical anime-style long pans or random shots of furniture or scenery wasting our time. Instead we get scenes crammed with Negishi getting mistreated, usually by DMC's violently blunt dominatrix manager, although if we're extra lucky we'll also get a scene where DMC drummer Nishida opens his mouth, or the DMC S&M mascot Pig of Capitalism frolics on stage.

One of the masterstrokes of this show, perhaps the main stroke of genius and source of such mirth, is the voice acting. Particularly the pacing. The dialogue is sublime in its breezy and hushed volume; actors regularly speak in normal conversational tones, and cut each other off with off-the-cuff remarks about nonsensical things and then scenes cut away immediately without giving anyone time to breath. The ultimate affect is hilarity, as you might see in Brit comedy skit shows and such.

Detroit Metal City's secret weapon are the maniacal fans mentioned earlier. Their commentary on the main band's hijinks are comedy gold, their crazy antics all in the name of their beloved musical heroes creates most of the show's best scenes, although having said that we shouldn’t ignore the main frontman of DMC himself, whether its Negishi or Krauser we're watching, his two identities continually spiral further and further into increasingly awkward and humiliating situations, that usually involve simulated rape and assault.

If any criticism could be thrown at DMC, it would be that the show doesn’t seriously explore the concept of losing your sense of identity when you're fronting such a ridiculous band, but then any focus on such an admittedly good topic as that would have robbed the show of precious laughs and scenes of humiliating sexual harrasment so in the end comedy wins over gravitas. read more

Alright, so this here is my first review on MAL. I'll try to make it a good one. As you can see, I'll be reveiwing Detroit Metal City.

I'd like to apologize in advance for how long this will be...

Let me say first off that if you think you will be offended by off - color humor and swearing, run away in panic now, as this show is not for you. It is filled with swearing, rape jokes, drug references and other implied naughtiness. It is not serious, of course - it is comedy and there is no nudity and little violence to be found here.

The story follows Souichi Negishi, a boy who, having recently graduated music college with the intent on forming a fashionable pop band, somehow finds himself as Johannes Krauser II, the demonic lead guitarist and vocalist for death metal group Detroit Metal City. The show is episodic in nature, so much so that they will often fit two short stories about the titular band into a single 15 minute episode. Don't expect too much in the way of an over - arching plot; it's almost a slice of life show in that respect. Despite being a comedy, the creators actually bring some interesting themes to light, such as conflicting split personalities, although they don't really develop them.

The characters are all good, though nothing to write home about. They seem to be almost charicateurs, in that they are fairly normal people, but exaggerated to the point of comedy. The only character who recieves any development even remotely is Negishi, as he does grow somewhat, his two personalities almost mixing together during the course of the show. Of course, it's to be expected when you can watch the entire series in about two and a half hours. That is my main problem with the series - it could have been much longer, as it does feel a little short. On the other hand, Negishi is actually fairly complex from the beginning, as he has some definite elements of schizophrenia, which provide some hilarious scenes as his two personalities show themselves in the wrong places.

The art is...interesting. The characters are somewhat flat and cartoonish most of the time, though there is the occasional scene where the animation is nothing short of stunning. The frame tends to change in size from shot to shot, presumably to create some kind of effect. You may find it irritating at first, but you'll quickly stop noticing it as you get caught up in the humor and the music.

This, of course is the series' main strength. How could it not be, as this is a show about music. There is a fairly high range of music, including pop, punk, freestyle rap and death metal. The songs are all original, unless I am much mistaken. Please don't expect too much in terms of song lyrics, though, as this is a comedy and all of the styles are exaggerated - the metal songs are filled with so many gruesome and offensive themes that it just becomes ridiculous and funny rather than brutal (as was the intention), while the pop songs are cheerful and cute to offset this.

I am a fan of death metal, and can safely say that this is not actually death metal. It's actually pretty good, but the creators likely wanted to appeal to a broader audience, so there is no growling or shrieking to be heard in the metal songs. DMC's music, I would say sounds more like evil KISS, which is suitable given that the name of the band is taken from a song by KISS (Detroit Rock City).

It would have been nice to see a few more references to other musicians. They do mention Sid Vicious, but no one else gets a nod. I also found it strange that they didn't mention Sweden or Norway, the respective homes of death and black metal. They also mention 'the violent American death metal scene'. Aside from Florida, there really isn't a death metal scene in the US at all. Ah well.

Actually, this show reminds me of an American cartoon, Metalocalypse. It's similar, as it's about a super - popular death metal band with rabidly idiotic fans, though of course the band members are all idiots. I'd suggest you give it a look if you enjoyed DMC (or the other way around). Just be warned that it is very, very bloody.

My only real grievance with this show is how short it is - it is only 12 episodes, each of which are only 15 minutes long, The series does feel far to short, and you'll probably wish there were more.

Please feel free to give any feedback! read more