Spotlight Anime: Detroit Metal City MAL Series Information Page: Detroit Metal City MAL Score - 8.59 (by 5354 users) Ranked - #44 Popularity - #326 For the next week I would like to have a discussion about the series that focuses on the key elements that we here on MAL use to critically rate an anime: Animation, Sound, Characters, Story, and Enjoyment. I would like everyone to approach this thread as if you were going to write a review and structure your initial post like this: Animation - insert rating Sound - insert rating Characters - insert rating Story - insert rating Enjoyment - insert rating Animation - discuss any pros and cons of the animation styling used in the series, try to include some specifics. Sound - describe any of the things you liked or didn't care for in regards to the music and sound effects used in the series etc... If you are having trouble writing up a review or coming up with specific pro's and cons, please don't worry. Just do the best you can with it and if you can only write two or three sentences about any of the 5 elements then that's OK. Not everyone here is currently at a level which will allow them to articulate their thoughts and opinions. After your initial post is made you can feel free to civilly discuss issues of contention. I am sure there will be many opinions expressed here that some of us will disagree upon and criticize and it is for that reason that this entire club exists. So I hope everyone has fun and I am really looking forward to watching this discussion unfold. RESULTS OF THE CHALLENGE YOU DECIDE POLL: 06/11/2014 - Yes: 18 - No: 16 - I haven't watched this anime: 15 ~ Abstained: 2 ~ Ineligible: 0 Detroit Metal City was REMOVED from the club Anime list - 52.9% |
TruePeinSep 1, 2017 11:39 AM
| One of the funniest anime I've ever seen. Unique, crude, slapstick humor done completely right. Also the over-the-top stereotyping is brilliant as well. Art/Animation - 7/10 Good for the style of humour and anime, though nothing groundbreaking. Very simple overall, though Studio 4C did a good job. Sound - 9/10 One of the best contrasts ever with the OP vs the ED. Plus all the songs by Detroit Metal City (I downloaded the "album") are great metal tracks. BGM doesn't really come to mind at all, though thinking back to it, the focus shifted constantly between crazy voice acting and songs, and back again throughout each episodes, so there was not that much need for BGM. Voice acting, by the way, was great. The voice acting for all the band members + the manager is great, same with the fans (particularly the random fan screams and such). Other characters are fine. Story - 7/10 Not much happens, but it's extremely engaging, and the various situations that Krauser finds himself in are holyshit. Great variety. Character - 10/10 Fuck yeah. Enjoyment - 10/10 Laughed my pants down. Definite yes. Amazing comedy. I'd give it a yes for the crudeness alone. |
| Some jokes got stale after a while (the manager getting wet being one of them) and it might not have the depth of SZS. That doesn't matter much though, since it's hilarious most of the time and a spot-on parody of the metal scene (and other music styles as well). Undoubtedly one of the best comedy animes out there, almost impossible not to enjoy. 8/10 and yes. |
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| 9/10 Krauser is <3 An hilarious portrait of the metal scene. And quite accurate as well. Besides that, the debate Negishi vs Krauser, the unfortunate man trying to balance between two characters and coming out as a whole new person. Either the agressive and unpatient Negishi or the sweet Krauser, the situations are all fantastic. If the dilemma of having a double personality would have been explored this would not be so good. I watched this quickly (in like 2 hours when my class was cancelled) so nothing ever got old. The music is quite nice, either DMC or Tetrapot, it adds to the humour of the dilemma. Also, Tetrapot is a brilliant name in a way. x) Absolute yes. |
 Waratte Oemashou Sore ha Chiisana Inori |
| Animation - 6 Basically just a manga put in motion, nothing special at all in the animation, but it worked. Sound - 7 While the music does it's purpose, it's not really actually "good", just like most other anime soundtracks. Although I've called a music elitist several times so perhaps this is just my personal problem. The chorus of Satsugai is somewhat catchy I guess, but besides that it's really only the lyrics that cracks you up, the music never really stands out. What also bugged me is that sometimes when Krauser was just playing at some random occasion rather than playing songs with the full band, the guitar was just nonsensical and had absolute no coordination with whatever Krauser was actually doing. Sometimes the guitar plays itself too. Characters - 6 They're extremely flat and stereotypical to maximize potential gags. Nothing wrong with that. Story - 6 Well nothing really happens. Enjoyment - 10 I did laugh my ass off though. But one of this shows main advantages is it's short length. Overall - 7ish I'll vote no, though I wouldn't mind it getting in. |
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| raperaperaperaperaperaperaperaperaperape. Yes. |
| Animation - 7 The animation itself was pretty lacking, but the art style I really liked. It seemed quite clearly inspired by Mike Judge and Beavis and Butthead. It's a little crazy to me that I think this is a good thing, but it really does add something special as a bit of a frame of reference. As a matter of fact, I think that the animation was rather rudimentary in that mid 90's cheap way also. Things were jerky and lacked a lot of fluidity, but on the flipside, this style is a perfect match with the pace of the comedy. Because this is a series of OVAs, it's hard to tell if this was a conscious artistic decision or budgetary restraints. With that said there was really no drop in the animation at all, so I'd wrack it up to a bit of the both. Sound - 8 The voice actors all do a very good job of capturing the comedic essence of their characters and don't ever disappoint in delivery. The best job is by far done by the actor for Negishi (not Krauser) not just because the nervousness and anxiety in his voice was always hilarious, despite what he was saying; but also because of his singing voice. What is ultimately very interesting about the music to me was that the parody pop music was so undeniably catchy that I found myself really liking everytime that Negishi would bust out his acoustic guitar. The metal is not my cup of tea, so I really can't say left or right whether or not it was good. What I will say is that the crafting of one of the pop songs into its metal counterpart was very well done. Characters - 8 The characters are archetypes that aren't found very often in anime, much less comedy, so the use of them especially as main characters is very refreshing. That said, because the show is about Negishi as Krauser, there is little to no development done for any of the supporting characters. For a slapstick comedy, I think that there is a good bit of development for Negishi who struggles with being tossed into the opposite genre of his choice. There are a couple of episodes that hilariously yet poignantly deal with his resolve to hold the mantle of Krauser, and they were quite unexpected. Beyond that the characters serve their purpose well, if not a little to redundantly. Story - 7 The story is basically this: Negishi makes a fool of himself differentiating Krauser from his daily life, often in interference in his romantic aspirations for Yuki; Krauser has crazy antics onstage and with fans; and here and there, the double lives that DMC fans lead. Most of the story in each episode is focused mainly on the first element, which is a shame, because certain jokes quickly got old after the third episode, and could have had the edge taken off of it by the third element, which went rather unused despite having some very funny moments. Enjoyment - 9 Had it not been for the blatant overuse of jokes, this could have been a ten, but I specifically remember wanting to fast forward through certain parts because it just felt like a copy/paste of dialogue with different scenery. Despite that, I laughed good and hard through much of the show, and for a comedy, this is rare. Overall - 8 Detroit Metal City is a very good comedy series that I hope has redefined some of the conventions of anime in the execution of comedy. The pace never really let up for a second with quick dialogue and running through gags and punchlines at rapid succession. It never relies on the expectations of jaded viewers for moe fanservice or generally overused gags (even if it did overuse some of its own). DMC may be remembered and copied for years to come. |
| It has moemoe! Do not forget Krauser-tan! ^And the brilliant/worst part about this is that it exists in real life |
Waratte Oemashou Sore ha Chiisana Inori |
| Lol, I totally forgot about that. |
| YESRAPEYES. |
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| Poor, well-meaning Negishi so often is more or less forced to become what is his antithesis personality-wise that he starts mixing up both personae at the most inopportune moments and generally digging his own grave, only being saved by either having his audience believe his completely nonsensical explanations or having them make up those explanations themselves. That's it, the only joke Detroit Metal City possesses. Regardless of whether it's in itself funny or not, the show uses it again. And again. And again... Ad nauseam. Though some of the situations Negishi manages to get himself involved in are mildly entertaining in their sheer ridiculousness, the fact that the exact same joke is used once more makes for a show that very quickly becomes tiresome, even given it's very short length, meaning that, starting at around episode 3, one starts looking for something else that may hold some interest, but there's really nothing to be found and nothing that picks up the show when it starts staring repetitiveness in the face. DMC attracts by being completely over the top, but what fun can be obtained therefrom can only last for a short while, meaning that I actually considered it a show that became utterly boring and really nothing worthy of induction. |
| You do not beg the sun for mercy. |
| DMC is singular in it's ability to make me burst into a fit of laughter. If you found it mildly entertaining by the beginning, it is expected to get boring as it goes along even if we are talking about 2.5 hours of animation at total. By the time I came to my senses to notice it getting repetetive, I was upto -home visit- episode. Half of it's comedic aspect draws from the very first source of comedy in cinema, slapstick. A good portion of anime makes heavy use of slapstick, infact it's how general audience sees japanimation: chibi, big eyes and lots of slapstick. Physical comedy of DMC doesn't involve a complex design, it is only as interesting as situational hilarity denotes it to be. But it's good to note there is a refreshing fast motion animation style. I find the little amount of commentary on music industry and connection of audience satisfactory. There are a few shows out there of the ones I saw Nodame Cantabile, Nana and Beck which are directly related to music. Each has a good level of drama involving the machinery of show biz or art scene(which is interchangeable most of the time). But they stop short of commenting on the specific genre of music they took as a subject. In the end it's all packaged as -that beautiful music- whether it be rock or classical music regardless of the social and historical significance. DMC's music is at the extreme end of the spectrum. I've been a metal head, so I can relate to ridiculed stereotypes (except the producer who was a total caricature). While I can come with a number of examples otherwise, it's hard to tell DMC is far from the legacy of average death metal band. The attitude, mythos (which is exploited to full in the later episodes) and audience reaction makes a good note how it all works. In their frustration of life people are driven to channel excessive hatred of the system and this age through grotesque fantasies of grandeur and potency. The show even goes on to build a lapse between social function of death metal and punk in an episode. |
SpunkieNov 18, 2009 9:52 PM
| In Riemann, Hilbert or in Banach space Let superscripts and subscripts go their ways Our asymptotes no longer out of phase, We shall encounter, counting, face to face. |
ladyxzeus said: Definitely not. It is intended to be seen as a joke taking elements from a supposed metal scene, but by no means it is accurate. The Metal scene is infinitely huge and Detroit Metal City plays with some mainstream aspects of the tip of the iceberg. An hilarious portrait of the metal scene. And quite accurate as well. That's a natural perception from outsiders on the "Metal" scene, so that point of view was to be expected. Just wanted to make that clear. Sorry for the offtopic. |
RobdeFR said: ladyxzeus said: Definitely not. It is intended to be seen as a joke taking elements from a supposed metal scene, but by no means it is accurate. The Metal scene is infinitely huge and Detroit Metal City plays with some mainstream aspects of the tip of the iceberg. An hilarious portrait of the metal scene. And quite accurate as well. That's a natural perception from outsiders on the "Metal" scene, so that point of view was to be expected. Just wanted to make that clear. Sorry for the offtopic. Who told you I'm an outsider? x) You see, the caricatures are "accurate". I've been to concerts just like those, with fans just like those and I found it truly fantastic that they were able to portray that. In fact, I went into the 2metal" scene when I got into college (more like hardcore and stuff. And I still don't own those boots...). But since I never knew what I was going to watch every time I went to an underground concert it would be a new surprise. In a way I'm an insider with the spirit of an outsider, because I never bothered to understand what was going on (simply tagging along is easier and funnier). In DMC all the fans are the one crazy fan I found in each concert I went to (there is always one...) It's like all of them were brought together by DMC, and that's fun to think. Maybe that's why I found it so hilarious, because I found real people inside the oversized stereotypes. It's like the creators are indeed inside the scene but can observe it with a clinical eye. I can't help to think that everything that happens in DMC was actually a real moment that the creator once saw. |
Waratte Oemashou Sore ha Chiisana Inori |
| While extremely hilarious, nothing about Detroit Metal City strikes me as something I would vote for. Virtually none of the characters are developed which, I suppose you could argue was never the intention. The jokes also get repetitive and the last few episodes after the Tokyo Tower incident are no where near as good as the ones before. I can't really comment on if it is an accurate depiction of the fans of Metal or not. But, it seemed believable to me. |
| "Yes, I have been deprived of emotion. But not completely. Whoever did it, botched the job." - Geralt of Rivia |
| OK, I know this was permanently inducted since before I even joined the damn club, but after finishing it and reading the spotlight, I had to make a rebuttal. santetjan said: Poor, well-meaning Negishi so often is more or less forced to become what is his antithesis personality-wise that he starts mixing up both personae at the most inopportune moments and generally digging his own grave, only being saved by either having his audience believe his completely nonsensical explanations or having them make up those explanations themselves. That's it, the only joke Detroit Metal City possesses. Regardless of whether it's in itself funny or not, the show uses it again. And again. And again... Ad nauseam. Except that no, that was not the only joke. The other key part of the comedy is parodying EXTREME metal bands and their over-the-top stylistic choices and attempts to be grimdark, by taking them outside of their own context. The best examples of this are by far the Tokyo Tower episode, the funfair episode, and the finale (in particular the fans focusing on who can pronounce "FUCK" better). Unfortunately, that's only in play some of the time, and most of the time that DMC is funny it's relying on that. It is, just as often, very unfunny, relying on little more than over-the-top excessive swearing (and also, the manager, who was the worst thing about this series). When it's good, it's gut-bustingly hilarious, but when it's bad, it can be pretty cringeworthy. Overall, though, I did enjoy it, and it's brevity saves it from being average or lower. I pretty much watched the whole thing in one sitting. I give it a 6/10 overall... and had I been around at the time, I would most definitely have voted no. |
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