Detroit Metal City

Detroit Metal City strikes a bizarre balance of the cringeworthily unfunny and the gut-bustingly hilarious.

This short, 12-episode OVA which will henceforth be abbreviated to "DMC" for convenience's sake, revolves around Negishi Souchi, an aspiring musician fresh out of college who has moved to Tokyo with a love of catchy, lighthearted European pop music. However, due to a misreading of his lyrics, he has accidentally ended up as the lead singer of death metal band Detroit Metal City, who are the antithesis of everything he stands for, using the alter-ego of Johannes Krauser II, a psychopathic omnipotent devil-creature who murdered his parents and raped them. In ... that order.

DMC's humour tends to come from three things. The first is Negishi/Krauser trying, and failing, to balance out his two lifestyles and stop anyone from finding out who he really is, and this is about as unfunny as it sounds. This whole idea has been done to death before, and was not ever really all that funny in the first place. To make matters worse, this is basically the entire joke. None of the variations on it really change what's supposed to be funny about it. And it is repeated ad nauseam throughout the series.

The second of these is how over-the-top everything is, in particular the ridiculous song lyrics and excessive swearing throughout. These are initially funny but wear off pretty fast... and this only applies to the funny song lyrics. Excessive swearing just isn't funny. There is also one character, their manager, who is the worst thing about the whole series. The entire "joke" of her character is that she says "cunt" a lot and gets sexual thrills from music... and I'm not sure how that was ever supposed to be funny. It's just disturbing and used entirely for cheap shock factor.

The third, however, is what saves DMC and then some: the parody aspects. DMC is at it's absolute funniest whenever it is making fun of death metal. Partly this is just by how utterly silly DMC's lyrical content is and what utter caricatures it's fans are, but the best moments of this happen by contrasting the legacy behind the band members and their fandom's insane worship to what is actually happening. The best example by far involves Krauser humping Tokyo Tower with a crowd of onlookers treating it as though it were an amazing spectacle of a satanic ritual... all while you're very aware that it is literally just a man in a silly costume humping a tower. Or, for another example, a contest of who can pronounce the word "fuck" best, made so much better by how dead seriously everyone takes it. The real cherry on top is simply how oblivious everyone is to how far DMC has descended into self-parody.

The characters from DMC are basically nothing special. They all fill their roles fine, but that's about it, with a few exceptions from Negishi when he gradually slips into Krauser mode.

The music in DMC impressed me, because aside from it's silly lyrics, the music is actually the kind of thing you could imagine people buying into, which is something of a refreshing change considering you see many anime about music with very amateurish music quality. This isn't even restricted to just DMC's music, either. Some of Negishi's pop music is genuinely catchy, and some of the background music is good too, if infrequent and unlikely to catch your ear in favour of "Satsugai".

The animation isn't particularly high-quality, but if it was, it would probably just have been out of place. It has a much more stripped-back feel to it that's reminiscent of many 90's American cartoons, which is really just as well because it'd fit in nicely with some of MTV's cartoon titles of the day. It also plays around with framing a lot as well, only filling up around half or so of the screen a lot of the time, and often expanding as offscreen characters talk so as to bring them into view. It doesn't really add all that much in the long run, but it's a nice touch nonetheless.

In most cases I'd call something like DMC fairly average, with the good cancelling out the bad. However DMC does have something else going for it that makes it an exception: it's short. Clocking in at only 12 episodes, each of which are only half the length of a regular TV broadcast episode. The entire series runs around 2 and a half hours, around the length of some movies, and with it's fast pace in hand you can easily knock it out in a single sitting. It's brevity saves it from outstaying it's welcome and repeating itself too much, which it most likely would have done if it had run any longer than it did.

Overall, DMC is hit and miss, but if this seems like something you might enjoy then you've not got much to lose.

Final Words: If you've got a couple of hours to kill and want a quick fix, I'd probably recommend this.

Story/Plot: 5/10
Characters: 5/10
Animation/Art: 8/10
Music: 9/10
Acting: 6/10

Overall: 6/10

For Fans Of: Dead Leaves, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

I really love the story of DMC and so far it's been great.

What gets me about the show is that it really just takes the images from the manga and adds movement to them. I don't know how standard this practice is because I haven't seen a ton of anime, but it there was nothing new to the show from the manga. I understand that the manga is the anime's source material, but at least some production value and giving the show some decent animation would have made it tons better for me.

DMC is, as a whole, just like any other generic 12 episodes Romantic Comedy, but it has at it's favor the fact that is more unique and distinguishable, making it actually memorable for the viewer.

What i mean by this is that in a structure and story point, DMC is just an episodic comedy series centered in Heavy Metal parodies and embarassing situations for the Main Character. It's plot is super basic, there is no clear message or goal, but in the end, it's not pretending to have it or looking for one. So there isn't any Character arc or much progress, because it's only focused ... on the comedy.

The difference between DMC and any other rom-com is that it's far more unique. It's not about school or romance, it's about complete madness and chaos and Extreme heavy metal parodies. It's super fast paced, but it add to the madness tone of the series. The comedy works really well and it's clear what is going for. It has 2 stories per Chapter, making it really light and enjoyable to watch.

The vaguest aspect of this series has to be the Animation. It's clearly going for a Manga/comic style and the animation is super basic and static, but it doesn't ruin anything at all. Also the Heavy Metal music is great and super fun. It does makes you laugh most of the times with how extreme and stupid the lyrics are.

Overall, is a very light and fun series. It's not pretending to be more than a dumb crude Comedy, and it has a premise and humor that makes it distinguishable from the rest. A funny and memorable OVA series that is not going for more than that.

Detroit Metal City was a neat experience. Can't really use any other description that will live up to that 8.10 MAL score. I thought that Detroit Metal City was funny at times, but having a score that high is funnier than the show itself. By the way, I might be switching back and forth between "Detroit Metal City" and "DMC" throughout this review. If I'm referring to the anime itself, I'll say "Detroit Metal City." If I'm referring to the band, I'll say "DMC."
Souichi, our main character, is a sweet young man. I'm assuming he's in his early twenties based on context clues. He moves ... away to Tokyo to achieve his dreams of becoming a musical sensation. He will take the world by storm for his love of Swedish pop music. However, that doesn't happen at all. Instead, he goes to the wrong music producer, and his musical career takes a 180. He becomes Krauser II. Destroyer of worlds and murderer of parents. He's done all the drugs, fucked all of the holes, and chucked every CRT out of every hotel window. There's also Jagi, the bassist for DMC. And Camus, the drummer. I'm sure there is someone out there who legitimately cares for these characters. I'm not one of them. They do, however, have their fair share of funny moments. Jagi is a playboy, constantly hitting on women. And Camus is a weird, perverted freak who mumbles his words. They're only like this in their personal lives.

Detroit Metal City heavily relies on crass and vulgar humor. I've noticed in more recent years that some people label Detroit Metal City's sense of humor to be offensive. Some see that as a positive thing, and some don't. Some of these people can't handle certain words being said out loud. Despite the fact that words have no real power unless you give them power. Words and language are completely made up and mean nothing unless you give them meaning. The reason why the word "Fuck" is considered to be such a bad and taboo word is because we made it that way. In reality, it has no real meaning and was made up by some douche who is probably dead. Or it probably originates from some Germanic word that I'm not aware of. I mention all of this because some people have a problem with Krauser's "Ten Vocialized Rapes in One Second." Essentially his signature. And a bunch of other bizarre rape jokes spread throughout the series. They're not that funny, but they don't bother me either. Characters also say "Fuck" a lot, and that's the punchline. Usually a joke in Detroit Metal City boils down to a character overusing the word "Fuck." That's all. Who cares. This especially applies to the final episode, and the manager of the band. She doesn't have a name, by the way. They just call her "Manager" or "President" and nothing else. Or maybe she does have a name and I already forgot it. And sorry about my unusual take on language. That went on for a while. My personal issue with the comedy is that this style of humor just seems shocking for the sake of being shocking. Which I guess you could argue that that's the entire point of Detroit Metal City. However, the show's attempts at humor are so try-hard and forced that most of the time I don't even end up laughing. Humor is subjective blah blah blah yada yada yada, we all know. You could also make the argument that Detroit Metal City's humor is so exaggerated because DMC themselves are an exaggerated version of a black metal band. I don't know. I Just found the humor lame. I can think of a few other shows that also have a similar style of humor. Like Panty and Stocking. Does nothing for me. I'm sure people love it, but I'm too jaded to actually care.

Another part of the show I haven't mentioned yet is that Souichi has an old friend from his hometown. Her name is Aikawa. She is the textbook definition of pure and innocent. She isn't aware that Souichi is Krauser, so many jokes and scenarios are just Souichi protecting his alter ego. These jokes are fine, but I'm not in love with them either.

This next part of the review is very frustrating for me. I had already written an entire part ranting about DMC's manager and how she was voiced by Yuu Kobayashi. APPARENTLY, SHE ISN'T. I had just made the assumption without checking, but one day I decided to make sure I was correct. It's not Yuu Kobayashi at all. It's a completely different seiyuu who has the exact same last name. Ai Kobayashi, who sounds identical to Yuu Kobayashi. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!? I understand that names can get very repetitive in Japan, but the fact that I was convinced she was Yuu Kobayashi for weeks, an entirely different seiyuu with no relation or connection, is hysterical. Man, I'm so embarrassed and upset. Most of what I had written doesn't apply anymore. I went on this long diatribe about how people love Yuu Kobayashi and how she's hysterical. I was of the same mind about seven or eight years ago, but now I find her sense of humor to be very scatological and obnoxious. She just screams like a maniac most of the time, and people eat that shit up. However, I guess this particular case applies to Ai Kobayashi. Her performance was pretty obnoxious. Her character in this anime is bizarre. I'm positive that 50% of her dialogue is her talking about how DMC's music makes her pussy wet. Usually, I would be on board with a character like this, considering how often I talk about and mention the word "pussy" in my reviews. Regardless, I found her dialogue rather tiresome and annoying. It's never funny after the first time. Sorry.

There was one joke I can remember off the top of my head that did make me laugh. DMC were in the middle of making they're debut album and Souichi was getting many letters from fans. Souichi reads a letter from a specific fan who is ill, and has to get surgery. This fan talks about how he's excited for the DMC debut album and wants to listen to it after his surgery, but there's a good chance that he might die if it fails. Souichi is moved by this letter and visits the fan as Krauser. It's a sweet scene and one of the few moments of the show where Krauser's soft side is displayed. He even brought him a basket of fruits. The emotions are building up, but it's revealed at the end of the episode that the fan was getting a circumcision and lied. That was hilarious. Can't believe I fell for that. Also, unrelated to this episode, but the song title "Fuckingham Palace" is fantastic. It's a song made by a completely different character and band, don't worry about it.

Visually, Detroit Metal City is essentially a moving manga. It doesn't bother me, but the characters in motion look absolutely goofy and ridiculous. The character designs are not my cup of tea either. Some of the background characters are a little ugly, but I don't mind. The show, in general, looks silly. The only outlier would probably be the OP, which is one other positive I will mention. Satsugai is a great song, and I would highly recommend listening to it if you haven't. The OP is the only well animated part of this entire anime. Go figure.

Overall, I thought Detroit Metal City was fine. Entertaining, but fine. It was never as funny as people made it out to be, and it was on my watch list since 2016. I mostly wanted to get it out of the way, but I was expecting so much more. This is another reason why you shouldn't trust MAL scores, kids. They're usually a little overblown and deceiving. And hey, if you hate this review, don't worry. Always remember that human language has no meaning. Language is just a human construct. So if you hate this review, it means nothing :^)

I hope I made this review long enough to turn people away. I hope no one reads it. It's not great, but I'm going to upload it anyway. Happy Halloween. :)

6.66 out of 10. Hail Satan.