summary: “Detroit Metal City” tells the story of Negishi Soichi, a recent college graduate with a very gentle personality who dreams of one day becoming a kindergarten teacher and living an ordinary life. But life didn’t exactly go that way, and Negishi now finds himself moonlighting under the pseudonym Johannes Krauser II, the lead guitarist and vocalist for death metal band Detroit Metal City. It’s hard enough trying to hide this unusual lifestyle from his family, but to further complicate matters, Yuri Aikawa, a girl he had a crush on in college, is back in his life, making it even more important that she doesn’t discover his Crowther alter ego.
type: comedy
company: Studio 4°C
Format: 12 OVAs.
date: August 8, 2008 – October 28, 2008
Where to buy: Amazon (affiliate)
Highlights
comedy: There are some odd moments, but overall it’s consistent and effective.
Rhythm: combos, which means there’s rarely a dull moment.
manager: Shocking, yet hilarious.
Art: Has a comic style.
romantic: Kind of pointless.
Detroit Metal City Review
detroit metal city An unrelenting spoof of the death metal genre so off the beaten path that it becomes a brilliant parody. There’s not a single highbrow joke to be found, but it’s executed very cleverly. Don’t expect a plot either, which is dominated by its satire of the death metal genre and humor derived from the Negishi-Crowther character duel. The result is a highly entertaining series that gleefully pushes parody of the death metal genre to its extreme, leaving no stone unturned in its attacks on the genre.
detroit metal city By taking one of the most demonized musical genres and undermining it through its ridiculous depiction, it satirizes music itself. The music is filled with profanity, and the lyrics describe behavior that would be disturbing to anyone with puritanical views. But through the series’ use of exaggeration, the parody becomes palpable and delightful, revealing death metal to be a hollow, harmless genre that’s designed to make money through sheer shock value. Look out for DMC’s hilariously over-the-top lyrics (one of the songs is about killing and raping one’s parents) and song titles, including the hilariously titled “Death Penis,” to get an idea of just how deeply this series mocks death metal.
But a more important reason to read lyrics carefully is to understand another aspect of the song. detroit metal city Comedy: The conflict between the Negishi-Crowther characters. Throughout the series, Negishi attempts to compose stylish yet campy pop music, but to no avail, a frustration that wouldn’t be too humorous if it weren’t for the fact that his music became the source material for many of DMC’s songs. The series cleverly juxtaposes Negishi’s lyrics with DMC’s, and a quick comparison of the two sets reveals that DMC’s hilariously evil lyrics were inspired by Negishi’s original compositions. So seeing the way his original lyrics were twisted to fit into DMC’s idioms elicits a lot of laughs, especially considering how shocked Negishi was by the messages contained in DMC’s music.
Naturally, this internal conflict between Negishi’s gentle personality and his angry Crowther alter-ego makes for a bit of schadenfreude, as how shocked Negishi is by Crowther’s behavior and how his attempts to control him fail miserably. Furthermore, DMC’s vociferous fans didn’t do him any favors by stimulating his Crowther part, and in doing so, added to Crowther’s legend by having him perform stunts that were reinterpreted to catapult Crowther to godlike status. Of course, DMC’s foul-mouthed manager’s reaction to DMC’s music and behavior deserves special mention. I’ve never seen anyone master so many ways to describe female sexual arousal, each one more outrageous than the last.
as i see detroit metal citymy thoughts keep coming back to Monty Python’s Brian Life Because the two are so similar. Both feature protagonists who are less than comfortable with their fate, and while they struggle with the world around them, their efforts are in vain, but the comedy is downright hilarious. detroit metal city Definitely not with Brian’s lifebut it does come pretty close, and it’s really fun to watch with plenty of laughs from beginning to end.
grade: very good