This is Krauser II, the hottest death metal star in Japan at the moment, the lead guitarist and vocalist for Detroit Metal City. Not ROCK City, METAL City. This is important.
This is Souichi Negishi, the man behind the furious mask of Krauser II. Yes, he is playing an acoustic guitar. Yes, he is singing a love song.
I don’t think I’ve laughed that much in thirteen minutes and forty seconds before. And I hate death metal music. That probably makes it better. Much, much better. Although I could go with an anime that parodies power/folk/symphonic metal, although I think in some instances that just parodies itself and it all starts looping around in a complicated mess and then I give up and go listen to Sound Horizon some more.
Actually, I think I laughed more at Detroit Metal City episode 1 than I did for the entire run of This Is Spinal Tap (“It goes to 11” and Stonehenge notwithstanding, of course; not that I didn’t like This Is Spinal Tap, because I did like it immensely), despite the fact that Spinal Tap is actually good horrible awesome music, and Detroit Metal City is, admittedly, not, although I will say that the lyrics themselves are hilarity. I’m not entirely sure about its status next to Metalocalpyse, as I haven’t bothered to visit the esoteric ranges of Dethklok yet (because I don’t have Cartoon Network and am lazy, that’s why), but I’m pretty sure even Metalocalpyse can’t hold a candle to this. It helped that I saw this image beforehand, though.
The basic premise is even more ludicrous given Studio 4c’s reputation for visual flair (very, very few scenes in the first episode ever occupied the whole screen) and an enjoyably fast-paced and snappy dialogue. When coupled with some of the more ridiculous situations one can get into (for instance, a group of DMC fans trash-talking Negishi because he plays “crappy music”, since when he’s off-stage and out of makeup no one can really tell that Krauser II is actually Negishi, making for hilarious situations), and a running theme of mocking the debauchery of the age and how humans have forgone love and flowers in favor of really loud music that involves lots of screaming and also the complex theme deaing with the on-stage and off-stage personalities of famous people (I am, by the way, making all of these up, because the real purpose here is simply to make you laugh until you cry, and then laugh some more). The best part is Negishi trying to make it with the girl he’s always loved, who shares the same music taste with him–including his distaste for DMC’s music, which, of course, he wrote himself–and failing, because the shadow of DMC hangs over him like an ominous pendulum in an Edgar Allen Poe story.
I’m not actually sure I can say much more about Detroit Metal City that hasn’t already been said before, but I implore, nay, abjure, anyone who found Spinal Tap or Metalocalypse even slightly amusing–if one was really bored on a Saturday night and didn’t have the usual supply of sexy, easy, and above all naked women to make sweet, passionate, and enjoyable (for at least one party) rape to–to watch (and probably immediately locate the manga of) Detroit Metal City.
It’s that awesome.
Anime wa Bakuhatsu da! 