Detroit Metal City: Birth of the Metal Devil [Special]

Before the twelve vulgar humored episodes of the original video animation series were released, Detroit Metal City had its very first special episode on July 11, 2008. The special is entitled Detroit Metal City: Birth of the Metal Devil with the genre of Music, comedy and some slight romance, which the protagonist struggles with most of the time. Similar to its original series, Detroit Meal City: Birth of the Metal Devil is 13 minutes long, produced by Studio 4°C, and even has the same opening theme song “Satsugai” which was composed solely for the series. Detroit Metal City: Birth of the Metal Devil serves as a pilot or introductory episode for the whole animated series.

Detroit Metal City is an indie heavy metal band which name is based on the real-life American glam rock group, KISS. Similar to the real life band, Detroit Metal City’s members wear heavy makeup of white and black that fill up their faces. This serves as a mask to hide each member’s identity from the fans and to keep their personal lives private – that of which Negishi, the leading character, is thankful for. In addition, the band’s name is based on one of KISS’s single entitled Detroit Rock City.

Both the opening and closing theme songs of the series were purposely composed for Detroit Metal City itself. The opening theme song is entitled “Satsugai” (Translated “Murder” in English) which is sung by Johannes Krauser II (Tetsuya Kanmuri). The closing theme song, on the other hand, is entitled “Sweet Lover” by Souichi Negishi (Hideki Kaji). Although they are a fictional band, Detroit Metal City has also released a few more singles such as “Maoh” and a few more others.

Plot of the OVA

In Detroit Metal City: Birth of the Metal Devil, it begins with the main protagonist, Souichi Negishi, wondering where everything had gone wrong. As he is in one of his fan-filled concerts, Negishi reminisces of the past. When he first moved to Tokyo five years ago, Negishi had never imagined being in a band like Detroit Metal City, and never did he even want to be in a band who sang of murdering and raping while hitting a man-slave called as a pig.

Negishi, despite the fact that he does not really want to be in the type of band Detroit Metal City is, actually has a major role in the band. While on duty, he hides under the identity of Johannes Krauser II or, as fans call him, Krauser-sama. He plays as the vocalist and guitarist of the band. To add to the irony, most of the songs by Detroit Metal City were actually composed by Negishi himself – with a little help and lyric adjustment from the Death Records President of course.

As Krauser, Negishi is both very violent and vulgar. He likes to add in profanities in his words, even if it seemed unnecessary, and most often loves calling people pigs. But, Krauser not only comes out during concerts. Unfortunately for Negishi, there are times more than he counts wherein he had to become Krauser outside of a concert. Each and every time is different from another and can range from dealing with really wild fans in public, TV shows where becomes a guest, and when Negishi cannot control his emotions, especially anger.

Although his persona of Krauser is aggressive and violent against anyone in his path, Negishi is the exact opposite of this. One example of this is when he apologizes to the man hired as the capitalist pig, Keisuke Nashimoto, every time a concert ends. Despite knowing the fact that Nashimoto was hired for that exact role and being told by his band mates that he was instructed to hit him harder, Negishi still argues with others that he could not treat an innocent man in such a cruel manner. To his dismay, Nashimoto was actually an M-man, or a masochistic man, who actually enjoys being abused by others.

To add more oil the fire, Death Records President – the manager of Detroit Metal City, barges into this conversation and tells Negishi that his performance was half-assed because he did not hit the man hard enough. In his mind, Negishi still did not want to change his lifestyle just for the sake of Detroit Metal City.

Even though Detroit Metal City was already gaining a lot of fans and making some huge money, Negishi still did not give up on his original dreams. When he first came in Tokyo, he moved in with a beautiful dream in mind. A dream which he planned on becoming reality. It was for him to become a music pro and form a stylish pop band in Tokyo. He planned on having a band which created music similar to his favorite pop artist, Kahimi Karie, who gives off good vibes and makes one imagine Paris or any other beautiful places in the world.

During night time, Negishi goes out with a guitar to the busy streets of Tokyo to perform. Negishi usually does three performances a week, and during these performances, he usually sings songs which he composed himself. Unlike the songs of Detroit Metal City, the songs which Negishi performs on the streets talk about love, the beauty of life and optimism, containing lyrics such as “My Sweet Lover” or “People are so beautiful.”

But despite his efforts of standing out in public and playing his heart out, nobody stops by to listen to him. This does not discourage Negishi though as he is still positive about the future and hopes that he gains enough fans so he can quit Detroit Metal City someday. He even dreams that one day, his songs would be used in a PARCO commercial.

On one of his performances, a group of Detroit Metal City fans starts playing their songs very nearby. Unlike Negishi, the group is getting noticed by other people, either being loved by other fans or being commented as noisy by people who pass by. Because of the number of people, the group is gathering, Negishi cannot help but wonder to himself why the copy-band group is attracting such a big crowd, while he who is playing originals is struggling to get even one person to stop.

Negishi then becomes more determined and plays his music despite the loud noise the copy-band group was creating. While playing, he becomes distracted, losing the feeling of his original sweet song, and after hearing a couple of fans comment how his music sucks, the Krauser inside Negishi becomes triggered. He runs off to a nearby public toilet and hurriedly changes into Krauser because he conveniently brought his outfit and makeup. While changing, he growls how the fans have a nerve for calling him fake.

As if he were possessed by a ghost, Negishi completely loses himself when he wears the outfit and makeup. His personality changes into the abusive, rape-loving Krauser the Detroit Metal City fans come to idolize and love. Although he may not seem like it, Negishi is actually sensitive when it comes to comments comparing him and Krauser. But, this radical transformation of persona does not only happen when he changes into Krauser.

In on unfortunate time, Negishi had encountered trouble with some fans in a local CD store. After work, he decided to look up some Kahimi Karie CD’s when he met Yuri Aikawa, a very close female friend in college whom he has feelings for. While being immersed in a conversation with her, the heavy beats of Detroit Metal City’s songs start playing inside the store which Aikawa commented as the music she did not like. Becoming defensive, Negishi starts rambling how he agrees with her and that Detroit Metal City’s music was horrible.

A group of very dedicated fans then overheard Negishi’s remarks and threatened him that if he did not do an air guitar the same way Krauser played, they would murder him and Aikawa. In an attempt to protect, and most likely impress, Aikawa, Negishi starts doing the air guitar to the song. Slowly, he becomes lost in the music and his personality transforms into Krauser. As he is doing the air guitar, in his thoughts are memories of his graduation in college and separation with Aikawa years ago.

On the day of their graduation, Negishi had wished to confess his feelings for her, and now that he was filled with adrenaline, he feels that he is ready to tell her right there. Having the worst of luck, Krauser has fully taken over Negishi. Instead of telling Aikawa how he really feels about her, he calls her a pig and tells her that he will rape her. This causes Aikawa to run away from him and Negishi feels miserable.

Negishi swore to himself that he will really find a way for his pop star dreams to become real so he could finally stop being part of Detroit Metal City. The funny thing about Negishi, however, is that even though he dislikes the music Detroit Metal City makes, he cannot help but get heated up and excited whenever his music gathers up a huge crowd.

CHARACTERS

Souichi Negishi (voiced by Daisuke Kishio), the male lead role of the series, is a young man who, after graduating from college, has become the vocalist and guitarist of a band whose genre is opposite to what he loves. He comes from the countryside of Ota Prefecture and moved to Tokyo about five years ago in order to build his dream of forming a fashionable pop band.

He has a calm and timid nature, always finding the good in everything. Negishi is peace-loving and prefers not to treat people like animals. The music which he really enjoys is the type that Kahimi Karie creates. In contrast to his real personality, his alter-ego, Johannes Krauser II (voiced by Yuji Ueda) is the opposite. Krauser loves to use vulgar words, often talking about raping, murdering and calling people useless pigs.

Both as himself and Krauser, Negishi is proven to be a very talented musician. He is able to compose songs which match his and Krauser’s persona. Moreover, he is very good at guitar to the point that he can use his teeth to play music with it.

Wada Masayuki (voiced by Yuto Nakano) is the bassist of Detroit Metal City and is a ladies man. In the band, he is known as Alexander Jagi.

Nishida Terumichi (voiced by Makoto Yasumura) is the band’s very silent drummer. He does not very often, but when he does, he is likely to talk about curry or naughty things. His alter-ego in the band is Camus.

Yuri Aikawa (voiced by Masami Nagasawa) is Negishi’s female friend in college. She is Negishi’s love interest and loves the same music as he does. She disapproves of the music Detroit Metal City makes and labels Krauser as the worst in particular.

Death Records President (voiced by Ai Kobayashi) is a seemingly older woman who manages the band and their promotions. She, just like Krauser, is very vulgar and often uses profanity when speaking.

Keisuke Nashimoto (voiced by Takashi Matsuyama) is a man in his middle age who is hired to be the band’s “Capitalist Pig” whom Krauser is assigned to abuse.