# Detroit Metal City



## Warpticon (Oct 14, 2008)

hisis a currently-running anime series about a weak, sort of feminine guy who wants to be in a trendy pop band, but somehow ends up joining a death metal band called Detroit Metal City. Some of the funniest shit I have seen in a *really* long time. 

crunchyroll - Detroit Metal City - Episode 1

There's ep 1..you can watch up to ep 8 there. Just....avoid the forums and comments unless you want to laugh. Strictly for viewing.


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## Sepultorture (Oct 14, 2008)

it's like the japanese dethklok LOL


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## Warpticon (Oct 15, 2008)

Sepultorture said:


> it's like the japanese dethklok LOL



That comparison gets made a lot, haha.


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## Lucky Seven (Oct 15, 2008)

I didn't really like it. It just wasn't that funny to me.


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## Demeyes (Oct 15, 2008)

Lucky Seven said:


> I didn't really like it. It just wasn't that funny to me.



+1
I saw this before and I was really not interested in it. It seemed really stupid to me, and I love stuff like Dethklok and some other childish anime stuff.


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## Naren (Oct 15, 2008)

I haven't seen it (and I don't have time right now to click on the link), but I have read some of the comic. A live action movie version of it just came out (I think this month).

Even though they say "death metal," the band members look like they're from KISS and the music sounds like mid-tempo hard rock with Gackt-style vocals. That, however, is not limited to this comic. Most Japanese who hear the term "death metal" either have no idea what it is or imagine hard rock with KISS-style visuals. I have no idea why, because that image was around before this comic came out.

I've been wanting to take a look at this, but I haven't had a chance. The bass player in my band is really into the comic series. The humor is a kind that can be hard to understand if you don't understand Japanese popular culture (and overall culture), which pretty much no one understands who hasn't lived in Japan.  I do like the humor because it is just a really over-the-top tongue-in-cheek kind of thing. It has a lot of playing around with words which would make no sense or wouldn't be funny at all when translated into another language (lots of puns and uses of words that aren't funny what they mean but are funny how they sound).


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## SnowfaLL (Oct 15, 2008)

isnt there a DMC movie, with Marty Friedman in it?? I wanted to check it out for that reason.. haha.


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## Naren (Oct 16, 2008)

How do you watch the videos? I can't find any actual videos on the site. All it does is take me to a screen with a screenshot from the video. I did everything in the help file, such as installing the latest version of Flash and trying it out in Firefox...


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## Warpticon (Oct 16, 2008)

NickCormier said:


> isnt there a DMC movie, with Marty Friedman in it?? I wanted to check it out for that reason.. haha.



I don't know about Marty Friedman, but I do know it has Gene Simmons. 

As for the lack of display...i dunno. Maybe it's doing that "you need an account" thing. I don't know what the restrictions are there. It's weird.


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## Naren (Oct 16, 2008)

Warpticon said:


> As for the lack of display...i dunno. Maybe it's doing that "you need an account" thing. I don't know what the restrictions are there. It's weird.



But I have an account. That was the first thing I did.


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## Warpticon (Oct 16, 2008)

Naren said:


> But I have an account. That was the first thing I did.



THat shouldn't happen, then, unless you're not logged in. Weird. Restart browser, maybe?


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## Naren (Oct 16, 2008)

No, I was automatically logged in from the moment I "joined." Restarted browsers, tried on two different computers, and tried with 2 different web browsers.

I just gave up and downloaded the episodes (I live in Japan, but it's not illegal, I guess, because the show has only been on TV for a few months and no DVD has been released yet). The show is pretty hilarious, but not as funny as the comic series, which is even more extreme than the TV show (if you can believe it) and even a little more off the wall. The bass player for my band got tickets for the premier of live action version of the movie.

I do find it hard to believe that someone who listened to trendy French and Scandinavian pop and semi-alternative music could write metal riffs, super offensive metal lyrics, and sing them in that kind of style. But, then again, the entire show is a complete joke, making fun of pretty much everything (you'll notice that they make fun of his trendy side just as much as they make fun of metal).


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## Warpticon (Oct 16, 2008)

Naren said:


> No, I was automatically logged in from the moment I "joined." Restarted browsers, tried on two different computers, and tried with 2 different web browsers.
> 
> I just gave up and downloaded the episodes (I live in Japan, but it's not illegal, I guess, because the show has only been on TV for a few months and no DVD has been released yet). The show is pretty hilarious, but not as funny as the comic series, which is even more extreme than the TV show (if you can believe it) and even a little more off the wall. The bass player for my band got tickets for the premier of live action version of the movie.
> 
> I do find it hard to believe that someone who listened to trendy French and Scandinavian pop and semi-alternative music could write metal riffs, super offensive metal lyrics, and sing them in that kind of style. But, then again, the entire show is a complete joke, making fun of pretty much everything (you'll notice that they make fun of his trendy side just as much as they make fun of metal).



Weird on the technical difficulties. Oh, well. And it's really hard to imagine more extreme + off the wall, but I guess that means I'll need to check that out, too.  I've probably watched the trailer for the movie 20 times now. Lyrics to the song at the end are too good.


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## Naren (Oct 17, 2008)

I like the songs, mainly because of how hilarious they are. On the animated TV show, the songs are basically metal mixed with hard rock. For the live action movie, the music is pretty much just hard rock with no real elements of metal at all.

I don't own any of the comics, but the other guitarist in my band has every volume that's been released so far (part of the reason why I've read about 2 volumes of it so far). He said, "Yeah, it's definitely not death metal, but it's the most hilarious comic series out right now." I've been meaning to pick some copies up myself at a used book store, but I've been forgetting.

I'll have to watch the live action movie before I give it any of my opinions, but I'm assuming that the comic series will still be the best, followed by the animated series, and last by the live action movie.


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## Warpticon (Oct 17, 2008)

It's amazing how faithful the movie is in terms of appearance.


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## Naren (Oct 17, 2008)

Gene Simons plays Jack in the new movie (Jack is the retiring American Black Metal emperor that supposedly has this Satanic guitar owned by this dude who kinda resembled Chuck Schuldinger). Somehow all the guitars in the series look like Gibsons, though... SGs, Vs, Les Pauls...

I went to the rental shop and rented a few DVDs and I found out that actually some DMC DVDs just got released recently. They had volume 1, 2, and 3 in the "New DVDs" section, with 4 episodes per DVD, so I rented Volume 3.


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## HamBungler (Oct 17, 2008)

This show is awesome! I haven't laughed so hard in a long while.


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## Sepultorture (Oct 18, 2008)

i watched and laughed but i hope they release an english dub of this


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## Warpticon (Oct 20, 2008)

Sepultorture said:


> i watched and laughed but i hope they release an english dub of this



I'm certain it'll eventually get a domestic release. I can't even imagine what it'll sound like dubbed.


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## Naren (Oct 20, 2008)

Warpticon said:


> I'm certain it'll eventually get a domestic release. I can't even imagine what it'll sound like dubbed.



I'm sure the level of humor would go wayyyyyy down, considering that at least half of the jokes are based off of puns or of how silly certain expressions sound. A lot of the jokes aren't even remotely funny meaning-wise, but are hilarious by how they're said. The trendy French music-loving cafe-going types that the comic series makes fun of so much probably will be lost on most Americans (and definitely on Europeans) because there is no culture for that in the States (and even less likelihood of one in Europe).


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## HamBungler (Oct 20, 2008)

Naren said:


> I'm sure the level of humor would go wayyyyyy down, considering that at least half of the jokes are based off of puns or of how silly certain expressions sound. A lot of the jokes aren't even remotely funny meaning-wise, but are hilarious by how they're said. The trendy French music-loving cafe-going types that the comic series makes fun of so much probably will be lost on most Americans (and definitely on Europeans) because there is no culture for that in the States (and even less likelihood of one in Europe).



I agree with this, I generally don't like a lot of dubs where a lot of the humor is in the language and lifestyle, and could suffer from a badly done english dub. Still, I'd like to see it done just to satisfy my curiosity.


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## Naren (Oct 20, 2008)

Hey, the US has got Dethklok. No reason to make an English dub of Detroit Metal City. And I have a feeling that the US version would be a lot more watered down than the Japanese one. I said that the comic series was a lot more over-the-top and extreme than the animated series and someone in this thread couldn't see how that's possible (I forgot who ), but I've been reading the comic series and one of the parts in the animation is just instrumental with no vocals, while in the comic series, that scene has lyrics talking about how all women are pigs for his pleasure that he can murder and discard when he's done with them. And the chorus goes "All I need are their cunts! All I need are their cunts!" And this sounds insanely offensive in English. And it's really offensive in Japanese too (the DVD I rented was restricted to only 18 and up), but the way it's said sounds so ridiculous that you couldn't believe that the person singing it actually believes it (which he doesn't -- or maybe he does deep inside, but supposedly he doesn't). The president of Death Records also goes into more detail about how wet she is.  And some of the sexual references and gore references are a little more explicit, but also crazier. Also in the comics, it oftentimes has him go home to write new songs for DMC, while in the animation, he just goes home but doesn't say what he's going to do, possibly trying to play down how he pretty much writes all of the songs.


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## Regor (Oct 21, 2008)

Sepultorture said:


> it's like the japanese dethklok LOL



Yeah, I totally see the comparison....


This show sucked hard! How the fuck does it compare to Dethklok?? Just cuz it's a cartoon about metal?? This isn't even close to comparing to Dethklok. 

Metalocalypse pokes fun at the trends that appear in heavy metal, while still being respectful to the genre.

This garbage makes a pussy into a metal god who doesn't appreciate the music he plays. 


I TOTALLY see the comparison. 


BTW, what the FUCK does "Detroit" have anything to do with this show?? Being a Detroiter, and being in a metal band, I'm personally offended by this piece of shit anime.


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## Naren (Oct 21, 2008)

Don't post about stuff that you don't know jack shit about, Regor. If you don't like it, that's fine, but your post shows that you really didn't understand anything at all.

I would assume that if you took offense at DMC's jokes, you would also take offense at Metalocalypse's, but 



Regor said:


> Yeah, I totally see the comparison....



Obviously you don't, even though it's quite obvious.



Regor said:


> This show sucked hard! How the fuck does it compare to Dethklok?? Just cuz it's a cartoon about metal?? This isn't even close to comparing to Dethklok.
> 
> Metalocalypse pokes fun at the trends that appear in heavy metal, while still being respectful to the genre.



Detroit Metal City makes fun of trends that appear in music in general, most primarily extreme glam rock and trendy French/Scandinavian cafe pop, but also hip hop, black metal, punk (specifically feminist punk), acoustic pop duos, and so on. The whole show takes the steretypes of each genre and takes them to the extreme. They idea of "metal" as being really offensive is just totally exaggerated.

It makes fun of every single genre of music mentioned on the show, more so of the trendy European cafe music than anything else.

I really don't get how Metalocalypse is "respectful to the genre" but this isn't. 



Regor said:


> This garbage makes a pussy into a metal god who doesn't appreciate the music he plays.



Uhm, other than the metal god part (which he clearly isn't. They are a minor local band that is maligned in the media and insulted all the time), that is the concept of the show. It's about a pussy/absolute loser who is into the most gay music out there, but dresses up KISS-style to play the exact opposite of who he really is. The humor lies in the fact that he is a part of the main group of people who hate and insult metal, but he's secretly the lead singer and guitarist for the most offensive band on the scene.

It's a pretty fucking hilarious setting for a series. I love Metalocalypse, but I think this show is a lot funnier.



Regor said:


> BTW, what the FUCK does "Detroit" have anything to do with this show?? Being a Detroiter, and being in a metal band, I'm personally offended by this piece of shit anime.



 I flex at your complete lack of knowledge.

Detroit Rock City (song - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Detroit Rock City (film - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

And, in case you think the above are unrelated, Gene Simmons actually plays the character of Jack on the live action movie of Detroit Metal City.

Instead of being offended and enraged by a cartoon comedy, maybe you should go buy yourself a sense of humor.


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## Regor (Oct 21, 2008)

Bro. We've talked before. You know very well I'm from the Detroit area. You don't need to be a jackass and post links to Wiki articles about "Detroit Rock City." I'm well aware of the musical history of this city.

Maybe I don't 'get it' because I know nothing about these genre's you say its making fun of, i.e. trendy French/Scandinavian cafe pop. I've never even heard of 'cafe pop' before. And I watched the first two episodes (apparently you have to register or something to see the next 2... and I wasn't going to do that), and I didn't see any hip hop or feminist punk references. So again, I fail to see the humor.

As for the idea of 'metal' being totally offensive, guess what? Some of it really is. Ever heard of G.G. Allin? That's pretty offensive shit right there. And I can guarantee you if I played something like Slayer or Cannibal Corpse for the average person, they'd be offended by it. So I don't see how that is being made fun of. Its actually quite true to form.



And you don't see how Metalocalypse is respectful to the genre? Lets see... Brendan Small modeled the main characters after well-known metal icons, Nathan-Corpsegrinder, Skiwsgaar-Alexi Laiho, Toki-Michael Akerfeldt, Pickles-Devin Townsend, Murderface-Geezer Butler. I'd say that's paying homage. You might think its marketing. I've read interviews with Brendan that support what I say.

Also


> Uhm, other than the metal god part (which he clearly isn't. They are a minor local band that is maligned in the media and insulted all the time), that is the concept of the show.



Please explain to me how on earth I was supposed to deduce that they are a MINOR local band, when they constantly show their concerts as being completely full of fans, i.e. like they were a MAJOR act. And how was I supposed to get that they are maligned in the media and insulted all the time?? Outside of the whole "He killed and raped his parents" thing, which I could see someone in a metal band wanting for their image. Also, those fans sure did treat him like a metal god.


You're right bro. I don't get it. I definately don't get the humor in it. Cuz its not funny IMO.


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## Regor (Oct 21, 2008)

Naren said:


> Don't post about stuff that you don't know jack shit about, Regor. If you don't like it, that's fine, but your post shows that you really didn't understand anything at all.



Um, last I checked, I was allowed to have an opinion.


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## Naren (Oct 21, 2008)

Regor said:


> Um, last I checked, I was allowed to have an opinion.



Yes. The first thing I said was that you were free to not like it, but you were getting offended and riled up by a comedy cartoon.


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## Regor (Oct 21, 2008)

Naren said:


> Yes. The first thing I said was that you were free to not like it, but you were getting offended and riled up by a comedy cartoon.



Yeah! Because I don't think their obscure kabuki-metal linkage to KISS is a valid reason to call it DMC. The members of KISS weren't total pussies who liked pop-music and wished they weren't in a rock band. So again, I don't get it.


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## Naren (Oct 21, 2008)

Regor said:


> Bro. We've talked before. You know very well I'm from the Detroit area. You don't need to be a jackass and post links to Wiki articles about "Detroit Rock City." I'm well aware of the musical history of this city.



 Oh yeah? Then why did you ask: "BTW, what the FUCK does "Detroit" have anything to do with this show?? Being a Detroiter, and being in a metal band, I'm personally offended by this piece of shit anime."

If you knew about Detroit Rock City, you wouldn't have asked that question. Before I ever read the comic book or saw the animation of Detroit Metal City, the first thing I thought of when I heard the name was the song "Detroit Metal City" and when I realized that the band members were all done up like KISS, it was even more obvious that that's where the series title came from.



Regor said:


> Maybe I don't 'get it' because I know nothing about these genre's you say its making fun of, i.e. trendy French/Scandinavian cafe pop. I've never even heard of 'cafe pop' before. And I watched the first two episodes (apparently you have to register or something to see the next 2... and I wasn't going to do that), and I didn't see any hip hop or feminist punk references. So again, I fail to see the humor.



The French cafe pop (and Scandinavian pop) is a pretty big sub-genre in Japan (where this series takes place). The people are usually into this really trendy Art Nouveau-esque music from Europe and watch art house music, drinking tea in cafes while drinking coffee and reading poetry. They generally see Paris as the greatest place ever. The main character is into that kind of music.

The main rapper in the series that gets in a huge contest with DMC is a Japanese rapper named KIVA who claims to be from New York City but is actually from the same out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere place as the main character. Most of his rap is just really bad puns (more of a parody of Japanese style gangster rap).

The feminist punk band is called The Testicle Girls (Kintama Gaaruzu) with a lead singer who is obsessed with Sid Vicious, but feels that she's sold out (again, punk stereotype). 



Regor said:


> As for the idea of 'metal' being totally offensive, guess what? Some of it really is. Ever heard of G.G. Allin? That's pretty offensive shit right there. And I can guarantee you if I played something like Slayer or Cannibal Corpse for the average person, they'd be offended by it. So I don't see how that is being made fun of. Its actually quite true to form.



Maybe subtitled the lyrics might seem serious, but the actual lyrics are incredibly ridiculous, over-the-top, and tongue-in-cheek. It's basically very crude humor.



Regor said:


> And you don't see how Metalocalypse is respectful to the genre? Lets see... Brendan Small modeled the main characters after well-known metal icons, Nathan-Corpsegrinder, Skiwsgaar-Alexi Laiho, Toki-Michael Akerfeldt, Pickles-Devin Townsend, Murderface-Geezer Butler. I'd say that's paying homage. You might think its marketing. I've read interviews with Brendan that support what I say.



To me, when I see Detroit Metal City, it is VERY clear that the guy who wrote it is a huge KISS fan and based DMC's appearances on KISS in general. The character of Jack il Dark was specifically based off of Gene Simmons, which is why he was asked to play the character in the live action movie (which he did). And the main members of DMC are very much like KISS. The bass player does fire breathing and blood spitting, just like KISS did/do in their tours. The makeup and costumes are similar too. They also take on European and American stage names (Souichi Negishi becomes Johannes Krawser the II, Masayuki Wada becomes Alexander Jagi, and Terumichi Nishida becomes Camus. 

Metalocalypse does base its characters off of real characters (just like Detroit Metal City), but it treats them exactly like DMC does. If DMC is not respectful, then neither is Metalocalypse. You could claim that Nathan Explosion is making fun of Corpsegrinder. It seems to me that a lot of the elements of DMC are in homage to the people they are imitating. 



Regor said:


> Please explain to me how on earth I was supposed to deduce that they are a MINOR local band, when they constantly show their concerts as being completely full of fans, i.e. like they were a MAJOR act. And how was I supposed to get that they are maligned in the media and insulted all the time?? Outside of the whole "He killed and raped his parents" thing, which I could see someone in a metal band wanting for their image. Also, those fans sure did treat him like a metal god.



You'll notice that those are all indoor concerts with a total of maybe 100-200 people. The series starts out with them still a small band with a pretty solid fanbase. They've released 1 single and nothing else. In the first episode, they make their first music video, then release their second single. A few episodes later, they release their debut album. They're definitely not a major act YET. They continue to get bigger and bigger as they go, playing at bigger places.

Yes, the fans do treat him like a metal god. That's part of the humor. That doesn't make him a metal god because they think he is. They think that the band members live in Hell and a bunch of other ridiculous stuff that also isn't true.

As for how you're supposed to deduce that they're a local band besides the stuff mentioned above, it is mentioned in every single episode that they are a local band. In one episode, a magazine votes for the most offensive local artist or musician (regardless of genre) and DMC wins. In many other episodes, DMC is referred to as an underground band.



Regor said:


> You're right bro. I don't get it. I definately don't get the humor in it. Cuz its not funny IMO.



If you don't think it's funny, you don't have to watch it. It's as simple as that. I don't see the reason to feel offended and go on a tirade.



Regor said:


> Yeah! Because I don't think their obscure kabuki-metal linkage to KISS is a valid reason to call it DMC. The members of KISS weren't total pussies who liked pop-music and wished they weren't in a rock band. So again, I don't get it.



It's a fucking comedy.

Just how absolutely ridiculous and unrealistic it is makes a good deal of the comedy. Do you seriously think someone who absolutely hated rap and normally only listened to classical music and smooth jazz would become the most popular and offensive gangster rapper in a certain area's scene?

It blows my mind that you're trying to take that seriously.

As for similarities to Metalocalypse. Both are cartoons. Both are comedies. Both are about extreme metal bands. Both are 13 minutes long each episode. Both parody real music (Metalocalypse parodying all genres of metal, Detroit Metal City parodying all genres of popular music from pop to rap to punk to metal). Both feature idiotic lyrics. Both have over-the-top humor based on ridiculous ideas and circumstances. Both have cameos from famous people in the music world they are parodying (all metal members for Metalocalypse such as Michael Ammot, Nevermore, James Hetfield, etc. Members from various music styles for DMC including pop, rock/metal, and underground members - most Japanese, considering it's a Japanese show). I could keep going.


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## Regor (Oct 21, 2008)

I guess it just doesn't translate well "for me". Watching that, if I didn't know the show was called DMC, I would not have made ANY type of connection to KISS whatsoever. Aside from face paint, which tons of black metal bands use BTW, I don't see any other connection.

I've only seen the first 2 episodes. Usually, small-time local bands, as you say they are, don't have a record deal with a manager like that, OR make music videos. That's why I didn't get that part.

I'm done. My  have been spent.


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## Naren (Oct 21, 2008)

It is just a cartoon. It wouldn't make sense why the most famous and influential black metal guitarist from the US would choose them as the Japanese band he's gonna destroy when they just released their debut album and haven't toured outside of Tokyo and are still local (although on the rise). But if you looked at everything really deeply, you'd have to wonder how Negishi changed from himself into Krawser in like 10 seconds.

But, anyway, I'm not trying to get you to like the show. That's just a matter of personal taste.


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