- from 'The Phantom Tollbooth' [Norton Juster]
Detroit Metal City [Live]
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Ken’ichi Matsuyama as Johannes Krausser II and Souchi Negishi
Instead of working in my report before doing anything else, I decided to watch Detroit Metal City Live, starring the very talented Kenichi Matsuyama, and indeed, it was time well spent!
Souichi Negishi is a timid bloke from the province. He went to Tokyo to study, bringing with him his intense desire to be a pop/oshare (fashionable) musician, wishing to create sweet –cheesy- love songs. Indeed, he has the talent, and people around him told him so. He strived hard to achieve this dream, but “dreams won’t pay the bills.” One day, he just saw himself as the front man of the death metal rock band Detroit Metal City (DMC) as the vocalist Johannes Krauser II. He never imagined nor wanted to be one who makes such horrendous and “disgusting” music, but his *demonic* manager and rather manic fans demand him to play his part as Krauser, the terrorist from hell. When he isn’t the long-haired, white-faced death metal rocker (with the kanji “death” painted on his forehead), he returns to being Souichi playing his sweet love songs (*cheese tart!*) with the hope of being the oshare singer he had always wanted to be. As he plays this double-life, he is reunited with Aikawa Yuri (Rosa Kato), his college love interest who is displeased with DMC’s brand of music.
He then feels he has to choose because DMC’s music was never the type that the dreamed of making. However as Krauser, he, together with his two band mates, gives the fans a place in the society, since death metal rockers had always been deemed as outcasts. This dilemma and a lot of hilarious oddities made DMC the first film in months that made me laugh so hard. Kenichi Matsuyama once again showcased his knack for portraying the “weird” but sympathetic guys. I admired him more upon learning that it was really him singing the songs (of DMC)! How cool is that! [I’m a bit fond of rock songs, and I did like the rhythm and sound of DMC’s songs, although the lyrics shouldn’t be taken seriously. Haha.]
And interestingly enough, too, that the day before I watched this movie, I saw the logo of the rock band KISS printed on the side of a jeep. I once saw a feature on TV about this band (from the _0’s), and then I have learned that their trademark of white face paint was the basis of Krauser’s look. Moreover, KISS’s bassist Genne Simmmons played a cameo role in the movie as the legendary death metal rocker Jack IL Dark who challenges the becoming-more-and-more-popular band DMC.
Whether you’re a rock music fan who would want a good take on the genre; or someone who want a real good laugh from the live version of the phenomenal anime and manga of the same title; or whether you want another proof of Kenichi Matsuyama’s brilliance in acting and (more importantly) in singing, then Satsugai is the way to be, and Detroit Metal City is the place to be!
I guarantee you’ll most likely end up chanting, “Go to DMC! Go to DMC! Go to DMC!”
