ANA
PRESENTS
NIPPON EIGA SERIES PART 19
NY PREMIERE of
DETROIT METAL CITY
DIRECTED BY TOSHIO LEE
STARRING KENICHI MATSUYAMA, GENE SIMMONS, and others
Japan | 2008 | 103 min. | 35mm film | Japanese with English Subtitles
Thurs., Aug. 20 - Doors open 6:15pm - Film starts 7:00pm
The ImaginAsian, 239 East 59th Street (Bet. 2nd & 3rd Ave.), NYC
For RSVP,
www.newyork-tokyo.com/wp/dmc
"Detroit Metal City" (DMC) is a cartoon series started in 2005 on
Young Animal magazine. It soon earned a cult following for its
eccentric setting, distinctive characters, radical story and the
funniest jokes. As soon as it was released as a comic book, it quickly
sold out at every bookstore, and those who couldn't get the comic were
called "DMC refugee".
The rumor was spread by word of mouth as well as the blog/message
board on the Internet, and DMC gained popularity not only among the
subculture mania, but also among the writers, actors, musicians,
artist, etc, who then competed to introduce this comic at their shows/
columns. With all these phenomenon, the comic sold over 3 million
copies to date.
DMC became the front cover of an authoritative culture magazine,
Studio Voice, on its issue in September 2006. It also topped the
Japanese comic chart in 2006 surpassing "Death Note", which already
had been made into the award-winning movie.
DMC is the first Death Metal comic book to be released on screen and
in animation at the same time. Both were released in August, 2008 in
Japan. The animation is produced by STUDIO4℃, known for its recent
works such as "Tekkonkinkreet", "Animatrix" and "Mindgame".
In the movie, Gene Simmons of KISS plays the "legendary and world-
renowned" Death Metal artist, "Jack IL Dark" who competes with DMC on
stage. The final live performance scene is not only the craziest
spectacle and the climax of the story, but a collaboration any Death
Metal music fan would crave to witness!
Story
Souichi Negishi is a conservative and pure-minded boy, who came to
Tokyo from the country in Japan with a dream of becoming a fancy pop-
song musician. He writes a song "Raspberry Kiss" to send to a music
label, however, by a mere accident, he is forced to make a debut as
the member of the satanic Death metal band "Detroit Metal City" (DMC),
whose trademark is an eccentric make-up and destructive performance.
Despite of Souichi's hope of becoming a lovely pop musician, DMC's
debut single "SATSUGAI - genocide" (which used to be "Raspberry Kiss"
before arranged by the madly strange music label's owner) achieves
explosive sales, and Johannes Krauser II bounces up to the position of
charisma in the Japanese Death Metal music scene.
Meanwhile, his girlfriend Ms. Aikawa, who loves cute outfit and French
pop songs, does not know the fact that Souichi becomes Johannes
Krauser II. Therefore, Souichi has to live with the extreme caution to
keep this biggest secret not to disappoint her.
After its sensational debut, DMC continues to build up "legends" as a
Death Metal band - defeating a rival band on stage and messed up the
live show of the No. 1 Japanese HIP-HOP artist, to name a few. Souichi
always, in all of the cases, first tries to act nicely but presses all
the wrong buttons to end up in creating the image of furious Johannes
Krauser II. One day, when DMC is totally recognized as an up-and-
coming Death Metal band throughout the country, Souichi has received
unexpected news. The legendary Metal artist, Jack IL Dark, starts his
world tour and DMC is named to perform on his stage in Japan. The
members of DMC and the fans are thrilled to hear the news, but it
gives Souichi (chicken-hearted) a shudder...
Director: Toshio Lee
Born in 1964 in Osaka. After graduating with a literature major from
College of Art, Nihon University, Lee worked on many TV drama
productions. He made his feature directorial debut with "Backdrop of
My Papa" (2004) and "Detroit Metal City" is his second feature film.
Casts:
Kenichi Matsuyama (L: Change the World), Rosa Ogawa, Yasuko
Matsuyuki, Gene Simmons
(c) 2008 TOHO CO., LTD. /HORIPRO INC. / HAKUSENSHA, INC. / Sony Music
Entertainment (Japan) Inc. / DENTSU INC. / d-rings Inc. / PARCO CO.,
LTD. / SDP, INC. / TOKYO FM Broadcasting Co., Ltd. / Yahoo Japan
Corporation / NIPPON SHUPPAN HANBAI INC. / TSUTAYA Group All Rights
Reserved.
