Detoroito Metaru Shiti (2008)

Soichi Negishi moved to Tokyo to chase his dream of becoming a musician playing stylish, Swedish-style pop. Instead, he finds himself leading the death metal band Detroit Metal City, or DMC... See full summary »

Director:

Toshio Lee

Writers:

Kiminori Wakasugi (manga), Mika Ohmori (adaptation)

Stars:

Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Yoshihiko Hosoda, Ryûji Akiyama

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ken'ichi Matsuyama	...	Sôichi Negishi / Johannes Krauser II
Yoshihiko Hosoda	...	Masayuki Wada / Alexander Jaggi
Ryûji Akiyama	...	Terumichi Nishida / Camus
Rosa Katô	...	Yuri Aikawa
Yasuko Matsuyuki	...	Boss
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Adeyto	...	Kennie Il Dark
Ken Ayugai
Cynthia Cheston	...	Reporter
Niclas Ericsson	...	Journalist
Rumi Hiiragi
Ayaka Ikezawa
Vassili Karathanasis	...	Music Agent
Ryô Katô	...	Toshihiko Negishi
Jun'ichirô Kishi
Minami	...	Nina

Storyline

Soichi Negishi moved to Tokyo to chase his dream of becoming a musician playing stylish, Swedish-style pop. Instead, he finds himself leading the death metal band Detroit Metal City, or DMC, as the costumed and grotesquely made-up "demon emperor" Johannes Krauser II. Although he hates the role and the things he has to do as a member of the band, he has a definite talent for it. Adapted from the hit Japanese comic book by Kiminori Wakasugi, the movie follows Negishi's antics as he tries to reconcile the two very different sides of his life and find out what it really means to achieve his dream.

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Plot Keywords:

live action remake of anime | slapstick comedy | metal | death metal | based on comic | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

23 August 2008 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Detroit Metal City

Filming Locations:

Nikkatsu Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$23,744,571

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dentsu, Hakusensha, Horipro

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits

After the closing credits, a brief scene shows what happens to Toshi after his brother's visit home.

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Connections

Version of Detoroito Metaru Shiti (2008)

User Reviews

Achingly hilarious and great loud music!

Soichi is a young man who leaves home a wide-eyed innocent with dreams of being a star in a form of sickly-sweet wholesome pop music which he calls "trendy" music, but somehow finds himself getting fame in a violence laden heavy metal band. In real life he's a complete innocent, vaguely reminiscent of a young Jerry Lewis, but when he's in the rock band Detroit Metal City he transforms into the personification of the misogynistic, sociopathic rock star.

I've always found Japanese humour as rather broad and this is no exception here, except it entirely works in this movie. Ken'ichi Matsuyama, apparently a star in Japan who sends girls into fits of screaming, does an excellent job here and is entirely convincing either as the innocent young man or as the rock star. In fact, he is achingly hilarious when he's singing the "trendy" music that he loves. There are several moments that will have you convulsed, but I don't wish to give anything away by describing specific scenes, except to say that it's the humour that pushes the movie past the level of the ordinary.

However, despite being a comedy the film is completely faithful to the spirit of heavy metal music. This is not Spinal Tap. Unlike Spinal the music in this movie sounds convincing and very much like good rock music. Whenever it comes out on DVD you'll want to turn up the subwoofer!

I saw this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival and the crowd I saw it with was very receptive, despite likely not being the target audience for the film. Even the director before the movie said that it premiered the previous night to a very enthusiastic crowd and he joked that he hoped we'd liked it since we seemed so much older. That got a big laugh, but I still was surprised to see so many people past middle age who clearly enjoyed this movie. It was almost certainly the humour and the likability of Matsuyama and the entire cast that was the responsible.

This feels like something that almost has to be re-made by Hollywood. However, you should try to see this version first before any watered-down North American version hits the screens.