Detroit Metal City (デトロイト・メタル・シティ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kiminori Wakasugi. It was serialized in Hakusensha's seinen manga magazine Young Animal from September 2005 to April 2010, with its chapters collected in ten tankōbon volumes. The manga was licensed for English release in North America by Viz Media. The series takes its name from the song "Detroit Rock City" by the American band Kiss. The manga was adapted into a twelve-episode (of thirteen minutes long and divided into two six-minute sections) original video animation (OVA) released in August 2008; a live action film adaptation also premiered in Japan in August 2008.

Plot

Soichi Negishi is a shy young musician who dreams of a career in pop. Dreams do not pay the bills, so he has ended up as the lead singer and guitarist of a blackened death metal band, "Detroit Metal City". In his stage costume, he adopts the persona of "Johannes Krauser II", a terrorist demon from hell said to have raped and killed his parents. The songs of DMC often encourage their audience to engage in similar immoral and illegal behavior, or tell stories of Krauser's criminal exploits in a parody of the genre. Negishi despises DMC and all that it stands for, but he cannot walk away from his role as the band's psychotic frontman. Under his meager exterior, Negishi is a rageaholic and also is very skilled at guitar playing. Furthermore, he feels obligation to the rest of the band and his label and is always roped back in by the manager of the band's label. The Krauser persona also functions as an outlet to vent his frustration over his failing personal career, which has not advanced beyond playing his original pop songs in the streets and earning the harsh disapproval of bystanders. Negishi is envious of the popularity DMC and his Krauser persona have achieved in contrast to the music he actually wants to play being ridiculed; his Krauser persona begins to emerge more often, which leads to Krauser's popularity growing. The series explores the futile attempts of Negishi to break this vicious circle, escape his DMC persona, and become a successful pop musician.

Characters

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Kiminori Wakasugi, Detroit Metal City was first published in Hakusensha's seinen manga magazine Young Animal as a one-shot on April 22, 2005. The series takes its name from the song "Detroit Rock City" of the American rock band Kiss. Detroit Metal City was later serialized in Young Animal, where it ran from September 22, 2005, to April 23, 2010. Hakusensha collected its chapters in ten tankōbon volumes, released from May 29, 2006, to July 29, 2010. In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by Viz Media. The ten volumes were published from June 9, 2009, to September 13, 2011.

Volumes

Original video animation

A twelve-episode (of thirteen minutes long and divided into two six-minute sections) original video animation (OVA) animated by Studio 4°C was released on DVD on August 8, 2008. In North America, the OVA was licensed by Sentai Filmworks. It was released on DVD on October 2, 2012, and on Blu-ray on December 16, 2014.

Episodes

Film

In November 2007, it was announced that the manga would be adapted into a live action film distributed by Toho. The film was directed by Toshio Lee and stars Kenichi Matsuyama as Souichi Negishi/Johannes Krauser II. The film premiered in Japan on August 23, 2008. The film was screened in Canada at the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival' Midnight Madness Program on September 5, 2008. It was also shown in the United Kingdom at the 22nd Leeds International Film Festival in November 2008; in the United States at the American Film Market event in November 2008; and in Australia in 2009 at the 13th Japanese Film Festival; in Sydney on November 27 and in Melbourne on December 6. In North America, Viz Pictures announced that they had licensed the film in July 2010; it was released on DVD on November 9 of the same year.

Music

A tribute album for the series, titled Detroit Metal City: Tribute to Krauser II the metal mix (デトロイト・メタル・シティ トリビュートアルバム〜生贄メタルMIX〜) was released on March 28, 2008. It features Japanese recording artists covering their own songs in a metal style. The album has thirteen songs by Beat Crusaders; Kaela Kimura; Scha Dara Parr; Midori; YUKI; monobright; Tommy February6; Mucc; King Giddra; Electric Eel Shock; ANA; Wagdug Futuristic Unity; and Kahimi Karie. As a fictional band, Detroit Metal City has released several real records for both the film and the OVA series, under the Death Records label, named after the manga's fictional label. Two singles, sung by Tetsuya Kanmuri as Johannes Krauser II and Hideki Kaji as Soichi Negishi were released; "Satsugai/Amai Koibito for the movie" (SATSUGAI/甘い恋人〜for the movie〜) was released on August 6, 2008; "Maō/Raspberry Kiss for the movie" (魔王/ラズベリーキッス〜for the movie〜) was released on August 13 of the same year. Three other singles performed by other artists were released on August 13, 2008; "Detarame Mothe-com Cherry Boy for the movie" (デタラメ・マザコン・チェリーボーイ〜for the movie〜) by Kintama Girls; "From New York City for the movie" (フロムNYシティ〜for the movie〜) by K Dub Shine (as MC Kiva); and "Sally my Love for the movie" (サリーマイラブ〜for the movie〜) by Hideki Kaji (as Tetra-pot Melon Tea). These five singles and five other songs were included on the album Makai Yūgi for the movie (魔界遊戯〜for the movie〜), released on August 20, 2008.

Canceled video game

D3 Publisher was producing a game based on the series for the Nintendo DS, titled Detroit Metal City DS: Death Shout (デトロイト・メタル・シティDS～デス・シャウト～), that would feature multiple modes of play, including an Elite Beat Agents-inspired rhythm game and a RPG mode. It was set to be released in August 2008; however, the game was never released.

Reception

The manga has had over 3 million copies in circulation. It topped the Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2007 list of best manga for male readers.