Detroit Metal City

Detroit Metal City or DMC for short is a 'live action' movie adapted from a popular manga series, Detroit Metal City. I have to say the movie does have a strong cult-like charm to it. You can resist wanted to see more and more of what could possible be happening. Addictive!

The key personality is Soichi Negishi, a soft and gentle man who dreams of becoming a true musician one day. He left this hometown (quite a country bumpkin he is!) to study in a university in Tokyo. Eventually he becomes a very very successful musician, except in the wrong genre of music Negishi is hoping for.

Deep inside this heart, he wanted to be a soulful and wholesome singer who is able to help people dream through his music through this motto "No Music, No Dream". During the day or on this free time, he will sing on the streets to gather followers. But it is always a failure each time.

His alter-ego character is the popular leader of the death metal band, Johannes Krauser II, the lead single and guitarist. Krauser is a very talented guitarist who can even play the guitar with his teeth and he amasses a huge followers and fame across Japan. Yet he is ashame of himself and his music.

It isn't easy to manage the dichomatic personality in real life and on stage and Negishi finds it challenging to hide his Krauser identity from this family and girlfriend. Ken'ichi Matsuyama who previously took the rolad of L in Death Note, does an excelllent portrayal of Negishi and Krauser. It is very amusing and entertain to watch the switch and internal struggle he faces under both identities.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. The movie has depth and plot which is not suprising as it comes from the manga series. There are a lot of interesting moments where Negishi gets caught in awkward situation as well as a good array of surprising characters around him, particularly his sadistic band manager who seems to enjoy torturing him.