Customer Reviews

The Legend of Black Heaven - Boxed Set

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, you've probably seen the Macross series, and you probably are having a hard time getting excited about another series where aliens need Earth music to save the world. Here's why you should watch this anyway.

The themes in this series will resonate with musicians of all sorts. Instead of the cute idol singers from Macross, we have Oji Tanaka, an unhappy thirty-something middle-management schlub, and very much an unremarkable everyman. He copes with his dead-end job and joyless family life by reminiscing about his days fronting a short-lived but wildly popular metal band. When Layla Yuki invites him to play for her in a strange "nightclub" (actually an alien battleship) Oji's world is set on its ear.

As the crew of the ship try to operationalize music and its power for the purpose of fueling their superweapon, they touch on interesting themes, such as the strange ability of music and the people who produce it to attract and move others, the role of rock as a vehicle for self-expression and validation, the importance of emotional investment versus technical showmanship, and the sheer crazy joy of making music in general, solo or with a group. Oji's struggle to balance his rekindled passion for music and the aliens' demands on his time with his family life speak to the difficulties most any artist will come up against and the hard choices that have to be made in reconciling those spheres of existence and growing and changing as a person in a long-term relationship.

This anime is pretty unique in that it focuses on a mostly middle-aged cast of characters, with home and work environments and social situations that are quite realistic for urban Japan in the 1990s. If I made that all sound academic and unexciting, it's not. It also has a fair share of goofiness and hilarity intermixed with the more serious storytelling.

The series is too short, is my only complaint. Like one other reviewer stated, it need's to be fleshed out.

Really like the opening music of this series, and the very last song, in ep 13.

Not particularly into rock or anything, but this series does okay with that theme.

Well worth the money if you like anime series that move the heart.

Whether you're an avid anime fan or total metal head, you'll love this series.

It follows the tale of a middle aged guy named Oji who used to be in a huge metal band called "Black Heaven", but the band came apart, and he lives a normal, middle-class life. However, one day, a woman at work talks to him, showing some interest. She later informs him about her being part of an alien race that is at war and needs the sound of his music to help them fight.

Also, if you're a huge fan of Michael Schenker, than you'll have to pick this up! I urge you to buy this.

<0.02>
It had its moments, but the story and music was a bit monotonous. I was expecting this anime to have a really good soundtrack since part of the premise is about metal and hard rock. However, they used the same song (pretty much a couple of riffs) in every episode, and even though it was pretty good, it got boring by the end of the series. The story was pretty typical, and it wasn't presented in a very fluid manner.
</0.02>

I'm not usually a heavy metal fan but when started to watch this show I rocked along with music, I really liked the Opening theme song and when they played Michael Schenker's "Into the Arena" in one episode, but I didn't like the end theme.

In the series our 'hero' use to be a rocker in the band Black Heaven now lives a mediocre life as an office worker (salaryman). Until one day he meets a mysterious woman & is suddenly given a chance to relive his glory days... during random times at day or night. More happens along in the series but I won't spoil for you.

What's unique about this series is that about 90% of the main cast is in their 30s or 40s instead of teenagers giving a different more adult perspective through the characters then the typical teenage cliches of other anime. This appealed to me even though I'm in my 20s, it was interesting see life after you lived you dream only to come back to it.

However this show has some drawbacks this show:

It was made on a low budget and it shows in the animation's low frame rates and while the music this show is great it could have been even greater with a bigger budget.

Also I thought it would have been great if the show had more backstory on the characters and I want to see more after the show was over, but with 13 episodes it able to tell its story despite its flaws.

Another series that's some vague similarities but mostly different is BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, in that series there's absolutely no Sci-Fi elements whatsoever and main characters are teenagers instead of adults. In that series it's about a band's journey to stardom instead of after without the sci-fi. This series is 26 episodes long with a bigger budget and the story is more fleshed out in comparison to Legend of Black Heaven and contains a Alternative and Grunge Rock music instead of Heavy Metal. While BECK was pretty good series in its own right, I didn't like it and I hated the Alternative Rock music and the characters annoyed me. Both series have their strengths and weaknesses I liked Black Heaven better, but feel free to watch whatever series you like.

While some people think this show was terrible, I didn't think this show was THAT bad and I've seen much WORSE anime than this rated much better than this show which I think isn't exactly right. (I'm looking at you "Odin Photon Sailer Starlight" This show is MUCH MUCH better than Odin)

Overall this series is one I really recommend you to watch for something a little different than the more usual typical anime fare.