6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As a fellow 30-something ex-metal guitarist, I LOVED this!, May 7, 2003
This review is from: Legend of Black Heaven - Rock Bottom (Vol. 1) (DVD)
This is one of my favorite animes simply because of the backstory. Like Oji, I was a serious musician in the 80's who gave it up in the 90's and I too, became a mindless office drone. So, I feel like this was written about ME! Yes, compared to the best in genre it's lacking, but it's just so OUT THERE and the situations that Oji finds himself in are so true to life for any musician who has to live with a wife and kids, that it gets 5 stars on that alone.
Any musician will relate to Oji finding that his prize Flying V has been tossed so that his kid can use the case as a toy box, or having his autographed Schenker albums used for frisbees.
The soundtrack is also quite excellent. Of course, I'm a huge John Sykes fan so your mileage may vary.
Overall, the story is kind of silly but most musicians will LOVE this!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly good!, July 14, 2002
This review is from: Legend of Black Heaven - Rock Bottom (Vol. 1) (DVD)
I was actually turned off on the idea, initially. I'm not much of a heavy metal fan, and am certainly not fond of J-Rock. Therefore, I automatically assumed I wouldn't think much of it. However, I'm glad I had no choice but to give it a chance (my anime club was showing it). I even ended up liking most of the music!
It's cute, has some fun gags (which get overused, of course), and an interesting premise. It even has some real depth, to it, and some serious themes. Unfortunately, it's not very clear whether or not the series will go anywhere, until about the 3rd disc (there are a total of 4, in this 13 episode series). In the 4th disc, they even manage to get a good bit more mileage out of the gags. Also, watch for the X-files reference.
One neat thing about this series is that it presents a fairly unique and realistic picture of Japanese life. For example, you don't often see anime characters living in cramped company housing. You don't often see fairly realistic office environments depicted. You don't really even see normal Japanese people, or a realistic Japanese lifestyle, depicted in much depth. It also shows the Japanese perception of hard rock - both that of the fans and the societal views towards it.
The down side is that you can tell that it was created on a limited budget. The art and colors were quite good, but it did have more still frames (usually slow pans across a single image) than usual. The animation (especially the CG scenes) and music were also reused a bit much. But, I'd rather see a strong story told on a limited budget, than the other way around!
It does have some mature themes and scenes, but I promise if you watch through about the 3rd episode, you'll see that it's really not what it first appears to be (i.e. shameless glorification of sex & rock 'n roll).
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's Anime like this that gives anime a good name, November 11, 2000
This review is from: Legend of Black Heaven - Rock Bottom (Vol. 1) (DVD)
This DVD came out of nowhere and is easily one of Pioneer's best series. I bought it not knowing what to expect and was pleasantly suprised. This has one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard. I reccomend it to everyone that likes anime period.
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